NOT a day goes by without a collection of cruise brochures arriving in the mail. Some are exceptionally tempting, with unique and appealing itineraries featuring the unique and off-trail.Others offer the same familiar schedules, duplicating ports that too often specialise in attracting wall-to-wall ships. Many disgorge multi-thousands rushing through ports in a frenzy of sightseeing. Others leisurely disembark their pampered few.

Choosing among them is not an easy matter but takes careful consideration. Truly one traveller's medicine may well be another's poison, so don't just leap to a decision.

Very familiar, much visited ports could be just the thing for a first-time cruiser. Certainly destinations repeated on so many ships hold appeal. It's when you've been to them so often that travellers begin to look for something new.

Some people enjoy the cruising experience so much, they'd even be happy if the ship never stopped anywhere. They complain there aren't enough days at sea. Others prefer a calendar crammed with as many ports as possible and no full days at sea.

"We go for the entertainment," confided our bank's 50ish receptionist, just back from a Holland America Line cruise from Los Angeles along Mexico's western coast. She takes one annually with four friends known since kindergarten.

There's definitely no "one size fits all". Visit your travel agent armed with questions. How many passengers, the size of the ship, does it have a reputation as a tranquil, escapist environment or is it a "party" ship?

Those who follow the cruise industry soon learn it's as influenced by trends as any other business. There was a time when two week cruises were routine. Then came a movement towards much shorter ones, because cruise officials insisted the pace of modern life didn't allow time for longer ones.

Now the pendulum has swung in the other direction and longer cruises are again being promoted as "in". Lines are also offering discounts on combined back-to-back shorter cruises.

Let's look at a cross section of offerings. Because there's such an ample abundance of Caribbean cruises available across all price ranges, we'll focus instead on the unusual elsewhere. Because the off-trail is increasingly popular, but space limited, it seems appropriate to tell you about them early.

For travellers who enjoy the prospect of focusing on a particular region, there's a tempting emphasis on what some cruise lines label 'Celtic Lands' or 'Celtic Kingdoms'.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation features a ten-day cruise on M.S. Le Diamant departingon May 30 and returning on June 9. Although it departs Rouen, France and proceeds along the Normandy beaches and Mont St. Michel, its major focus is on Wales, Scotland's fabled lona, Mull and Isle of Skye, with Orkney the last port stop before transferring to Edinburgh.

Rates start at $5,495, plus port charges. Formerly Regency Cruises>Song of Flower<$>, Le Diamant has 113 state rooms and suites. Many shore excursions are included, along with complimentary wines at lunch and dinner. Such availability of house wine is now increasingly offered on upscale cruises. See www.nationaltrust.org./tours.

Journey to the Midnight Sun is the dramatic destination of Lindblad's National GeographiI>Endeavour. Their itinerary will trace the route of the Vikings on their westward conquests. They colonised the Orkneys, Sheltlands, Faroes, Iceland and beyond and all are included on this journey departing Bergen, Norway on May 29 on a 14-night adventure. A photo workshop will follow a reverse route from Reykjavik to Bergen. Cost per person starts at $8,990. www.expeditions.com.

That's not the only trip following in the path of historic events. It's become a growing trend to focus in on not only them, but famous people as well.

Discovery World Cruises follows 'In The Wake of the Boun<$>, heading for Pitcairn Island and welcoming Boy<$> descendants onboard to tell their family's tales. Nineteen nights departing March 18 from $3,650 for the first person, second person free. www. discoveryworldcruises.com.

Some of the most imaginative scheduling comes from Travel Dynamics International whose ships focus on especially colourful scheduling. Some of this season's gems include 'Land of Myths and Legend' sailing from April 25 to May 3 from Rhodes, Greece.

It will trace the legends of Zeus and Athena, Apollo and Artemis and Ariadne and Odysseus via 114 guest all suite CorinthiaI <$>starting at $3,995 up to $7,595.

