Will we begin to prefer land based trips?

[bosswench]

We have always taken a mix of land trips and cruises. We enjoy cruises for the ships, but as to ports, we have a few different approaches. We see new ports as previews, and decide if they are somewhere we would like to spend time on a land trip (Barbados). We also specifically look for ports where the cost/difficulty of taking a land vacation (Greenland) is such that a short cruise stop gives us a chance to get to places where we wouldn't otherwise be likely to go.  Finally, for the over repeated ports (Nassau and St. Thomas),   we take the opportunity to do the one thing we really enjoyed there, a particularly lovely beach, an especially fun snorkeling trip, a favorite restaurant, or something else.

[ldubs]

15 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Two ways to do it:  manned, likely shared with others, with a great cook on board - typical in France; or “self catered” perhaps in Ireland - for a magical, peaceful escape.

 

One of my co-workers from many years ago did a bare boat rental in either France or Germany (I can't remember which) for her family of four.   Her description of puttering up river and stopping along the way was enticing.  They did a lot of their own cooking on board.   

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Tomales Bay? Nothing like fresh oysters right on the bay or taken to a nice beach local at near by Point Reyes. Lovely area to be sure. I prefer the Kumamotos from Taylor Farms in WA but a fresh pacific oyster is very nice as well. I had some excellent ones from Mexico recently that were fantastic. As far as fishing, if you want to catch something for sure, use squid from one of the many Asian markets! I used to get mine from Super Kyo-Po or Ranch 99 but it's pretty ubiquitous in the bay area. You'll hook-up all the sharks and rays you want. They love squid. I toss them back but they are fun to catch and quite edible if one were so inclined. Makes a great second pole set up and keeps things entertaining while you wait on specific targeted fish that are few/far between (especially without a boat and fish finder equipment).     

 

We were camping in our RV right on the beach about 5 miles north of Bodega Bay.  Had the garlic-butter oysters from Fishetarian in Bodega Bay.   I think they use Hogg Island oysters.  

 

Thanks for the fishing tips.  This trip will be chasing surf perch from shore.  We are pretty frequent shoppers at 99 Ranch.  Might have to put squid on the list.   Could end up as an appetizer before I can use it for bait!  😀

[slidergirl]

16 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

There is a lot of gaming going on for the state and Nat'l park reservations.  Because I have more flexibility than usual, I just keep and eye out and grab openings when reservations get cancelled.  I also book 6 most out which is the max our state system allows.    

 

Canal barging -- That sounds like it will be a unique experience.   

Yeah, lots of gaming.  One fave spot up in the Uintas has people booking as many as possible for as long as possible, then 1/2 of them don't show up.  The hosts can't let us take them because the greedy folks may actually show up...  Sigh.  Last year, even out 4 months, I had to do a few 1 nighters on my road trip of a week because that was all there was.   I'm looking out for spots the end of April for a little while (when my seasonal job ends).

[slidergirl]

16 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Two ways to do it:  manned, likely shared with others, with a great cook on board - typical in France; or “self catered” perhaps in Ireland - for a magical, peaceful escape.

This one is fully manned.  14 of us charted out the whole barge from CrosiEurope for a week.  Casually cruising the Rhone canal from Arles to Sete.  Drinking wine, visiting the Carmague, oyster beds, Just what I wanted to do, as the rest of the month is just me going around France & Italy.  

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

This one is fully manned.  14 of us charted out the whole barge from CrosiEurope for a week.  Casually cruising the Rhone canal from Arles to Sete.  Drinking wine, visiting the Carmague, oyster beds, Just what I wanted to do, as the rest of the month is just me going around France & Italy.  

Sounds great - especially with your own group.  I hope you have a great cook on board - and a boatman with a good sense of humor to provide that je ne sais quoi.  We had a great crew - sadly the two French couples on board were from opposite ends of the political spectrum and were unable to keep quiet.  Will you be training or driving when on your own?

[lenquixote66]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:39 PM, navybankerteacher said:

I began feeling that preference several years ago.  A week on St. Maarten certainly beats four or five seven hour visits to different islands with perhaps a few thousand others crowding ashore at the same time.

