I’ve actually taken two tour groups. Both were small and I had a lot of independent travel time which is what I like. Not all tours are bad but the large, organized bus tours, guides on commission, and that type of travel just turns me off.

The silver lining to the whole experience for us – and the major reason we signed up to begin with – was that the tour was in French. So it was a great opportunity for us to use a language we rarely get to use. Ok, it’s a little weird to go to Mexico to practice your French, but… We live in California and get plenty of opportunity to practice Spanish! Not to mention that naturally, we spoke with plenty of people in Spanish while we were there.

As for cruises, I can’t do it. As you know, I am not a big beach person so it is a waste to float on a ship for days and then see a beach. As for your example of the Mediterranean, why not explore Venice on your own? To me, a cruise is about the ship much more than it is the destination. Some cruises cater to the luxury traveler and while those are smaller and more appealing, I am not a luxury travel type of person and I probably never will be. It’s another reason why cruises don’t appeal to me.

With that said, each of us is different. And for travel (and many other things), that is good. There’s nothing wrong in there being different types of travel for different types of people. Just don’t expect me to like all the choices.

Despite what you may think after the comment I left on the River cruise article, I am not a huge ocean cruise person, but I think there are times when they make sense. Like my French Polynesia cruise – you have the opportunity to see much more than you would if you just sent to one place for a week ….and it was cheaper. A room in Bora Bora could run 2K a night – we paid 8k for a 2 week balcony suite with all inclusive gourmet food, top shelf liquor and wine, and gratuities included. Had we booked a room in Bora Bora itself like was an option, we might’ve been out money since we wound up down there in the middle of 4 cyclones- one of which did some considerable damage to many of the over the water huts.

I will not do a big cruise again, I will do not big giant ones – blech. But the luxury cruises with less than 300 people are the way to go. We only had one day at sea, which is almost inevitable and we were at port much longer than most cruise ships are (we had several overnight stops).

The one upside I see to some cruises is the ability to see places you might not otherwise visit. My Mediterranean cruise was a perfect example of that – I ended up at a few places that were not on my “dream destination” list and I ended up loving those places as much, if not more, than the places that were. Getting that little taste of islands like Rhodes in Greece will bring me back an day over the crowded, overrun places like Mykonos and Santorini. Again though, I picked an itinerary that included 1 day at sea – I have no desire to waste my vacation with 4 or 5 days at sea during an Atlantic crossing or whatever.

Sometimes though, a cruise is truly the best way to see certain areas like French Polynesia, but most especially places like Antarctica, Alaska, Panama Canal, etc. In those instances, you really do not have a choice. Alaska there is a road/train and cruise option, but there are still elements you can only see by boat. Prior to my Mediterranean cruise, I was strongly against cruises, probably stronger in opinion than you are. But, I was given an opportunity to go on the med cruise as a gift so I decided to go with an open mind. There were definitely pros and cons and the giant size of the ship confirmed I will never do a cattle cruise like that.

One reason I do like the cruise though is the different scenery each day. Coming into old European ports that are fort walled cities, or leaving Venice perched high above the towers so you can see all the ones that are leaning, or cruising by the Amalfi Coast, or waking up with Bora Bora as your view – those are experiences you would miss traveling by land.

JMHO…..now off to plan my next wine and food themed trip. LOL

As for cruises, I don’t get it. I never will. You hit the nail on the head with that one!