Where have you visited on a cruise that you would return for a Land-only vacation?

[TeeRick]

We all need to consider non-cruise vacations at this point perhaps into 2021.  I have been to a lot of cruise destinations.  I have always said I would like to return to some of them some day if I ever got a chance.  Let's make an assumption for this discussion that airlines fly and countries are open to tourists.  But still no cruises.  Where would you spend vacation time?

For me it would be New Zealand, the Adriatic (Croatia, Montenegro), the Baltics (Finland Sweden), Quebec, Alaska.    What about you?

 

Now If you are highly restricted this summer to your own country and can use only private transport (driving) where would you vacation?  This is the likely choice many of us have to make.

I personally would go to northern New England (love Maine).  About a 9 hour drive for me.

[mrsgoggins]

Nice thread!  For me, the country that we have visited twice for holidays since sailing into Split and Dubrovnik is Croatia.  We had never considered it previously but loved our land based stays in different parts of Croatia.  Also on the ‘still to visit properly’ list is Slovenia after a cruise visit to Koper and hiring a car for the day.  We always spend at least 3 short (a week or less) land vacations in Europe each year and just this morning booked 5 nights in Germany in early December with fingers crossed - cancellable hotel accommodation only though for the moment.  Flights are available to us now but I want more time to pass before I book.

 

Within the UK if we have to stay home, then it will be glorious Scotland.  We have already replaced our October Italian break for a short trip to the pretty Cotswolds (England).
 

It will be good to read others’ plans.

[RICCruisers]

TeeRick - This is a great topic, although the moderators may not want us discussing places to go other than on a cruise.  

 

We are in the US, Virginia specifically.  We took a 6 week road trip through the US 6 years ago and visited 10 National Parks and enjoyed all of them  It was about 8,500 miles.  We didn't get up to Maine, but since that trip we have gone up to Acadia and really loved that part of the country.  

 

I agree that the Adriatic is an area we would definitely revisit on a land tour along with Northern Italy and Switzerland.  Amsterdam is also a great place to visit and we are disappointed our B2B there in September was just cancelled within the past couple of weeks.

 

For us, some interesting golf courses are important during road trips.  We aren't that good, but a round of golf is one of the activities that we can do where our minds are totally taken off of the current events taking place. 

 

Here's hoping that we will be back on the water soon and that therapeutics along with an effective vaccine are available. 

[Lady Arwen]

Tuscany, Southampton, Amsterdam, Lisbon and just about any European country.

[bubbachief]

New Zealand

[paulh84]

If we could fly to a spot we’ve been on a cruise? Grand Cayman. We’ve rented houses there with friends a few times since first visiting as a cruise stop. Food is pricy on the island but the house rentals are reasonable. It’s an easy trip from Chicago. 
 

Driving? We have a house in Saugatuck, Michigan so that would be our obvious choice. 

[ROYALBOY]

Barcelona, which we hope to visit again prior to Apex TA next October 2021.

[C-Dragons]

Internationally, Austria or Scotland.

No where domestically.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Loved Croatia and its people!  Actually, I'd do a land trip in just about any place I've cruised to with the possible exception of St. Petersburg.

 

For a summer trip in US, I'd go to Maine.  That's what I did last summer.  If I could go to Canada, I'd visit friends in Nova Scotia.

[sasset]

Corsica, Portugal.

[mrsgoggins]

11 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Loved Croatia and its people!  Actually, I'd do a land trip in just about any place I've cruised to with the possible exception of St. Petersburg.

 

I’m with you on both of those sentiments!

[Prost Seattle]

One of my favorite land vacations is Walla Walla, Washington.  There are some great wineries and a lot of amazing food.  You can rent bikes, there’s nice trails around town to ride on, and friendly people.   The bed and breakfast we stayed at (Inn at Blackberry Creek) was charming and the people were great there.  it’s in a historic neighborhood with a large park nearby that had an aviary.  If you go for a drive to the north you’ll get into the rolling hills of wheat farms, and when it’s time for harvest the contrast of the blue skies and golden hills is startling.

 

I always feel like Walla Walla might be what Napa was like in the mid-1960s.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Prost Seattle

[cruisemom42]

After a Med cruise in 2005 I went back and spent a significant amount of time in Egypt and Turkey (two separate trips) once I realized, having been there, that it was safe enough to travel there as a woman alone.

 

I have also returned to Tunisia as the result of a cruise stop there for a much longer tour of Roman sites.

 

On the other hand, my Baltics cruise did not really inspire me with the desire to return anywhere for a longer visit..

 

I suppose one place I would consider visiting more in depth as a result of a stop in Sarande (and on the strength of the Roman ruins at Butrint), it would be Albania.

 

As for the US -- no real interest. I'll just stay home and bank money until international travel reopens....