 

 Cruising remains an option for a relaxing time on a ship leaving from a convenient port, and a TA is certainly the preferred way of coming back from travel in Europe - either a repositioning hitting good ports or a straight shot across on QM2.; but if I want to spend time exploring in a region or revisiting, I find land travel the logical way to do it.  

Friends of ours who normally do 4-5 cruises a year just booked numerous land trips .This may be the norm of the future.

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Sounds great - especially with your own group.  I hope you have a great cook on board - and a boatman with a good sense of humor to provide that je ne sais quoi.  We had a great crew - sadly the two French couples on board were from opposite ends of the political spectrum and were unable to keep quiet.  Will you be training or driving when on your own?

I'm going to be training and driving.  I'm familiar with driving in Italy and Germany, so a little in France should be OK.  I just have to figure out what I'm doing - Milan/Modena/Bologna/Florence are all easy train, even for day trips.  Florence/Tuscany - I've always driven.  I can do Naples from wherever by train.  I just have to finalize stuff.  

 

I've done a couple of trips with groups put together by this woman's travel company.  All small groups.  They charter a barge twice a summer.  It fills up right away.  I've done Egypt cruise/Jordan, hiking in Tuscany, and Kenyan safari with them.  

[navybankerteacher]

32 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

I'm going to be training and driving.  I'm familiar with driving in Italy and Germany, so a little in France should be OK.  I just have to figure out what I'm doing - Milan/Modena/Bologna/Florence are all easy train, even for day trips.  Florence/Tuscany - I've always driven.  I can do Naples from wherever by train.  I just have to finalize stuff.  

 

I've done a couple of trips with groups put together by this woman's travel company.  All small groups.  They charter a barge twice a summer.  It fills up right away.  I've done Egypt cruise/Jordan, hiking in Tuscany, and Kenyan safari with them.  

If you are comfortable driving in Italy, France will be a breeze. I’ve walked Hadrian’s Wall, the Cotswolds, and Provence - problem with walking in Tuscany is that all the great spots seem to be on top of steep hills.

[iancal]

Seems to me that cruises and land trips are not mutually exclusive.  In fact, many of the retirees that we have met on land trips or on cruises are dong a combination of both. 

 

Time, limited vacation time is no longer a limiting factor for us.  We are hardly going to plan a Med,a SA, or an Australian cruise cruise without building in several weeks of pre and/or post cruise travel.  No rush to return home, no burning desire to either after flying all that way.

 

For us it usually comes down to building a land trip around  both sides of a cruise or picking up a last minute cruise whilst on an extended land trip or at the end of an extended land trip.   Best of both so to speak.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by iancal

[navybankerteacher]

For us most of our cruising has actually been transportation back from land travel. Until 2019 we were in Northern or Southern Europe every fall - coming back on a repositioning or on QM 2 direct to New York.  One September we were in Nova Scotia, then trained back to Quebec for a few days before boarding Zuiderdam for a coastal trip down to NY.

 

 

[slidergirl]

I was talking about campground reservations getting tough lately:

 

I looked yesterday for Zion National Park for time from the 19th of April - very, very little left.  I looked for Arches National Park the same time - NOTHING left for April or May.  It'll still be too cold for the National Parks at the upper altitudes (I've had it snow on me in June-end of July at Grand Teton).  I hate rolling the dice and driving 5-6 hours to a first-come campground to find it all occupied.  

 

I'm not flying a couple of hours either to spend the same time on a booze cruise in California that I'd spend camping for $6/night...

[BOB999]

While I'm a big fan of land trips and probably take them 2:1 versus cruising, I will share the irony that I just canceled a European land trip in favor of a Caribbean cruise.  A big part of that was concerns over potential European lockdowns or closures and whether my US CDC card / California vaccine app would be sufficient proof of vaccination in order to get a "green pass."

[shipgeeks]

My original reply, "No, we only want to cruise now" has just been confirmed.

We have airline credits which must be used by next May.  Our cruises between now and then are local, with road transportation to and from the port.  I asked on the airline board if there was a way to have the expiration extended, or to donate our $$ to a charity.  The answer appears to be No.  Several suggested just taking a flight somewhere, anywhere.  We can't even find anywhere appealing to do that. Flying is just a means for getting to a cruise.  We've been all over the world and to lots of North America.  Now we only want to be on a ship at sea.

[navybankerteacher]

38 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

My original reply, "No, we only want to cruise now" has just been confirmed.

