DESTINATION CRUISERS

Every time I tell someone about a cruise we've taken, I'm always quick to add "But we're not really cruisers". What does that even mean? What was it about describing myself as a "cruiser" did I find so offensive?  I guess part of it was a generational thing, associating people who cruised with people who old. As in older than me.  I guess that was a part of it, but I think I was mostly dismissive of "cruisers" as lazy people who went from rum punch by the pool to rum punch on a beach that looks just like the beach from yesterday.   Since I'm definitely not a beach person, and the very idea of lounging around on vacation is something I've never understood, cruising around the Caribbean - which is what I defined as cruising - just isn't for me.

Probably because there's no island-hopping involved, I always wanted to take a transatlantic cruise, inspired by Saturday afternoons watching Deborah Kerr and Gary Grant in "An Affair To Remember". For years my dream vacation involved taking the Concorde to London, then returning to the states via a cruise-liner. Sailing into New York Harbor. Past the Statue of Liberty.  Then the Concorde was no more, and that dream went back to sleep.

Years later, while living Italy, I realized we might be able to cruise to the states instead of flying. Somehow the stars aligned and Art found a cruise leaving Rome at the end of November, bound for Florida! We booked the cruise less than six weeks before sailing, and paid about $700 per person for the two week cruise. At that point, we'd been living in Italy while fighting a weak dollar, and hadn't been able to travel within Europe as we'd planned. This cruise made multiple stops along the way, and over the years we've seen places we'd never have seen otherwise. We've seen Marseille and Villefranche, Palma di Majorca, Malaga and Tenerife. We've now spent time in Barcelona and Lisbon, and love returning to Cartegena and Cadiz.

So my point, as stated in the title, is that we cruise based on destination, and I prefer destinations that have some history and substance to them, not just miles of finely-grated rocks. My other two criteria are price and timing. 

Years ago we decided to take an Alaska cruise-tour, to get the most out the experience. We loved the scenery, and I guess for many of our port cities they're not easy to get to, so the ship definitely gave us a unique perspective, but all in all it wasn't a big hit with either of us. Which was kind of surprising since I've read on more than one travel site/blog/forum from people who've taken multiple cruises to Alaska.

Another year, again with Art playing around on the computer, he found a last-minute deal for a Baltic cruise, starting and ending in Copenhagen. The downside of booking a last minute cruise at a great price is that finding last-minute airfare at a reasonable price can be very, very challenging. Also booking private excursions can be tricky. We use the forums on CruiseCritic.com, and joining the party just weeks before departure can mean that you have 20, 30, maybe more pages of posts to read through to find out who's organizing private tours. We always go with independent tours versus the cruiseline's excursion - the savings are significant. And that Baltic cruise was absolutely amazing. We were in port almost every day, and saw places I never dreamed I'd see.

For many years we've had enough frequent flyer miles to fly to Europe, then take a transatlantic cruise from Rome back to Florida. I've paid as little as $525, and as much as $1100 per person for the two week cruise. The fall re-positioning cruises used to leave later, at the end of November, even into December, but I think the powers-that-be realized they could make more money by returning the ships to the Caribbean earlier.  Now, all of the Baltic and Mediterranean cruise ships leave Europe by early November. We need to take a cruise that leaves later rather than earlier, to make sure we're able to get some of the new olive oil to take back home, and we usually depart during the first week of November.

I've known for quite some time that we won't be taking a transatlantic cruise home in 2020. The itineraries are very, very light, with more sea days than port days - and you have to realize that for a 14 day cruise, the entire second week will be spent at sea. Seven long sea days - perfect for those "cruisers" who like to lounge by the pool, read trash and sip rum punch, but again, not my cup of tea. So - the price and the ports during that first week are very, very important. We took our most recent cruise because it offered a unique overnight at a port, something we've only experienced once before, in St Petersburg, Russia. The stop for our most recent cruise was Lisbon. Had it only been a one-day stop I doubt we would have paid the price, but two full days meant that we could get a little better feel for a new city. If we never return, we have nice memories, and to be honest, we liked Lisbon enough to merit a return visit, but who knows if we'll ever get there. At least we had a taste of Lisbon.

