For most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are shorter and it’s cold and will get colder and many of us just don’t appreciate this! We long for the lazy days of summer and not having to bundle ourselves up with clothes to keep ourselves warm, eating outdoors. Yes summer is great and often winter just sucks.

Right now Christmas is around the corner and for many of us this means enormous stress – getting the absolutely perfect present for everyone in your family, for your friends, work colleagues and for your partner and don’t forget all the children. Then there’s the wrapping, the countless hours spent shopping in the cold, the stress of spending money you might not be able to afford and you won’t know if the presents are great until the 25th! Up until then you have to clean your house from top to bottom, bake cookies and other festive fare. Make sure there’s enough eggnog and/or alcoholic drinks at home for people who pop by. Putting out the lights outside, decorating the inside and putting up the tree. Writing all those Christmas cards. If you are hosting the Christmas dinner, you go through all of the above for food and then hope the turkey won’t be overdone/underdone and that everyone has enough to eat, etc. etc. Enough.

Wouldn’t it be just great to be able to get away from Christmas for just one year? A cruise is the perfect Christmas vacation. You even get to go somewhere nice and warm. You stay in a lovely room with its own bathroom (many of us don’t have this luxury at home), enjoy great meals you don’t have to prepare, party, dance, swim, enjoy cocktails, etc. etc. Not only that you get to visit faraway places (usually islands in the Tropics). Yes, it can be a completely different world.

Some families actually spend their Christmas holidays together cruising. Yes it’s expensive but it is a vacation and if you are smart, you have missed out on all the other activities to prepare for Christmas mentioned above. Your friends and other loved ones understand instinctively that this year there’s no exchange of gifts as you will be away. How cool is that? If you do decide to go shopping – how much nicer is it to check out local stores on a Caribbean island for small gifts or souvenirs to bring home and share with loved ones? Then your friends and family might be lucky and get a ‘sunshine’ gift which will make them think of summer, sun and vacations too.

If this is your plan, then there is a way to get the very best out of your cruise – really whatever time of year you choose to sail. It’s an e-book called the Intelligent Cruiser and is written by a former cruise ship’s officer. In it you will find lots of tips and tricks to help you enjoy your vacation.