We have airline credits which must be used by next May.  Our cruises between now and then are local, with road transportation to and from the port.  I asked on the airline board if there was a way to have the expiration extended, or to donate our $$ to a charity.  The answer appears to be No.  Several suggested just taking a flight somewhere, anywhere.  We can't even find anywhere appealing to do that. Flying is just a means for getting to a cruise.  We've been all over the world and to lots of North America.  Now we only want to be on a ship at sea.

I think a number of us have “use it or lose it” flight credits.  While wasting a “free” flight is not desired, just going some place to use the free flight is not appealing.   But I am looking at a few options to avoid the “lose it” option - perhaps not must-do trips,  but somewhere on the bucket list. There are many cities in the US worth a couple of days.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

My original reply, "No, we only want to cruise now" has just been confirmed.

We have airline credits which must be used by next May.  Our cruises between now and then are local, with road transportation to and from the port.  I asked on the airline board if there was a way to have the expiration extended, or to donate our $$ to a charity.  The answer appears to be No.  Several suggested just taking a flight somewhere, anywhere.  We can't even find anywhere appealing to do that. Flying is just a means for getting to a cruise.  We've been all over the world and to lots of North America.  Now we only want to be on a ship at sea.

 

Rather than throw the miles away, do you have friends that you can visit somewhere.  Or else and I admit that this is totally stupid but the world is stupid now - may fly to some place that has some great restaurants or a great museum or attraction and stay a couple of days there.  The trip wouldn't cost you much and you would have fun even though you will not be on a ship.

 

Be creative.  Do something that you would not be doing under normal circumstances.  There are things in this world that can be done off a ship.

 

DON

[Joebucks]

As with most of life, there are pros and cons to each choice.

 

I can't see myself not wanting to cruise anytime soon. It is a bundle of price and convenience that is hard to beat. So much so that it makes frequent traveling and relaxing very practical. It's tough to find an enjoyable all in one experience where you can sleep, eat all of your meals, go to bars, comedy shows, stage shows, lay in the sun / by the pool, explore different islands, and many other things, all while your hotel comes with you. Although that same experience can lose its luster after so long. It's also not the best if you want to fully explore a place. Cruises were also hit the hardest by COVID protocols.

 

We love our land-trips too. Just did nearly a week in Aruba which wouldn't have quite the same experience in a cruise. We had plenty of time to experience everything. Although you can still do in a lot of major things in one day, and we will likely do a cruise there eventually. Some of these spots can prove time-consuming/costly as you figure out where to eat, how to get there, taxis, parking, time spent, etc. Vacation food adds up very quickly. Sometimes I snicker at people going on a land cruise to "avoid the crowd" only to go to one of the most touristy places.

 

Some really great trips for us were where we did a combo of both. A few nights near the port, then the cruise itself. Best of both worlds.

[lenquixote66]

38 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

As with most of life, there are pros and cons to each choice.

 

I can't see myself not wanting to cruise anytime soon. It is a bundle of price and convenience that is hard to beat. So much so that it makes frequent traveling and relaxing very practical. It's tough to find an enjoyable all in one experience where you can sleep, eat all of your meals, go to bars, comedy shows, stage shows, lay in the sun / by the pool, explore different islands, and many other things, all while your hotel comes with you. Although that same experience can lose its luster after so long. It's also not the best if you want to fully explore a place. Cruises were also hit the hardest by COVID protocols.

 

We love our land-trips too. Just did nearly a week in Aruba which wouldn't have quite the same experience in a cruise. We had plenty of time to experience everything. Although you can still do in a lot of major things in one day, and we will likely do a cruise there eventually. Some of these spots can prove time-consuming/costly as you figure out where to eat, how to get there, taxis, parking, time spent, etc. Vacation food adds up very quickly. Sometimes I snicker at people going on a land cruise to "avoid the crowd" only to go to one of the most touristy places.

 

Some really great trips for us were where we did a combo of both. A few nights near the port, then the cruise itself. Best of both worlds.

A friend of mine also did a recent trip to Aruba and had a great time.

[navybankerteacher]

59 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

…

 

Some really great trips for us were where we did a combo of both. A few nights near the port, then the cruise itself. Best of both worlds.

