Cruising? It doesn’t appeal to me... yet
THEY say it’s better to travel than it is to arrive, but when it comes to one particular sort of holiday, I actually think I’d rather stay at home.
I am talking about cruising, which is particularly popular with British holidaymakers and, it seems, also with members of my family.
My mum took her first holiday in a few years recently, and opted for a cruise along the River Danube, with various stops in different countries along the way.
The rooms were comfortable, she said, and the food was incredible, with three- or four-course meals at regular intervals, and a new view from your window every morning.
Similarly ship-bound were my girlfriend’s parents, who embarked on a cruise around the British Isles, posting back daily views of cities in not-so-exotic locations such as Holyhead and Cork.
I have to be honest that the cruise bug has certainly never struck me, and the idea of being stuck on a ship fails to delight, no matter how good the food is or how charming my fellow travellers may appear.
Don’t get me wrong, I can see the appeal of seeing different places every day, being transported to a new locale as you sleep, and not having to worry about your luggage once you have trundled yourself up the gangway.
But it all feels a bit like seeing a place without actually immersing yourself in it.
Often, you only get a good feel for a city or town once the heat of the day dissipates and dusk descends.
Barcelona’s narrow alleyways took on an almost surreal glow from the orange street lights, once the cruise ship passengers had gone back to their ships and left after a daytrip.
The best part about Venice, for me, was escaping the crush of visitors who were just there for the day, and so had a list of things they wanted to see before they had to leave again.
Instead, I took my time to see the sights, and spent time seeking out the tiny cafes and restaurants which were not clearly designed for the tourists.
Sipping an Aperol Spritz from a chair overlooking one of the less frequented canals remains a pleasant memory which I would have missed had I needed to speed back to the cruise ship, along with others who were just there for a few hours.
It’s not travelling by ship which bothers me, as there is a certain charm to the slow speed of travel when you go overland instead of whizzing through the air.
I took a boat from Shenzhen in southern China to the island of Hainan, underneath the mainland and adjacent to Vietnam.
It took several days despite being a relatively short distance, and I spent much of my time while we were at sea with my nose in a book, as the South China Sea slid by slowly.
In Croatia, the islands off the coast of Dubrovnik are mainly full of day visitors who have hotels in the town, but you can step off the passenger ferry and actually stay for a couple of days too, for a different experience.
Trains, too, are a great way to see the places you are going through rather than just being delivered into an airport at the other end.
Working as a teacher, I also saw a huge swathe of Asia from a train carriage, spending entire days and nights going from Beijing to Xi’an in China, or Bangkok to Singapore further south.
Many people don’t realise that Turkey has a top-class railway, and you can buy tickets relatively cheaply to go from one part of the country to another in a sleeper compartment, so you get to see the spiced frenzy of Istanbul as well as the beaches and breezes of the coast.
But cruising? Sorry, but I am not sure I am ready for that yet.
‘It all feels a bit like seeing a place without actually immersing yourself in it’