Common “Cruise-Speak” for New Cruisers

You are getting ready to book your first cruise, but don’t know your “fore” from your “aft”.  Have no fear – help is here!  Listed below are some common words and phrases – or “cruise-speak” – to help prevent you from sounding like a rookie when discussing cruises with your friends or browsing through the cruise forums.  For instance, “On which deck is my stateroom located?” sounds much more cruise savvy than “What floor is my room on?”   Some definitions are “by the book”, and others are my own personal interpretation!

 

• Aft:  Near, towards or at the rear (stern) of the ship.
• Atrium:  An interior, centrally located & multi-level open area of the ship
• B2B:  Short for “back-to-back” cruise, or two consecutive cruises (usually on the same ship)
• Berth:  (a) a cabin bed; (b) the dock or pier at which ship sits when in port (not to be confused with “birth”, which is what happened behind the scenes nine months after every “Love Boat” episode!
• Bow:  The front of the ship (rhymes with “cow”)
• Bridge:  The ship’s navigation and command center; also a structure used for crossing over a body of water or ripping the mast off a ship sailing beneath if said bridge is too low
• Deck:  The “floors” of the ship, connected by elevators (“lifts”) or staircases
• Document Dance:  The excited creative movements your feet make when your cruise documents arrive!
• Chair Hog:  (a) a thoughtless and rude person who saves many deck chairs in the morning only to leave them totally unoccupied for the rest of the day; (b) scum of the earth.
• Drydock:  a magical place where a cruise ship goes to get a makeover, eventually emerging “like new” without a blemish (or so its future passengers hope!)
• Debarkation:  Leaving your ship when the cruise is over (boo-hoooo!)
• E-Docs:  Electronic documents (as opposed to paper documents which seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur)
• Embarkation:  Boarding your ship when your cruise begins (yahoooo!!)
• FCC:  Future cruise credit – a credit toward a future cruise, usually given as an incentive to book a cruise while on board another
• Forward:  Toward the front (bow) of the ship; the direction the ship is heading (means the engines are working)
• Galley:  The ship’s kitchen where culinary magic happens
• Gangway:  (a) A ramp or steps by which passengers enter or leave the ship; (b) the place where a passenger is accosted by the ship’s photographer each and every time stepping off in port.
• Guarantee:  A type of cabin booking in which the cruise line promises accommodations in a specified category or cabin at a specific rate, and guarantees you will receive a cabin in that category or better
• Homeport:  The port in which a ship is based and most often sails from, and to which every cruiser wants to live within close proximity.
• Inside cabin:  Cabin with no window
• Itinerary:  The route the ship will travel, detailing arrival and departure times and ports visited
• Keel:  (a) The ship’s “backbone” extending underneath from bow to stern; (b) what a passenger does when receiving the bill at the end of the cruise,i.e. “keels over”.
• Lido deck:  The ship’s deck consisting of swimming pools, watersides, rock-climbing wall, wave pools, ice skating rinks, movie screens and every other amusement park ride.
• Knot:  (a) A unit of speed equal to one nautical mile; (b) the way one’s stomach is configured when an apprehensive individual is about to swim with stingrays for the first time
• M.S.:  (a) abbrev. for “motor ship”; (b) could also mean a “mega ship”; i.e. “Mega-mammoth of the Seas”
• Maitre d’:  Supervisor of the dining room (next to the ship’s purser, he’s the person to whom people most like to complain)
• M&G:  Meet & greet: meeting of a group of cruisers, sometimes scheduled in advance of the cruise
• Midnight Buffet:  Really?  Do we need to eat more?
• Muster drill:  Mandatory practice drill whereby passengers and crew are sent to a preassigned area (muster station) and instructed in safety regulations.  Thanks to Concordia, everyone now shows up, awake and alert.
• Naughty Room:  The secret place where the cruise line sends people who try to sneak booze onboard.
• OBC/SBC:  Onboard credit/shipboard credit:  An amenity given by a travel agent or cruise line as an incentive to book
• Onboard Account:  A mysterious cashless system onboard a cruise ship whereby the passenger registers a credit card at the beginning of the cruise, and on the last day presented with a bill containing an absurdly large numeric figure.
• Outside Cabin:  A cabin with a window providing a view; in some cases the view is obstructed by a big orange lifeboat
• Port:  (a) The left side of the ship, facing forward; (b) the place the ship docks and the most likely place to empty your wallet © a wine which you may have while in port.  Ex: “I exited the ship portside, took a taxi from port to a pub for a glass of port.”
• Promenade:  Open walkway running almost the entire length of each side of the ship, sometimes encircling the ship entirely.  Or at least it used to.
• Private balcony:  A veranda that is attached to your cabin.  The term “private” is debatable.
• Purser:  (a) The person in charge of onboard accounts and guest relations; (b) the crewmember passengers line up for in droves at the end of the cruise, as if he was some kind of rock star.
• Single occupancy:  Sole occupancy of a cabin designed for two or more passengers, for an absurd amount of money
• Stabilizers:  A fin-like device extending beneath the ship’s waterline from both sides of the ship to the front, making the ship more stable, and therefore, making it less likely you’ll lose your lunch.
• Starboard:  The right side of the ship, facing forward
• Stateroom:  Your cabin, ranging from the size of a teeny closet to that of an apartment
• Stern:  The rear of the ship (Aft)
• Steward:  The person who attends to your cabin; sometimes fondly referred to as “Stewart”.
• TA:  (a) Short for “Travel Agent”:  The individual with whom cruisers seem to have a love/hate relationship – i.e. the TA is either loved or despised; (b) can also mean a “Transatlantic” cruise
• Tender:  (a) A small motorized vessel to move passengers from the ship to shore if the ship must anchor; (b) how your skin will feel when you’ve spent too much time baking in the Caribbean sun.
• Upper:  A single bed or bunk usually recessed into the wall during the day
• Upper and Lower:  Bunk beds
• Towel Animal:  Cute (or incredibly scary!) animal fashioned from towels by “Stewart”

