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

[mimbecky]

On 6/27/2020 at 11:28 AM, travlr21 said:

we wanted to go back to New Zealand. We made that a reality this past December, we did a land vacation in NZ

Did you just drive or do an escorted tour?  We have a cruise to Australia planned in 2022.  Were thinking of a B2B with NZ but are now thinking of a land tour in NZ instead. 

Thanks for input.

Miriam

[lyndarra]

November last year I spent 2 days/3 nights in South Beach Miami at the end of MSC Genoa/Miami cruise. I think I would like to spend a little more time as I found it very laid back. I only went to the beach itself once to check it out and decided there are better beaches here - minutes (< mile) from home. I enjoyed taking the bus into the city during the day and finding great little eateries, used by locals, near South Beach.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, mimbecky said:

Did you just drive or do an escorted tour?  We have a cruise to Australia planned in 2022.  Were thinking of a B2B with NZ but are now thinking of a land tour in NZ instead. 

Thanks for input.

Miriam

To see the real New Zealand and experience its culture do a land tour if possible. I've cruised there 4 or 5 times and have done two North Island land tours and one South Island and I'm planning another two week South Island tour as soon as entry restrictions are lifted, which could be by March 2021.

My tours have all been self drive. Rental RVs are very popular.

[Jazzbo]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:36 AM, Roger88 said:

Its not like its that hard to visit Hawaii nowdays, but whenever I am on acruise in pacific and visit Hawaii I always want to stay there for awhile. This place is amazing, people are chill, nature is awesome. Food is excellent. What else a man needs?

Cant wait to go specifically to Hawaii and just to stay there for some time 

We spent a week on the Big Island several years ago.  I would go back in a heartbeat, but we’d also like to see Maui and Kauai, with a few days in Oahu.  My father-in-law was wounded at Hickam field during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

[shipshape sam]

For us, it has been over time, Alaska and  St Thomas in reverse where we did want to go back to St Thomas and it was on a ship after staying in Charlotte Amalie for a week in Bluebeards castle, a timeshare facility.  Great views.  Not sure what it is like now..

 

Without specifics, we would be interested (not a given) to go to one or two caribbean destinations.  We liked snorkeling on St Lucia under the Pitons

[Jazzbo]

On 12/13/2020 at 3:02 PM, markeb said:

I think right now my leading interests are roughly from Venice to Pisa; restaurants in Modena and Tuscany, wine in Montalcino (and probably all over Tuscany), Parmigianino Reggiano, etc. London, with a couple of specific places in mind, and I'd really like to explore the food scene more beyond pub grub (we've eaten at Michelin places in London, but there's a really interesting food scene in the UK). And I've gotten intrigued with the Southeastern US, Charleston and Savannah for sure, and maybe more.

 

In 2005 we rented villas near Lucca (old walled town) for 2 weeks.  We couldn’t get a single villa for both weeks, so we spent the first week very near Lucca and the second in the Tuscan mountains near Lucca.  There were 12 of us the first week and 10 the second.  Each couple had their own small rental car, and we explored everywhere from Venice (by train from Florence), Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. We bought wonderful food and cooked it in the villas, and went to numerous small restaurants with spectacular food.  It was one of my favorite vacations and I’d do it again, but not with so many people (only because my Mum and I made the arrangements, and it was like herding cats!).

[Doubt It]

2 hours ago, Jazzbo said:

We spent a week on the Big Island several years ago.  I would go back in a heartbeat, but we’d also like to see Maui and Kauai, with a few days in Oahu.  My father-in-law was wounded at Hickam field during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

 

Hawaii is a travel destination that requires a land vacation, not a cruise. Do the islands by land and hop via plane between each island. It is so very easy and efficient using the air shuttles. With the good weather, you will get an eyeful of island pictures from the air.

 

Make Kauai a stop and do the plane/heli around the island to see the Napoli coast, well oh my! A totally spectacular geographic sight.

 

Eat the local food, walk around the info center at the Volcano National park etc.

 

Respectfully, take the typical 10 days or so of a Hawaii cruise, and spend it on the islands.

[travlr21]

16 hours ago, mimbecky said:

Did you just drive or do an escorted tour? 

We just drove, rented a small car. We spent some time with travel books (Fodors, Lonely Planet etc) Hubby worked out rough route, to cover seeing both islands, with drive times between major sights / cities. We booked the first 3 place we stayed, since we were travelling over Christmas & New Years. From there we booked one or two places ahead, readjusting our planned timings as we went along. Over 2 months we saw pretty well all the major things we wanted to see. We love cruising in part because we 'unpack once'  and I was a tad worried about this trip. But we had a system and it worked well. We booked efficiencies, with kitchen areas for light meals and many had laundry facilities. Probably the best land trip we have ever taken.

[markeb]

3 hours ago, Jazzbo said:

In 2005 we rented villas near Lucca (old walled town) for 2 weeks.  We couldn’t get a single villa for both weeks, so we spent the first week very near Lucca and the second in the Tuscan mountains near Lucca.  There were 12 of us the first week and 10 the second.  Each couple had their own small rental car, and we explored everywhere from Venice (by train from Florence), Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. We bought wonderful food and cooked it in the villas, and went to numerous small restaurants with spectacular food.  It was one of my favorite vacations and I’d do it again, but not with so many people (only because my Mum and I made the arrangements, and it was like herding cats!).

 

That would be fun. I'd probably want to spend a couple of nights in Florence, just because I never have and not having a timeline to get out of the city would be nice (and we could find a nice restaurant and not worry about having a nice bottle of wine). And I'm currently fascinated with Osteria Francescana quite a ways away in Modena. Hard to get into, expensive, and we'd want to stay in town. That would be a splurge, obviously...

