There was a time when cruising was considered a pleasure for the older generation – a kind of golden retirement privilege. But in recent years, this image has changed radically. Cruises have become a real hype and are becoming increasingly popular, especially among young people. But what triggered this sudden surge in popularity?

Advantages of cruising: More than just a holiday

One of the main reasons for the growing popularity of cruises is the unique combination of adventure, recreation and discovery. On a single trip, passengers can experience different cities, cultures and landscapes without having to constantly pack their bags.

In addition, modern cruise ships offer an impressive range of amenities and entertainment options: from pools, spas, and fitness centers to theater performances, cinemas, and nightclubs. This means that the ship itself becomes a central part of the experience.

Affordability: Luxury doesn’t always have to be expensive

One of the myths that surrounds cruises is that they are prohibitively expensive. But in reality, they have become more accessible and cheaper. Many cruise lines offer cruise bargains, early-bird discounts, and all-inclusive options that cover the entire vacation, including accommodation, food, entertainment, and often even excursions.

Popular Routes: A Kaleidoscope of Experiences

The world of cruises offers an impressive variety of itineraries. Some of the most popular routes for young travellers are:

• The Mediterranean Sea: A tour that connects cities such as Barcelona, Rome, Athens and Dubrovnik.
• The Caribbean: Gorgeous beaches, vibrant cultures and fascinating history.
• Northern Europe: The impressive fjords of Norway, the cultural highlights of St. Petersburg and the mysterious Iceland.

These routes offer a perfect mix of relaxation, adventure and cultural experience.

Life on a cruise ship: A city at sea

A modern cruise ship is like a floating city. There are restaurants that offer everything from fast food to gourmet, shopping, entertainment areas and relaxation areas. There are also plenty of activities to keep passengers busy – from cooking classes to yoga sessions and dance workshops.

What should you pay attention to?

As with any form of travel, there are a few things to look out for when it comes to cruises :

• Choose the right shipping company and the right ship: Not all ships are created equal. Some are quieter and more intimate, others are huge resort ships with tons of activities.
• Plan your shore excursions in advance: Often, you can save money and avoid the crowds by planning your own tours instead of booking the airline’s official excursions.
• Watch out for hidden costs: Some cruises look cheap at first glance, but the cost can add up quickly if you have to pay extra for drinks, internet, or special activities.
• Find out about safety and health precautions: Make sure you have all the necessary vaccinations and know the safety rules on board.

The allure of the sea: Why cruises are so fascinating

After all, it is the experience of the sea itself that attracts many young people to cruises. The soothing sound of the waves, the endless horizon and the possibility of waking up to a new port every morning make cruising a magical experience.

Watching the world from a deck as the sun sets and the ship gently rocks on the waves is a feeling that’s hard to put into words. It is this mixture of adventure, tranquility and constant discovery that has made cruises one of the most sought-after forms of vacation for young people.

Result

At a time when travel can often be stressful and hectic, cruises offer a welcome change. They combine the best of traditional holidays and modern luxury, creating an experience that is both refreshing and enriching. It is no wonder that they are becoming increasingly popular among young people. It remains to be seen what new developments and innovations the future holds for this booming form of travel.

In this day and age, planning and booking a holiday has never been easier. With a few clicks, you can explore destinations, compare prices, and make reservations. However, the number of holiday scams is also increasing.

Unscrupulous individuals and organized scam gangs have found creative ways to exploit unsuspecting tourists. But there are ways you can protect yourself against it.

Possible travel scams and how to protect yourself against them

Fake booking websites

One of the most common forms of digital travel fraud is the creation of fake booking websites. These sites mimic real travel booking platforms, making it difficult for unsuspecting travelers to recognize them as fake.

Cybercriminals often lure their victims with attractive offers, heavily discounted prices, and tempting vacation packages. They manipulate you to the point that you make a payment, but do not deliver the promised reservations or accommodations; in the end, you are left without accommodation and without money.

To protect yourself, always check the authenticity of a website by clicking on secure connections (HTTPS; key symbol in front of the URL in the address bar). If it is a website that is previously unknown to you, read reviews beforehand and make sure that the website is affiliated with reputable travel associations or organizations .

In addition, you can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), as some providers have integrated the function of warning you about malicious websites and blocking them.

In addition, you can send your IP address with an online VPN and your data encrypted through a VPN tunnel. A VPN is therefore a good, universal tool for more privacy and security on the net.

Phishing and identity theft

Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals to obtain personal information such as credit card details and other sensitive data.