There you have it.  Feel free to add your own cruise-speak words!

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly – a Week in Mexico 1990

While I was recently perusing the labels of my vast collection of faux leather photo albums, I came across one identified as “Mexico 1990”.  As I opened the cover and began viewing the photos, the first thing that struck me was how young and attractive my husband and I were 22 years ago.  How time changes us!  The second thing that sprung to mind was our encounter with a bat.  Not the baseball kind, but the other kind – that nocturnal creature that flies in the night and inspires the likes of Dracula and Batman.

This trip to Mexico in June of 1990 was just one of the many music education conferences my husband has attended over the last 35 years, and I was more than happy to go along for the ride.  Unlike other group events typically held in big American cities with first-class hotel accommodations, our home for a week was a large athletic campus used for Olympic training in 1968.  From what I can tell, the location was a town called Tlayacapan, about an hour and a half from Mexico City.  Why this location was chosen for a convention I’ll never know, but it was highly popular with the local people of Mexico City looking for an escape to the country.  It was basically a summer camp.

The building we were housed in was a dorm of sorts. 

My memory of the room we occupied is vague, but the photos tell me it was a small, unattractive room with primitive furnishings, no décor to speak of, two single beds and no AC.  In looking at the photo, why we didn’t just pack up and go find a real hotel remains a mystery.  The room wasn’t just unattractive.  It was just plain ugly.  I’m glad to say our standards in accommodations are much higher these days. 

There was a single window in the room, open and screened, and we noticed several good-sized holes in the screen.  Some time during our first evening, we were awakened by a noise and noticed the outline of a small winged creature flying around the darkened room.  Our original thought was that a bird found it’s way through the hole in the screen, but after flipping on the light switch, we discovered it was not a bird.  It was a bat!  It wasn’t very big, but it was there.  I can’t remember if it was moving or just “hanging” out, but the sight of a bat was more than enough to send me screaming from the room and my husband out to the hallway to fetch a staff member for some assistance.  Of course, the gentleman we found spoke only Spanish, and after a game of really bad charades, he was able to determine the problem.  He came into the room, took a look, left and returned a few moments later with a long-handled broom.  A broom?  Well, apparently, this is the pest elimination method used in this part of the world.  In all the chaos, we did not remember to get photos or video, which is a darn shame.  It would have made for some great entertainment.  The guy was running all around the room on a wild chase, swinging his broom in a feverish frenzy, attempting to beat the poor creature to death.  I don’t remember if he killed it or just mortally wounded it, but that was the last we saw of the bat.

As I made my way through the pages of the photo album, I was reminded of other sights we experienced in Mexico.  On a walk through town, we saw sidewalk vendors selling all manner of clothing, household goods, fruits, vegetables and raw chickens – surrounded by buzzing flies!  Poverty was alive and present in this town, as well, but so were beautiful old churches, architectural ruins and a culture totally new to us. 

A page of the photo album also revealed a stunning botanical garden we visited on an excursion outside of town with lots of green palms, a variety of birds and waterfalls.

The highlight of the trip took place on our final day in Mexico.  Our group was transported on a wild bus ride up the side of a winding mountain road to the picturesque town of Taxco, famous for silver. 

If this were a vacation I had planned on my own, and not a group trip planned by someone else, I would have had a touring plan in hand.  Since we had no such strategy, we simply roamed the charming cobblestone streets, learned how to barter with the local shops, and explored this beautiful hillside town with its ornate churches, white washed houses and red-tile roofs. 

Later that evening, we dined at a local restaurant and had a rousing time, complete with margaritas, brightly decorated sombreros and a mariachi band. 

We flew home the next day with our own pair of sombreros, a pair of small straw hats for the kids, a beautiful Mexican blanket, wonderful memories – and a bad case of Montezuma’s revenge, leaving us both ill for the following week.

I closed the photo album, glad to have had another glimpse at all we experienced that week in Mexico – the good, the bad and the ugly!

