A Mediterranean cruise doesn’t have to mean the Riviera coasts. There are fascinating places to visit along the African shore to the south. Smaller ports often have less tourist traffic and serve up new and exotic experiences. Ships may visit Tunisia and Morocco, as well as Corsica, Sardinia, and Malta. Western Mediterranean voyages can include Turkey, Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus, and Egypt

Northern Europe has its own attractions. Cruising the Baltic Sea on a Baltic capitals cruise lets you visit such ports-of-call as Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Estonia; Stockholm, Gdansk, Copenhagen, and Oslo. A Norwegian fjords cruise is a perfect way to see those spectacular fjords. It can be a thrifty alternative for food and lodging in often pricey Scandinavia.

When you think about voyaging in Europe, don’t forget the United Kingdom and Ireland. These islands aren’t of the sun and surf variety, but the cultural experience and shore excursions are fascinating.

Usually, mainstream lines stick to the most popular destinations. More exotic sailings may be offered by the premium and luxury lines. Smaller ships can often visit less common ports than mega-liners, being able to navigate shallower waters and dock at smaller piers.

So get started! Bring your sense of exploration and adventure to your travel agent and find a cruise that everyone hasn’t already done. One that scratches your particular itch.

Then contact TravelHaven to book your dream vacation.

Here’s an excerpt

“More than 20 million people will sail on cruises in 2012. Yet cruising remains one of the most widely misunderstood facets of the travel universe, disdained by many at the same time it is worshipped by many more. The truth lies in between.

“Myth No. 1: Cruising is expensive. Blame the movie “Titanic,” all that shimmering crystal, gold and brass, burnished mahogany staircases and bejeweled aristocrats. In real life, cruising runs the gamut from bargain to deluxe. Cruise advocates argue that a mainstream cruise offers the best overall value in the travel industry, an assertion hard to dispute.

“For instance, cruising the Caribbean aboard a 1,000-plus-passenger ship (Princess, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America, Carnival) averages between $120 and $250 a night for 2012, depending on the season, cabin (interior, view, balcony, etc.) and length. Remember that this is lodging, transportation, food and most onboard activities all rolled into one.

“If you really want a bargain, book an interior cabin: It’s even cheaper, there’s more room, and if you spend all your spare time exploring destinations or enjoying the ship, it won’t matter that you lack a window or deck.

“Myth No. 2: Cruising is not for “real travelers.” Veteran world travelers generally look down their noses at cruising. Aren’t the ships overrun with retirees who save all their nickels so they can spend five days bellying up to the buffet and don’t care whether they’re in Venice or Vegas? No, they’re not.

“Big-ship cruising on the classic Caribbean, Mediterranean, South American, South Pacific and Alaskan itineraries offers any traveler one immense strategic advantage: Your hotel room goes with you. Unpack once. Fly into the embarkation port, fly home from the debarkation port. As your floating hotel takes you from Barcelona to Monte Carlo to Rome to Greece to Venice, you can dine in the candlelit hush of the premium dining room, onshore at local restaurants or in the cafeteria. You can lounge by the pool drinking Bud or sign up for private limousine tours of the Parthenon. Ships accommodate both types of travelers.”

“I think it’s genius,” said Cynthia Boal Janssens, editor and chief blogger at AllThingsCruise.com. “I’m amazed with so many new ships coming on line that this hasn’t been done sooner. Lots of single people cruise and want to cruise, but right now, if you are going on a cruise as a single person and you occupy a double cabin, they charge you an additional fee, sometimes as much as 200 percent.”

Paul Motter, editor at CruiseMates.com, thinks the single studio “will take off. We have a whole message board on CruiseMates for people seeking cruise companions. It’s a huge potential market.”

Motter said another emerging trend in cruises is more brand-name entertainment. For years, mediocre musical revues with names like “Salute to Broadway” were standard fare on ships, to the point where they “kind of became a joke,” said Motter. In contrast, the Epic will feature Blue Man Group and Second City improv shows. Royal Caribbean’s megaship, Oasis of the Seas, which launched last fall, offers a full-scale production of “Hairspray.” This marks the first time a cruise ship has fully licensed a Broadway production, on par with a national touring company.

Oasis of the Seas was the most exciting ship of 2009, attracting enormous publicity as the largest cruise ship ever built. It carries 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members, with facilities that include an ice rink, golf course, volleyball and basketball courts, a 1,300-seat indoor theater and seven “neighborhoods,” including a boardwalk and a mini-Central Park. There is so much to do onboard that, when the ship pulls into a port, a lot of people don’t get off.

