Let me start out by saying something that may be anathema to a fellow traveler: I don’t particularly like cruises. I find the ships are too big; there are too many people; you eat your face off so the only thing that fits when you get off the ship is your jammies; and they are generally a cultural void. Ocean cruises are kinda like drive by touring. You don’t get a feel for a country, its culture or people by disembarking at a port where the entire purpose seems to be an expensive shore excursion and souvenir shopping. (Vintage shopping doesn’t count! See previous post) But to cruise the fjords was a rare treat.
A few exceptions
My history of cruising is quite limited mainly because I have avoided them. I have experienced three types of cruising: ocean cruising, river cruising, and this-is-the-only-way-to-get-there- cruising. There may be others like “I’m-the-queen-and-I’m-cruising-on-my-big-ass-yacht-cruising but so far I’ve missed out on that one.
Ocean cruising
My first cruise ever was one I took with a college friend, also a retired teacher, a few years into our retirement. Cruise lines call it a repositioning cruise which means cruise lines were moving aka repositioning their ships from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean or southern hemisphere to accommodate the winter cruise season. Huge savings. Round Trip airfare, cruise from Barcelona around the coast of Spain, up to Portugal, down to Casablanca, stop at the Madeira islands and then 5 days trans Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale. The passengers on this trip were all retirees because who else has that much time to spend? Many had to be in their 70s and 80s. We were not even on Medicare yet. We felt like Prom queens.
The other ocean cruise I took was the Baltic cruise. For me it was the only way I would ever go to Russia. It also included some Scandinavian capitols. It was not spectacular as we found the Russians to be very dour. Your results may vary. But we were with fun people so we enjoyed it.
Speaking of fun people I am doing another ocean cruise in June to celebrate my 80th year. I am taking my kids and grandkids, 20 of us, on an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise. Alaska is the only state I have not visited. I’m pulling out all the stops and have treated everyone to the Plus Beverage Package. Since there are now seven grandkids of drinking age this may not have been the wisest of decisions. I understand it’s very difficult to hear the splash when people fall overboard.
River Cruising
My fave! The number one selling point of cruising is that you unpack once are done until you are ready to disembark. I adore road trips but changing locations every 2 or 3 nights can be a royal pain in the patootie. With river cruises you get a smaller boat, fewer people, great food, and sail into the center of the city and just walk off the boat. Heaven. We have only done two but I’m looking forward to more.
This-is-the-only-way-to-get-there-cruise
(click on images for full view)
Our most recent trip was to Norway which included an 18 hour cruise from Tromsø, Norway to the Lofoten Islands. If you take a look at a map of Norway you can see that getting between these two locations can only be accomplished by air or by sea. There is the sea , mountains, and islands everywhere you look. That’s a plus because the landscape is as beautiful as any country I have visited. Even with snow! In fact, I think it’s prettier with snow. Says the woman who thinks keeping the thermostat at 72F is too chilly.
Northern lights, breathtaking scenery, electric socks and mittens, two hats and a hood, woolen long undershirts and leggings, wind and water resistant over pants over the leggings, three layers under my full length puffy down coat, walking around like I’m a bundled up five year old, steamed up glasses from my hot breath, an external drive full of fabulous photos: What’s not to love?
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