Does cruising stop some from trying land vacations?

[Mike981]

Your cabin, food/drink, entertainment, and so on are included/available and you feel safe and secure. Oh and they clean up after you. You also have someone drive for you to see new amazing places.
We have done done several cruises, along with all-inclusives and rented a few homes. But nothing to adventurous. For example flying to XYZ with a hotel for the first couple of nights and then figuring it out as you go from there.

[Nic6318]

Hi 

 

Why would you think that going on a cruise would stop you from going on a land vacation?

 

Obviously, there is nothing that should stop you. So at best, some people might prefer to go on a cruise, for whatever reason. I would imagine some people prefer going on land vacations. We all have different tastes. 

 

You mention you have never tried anything too "adventurous". What is stopping you? Pick somewhere you want to go. Do some research, book a flight, hotel, car, and go. It's pretty easy. If you are not good at planning, try a travel agent. You just have to think about what it is that you would like to try, or what you would like to see. You know... what's on your bucket list. No excuses, pick one of those things and do/see it.

 

have a good time

[iancal]

We have been doing exactly that since retiring six years ago.  The post retirement trip was seven months.  Since then it has usually been two trips a year, 2-3 months each.  

 

Mostly spontaneous travel.  We have a general idea of where we are going and we sometimes bookend travels with air reservations.  Cruising?  Most of our cruises now are booked out 45 days or less and usually end up being a break from independent land travel.    As an example this winter we will fly to Thailand, spend a month, then fly to Australia and home via Hawaii.  Air has been booked including flights to Tasmania.   We have accommodation booked for our first five days and our last few days.  Everything in between with be spontaneous.

 

We have booked Med, Caribbean, and Australian/NZ late booking cruises as part of these past travels.  We expect to do more.

Just last month we decided against an AI in Mexico  and opted for two weeks independent travel in Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morales.  We had such a good time that we plan to do the same thing, same time, next year but for at least three weeks.

This type of travel is not for everyone.  It is a far cry from how I used to schedule my business travel and how we used to plan vacations while working.  We still very much enjoy cruising but we are definately doing less in favor of land travel.  Plus, we find that cruising is not longer the travel value that it used to be.

[calliopecruiser]

I'm sure it has made some people decide they don't want to do land vacations, but.....so what?   It's all about what you (or anyone) wants from a vacation - and what someone wants from a vacation can change too.  My last 3 vacations have all been long cruises with lots of sea days, offering a wonderfully calm and relaxing trip.  But next year I'm doing a land vacation of 4 weeks in Italy on my own.  I have my flights booked there and back, and an idea of where I'd like to go, but no specific plans.   It will be a different kind of vacation, but the kind I want now; those cruises were the  kind I wanted then.   I love the planning and anticipation.  I love the flexibility of being able to change my plans on a whim while I'm in the middle of the trip, if I choose to.  I've done both kinds of trips and I like them both.....but for different reasons and at different times. 

[lamchops]

I’m fortunate enough to get 3 weeks of holidays in a row and always sandwich a cruise in the middle or end of a land vacation. I’ve been focusing on Europe the last few cruises and have no issues with extra days/weeks in France, Italy, Greece, and recently the UK. I’m a do it yourself type and with all the information on CC and the internet it’s not that hard. JB and Hank are a wealth of knowledge pertaining to Europe. I know my limitations and will not take on something outrageous. Google maps walking and transit mode usually helps me decide. The program will show trains and buses and I won’t take any rides with a transfer on a port day. I also have a Garmin gps with European maps to help if I decide to drive. I have it because I’ve been in a rental with a gps in a foreign language and wasted too much time trying to program English or destinations. I’m also too cheap to pay for gps though lately most cars come with it. They usually still try to charge you when booking online.

[cruisemom42]

I suspect it's not cruises that stop some from taking land vacations, but their own inclinations and preferences. While I think land travel has a lot of benefits -- including a more immersive and at times less touristy experience -- traveling by cruise ship can also be very enjoyable. And in the end, my feeling is that it's better to travel than to stay at home -- the logistics are secondary.