Why I No Longer Travel By the Seat of My Pants

These days, when it comes to travel, I am a planner.  I don’t like surprises.  So in order to make an informed decision, every vacation begins with consuming every review and article on every cruise ship and destination, reserving hotels and tours months in advance, and creating a spreadsheet itinerary containing every detail of the trip, reduced to a handy pocket-size guide to refer to when the need arises.  I used to create a huge binder with obscene amounts of paper, but thankfully with the advent of iPhone, iPad and Dropbox, I am no longer an environmental hog.  I drive my family nuts with the hours I spend making travel decisions.  Just ask them.  They would probably call it an obsession.  I call it enthusiasm.

However, I wasn’t always this organized.

As a child growing up in the 60’s, I was part of a family of six that did not travel often.  My dad’s idea of a vacation was waking us up early one morning, telling us to get up, get dressed and pack a bag – we’re going on a road trip.  With excitement and eager anticipation, my siblings and I would pack our stuff and jump into the old Chevy – no seat belts required.  Besides, the old Chevy didn’t have seat belts.  Our impromptu vacation would consist of two or three days to a destination within an easy drive, the scenery of which most often consisted of mountains and trees.  Dad was not a city guy.  That meant either the Berkshires of northwestern Massachusetts, the Green Mountains of Vermont or, on one occasion, upstate New York.  We would drive all day, making a couple of pit stops along the way, and reach our destination late in the day.  By that time, Dad had enough of driving and was ready to settle into a room for the night.  Yeah, right!  Try finding a roadside motel vacancy in a popular destination in the middle of summer without a reservation.  I don’t know if it was just my family or if it was the way everybody traveled in those days, but there was no plan.  No reservations, no itinerary, no spreadsheet.  There was only a map.  We vacationed the only way Dad knew … by the seat of our pants.

I particularly recall one such summer vacation.  Dad was driving us further than we’d ever been – Penn Dutch country.  We arrived in Amish country sometime around sunset, looking for a roadside motel with a vacancy.  As we drove down the 2-lane highway, the no-vacancy signs glared at us, as if to say , “ha-ha, serves you right, idiots, for not calling ahead.”  My brothers and I got very quiet, our choruses of “Ten Bottles of Beer on the Wall” replaced by fear and humiliation that we’d be sleeping in the car that night.  Dad finally pulled into a sold-out motel and asked the proprietor where we might be able to locate a room around town.  The man, with the most pitiful look he could muster, sent us to a local farm.  Yes, that’s right … a farm – complete with tall cornfields, silo and maybe some farm animals.   The details remain sketchy.   The farm was owned by a nice elderly couple, most likely accustomed to taking in strays like us.  I do remember my mom’s displeasure at staying the night in a stranger’s house.  Not my dad, though.  Being an avid gardener and lover of all things that come out of the ground, he was in his element.

My husband and I recreated our own by-the-seat-of-our-pants travel moment one summer early in our marriage.  While on a drive through New Hampshire, we found ourselves lost in the woods of nearby Maine on a dark night, in search of a place to sleep.  We finally found it – a roadside shack in the middle of nowhere, reminiscent of The Bates Motel.  I clearly expected to see Anthony Perkins with that absurd grin waiting for us behind the counter or maybe those hillbillies from Deliverance with their dueling banjos.  I don’t remember much about the room, but three words come to mind:   “ugly”, “scary” and “dirty”.   I would not have been the least bit surprised to find a family of squirrels living under the bed.  Did we stay?  Yes, but I think I kept my coat on the entire night and stayed clear of the shower.

Nowadays, I wouldn’t dream of setting out on a vacation without knowing where I am going to lay my head for the night.  Although our preferences in accommodations have changed, much preferring the Hampton Inn instead of the Do-Drop Inn, even inexpensive roadside motels do have their place in vacation travel.  All that is required is a little homework and some toleration for the basics.

What about you?  Should you plan ahead or travel by the seat of your pants?  The choice is yours.  Just remember the following rule if you happen upon a roadside motel some dark night in the middle of nowhere:

If the guy behind the counter goes by the name Norman Bates, and he says he needs to go check with his mother to find out if a room is available, run away – fast!

 

 

Our Cruise is Booked … Now Fly Us to the Ship!

Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The Grand Princess … our floating paradise for 10 days this summer … has now been repositioned to it’s new home port of San Francisco for it’s spring and summer itineraries.  It would be so cool to drive there to meet our ship.  However, let’s be realistic.  We live on the East Coast.  Since a leisurely cross-country drive to the ship is quite out of the question, we’ll have to fly.

We have two choices – book our preferred flights on our own, independently, or choose a cruise air package with the cruise line.

At one time, this was a no-brainer.  Book our own flights, and we can choose our own seats and otherwise have complete control, most likely at a lower fare.  The cruise lines, on the other hand, would traditionally buy seats in bulk very early on, according to their needs, and the airline would assign the tickets 30 days out.  Being the one in the family who meticulously maps out each and every vacation detail well in advance, knowing the details of our flight details only mere weeks before we leave causes my heart to race wildly and my blood pressure to skyrocket.  That’s just way too much uncertainty for me.