It's immediately followed by 'Religion and Culture in Classical Greece' seeking out sacred places of Olympian gods in the most fabled of the Greek islands. Next comes their 'Voyage To The Lands of Gods and Heroes' with departures on June 29 and July 20.

For me the most exciting of all is their 'Wonders of the Ancient World' which departs Cairo on April 21. The first destination is the only actual remaining wonder, the Pyramids of Giza. Then it's on to Alexandria, once the site of Pharos Lighthouse, which, in 279 B.C. was the tallest building on Earth.

Next the ship sails through the harbour made famous by the Colossus of Rhodes, on to Bodrum, Turkey where the mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built for King Mausolus in 4 B.C. The massive 15th century castle there was built by Knights of St. John with its stones.

The Temple of Artemis once stood at Ephesus, Turkey, but much of interest remains. The same is true of Greece's Olympia where the 40 foot high gold and ivory statue of Zeus is gone but a wealth of ruins remain. Fares start at $7,000. See www.TravelDynamicsInternational.com

Although this traveller has seen almost all of these sites individually — some like Giza, Rhodes and Bodrun several times — it must be slightly overwhelming to visit them all on one trip. It's up to individual travellers to decide if they feel safe at all these sites in today's terrorism threatened world.

Between June 22 and July 3rd, CorinthiII <$>is pursuing a totally different itinerary — 'Edith. Wharton's. Mediterranean', which retraces that author's 1888 voyage on a chartered yacht before achieving frame. It's inspiration is her long lost personal journal of that trip discovered in a Cote'd Azur library.

We wanted to alert readers to some of the the most unusual possibilities available, the kind with limited space that sells out quickly. So if interested in this genre, you might want to contact your travel agent soon for advice and suggestions about many others, or hope for a later cancellation.

There's an ever-growing number with unique destinations. Like Holland America's M.S. Maasdam 34 day 'Voyage of the Vikings' departing on a roundtrip adventure from Boston on July 7.

It's geared to travellers who, in this era of threatened terrorism, prefer not to take international flights. It covers 22 high point ports such as St. John's, Newfoundland; Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Rotterdam, Le Havre, France; Plymouth, England; Ireland, more Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and finally Boston. Or you can take it in segments.

Holland Amea's Veendam offers ten days of enchantment on an April 29 roundtrip to Venice. It includes such appealing destinations as Sicily, Ajaccio, Corsica, and Dubronvnik, Croatia.

The Yachts of Seabourn are also offering a collection of longer cruises, ranging from three weeks and more. Those itineraries include lists of almost everyone's dream destinations.

We've given you only the smallest hint of what's planned by cruise lines for the months ahead. They're listening to repeat passengers who keep saying they want to visit new sites, rather than returning year after year to familiar much-visited ones Obviously this is much easier for smaller sized ships rather than the giants since they're more able to maneuver their way into those less visited gems that can't handle massive tonnage.

Curiously, I recently encountered a surprising number of people really adamant about not wanting to take a cruise. "I wouldn't dream of ever going anywhere on a ship", insisted a representative at a major credit card company. "You hear about a lot of people going missing on them. I wouldn't feel safe."

"Can't you try and talk my wife into taking a cruise," asked an executive at my bank. He'd mentioned an interest in doing something really different this winter an I'd given him an extra brochure I had on Wind Surf's delightful sailing yachts and their West Indies itineraries.

"They look fabulous and I'm ready to seat sail, but she's absolutely adamant against cruising." Those were only two of many such comments.

Unfortunately, there have been some very distressing and traumatising headlines but prospective travellers with such a negative attitude admitted they had never looked further into the cruising lifesytle or analysed specific ships. Their bad impression came from isolated, much publicised incidents.

It's all a matter of picking the right ship to fit your personality. Get on the wrong one and anyone would come away distressed. We're busy scanning brochures of smaller ships and are currently torn between the Canary Islands, Sea Cloud II on a really magic itinerary or one of those Celtic chers.

Next week:<\p>The Best and Worst of 2006

Following in the wake of Vikings and Olympian gods