CRUISES

Holland American in port in Uraguay

There are literally thousands of cruise offerings each year on at least six major cruise lines and hundreds of ships.  So how to do you choose your next cruise?  That really depends on what you want from the cruise.  I have some friends who buy last minute cheap deals of cruises several times a year.  They really don't care where it goes because they go for the relaxation and the experience of being on board.  I on the other hand want to see things and places I've never seen, so I would never consider going on the same cruise twice. 

Which line is the best?  Gee that's all relative.  If you have the money to travel first class you'll probably love Seaboard and Cunard, but if you need to watch your money, try Holland American or Princess.  For my money either of the last two are great experiences.  We've traveled Holland American more often but have nothing negative to say about Princess.  Here seems to be the key....be careful not to pick a cruise that is targeted to a particular group.  A senior citizen would really not have much fun on a cruise targeting college students.  A staight couple might have a problem on a gay cruise.  So be careful to choose a general cruise that is geared to all ages and going somewhere you want to see.

As I said in the Tips and Traps section, cruising is a great survey course.  It gives you the opportunity to get to know a country without have to move from hotel to hotel and handle your luggage mutiple times..which for us seniors can be problematic.  Here are impressions from the various cruises we've been on:

 

Baltic Cruise:  (Holland American, 2011)

Oh my, this is an intensive port cruise.  Because all the countries are very close together you get a new one every day.  We hadn't been pulled toward the Scandinavian countries, but we really wanted to visit at least St Petersburg in Russia.  We chose the sail port as Dover England (because we were flying in and out of London), but this cruise also is scheduled from Amsterdam. 

We were genuine delighted at the charming ports of Copenhagen Denmark, Tallin Estonia, Helsinki Finland, and Stockholm Sweden.  These tastes of Scandinavia were delicious and most charming.  I think of all the cities on this tour the one I would really love to explore more would be Stockholm.  It is a very sophisticated city and a strong history, and I didn't get enough. 

St Petersburg was crammed full of amazing palaces and stunning churches.  I was surprised and greatful that the Soviets didn't trash it. There is a catch to Russia and you need to be aware of.   The government requires a visa which costs $140 for each person who is traveling into Russia if you are unaccompanied by a tour guide from your cruise ship or a private Russian tour guide.  While we do not normally buy the cruise ship tours if we have enough access to get out and wander around on our own, on this deal we decided to buy the tours.  A private tour was $1500 a day.  We looked at buying the visa and doing public transportation and tour fees, but it honestly was cheaper and more efficient use of the two days we had there to use the ship.



Catherine's Palace, St Petersburg, Russia

One real highlight was an evening tour which allowed us to dress formally and go to a private palace for a tour, champagn and cavier, and then an opera presented in the theatre of the palace.  Now that was cool and something we could not have accessed on our own.

Evening out in St Petersburg Palace
 

Don't miss seeing the church of the Spilled Blood...Wow it is stunning.  Also Catherine's Palace was fabulous.

Chruch of the Spilled Blood

South American Cruise (Holland American, 2009)

Who knew South American was so enchanting.  We flew to Chili and spent several days in Santiago before heading to the coast to board the ship.  We had absolutely no expectations of Chili, but we found it fascinating how because of their remoteness to resources, they have become very independent.  Just remember how they handled their earthquake and trapped minors;  they didn't just stand there with their hands out and wait for someone else to fix it...they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.  They are accustomed to looking after themselves.



Glacier in southern  Chili

The ports were far from each other so in the 17 day trip there were only 9 ports.  However, they were great ports.  We got to see the Andes mountains, penguins at play, local fisherman at work, artists selling their wares in markets and shops.  We got to see glaciers and fiords, the Cape of Good Horn, spend two days in Buenos Aires and finally on to Rio de Janiero, Brazil.  While Buenos Aires was our favorite and where we would want to go back and sink our teeth in, we very much enjoyed Montevideo, Uruguay and an interesting day in Puerto Montt Chili.  As I said we are all about buying port tours from the ship that we cannot arrange for ourselves.  In Puerto Montt, we were met at the ship by a chef who then took the group to a seafood market and a vegetable farm on the way to his restaurant in a mountain village.  We helped cook the food and then got to eat it.  That was so much fun.  Right as we got there I heard a pan flute in the park.  I ran over to where the man was playing Ave Maria on his flute and stood for quite some time enchanted by his music and his art.  I purchased a CD before running back to join my group.  I love to hear that now and remember that day.




