Cruise Nassau, Bahama

To cruise for vacation or not to cruise. Cruising has become the way to vacation in recent years (pre Covid). I can see the appeal. You have a floating hotel room and all of your meals. Once you board you unpack once and you are all set for the duration. For those of us who have worn out our joints so that we have had to slow down, being delivered to our location is a nice perk.

Still I haven’t been a fan of cruising in the past. My first cruise was to celebrate my friend Joe’s 40th birthday. Some of Joe’s friends and I chipped in and took him on a 4 day cruise to the Bahama’s. Since we were all on a budget my roommate and I settled for an inside cabin. It was small and cramped but we figured we wouldn’t be spending much time in the cabin so we could tolerate it. Never again. I’ll pay the extra for an outside cabin- preferably one with a balcony. The best part of that cruise for me was the stop at the private island. I spend most of the day snorkeling. There wasn’t a lot to see. Just a sandy bottom and occasional fish but floating in the warm waters was great!

I’m not a shopper so I didn’t get much out of the shopping spree in Nassau but I did enjoy the trip to Atlantis Resort. The bottom line is that Joe had a really special birthday but the experience didn’t encourage me to try cruising again.

Tulum, Mexico

Tulum, Mexico

The next cruise I tried was once again with my friend Joe. We took a 4 day cruise out of the port of Miami to Cozumel, Mexico.

Before we headed out for Mexico we made a port of call in Key West. We were very familiar with Key West. Joe had worked there and I had visited on several occasions. Even so we enjoyed wandering around.

Once we reached Cozumel we took a wild ride across the channel to  Playa del Carmen. From there we took a bus to the Mayan Ruin at Tulum.

This was worth every penny. The ruins were amazing and when we went shopping we got to see The voladores, the flyers. These men tie themselves to a pole and and slowly descend circling the pole.

This cruise could have been longer as we didn’t have much time to spend in Mexico but what we saw was great. 

The Long Alaska Cruise Tour

With a couple of short cruises under my belt I let me sister talk me into taking an Alaska Cruise. What I learned from this experience is to not rely on the travel agent. As usual we were watching our pennies. We wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck. The travel agent convinced us that if we wanted to see baby animals, wildflowers and such we should take an early cruise-plus a shoulder season cruise was less expensive. Sounded good to us so we booked the first cruise of the season in late May. As our departure date neared we were notified of a cabin upgrade from ocean view to balcony. That was a great upgrade. We watched glaciers calve from that balcony.

On a shore excursion we got a taste of native culture.

Young Tlingit Dancer in Ceremonial dress

The weather didn’t cooperate for most of the cruise. Alaska had a late spring that year so there was still snow and a daily dose of cold, rainy, gray weather. We were glad we packed winter clothing. The bears were just beginning to come out of hibernation and most of the other mammals were still very pregnant. No babies yet and no wildflowers,  We were about a week too early! 

We did get to go dog sledding and spend time with the puppies. That was fun even though the snow had mostly melted there. Our sled was a big converted car body on wheels. I thought it would be too heavy for the dogs but they loved it. 

We did see Glaciers in Glacier Bay and bald eagles were everywhere. In Denali we got to see moose and caribou. At one port of call we spotted an otter! It wasn’t a total loss. I just think we had bad luck with our timing.  

Even so Alaska is an amazing state. I want a return trip- by land this time. I’ve heard the way to see Alaska is in an RV but I’m still thinking about what I want from a return trip.