Has cruising ever pushed you out of your comfort zone?

[editor@cruisecritic]

No question, cruise travel can be a cushy way to see the world (and don't get me wrong, I love cushy!). Still, it occurred to me today, on a shore excursion on Indonesia's Komodo island while we were chasing its infamous dragons around a national park (and it was a little bit scary) that as comfy as a cruise can be, it can also push you out of your comfort zone. Like today.

 

Wondering: Have you been on a cruise where you tried something you never would have ordinarily experienced? I can also credit bear tracking while on Celebrity Infinity in Alaska, and a chance to fish for piranha while on an Amazon cruise. A colleague, a sports nut, tells me she once met a pro NFL-er on a Royal Caribbean cruise and he let her try on his SuperBowl rings. She also snorkeled in Alaska and ran a 5K in the Caribbean.

 

Share yours with us....

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

[feathersandnananose]

For us, cruising has OFTEN been about leaving our (limited) comfort zones....

 

Cruising brought us to going far above the Arctic Circle (all the way to Prudhoe Bay), our first (and subsequent) zip-line excursions, our first (and subsequent) snorkel experiences, a wonderful leather mask purchase in Mazatlan...and more...

 

Not to mention that my hubby, who has issues about traveling to non-English-speaking countries, had a great time on our cruise through the Norwegian fjords (and the towns we visited). They have WONDERFUL libraries (said the childlrens' librarian....who discovered the wonders while looking for wi-fi.....)

 

Having a comfort zone (the ship / cruise tour) as a home base makes the excursions into the "less-comfort" zone work wonderfully.

[CaveDiving]

This was on an excursion from a Holland America stop at Hong Kong to Macau. It's on the walk outside the 66 story high Macau tower (similar to the Seattle Tower.)

 

Scott & Karen

 

[YubaSutter]

I have a fear of heights. Didn't think I would enjoy zip-lining. Did it, had a blast, would do it again in a minute.

[middlehaitch]

Oh yes.

Donkey riding up and down a forest trail and hiking up and down the steepest bits ( I couldn't do stairs for 2 days after that!) followed by swimming under water falls, clinging to the rocks for my dear life.

Ziplining - did extra weight training for 3 months prior I was so worried; found it was fun even though I spun like a top on the first line, and I didn't need huge arm muscles.

Snokeling both from the shore and off a boat; I can barely swim so not having my feet touch the bottom is really scarey.

After all that pushing my boundries, I would, do them all again, in a heartbeat.

Heck, even looking after a roll call pushes my boundries!

Interesting question.

Cheers, h.

 

 

[Ashland]

Yes...But some won't believe it ...For me being pushed out of my comfort zone was when I booked a balcony cabin (great price so I thought...give it a try) that only offered a shower instead of my usual JS that has a tub...Can you tell I'm a bath only person..Yikes are those tubes of cleanliness hard to manage :eek::D

[editor@cruisecritic]

This is just a great way to put what makes cruising so special, feathersandnananose!: "Having a comfort zone (the ship / cruise tour) as a home base makes the excursions into the "less-comfort" zone work wonderfully."

 

Carolyn

 

For us, cruising has OFTEN been about leaving our (limited) comfort zones....

 

Cruising brought us to going far above the Arctic Circle (all the way to Prudhoe Bay), our first (and subsequent) zip-line excursions, our first (and subsequent) snorkel experiences, a wonderful leather mask purchase in Mazatlan...and more...

 

Not to mention that my hubby, who has issues about traveling to non-English-speaking countries, had a great time on our cruise through the Norwegian fjords (and the towns we visited). They have WONDERFUL libraries (said the childlrens' librarian....who discovered the wonders while looking for wi-fi.....)

 

Having a comfort zone (the ship / cruise tour) as a home base makes the excursions into the "less-comfort" zone work wonderfully.

[Karysa]

For me it happened on my first cruise back in 2004 on the VOS. I have claustrophobia and the crowds in the Promanade for the "Mardi Gras" parade really made me uncomfortable. I avoid such events now and arrive at the muster station drills just before the drill is to begin so that I am in the front row. I am getting better dealing with crowded stairways and tenders though and force myself to stay in the line-ups instead of retreat and come back later when I do happen upon such line-ups.

[Karysa]

My DD's are afraid of roller coasters and have seasickness but were good sports and joined the rest of the family on a super-speedboat that you are locked into much the same as a coaster and the captain makes the boat spin-out and you do 360's. They did this for their big-sis the adrenaline junkie of the family.:)

[cruzeluver]

Doing new, exciting things is part of the experience for us. Some of those things have been:

 

- swimming with stingrays, giant sea turtles and dolphins.

- ziplining (loved it so much we have now done it three times!)

- walking on a glacier in Alaska

- jumping from more than 50 feet up into natural tide pools in Jamaica

[Patti22]

editor@cruisecritic,

We are on that tour of Komodo in Feb. How scary and in what way? Now I am getting pushed out of my comfort zone.

Also, as I am afraid of heights, the Flam train was an adventure for me. Also, riding with the sled dogs in Norway. Many adventures but we are in our 60's, so we are going for it.

[SPacificbound]

This was a few days after our cruise that went from Sydney to Honolulu. It was booked by us through the tour operator while we were in Honolulu.

 

DH wanted to do a doors off helicopter tour of the island. I am not fond of flying and will never book a little plane if at all possible. I want planes like a 737-800.

 

I looked at the brochure and thought well I've lived to be 73 so why not.

 

When we arrived at the airport we went in and met the pilot, (who was also the owner), that would be taking us. The office manager took us through the safety info and showed us a video of the flight. He asked if we were still game to go and we said yes.

