Do you feel you see enough of a country on a multi-country tour?

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

I think cruising gives you a Taste of a place.  We do both cruises and independent travel,  cruising is highly convenient and fun but it is a totally different experience.  

 

So it is all an adventure,  try the different flavours of a country and of travel. 

 

I agree with you and some others who have expressed this thought.  They really are two different experiences both of which should be fantastic (otherwise why do them).  

 

My reason to travel is to enjoy myself.  Fortunately Mrs Ldubs and I are on the same page.  We like hanging out, taking it all in, and simply enjoying the experience together.  We immensely enjoy strolling around a new place.    I'm not too concerned with achieving expert status, or a full understanding of a place.   Other than the more iconic ones, we are not big museum goers.  On the other hand, we will be traveling to Waterloo one way or another in the next couple of years.  I expect the place will be kind of underwhelming, but I really want to go there if for no other reason to stand near where it happened.  With my luck there will probably be a McDonald's where Hougoumont's Farm used to be. Haha.  

[cruisemom42]

16 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I'm not too concerned with achieving expert status, or a full understanding of a place.   Other than the more iconic ones, we are not big museum goers.  

 

Don't sell museums short. Some of the better ones are the smaller ones that just give you a slice of life or focus on one thing -- they can often be very interesting or illuminating.

 

As an example, the relatively tiny museum in Fira in Santorini has just a few of the lovely frescoes from the people who lived at Akrotiri prior to the island being destroyed in a volcanic eruption. (Along with just a few other, meaningful finds.)  They are well displayed and not overwhelming. You can spend maybe 20 minutes there looking at them and you instantly connect with the people who lived back then (almost 4,000 years ago). They clearly loved life and were not that different from us.  

 

A lot of folks (particularly Americans) seem to have a strange phobia about visiting museums. Not sure if it is due to BFTOTP ("bad field trips of the past") or what.... 

[ldubs]

Just now, cruisemom42 said:

 

Don't sell museums short. Some of the better ones are the smaller ones that just give you a slice of life or focus on one thing -- they can often be very interesting or illuminating.

 

As an example, the relatively tiny museum in Fira in Santorini has just a few of the lovely frescoes from the people who lived at Akrotiri prior to the island being destroyed in a volcanic eruption. (Along with just a few other, meaningful finds.)  They are well displayed and not overwhelming. You can spend maybe 20 minutes there looking at them and you instantly connect with the people who lived back then (almost 4,000 years ago). They clearly loved life and were not that different from us.  

 

A lot of folks (particularly Americans) seem to have a strange phobia about visiting museums. Not sure if it is due to BFTOTP ("bad field trips of the past") or what.... 

 

I did not sell museums short.   I don't have anything remotely like a phobia about them.   Simply put visiting museums in general is not how I care to spend my time.  Why is it some folks jump to a conclusion that something must be wrong if not everyone enjoys the same things or activities.   

[cruisemom42]

15 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I did not sell museums short.   I don't have anything remotely like a phobia about them.   Simply put visiting museums in general is not how I care to spend my time.  Why is it some folks jump to a conclusion that something must be wrong if not everyone enjoys the same things or activities.   

 

Gosh, sorry. I was just being lighthearted. Guess it didn't translate.

[ducklite]

26 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Don't sell museums short. Some of the better ones are the smaller ones that just give you a slice of life or focus on one thing -- they can often be very interesting or illuminating.

 

As an example, the relatively tiny museum in Fira in Santorini has just a few of the lovely frescoes from the people who lived at Akrotiri prior to the island being destroyed in a volcanic eruption. (Along with just a few other, meaningful finds.)  They are well displayed and not overwhelming. You can spend maybe 20 minutes there looking at them and you instantly connect with the people who lived back then (almost 4,000 years ago). They clearly loved life and were not that different from us.  

 

A lot of folks (particularly Americans) seem to have a strange phobia about visiting museums. Not sure if it is due to BFTOTP ("bad field trips of the past") or what.... 

