Rick Steves Cruise Tips

[cltnccruisers]

I always enjoy Rick's travel logs.  Last night we caught his episode om Cruise Tips.  Different ships for exterior shots but the on board shots were on Reflection during a Mediterranean cruise.  I came away not being sure if he liked it or not.  He went back and forth especially as regards excursions.   In the beginning he seemed pretty negative then later more positive. 

[sippican]

Not directly related to his cruise tips, but I have used his free audio podcasts during visits to cruise ports!

We find them interesting and user-friendly.

[cltnccruisers]

We've used them as well.  Sometimes to do a walking tour.  Sometimes just to listen to comments on sites we might want to make a point of seeing.

[lola2013]

I watched the episode shot in the Med...definitely felt like he didn't enjoy the cruise experience, but I did get some helpful tips from him for our upcoming Med cruise.  And several members of our group have already downloaded his walking tours. 

 

He will be at the Chicago Travel Show in a couple of weeks.  His presentation is a lot of advertising for his tours (expected), day packs and books. 

 

 

[mom says]

I've seen the RS cruise episode a few times, and I didn't have the Iimression that he didn't like cruising. But he didn't rave that it was the be all and end all of travel options either. I thought it was quite balanced. And his criticisms of ship excursions was not wrong. We've followed his TV series since they started, and have used his guidebooks for many years. His travel philosophy may not be shared by everyone,  and definitely not by many who only travel via cruising, but it is a close match to ours.

[Lastdance]

I am always amazed at how many even do ship excursions for various reasons, so that is not surprising at all to me!  They have their place, but doing only those would make me stop cruising, I think...Rick does some good things, but quite a few people wish that he would stay away from their corner of the world too; i cannot blame them either.

Edited December 28, 2018 by Lastdance

[zdad59]

We saw him in person last year.    A great speaker.    He made it clear during that talk that he did not like cruising.    Said it limited your ability to really see your destinations.    Actually said if you really want to travel, do it on land.  

[FloatSomeMore]

What I like about cruising is that it gives you a flavor of various ports, some you'll like and some not.  We have returned to various locations and enjoyed a land tour, this past fall we spent two weeks in Italy, it was great.  However, there are some locations that appear on cruise itineraries that we have chosen to stay on board ship and would never consider a land tour.  I also find land tours more expensive, for us anyway.  I do have several Rick Steves books and use them when preparing for cruising as well as land tours.  One of his colleagues was on our transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Buenos Aries.  He looked like Rick Steves!

[Essiesmom]

24 minutes ago, FloatSomeMore said:

What I like about cruising is that it gives you a flavor of various ports, some you'll like and some not.  We have returned to various locations and enjoyed a land tour, this past fall we spent two weeks in Italy, it was great.  However, there are some locations that appear on cruise itineraries that we have chosen to stay on board ship and would never consider a land tour.  I also find land tours more expensive, for us anyway.  I do have several Rick Steves books and use them when preparing for cruising as well as land tours.  One of his colleagues was on our transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Buenos Aries.  He looked like Rick Steves!

 

Are you sure it wasn't his son?  We like the books, too.  Used the maps and audios in Pompeii, Venice, Florence...EM

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, zdad59 said:

We saw him in person last year.    A great speaker.    He made it clear during that talk that he did not like cruising.    Said it limited your ability to really see your destinations.    Actually said if you really want to travel, do it on land.  

Of course I don't believe that his company sells cruises, but they do sell land tours.

 

One of the problems with Rick Steves recommendations is that he has such a large following that if you follow his books when it comes to recommendations, you will find large numbers of tourists, with a pages from a Rick Steve's guide book in hand following those recommendations. One of the best uses we have had with is guide books in recent years is to see which restaurants he recommends so that we can avoid them.

[mom says]

2 hours ago, zdad59 said:

We saw him in person last year.    A great speaker.    He made it clear during that talk that he did not like cruising.    Said it limited your ability to really see your destinations.    Actually said if you really want to travel, do it on land.  

 

I wouldn't say that he was wrong in his statements. Especially as they pertain to Europe, which is his area of expertise. How can anyone really get to know a place and the people who live there- in less than a day? I agree with him, which is why all of our European travelling has been by land. He advocates slower travel, done independently and with forethought and cultural awareness. Read any of his guidebooks and he will frequently recommend spending more time in fewer places in order to get the most out of your experiences. Impossible to do on a cruise.

