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Tag: Valentine’s Day Cruises

  • Spend Valentine’s Day on a Cruise This Year!

    Spend Valentine’s Day on a Cruise This Year!

    Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. For those of us that are part of a couple, the lovey holiday can become a very big deal. Some people don’t want big, showy celebrations, but others do. If your significant other is someone who likes to live it up on Valentine’s and you’re still looking for an idea on how to meet their expectations, look no more! A trip via cruise for Valentine’s Day is one of the most perfect gifts you can give. Plus, it’s a gift to yourself, too! If you’re curious why we think a cruise is such a great romantic getaway, read on!

    Ditch the cliches

    Movies have drilled it into us exactly what to expect on Valentine’s: flowers, chocolates, heartfelt notes, et cetera. While these are all definitely nice things, they can get predictable year after year. One way to show a loved one how much you really care is thinking outside the box, and a cruise is definitely just that. While you can still partake in the normal festivities at sea, the trip itself will be completely unexpected and a real delight. Plus, you can pick an itinerary that’s carefully tailored to the kinds of things and places you want to experience on Valentine’s, leaving you free to engage in the lovey-dovey or go exploring somewhere exotic.

    Holiday sales!

    Valentine’s isn’t always the biggest event for cruise lines, so it’s not uncommon to see some pretty good sales when February rolls around. For instance, Celebrity currently has a sale going until February 22 that can save you up to $400 on a suite (you can check that out over here). Other money saving opportunities could pop up even closer to the holiday, so keep an eye out.

    Intimacy

    The best thing about a cruise is that you get to choose exactly the type of experience you want. For Valentine’s Day, you can pick a smaller, more luxurious ship with plenty of options for private decadence. Some ships offer rooms with private balconies or hot tubs, the perfection of which needs no explanation. Five-star dining and quiet nights are an excellent combination for the holiday, both of which are easy to achieve on plenty of different cruise ships.

    Heat things up

    If you live in a place with a colder climate, you know that February can get pretty icy. The cold isn’t exactly conducive to romance: who wants to leave the house to go to a fancy dinner when it’s a blizzard outside? Instead, a cruise ship could whisk you away to a Caribbean island with breezy, tropical heat. Even aside from the romantic aspect of it, your partner will thank you for an escape from the cold, making your gift seem even better. Relationship points, woohoo!

    While we aren’t hoping you have been putting off Valentine’s plans until now, a cruise is the perfect option for the procrastinators among us. Lots of different cruise lines offer Valentine’s options, so start exploring and book your perfect gift!

  • Valentine’s Day Cruises in Newport Beach, California

    Valentine’s Day Cruises in Newport Beach, California

    If you are in Newport Beach, California on Valentine’s Day, there are two types of cruises you can take. You can take a brunch or dinner cruise with Hornblower Cruises, or you can take a shorter cruise with Newport Landing that does not include a meal. Between the two companies’ offerings, there are a lot of different ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Newport Beach on the water, and below we explain what is available in one concise guide.

    We’ll begin with the meal-centered cruises offered by Hornblower Cruises, which are much like the Valentine’s Day cruises that are offered all over the country, from San Francisco to New York City. Almost all of Hornblower’s Valentine’s cruises are three-hour dinner cruises that begin at 7:00 PM (boarding time is 6:30 PM) and end at 10:00 PM. Couples are given a private, candlelit table to enjoy a five-course meal. There is free-flowing champagne throughout the evening, and all of the cruises feature musical entertainment. The cruises that feature a DJ cost $135.00 per person, and the cruise with a live band costs $145.00 per person. Since Hornblower has several ships in their fleet, they are able to offer all of these cruises at the same time on Valentine’s Day. For those who can’t go out on the evening of February 14th, there is a brunch cruise earlier in the day from noon to 2:00 PM, and there is also a dinner cruise on the night of the 13th from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Both of these cruises are substantially cheaper than the ones on the evening of the 14th – the brunch cruise costs $64.95 per person and the dinner cruise costs $89.95.

