Someone recently mentioned to me that they’d visited South Korea. I was intrigued… perhaps because I’ve never been there, and travel is my profession. I followed up with questions: where did you go? How long did you stay? What did you do? How was the food?
The answers were disappointing. She had only changed planes at the Seoul Airport. Sorry… that doesn’t count as having visited a country (as lovely as the Incheon Airport is).
This got me thinking about how we experience places when we travel, and I came up with a scale. On the extreme left hand side is “Travelling BROAD”: in this case maybe you only connect a flight at the airport The other extreme is “Travelling DEEP”: this is when you live in the location for some period of time. All of our adventures fall somewhere in between, and there is no ”right” way to travel. But there should be an understanding that Broad and Deep are different experiences.
Cruise ships lend themselves well to Broad Travel. In most cases, you are only in a port of call for the day, and you generally can’t explore too far away from where your ship is docked. In some cases, this works perfectly – you can get a little taste of a bunch of different places, and then (later) go back to the ones you really love to experience more deeply. We see this in the Caribbean and in Europe. Some cruises in those markets have a port of call every day – offering a little taste of a lot of places in a one or two week period.
Some cruise lines are beginning to move a bit further to the right on the continuum, to offer a deeper experience. This involves a longer port stop or even an overnight stay. Perhaps they depart later at night to allow you to see what the port looks like after dark. In some cases, the cruise lines are offering 2 or 3 day stays in certain ports of call. This definitely gives you more of a feel for a place than a 6 hour stop during the day.
These longer port stops really appeal to those who have done a lot of cruising in a particular region before. If you’ve been to a port before, it’s really cool to go back and be able to do things in that place that you haven’t experienced previously.
There are also some port stops that simply require more than a few hours to see well. The old saying that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, I’ve modified to “You can’t see Rome in a day” – particularly because the cruise ships dock about 2 hours away from the things you want to see in Rome.
Vienna, Austria is a common port stop for river cruises, and definitely a place that requires more than a few hours to properly experience. Istanbul, London, Paris, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Athens, (there are many more)….the list of places that you need a few days to really see is long.
To be clear, I’m not advocating for Deep Experiences over Broad Experiences. I am suggesting that this is a dimension you’ll want to consider when making decisions about your next vacation, to avoid regrets.
Today’s Travel Opportunities
Viking River Cruise from Vienna to Bucharest (17-days)
- Explore Vienna for 3 full days, then carry on eastward to visit Bratislava, Budapest (2 days), Mohacs (Hungary), Vukovar & Ilok (Croatia), Novi Sad, Donji Milanovac and Belgrade (Serbia), Vidin and Pleven (Bulgaria), Constanta and Bucharest (Romania). You’ll get to add a whole bunch of new places to your ‘been-there’ list.
- Prices from $5999 per person (May – August), $6499 pp (September), $5799 pp (November)
- Includes round-trip international airfare, all taxes and fees, airport transfers, shore excursion in every port, beer/wine with meals, and wifi on the ship.
Northern Lights Cruise with Hurtigruten in Norway
Just as the days are getting longer, it may seem odd to be talking about seeing the Aurora Borealis, which are only visible on the dark days. However, these cruises sell out, so you’ll want to be out in front of this.
- 14-days Amsterdam round-trip (making for easy flight logistics).
- Departures in 2024: January (6 or 20), February (3 or 17), and March (2, 16, 30).
- Encounter the coastal communities, glaciers, fjords, and wildlife of the Norwegian Coast in the winter
- This cruise features the “Northern Lights Promise”, so if you DON’T see them, Hurtigruten will give you another cruise.
- Prices start at $4478 per person
I was on this ship in Antarctica a few years ago, and here’s my video (with some photos of the ship): https://youtu.be/3c-2TBXw6ls
Explora Journeys
Copenhagen to London departing August 15, 2023 (9 nights)
- Visit Goteborg (Sweden), Oslo, Stavanger (Norway), Hamburg, Rotterdam, Bruges.
- Pampered Cruiser Special price: $5450 per person (Public Price: $5700 pp) – Save $500 per suite! – EXPIRES MAR. 17th
Quebec to New York City – departing October 3rd 2023 (10 nights)
- Visit Saguenay, Baie-Comeau, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Charlottetown, Halifax, New York (overnight)
- Bob and I are travelling on this journey – why not join us?
- $6350 per person – Veranda Room (377 Square Feet)
Miami round-trip – departing December 13th 2023 (9 nights)
- Visit Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, BVI, Guadeloupe, Bahamas
- Pampered Cruiser Special price: $3500 per person (Public Price: $4700 pp) – Save $2400 per suite! – EXPIRES MAR. 17th
Bridgetown, Barbados round-trip – departing January 19th 2024 (12 nights)
- Visit Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe, Saint Barthe, San Juan, BVI, Saint Kitts, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenadines,
- Pampered Cruiser Special price: $5500 per person (Public Price: $6750 pp) – Save $2500 per suite! – EXPIRES APRIL 14th
Bridgetown, Barbados to Miami – departing March 1st 2024 (7-nights)
- Visit Martinique, Saint Kitts, Dominican Republic, Bahamas
Pampered Cruiser Special price: $3000 per person (Public Price: $3650 pp) – Save $1300 per suite! – EXPIRES APRIL 14th
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If you’re planning a trip, I’d love to help! Click here or call 800-876-0168 to get in touch today.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sue Bradley
Sue Bradley