Now, however, cruise lines are becoming more in tune with the needs and preferences of the picky passenger and have re-worked their air & sea programs.  Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, for example, offer the Choice Air program, while Princess Cruises makes their EZ Air available to their clients. Generally speaking, when you book your cruise and include one of these air add-ons, you have the ability to choose from one of their selected flight times.  Likewise, for more money (in most cases), you can choose a cancel-any-time flight, if you think your plans might change.

In fact, cruise lines recently have been offering attractive package deals which include discounted or free air packages to lure customers.  One disadvantage, nevertheless, to cruise air is the noticeable absence of non-stop flights among the choices, an important feature for some travelers.  On the other hand, if you have booked your cruise on short notice and are having trouble finding a flight this late in the game, a cruise air package could be your ticket to the ship, perhaps at no greater cost than it would be if you could find a flight on your own.  The other nice advantage to cruise air is that your transfers and luggage handling are included in the deal, making for a convenient, carefree trip to the ship.

Even with cruise air packages however, lengthy airline delays can result in literally missing the boat.  A common misconception is that when your airline ticket is purchased through the cruise line that they are responsible for getting you to your ship.  While the cruise line will work closely with airlines to re-route passengers to the original or next port of call in case of a disruption, it is ultimately the job of the airline to see you to your ship, most likely at the expense of the passenger.  This is where travel insurance can be your friend.

Three steps to assure a smooth flight to your awaiting cruise ship:

1)  Compare cruise air vs. independent air.  Begin monitoring air prices for your cruise several months before your cruise.  Calculate the cost and convenience of flights available, as well as cancellation policies and fees, both for for independently flights and those with the cruise line.

2)  Consider flying in at least a day before your cruise.  Not only will arriving early to your city of embarkation lessen the chances of missing your ship due to flight cancelations or delays, but it will also give you the opportunity to reach your ship in a calm, rested state of mind, instead of all frazzled and disoriented.  What’s more?  You will have the opportunity to extend your vacation by spending some time exploring the port city.  After all, they will appreciate your hard-earned money, too!

3)  Purchase Travel Insurance!  If you encounter added out-of-pocket expenses for flight delays or changes, you will be very grateful.  Insurance, including “trip delay” coverage pays for itself if you encounter any of these problems.

So what have we decided?  In the case of our flight to San Francisco, we booked well in advance and found reasonable non-stop flights from Boston.  Since that time, Princess has tempted us with a discounted air promotion, but not tempting enough to beat our less expensive, non-stop flights.

One way or another, you’ll reach your ship.  All you need to do is a little homework.

Cruise Line Hotel Package ~ Choose it or Lose it?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles @freedigitalphotos.net

You’ve no doubt seen them.  The optional transfers and pre or post-cruise hotel add-ons, promising the ultimate in convenience.  All cruise lines eagerly offer them with your booking.  But are they worth it?  Purchase transfers, and a cruise rep will meet you at the airport and whisk you and your belongings safely away to your awaiting cruise ship and, likewise, shuttle you back to the airport when you return.  Even better – add a hotel to that transfer, and spend a night or three in your port of embarkation. No need to worry about your luggage, either. It will be in expert hands from one point to the next – airport to hotel to cruise ship and back again. All packaged together in a neat, agreeable package, what could be better than that!

The price, for starters.

At first glance, you see the nightly rate – $239 – and think, well, that’s fairly reasonable for a 4-star hotel in the city – and it includes a ride to the hotel and, later, to the airport with a cruise representative to happily greet you on either end.  But, wait – look again. That $239 rate is per person!  All of a sudden, that deal doesn’t look so sweet.

Then there’s the hotel selection. Cruises generally contract with two or three hotels in a port city, in varying price ranges. One might be close to the ship, and another convenient to the airport. To their credit, the cruise lines do attempt to offer a hotel for varying tastes and budgets.  However, with hundreds of competitive hotels in the same city, you could be cheating yourself out of an equally acceptable … and more affordable … stay.

Some cruisers always book hotel packages with the cruiseline, perhaps because it’s the easy thing to do and they don’t need to watch their pocketbook. They also may be cruising to new, unfamiliar territory and may not be familiar with accommodations in the area and don’t have time to research.  Then there are people like me.  Priceline and Hotwire are my best friends, prominently listed in my web bookmarks.  Always looking to save a buck, bidding for a hotel room is one of my favorite pastimes.  I don’t always succeed, but it’s still fun, and I have sometimes saved lots of coin on accommodations in various cities and towns.

In the case of our upcoming Alaska cruise from San Francisco, I recently suffered a severe case of sticker shock when looking for a three-night pre-cruise hotel. It will be our first time in the City by the Bay, and our must-see list of attractions is a long one.  Summer prices for an average 3 or 4 star hotel in SF are averaging around $280 per night – and even higher in the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood, popular with the tourists … and I am a tourist, so this is where I want to be.  With only one hotel offered by this particular cruise line in all of San Francisco, in an area of the city we weren’t even looking at, we chose to book a much-recommended hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf using a 20% AAA discount.  Still pricey, but at least we got a discount at a hotel in the location we wanted.  Oh … and don’t worry … I made certain that I can cancel out just in case I am triumphant in my bidding wars!