 

Although I do agree with RDC1 about all of the tourists with RS guidebooks in their hands all over Europe. DH and I were amongst them on our month long journey last fall. I wouldn't trade that for twice as long on a ship. But as I said in my earlier post, his travel philosophy will not mesh with those who only travel by cruising.

[cltnccruisers]

We look at cruising as a way to sample places we've never seen with an eye towards deciding if we'd like to go back more conventionally.  We've got a list and are checking it twice. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, RDC1 said:

Of course I don't believe that his company sells cruises, but they do sell land tours.

 

One of the problems with Rick Steves recommendations is that he has such a large following that if you follow his books when it comes to recommendations, you will find large numbers of tourists, with a pages from a Rick Steve's guide book in hand following those recommendations. One of the best uses we have had with is guide books in recent years is to see which restaurants he recommends so that we can avoid them.

 

2 hours ago, mom says said:

 

I wouldn't say that he was wrong in his statements. Especially as they pertain to Europe, which is his area of expertise. How can anyone really get to know a place and the people who live there- in less than a day? I agree with him, which is why all of our European travelling has been by land. He advocates slower travel, done independently and with forethought and cultural awareness. Read any of his guidebooks and he will frequently recommend spending more time in fewer places in order to get the most out of your experiences. Impossible to do on a cruise.

 

Although I do agree with RDC1 about all of the tourists with RS guidebooks in their hands all over Europe. DH and I were amongst them on our month long journey last fall. I wouldn't trade that for twice as long on a ship. But as I said in my earlier post, his travel philosophy will not mesh with those who only travel by cruising.

 

I'm a big fan of the Rick Steves books – but mainly for touring recommendations and DIY walking tours.  His hotel recommendations have been pretty reliable, but are very limited.  His restaurant choices? – not so much: I guess his taste is different from ours, but there's no excuse for sending us all the way across town for lunch at a restaurant that doesn't do lunch!

 

For many years his books included snide remarks about cruising.  Then he published a Port guide, and suddenly cruising was a viable alternative!

 

But I will temper my criticisms by praising the fact that Rick has a clear idea of the way he likes to travel and his books make that point of view clear.  Immersion in the local culture; packing so light that you only carry a backpack.  I agree with the first, but could never do the second – so his sponsored land tours have never appealed.

 

As a cruiser, we mainly take private excursions [mainly through our CC roll calls but sometimes just the two of us with a private guide – and those guides often come from Rick's books].  Something he could do for cruise passengers is to start a Rick Steves Day Tour website, so you could get the Rick Steves local immersion [1-day version] without taking an entire Rick Steves land tour.  Or he could do like Tauck and charter a block of cabins on a cruise ship and bundle in Rick Steves shore excursions.  That would be the best of both worlds!

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

 

I'm a big fan of the Rick Steves books – but mainly for touring recommendations and DIY walking tours.  His hotel recommendations have been pretty reliable, but are very limited.  His restaurant choices? – not so much: I guess his taste is different from ours, but there's no excuse for sending us all the way across town for lunch at a restaurant that doesn't do lunch!

 

For many years his books included snide remarks about cruising.  Then he published a Port guide, and suddenly cruising was a viable alternative!

 

But I will temper my criticisms by praising the fact that Rick has a clear idea of the way he likes to travel and his books make that point of view clear.  Immersion in the local culture; packing so light that you only carry a backpack.  I agree with the first, but could never do the second – so his sponsored land tours have never appealed.

 

As a cruiser, we mainly take private excursions [mainly through our CC roll calls but sometimes just the two of us with a private guide – and those guides often come from Rick's books].  Something he could do for cruise passengers is to start a Rick Steves Day Tour website, so you could get the Rick Steves local immersion [1-day version] without taking an entire Rick Steves land tour.  Or he could do like Tauck and charter a block of cabins on a cruise ship and bundle in Rick Steves shore excursions.  That would be the best of both worlds!

These days there is a lot of info available on the internet dealing with destinations.  While we do have some old Rick Steve's books, we tend to do searches on the Internet prior to our land trips. We tend to spend at least 30 days at a time on land trips. Often we will couple a couple of weeks on our own with a several day day (7 to 15 days) land tour or two in a given area.