The cruise industry will launch a dozen new ships this year. Ships debuting in 2010 include a Royal Caribbean sister ship called Allure of the Seas, a new Queen Elizabeth from Cunard, and Celebrity Eclipse, the third in a series of Celebrity ships that started with the Celebrity Solstice in 2008 and the Celebrity Equinox in 2009.

Another long-term trend in cruising is the increase in family friendly programs and attractions. In the last 10 years, the median age of cruise passengers has dropped from 57 to 47, according to Bob Sharak, executive director of the Cruise Lines International Association.

“Multigenerational groups — the groups that bring adults, kids and grandkids — are bringing down the average age,” said Mimi Weisband, spokeswoman for Crystal Cruises. One thing younger passengers will love are the water parks on many new ships. Carnival Dream, which launched last year, has an aqua park called WaterWorks with a 300-foot-long water slide, the longest water slide at sea.

A new Disney ship, the Dream, launching a year from now in January 2011, will have a 765-foot-long water coaster, the AquaDuck, that will wrap around the perimeter of the ship’s top deck, with one loop jutting 13 feet over the side of the ship, 150 feet above the ocean. Other innovative features on the Disney Dream include virtual portholes for windowless staterooms that will offer live views of the sea and sky from video cameras mounted around the ship. The Dream will also have an adult lounge called Skyline with changing backdrops offering views of famous skylines around the world.

At the other end of the spectrum are small and medium-sized ships from lines like Silversea, Star Clippers and Crystal that may be especially appealing for older, more traditional travelers.

“They may not have all the razzle-dazzle, but there’s a lot of elegance with this type of cruising — lovely dinners and you meet so many well-traveled people,” Cynthia Boal Janssens of AllThingsCruise.com said, “They tend to be more luxurious, and you go to interesting places that the big ships can’t reach, where there aren’t 10,000 people in port.”

While megaships like Oasis may get the headlines, Janssens theorized that “people who like small ships are becoming even more loyal to them as big ships get bigger.”

[Information for this post was taken largely from a story by the Associated Press.]

What does this mean for consumers? “As the ship fills up, the prices go up,” said Paul Motter, editor at CruiseMates.com. “They give you the best prices six months to a year out, and at the very end, if there are still empty cabins, they discount them. The best way to get the best deal on a cruise is to book early. Almost all the cruise lines offer price guarantees, so if you see a price lower than what you booked, they will honor that.”

On the other hand, you can still find last-minute bargains in places where the market is “really soft,” according to Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com. She recommends bargain hunting in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, Turkey, and the Mexican Riviera.

Despite the slow economy, most lines used attractive pricing and active marketing to keep their heads above water. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said ships in 2009 sailed at 104 percent capacity on average, meaning that every room was occupied, and some rooms were shared by more than two people. At the same time, the number of passengers keeps increasing: 13.01 million people cruised on CLIA ships in 2008, 13.44 million in 2009 and a projected 14.3 million will sail in 2010.

One way U.S,-based cruises tried to keep their ships full to make up for slow growth in the North American market was by dramatically increasing the number of international passengers. The number of passengers from outside North America has doubled to more than 3 million a year since 2003, while the number of U.S. and Canadian passengers has increased by just 30 percent to 10.29 million.

“Maybe we are not recession-proof, but we are recession-resistant,” said Richard Sasso, CEO of MSC Cruises and marketing director of CLIA.

[Information for this post was taken largely from a story by the Associated Press.]

As a result of the strong booking volumes, a general price increase will be implemented effective March 22 for all summer sailings in June, July and August. From January 1 through February 21, 2010, bookings were at unprecedented levels for the line’s twenty-two ships which operate 3- to 15-day voyages from a variety of convenient North American home ports.

Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill said, “We’re seeing significantly increased volume as consumers are taking advantage of the incredible value that a Carnival cruise provides. And while pricing hasn’t fully recovered to 2008 levels, we are increasing prices and will implement an across-the-board increase effective March 22.” He said that the price increases will vary by departure date but will be up to 5 percent.
Cahill attributed the record booking activity to a wide range of factors, including strong travel agent partner support, targeted marketing initiatives, itinerary enhancements and the wide variety of close-to-home departure points.

Carnival Cruise Lines is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, with its “Fun Ships” operating voyages to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe.

Carnival also has two new ships on order — the 130,000-ton Carnival Magic, which is scheduled for delivery in 2011, and a sister ship set to debut in 2012.