Reading Cruise Passenger should give you a great appetite for cruising. If not, perhaps those fun facts and myth-busters will change your mind, and remember, a CLIA accredited cruise agent can put your mind at ease if you have any questions.

1. Cruise passengers are getting younger!

Forty six per cent of Australians who cruise are under 50, and 27.5 per cent under 40. Not everyone’s hair will be the same hue as the sea!

2. Pillow Talk

Pillow too hard? River Cruise line Scenic Tours and others have a pillow menu on its ‘Space Ships’, with choices ranging from light pillows to soft and firm ones.

3. Fine dining and fun food

Jamie Oliver has just signed up with Royal Caribbean. Luke Mangan has restaurants aboard P&O Cruise Lines. So stuffy and formal are out!

4. Lights, camera, action

Hollywood immersion cruise and dinner with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, anyone?  Murder mystery, music, yoga or cooking and wine tasting voyages?  Or how about Game of Thrones inspired shore excursions with Holland America and Crystal Cruises?  Cruising is NOT boring. Check out six weird and wacky things to do on a cruise ships

5. Calling all chocoholics

Norwegian Cruise Line’s chocolate nights, which feature seven desserts, including a chocolate volcano and a Nutella pot de crème, are just for you.

6. Don’t worry – be happy!

The world is a cab ride away if you travel from a home port.  Unpack only once, and don’t worry about food and entertainment.

7. On her majesty’s service

Queen Elizabeth II has charted small luxury cruise ship, Hebridean Princess twice for her private holidays. She loved it so much she gave the ship a Royal Warrant.

8. Get fit and trim

Gyms, jogging tracks and spas are on board many larger vessels – and so are exercise areas, raw cooking, healthy diets.

9. The cruise community

There are more than 410 passenger ships in the world. Collectively, they can carry over 467,629 passengers a day.

10. Dress for success

Casual chic has replaced starchy dress codes – Even Cunard, last bastion of the black tie, is relaxing its rules! Check websites for any remaining rules.

11. If it’s Wednesday…

Travellers can see up to eight destinations on a nine-day European river cruise. This is twice the number that you’d be able to visit on a land tour.

12. Champagne and…

Cunard spends over $500,000 on caviar in a year.

13. Winds of change

Technology on cruise ships is so advance that the sails on Windstar ships are set and trimmed by computers.

14. Plated up

12,500 plates, 10,000 glasses and 15,000 items of cutlery need to be washed on a cruise ship every day.

15. We are sailing

Australians spent 8.7  million days at sea in 2013. A study by Cruise Down Under reported that Aussies spent AU$903 million for cruise in 2014-15.

16.Gotta love

Seven ships were used as the setting for the TV series ‘The Love Boat’, although Princess Cruises’ Pacific Princess was the main ship used throughout the series.

17. Night cap

Carnival Cruise Line alone places more than 10 million chocolates on passenger pillows every year.

18. Ports of call

There are more than 2,000 ports that cruise ships can visit around the world.

19. Size matters

Allure of the Seas is five times bigger than the Titanic, weighing 225,282-tonnes and carrying 6,296-passengers compared to Titanic’s 1,343.

20. Most expensive cruise?

The Silversea Cruises’ “Silver Whisper” could cost upwards of $1.5 million per couple with a helicopter ride, and a 10-course Michelin star meal while aboard a private jet then over 4 months visiting 28 destinations.