Hey, I've had a few people ping me interested in finding out how to get an LDS tour guide for cruises they plan on taking. I'm sure there are many ways to do this. I can only speak to what we did, though.

I really don't mean to turn my blog into an advertisement for a tour company, so maybe what I can do is at least give you some general info on how to find an LDS tour guide.

The way our tour worked was we did a search on "LDS related tours," "LDS cruises" or "Book of Mormon tours" you should find several companies that offer good tours.

How ours worked was we booked our tour with the tour guide company who bought out dozens of cabins on a cruise ship. The ship was just a normal cruise ship, heading to our ports of call. However, they registered with the ship so that we could gather in conference rooms and such.

The tour company had an orientation meeting before we left in which they introduced us to the host couple that would escort us throughout the cruise. They also gave us useful info and tips.

Later, they met us at the airport in Florida and we all boarded a bus that took us to the hotel. They gave us more immediate info the next day as they bused us to the cruise ship. Then, throughout the cruise, they'd tell us where to meet to get more info and how to get to the tour sites.

They would arrange for and buy tickets to the venues and such. It was really nice to have someone else figure out how to get to everything...

Also along for the cruise was a professor from BYU. While we were at sea, he'd give fireside chats. Once on land, he'd follow along with us. The local tour guide would explain the sites. Then, our LDS guide would say, "That was one opinion, now let me give you an LDS perspective of this site..."

(He wasn't disparaging in any way. I don't mean to imply that by what I just wrote. He was just trying to be clear.)

It was actually quite interesting to get two points of view on the sites.

Part of the fun was getting to know other LDS couples during the trip. Some groups of couples got together every night to play games and such. Sadly, there's something about cruise ships that is very calming for me - I would be sleepy by 9-10 pm every night (considering I'm normally up to 11-12, that was very early for me), so we missed out on a lot of the evening fun and games.

But, we had a great time. If you've never been on a cruise, you REALLY ought to go. I never thought I'd be a "cruiser", but I've been on 3 now and it's been great every time!

Read the original "Lines of our Times" post here.