A Cruise Experience Can Be Life Changing

We avoided the cruise experience for a long time.  We had a complete misconception about the whole industry.  We saw these gigantic ships with thousands of people on them and read horror stories of mass-produced buffets of mediocre food and less than appealing shore excursions that cost an arm and a leg.  You slept in small cabins and were nickel and dimed to death for drinks, activities and even the internet.  You ended up feeling like you didn’t really see the places you visited and the only people who kept going back to book another cruise were the ones who judged their food by quantity and not quality.

We were wrong.  Very wrong.  Because of a slight fear of seasickness, we booked a river cruise in Europe as a first venture and the cruise experience totally changed our opinion about this wonderful way to travel.  We traveled through countries without needing to know another language, had no worries about gaining admission to the most popular sites and learned more than we ever could have imagined.  We have broadened our experience to include a couple of ocean cruises at this point and have become true fans of this wonderful way to see the world as long as you do it the right way.

As with anything else pertaining to retirement, and life for that matter, you should research and plan out your experience.  Talk to people who have sailed with a particular company and find out the positive and negatives about their experience.  We did that and it made all the difference in the world.  Everyone has their own priorities but, for us, a high-quality shore experience was a necessity.  Good food was a must and we were looking for an educational and cultural focus rather than a casino or water slide holiday.  You may have a different set of priorities and that is absolutely fine.  We wanted to learn and truly experience the places we had only read about.  We love traveling throughout our own country by car and stopping in the little towns.  You get to experience how the people live and feel like you really know a place after you’ve taken the time to explore.  That’s exactly the experience we got on our cruise experience and we didn’t have to concern ourselves at all about driving directions or accommodations.  It was all taken care of and we ended each day with food that was as good as any fine restaurant we’ve been in with service to match.

The bottom line is that you should not repeat our mistake and shortchange the cruise experience.  It’s a great way to see the world and a wonderful way to meet new friends and try new foods.  On one of our cruises we met a wonderful couple from England, and we remain friends with them to this day and have even met up with them in Madrid and gone on subsequent cruises with them.  A cruise is one of the most relaxing ways to travel with old friends or make new ones.  No one has to cook or clean or worry about who picks up the check.  You can just enjoy each other’s company and share new experiences.

The Cruise Experience is Money Well Spent

The cruise experience is not cheap but, when you add up everything you get, it’s not that expensive either.  True, there are the two and three thousand passenger ships that offer incredible special deals but, as we said earlier, that was not what we were looking for.  Just as this site implores you to plan out your retirement, it is a wise person who determines what they are looking for in a cruise before they embark on one.

As we noted, our interests were in fully experiencing the places we were visiting.  A cruise is a great way to gain a familiarity with an area and, since you're spending a lot of money and time to travel in the first place, why not extend your journey by staying in one of the ports that you traveled to?  Retirement offers you the wonderful opportunity to extend your cruise experience before and after your actual time on the ship and, if you can do it, it's well worth the extra time and money.  Many cruise companies offer a "pre" and "post" cruise extension and we take advantage of it whenever we can.  Arriving early allows you the luxury of "recovering" from a long flight and the jet lag that you might experience and it's amazing what a difference it makes when you can start your journey on the sea in a refreshed state of mind.

Adding a couple of days at the end of a cruise can add substantially to your cruise experience as well.  Usually, a cruise ends at a great destination but, since you're almost always leaving the next day, you never get to see that port.  We like to hire a professional guide for both the "pre" and "post" extensions and when you get a great guide it can add so much to your experience because you really get to know the place that you're visiting.  On a recent tour of Berlin, we had an amazing tour that focused on the Cold War and what the city went through between the end of World War II and the collapse of the Berlin Wall nearly fifty years later.  When you are told that history from the perspective of someone who actually lived it, the difference is profound.

If you have a hobby or interest that has become your reason for living, you can easily incorporate it into your cruise experience.  For lovers of literature, a trip to Europe can add tremendous enjoyment to everything that captivated you about a particular novel or story.  We know a lover of James Joyce's Ulysses who took a tour in Dublin based on that book and it was like having the novel come alive.  I felt the same way when we experience the London that Charles Dickens wrote about and my fascination with Jack the Ripper reached new heights with the tour we took through the Whitechapel streets where the murders took place. 

Your cruise experience is a great opportunity if photography or writing is one of your hobbies. There might even be an opportunity to turn your cruise habit into a money-making pastime through articles or photographs that there is a great market for.  Finding a slightly different angle about a popular tourist site can generate an interest from a magazine or website that is always looking for unique content.  As a matter of fact, many retirees start their own websites with their own cruise advice or reviews of excursions they have gone on.  Why couldn't that be you?  Why not turn your cruise experience into a little extra pocket change that can help fun your next adventure?  Life is too short to sit home in front of a television every day.  Create some excitement in your life.  Plan your next journey and set sail as soon as you can.  It's time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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