Independent port guides, honest ship comparisons and cruise packing advice — from passengers, not cruise-line marketing departments.
About2Cruise was founded in 2004 by cruise expert Jo Pembroke and now publishes 600+ port guides, ship comparisons and cruise packing advice. Every region has a named expert who has actually sailed it — Mediterranean, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Polar, and no-fly cruises from the UK. The site is funded by affiliate commissions from GetYourGuide and Amazon Associates, takes no paid placements from cruise lines, and publishes honest assessments — including what the brochures leave out.
The six things people actually want to know before they book, with answers we wish someone had given us the first time.
The brochure price rarely reflects the final total. Expect to add daily gratuities, drinks or speciality dining packages, shore excursions, Wi-Fi, spa treatments and transfers. A realistic all-in total is usually 40–60% above the headline fare on a mainstream line.
Use the budget calculatorIt depends on the line. Virgin Voyages has no formal nights. Royal Caribbean and NCL use smart casual with optional dress-up evenings. Cunard, Celebrity and Princess still run formal or elegant nights where a jacket or cocktail dress is expected. Check your line’s current code before packing.
Formal night outfitsOnly if you genuinely drink the volume required to break even. On most mainstream lines, a premium package needs roughly five to six alcoholic drinks per day to pay off. Light drinkers almost always lose money. Port-heavy itineraries reduce value further. Calculate, don’t guess.
Run the mathsMost mainstream lines charge daily gratuities automatically, split between cabin stewards, dining staff and crew. You can adjust these at guest services if service has genuinely failed, but removing them routinely harms the crew more than the company. Extra cash tips for standout service are welcomed.
Full tipping guideThe single supplement is real, but it’s not universal. Norwegian, MSC, Cunard and others now run studio cabins and single-supplement-free promotions. Solo-designed cabins on newer ships often price close to the per-person double rate. Timing and line choice matter more than luck.
Solo cruise guideDon’t start with the ship. Start with where you want to go, how long you can sail, and whether you want to fly to your port or leave from the UK. The right cruise line falls out of those three answers; the wrong one falls out of scrolling Instagram.
First-time cruise guidePort days, cruise-line comparisons and packing — three areas, each with guides that skip the obvious and get to what actually matters.
Which shuttle is worth it, which excursion is a rip-off, and what cruise lines never bother to tell you before you dock — from Santorini to Skagway.
Browse cruise tipsRoyal Caribbean, Cunard, Princess, Virgin Voyages, MSC, NCL and the rest — compared for how you actually cruise, not how the brochure says you should.
Compare cruise linesWhat works on a ship, what wastes space in your cabin wardrobe, and what formal night actually requires — for every cruise line and climate.
See outfit guidesPort days, outfits and ships — the questions people search for before they board. Chosen because they answer things cruise lines gloss over, not because they went up last week.
Outfits
Sea days, port days, Captain’s dinner and everywhere in between — specific outfits that actually work on a ship.
Caribbean
Which beaches are worth the journey from each Jamaica port, which to avoid, and how to get there without paying over the odds.
Mediterranean
How to beat the crowds off the ship, which parts of the old town are worth your time, and the thing most visitors miss.
Outfits
Real outfit ideas for plus-size women covering every occasion on board — casual, port days, smart casual and formal nights.
Mediterranean
Where to go, what to eat and how far you can realistically get from the port — including the street food market most itineraries skip.
Ships
Every water slide on Icon of the Seas — thrill levels, wait times, age restrictions and which deliver versus which look better in the brochure.
If you’re going to trust us on where to eat in Palermo or which drinks package to skip, you should know how the content actually gets made.
Every port guide and ship article is written by someone who has either sailed the route, walked the port, or reviewed the ship in person. When a guide is based on secondary research, we say so.
Cruise lines don’t pay us to be featured, recommended or reviewed favourably. Revenue comes from affiliate commissions on shore excursions (GetYourGuide) and cruise gear (Amazon) — paid by the merchant, not the reader.
If a cruise line has cut something, a ship has a flaw, or a port is a tourist trap, we say so. We’d rather lose a commission than publish content that doesn’t match our actual experience.
Cruise itineraries, port logistics, dress codes and pricing structures change. We review featured guides on a rolling cycle and update when the facts shift — dress codes, itinerary changes, new ships, closed venues.
Five cruise specialists. One editorial voice. Every guide on About2Cruise carries a named author who has actually sailed the region they’re writing about — Mediterranean, Polar, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific and UK no-fly.
Jo founded About2Cruise in 2004 as a traditional travel agency and rebuilt it as an independent cruise guide. She’s sailed 150+ cruises across six continents, from mass-market Caribbean ships to luxury Antarctic expeditions, with particular expertise in no-fly cruises from Southampton, Dover, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Newcastle and Leith.
Sailing the Mediterranean since 2004. Known for calling out overpriced tourist-trap ports and finding genuine local food.
UK-based polar specialist. Kayaked Greenland’s ice fields, sailed the Northwest Passage, camped on sea ice.
Fluent Spanish, conversational French Creole. Specialises in shore-excursion value and tender-port logistics.
Miami-based, Parsons School of Design graduate. Covers cruise wardrobes, formal-night dress codes and carry-on packing.
About2Cruise exists because the gap between cruise brochures and cruise reality is wide enough to ruin a holiday. Every port guide, ship comparison and outfit recommendation on this site comes from Jo, Patricia, Jasmine, Sofia or Zoe — five named cruise specialists who’ve actually been there. We don’t work for cruise lines. We don’t take paid placements. When something deserves to be called out, we call it out.
More about the team
