With so many ways to enjoy your leisure time, a cruise might be the answer you seek. Of course, all your decisions should be based on what you want out of life and very importantly, out of your vacation time. With vacation time scarce and precious for most of us, getting the largest desired impact from the experience should be top of mind.
At the time of writing or updating this post, we have cruised 25 times on 4 different cruise lines.
- 1991 NCL Starward Southern Caribbean (1)
- 1994 Celebrity Zenith Western Caribbean (1)
- 1996 Celebrity Zenith Southern Caribbean (2)
- 1998 Crown Princess Alaska (1)
- 2000 Celebrity Mercury Western Caribbean (3)
- 2001 Celebrity Millennium Mediterranean (4)
- 2004 Celebrity Galaxy Panama Canal (5)
- 2006 Celebrity Mercury Mexican Riviera (6)
- 2007 Celebrity Century Baltic (7)
- 2008 Celebrity Millennium Eastern Caribbean (8)
- 2008 Celebrity Mercury Alaska (9)
- 2010 Celebrity Equinox Caribbean (10)
- 2012 Celebrity Equinox Ultimate Caribbean (11)
- 2013 Celebrity Silhouette Italy and Adriatic (12)
- 2014 Celebrity Eclipse Exotic Southern Caribbean (13)
- 2014 Celebrity Eclipse Canaries and Azores (14)
- 2015 Celebrity Equinox Ultimate Caribbean (15)
- 2017 Celebrity Equinox Southern Caribbean (16)
- 2020 Celebrity Silhouette Southern Caribbean (17)
- 2021 Celebrity Millennium Alaska (18)
- 2022 Viking Mars Iceland, Faroe Islands and Norway (1)
- 2022 Celebrity Solstice Mexican Riviera (19)
- 2023 Viking Ocean New Zealand and Australia (2)
- 2023 Celebrity Millennium Japan and Korea (20)
- 2024 celebrity Apex Western Caribbean (21)
By reviewing this list, another question may come to mind, and that’s “Why choose one cruise line over another?” – I’ll save that for another post.
For now, what makes a vacation on a cruise different than other travel options and is it something to consider in your future?
1) Unpack Once
Regardless of where we have cruised, this one keeps surfacing as an incredible convenience of the cruising experience. We have enjoyed many trips where we have stayed in multiple cities across multiple nights – and this has some appeal in and of itself. But the convenience of getting onboard your ship the first day and unpacking, and not having to pack until the very end is extremely satisfying.
2) Wake up in New Destinations
Almost as a partner to the “Unpack Once” statement, the cruise ship conveniently changes locations most evenings and allows you to explore a new venue the next day. Doing this by car, taxi, plane or train would be difficult to recreate with the same grace and ease.
3) Something New and Something Familiar Every Day
Your ship and your cabin become your base of operations every day. Whether you tour in Cairo, Hong Kong, Willemstad, or Miami, you know that you’ll be coming back to the same ship and the same accommodations that evening. For us, at least, that creates a more worry free environment and lets us enjoy the touring even more. All deadlines and logistics are taken care of by the cruise line and we know what to expect at the end of the day.
4) Sampling Something before Buying It
An inherent challenge with cruising is that its usually difficult to get a truly immersive experience of an area, of a people, of a culture in the short time of your visit in port. I prefer to look at the more positive flip side of this. The visit, although potentially short, allows me to decide if I’d like to come back to a region for a more immersive stay in the future. Having had a taste, a sample if you will, lets you make a more informed decision about future travel plans. We’ve had several experiences where, based on our one or two visits by cruise ship, we decided to then plan separate vacations where we stayed in an area for an extended trip. Immersion is great, but the world is really big – cruising is a great way to sample and try before you buy.
5) The Ship’s Crew gets to Know You
Of course, this should be true if you stayed in a land based hotel 7 days or more, but the dynamics of ship board life really emphasize relationship building and allows the crew to get to know you. If you end up at the same restaurant or the same lounge for several nights, the crew will recognize you, acknowledge you and create a routine that is welcoming and relaxing.
6) The Fun Continues After the Port Day
Most cruise ships have an abundance of food, entertainment, social and relaxation venues. In short, there is something to do every minute of every day when not in port, and you can be as active or as meditative as you desire on your vacation. Retire to you stateroom early after a long day of exploring, or party into the night with gourmet restaurants, shows and dance options. You get to decide and the options are mostly all included. And if you do party, it should still be relatively easy to find your way back to the room at the end of it all.
Did I forget any broad categories? Of course one can get very specific with restaurants, bars, drink packages and the like, but I tried to highlight what has been unique about our cruise experiences. Let me know if you think of something else.
Bon Voyage!