In the context of travel fraud, the cybercriminals can send emails or SMS pretending to be from well-known airlines, hotels, or travel agencies. These messages often ask users to update their personal information or make an immediate payment to secure their bookings.

If you become a victim of such an attack, it can lead to identity theft and financial losses.

Therefore, never open links or attachments in email or SMS that come from an unknown sender. Even with supposedly known senders, you should be extremely careful and, if in doubt, contact the company or person and find out whether the message is authentic.

Holiday rental scams

The advent of platforms like Airbnb, which connect travelers with vacation rental homeowners, has opened up new opportunities for scammers. Fraudulent advertisements, fake photos and non-existent accommodations are now the order of the day.

Unsuspecting travelers book these accommodations, only to find out at their destination that they have been scammed. Some scammers even pretend to be owners and demand advance payments.

How to protect yourself: Use reputable rental platforms with reliable verification procedures and user reviews. Avoid upfront payments in the sense of bank transfers or payments outside of a platform, and be wary of offers that seem too good to be true.

If in doubt, communicate directly with the owners or managers, ask for additional photos or information, and verify the existence of the property through independent sources.

Social media scams

Cybercriminals create fake social media accounts and lure users with dreamy vacation photos and enticing promotional offers. They require prepayment for exclusive offers or holiday packages and disappear once payment is made.

In addition, social media is also used to collect personal information about people’s travel plans, which can then be used for targeted scams or break-ins.

Research and verify the authenticity of social media accounts before engaging with them. Be careful when it comes to sharing detailed travel plans or personal information about yourself publicly.

We all need vacation at some point. Time out from the stress of everyday life, from the office and the hustle and bustle that surrounds us everywhere every day. And by everyone we really mean everyone: singles, couples and families with children. But not always the planning of the trip or the trip itself is crowned by relaxation. Usually, however, the stress does not start at the destination, but some time before: At home while planning your trip!

Here are some tips on how to get to your well-deserved holiday relaxed (and not ready for a holiday!).

Tip 1: Finding the right destination

Many people mean many different opinions and this can also be the case within the family. If you already know (your) holiday destination: wonderful, then nothing can go wrong!

But often we have no idea where our next (hopefully relaxing) vacation will take us. When choosing a destination, good advice can sometimes be quite expensive. Therefore, the following must first be explored:

What should our holiday look like?

Even if you don’t know a specific destination, you can weigh up in advance what kind of holiday it should be: do you want to spend a beach holiday by the sea, in a nice resort or apartment? Or should it be an active holiday in the mountains, where you can see and experience as much as possible? Or is the family drawn inland for sightseeing in different cities? Once this first hurdle has been cleared, then further planning will (almost) take place.

Another important question is:

How long can the arrival time be?

This question alone narrows down the potential travel destination very narrowly. If the travel hours do not matter, you are flexible and can consider distant places. But if you only want to be on the road for a certain maximum number of hours, it becomes more difficult. It is still important to consider: why travel far away when the good is so close?

Closely linked to the question of travel time is also this one:

How do you want to travel?

Do you want to go on holiday with your own car and be as flexible as possible on site or would you prefer to reach your destination by train or plane in a more relaxed way? When choosing the means of travel, you should always keep the needs of all travelers in mind, especially for families with children, either nerves can be extremely tense or a relaxed start to the vacation can take place.

Tip 2: Well packed is half the battle!

Once the destination is set, half the battle is already done. Now it’s time to adapt the luggage to the destination and the travel time. Various packing lists on the Internet can help here and significantly shorten the preparation time. But not only should you think about the right clothing, but also about the healthiest possible travel food for the whole family.

Tip 3: Plan (and book) joint activities on site

But not only the luggage should be well thought out and organized. A lot of stress can also be taken out of the destination itself if some destinations, for example sights in cities or attractive offers especially for families, etc., are planned before arrival and the tickets for them are booked in advance. So you can not only start your vacation free and drive to a foreign city without pressure, but usually you can also find the best combination offers of tickets for sights and public transport online. In Rome, for example, you can use the Rome Pass , it is definitely worth making an online comparison to see which ticket is best suited for the family.

Another valuable tip (especially for families with children):

When planning excursions, you should always have an alternative ready in case the weather conditions change unexpectedly.

Tip 4: Nothing is a must, everything is possible!

