This is a sponsored post for Holland America.
When you hear the words “luxury cruise”, it’s easy to picture enormous suites, private butlers and fares that require a fairly serious conversation with your bank account.
But some of the things that make a cruise feel luxurious have surprisingly little to do with how much you’ve paid.
For me, luxury is often more about having space, slowing things down and removing all those little decisions that can make a holiday feel unnecessarily busy. You can do that on almost any cruise, whether you’ve booked an inside cabin or one of the best suites onboard…
1. Choose the quieter version of the ship
Bigger and newer doesn’t automatically mean better – this is one of the best lessons to learn about cruising!
I love a big cruise ship with loads going on, but there’s something wonderfully luxurious about being able to find a comfortable chair without having to stalk someone who looks like they might be leaving soon.
So when you’re comparing cruises, look beyond the headline attractions. Think about how the ship actually uses its space, how many passengers it carries and whether there are plenty of lounges and quieter areas where you can escape from the busier parts of the ship.
Mid-sized ships can be really good for this. You still get plenty of restaurants, bars and entertainment, but you’re less likely to feel as though you’re spending your holiday navigating a floating theme park.
It’s one of the things I like about the style of Holland America ships. They’re perfectly sized, and designed around dining, live music, comfortable lounges and watching the world outside, rather than trying to cram another enormous attraction onto every spare patch of deck.
You don’t have to be on a small luxury ship to get that calmer feeling.
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2. Upgrade the moments you’ll remember, not everything
There are an almost unlimited number of ways to spend extra money on a cruise.
Better cabin. Spa pass. Speciality restaurants. Excursions. Art auction. Champagne. Cabana. Photos. The list goes on.
Trying to upgrade everything can turn a reasonably priced holiday into a very expensive one surprisingly quickly, so I’d rather choose one or two things that will genuinely make the cruise better.
Maybe that’s a really special dinner for your anniversary. Perhaps it’s a small-group excursion somewhere you’ve wanted to visit for years, or a spa treatment on a sea day.
You can happily eat in the included restaurants for the rest of the week and still remember that one evening where you dressed up and had an amazing meal.
Spending strategically often feels far more luxurious than buying every package available just because it’s there.
3. Have at least one meal where you really slow down
Cruise ships are brilliant at making food convenient. Sometimes too brilliant.
It’s very easy to grab breakfast from the buffet, lunch while you’re passing somewhere and then realise you’ve eaten three meals without properly sitting down for any of them.
Try doing the opposite at least once.
Have breakfast in the main dining room instead of rushing to the buffet. Order something you wouldn’t normally have at home, get another coffee and enjoy the fact that somebody else is bringing it to you.
Or book a speciality restaurant one evening and treat dinner as the evening’s entertainment rather than something you squeeze in before the show.
On Holland America, that could mean a steakhouse dinner at Pinnacle Grill or a more relaxed Italian meal at Canaletto. Both give you an excuse to slow everything down a little and make dinner feel like part of the occasion rather than just another meal onboard.
The food doesn’t necessarily have to be hugely expensive or exceptionally fancy. Having nowhere else you need to be for the next couple of hours makes a much bigger difference.
4. Use port days and sea days differently
This is one of my favourite tricks, particularly on ships with lots of facilities.
Most people follow roughly the same rhythm. On a sea day, everyone wants the pool, spa and best places around the ship. On a port day, everyone heads ashore. You don’t always have to follow them!
If you’ve visited a destination before, consider coming back to the ship early or even staying onboard. Suddenly that busy pool deck can be almost empty, spa appointments are easier to come by and you might have some of the nicest parts of the ship largely to yourself.
Then, on a busy sea day, you can do the things other people aren’t rushing towards. Find a quiet lounge, have a long lunch, go to a talk or sit somewhere with a book and an ocean view.
Having space around you is one of the things we associate most strongly with luxury, and sometimes the easiest way to get it is simply to be somewhere at a different time from everybody else.
5. Make your cabin feel less like somewhere you’re temporarily sleeping
I’m always happier once the suitcase is empty and pushed under the bed.
Even if you’re only onboard for a week, properly unpacking makes the cabin feel much more like your space rather than a hotel room you’ve just arrived in.
Clear away the clutter, find homes for chargers and paperwork and put the things you’ll use every day somewhere sensible. Small practical additions such as a night light or a good USB charger can make a surprising difference too.
And if you have a balcony, use it!
I see plenty of people pay hundreds of pounds more for a balcony cabin and then only step outside occasionally to check the weather.
Take a coffee out there in the morning. Sit outside while you’re sailing into port. Have a drink there before dinner.
You’ve already paid for one of the best seats on the ship, so you might as well enjoy it.