Next, we needed a one-night post-cruise stay, this time in the city – perhaps Nob Hill or Union Square, which happens to be where the cruise line’s hotel sits.  After thoroughly researching said hotel … an essential task, by the way, before I book any accommodations … we decided to throw caution to the wind and book the cruise package.  It was only slightly more costly than making our own hotel and transfer arrangements, and we wouldn’t have to worry about getting from here to there. What the heck – it was only for a night.

Then the practical, frugal side of me took charge, and I quickly came to my senses.  Did we really need to stay downtown again?  After all, we will have spent sufficient time seeing the city prior to the cruise. There are four of us – two couples. All we really needed was a comfy place to relax for the night before flying out early the next morning. I did a search of much more affordable accommodations by the airport, and I couldn’t believe my luck – a 2-bedroom, 2-bath suite at an all-suite hotel, with free breakfast, free wifi, free airport shuttle and a ride to the BART – if we felt the need to go somewhere – all for a fraction of what that fancy cruise line hotel would have cost for two rooms.  Even with a $50 cab ride from the ship, we still come out way ahead.  As you can imagine, I just couldn’t contain my excitement over such a steal!

Back to the original question:  Cruise line hotel and/or transfer – should you choose it or lose it?  I guess it depends on one’s personal preference and budget.  I have tried to convince myself that there are times when a cruise/transfer package is a good value, but I still have trouble buying it.  I am a bargain shopper by nature, and when it’s just my husband and I traveling and we don’t require anything special, bidding for a hotel remains my preferred method of nabbing a good hotel at an affordable price.

Image courtesy of “Digital Art” @ freedigitalphotos.net

Of course, there’s always exceptions to every rule … such as in this case, when one is looking for just a transfer to get from airport to ship or vice-versa.  While in most cases it’s easier, quicker and more economical to get a taxi or airport/hotel shuttle, there are instances where a cruise transfer is the way to go.  In fact, this came up for us last summer relating to the two-hour ride from the ship in Dover to London-Heathrow.  We chose the transfer, and it went very smoothly – well worth the price.  When the journey to and from the airport is long or overly complicated, a ship shuttle makes perfect sense.

Happy cruising!

Cruise Travel vs. Land Travel: Fight to the Finish

Many of the places on our newly created bucket list involve land destinations, and I recently came to realize this could have serious implications on our quest to see the world before we die from the deck of a cruise ship. We may have to choose one or the other from time to time, dividing our time between land and sea, in order to fit everything in.

So I thought I would use this opportunity to stage a different kind of comparison of cruise vacation vs. land vacation – a boxing match of sorts.

I used to think I would be happy just traveling the world by cruise ship. After all, what could be better than sitting on my balcony as our floating chariot leads us to far away places. Then, in 2011, we gathered the entire family together and ventured to Portugal, the land of my husband’s ancestors. His parents spent time there as children, and we thought it was far past time we made the journey. It was an incredible experience, renting a car and traveling all over the place, visiting the tiny rural village where his father was born, as well as the home where his mother spent her girlhood, its facade long abandoned and somewhat broken, but still standing.

This made me think about other destinations in the world we have yet to see, particularly in our own country. Several days ago we returned from a week in Arizona, visiting Grand Canyon and Sedona, just a sampling of places we would like to see in this country before we’re too old to enjoy them.

The contenders in the ring will be my Ireland/Scotland cruise last summer (“Cruise”) and a theoretical similar land tour of the same area (“Land”). The tourists in this bout will be a family of six in a rental vehicle – I call the family “ours”, but it could be anybody’s.

“Cruise”

Land

Besides the obvious – the inability for a cruise ship to go far enough inland for, say, the Grand Canyon, here are some differences I’ve noticed in my own limited travel experience.

We’ll go five rounds.

Round 1: The Journey

Cruise: It’s a very relaxing, picturesque ride around the Isles when the driving is left to our brave and noble captain. We lounge on our balcony watching the world go by. Family members are having fun exploring the ship.

Land: Driving long distances can be tiring, not only for the driver but for weary passengers, as well, when confined to a car loaded with an excessive amount of luggage – not to mention the backseat driver who wants to control the driver and the kids whining “Are we there yet?”

And the The Winner of Round 1 is: Cruise

Round 2: Convenience

Cruise: Our bags appear as if by magic at our cabin door on the first day. We unpack, lay our stuff out neatly in the drawers, making it a painless process to get dressed every day, and don’t think about luggage until the end of our time at sea.

Land: Each family member hauls their own over-stuffed bags into the rental car, where it is soon discovered there is not enough room for all this luggage in the trunk. Holy crap! Mom (yours truly) decides the only way to solve the problem is to toss out some of her least favorite articles of clothing, merge the rest with everyone else’s stuff, and leave the excess bag behind, asking the hotel clerk to kindly do what they will with it. We schlepp our luggage in and out of each hotel along the way. Certain members of the family have organized each day’s outfit into plastic baggies for easy management. The rest of us go on a daily fishing expedition.