Mussels dried in spices

Dining with the chef in his mountain restaurant...too cool

I will be highlighting my three favorite cities on this journey:  Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Rio.

New Zealand and Australia (Princess 2006)

My first trip into the deep Pacific and was I thrilled to be there.  We stayed in Auckland for several days before boarding the ship which went all the way down the New Zealand coast and back up into the Fiords before heading toward Australia.  We stopped for the day in Tasmania to see the famous prisons where the bad guys were initially shipped from England.  You may not realize but the primary "Europeans" to inhabit Australia were prisoners banished there by England.  Our cruise then took us to Melbourne and to Sydney.  We took advantage of the long trip to add an additional week to see Sydney and a short hop out to the Outback for a view of Ayers Rock and Alice Springs.  Once again, if you're going to go 6 to 10,000 miles, you may as well stay a little longer because who knows when you'll get back.

New Zealand is a wonder to behold.  At the top of the North Island it looks and feels just like Hawaii, but at the bottom of the South Island you are just a thousand miles to Antarctica...so it is REALLY cold.  It has mountains and beaches, glaciers and thermal springs, large cities and absolute wilderness...and it is such a small country. 

The mountains in central New Zealand



The thermal fields of the North Island

 

My very favorite was our visit to Christchurch, NZ.  It was beyond charming and full of zany characters.  Modeled after Oxford England and it's Christchurch College, this beautiful city was heavily damaged by the earth quakes there February, 2011.  For more than one year the area has suffered aftershocks and is still not able to rebuild the center of the city.

 

 

Before the earthquake

 

After the earthquake



 



Australia is a world unto it's own.  It is scary in some parts (Outback) and magical in others.  When I got home I wrote to the Australian Tourism Board and told them they were missing a great marketing opportunity by not advertising "Aussie Magic."  When you get that far from home, things will go wrong, but in every case some Aussie picked up the problem and rubbed it with magic and it went away.  We went to our hotel in Sydney and they had overbooked and didn't have a room for us.  They called another hotel, put our luggage into their van and took us to the new hotel for the night and the next morning came and picked up back up and moved us into our appointed room with an upgrade...WOW!   We had booked tickets to the Sydney Opera house for our last night in Australia.  When I pulled out our tickets, I realized I had booked them for the day after we were to leave the city.  I called the Opera House and was told, "No worries mate, please come an hour early to see Ms Somebody and she will help you.  Ms Somebody (forgive me for forgetting your name madam) took our tickets and exchanged this for seats right in front of the orchestra for no extra charge.  WOW...

 

Sydney Opera House

 

 

I do regret that we didn't get a chance to see the rock formations, The Twelve Apostles, on the coast of Melbourne.  These huge monoliths have been carved out of the soft limestone headland from thousands of years of fierce ocean waves.   That is the fallacy of cruises...not enough time to see everything in one city or area. 

 

 

Caribbean Cruises

There are many cruises to the Caribbean and I've been on at least five.  Of all the ones I've travelled my favorite ports were San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St Martin, and the Mexican Rivera.  These cruises often get marked down dramatically off season...TIP...DON'T GO DURING HURRICANE SEASON NO MATTER WHAT THE PRICE.  Also don't go in November, because believe it or not it can be cold.

 

Black Sea and Greek Isles (2013)

 

While Venice is always one of our favorite places, we took this cruise to visit Istanbul and Santorini, Greece.  To be sure those two places were the highlight of the tour, but we truly enjoyed our trip to Ephesus.  Not only was the ruins one of the best preserved we've ever seen, but the history around the city was cool too.  We took a side trip to see the house where Mary, mother of Jesus, lived in her last days and were touched by the reverence of the crowd and the Prayer Wall which is similar to the wall in Jerusalem. 

The old library from 500 BC

 

 



Santorini is like a postcard.  Such beauty would not be difficult to wake up to every day, but getting around would be for older people.  The hilltops are uneven and intimidating; the walkways are very crowded.  HOWEVER, buck up old folks and go there anyway, but don't try to walk up OR down the mountain.  Just take the funicular and enjoy the scenery; it is delightful.