Cruise vacations may boost your well-being: Study

Beijing: Cruise vacations may not only provide a fun-filled experience but also be beneficial for an individual's happiness and well-being, according to a study.

The study, published in the International Journal of Tourism Research, identified three dimensions of cruise experience: emotional experience, relational experience, and thinking experience.

In the short term, happiness from cruise travel is created mainly through emotional and relational experiences, said researchers, including those from Zhejiang University in China.

Conversely, the long-term perceived happiness of cruising is largely derived from thinking experience, they said.

When considering emotional experience, relaxing and simply "doing nothing" is of great importance for many vacationers, according to researchers.

"The relational experience dimension refers to the social interactions with family, friends, staff, and other vacationers on a cruise," said Jiaying Lyu, an associate professor at Zhejiang University.

"Thinking experience consists of the opportunities that people can experience different places and cultures and broaden horizons, as well as contemplative activities that involve introspection and meditation," said Lyu.