And the Winner of Round 2 is: Cruise

Round 3: Bang for our Buck

Cruise: For one price, we get our transportation, meals, entertainment, on-board activity, recreation, atmosphere, fresh air, a daily change of scenery, a new place to land our feet every day, and a room with a view (a window at the very least will be required for that last one). The best part? Everybody in our party can pretty much do and eat where they want, choosing from the obscene number of dining and entertainment options on board.

Land: The package put together by the travel agent might include air, hotels and a rental car, but that’s about it. Or you might try to be creative and piece your own vacation puzzle together. Either way, be prepared to dish out lots of British pounds or Euros for bangers & mash, haggis, Irish stew, fish & chips, and all that Guinness you’ll drink. And don’t forget the park and castle entrance fees. Oh, and that part in the cruise where everyone goes there own way? No way. Since there is only the one car, we are all forced to stick together like glue, and we all must mutually decide on a place to eat, which can be a bit challenging when Dad wants a big juicy steak, and Junior wants a Happy Meal.

And the Winner of Round 3 is: Cruise

Round 4: The Sites

Cruise: The ship will take us to different fabulous ports throughout the sea journey, where we can get a brief look at the city or town it covers, from several hours to a full day – and occasionally an overnight in each port. Planning ahead is important in order to make the best of the limited time in port. A couple of hours may be fine for one port, and not nearly enough for another.

Land: Freedom is the word here. It’s our itinerary, created by us, and we can plan it any way we want. We’re not on someone else’s schedule (unless, of course, your husband runs a tight ship with everyone on his schedule). We can choose to spend three days in a city to get a real flavor of it, an overnight in another, an hour or two at an Irish pub, or simply pass through town. With a car, we can go anywhere, whenever we want. This is very important when visiting a destination with a particular purpose in mind, i.e. family heritage.

And the Winner of Round 4 is: Land

Round 5: Freedom

Cruise: There is nothing that says we need to get off the ship when it docks in a port in the itinerary. If we feel like staying on board, we may even have the pool to ourselves. If we prefer to do nothing, we can take comfort in the fact that no one will think less of us. We are are on a cruise, and that’s what we paid for. Have we ever stayed on board in lieu of visiting a port? No. The world is too big and time is too short to ignore a destination. But it’s still an option.

Land: The whole family is packed into the car, we’ve paid good money to see SOMETHING and are going to have to drive to get to the places we came to see. No, there will be no “doing nothing” on this land tour. We’re on a mission. We have a lot to see and limited time to see it.

And the Winner of Round 5 is: Cruise

There you have it. The Cruise has taken the championship title, just as I knew it would.

Will this stop us from vacationing by land? No, of course not. Land vacations still have their special place in the world of travel, especially since the kids are grown, and it’s just the two of us now. It just means that we now make sure the rental car is the right size for our luggage!

To read more of my personal cruise and travel stories, visit my blog: Seven Sea Journeys at CruiseCrazies.com

A Winter Escape to Grand Canyon: Final Stop – Sedona & Red Rock Country

Red Rocks, red sidewalks, red homes, red dirt, red mud … this is Sedona.

We left El Tovar and the Grand Canyon early morning for the two-hour drive for Sedona, where we would spend the night before our scheduled Southwest flight home to Rhode Island. With my husband’s skillful advance planning, he mapped us the scenic route – Route 89a – into Sedona, through the Oak Creek Canyon. 89A has been deemed one of the most scenic roads in America, and rightfully so. As the road wound up and down through the canyon, we marveled at the scenery. We are used to scenic mountain views in New England, but these mountains were like nothing we’d seen. I felt a little bad for my husband, as his need to carefully steer the car through the winding mountains made it difficult to really enjoy the surroundings. Hey, I would have done some driving, but he doesn’t think much of my skill behind the wheel.

As we approached Sedona, the red rock cliffs greeted us. The further we drove, the more enthralled we were with the scenery. We knew we had to find our hotel quickly so that we could get back out there and check out more of this new reddish land. We checked into the very affordable and very basic, no-frills Comfort Inn right there on Route 89A, found our room and parked our stuff. We immediately headed out to Cathedral Rock, a massive red, rocky structure high above us. The weather was not the best, having been snowing lightly all day and producing a foggy mist over everything. However, the snow covered trees and mountain rims added an awesome effect. Here, we even did some hiking up a portion of the mountain, upon which we deserved a big pat on our backs, as the only thing we are accustomed to climbing is the stepladder to change a lightbulb. We were quite proud of ourselves!

Before leaving for the return to Phoenix the next morning, we drove up by the Sedona airport to check out the view. We had gone to the same spot the night before to see the sunset which never appeared due to cloud cover, but this morning brought clear skies and beautiful view of the surrounding red rocky hills. We also made one more stop before making our way home – Chapel of the Holy Cross – built on top of a rock, with some incredible views. Take a look at the photo – you’ll see what I mean.

If I were to return to Sedona some day in the future, I would like to park myself in a nice comfy resort and spend some quality time in this country of red rocks. Until then, we have our photos and our memories to take us back to the splendor of Sedona and Grand Canyon.