6. Find your own sailaway spot
The obvious place to watch sailaway is usually whichever top deck has the loudest music and the greatest concentration of people holding cocktails.
That can be great fun. But it isn’t always the best view.
Have a wander around the ship earlier in the day and find somewhere quieter. It might be an aft deck, an outside promenade, a lounge with enormous windows or simply your own balcony.
Then head there before departure.
Some of my favourite moments on cruises have been the quiet ones where there isn’t actually much happening. Watching a city disappear behind the ship with a drink in your hand is a pretty good example.
You don’t always need somebody with a microphone telling you that you’re having fun.
7. Sort out the things that matter before you board
There’s something distinctly un-luxurious about spending the first afternoon of your holiday queueing at a desk trying to book everything.
If there’s a restaurant you really want to try, an excursion you’d be gutted to miss or a treatment you definitely want on a particular sea day, sort it before you sail if bookings are available.
The same applies to packages.
I think one underrated part of an inclusive cruise package is simply not having to think about things once you’re onboard. When drinks, WiFi, some speciality dining and money towards excursions are already covered, you can get on with enjoying them rather than repeatedly asking yourself whether you really want to spend another $12.
I’ll give you a good example: Holland America’s Have It All fare. It bundles a Signature Beverage Package, Surf WiFi, speciality dining and shore excursion credit, with the amount of dining and excursion credit depending on the length of the cruise. On some sailings you can also get an early booking bonus to boost yourself a better drinks package and faster WiFi.
Of course, whether a package makes financial sense depends on how you cruise. But there’s another kind of value in not constantly thinking about what things cost.
Sometimes having fewer decisions to make is what makes it luxurious.
8. Look for upgrades that actually change your experience
Not every upgrade is created equal. Paying hundreds more for a slightly larger cabin might be completely worth it to you, but I’m often more interested in upgrades that change how the whole cruise works.
Priority check-in can remove a queue. Priority seating can make dinner easier. Concierge help means somebody else sorts something out when plans change.
Those little conveniences might not look particularly glamorous on a list of benefits, but you notice them every day.
Holland America is another good one to point to here – they have Club Orange. Benefits include priority check-in, priority access at Guest Services and the shore excursions desk, concierge services and enhanced dining benefits. On Pinnacle Class ships there’s also a separate Club Orange dining venue, while other ships offer priority main dining room seating and an expanded menu.
That’s the sort of upgrade I’d look at carefully because it isn’t just giving you another thing. It can make lots of little parts of the cruise easier.
And ease is a big part of what makes a holiday feel premium!
9. Give yourself permission to miss something
Cruise ships are dangerous places for anyone who suffers from FOMO.
There might be three activities you want to try before lunch, an afternoon quiz, sailaway drinks, dinner, a theatre show and live music afterwards. Then you look at tomorrow’s programme and somehow it’s even busier.
You don’t have to do all of it.
In fact, one of the easiest ways to make a cruise feel more luxurious is to stop treating it like a challenge where you need to extract maximum value from every waking minute.
Miss the quiz. Have a nap. Leave a show if you’re not enjoying it. Stay onboard in a port you’ve visited five times already and spend the afternoon reading.
I know it can feel wasteful when there’s so much included in the fare, but nobody gets a prize for completing the daily programme.
Having absolutely nothing you need to do for a couple of hours is rather luxurious when you think about it.
10. Choose a cruise where some of the luxury is already built in
Luxury means different things to different people.
For one person, it might be huge suites and formal dining. For someone else, it’s having excellent food, comfortable lounges, thoughtful service and enough space to properly relax.
That’s why choosing the right cruise line matters just as much as choosing the right cabin or itinerary.
Before booking, think about what actually makes a holiday feel special to you. If you love lively entertainment and lots of activities, a quieter ship may not feel luxurious at all. If you hate crowds and constant noise, the biggest ship with the longest list of attractions might leave you feeling exhausted.
The best cruise is the one where the atmosphere already suits the way you want to spend your time.
Get that decision right at the beginning, and you may find you need far fewer upgrades once you’re onboard.
Final Word
Making a cruise feel more luxurious doesn’t always mean spending a fortune.
Often, it’s the smaller things that make the biggest difference: choosing experiences you genuinely care about, avoiding unnecessary queues, finding quieter spaces and giving yourself permission to slow down.
It also helps to choose a cruise line where some of that more premium feeling is already built into the experience. That’s one reason Holland America can work so well for cruisers who value good food, thoughtful service and a more relaxed style of cruising, with options such as Have It All and Club Orange there if you want to take things a step further.
Because sometimes the most luxurious thing about a holiday isn’t having more. It’s having fewer things to worry about.
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Don’t miss the latest Holland America Line offers…
