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Two cruise lines have rolled out pre- and post-cruise products in ports where passengers embark or disembark their ships.
Windstar Cruises is calling its version Easy Stays, while Azamara Club Cruises will have City Stays.
The Azamara City Stays are offered for five cities initially: Barcelona, Miami, Rome, Singapore and Venice. They include hotel stays for three or more nights, select meals and transportation from the port to the hotel, the airport and events with local hosts.
In Barcelona, for example, guests can expect to visit a fourth-generation candy artisan, stroll through the Born district and experience a flamenco performance at night.
Food experiences include a meal with a local family, a gourmet picnic lunch in a park and a visit with a wine connoisseur in the evening to sample some top vintages.
Azamara has partnered with Cox & Kings, a leading luxury tour operator, to provide the local experiences.
The City Stays can be built into the cruise price. For example, an April 6 voyage from Lisbon to Barcelona with a three-day City Stay in Barcelona starts at $6,439, compared with a cruise-only fare for the seven-day cruise of $2,099.
A subsequent April 13 voyage from Barcelona to Monte Carlo for guests choosing an inside cabin with a three-night, pre-cruise City Stay in Barcelona is $6,339, compared with a cruise-only fare of $1,999.
Windstar’s Easy Stays program covers more cities but is focused on one-night pre- or post-cruise stops.
The program was designed in partnership with select hotels and destination-management companies to create a seamless cruise-hotel transfer package, Windstar said. Guests can select from hotels in more than 30 cities.
The package is commissionable at 5% and includes a hotel stay with breakfast, transfers between hotel and ship or ship and hotel, WiFi and a hospitality desk at most properties.
A sample Easy Stays price is $320 for a standard room next summer at the St. George Lycabettus in Athens, Windstar said.
Another Easy Stays program perk guarantees preferred category rooms and upgrades when available.
Easy Stays also offers hotels in some non-turn ports, such as the overwater bungalows of the Tahitian islands of Moorea and Bora Bora. These locations offer an enhanced on-land experience in a destination on a Windstar itinerary that’s not located at the beginning or end of the itinerary.
The packages add to the lengthy list of cruise lines that offer pre- and post-cruise stays. Holland America Line calls its version EXC City Stays, while Celebrity Cruises has Sea & Stay Packages and Cunard Line offers Cruise & Stay.
Crystal Cruises has four options for its Crystal Adventures: Classic, Classic Plus, Inclusive and Optional.
Many cruise lines suggest at least one night in a hotel pre-cruise if a long flight is required to get to the embarkation port.
Princess Cruises, for example, states on its website, “After arriving, many cruisers find themselves exhausted, and the first day of the cruise is often overshadowed with trying to catch up on rest.”
What’s more, if the flight is delayed or canceled, an early arrival provides a cushion to make the cruise.
Some Florida-based cruise lines have unique pre- and post-sailing programs. Disney Cruise Line has long packaged its short cruises from Port Canaveral with a three- or four-night stay at one of its themed resort hotels at Walt Disney World. Disney also has Adventures by Disney custom land packages on select European cruises.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line sails from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport, Bahamas, with two ships on alternating every-other-day schedules, enabling passengers to go to a resort without flying, stay for several days and catch whichever of the two ships is convenient to return to the U.S.
Source: travelweekly.com