    If you want to take a cruise for Valentine’s Day, but don’t want to have a meal on board, you’ll want to book something with Newport Landing. The company’s “Valentine’s Day” cruises actually start the weekend before, on Friday, February 6th, and then the last cruise is offered on the 15th. The sailing schedule varies from day to day, but the cruises all start in the evening and last 75 minutes. On most days, there are either three or four cruises, but on Valentine’s Day there are six: the first one departs at 4:00 PM and the last one departs at 11:30 PM. Every cruise, no matter the time or day on which it is taken, costs $35, and included in the ticket prices is a free drink, defined as “champagne, wine, beer, or [a] non-alcoholic beverage.” Since the cruise is not centered on a meal, you can simply enjoy some time in the Newport Bay with your partner, looking over the night coastline or an ocean sunset depending on what time you are sailing.

    For further details about either kind of cruise, check out the Hornblower website or the Newport Landing website. You can make reservations online or speak with someone over the phone. If you are looking for other ways to celebrate, check out our more general article on Valentine’s Day cruises.

  • Valentine’s Day Cruises in Norfolk

    Valentine’s Day Cruises in Norfolk

    Compared to the other cities we’ve been writing about in connection with Valentine’s Day cruises, Norfolk is quite small. However, thanks to the presence of Spirit Cruises and its ship Spirit of Norfolk, there are several Valentine’s Day cruises in the Virginia coastal city. Below we outline all of the Valentine’s Day weekend cruises in Norfolk, which range from romantic dinner cruises to the late-night “R&B Moonlight Cruise with Theressa Brown.”

    Entertainment Cruises, which is the owner of Spirit Cruises and other similar cruise companies, is responsible for most of the Valentine’s Day cruises on the East Coast (and Chicago). However, essentially all of Entertainment Cruises’ ships operate only in the biggest cities in this area, like New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago. (The West Coast is serviced primarily by Hornblower Cruises.) The one exception to this is Norfolk, a city of only about a quarter of a million people on the southern end of the Virginia coastline. Despite the city’s modest size, it has a fairly impressive number of Valentine’s Day cruises.

    In Norfolk, the Valentine’s Day cruises begin on the evening of February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. There is a dinner cruise on this night from 7:30 to 10:30 PM that costs $57.90 per person. Valentine’s Day itself is packed with cruises, and in fact there are more Valentine’s cruises on the Spirit of Norfolk than there are on any other single ship operated by Entertainment Cruises. The first is a lunch cruise from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM for $49.90 per person, and then two hours later the ship leaves for an “early dinner” cruise from 3:00 to 5:30 PM. The next cruise is the main Valentine’s dinner cruise from 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM, and then the last cruise of the day – the “R&B Moonlight Cruise with Theressa Brown” – starts at midnight and sails till 2:00 AM. For 2015, these last three cruises are sold out, and hence prices are no longer listed online. However, in addition to the Friday night cruise and the Saturday lunch cruise, you can book the brunch cruise on Sunday the 15th, which begins at 1:00 and ends at 3:00 PM, and costs $44.90 per person. All the cruises serve buffet-style meals, and included in the price of each ticket is a glass of champagne.

    If you act fast, it is still possible to book a cruise with Spirit of Norfolk for the Valentine’s Day weekend. Only one of these cruises is on the 14th, and it is at midday, but perhaps this leaves things open for an additional date on Valentine’s Day itself.

  • Valentine’s Day Cruises in Washington DC

    Valentine’s Day Cruises in Washington DC

    Two companies offer Valentine’s Day cruises in Washington DC, and between the two there are seven different cruises over the Valentine’s Day weekend, including a brunch cruise, a lunch cruise, and multiple dinner cruises. These cruises are offered by Spirit Cruises and Odyssey, which are both owned by Entertainment Cruises. Below we give all the relevant details, in one compact guide, about every Valentine’s Day cruise in Washington DC.

