Cruising

I've been thinking about cruises, because we just took one and because of the reaction I get from people when I tell them that I liked it.

"God!"  I can see them thinking. "It's so bourgeoisie, it's expensive, you're on the ship's schedule, AND it sounds boring."

A friend's husband told her she can take him on a cruise--when he's ashes in an urn.  Jerry's daughter and her husband concluded, after hearing our tale from our first cruise, that they'd skip a cruise to Alaska they had in mind, and take a land trip, instead.

I get it.  I've taken a lot of land trips, planned them right down to where we'd have lunch, how often trains run to Churchill's country house, and whether we have enough time to make a plane connection at Frankfurt Airport.

By the time we went on the Alaska cruise a month ago, we were tired.  We'd just returned from a trip that required six flights in four weeks.  We'd stayed in five hotels and taken 85 train rides, counting all the tiny trains we took up and down mountains in Switzerland.   I had a three-page, typed itinerary I carried around in my purse.

The long road home

The cruise entailed two short flights, no train rides, and one hotel, aside from our stateroom.  We never came home exhausted from exploring, only to be faced with the dilemma of dinner--where to go?  Take-out?  A restaurant?  If so, where and which one?  We only had to decide whether we wanted room service or to go to one of the dining rooms.

The cruise was a rest.  If we wanted anything, we rang for the steward.  We never made the bed, and we never tidied our room.   And we got to see new things--not in the depth we would have if we'd done a land trip, but there were memorable experiences.  Floating around Tracy Arm Fjord was one; so were hikes in rainforest.  We saw baby eagles.

Tea and coffee delivered in the morning

Once we disembarked in Vancouver, all hell broke loose.  The port was mobbed, we couldn't find our bus, our flight was delayed by weather, Jerry's bag took forever to appear in San Francisco.  Then we waited in the wrong spot for a shuttle bus to long-term parking.  We got home at 2 in the morning.

Definitely needed more time

None of that happens when you're on a ship.  True, you're on the ship's schedule.   You go to ports where you would've liked more time (Florence, on our first cruise) and some where you had more than enough time (Monaco).  Sea days can be boring, or they can be deeply relaxing, or both.

You sample, you rest, you're cossetted. 

It felt like home at the end of each day--except tidy and with food delivered