This really makes sense - if you are flying somewhere to board a ship, try to pick an embarkation port which offers an interesting opportunity. The ideal, say, in picking a Mediterranean cruise might be something from Istanbul to Venice, or Rome to Barcelona - and spend a few days on land at each end.    For a Californian, perhaps, a few days in Quebec before boarding a coast cruise to New York followed by some time there before flying home would also provide a three in one.

[cruise kitty]

Just spent the past several days rebuilding our May cruise... we were booked on MSC for Norwegian Fjords, it sails out of N. Germany...had a week of traveling precruise through Germany planned out... however, U.S. citizens still aren't allowed in Norway, & we don't have a way to get the required covid pass as the U.S. hasn't come to an agreement with EU regarding this... so... we are now on a Celebrity Adriatic & will spend 8 days traveling through Italy.

 

I'm guessing things will get bad everywhere this winter, & Europe may have some lockdowns, but I expect things to be good & at least open by May.... Can't wait to be sailing into the bay of Kotor again!

 

Right now, if you want to travel flexibility & willingness to roll with the punches is invaluable. 

 

We've already done 3 cruises since late September, so obviously we haven't switched to land trips yet 😉 

[ldubs]

On 12/7/2021 at 3:32 PM, slidergirl said:

I was talking about campground reservations getting tough lately:

 

I looked yesterday for Zion National Park for time from the 19th of April - very, very little left.  I looked for Arches National Park the same time - NOTHING left for April or May.  It'll still be too cold for the National Parks at the upper altitudes (I've had it snow on me in June-end of July at Grand Teton).  I hate rolling the dice and driving 5-6 hours to a first-come campground to find it all occupied.  

 

I'm not flying a couple of hours either to spend the same time on a booze cruise in California that I'd spend camping for $6/night...

 

All those folks who couldn't travel due to COVID went out and bought RVs.   Drove up prices and competition for limited national park space.   People can't even find space to store them out here.  

 

When travel opens up everyone expects to see a lot of used RVs for sale at great prices.   Might be time to pick up that Class B Sprinter you always wanted!   😀

[ldubs]

7 hours ago, Joebucks said:

As with most of life, there are pros and cons to each choice.

 

I can't see myself not wanting to cruise anytime soon. It is a bundle of price and convenience that is hard to beat. So much so that it makes frequent traveling and relaxing very practical. It's tough to find an enjoyable all in one experience where you can sleep, eat all of your meals, go to bars, comedy shows, stage shows, lay in the sun / by the pool, explore different islands, and many other things, all while your hotel comes with you. Although that same experience can lose its luster after so long. It's also not the best if you want to fully explore a place. Cruises were also hit the hardest by COVID protocols.

 

We love our land-trips too. Just did nearly a week in Aruba which wouldn't have quite the same experience in a cruise. We had plenty of time to experience everything. Although you can still do in a lot of major things in one day, and we will likely do a cruise there eventually. Some of these spots can prove time-consuming/costly as you figure out where to eat, how to get there, taxis, parking, time spent, etc. Vacation food adds up very quickly. Sometimes I snicker at people going on a land cruise to "avoid the crowd" only to go to one of the most touristy places.

 

Some really great trips for us were where we did a combo of both. A few nights near the port, then the cruise itself. Best of both worlds.

 

"Some really great trips for us were where we did a combo of both. A few nights near the port, then the cruise itself. Best of both worlds."

 

Agree. In Europe, with relatively short distances involved and abundance of inexpensive flights, it doesn't even need to be near the port.   

[iancal]

Absolutely.  The last cruise we took in Europe was when we were finishing up a few weeks in Sicily mid-late Oct.  We had begun to think about getting home and what European city  we could get reasonably priced  air or use points.

 

Checked the cruises.  Low and behold we picked up a great last minute cruise from Rome to BCN.  The bonus was that it had excellent one way cruise air home on BA at the right price.

 

  Booked a Vueling flight to Rome from Palermo for $37.  A few days later,  got on the airport bus that stopped on the corner where our B&B was located for the short flight to Rome.   All done and dusted.

 

A very relaxing cruise at the end of an independent land trip was the perfect way to end our trip.

Edited December 9, 2021 by iancal

[CanobieFan]

I've always preferred my land based trips and outside of Florida based sailings, have included land based travels with my cruises!