To sea?

And still the greyness continues.

Yesterday was our one day this week without any commitments. We headed off to the golf club to drink in the greenness of the course & watch the birds feeding on the feeders just outside the clubhouse window.

Eric & Doreen arrived. They’re just back from a 33 day cruise around the Med & the Canaries. They’d clearly enjoyed themselves despite the rough seas as the Xmas winds blew. They’re already looking forward to their next holiday – a Caribbean cruise in October.

On the way to the golf club we had stopped at the barber’s for the Fox to get his hair tidied up. The barber is off next month for a month long cruise across the Pacific. As he’s telling everyone, he’s off to Australia for two days. It’s just that it’s taking a month to get there.

A certain amount of envy crept into my heart. The idea of getting a month of sunshine & warmth at this point in time really appeals. Our problem is that we’re not really sure a cruise appeal, especially across the Pacific when so much time is spent at sea out of sight of land for days at a time.

We have been on one sea-going cruise – a week from Vancouver to Alaska & back. We weren’t very happy. We had felt very confined, not helped by the fact the price of every drink was high & the tipping astronomical. Apparently that’s a trait of American ships & that one was American.

Yet we did enjoy our Rhine river cruise. So what’s the difference?

Part of it was the fact we were always in sight of land as we sailed along. Undoubtedly part of it was the fact that the weather was warm enough to sit out every day to watch the scenery passing by, whereas it was freezing in Alaska. The only days we did enjoy were the days we left & came back to Vancouver when it was balmy enough to have a stroll out along the deck. On the river cruise we stopped somewhere new every day, whereas some days were just at sea with the other one. The Rhine ship was much smaller & we had the good fortune to meet up with some entertaining dining companions.

Apart from that the sea cruise had all the advantages. On that one there were cinemas, theatres, shops, various courses, an extensive library (most of the books on the Rhine cruise were in Dutch rather than English as it was a Dutch ship), dancing, gambling, various bars, art auctions, fantastic food (very poor on the Rhine cruise). The ship itself was huge so plenty of room to find a quiet corner – the only thing was we, like most of the other passengers, ended up sitting in the one area where there were free self-service soft drinks. The cabins were a decent size whereas on the Rhine cruise it was very cramped with little storage space and if a wheelchair user needed to go to the bathroom in the night, the companion had to get up, put their bed up, before the wheelchair could even be manœuvred next to the bed of the one who wanted to go to the bathroom.

After listening to Eric & Doreen enthusing we couldn’t help wondering if we shouldn’t give cruising another go. Only this time we would go somewhere warm so people would be more dispersed around the ship & we could sit outside some of the time. And we would check out tipping policy before we even booked.

Meanwhile we have decided we need that weekend away. We’ve just got to find a couple of quiet days to go & then decide on a hotel. It won’t be this month that’s for certain, with all our hospital trips & the MOT on the car being due. Now we just need to decide on where to go for the spring….