A Winter Escape to Grand Canyon – Part II: The Canyon

Starry Night over Grand Canyon

We spent our first full day here driving along the south rim – beginning at 5:00 a.m. Actually, it was earlier than that. An avid camera buff, David woke at the un-godly hour of 3:00 a.m., grabbed his camera and tripod, went outside and photographed the starry night sky. I did not join him – way too early for me. I’ll wait for the photo display, thank you.

Sunrise over Grand Canyon

At a more reasonable hour – 5:00 a.m., we both threw on our clothes, bundled up warmly, and headed out with the camera equipment in search of the best site to see the sun rise. We briefly stopped at several viewing points until we finally staked our spot at Hopi Point. There were several other people there, some with photo equipment and some like me, with an iPhone in their pocket. We patiently waited in the cold morning air for the sun to appear, and as it struggled it’s way through some clouds, it finally appeared and began to light the canyon walls. The clouds continued to hamper the sun’s appearance, but we were able to see some of the canyon bathed in vibrant reds before the cloud cover won the game and sent us packing.

South Rim – Grand Canyon

After grabbing breakfast and coffee at a nearby cafeteria in the National Park, the sun was fully up, the canyon all aglow to welcome us, and we continued our drive along the Rim, stopping at several view points along the way. The fascinating thing about Grand Canyon is that the view is quite different depending on where you stand. Each stop along the way presents something new to see. The position of the sun, the shadows and the clouds all have an effect on the vibrancy of the picture you see before you. In the winter, snowfall along the rim and trees in contrast to the reds and golds below produces an especially awesome view.

It is very common to encounter animals in the Grand Canyon National Park while touring along the rim or hiking through the trails.  We spotted these friendly deer shortly after sunrise.

Deer in the Park

 

One thing we were not prepared for was the altitude. The high elevation produced headaches, nosebleeds (me), fatigue and, most of all, shortness of breath. Simply walking from the parking lot to the viewing area left us exhausted and gasping for air. Thus, our hikes along the rim trail tended to be rewarding but brief.

On the Edge-Grand Canyon

Another fact that sent fear through my veins was the absence of obstacles between the sightseer and a long fall into the abyss.  My husband had a fondness for setting up his camera and tripod as close to the edge of the cliff as possible, and I had disturbing visions of equipment with him attached, careening over the edge to the underworld below.  At one point, I had to walk away – it was too painful to watch.  When I returned both he and camera were gone.  A horrible feeling came over me and I began to panic, until I saw that he had moved a few feet down the trail.  Just for fun, we had picked up a book at a local gift shop entitled “Over the Edge – Death in Grand Canyon” with “gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in the most famous of the World’s Seven Natural Wonders.”, mostly stories of stupid, ignorant or drunk people tempting fate – very entertaining reading, actually.  Still, I did not want him to be part of the next edition.

Stay tuned for my next installment – Sedona: Red Rock Country

A Winter Escape to Grand Canyon: Part I – Flight to El Tovar Hotel

In Flight to Phoenix

The day had arrived. We would soon be on our way to The Grand Canyon!  It was a frigid cold New England morning in February.  Against my husband’s wise advice, I had stayed up late the previous night – too late- in order to watch the season finale of a favorite TV series.  It’s a chore for me to get up at 6:00 a.m. on a normal workday, never mind 3:30 am on a school vacation week. Thankfully, we packed and showered the evening before, so all that was left to do was wake our slumbering daughter, all warm and snug in her bed, to drive us to the airport for our early morning flight to Phoenix.

I once again find myself squished into a middle seat on board one of Southwest’s newer aircraft. If it had not been a full flight, I would have moved over to the window, which I highly prefer. My somewhat meaty man requires an aisle seat, and to save some poor innocent person from having to compete with his seat space, I graciously stood in as the filling in this three seat sandwich, hoping the third slice of bread to the right of me would be the light & trim variety. Fortunately, a young man of average size took the role. All was good.

My husband has a method of discouraging certain bulky passengers from taking the window seat, in an attempt to save me from suffocation. I call it “the glare”. He puts on his best “mean face”, saved for the largest of the large, a look which firmly says “that’s right, keep on moving” or “don’t even think about sitting here.” In contrast, the small and slight flier will receive a warm smile or at least a neutral look, meant to be an invitation to “sit here – please”.  So far, his scheme has worked. I have never been sandwiched in by a hefty piece of bread.

All buckled in, seat backs upright, and tray tables locked into place, we were now settled in for the two-hour ride to Chicago and transfer for the second four-hour leg to Phoenix. We ascended to the proper cruising altitude, the fasten-seatbelt-buckle chimed off, and it was now time to take out my iPad and begin watching a movie, one of three I downloaded the evening before. I powered up the device, and much to my disappointment, there were no movies to be found. They never downloaded. So much for planning ahead. At least I  had some reading material and a few games stored to keep me busy between peanuts and beverages.