 

For me, I guess you could say that my cruises have actually led to MORE land travel. For example, I took my first Med cruise in 2005 -- it visited ports in Italy, France, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. Following that, I went back and spent extended vacations doing in-country travel in every one of those countries, multiple times. Same was true of later cruises that prompted visits to Tunisia, Israel, Portugal, Spain and various part of Asia. 🚢

[klfrodo]

Not at all.

just returned from a fabulous 7 days at an AI in Punta Cana, DR.

All because of a Port day in La Romana

[OCruisers]

Have to admit ... for us cruising to "far away places"  is so much easier than land vacations.   

[marco]

No, and it depends where we want to go.  A specific destination of a cruise is only a "taste" of that place.  IE: On a Med cruise docking in Civitavecchia  (sp) for Rome for the day is NOT like going and spending a week there.  And there are many places we like to or have visited that are nowhere near the coast, so it would be impossible to take a cruise to there.

[Hlitner]

We love to combine cruise and land vacations.  For example, next Fall we will fly to Italy and spend at least a week its a rental car.  Then we drop the car in Civitavecchia and spen a few weeks on a cruise that ends in Ft Lauderdale.  ''Tis the best of both worlds.

 

Hank

[Bookish Angel]

For us, cruising is an easy way for us to relax and escape winter for 10 -14 days in January. It is also good for recon on places we want to go go longer period.

 

While we enjoy cruising, it is not on par with land travel to the remote places we have loved in Africa, South America, Australia, etc.

[sanger727]

 

I’m confused by your post. The choices aren’t 1. Cruise/all inclusive or 2. Fly to xyz and book a hotel for the first few nights and see what happens from there

 

we do a combination of cruises and land vacations. Cruises are fun and easy vacations but my favorite experiences have occurred on land vacations. I still plan out land vacations from start to finish; not sure why you would fly to an exotic locale without plans on where to go, how to get around, and where to stay. These trips just take a bit more planning and budgeting; but instead of being limited to cities near ports and shore excursions between 8 am and 4 pm, the entire world is open to you.

 

if you want a more organized experience on a land trip you may want to look into a group tour. They aren’t for everyone, but it’s a way to get the experiences available on a land trip without doing the research and planning.

Edited November 29, 2018 by sanger727

[paul929207]

We did both for many years. Recently it has just been cruises. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

8 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Not at all.

just returned from a fabulous 7 days at an AI in Punta Cana, DR.

All because of a Port day in La Romana

Plus 1

We use cruises (approx 3 long ones a year with different start/end ports) as scouting trips for future land vacations.

[K32682]

Cruising doesn't necessarily "stop" people from taking land vacations but it does provide a travel option for that segment of the population who wouldn't take a land vacation in the first place.  These are the timid people who find travel to foreign lands a daunting and even frightening prospect and would stay at home if they didn't have a great big boat and modern conveniences close at hand. Cruising is travel with training wheels. So are all-inclusive resorts. 

[Hflors]

I don't think cruising stops people from land vacation.  It does make them think about how they want to spend their time.  Example:  Do you want to pack your luggage, leave home board a cruise ship, unpack and enjoy where ever the ship takes you without cooking, or clean up for the time you are onboard.  (for us only) We own a camper and the alternative is we pack luggage and camper hook it up to our truck, drive it to where ever we are heading.  Set the camper up.  cook, clean up, make the bed every day.  clean the whole camper every day or two do laundry every day or two.  when we are ready to come home re-hook up the camper, tow it home unpack luggage any left over food etc.  Clean the whole camper and then take it back to the storage lot.  We love doing both kinds of travel, but I do admit that camping involves a lot more work than cruising.  

[Markanddonna]

We typically take two kinds of cruises:

 

Transatlantic and Transpacific- these allow us to enjoy the ship and visit some interesting ports in order to get to Europe, Australia and New Zealand for a land vacation. The land vacation is our focus.

 

A Caribbean cruise during the winter- we are looking for a WARM place with no snow.  We have discovered Florida is often pretty chilly in the winter and often not much of a difference from our midwestern temps.

 

We visited all around the USA before retirement but didn't have the time for these longer trips when I was teaching.  How nice to enjoy the shoulder season for travel!

[John Bull]

I just wonder if age is a big factor. 

