Cruising down the river..or on the ocean?

I wasn't sure that I would like cruising.  The first ocean cruise I went on was to Alaska on the old Norwegian Majesty, which has since been sold off to some other cruise line. We flew from Newark at 6am to Minneapolis, then took a connecting flight to Anchorage.  From there we took a bus on a two hour drive to Seward arriving at the ship thirteen hours later. We cruised in a southern direction for seven days stopping at Skagway, Juneau, Cordoba and Vancouver.  It was a great experience, and I was hooked on cruising.

In the ensuing years I have cruised from NY to the Bahamas, Bermuda and Canada.  I have sailed out of New Orleans in the middle of Mardi Gras week to Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica. Flying to the west coast I have travelled through the Panama Canal stopping in Costa Rica, Columbia and Aruba. From Florida I have sailed to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; another time it was to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Tortola.

One of the best ocean cruises was actually not in the ocean but in the Mediterranean Sea. We flew to Barcelona and sailed to Malta, Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Nice and back to Barcelona where we stayed for an additional two days.  At one port we  spent the day at a Tuscan olive farm and vineyard taking a cooking class, eating lunch and drinking local wine and lemoncello.

In May I ended by trip to England with a Trans-Atlantic cruise from Southampton to New York on the maiden voyage of the NCL Breakaway. It was relaxing, and the two best things about it were: no jet lag and clean laundry!  Also, I hopped on the subway when I got off the ship and took the ferry home.  There are good things about sailing out of NYC.

In 2010 we took our first river cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest. It was different from ocean cruising in several ways. First, the ship is smaller. Secondly, it pulls up right into the heart of town, which is nice for getting around.  The clientele is older than on an ocean cruise ship, and there is no casino...which makes no difference to me, but others might not like that.  There is always a morning walking tour included with your fare, and there are guides/travel consultants assigned to your group who help you navigate each city you visit. The afternoon usually has an optional tour scheduled...or, you can explore on your own.  And the optional tours are reasonably priced.

I will be taking my third river cruise in  November/December to the Christmas Markets along the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel with a stop over in Munich.  I am looking forward to it, will be sure to share my thoughts when I return.