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

I haven't cruised to too many exotic places, but if I were to pick a Caribbean island it would be Grand Cayman or Aruba, with Curacao coming in a close third.  My NE/Canada cruise got cancelled so I would love to do that by land (although we lifted and shifted so I'll wait until next year).  Alaska is awesome - would go there anytime (in the summer LOL).  We've also done several amazing west coast US cruises and if California wasn't having so many problems right now I'd do another coastal drive from San Diego to SF.  Also loved Norway and would be happy to do that by land and see more places.  Last and not least, really enjoyed visiting London for a few days and would love to see more of Great Britain in general.

[chemmo]

Great post! 

 

If we need to stay in the U.K. we are totally spoilt for choice...Within a two hour drive from almost any spot you will hit natural wonders, historical treasures, fine dining (once opened) and diverse but always welcoming people. If any of you reading haven’t yet visited the U.K. start researching!!!

 

USA,  we have done several US tours and would love to do a few more. Our routes tend to zig zag between national parks...When we replay videos of Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Canyon we immediately think of those small towns we also stopped at on the way where we were always greeted with smiles and appreciation of our accent!

 

World wide we loved South East Asia, particularly a small area in Phuket (Thailand) called Cape Panwa...We also had a full tour of New Zealand on our agenda having experienced parts of North Island on our Trans Pacific cruise...

 

Thinking about places to visit/revisit reminds me once more about the beauty of cruising...The first time you enter a port you visit the obvious highlights, on a second visit you have the luxury of enjoying the cuisine or the art and craft of the area, visit a third time and you can just sit back and savour the experience....

 

Thanks again for a great post!

 

 

[lienf]

Spain including the Canary Islands, Italy, and The U.K. again. 
 

Neil

[jelayne]

We go to Barcelona and Spain any chance we get.  Other places for a land trip Iceland, Italy, (got cancelled this year) Vietnam & Cambodia, the Baltic.

[Vagabond Knight]

Key West and Aruba, which I've visited as cruise ports and directly, and Skagway, Alaska, which I've only traveled to by cruise ship.

[TeaBag]

Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore.

[Fouremco]

Domestically, we'd head back to the Maritimes. We go every couple or three years anyway, and will head there this September if the bubble has opened up by then.

 

As for cruise destinations, there are many we have spent time in and would be happy to do so again. In fact, I don't think that there has been a destination we've visited that we wouldn't want to spend time in, but our first pick would be Italy.

[downsmead]

We are meant to be in Sorrento atm having visited the Amalfi Coast on a cruise. We were planning a trip to Capri, whilst there.

Our NO cruise was cancelled in April this year and so we have ‘exchanged’ our Sorrento trip to a Yucatan one in December so that we can see the area (Mexico) we didn’t visit on the cruise. Whether this goes ahead remains to be seen 🤞. 
We are also looking forward to a trip to Amsterdam, since we didn’t get to visit there on a cancelled Apex sailing. 
We had done most itineraries that appealed to us and had already booked / planned return trips to ports/ countries that we enjoyed before the Coronovirus ‘hit’. Just having to delay our plans for a while.

[sippican]

I'd visit Norway again by land in a heartbeat. We'd really consider revisiting most places we've had a port stop (other than St. Petersburg, Russia and the Caribbean Islands).

 

Domestically - Sedona, Arizona, Big Sky/Yellowstone Mt,  Donweast Maine,  Sonoma/Napa, Lake Tahoe, CA, Steamboat Springs, CO.

[travlr21]

In 2012, after 2 days in Auckland and one day in Tauranga while on a cruise on the Millennium, we knew we wanted to go back to New Zealand. We made that a reality this past December, we did a land vacation in NZ. Perfect timing on our part, we flew home on Feb 19 before things got really bad. It was an absolutely amazing trip, we traveled to almost the northern tip of the North Island to the southern tip of the South Island and east to west on both. We would love to go back.

 

Generally, when we cruise we stay a few days in either the embarkation city or the disembarkation city.  I think a land based vacation in Italy would be top of our list since we have only seen port cities.  

 

For now we will enjoy a stay-cation in the beautiful Okanagan. Stay safe all. 

[eel]

We had a one month land trip to New Zealand all planned out for March. Cancelled two days before we were going to leave! Would schedule that again in a heartbeat. I already have it all planned out. Maybe 2022.

 

Other places: Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Greece, Israel, Bora Bora (in an over the water hut), Sweden, Spain.  We have already done a lot of land travel in Italy and Australia but would go back to either again in a heartbeat!

[tonyd285]

We visited Israel on a Med. cruise (two days in Haifa) and were so impressed with our time there that we booked an 11 day trip the following year.  Wonderful experience, one of the best vacations we ever enjoyed.  So much history, so many ruins - ancient Israeli, Roman, Crusader and Ottoman.  Beautiful religious sites, the Dead Sea, etc.  Surprisingly, the cuisine was quite good, sort of a mix between Middle Eastern and European.  A special treat was the Israeli wines.  On top of all that the people, Jewish, Christian and Muslim were delightful.  I am ready to go back - as if we can go anywhere right now.