[phoenix_dream]

I haven't cruised to too many exotic places, but my cruises have tempted me to spend more time in some ports.

 

Last year we cruised out of Southampton to Norway.  I would love to spend some more time in England, in fact the entire UK, as well as in Norway.

 

I would love to spend more time in Alaska.  On one trip we did a 3 day tour to Denali.  I would like to go to Anchorage and maybe spend a week or so traveling to Denali and other nearby areas.

 

Taking a couple of west coast US cruises reminded me how much we loved the California coast.  We've since done a LA to San Francisco land trip and would love to do it again (maybe from San Diego this time).

 

We love stopping at Key West, and now that cruises won't be able to stop there, will likely plan a few days down there - did that once before and loved it.  Combined with a Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Everglades vacation - nice!

 

Most of my other cruises have been to the Caribbean or Mexico.  Places I loved in Mexico are no longer safe so can't do that (not into all-inclusives).  Not really beach people (we cruise the Caribbean for convenience and the onboard experience), so I don't think we would go to the Caribbean, but if I did it would likely be Aruba or Curacao.

 

[TeeRick]

5 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I haven't cruised to too many exotic places, but my cruises have tempted me to spend more time in some ports.

 

Last year we cruised out of Southampton to Norway.  I would love to spend some more time in England, in fact the entire UK, as well as in Norway.

 

I would love to spend more time in Alaska.  On one trip we did a 3 day tour to Denali.  I would like to go to Anchorage and maybe spend a week or so traveling to Denali and other nearby areas.

 

Taking a couple of west coast US cruises reminded me how much we loved the California coast.  We've since done a LA to San Francisco land trip and would love to do it again (maybe from San Diego this time).

 

We love stopping at Key West, and now that cruises won't be able to stop there, will likely plan a few days down there - did that once before and loved it.  Combined with a Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Everglades vacation - nice!

 

Most of my other cruises have been to the Caribbean or Mexico.  Places I loved in Mexico are no longer safe so can't do that (not into all-inclusives).  Not really beach people (we cruise the Caribbean for convenience and the onboard experience), so I don't think we would go to the Caribbean, but if I did it would likely be Aruba or Curacao.

 

We are hoping that our Southampton to Norway cruise happens on Aug 26 2021.  We have never been there but we have done the Baltics.  We were supposed to do Ireland and Iceland this past July on Reflection for our 40th anniversary - but of course no.  There are 2022 cruises just announced that are Iceland and Greenland.  Anybody ever been to Greenland?

[markeb]

23 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

We are hoping that our Southampton to Norway cruise happens on Aug 26 2021.  We have never been there but we have done the Baltics.  We were supposed to do Ireland and Iceland this past July on Reflection for our 40th anniversary - but of course no.  There are 2022 cruises just announced that are Iceland and Greenland.  Anybody ever been to Greenland?

 

Never been to Greenland. We've been to Iceland.

 

Where do you stop in Norway?

[TeeRick]

6 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Never been to Greenland. We've been to Iceland.

 

Where do you stop in Norway?

9 nights Best of Norwegian Fjords on Silhouette departing Aug 26 2021.  Fingers crossed!
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND
STAVANGER, NORWAY
FLAM, NORWAY
ALESUND, NORWAY
GEIRANGER, NORWAY
BERGEN, NORWAY
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

[markeb]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

9 nights Best of Norwegian Fjords on Silhouette departing Aug 26 2021.  Fingers crossed!
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND
STAVANGER, NORWAY
FLAM, NORWAY
ALESUND, NORWAY
GEIRANGER, NORWAY
BERGEN, NORWAY
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

 

Hoping for you! I don't think I've bee to Flam, but the other stops are beautiful. Geiranger is amazing!

[ORV]

58 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

9 nights Best of Norwegian Fjords on Silhouette departing Aug 26 2021.  Fingers crossed!
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND
STAVANGER, NORWAY
FLAM, NORWAY
ALESUND, NORWAY
GEIRANGER, NORWAY
BERGEN, NORWAY
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

I was in all of those ports a couple of years ago on Oceania. I thought it was great. I'd go again. 

[Homosassa]

17 hours ago, markeb said:

 

That would be fun. I'd probably want to spend a couple of nights in Florence, just because I never have and not having a timeline to get out of the city would be nice (and we could find a nice restaurant and not worry about having a nice bottle of wine). And I'm currently fascinated with Osteria Francescana quite a ways away in Modena. Hard to get into, expensive, and we'd want to stay in town. That would be a splurge, obviously...

 

Our visit to Florence and Tuscany broke our usual habit on traveling independently to Europe and picking an area to stay in for several weeks.

 

We had instead booked an "Empires of the Mediterranean" cruise on Viking Ocean and booked a precruise package for Tuscany. It was several days of delight in the area in and around Florence.

 

Our accommodations was in a villa, parts of which dated from the 15th century. We lucked out and were assigned "La camera del Professore," the Professor's bedroom.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDkiHQlKNNY&ab_channel=VillailPoggiale

 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

 

Hoping for you! I don't think I've bee to Flam, but the other stops are beautiful. Geiranger is amazing!

 

Flam is great. The train trip is a highlight and hiking the area is great too.

[naturelovergirl]

Our first trip to Norway was a 2 week land trip- we did trains, rental cars, ferries, and stayed in several small hotels as well as hytter (cabin/cottages) ... our second (two years later) was a cruise.

I loved each kind of travel there for different reasons... Norway is one of my favorite places in the world to visit.

I would go back in a heartbeat either by land or by sea!

[lyndarra]

Thinking back to my MSC Genoa/Miami cruise last year, I would like to spend a few days in St Maarten. Not really a land tour but it's somewhere that I would have liked to experienced a little more.