|
Cruising
There is nothing like a comfortable adventure to put people in a good humor
Peter Mayle
Traveling-like-a-local isn?t for everybody. Many people (myself included, at times) take organized tours, cruises, and resort vacations because they do not want to do the work necessary for a more adventurous experience, they want no surprises on their vacation, or they want to relax and be ?pampered?.
After years of ?poo-poohing? these traditional travel experiences, I went on three cruises during the same year. Two Princess cruises ? a week cruise to the Mexican Rivera in October 2003 (Dawn Princess) and a three day cruise from San Francisco to Vancouver in May 2004 (Sun Princess, a sister ship to the Dawn Princess) ? and one two week cruise in May 2004 on the newly formed Oceania line (the Regatta) in the Mediterranean (from Venice to Barcelona).
While I still prefer ?traveling-like-a-local", I liked cruising more than I expected. The food and service on all three ships was excellent and it was fun to be pampered.
After taking three cruises, I formed some opinions about the experience that I hope might make cruising more accessible and enjoyable to people like me who usually avoid tours, cruises, and other more traditional tourism offerings like the plague.
Here are my thoughts:
- Be careful to pick a cruise line that meets your personality. Short trips on large ships, like my two Princess cruises, offer more excitement and have a greater diversity of travelers (in terms of ages, family status, and economic and racial backgrounds) than small, longer cruises like Oceania. Smaller, longer trips attract an older, almost exclusively well off, Caucasian clientele. They are also more quiet (try to find nightlife after midnight, I dare you), more expensive, less commercial, and have slightly more solicitous service than larger ships.
- Cruises are good places to travel with older parents. Your parents and you can go your separate ways and you don?t have to worry about each other. It is also very reassuring to know that there is medical attention on board if necessary.
- Cruises are also good places to get to know someone else. I went on both of the Princess cruises with Steve, a cruise devotee who I barely knew before our first cruise. Steve asked me to travel with him on the cruise to Mexico after seeing my listing on travelchums.com, a site designed to match single travel companions. I hadn?t been on a cruise in nearly twenty five years and wanted to see what it was like to go on a trip arranged through a single travel companion website. Like my parents, cruising proved to be a great way to travel with Steve because we could go our separate ways easily and still spend time together when we felt comfortable.
- Try to spend at least one or two days at port engaged in activities that give you some sense of traveling like a local rather than a tourist. Take public transportation, visit small, untouristed towns if possible (my parents and I enjoyed Civitavecchia ? the port for Rome ? because it felt like a real Italian town), and find out-of-the way restaurants that seem to be popular with locals.
- Ask the destination desk which tours are the least popular and sign up for these tours. All of my best port experiences came from taking these small, hidden tours. Most of the time tour guides are able to really shine in front of small groups and the tour members seem to bond together as well. I took a tour, for example, called the ?Comprehensive Tour of Corsica? with only twelve other people from the Oceania cruise that was hosted by the best guide I?ve ever seen ? Arlette ? she managed to give us a real sense of Corsican history, culture, and society and I meet some really interesting people. Corsica was not the only place this rule worked to my advantage. I had excellent tours of Puerto Vallarta (Hidden Corners of Puerto Vallarta) and Tuscany (Pisa, Lucca, and the Puccini Villa) as a result of joining smaller tours as well.
- Avoid taking the same cruise line (particularly on the same, or a sister ship) more than once if you, like me, dislike repetition. I found going on two Princess cruises on sister ships to feel too much like watching a repeat television show. Everything was so much the same (the menus, the decor, the entertainment - even the same wines were used for the wine tasting) that it almost made me laugh!
Notes:
-
I ( Paul Heller, the founder of the Big Blue Marble) have prepared hundreds of travel tips like these to help you plan and enjoy traveling like a local experiences. These tips have been gathered during my 25 years of traveling around the world. If you'd like more tips, please buy one of my inexpensive and informative publications. -
-
Do you agree or disagree with any of these tips? Do you know any great tips that should be added? If so, send your comments to me and I'll post them on my blog.
|