 

The owner asked us our weight, also the weight of the other couple that would be going. He quickly did some weight distribution calculations and told me I would be his co-pilot and DH and the other couple would be in back. We were put in life vests and then strapped into the seats, and after some brief safety checks we left the ground.

 

OMG that was the most fantastic flight ever!! I loved it!! I would do it again in a minute!! I shot so many great photos and it was absolutely the most fun we had on the three Hawaiaan Islands that we toured. :D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Riding a camel in Egypt.

[John Bull]

This is just a great way to put what makes cruising so special, feathersandnananose!: "Having a comfort zone (the ship / cruise tour) as a home base makes the excursions into the "less-comfort" zone work wonderfully."

 

Carolyn

 

 

Yes - spot-on, Carolyn :)

We frequently leave our comfort zone, as much in the places to which we travel as in the things that we do - and usually independently.

 

But it's good to have a little bit of the US or the UK moored not too far away, to which we return after an edgy day. One of the advantages of a cruise.

 

BTW - the Komodo dragons? What a bunch of fat, lazy, over-fed pussy-cats. :D

 

JB :)

[Happy ks]

For me it was zip lining, I just didn't realize what I was getting into. The hike up the mountain was hard for me as I'm not in the best shape. Then came the zip itself, I was so scared I almost cried. The only thing that kept me going was knowing the only other way down the mountain was to hike down…it seemed so steep to me. I was (inside) the big baby of the group (about 40 ppl), 4th in line starting position, almost dead last at the end.

 

I have to say once I relaxed I did enjoy some of it, there were 14 zips in all, some of them really long and very high up. I think the highest was 700 feet, a couple hundreds of yards long. But given the opportunity again, no thanks. My husband loved it.

[momoftwinteens]

This past cruise, it was snorkeling in water about 75-100 feet deep! Knowing I couldn't just stop and stand if I got tired was scary and rather exilarating at the same time. I loved watching the fish but really had to watch I didn't get too tired.

[mikewrit]

Hiking up the trail to the top of Vesuvius less than two months after my 2007 multiple bypass surgery. Dumb but really worthwhile.

[pandarider123]

I'm terrified of the ocean so being on a cruise shipa would take me out my comfort zone.

[Laurie S.]

Not cruise-related, but I did ride the Olympic bobsled at Park City, Utah a couple years ago. What a ride! I'll always go for something new and exciting to do.

[printingchick]

What is it about cruise vacations that makes us do things we wouldn't normally consider?

 

 

• I frequently try exotic foods on a cruise - something I'd never do normally because I'd risk having to pay for something I didn't like.
  
• I went parasailing on a cruise because my best friend was dying to try it. (I don't like heights.) Funny thing is, I ended up enjoying it (once I got over the initial trepidation) and did it again on a later cruise. Somehow being high over WATER is less scary to me.
  
• I rode on the grand piano in the piano bar! (It was on a Carnival cruise where the piano revolves.) The entertainer was performing a song which included my name and he invited me up on the piano. This is a lot more OUT-GOING that is normal for me. But I had a BLAST on-top-of-the-piano became my regular seat for the rest of that cruise!
  
• I served as a judge for the "sexy legs" contest. I'd watched women do it for years. Why not! It was a hoot!
  
• I stopped short of eating a termite in Belize, but my son - who was traveling with me - ate one. I have pictures!
  
• I once did kamikaze karaoke. Definitely uncomfortable! (And not just for me!!)
  

I'm sure there will be lots more comfort-zone defecting to come in future cruises. (Orient Beach comes to mind...;)) Challenging myself to try new things is one of the things I LOVE about cruising.

[Bookish Angel]

Seas like I have never experienced before or since, the ship listing at a National Geographic photo angle and making the mistake of looking out of the porthole.

 

It was a fabulous trip despite that scary start even though I sustained a very bad ankle injury on the Chilean base and spent the rest of the trip and the plane ride home with my ankle and foot swollen to 5 times their normal size.

[Oh away I go!]

:eek: I never learned how to swim, but I decided to go "Underwater Walking" in the Bahamas...

 

Once is enough. Thanks, but no thanks. No more adventures like that for me :rolleyes:

[panoramaofthepast]

Zip line in Puerto Rico

Dog sled ride in Alaska

Climbed a volcano in the Med

Foodie tour of street taco places in Puerto Vallarta

 

And more to come . . .

[meatball_nyc]

Great stories!

 

My son and I swam with the dolphins in Tortola. Thought I would be afraid of them, but I wasn't and I loved it.

 

Doubt I would ever in a million years do zip lining. But ya never know.

 

Love being on an excursion all day then coming "home" to your ship.

 

Oh. Not done on a cruise but a TON of fun: had a very good friend come to town to stay with us from Australia. Wanted to do something exciting besides the typical Empire State Building, etc etc

So we took her on a ride on a speedboat called The Beast in New York Harbor. We were all soaking wet but man we laughed our butts off!

 

Happy Sailing!!

 

 

 

~robin and brian

(summertime jersey shore beach bums)

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Norwegian Breakaway 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Edited December 19, 2013 by meatball_nyc

[gooch47]

Riding through a storm in the North Atlantic. I believe it was the remnants of a hurricane. Each time that ship came down off one of those giant waves, it would feel like it hit a huge rock. The whole ship would shudder for a couple seconds.

 

Our own fault, but we've walked through some dicey neighborhoods, once even at night.

 

Snorkeling and getting scared out of my wits when I came face to face with a big barracuda.

 

But the worst is the irrational anxiety I get on the few days before a cruise imaging all the things that could possibly go wrong when we are trying to get to the ship from home.