A lot of people have never been on a cruise. The network and satellite news broadcasts daily about the awesomeness of going on a cruise! But people are listening to the network news! And this is really a sad fact, because the purpose of cheap cruises is to open up the concept that anybody can walk across the gang plank (how you get on and off a ship the easy way), and start to see a little more of the world than they would have otherwise. While some cruises are in the ocean, some others involve traveling down lakes. And whether you go up north and watch arctic critters frolicking on ice bergs, or down to places where it never gets anywhere below “pretty hot,” you have some serious scenery options to choose from.

But of course, not everybody who goes on a cruise is interested in just “looking at stuff” the whole time. After all, one of the great joys of the Internet is that you can pretty much look at anything you want (so long as it’s legal to look at where you are). Most people do not go on a vacation to look at things, but to actually do things. And there are a whole bunch of different options aboard just about every cruise ship ever built, whether you are a social butterfly or just like to enjoy some quiet alone time.

If you are the contemplative sort, you can sit beneath an umbrella and take in a good book. Or you can sit in the hot tub and feel the bubbles beat your muscles into submission. If you have to move, most cruise ships have a gym on board, so you can work up a good sweat in between other interesting ways to break up a sweat. Most ships feature a night club, where you can dance the night away and maybe meet someone interesting — or you can always hit the casino, and hope your luck is good tonight.