A Fresh Look at Cruising

 

A Fresh Look at Cruising

 

Just got back from a month long cruise. Fantastic!  So you probably think I’ll be writing about experiences and cathedrals and museums that YOU MUST VISIT!  Nope.  Lots of that around.  But, as your cruise director I will offer some photos, just to get you in the mood.

 

If something is outside my experience, I won’t mention it except in passing.  And if you’re a cruising veteran, skip this post, settle in, and slosh down another martini. You don’t need me!

 

First things first:  Can you cruise if you get seasick? I don’t know and I’m not a medic, so I won’t suggest pills or discuss whether you’re drinking too much.  Never been seasick, so I can only tell you that any ship will wobble a little bit from time to time, but today’s cruise ships have great stabilization systems.  Calmest time to cruise depends on where you’re cruising.  Just got back (Sept to Oct) from a cruise across the Atlantic and the Western Mediterranean.  Smooth as glass.  Could waterski! 

 

Lots of information on weather and seas on the Internet. But, if you can’t keep your balance walking through your living room, skip cruising and think twice about ballroom dancing, and riding a bike.

 

Second things second: Which cruise line?  I’m not going to name names, but here are things to consider.  Kids or no kids? More formal, or flip flops and rude messages on your t-shirts?  Enjoy dining, or stuffing food down using both hands? Where do you want to go?  Yes, some cruise lines tend to cover specific areas, while others cover the globe.

 

And what about entertainment?  Some cruises, especially those with many sea days, offer lots of entertainment, with comedians, fabulous lectures by well known authorities, floor shows and a lot more.

 

Here’s something else about cruise lines to consider:  All inclusive, or not.  It’s not as easy a choice as you’d think.  On our last cruise we paid about $5500 per person….don’t forget it was a month long cruise.  Then we had to pay for drinks and excursions. That added another $2000.  Some all-inclusive cruises would have covered everything for about the same price that we paid.

Along with which cruise line is big ship or small ship.  I've been on both.  Purely personal preference, but beware.  Can't know unless you've done both, but even then it can depend on the cruise line. Big or small can be great or lacking.

Small group in the foreground, large group in the background

Third things third:  Excursions. Most excursions offered by cruise lines are fifty passenger bus tours.  Too cumbersome for my taste.  I much prefer small group excursions. But doesn’t the cruise line give you a price break?  Sometimes, but it pays to check out both cruise line and private excursions.

 

Things I like about small excursion:  I can hear the guide much better than a big excursion guide who took lessons from a bus station announcer.  And, when you’re off the bus, you may be at the back of the crowd of fifty, or are separated from the group.

 

I suggest you find out the specifics of the tour. Too often it’s, step off the busy, take a snapshot, and get back on the bus.

 

If this is your first time cruising, of course you want to see everything and don’t want to miss anything.  Understandable.  But, that can lead to an overdose. One guide taking me to a relatively unknown cathedral gave me a whole list of dates and unknown historical figures, from which I took away. “This is a old cathedral.”  When is the wine tasting?”

Of course some places are not to be missed, Pompeii, the Coliseum in Rome, or the Vatican, or Gaudi’s Basilica Sagrada Familia in Barcelona for example, but again a small group is the answer, especially when you need/want to ask questions, or even have a discussion.  Large or small, often it is better to go via a tour group than on your own.  Tour groups usually have tickets that turn hours of waiting to minutes.

 

A secret:  At the most historic places (Coliseum), you can find folks who will sell you reasonably priced tickets to help you cut the line, however you’ll be on your own, without a guide.

 

Fourth thing fourth:  As a long time cruiser, I skip many of the excursions in favor of ambling the streets, finding nice coffee shops and mingling with the natives. I love melding into the everyday culture and too often an excursion uses up limited time.

 

Just one example of strolling the streets and a lessor known, small group historical tour:  Four of us found a small tour.  The guide was excellent.  Herculaneuam is almost in downtown Naples and was rediscovered before Pompeii.  The tour was not offered on the list of cruise excursions.  I liked seeing Pompeii, but liked Herculaneum even better. Ash had buried the town and saved a lot of tiles and much of the structures. The guide knew his stuff and was never more than five feet away from us.

 

Even so, don’t take a tour if you don’t want to. One of our new friends we met on our last cruise was a middle-aged woman who never took excursions, just hopped on the bus to town and walked the streets.

 

Speaking of which, after Herculaneum, my wife and I wandered the streets and while walking up a narrow street, a guy wearing an ‘Eat at My Restaurant’ sign, told us it was close by.  It was.  Tiny place, with four tables set on a narrow patio, on a narrow street. The server was an Italian guy who’d lived in Miami. Freshly fried sardines from the fish shop about twenty feet away and a Neapolitan pizza I’ll remember to the end of my days.  Local wine so good I wanted to bring home a barrel.  Felt like I was carrying one back to the ship!

 

While we ate, a motor bike came racing by, three feet away from us and as he got to the cross street, he almost hit a police car.  The cops didn’t get out, but gave a few angry shouts that I think was something to do with his mother, and hand signals that even I could understand.  The guy on the motorbike gave the puppy that just peed on the carpet look of mia culpa.  He was riding the wrong direction on a one-way street.  The cops pulled away and the guy blasted off still going the wrong way. Welcome to Italy!

 

You can’t buy memories like this on a fifty person bus tour!!!

 

Dang that wine was good!  So was the pizza!  I might even buy a motor scooter.