FOR CRUISERS

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THE CARIBBEAN DREAM Spend Christmas aboard a floating shopping mall if you want to but I’d choose luxury sailing yachts Rhea and Chronos any day. The 54-metre sister-ships embody the glamorous Caribbean cruise of yesteryear: 1,000 sqm of sail, ensuite wooden cabins as glossy as conkers, toy garages and five-star service from lovely crews. When standard cruise ships are restricted to noisy ports because of their draught, they’ll be anchored off remote beaches where the sea is so clear that swimming feels like flying and evening barbecues crackle.

Your dilemma is where to go: from St Martin to Antigua aboard Rhea; or Grenada to St Lucia aboard Chronos.

Seven nights’ half-board on Chronos from Grenada to St Lucia costs from £2,680pp with Venture Sail (01872 487288; venturesailholidays.com)

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CRUISE INTO CHRISTMAS Germanic nations do Christmas best. Their half-timbered squares, where the smell of gluhwein and sentimentality hang in the air, express the untranslatable concept of Gemütlichkeit (roughly, the warm glow of bonhomie). What dulls that glow is the schlep of touring. That’s where an elegant Danube cruise comes in. After Christmas Eve in beautiful Passau, you thrum into Salzburg aboard a luxury cruiser for Christmas Day. By the time you ring in the New Year in Budapest, you’ll have sung Silent Night in the Oberndorf chapel where it was written, met the Count of Castle Clam in the stellar Wachau Valley, enjoyed a private salon concert of Mozart in Vienna and explored old Bratislava.

Ten nights’ full-board on the SS Maria Theresa costs from £2,499pp, including flights and transfers with Uniworld (0808 168 9231; uniworld.com)

h Away in a cruiser: spend Christmas in the Caribbean on board yacht Chronos