    Because Spirit Cruises and Odyssey are part of the same company, there are some basic similarities between their offerings. All dinner cruises are three hours long, for example, and every couple gets a rose and a glass of champagne each as part of the ticket price. There is also a shared promotion between the two companies – entering the promo code “VDAY10” when booking online gets you 10 percent off the dinner cruise on February 13th that is offered on both the Spirit ship and the Odyssey ship. In short, the fundamental outline of both companies’ cruises is the same. However, there are differences, with the most major one being that Odyssey offers three-course plated dinners, whereas Spirit Cruises’ meals are all buffet-style. (Odyssey’s brunch cruise features a buffet, though.) Perhaps not surprisingly, then, Odyssey’s cruises are slightly more expensive.

    Here is a concise breakdown of the Valentine’s Day weekend offerings of both companies:

    Spirit Cruises
    (1) Dinner Cruise on February 13th from 7:00 to 10:00 PM for $85.90 per person
    (2) Lunch Cruise on February 14th from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM for $54.90 per person
    (3) Dinner Cruise on February 14th from 7:00 to 10:00 PM for $129.90 per person

    The boarding time for each Spirit cruise is 30 minutes before departure.

    Odyssey
    (1) Dinner Cruise on February 13th from 7:00 to 10:00 PM for $107.90 per person
    (2) Brunch Cruise on February 14th from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM for $79.90 per person
    (3) Dinner Cruise on February 14th from 7:00 to 10:00 PM for $169.90 per person
    (4) Dinner Cruise on February 15th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM for $129.90 per person

    The boarding time for the dinner cruises is one hour before departure, and 45 minutes before departure for the brunch cruise.

    The details for each of these cruises can be found on the respective Spirit Cruises and Odyssey websites for Washington DC. If you visit these sites any time around February 14th, there will be promotional material for the Valentine’s Day cruises. If you visit during a different time, these cruises will be classified as “specialty cruises,” which can be found by hovering over the “Cruises and Promotions” tab. Cruises can be booked directly on the site or over the phone.

    So, overall, there are quite a few Valentine’s Day weekend cruises in Washington DC, and these cruises could fit into most people’s schedules, provided they aren’t working the entire holiday weekend. The prices are fairly high, but a fine meal on the Potomac River, overlooking the nation’s capital, is a pretty nice way to celebrate with your partner.

  • Valentine’s Day Cruises in Philadelphia

    Valentine’s Day Cruises in Philadelphia

    Philadelphia may be the city of brotherly love, but it can also be a city of romantic love, especially on Valentine’s Day. This is true in general for the simple reason that Philadelphia is a large city with a lot happening on Valentine’s Day, and it is true in particular because Philadelphia has some nice Valentine’s Day cruises. These cruises are offered on the Spirit of Philadelphia, a ship operated by Spirit Cruises, and below we outline exactly what is available on Valentine’s Day.

    Philadelphia is one of the several cities along the East Coast that is served by Spirit Cruises, a dining cruise company that is owned by the larger conglomerate Entertainment Cruises. In some of these cities, like New York and Chicago, Entertainment Cruises operates multiple cruise companies in addition to Spirit Cruises. Other cities, like Baltimore and Philadelphia, have only Spirit Cruises for their cruise-dining needs. And even in Baltimore, there are two Spirit ships that can offer dining cruises, whereas Philadelphia only has one. Obviously, a lack of dining cruises won’t register as a problem to most people, and nor should it, but we mention it in the present case because it explains why there are comparatively few Valentine’s Day cruises in Philadelphia. Why Entertainment Cruises has invested less heavily is Philadelphia is not entirely clear, but it may have something to do with the amount of open water available for their ships. A dining ship based in Philadelphia can only sail around a segment of the Delaware River, whereas the other cities have larger bodies of water at their disposal. None of that, however, is really to the point. We are concerned with what is available.

