Cruise guidebooks: one or more of these handbooks may just be your ticket to cruise bliss

Cruise Travel, May-June, 2004 by Randy Mink

Whether you're an armchair traveler or need to arm yourself with ideas for your next fling at sea, it's fun to curl up with a good book on cruise vacations. Guides tend to target the newcomer to cruising, but even the connoisseur can pick up valuable tips from the experts. The following titles, just a sampling of the many guides out there, will make welcome additions to your travel library:

Ocean Cruising & Cruise Ships 2004 by Douglas Ward (Berlitz Publishing, www.berlitzpublishing.com, 688 pages, $23.95). Now in its 19th year, this is often considered the definitive guide to cruise vacations, providing bow-to-stern examinations of every ship on today's seas. A handy reference for the cruise aficionado, it's sprinkled with color and black-and-white photos.

In alphabetical order, Ward evaluates 256 vessels, awarding them one to five stars and assigning points in categories like food, entertainment, and service. For the fourth year running, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' Europa scored the most points--1,857 out of a possible 2,000--prompting Ward to create a new class for her--Five-Stars Plus. Only 24 ships earned Five Stars.

The author, president of the Maritime Evaluations Group in England, spends 250 days a year inspecting ship facilities. His blunt, yet sophisticated commentary is an exciting journey in itself. According to The Times Of London, Ward is "the most feared critic in the business."

Official Know-It-All Guide To Cruises: How To Sail In Style For Less by Georgina Cruz (Frederick Fell Publishers, www.fellpub.com, 256 pages, $16.95). Armed with the friendly advice of this cruise expert, anyone can become an instant insider. Cruz--yes, that's her real name--guides you every step of the way in choosing the right cruise vacation, spelling things out in a clear, affable style.

She comes across as just the kind of person you would want to travel with, not a smarmy know-it-all (despite the title of Fell's guidebook series). While providing tons of examples based on her experiences, Cruz avoids burdening the reader with her personal experiences.

In the introduction, she writes: "There was no train American poetess Edna St. Vincent Millay would not take; with me there is no ship I would not take--and it's beginning to feel like there's no ship I have not taken. With 100 voyages under my belt, I know ships and have a love of everything nautical--in fact, mine is an affection as strong as that one affords to relatives and some friends...."

One chapter sums up the character of the major cruise lines, with headings like "Who's Sharing It With You" (the clientele) and "Whatever You Do, Don't Miss...." individual ships are not profiled. Another chapter looks at cruising regions. Each chapter ends with "Test The Water Tips" and "insider's Savings Insights." Sample itineraries, menus, and activity schedules are provided in this easy-to-read, wide-format guide illustrated with a few black-and-white photos.

100 Best Cruise Vacations by Theodore W. Scull (Globe Pequot Press, www.globepequot.com, 245 pages, $17.95). Whether you're dreaming of island-hopping in Greece or taking a riverboat from St. Louis to St. Paul, this book covers oceans of possibilities. Subtitled "The Top Cruises Throughout The World For All Interests And Budgets," the guide, illustrated with color and black-and-white photography, is divided into regions, the most choices being in North America and Europe.

Scull, one of the most prolific and astute cruise writers, spotlights the itinerary of a particular ship, describing ports-of-call and onboard amenities in two or three pages. Vessels range from the latest megaliners to tall sailing ships and old-fashioned paddlewheelers. Exotic destinations include Antarctica, Egypt's Nile Valley, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, and the island of St. Helena, a remote British South Atlantic territory 1,200 miles off the coast of Africa. Trans-Atlantic crossings and around-the-world cruises are featured, too.

Ideal for the armchair traveler, the guide also has plenty of practical information for planning each of the 100 trips. The appendix groups the ships into "Types Of Cruises," listing them under headings like "Cruising With Children," "Honeymooners And Romantics," and "Super Luxury."

Happy Sails: The Carefree Cruiser's Handbook by Pam Kane (Beagle Bay Books, www.beaglebay.com, 172 pages, $14.95). Filled with humorous anecdotes, this book focuses on what happens aboard ship, much of written it in a breezy question-and-answer format. In her "Fashion Police" chapter, Kane discusses how much underwear to bring and responds wittily to questions like, "How will I know what other women are going to wear?"

She also offers advice on packing, tipping, shopping, and touring in foreign ports, and how to enjoy all that great food without gaining pounds. She addresses the concerns of disabled travelers and parents traveling with young children. There are no photos, but the narrative--short, punchy sentences--is broken up with boxed items highlighting travel tips and firsthand experiences.