Knowing we wouldn't cruise home, I planned the rest of our trip, and started looking at frequent flyer itineraries for our flight home. I haven't booked any of our flights to or within Europe because it's too early, but I have put a deposit down on a small-group tour in Ireland to explore the northwest part of Ireland. Art always does the driving, and he loves driving, but maybe not so much in Ireland, so he's really very excited to let someone else take care of the narrow roads and conflicting GPS directions. Based on the ending date of our Ireland tours, I could then book our rental car for Italy, and confirm our dates in Umbria with our landlords.

And then, somehow, we decided to book a cruise through the Panama Canal! I don't even remember how it came up. Neither of us have much interest in Central American countries, but the engineering marvel of the canal itself seemed worth a closer look, so we jumped. We decided it made more sense to fly to California to begin the cruise so that we'd end up in Florida. We'll arrive without jet lag and will just have a 5 hour drive home, which is a lot better than arriving in Florida and facing a six hour flight home - which means at least nine hours in travel time.

That cruise is coming up in February. We're only doing one private excursion, in Costa Rica, and for the rest of the ports we'll just wander into town and take a look around.

And now the really weird part. I sat down at my desk the other day to finalize the purchase of November flights with frequent flyer miles. I'd called the airlines to have the reservation split so that we could each use our own miles, and it was the last day the tickets would be held. My email page is my home screen, and when it opened I saw an offer from a travel company we used when we cruised to Alaska. I honestly thought I'd unsubscribed from their email list because all of the offers were really high dollar cruises, and since I knew we'd never take another Alaska cruise, I didn't see any reason to keep receiving the offers. Apparently I hadn't unsubscribed, because here was a new offer, and as I read it, I called out to Art.

He was sitting in his recliner, on the other side of the bookcase that divides our Florida room, watching television. I spoke rather loudly, because I really, really wanted him to hear what I was about to say, but first I had to announce it:  "You're never going to believe what I'm about to tell you", I said to him. "What does that mean?"  "It means you're not going to believe me when I tell you that I just got an offer for a cruise and I want to book it right now. Seriously."   "Did you hear me?"  

And I proceeded to tell him about the offer, which included not only airfare but also one pre- and two post-cruise hotels.  And it ended up in London. And it made two stops in France, and one in Dorset. The two Irish towns almost don't matter since we'll have more time there in August, but more is better, right? And the first stop was Halifax, Nova Scotia, and when would we ever go there, if not on this cruise? The most amazing part of the cruise isn't even that it leaves from my favorite city in the whole world, but that I would be on a ship that was cruising out of New York Harbor. That we would cruise right past the Statue of Liberty! I may have to put curlers in my hair and a scarf around my head to recreate a Deborah Kerr moment - even though we'll be cruising out instead of in to New York Harbor.  Did I mention cruising past the Statue of Liberty?  Wow!

I don't think I've ever reacted so quickly, so positively and so definitively in my life. Within 10 minutes of reading the email I'd picked up the phone and given my credit card number. We're taking another transatlantic cruise! (When I tried to call back 45 minutes later it took me multiple times to get the phone to ring, then I was number 35 in the queue. And the cruise sold out that same day, but I have no idea how many cabins they had to sell. Anyway, I'm glad I booked when I did.)

So while I still don't call myself a "cruiser", I will call myself a destination cruiser. It seems weird to me, because I consider myself a 'slow traveler' who likes to stay in one place for long periods. Visiting different cities for a few hours at a time is the very opposite of my 'usual' way of travel, but I guess I have to stop being so judgmental and snobby. We're all a series of contradictions and differences. Cruising can offer great value for money, and for those of us lucky enough to be retired, it's a great way of extending a vacation. And in a year when I thought I'd have zero cruises, I now have two. I'm very happy!