That gives us the tour to hit the major spots, and lots of time to wonder around and discover things on our own.

 

These days the majority of our cruise days are to avoid plane flights (transatlantic and transpacific) with a few to get an overview of a new area.

 

 

[mom says]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Something he could do for cruise passengers is to start a Rick Steves Day Tour website, so you could get the Rick Steves local immersion [1-day version] without taking an entire Rick Steves land tour.

He has a very active travel forum on his website, with subforums for just about every European country. In the last couple of years I've noticed an increasing number of cruisers who are asking questions about how to maximize their shore time in each port.

[Host Jazzbeau]

41 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

These days there is a lot of info available on the internet dealing with destinations.  While we do have some old Rick Steve's books, we tend to do searches on the Internet prior to our land trips. We tend to spend at least 30 days at a time on land trips. Often we will couple a couple of weeks on our own with a several day day (7 to 15 days) land tour or two in a given area.

That gives us the tour to hit the major spots, and lots of time to wonder around and discover things on our own.

 

These days the majority of our cruise days are to avoid plane flights (transatlantic and transpacific) with a few to get an overview of a new area.

 

I find that there is too much information on the internet, and it is hard to judge the accuracy or veracity.  What I love about Rick Steves books is that he selects what he considers the top sites and describes them in great detail.  When I double-check against other guidebooks or internet sites, I usually find that Rick has listed everything I really want to see on a first (or even second) visit.  Rick also arranges the sites in logical walking tours – this makes it much easier for me to plan our itineraries to get the most out of each day [thankfully all our joints are still working fine ]

 

We have done a number of fly-drive trips that may include a cruise in the middle (e.g. our France tour included a Rhone river cruise), but we have decided that rental cars are too stressful with our increasing age and everywhere's increasing traffic.  So this year's exciting experience piloting a Maserati [mixed-blessing upgrade!] through the narrow lanes of Devon and the Cotswolds [] was our last car rental!  Country-intensive ocean cruises and river cruises are our future, with Rick Steves guiding my off-ship planning.

[hvsteve1]

30 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

I find that there is too much information on the internet, and it is hard to judge the accuracy or veracity.  What I love about Rick Steves books is that he selects what he considers the top sites and describes them in great detail.  When I double-check against other guidebooks or internet sites, I usually find that Rick has listed everything I really want to see on a first (or even second) visit.  Rick also arranges the sites in logical walking tours – this makes it much easier for me to plan our itineraries to get the most out of each day [thankfully all our joints are still working fine ]

 

We have done a number of fly-drive trips that may include a cruise in the middle (e.g. our France tour included a Rhone river cruise), but we have decided that rental cars are too stressful with our increasing age and everywhere's increasing traffic.  So this year's exciting experience piloting a Maserati [mixed-blessing upgrade!] through the narrow lanes of Devon and the Cotswolds [] was our last car rental!  Country-intensive ocean cruises and river cruises are our future, with Rick Steves guiding my off-ship planning.

I've rented cars to tour Devon and the Cotswalds along with Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  It takes practice driving those narrow roads with no shoulder on the "wrong side" but I have to say the damage quote when I return the car gets smaller each time.😏

[abbydancer2003]

I was on the Reflection cruise that Rick showed - he seemed to be having a good time (in fact in the scene where he's at the Full Moon Party the guy he's high-fiving is DH, and you can briefly see me).  

 

I thought the cruise tips were on the whole pretty balanced, but I do think it's clear in his books etc that land is his thing.

 

I recently heard him speak and he did indicate he regrets writing up Cinque Terre, since his books made it too popular.

 

And finally, I've been to a few restaurants in Paris he recommended and they were good and not overrun by tourists.  And we used his Berlin book to score a great tour of the Riechtag.

[cltnccruisers]

Rick is very fortunate to have turned his passion into a successful career.  Most of us would love to spend weeks at a time exploring the world.  But most of us can't.  So cruising provides an acceptable option for at least getting a glimpse.  Now if I happen to win Powerball tonight that will all change - or not. 

