chris_gerrib (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chris_gerrib) wrote2009-02-16 02:36 pm
chris_gerrib) wrote2009-02-16 02:36 pm
Entry tags:
Holiday
Today is President's Day, a holiday for bankers. So I spent the day (in part) in fulfilling a 2009 New Year's resolution and planning a "real" vacation. I booked a cruise on Carnival from Tampa Bay, Florida to Cozumel and back, in mid-April. It's only four days, but that's all my schedule allows at the moment.
I have a few mixed emotions about cruises in particular and vacations in general. First, the idea of going somewhere to sit around is a bit weird. My house is reasonably comfortable, so if I just want to hang out, it's cheaper to do that here. But on the other hand, I'm enough of an introvert that if I don't make an effort to get out and about, it won't happen.
The second mixed emotion involves going to sea for fun. I spent four years on a Navy frigate going to sea for work. It's like a bus driver taking a bus tour. Again on the other hand, the Navy was going on twenty years ago. Besides, the bar on the frigate was really shitty and the pool was oily. :-)
At any rate, a four-night float will get me out of the usual routine, which is an important part of a vacation. If I don't like it, I'll not go back.
I have a few mixed emotions about cruises in particular and vacations in general. First, the idea of going somewhere to sit around is a bit weird. My house is reasonably comfortable, so if I just want to hang out, it's cheaper to do that here. But on the other hand, I'm enough of an introvert that if I don't make an effort to get out and about, it won't happen.
The second mixed emotion involves going to sea for fun. I spent four years on a Navy frigate going to sea for work. It's like a bus driver taking a bus tour. Again on the other hand, the Navy was going on twenty years ago. Besides, the bar on the frigate was really shitty and the pool was oily. :-)
At any rate, a four-night float will get me out of the usual routine, which is an important part of a vacation. If I don't like it, I'll not go back.
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I never liked the cruise vacation style because of that. Sailing around on what is basically a floating hotel/mall/casino with the occasional stop in some tourist trap of a port always struck me as kind of boring. Not that the idea of a cruise is a bad one, its just that most cruise packages are very tightly controlled experiences - the ship, the crew and even the ports selected, are carefully managed.
Recently I spotted a set of cruises (http://www.martinrandall.com/Cruises/Policies-style.aspx) from Martin Randall Travel that I really liked. They're all the Mediterranean and they are thematic, like a Classical Greece tour of the Aegean. Their cruises are also designed in opposition to most other cruise packages. Unfortunately, they are really bloody expensive.
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