Travel & Holidays in later life

You don't have to wait for a winning lottery ticket before considering a cruise. Obviously there's a Rolls Royce end of the market, with luxury world cruises for millionaires. But around the Mediterranean there is great choice inside the £1,000 bracket.

When it's off season for Med cruising, it should be high season for thinking about it. You can pick up brochures from a local travel agent - preferably one who specialises in cruising - and spend many happy hours in deciding which to buy.

Most of the shipping lines offer early-bird discounts or up-grades. There are also 'special offers' just before sailing when the company gets rid of any left-overs. So it's worth shopping around early to get exactly the cruise and cabin you want. 

Cruising follows a "hotel-ship" concept. From the viewpoint of public rooms and shipboard facilities, all passengers are equal. But in cabin accommodation, passengers can pay to be more equal than others, according to their budget. 

There is a full price-range of cabins from luxury suites with splendid sea views through wide plate-glass windows, down to four-berth inside cabins for nimble midgets.

Look on Med cruising as something like coach-touring based from a floating hotel. 

Instead of boring motorway travel between the staging-points of an itinerary, ships can sail mainly overnight from port to port, while passengers eat, drink, dance, gamble, listen to lectures, have fun and sleep.

Every port-of-call is an opportunity to just go ashore and wander around yourself, or to buy optional excursions sold by the cruise line.

Of course the brochures give a few paragraphs to the possibilities. But more complete details (and the prices) of excursions are often left until the hard-sell talks on board. 

The "Insight Guide: Mediterranean Cruises" is one of the best guide books for anyone thinking of embarking on a cruise round the Med.

Basically it's a 380-page work of reference for the 200 ports of call served by around 50 Mediterranean cruise companies that operate over 100 ships. It gives an overview of every port served by the competing operators, and covers all the potential shore excursions available at each destination.

The book also features the 'Western Approaches' - Portugal, Canaries, Madeira, Morocco and Gibraltar.

Consider Insight's treatment of a major port like Nice. There's a general introduction, with description of the dockside arrival and a comment that cruise ships normally dock for a full day. 

Good sightseeing, eating and shopping is within walking distance. Famed art galleries are easily reached by taxi, and sandy beaches are decorated with topless sun-worshippers.

Many of the other regional highlights like Villefranche, Monte Carlo, Menton and Cannes can be reached by train or bus. The book tells you how to explore independently if you don't want to sit back on a guided coach excursion.

Effectively the Insight guidebook promotes Med cruising in general. It moves away from the assumption that all cruise passengers want the same experience, and highlights the wide choice available. 

The opening chapters focus on the joys of cruising in far more detail than in the traditional glossy sales brochures. The dozen main contributors are well-known experts in their specialist cruise subjects. 

Generally there's a universal move towards catering for a younger clientele, in contrast to voyaging aboard the traditional old-time vessels which offered deck-chair relaxation as their main selling point.

The leisured middle-aged and elderly remain faithful customers for longer voyages, and for round trips from British ports. But younger travellers prefer the more crowded fly-cruise itineraries with new excitement and sightseeing at a different port each day. 

Shipboard entertainments are highly varied. All styles of dancing are on offer, besides movies, tombola and quizzes, deck tournaments, fancy dress and gala nights, cocktail parties, cabaret shows, and an introductory party for passengers travelling alone. There's no problem with drinking and driving while the ship sails on to next morning's port of call.

There is normally plenty of action for Junior Mariners, who have their own "club", complete with badge and maybe the chance of meeting the Captain. 

Cruise-ship food tends to be lavish, and weight-watchers have to keep a tight grip on themselves. Often there are two sittings for main meals. If you prefer a leisured eating style, choose the second sitting.

Likewise every other shipping line in the market is upgrading and polishing its cruising package. It's certainly worth checking all the delights on offer.

'Cruise and stay' is very popular - charter flights out and back, with perhaps a seven-day cruise combined  with a week ashore. Thomson Holidays, for instance, offers varied-length hotel deals near their Med home ports of Thessaloniki or Corfu. 

Cruise-ship permutations are endless. It's certainly worth getting deeper insight into what's available before you book.

Some other suggestions on where to go in the Med region

CYPRUS - enjoy the off-season sunshine

GIBRALTAR - fortress into tourist resort

LUXOR - Luxury living and the pharaohs

MALLORCA - Breakaway to the Spanish grandee rural life

TUNISIA - the sandy-beach oasis.

A Brit's Guide to Choosing a Cruise  by Simon Veness - Written by the expert editor of a cruising magazine, this book covers world cruising from the British holidaymaker viewpoint rather than the American.

Mediterranean Cruises Insight Guide - concentrates on what to see at the ports of call, rather than on the individual cruise ships.

Mediterranean by Cruise Ship: Another complete guide to Mediterranean cruising, well written and compiled to answer your questions about the Med.