Why a Cruise?

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag

Over the years, I've probably done every mode of travel known to humankind that does not involve a Sherpa (or, more accurately, I was my own Sherpa). So one might ask, if you want to see the Pacific Rim, why a cruise?

Back in the early 1990s, I took my first cruise (I don't count the Norwegian Coastal Steamer as a cruise--but I do count it as a great time).  My reaction?  Floating prison. Never again.

But then, years later, I consulted a travel agent--back when that's how you planned trips--about visiting the Greek islands.  He urged a cruise, and eventually talked me into it.  He booked me on a ship call the Song of Flower, which carried a max of about 160 passengers, and I realized that there are cruises and there are cruises.  The key is to get a "port intensive cruise" on a smaller ship where you spend your day in port, get on the ship and go to sleep, and wake up in another great place, and come back to your hotel and transport in one.  It makes logistics easy, and you pack and unpack only once.  And if the ship spends multiple nights in the same port, even better.  It doesn't give you the depth of a visit that staying in the place provides--it's more akin to renting a place and driving around to what you want to visit--but it gives you more time and energy to explore the place because you don't have to worry about logistics.

I was hooked.  Cruising is now a major part of my mix of travel modes. A world cruise allows visits to so many more places than planes, trains, automobiles, bikes and feet could provide.  And someone else makes my meals, cleans my room, serves me my adult beverage of choice, and generally takes care of me.  Plus, now I've learned to appreciate days at sea on cruises.  You do need a vacation from your vacation from time to time.

But four months?  Actually, I did this once before--on a sabbatical back in 2008--for 72 days. (See "Two if by Sea" ).  So now I'm kind of doubling down on the experience.

But the ships keep getting bigger.  The Song of Flower has long since sailed into the sunset.  The ship for the 72-night cruise carried 450 passengers.  The one I'm about to board carries 1,000.  Still not the mega-ships; I doubt I'll ever try that.  But, to be economically viable, the ships need to be larger.

And, oh, by the way.  That Greek Isles cruise back when?  That's where I met Beth, my roomie for this upcoming cruise.