    The Spirit of Philadelphia’s flagship offering is of course the Valentine’s Day dinner cruise; that is, the dinner cruise that is offered from 8:30 to 11:30 PM on February 14th. At $174.07 per person, this is by far the most expansive of the Spirit of Philadelphia’s cruises. In addition to this (somewhat) late night cruise, there are two other cruises on Valentine’s Day: there is a lunch cruise from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM that costs $60.17 per person, and an “afternoon lunch cruise” from 3:30 to 5:30 PM that costs $100.37 per person. There is also a dinner cruise the evening before Valentine’s Day from 7:30 to 10:30 PM, and this costs $99.03 per person. The lunch and dinner menus are identical but for the fact that a Chilled Crab and Lobster Croquette serves as the dinner’s first course, and the lunch menu lacks this stage of the meal entirely. Regardless of which cruise you book, each couple gets a rose, and everyone who is over 21 can participate in a champagne toast at no extra charge (but additional drinks cost money). The precise details of all of these cruises can be found on the Spirit of Philadelphia’s website.

    So, there aren’t a ton of Valentine’s Day cruise options in Philadelphia, but there are probably enough to satisfy the needs of those who are inclined to take one. There are a couple of dinners to choose from, and there are three separate meals on Valentine’ Day itself. Check out our general article on Valentine’s Day cruises for other ways to celebrate the holiday via cruises.

  • Valentine’s Day Cruises in Baltimore

    Valentine’s Day Cruises in Baltimore

    Like many of the large cities on the northern end of the East Coast, Baltimore has Valentine’s Day cruises (and also day-before-Valentine’s-Day cruises). The range of choices isn’t especially broad, and they are all offered by the same company – Spirit Cruises, which is owned by Entertainment Cruises – but there are good possibilities just the same. Below we have outlined all of the Valentine’s Day cruises in Baltimore in one convenient guide.

    Baltimore is one of the eight cities in which Spirit Cruises, one of the largest providers of dining cruises in the United States, operates. In many of these cities, Spirit only sails one ship, but the company has dedicated two to Baltimore: Spirit of Baltimore and Inner City Spirit. (Entertainment Cruises actually has three ships in Baltimore if you count the boat of another company they own, Seadog, but Seadog offers speedboat tours, not dining cruises.) To our understanding, Spirit of Baltimore is generally used for dining cruises, whereas Inner City Spirit serves more of a sightseeing role in its day-to-day operations, but evidently dining is possible on both ships because each offers a Valentine’s Day dinner on board.

    Or in the case of Spirit of Baltimore, there are actually two dinners – one on February 13th and one on February 14th – and there is a lunch cruise on the 14th as well. The dinner on the 14th is the most expensive option, costing $109.90 per person. The dinner on the 13th costs $71.90 per person, and it can be furthered discounted if you book online and use the promo code displayed on their site, and the lunch costs $49.90 per person. The Inner City Spirit has only one dinner cruise on the 14th, and it is the same price as the Spirit of Baltimore’s ($109.90 per person). All the dinner cruises last three hours, and the two on the Spirit of Baltimore are from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Inner City Spirit runs an hour earlier, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The lunch cruise is an hour shorter and runs from noon to 2:00 PM. Regardless of when the cruise leaves, though, you should be prepared to board a half hour before departure. As for the meals themselves, they are all served buffet-style, although the lunch and dinner menus differ fairly substantially.

    That covers all the Valentine’s Day cruises in Baltimore, and although there are only four total choices, these choices actually give you a fairly broad range of options. You can eat dinner on the 13th or lunch on the 14th if the evening of Valentine’s Day doesn’t work, and you also have an earlier and later option for Valentine’s Day dinner. Details for each cruise can found on the Spirit Cruises website for Baltimore, and if you are interested in other cruise-related ideas for Valentine’s Day, check out our article on Valentine’s Day cruises.

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