Of all the things you have seen on a cruise, what left you the most awe inspired?

Sailing into the caldera at Santorini.

Dawn in an almost silent Venice.

Sailing from Antigua and seeing the volcano erupt on Montserrat.

Norway's Atlantic Road...

Awe inspiring? Meeting and having lunch with a delightful and wonderful 92 year old woman...she was cruising solo and visually impaired. Her love for life was contagious.

I would vote for the Parthenon and Acropolis in Athens.

 

A few runner-ups would be Gaudi architecture in Barcelona and the Book of Kells in Dublin.

The Sistine Chapel. Statue of David in Florence, Stonehedge, and the vastness and beauty of Alaska. It is

Truly a spectacular world!

The blue ice of Antarctica. Before I went, I was certain that photos of Antarctica had been enhanced as ice could not be that blue. I was wrong as it was stunningly, beautifully blue.

So glad we went before the continent is radically changed by warming temperatures.

The Sistine Chapel. Statue of David in Florence, Stonehedge, and the vastness and beauty of Alaska. It is

Truly a spectacular world!

I am so glad I started this thread. What wonderful responses there have been.

We have seen many of the other places mentioned such as the Sistine Chapel, Ephesus in Turkey, Glacier Bay, and Statue of David in Florence. But, this thread shows there are so many other places to see.

I am surprised no one else mentioned the Parthenon and Acropolis in Athens; those left me truly in awe.

I am not surprised Gaudi in Barcelona was also mentioned.

I am happy that someone else felt the same thing I did when viewing the Book of Kells in Dublin. I heartily recommend that to anyone who finds themselves in Dublin.

A full transit of the Panama Canal, I've already see all the other cool stuff by flying there.

Alaska - Whales

- Hubbard Glacier close up when breaching

- A sunny afternoon in Ketchikan watching float planes take off and land.

As many have state there are many to choose from. Mine top choices are (in no particular order):

Sailing in to Budapest at night and seeing the Parliament building lit up.

Sailing in and out of New York Harbor (Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline, various bridges)

Three Gorges Dam

Lisbon

The bay of Kotor.

How can anyone pick? My first cruise to the Caribbean and seeing the fantastic color of the water!Everything in St Petersburg Russia, Istanbul, and sailing back down the Bosporus past Gallipoli, sailing out of Venice, sailing out of Manhattan, so very many sights I never dreamed I would see in my lifetime.

Actually, the first time I sailed out of Manhattan I was 3 months old and we were moving to Florida on a Clyde Mallory passenger ship!

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Most awe inspiring thing as a college kid....my 1st sighting of the Pyramids

Most awe inspiring thing as a 30 yo....sitting on a retaining wall in Leningrad and staring across the frozen Baltic toward Finland

Most awe inspiring thing as a full fledged adult with kids....letting the dh and family go up to the colesieum 3rd tier while I lagged behind and stayed at the bottom of the stairs which means I was on the 2nd tier....all alone...in the colesieum where hundreds of visitors are there all the time...but there I was all alone sitting in the interior walkway of a 2000 year old structure...and realizing what and who passed thru that walkway in antiquity

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So many awe-inspiring sights in the world, each individual to each one of us. For me while cruising, it would be the village of Oia in Santorini, The Great Theater of Ephesus where Paul preached to the Ephesians (ooo, goosebumps!), The Pantheon in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (and yes, I know many feel it is silly and a tourist trap and all but I thought it was magnificent!), and the day we cruised through the tiny tip between Italy and Sicily. That was cool. :cool:

Land vacation, it would have to be when my husband and I were the only people on Tropic of Cancer Beach, Little Exuma, Bahamas. Phenomenal.

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So many awe-inspiring sights in the world, each individual to each one of us. For me while cruising, it would be the village of Oia in Santorini, The Great Theater of Ephesus where Paul preached to the Ephesians (ooo, goosebumps!), The Pantheon in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (and yes, I know many feel it is silly and a tourist trap and all but I thought it was magnificent!), and the day we cruised through the tiny tip between Italy and Sicily. That was cool. :cool:

 

 

 

Land vacation, it would have to be when my husband and I were the only people on Tropic of Cancer Beach, Little Exuma, Bahamas. Phenomenal.