[RDC1]

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

I find that there is too much information on the internet, and it is hard to judge the accuracy or veracity.  What I love about Rick Steves books is that he selects what he considers the top sites and describes them in great detail.  When I double-check against other guidebooks or internet sites, I usually find that Rick has listed everything I really want to see on a first (or even second) visit.  Rick also arranges the sites in logical walking tours – this makes it much easier for me to plan our itineraries to get the most out of each day [thankfully all our joints are still working fine ]

 

We have done a number of fly-drive trips that may include a cruise in the middle (e.g. our France tour included a Rhone river cruise), but we have decided that rental cars are too stressful with our increasing age and everywhere's increasing traffic.  So this year's exciting experience piloting a Maserati [mixed-blessing upgrade!] through the narrow lanes of Devon and the Cotswolds [] was our last car rental!  Country-intensive ocean cruises and river cruises are our future, with Rick Steves guiding my off-ship planning.

we also stay away from rental cars  these days and use the train system a lot in Europe.

[cltnccruisers]

17 hours ago, hvsteve1 said:

I've rented cars to tour Devon and the Cotswalds along with Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  It takes practice driving those narrow roads with no shoulder on the "wrong side" but I have to say the damage quote when I return the car gets smaller each time.😏

I had a good friend who passed away a few years ago.  He was a successful doctor and left his two sons a substantial inheritance.  They'd rather have their dad back, of course.  Anyway, one of the boys used part of his to do a month long trek from Scotland to Malta.  It included a driving distillery tour.  He'd never driven a stick nor on the wrong side of the road.  But he survived.  He posted a blog of the whole trip including some young ladies he met along the way.  I followed it the whole way and it really was almost like being there.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

I thought it was scary driving (or rather, navigating whilst DW drove) an Audi A6 on the narrow roads of western Ireland – but the borders there are fuchsia hedges and fairly forgiving.  In Devon (and Cornwall and the Cotswolds) the hedgerows have a thin layer of vegetation hiding a solid stone wall – and our car was the much wider Maserati Ghibli  – a lovely car in many ways, except for its width and its thirst for petrol.  DW, who isn't much into cars, did like the attention we got wherever we drove or parked – but she did not like the agita of constantly monitoring the hedgerows and checking for the infrequent turnouts on the one-lane country roads [luckily noblesse oblige still obtains, so the 'lesser' cars tended to give way to us   She said she believes that the Cotswold countryside is lovely, but she had to wait to see my pictures to know for sure!

[cltnccruisers]

5 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I thought it was scary driving (or rather, navigating whilst DW drove) an Audi A6 on the narrow roads of western Ireland – but the borders there are fuchsia hedges and fairly forgiving.  In Devon (and Cornwall and the Cotswolds) the hedgerows have a thin layer of vegetation hiding a solid stone wall – and our car was the much wider Maserati Ghibli  – a lovely car in many ways, except for its width and its thirst for petrol.  DW, who isn't much into cars, did like the attention we got wherever we drove or parked – but she did not like the agita of constantly monitoring the hedgerows and checking for the infrequent turnouts on the one-lane country roads [luckily noblesse oblige still obtains, so the 'lesser' cars tended to give way to us   She said she believes that the Cotswold countryside is lovely, but she had to wait to see my pictures to know for sure!

When we take short trip in The South I always drive - after 42 years of wedded bliss DW's driving still scares me.  There are some fantastic views driving through the mountains, especially the Smokies.  I have never understood how DW can stick her nose in a book and miss it all. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

When we take short trip in The South I always drive - after 42 years of wedded bliss DW's driving still scares me.  There are some fantastic views driving through the mountains, especially the Smokies.  I have never understood how DW can stick her nose in a book and miss it all. 

 

Driving down I-81 is lovely at any time of year.  Even the driver can enjoy the scenery because the interstate is so wide and straight [except in Virginia where you have to keep both eyes on the speedometer because the smokies are really nasty].  We both enjoy that drive, except that winter weather often pushes us over to I-95 which is not scenic and always involves traffic tie-ups getting around DC.

[DENIE]

Just happened to purchase his book today (via Kindle e-reader) for Mediterranean Cruise Ports.  Of course, he states that land trips are his preference in order to fully immerse yourself, which I get.  Seemed like he did this book to aid cruisers who want to get the most from their experience.  I appreciate his honesty, but also that he understands why cruising is popular, and wants to assist everyone with their travel experience.