The world of cruises

After my recently completed 257 day around the world trip, there was only one mode of transportation that I had not used:  cruise ships.  Simply the idea of not packing/unpacking and to be taken to a destination is utterly appealing! I think I have saved the best for last and who knows, may become a cruise junkie from here on out.

Where to start researching with so much choice?  Fortunately, I found the portal for discount cruises online: Discountcruises.com offers a wide range of operators, destinations, schedules, as well as first-user friendly articles such as Gratuities 101 and Cruise Dining 101.

First off, I looked up the “exotic” category and found the 162-day “Seven-Seas-Voyager”, which basically means around the world for the sum of (gasp) US$ 89,999 per person.  For a suite, mind you. Thinking about it, it is not so over the top, though, when I compare it to the overall expense of my just concluded around the world trip costing about USD$75,000. And that was not “suite” traveling, either.

The other end of the spectrum is a one-day cruise on an ocean liner from Seattle to Vancouver (or vice versa) for just US$ 29.  Now that is a great birthday party idea for Pacific Northwest friends!

But back to the drawing board: A San Francisco-Hawaii-New Zealand-Australia cruise sounds truly enticing!  Being offered at a 38% discount of US$2899 for an ocean view room.  I think I’ll start packing!