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.