Until cruising resumes in a few months, there are ways to feed your longing for the cruise experience. From podcasts & virtual ship tours, to TV shows & recreating your favorite cruise dish or cocktail, a taste of cruising is at your fingertips!
Here are some of our favorite ideas to satisfy your cruise cravings at home. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them.
Virtual & Online Options
To combat the temporary suspension of cruises, many cruise lines want to keep in touch with & entertain their loyal guests, so they have launched virtual cruise experiences.
Take a virtual ship tour! Wondering what the newest ships from your favorite cruise lines have to offer? Log into YouTube, or check out your favorite cruise line’s website to see their latest videos.
Crystal Cruises designed a program to bring entertainment & enrichment into your home. Via weekly live streaming, Crystal@Home is a series of live events including chats on their social media channels, podcasts, performances & lecture series. Each day has a theme. For example on Sundays they have a live cooking demo with chef Jon Ashton via Facebook Live, Wellness Wednesdays are dedicated to wellness tips & workouts and Sail Away Saturdays invite guests to share short videos & images from previous Crystal Cruises using the hashtag #Crystal Family
Through the Hal@Home series, Holland America Cruises is offering cooking videos, special @HOME performances by musicians from their Lincoln Center Stage onboard live music experience & educational videos.
Buy Some New Bedding
Did you know you could purchase bedding collections from some of your favorite cruise lines? I’ve sailed on 14 different cruise lines, and the best bed in my opinion was on Oceania Cruises. It was like sleeping on a fluffy cloud! A close second was Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival, Princess & Holland America Cruises all have online stores with their bedding collections.
Make Towel Animals
Why not create some of those cute towels animals? There are plenty of videos & classes online as well as how-to books can bring the craft home so you can hang a monkey from the ceiling and have it wear your sunglasses.
Catch A Performance
Missing the live entertainment onboard a cruise? You can sign up for a 1 week free trail of BroadwayHD, or stream performances from the Metropolitan Opera at MetOpera.org. Viator is now offering a variety of virtual experiences as part of its #RoamFromHome program, that includes the 2020 season of the Sydney Opera House, flamenco shows in Madrid, concerts at the Grand Ole Opry. There are over 100 virtual experiences, most are free, but some do charge a fee.
Watch a cruise-themed episode, series or movie
High Seas (Alta Mar)
Initially released in Spanish, there are 2 seasons available on Netflix that have been dubbed over in English. Set in the 1940’s, this series gives you a sense of cruising back in the 1940’s combined with a mystery.
Love Boat
This popular show aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986. It was set on a luxury passenger cruise ship, the S.S. Pacific Princess. You can catch watch them on YouTube or MeTV.
Mighty Cruise Ships
The Smithsonian Channel features the world’s mightiest, most remarkable cruise ships. Recent episodes include the MSC Divina, Ocean Endeavor, Royal Clipper, Carnival Vista, the Viking Sea and the Europa 2. You can access the Smithsonian Channel on several platforms including Direct TV, Hulu & YouTube TV.
Avenue Five
This new show featured on HBO is a different take on cruising. Join actor Hugh Laurie as he captains a luxury cruise space ship 40 years into the future.
There are several old classic movies that feature a cruise ship including An Affair to Remember (1957,) Romance on the High Seas (1948) and Royal Wedding (1951.)
My all time favorite movie featuring a cruise ship is Out to Sea (1997) staring Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau. Ship scenes were filmed on the Holland America Westerdam cruise ship.
You can also catch a glimpse of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 & the interior of the Queen Mary which no longer sails in the 1998 remake of the movie Parent Trap.
Other films include Jack & Jill starring Adam Sandler & Katie Holmes which has scenes filmed onboard the Allure of the Seas, and the 2011 Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked has a few shots of the Carnival Dream. The most recent movie is Like Father starring Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen & Kelsey Grammar which features the Harmony of the Seas cruise ship.
Remind yourself what day it is
We all miss the days of the week on the floors of the elevators. Why not set up your own floor or wall signs for the 7 days of the week? Kids seem to really enjoy participating in making the signs.
Dinner & Cocktails
Over the years we have gotten so many requests for popular cruise line dishes & desserts, as well as popular cruise line cocktails. Why not make them at home? We have hundreds of cruise line recipes you can try.
The most popular requests over the years have been the following:
Carnival Cruise Line Soup Recipes
Best Princess Cruise Line Recipes
Celebrity Cruise Line Recipes
Princess Cruises Love Boat Dream Dessert Recipe
Holland America Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake Recipe
Carnival Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
Prefer cocktails over food? We have lots of those as well! Perhaps a drink of the day is in order?
NCL Cruise Line Cocktail Recipes
Popular Cruise Line Drink Recipes
Mothers Day Cruise Line Cocktail Recipes
Popular Carnival Cruise Drink Recipes