BMW 4WD Rental Car

After landing safely, picking up our 4-wheel drive BMW in Phoenix and driving a 4-hour smorgasbord of cactus-covered hills, scrub-covered plains, rocky hills and evergreen forests, we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park. A friendly woman at the park entrance took our $25 entrance fee, handed us a guide, and off we went in search of our accommodations for the next three nights. Because I failed map-reading a long time ago, we got a bit turned around, but fortunately my husband’s skill at multi-tasking, i.e. reading a map and driving narrow winding roads simultaneously, we were able to find our lodge – the El Tovar.

Located directly on the South Rim of the Canyon, El Tovar is an historic, rustic-looking hotel with a view – and what a view it is! We happened to arrive just as the sun was setting. Determined not to miss the splendor of the canyon glowing in setting sunlight, we gathered all our gear and made a beeline to the viewing point adjacent to the hotel. This was our very first glimpse of the Canyon, and we were simply blown away by the beauty and splendor of it all.

After getting our fill of the Canyon, we entered the hotel lobby to check in. On first impression, the room looked not like a hotel lobby, but more like a ski lodge, with natural wood, comfy chairs and sofa around a fireplace and even taxidermy displays on the walls above our heads. El Tovar blends in perfectly with its national park surroundings.

Is El Tovar worth the high prices. Absolutely – for the location alone. Even if you are not lucky enough to land one of few the rooms overlooking the canyon (or do not wish to part with hard-earned bucks for a full view) in just a few steps out the door, you’re there.

El Tovar Hotel Overlooking Cloud-Covered Canyon

Located directly on the Rim Trail, the changing shadows and colors of the canyon will leave you breathless.

We had booked a king room months in advance and were fortunate to score a room on the second floor with both a porch and a partial view of the Canyon.

King Room, El Tovar Hotel

Our room itself was spacious, modern and comfortable. One downside to the hotel is the absence of an elevator to reach either the second or third floor. Normally, this is not an issue for us, but schlepping our large, heavy bag full of winter gear and camera equipment up the stairs was laboring in the high altitude and left us huffing and puffing all the way up.

On one night of our stay, we dined at El Tovar’s restaurant and were lucky enough to get a table by the window with a canyon view.  Normally, there would be a sunset to enjoy, but not that night – too much cloud cover.  It was lovely just the same.  As with the hotel, the menu is a bit pricey. Although the decor is rustic, the table settings were elegant and the food delicious and well presented. Due to both the popularity and reputation of the restaurant and hotel, reservations are required. We reserved our table weeks in advance, requested and received a table by the window overlooking the canyon.

Stay tuned for Part II: The Grand Canyon

We’re Cruising to … The Grand Canyon

Image courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park

What’s my motto?  If a cruise ship doesn’t go there, then I don’t want to go. That’s not entirely true, though, because Grand Canyon has long been on our trip bucket list. Obviously, land travel will have to be involved.

A trip to Vegas nearly brought us to the Canyon several years ago.  As a side trip from the city glitter and hypnotic slots machines, we pondered over a day trip to either Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon’s west rim. Since we felt that traveling all that way to catch just a brief glimpse of this powerful and inspiring landscape would be inadequate and totally unsatisfying, Hoover Dam won out.  After all, who can forget Clark Griswold’s family vacation from Chicago to Wally World, complete with an all-too-brief stop at the “biggest G-damn hole in the world”, as so eloquently described by Griswold in National Lampoon’s Family Vacation.  I envisioned our view of the Canyon to last a bit longer than Clark and wife Ellen’s hasty double-take at the rim before jumping back into their beat-up old station wagon and their crazy road trip.

We have chosen February school break for our Canyon crusade for a number of reasons. Our 2013 annual summer vacation block is occupied by our longed-for Alaska cruise. As my husband is an educator, that leaves school breaks. We felt February was the better choice over April, as the crowds would be thinner.  We also hear that the natural light and sun position over Canyon in winter provides some of the most spectacular views. Oh, and yes, snow adds dramatic effect, as well. With any luck, there will be no blizzard or major weather event to impede our way.  However, as fate would have it, at the time of this writing, the South Rim is expecting a storm to dump a foot of snow.  With a week to go until our trip, I am now wondering if I should develop a backup plan in case Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.

Inexpensive flights to Phoenix were a consideration, as well, in our decision to visit Grand Canyon. We had racked up enough Southwest points between the two of us to fly free and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to scratch another item off the travel bucket list.

It was decided. A five-day trip to the South Rim over winter break would give us the Grand Canyon experience we longed for. The flights were booked, and now we needed a place to stay. All the reviews suggested that a hotel in Flagstaff or Williams would be a convenient and affordable option. We were renting an SUV, after all, and had freedom to choose. Then I saw it – the Grand Canyon hotel of my dreams – El Tovar Hotel, perched right there on the Canyon rim directly in in the national park.  Can’t get much closer than that!  Grand, old-fashioned, a little rustic, and obscenely expensive, it was perfect. By flying free and doing one night at a cheap Priceline room for a night in Sedona at the end of the trip, we could definitely swing it!

So, in just a week’s time, if the weather gods are kind, we will be on our way to Phoenix.

Stay tuned for my review when we return.