At home you are tense and constantly under pressure. This is not only due to the many to-do’s that you have and also burden yourself with – from household to family to work – but also to the constant accessibility that the age of information technology has given us. Yes, a smartphone can be a blessing and a curse at the same time, because no matter where you are, you can be found anywhere and thus contacted. But not only that: you yourself also very easily fall into the comparison trap! Quickly check the social media channels and you will see many beautiful pictures of fantastic vacation spots or accommodations of friends or just people you follow, and start drawing comparisons to your own life – usually these are not positive. In order to avoid all this and rule out another stress factor, you should actually do one thing on vacation: put your smartphone aside, turn it off and don’t let social media and other messages get carried away by comparisons of your own life with those of others. Just enjoy the newfound (smartphone-free) family time and get to know each other much better on a different and new level. Not only the psyche, but also your children will be grateful if you don’t constantly look at the small screen, but devote your full attention to them.

If you follow these tips, nothing stands in the way of a relaxing holiday with the whole family. We wish you a safe journey!

If you want to see as much as possible on your holiday, you have to choose a route that includes many destinations. Most travelers then resort to one of many offered boat trips, as it allows you to travel comfortably from one place to the next without changing the means of travel. But such a ship is not always affordable or a ship can reach destinations that you have chosen yourself. You are bound to fixed routes. If you want to be free on your travels, it’s best to plan your trip yourself from scratch. This is how the most beautiful and adventurous breaks from everyday life succeed!

Tips for stress-free travel planning

How to plan a trip also needs to be learned or well organized. Because spontaneous bookings or ideas don’t always help to design the perfect trip. We have collected tips here that are guaranteed to help you plan your trip stress-free.

Tip 1: What are the expectations of the trip?

To find out where you want to go, you should first decide for yourself what you expect from the trip. Do you want to spend a beach holiday by the sea, lie in the sun for many hours and just make yourself comfortable with a cocktail or a good book or do you expect many sights, maybe even adventure, definitely action and wanderlust? Depending on the personal expectations attached to a trip, the destination must also be chosen. Let’s continue with the journey itself: if you travel alone, by what means do you want to travel, how many hours do you want to be on the road (at the most), etc. All these questions can help to narrow down potential travel destinations.

Tip 2: Is there a specific date for the trip?

If it is clear from the beginning in which period (and at what time of year) you want to travel, a destination is also quite easy to identify. Going to a winter destination in winter that offers special ski resorts or going to a country in the summer months where it is not exactly over 40 degrees makes the destinations narrow down here as well.

If there is no specific date for the trip, you should consider a few things:

When is the best time to travel?

There is always a high season and a low season. The high season or high season for travel is usually during the holiday months and is therefore easy to determine. The low season is outside of this. Depending on how high the budget is, you can also switch from the high season to the low season (this is especially advisable if you don’t have school-age children or you don’t want to travel to crowded resorts).

Which season suits best?

Depending on which country you want to travel to, you also have to consider the different seasons, because it is not always summer there when it is summer in Germany .

Tip 3: What do I want to experience and what can I book in advance?

Of course, you can see what you want to do on site, but you can also save yourself this (precious) vacation time and do the necessary research from home with the help of tourist information offices of the respective country, travel guides or even travel blogs. Tickets for attractions are booked quickly and usually land digitally on the mobile phone. Not only sights, but also tickets for transport options at the destination can be booked from home. For example, if you travel to Barcelona, you can save money there with the Barcelona Card (an online comparison of which card is best suited to your own needs is worthwhile!).

It is also helpful to obtain information from the Foreign Office, because there are not only travel warnings, but also whether entry is subject to certain regulations.

Tip 4: Is your decision the right one for you?

This step is one of the most important and therefore also essential for travel planning: Information has been obtained, sights have been researched and the right dates have been found, but is this destination really what I want to visit now? Here it is important to think about it again carefully. If not, you start again at 0. If the decision fits, it’s time for the next step!

Tip 5: Book the trip and fix everything!

The trip is complete with the booking, so you choose carefully whether you determine the itinerary yourself and thus remain spontaneous or whether you hand over the planning to a travel agency. If you decide on the first option, you should always consult comparison portals when booking accommodation (or ask the accommodation itself) – there are usually price differences that you can take advantage of. Sights and maps for public transport can also be booked in advance and printed out or carried in digital form (please pay attention to what is recognised in the respective country).

Tip 6: You can’t do without a travel checklist!

When everything is booked and the trip is ready, the rest is actually just a formality: tackle the checklists and tick everything off one after the other.

There are many packing lists for the respective destinations or types, here you can carefully choose what you need yourself and what you don’t. Especially when traveling abroad , some regulations, such as the right travel document (visa or passport) and also the correct health care should be observed.

Safe travels!

If all our tips and tricks are followed, the planned trip can only become a good trip. We wish you a relaxing and stress-free holiday!