Cruising

Our friends who love cruising keep trying to convince us that such holidays are wonderful. They usually go for a couple every year. We can’t quite decide whether they are hoping we will join them on a cruise or not. We have stalwartly resisted the idea.

We did enjoy our river cruise on Rhine, but that is a very different experience from a sea going cruise. You are always in sight of land, stopping somewhere every day if you want to get off.

 

We have been on one sea going cruise, from Vancouver to Alaska. Although the food was wonderful, the glaciers were spectacular & some of

Hubbard glacier

Hubbard glacier

 the stops were interesting, especially Ketchikan,

Ketchikan

Ketchikan

we came back rather dissatisfied. The ship hugged the coast, sailing along the Inside Passage passing various islands & yet all you could see was banks of mist. One place, Sitka,

 

Sitka

Sitka

looked interesting but we couldn’t even get off the ship as it was by tender we couldn’t transfer me in my wheelchair across. We found life on board ship boring. We ended up going to the cinema a couple of times just to have something to do.

More importantly I ended up feeling quite claustrophobic. We were on an almost full ship with about 3000 passengers, not the biggest of liners. However, because it was so cold most of the time, everyone ended up staying inside. It was an American ship & the cost of drinks outside certain areas was exceptionally expensive, with the result most people crammed into the few areas where free refreshments could be had, with the result you were hard pushed to find an unoccupied table.

It is noticeable that the only days we did appreciate the cruise were the evening we left & returned to Vancouver, when it was balmy & we could find a quiet spot outside to watch the world slip by.

So with all of this I’m somewhat surprised to say we’re contemplating trying another sea cruise, only this time in warm waters. We haven’t told our friends yet. We haven’t even definitely decided it is the trip for us, but it does have a certain appeal. We’ll see.