� Who you�re with: I find that overwhelmingly what I value about the cruises is the memories made wi

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Perhaps an intermediate step would be to do some back-to-back cruise first. I read a post over on cruise critic of a Snowbird from Canada taking his family on 4 week long cruises back-to-back on different ships in the caribbean in order to escape the winter blues in Canada.
What I do notice car rental lax though is that the prices for world cruises seem to be too high. If you estimate car rental lax a daily rate for a certain cabin category for shorter cruise, you'll see that the long world cruise car rental lax trips just aren't price competive.
I have a friend that has been on three world cruises. She her husband are real LBYM's types so I was shocked . Apparently they get great deals from Princess cruises.Her last cruise was 50% off plus you can bring on wine from any port so that saved on liquor bills . They love them . I just recently saw a cruise car rental lax advertised for Carnival Legend that is not a world cruise but a transatlantic going from London to New York visiting Scotland, Greenland ,Ireland ( Dublin northern Ireland ), Iceland St.John 's NS . It's very reasonably priced and would hit some exotic car rental lax spots with a few sea days in between .
I have a problem with cruises in that you rarely get to really know a place. Rather, it's a quick trip in and out of a city and then on to the next one. As far as I can see the cruise is the Main Feature of the trip, not the places one visits. Sort of like going to the library, reading the first 10 pages of every book they have on nuclear physics and claiming one has studied nuclear physics.
I have a problem with cruises in that you rarely get to really know a place. Rather, it's a quick trip in and out of a city and then on to the next one. As far as I can see the cruise is the Main Feature of the trip, not the places one visits. Sort of like going to the library, reading the first 10 pages of every book they have on nuclear physics and claiming one has studied nuclear physics.
Jokingly though - Once you've seen a few churches, forts, and ancient cities they all kind of look the same - don't they ? And every American knows that outside of our borders only barbarians live anyway.
Don't do cruises, but I did, (back in the early/mid 1960s when ocean travel was the favored mode, and cheaper than airfare), in addition to going westward from Australia towards the Med, take one 6 week voyage across car rental lax the Pacific from Melbourne to Southampton, England......at one point, after leaving Fiji, we didn't see land for 10 days.
2. The 40 destinations is agreed a sample of what's going on there and can't stay longer to really know the place. But try going to 40 destinations on your own and see how expensive is it going to be. So it is a sample. There are usually a choice of excursions. For a photographer like me, It may work, but not all the time.
3. Buffets- This is where one has to pace himself. Although we went to buffet 2x a day, we made sure that we eat almost the same thing we eat at home with a little pizzaz, and we watch the portions!!!
That's not as easy to answer as I expected. The costs I've heard by chance in the past were astronomical, but I see one can do a 107 day world cruise for about $22K/person or $44K/couple (though you can easily spend 2-4, even 10 times that much). Works out to about $2,900 per week, people spend that on vacation all the time. I wonder what expenses aren't included though. If I wanted to see the world by boat, it's not a bad option.
I looked at a 34 day segment . The price was $4280per person for an ocean view room . It goes from Sydney to Fort Lauderdale so that would cut down on airfare. I think 34 days would be my limit . I could pull the plug easily on that price .
I�ve never done a full world cruise, but have done a few 23-27 day world cruise �segments� (e.g., Singapore to Dubai), as well as other non-world cruise longer cruises, and will be going on another 'segment' in the Spring car rental lax of 2013 (Dubai to Venice, or what we�re affectionately calling the �Arab Spring Cruise�). (Never could do anything longer because I have been working).
Others have posted about the lack of authenticity of the travel experience in a cruise, primarily because of the inability to �really get to know a place.� I guess I have a less radical view, and agree with other posters about evaluating the benefits of cruising on its own terms, car rental lax rather than expecting it to meet some �ideal� of what travel should be. With that lens, I actually find cruising has a lot going for it.
Note that this is coming from someone who has literally spent years as a �traveler� over my life on all parts of the spectrum. On the �cheap end� this has included numerous multi-month trips hitchhiking, camping out and/or hippie backpacking on a few dollars a day in Central/South America, Africa, and Asia; a two month long biking/camping trip in Japan; working car rental lax low wage jobs to make my way in Switzerland and Senegal; serving as Peace Corps volunteer for 3.5 years in Ecuador; renting a room in a slum in Ecuador during my doctoral car rental lax research; car rental lax and illegally car rental lax squatting in an apartment in Paris for several months. In more recent years, I�ve done more of the �expensive� end travel with my professional work in developing countries -- modern hotels in capital cities, peppered with less glamorous digs in rural field visits.
But all through this time, I have also done a lot of cruising, because car rental lax this was one of the opportunities to do family trips with my parents and brother (in fact, our parents brought car rental lax us on our first cruise when we were 8 years old and the only kids on the boat!). It wasn�t the only type of vacation we ever took by any means, but it was one, and as my parents aged, and now as my mother is in her 80s, it is the only kind of international trip she wants to take.
Because I have had a juxtapositions of all these different types of travel experiences, car rental lax often within the same year, I have resisted any inclination car rental lax to �judge� one type of travel as better than another. car rental lax They are just different, and each has its own pros and cons. I think several of the other posters here have pointed car rental lax out many of the reasons people cruise, including the convenience, pampering, and ability to �sample� different locations. I have found the following to be the main considerations with respect to cruising specifically:
� Who you�re with: I find that overwhelmingly what I value about the cruises is the memories made with my family. You spend a lot of time together on a cruise, much of it literally just hanging out (on those long days at sea), and that time is really a gift when you don�t live with someone full time.
� Where you�re car rental lax going: Because we�ve done so much cruising, and have an interest in unusual � and new � destinations, it is a constant quest to find an interesting itinerary which isn�t something we�ve done before. The World Cruises (or cruise segments) are actually among the most interesting itineraries you will find out there, so that is a strong selling point in my opinion. No, you aren�t going to �go native� with a day or so in any of these ports, but on the other hand, are you likely to ever take a dedicated three week trip to Qatar or Togo? Probably not�. And for some destinations (like Antarctica, for example), ships are one of the best/only ways to visit any of the research car rental lax stations, etc.). car rental lax So I look at it as a way to complement and expand upon other �deeper� traveling I do.
� What kind of �fun� you like: The longer cruises all have a lot of days at sea where you are not in port, and I have to say these are a delight when you are working and this trip is your �vacation�, just because they are as relaxing and restful as you want to make them. (Maybe this is less of an issue for the FIREd, because one�s whole life can be quite relaxing!). In terms of how you spend your time, if you are the type that is sufficiently entertained being able to read, chat with travel companions, watch movies, play board games, etc. you will be quite content�. others want/need more entertainment and interaction, and every decent cruise line has plenty of activities going on to keep folks occupied as well. So you can be as active as you like.
When you are in port, I have to say that it�s impressive car rental lax the range of different activity types that are now offered in the cruise-sponsored tours, including outdoorsy/physical adventure all the way to traditional bus tours, and/or the opportunity to explore on your own. I�ve done everything from paragliding to attending concerts � so it�s really anything goes (do note, however, that this is one of the biggest additional expenses you will incur beyond the cruise cost � it can add up to thousands of dollars on a very long cruise with a lot of ports of call). car rental lax Do these constitute more than a �dabbling� in the destination? No, of course car rental lax not, but that doesn�t mean they still aren�t interesting and fun trips.
� What your expectations are for comfort and ease of travel: As others have posted, there is nothing easier than just unpacking once, always having fancy food prepared for you 24-7, and basically not having to take care of any life details while you�re on the boat. Particularly as my parents aged, over