 

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That "tiny tip" is the Stretto (Strait) di Messina. What an amazing history!!!

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That "tiny tip" is the Stretto (Strait) di Messina. What an amazing history!!!

 

I really enjoyed the Stretto di Messina as well, and seeing Stromboli standing proud and solitary a few kms prior to that.

I also loved sailaway from Kotor, especially entering the narrow channel through to the Bay of Kotor.

Entering Milford Sound (NZ) is probably the most spectacular sight I've seen. The contrast between the hills at the entrance of the sound and what you see once you enter the sound is just stunning. I'm not going to describe it in more detail as it would spoil the surprise for those who haven't been there yet. ;)Tip - the port side going in is best.

As many have stated there are many to choose from. My top choices are (in no particular order):

 

 

 

Sailing in to Budapest at night and seeing the Parliament building lit up.

 

Sailing in and out of New York Harbor (Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline, various bridges)

 

Three Gorges Dam

 

Lisbon

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Heading there next Wednesday! Can't wait!

I'm sure you'll love it. NZ is one of the few places in the world that I've visited that I'm anxious to go back to. (There are other places I enjoyed and would be happy to go to again, but not actually inspiring me to plan another trip there.)

That "tiny tip" is the Stretto (Strait) di Messina. What an amazing history!!!

 

 

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We sailed through the Strait and docked in Messina and our little group did a little shore ex on our own. We had heard of a Greco-Roman amphitheater with a view of Mt Etna.

And that reminds me of driving back down from Taormina at dusk. The spectacular bougainvillea was hanging over walls along the road and the lights were coming on on the little rocky promontories along the shore. We put in a CD of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma and the sheer thrill of it all was almost too much. Maybe that was my most awesome cruise experience!

It was certainly one of my most precious moments!

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The most wonderful of all the wonderful things I have seen in my travels was the southern Cross! I think it was the most wonderful because I never in a million years thought I would be lucky enough to see it. But, the night I saw it I was just so inspired and thrilled for a few minutes I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It was just amazing!!!

Total eclipse of the sun off the coast of Mexico in 1991! No contest.

This wasn't a destination exactly, but an event:

We were on the first ship to return to Tauranga, New Zealand, after 9/11. As the ship was leaving port, what seemed like every citizen of the city lined the docks and the hills surrounding the city and there were people on dozens of small boats in the harbour, all of them waving and yelling, "Thanks for coming." I still get tears in my eyes when I think about it.

LOL, but it did cause one problem. Because of the huge traffic this caused in the city, our waiter missed the ship and had to catch up at the next NZ port.

We've been blessed to see many wonderful places. So far, my top awe inspiring places would include Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; the Amalfi Coast in Italy; Venice, Italy; Glacier Bay in Alaska; American Cemetery and Normandy Beaches; and Paris, France.

The sea. Whether blue and calm, or gray and white and stormy, it is the epitome of awe-inspiring to me.

The sky above it, in all its variations, just adds to the wonder.

There have been many, but one of the most memorable was in the New Zealand fjords. The day was gorgeous, blue sky, sun hitting high on the slopes, hundreds of waterfalls - with many of the smaller ones flowing about half-way down the slopes, then reversing and flowing UP! The wind coming through the fjords at higher levels was strong enough to cause it, even though we felt very little wind at water level. Absolutely amazing sight!

Total eclipse of the sun off the coast of Mexico in 1991! No contest.

I got to see the total eclipse last year in central Idaho. I was the definition of awe inspiring.

Hiking to the Old Man of Hoy in the Orkney Islands of Scotland — not another human being to be found for miles. Just me and my husband in one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever been.

Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. A very spiritual place.

The fjords of Norway — no photo can ever do them justice.

And I agree about the total eclipse. I live on the coast of South Carolina, and we were in the path of totality for the eclipse last year. We watched from the beach. It was breathtaking.