 

Road trips were our thing, free-wheeling with a tent & camping gear in the trunk  and only a vague route in our minds 

From there to a camper-van.

From there to stopping off at hotels/motels/B&Bs, with just the first couple of nights pre-booked

 

I was introduced to cruising at a comparatively late stage in life. If it had been earlier in life I probably wouldn't have got hooked - trapped on a ship, their itinerary instead of mine, can't rush past places that don't interest me and can't dally for a few days at places that do, "if today is wednesday it must be Venice", stuck with the same four walls, same dining, same bars, .

 

Nowadays cruising makes it all so easy for us. 

We still do road trips - got a biggie coming up in January, effectively a round-the-world  including 8 flights and 3 road-trips, but this'll be our last major adventure. And for the first time we've pre-booked accommodation for every night - definitely a sign of old age . 

 

From now on it'll be simple structured road-trips.

And cruises. 

 

JB 

Edited November 29, 2018 by John Bull

[mef_57]

I am just considering cruising now, mostly due to still working, the effort of solo land travel, and the need to get out of a Canadian winter for a while.  I will take cruising over All Inclusive resorts any day, but I still consider myself a land traveler but will be looking at slower, easier travel until retirement in 4 years.  Then I intend to land travel as long as I can and am not averse to throwing in some cruises as well.

Edited November 29, 2018 by mef_57

[champagne123]

Although I have very good memories of years of renting a beach house, when the children were young, I think I worked harder on vacation, than being at home...

I like being pampered.  I deserve it!!!   ....have been taking care of people my whole life.  Since the kids now have families of their own, DH and I, exclusively have cruised for the past 20 years and will never go back.  

[Mike981]

Thank you for all for the wonderful posts. Very jealous!

I asked the question to see if you believe that some feel the cruise experience is all they need based on their comfort level.

I should add that the biggest reason WE have not done a land vacation (not so much fear) is time and money. We would love to try a land vacation in the Mediterranean, Ireland, UK, South America and so on. But we are still working stiffs and are limited on time. The cost for an international flight to only stay for only 7 days seems to much. Our next cruise (Celebrity balcony) is going to be very close to $5,000, that includes air, pre-flight, pre-cruise, post cruise hotels and cash etc. And of course those "free" extras.
 

[calliopecruiser]

Cruising can be very cost effective (especially for couples or pairs)!  However don't limit yourself to just international adventures......they are wonderful, but the US has a lot of interesting places to investigate too.  For instance, I did a wonderful road trip in the SW, including 3 national parks and a couple of other parks and monuments (granted, that was 2 weeks).   Also in the area of Washington between Seattle and Spokane (that was 1 week).  

[ontheweb]

Actually, our booked second cruise led us to do a land vacation when the river boat was chartered out after we had made final payment. We ended up fling to Amsterdam instead of taking a river cruise from there.

 

Now we sometimes do one, and sometimes the other. Our last vacation was a cruise, Boston to Montreal with a stay afterwards in Montreal. The vacation we have booked at this time is a land vacation, an escorted tour in Peru including Machu Picchu.

[lisiamc]

Cruising is my favourite holiday.  I’m also pretty happy with all-inclusive resorts and guided tours.  But the idea of an “adventurous” land holiday makes me shudder!  I’ve tried camping, road trips and self-catering holidays in the past, but I can’t think of any reason to try them again.  I much prefer being looked after and pampered.  

[iancal]

We were on a cruise several years ago that had stops in Malta and Catania, Sicily.  

 

We liked them both so much we returned and did a ten day visit to Malta and two/three weeks in Sicily   Not certain that we would have gone to either if we had not stopped on a cruise.  Same for a few other places like Croatia and Turkey.

 

Our challenge with cruises is that now we have time for land trips, and are doing them, a one day port stop is often not sufficient for us to truly enjoy the destination.   Nor are we interested in wasting 3-4 hours of our port time disembarking/traveling to the attraction/returning to the ship with time to spare on some stops.

 

It was different when we worked. Cruising was easy,  No phones or computers.  Since retiring we want to spent more time and travel to places that may not be served well or at all by port stops.

Edited November 29, 2018 by iancal