welcome to wave season

We’ve been prepping for this for a while, but the first months of the year are known in the travel industry as “Wave Season” — when our cruise supplier partners typically offer their most generous promotions.

Before we get too far into this post, let’s just shatter your preconceived idea of what a cruise vacation is all about. If you want belly flop competitions by the pool, sure, we’ve got a supplier who does that. But we think our core clients — those looking for an authentic, immersive experience with a destination — would be surprised by how much a cruise has to offer.

Small Ships

Not all cruise ships are floating cities. And we find that our clients really love the smaller ships that go to smaller, less-frequented ports of call. These ships have really high staff-to-guest ratios, so the service is excellent. And because they’re not cooking for thousands and thousands of people, the food is frequently a step above what you’d find on a mega-ship.

We’re especially proud of our partnership with Windstar Cruises. We sailed with them last year in French Polynesia, and had a phenomenal experience. This year, we’ll be experiencing the authentic Caribbean on one of their luxury sailing yachts with tall sails — visiting some islands in the Grenadines where pretty much no other cruise line stops. And in the summer, we’ll be sailing with them through the Mediterranean from Rome to Barcelona; it’s a perfect itinerary to experience on a luxury yacht — The Italian, French and Spanish Rivieras, with a stop in Monaco (a new country for us!)

We also had a phenomenal experience sailing on Oceania’s small ship journey to Greece and Turkey last year. Oceania’s widely regarded to have the best cuisine at sea, and after experiencing it for ourselves — we’re not going to argue with that assessment. But again — if you think you can’t have an authentic experience with a destination on a cruise vacation — let us prove you wrong about that.

Scenic Cruising

Some parts of the world are best experienced from sea. If you want to experience the glaciers and small gold-rush towns of Alaska, you’re simply not going to be able to get there by land. Sure, you could fly to some of those towns but wouldn’t it be nicer to be able to experience the glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park from the verandah of your stateroom?

Or what about the fjords of Norway? Or Fjordland’s National Park in New Zealand? Fjords are stunning — from the water. If you’re on land, you just don’t have the same perspective to appreciate how incredible these landscapes are. For Norway, you simply can’t do better than a sailing on our preferred partner, Hurtigruten. They started doing the mail route along the Norwegian Coast, but over the years, they’ve become the premiere passenger cruise line for Norway — and beyond!

Or how about sailing the Panama Canal? We had the good fortune to experience the Panama Canal on Princess Cruises, and it totally changed the way we thought about cruise travel. Here’s a pro-tip — when you’re sailing on Princess, if you’ve got a day of scenic cruising, you can order a champagne balcony breakfast, for a slight additional charge. We did that on the day that we sailed through the canal, and as we were approaching the entrance to the first lock, we popped a split of bubbly, and feasted on quiche, crab legs, delicious pastries and fresh fruit and … well … it was spectacular.

Expeditions

We’ve already told you about Norwegian coastal cruises where you can cross the arctic circle — twice! but we have other partnerships with expedition cruise lines that make us really excited about experiencing polar regions. Aurora Expeditions offers the opportunity to snorkel or kayak in Antarctica.

You can also do an expedition in the Arctic, to experience the Northwest Passage, Svalbard, or the Faroe Islands.

But there are tropical expeditions, as well — our partners at Ponant would love to show you the Seychelles or Papua New Guinea.

And don’t forget the Galápagos! Last year we took a marine expedition to the Galápagos archipelago with a small private group, and we snorkeled with sea lions, walked among tortoises and saw some stunning landscapes. Our partners at G Adventures aren’t really a cruise line, but they do have some amazing marine itineraries on super small (no more than 14 passengers) yachts and catamarans.

River Cruises

If you watch a lot of PBS, you probably know a little bit about our friends at Viking River Cruises. But we have partnerships with many other river cruise companies, and each of them offers something exceptional and unique. With panoramic windows that turn your entire room into an open air balcony, to beds that face the window, to active and discovery itineraries, these itineraries are a great way to experience the waterways of Europe.

But there’s more to river cruising than the Rhine, Danube, Seine and Douro. How about a river cruise on the Nile, the Zambezi, or the Mekong? You’ll unpack once, and see a new destination each day of your trip on your floating boutique hotel.

No Kids? No Problem.

While some people might think that cruises are perfect for a family vacation, since they have something for everyone, we know that some of our clients would prefer not to have the little ankle-biters around on their vacation. If that’s your preference, maybe we should introduce you to Virgin Voyages.

Richard Branson’s new cruise line is adults-only, and that’s not the only way they’ve upended cruising. No buffets. No main dining room. Instead, you’ll find excellent restaurants on board —ranging from Korean barbeque to molecular gastronomy. And they’ve also got private karaoke rooms, drag queen bingo, and an app that delivers Moët Chandon to you anywhere on the ship, if you simply shake your phone.

Our Preferred Network

We’ve invested in some important relationships because of our affiliations with Uniglobe Travel Center and the Virtuoso Network. Those relationships give us the best pricing and exclusive amenities when you book your cruise vacation through Huckleberry Travel.

Our Cruise Partners

We’ve got a fabulous network of cruise partners in our preferred network. Just take a look:

Virtuoso Voyages

Through the Virtuoso Voyages program, travelers receive added benefits when they book through a Virtuoso travel advisor, on selected sailings. These perks include:

• Dedicated onboard hosts

• Private welcome reception

• Exclusive shore excursions, from VIP tours to outings with a private car and driver

• Shipboard credits and specialty dining options

Exclusive Amenities

Many of our cruise partners give our clients exclusive amenities, because of our preferred partnership. You may get onboard spending credits, VIP Boarding, free specialty dining, and much more. The amenities vary by cruise line and sailing date, but they’re exclusive to us — you won’t get those perks booking anywhere else.

Ready to Set Sail?

It’s Wave Season, so we’ve got some incredible promotions to tell you about. Each and every one of our partners is offering their best value of the year right now! We’re ready to match you up with the perfect sailing for your travel style and budget. Drop us a line to get us started!