One of my favorite museums is the Little Museum of Dublin.  1000 years of history in a fun and entertaining 30 minute tour!

[ontheweb]

34 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Don't sell museums short. Some of the better ones are the smaller ones that just give you a slice of life or focus on one thing -- they can often be very interesting or illuminating.

 

As an example, the relatively tiny museum in Fira in Santorini has just a few of the lovely frescoes from the people who lived at Akrotiri prior to the island being destroyed in a volcanic eruption. (Along with just a few other, meaningful finds.)  They are well displayed and not overwhelming. You can spend maybe 20 minutes there looking at them and you instantly connect with the people who lived back then (almost 4,000 years ago). They clearly loved life and were not that different from us.  

 

A lot of folks (particularly Americans) seem to have a strange phobia about visiting museums. Not sure if it is due to BFTOTP ("bad field trips of the past") or what.... 

Being married to an art teacher, I get to see lots of museums when we cruise, especially in Europe.

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, ducklite said:

One of my favorite museums is the Little Museum of Dublin.  1000 years of history in a fun and entertaining 30 minute tour!

 

Exactly!  All I meant to say is that sometimes the "big" (in all senses) museums can seem like a chore unless you do them at your own pace (not always possible), while smaller ones can be delightful.

 

[bennybear]

10 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Being married to an art teacher, I get to see lots of museums when we cruise, especially in Europe.

 

And having a son who is an artist results in getting taken many places.  I have a totally different view of museums as a result.  I was probably in the camp believing museums were boring when they are anything but!   After the Wit de Wit in Rotterdam,  and the Tate Modern in London,  the Imperial War Museum in London, the Biennale in Venice, the Modern in NYC and many small ones like the excellent Etruscan museum in Tarquinia, the Musee de Cluny in Paris, the Marmottan, The Clown Museum in Imperia,  the horological museum in La Chaux de Fonds.... I am a convert, except for the museum in Vladivostok! 

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Gosh, sorry. I was just being lighthearted. Guess it didn't translate.

 

No problem.  My mis-read!  

 

 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, bennybear said:

 

And having a son who is an artist results in getting taken many places.  I have a totally different view of museums as a result.  I was probably in the camp believing museums were boring when they are anything but!   After the Wit de Wit in Rotterdam,  and the Tate Modern in London,  the Imperial War Museum in London, the Biennale in Venice, the Modern in NYC and many small ones like the excellent Etruscan museum in Tarquinia, the Musee de Cluny in Paris, the Marmottan, The Clown Museum in Imperia,  the horological museum in La Chaux de Fonds.... I am a convert, except for the museum in Vladivostok! 

On our very first port on our very first cruise we went and saw the Matisse Museum and Chagall Museum in Nice. What a fabulous day! Unfortunately on our last day on that cruise she had us go to a church in Valetta, Malta to see The Beheading of St. John the Baptist by Caravaggio. I'm glad it is now years and years later so that image is no longer in my head.

[bennybear]

Lol!   Saw that Caravaggio this fall and it is pretty intense!   Love Chagall!   If you have a chance go to Metz Cathedral in France where he did all the stained glass, it is amazing! 

And how appropriate,  we were in Malta on a cruise and in France on an independent trip.😄

Edited March 2, 2020 by bennybear

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, bennybear said:

Lol!   Saw that Caravaggio this fall and it is pretty intense!   Love Chagall!   If you have a chance go to Metz Cathedral in France where he did all the stained glass, it is amazing! 

And how appropriate,  we were in Malta on a cruise and in France on an independent trip.😄

Intense is truly an understatement!

 

We have been in France both on cruises and independently in Paris. On a cruise without multiple days in Paris we never would have been able to see the Louvre, the palace at Versailles, and Monet's Gardens.

[K32682]

I don't buy that cruise stops give you a "taste" of a place.  A few hours in Glasgow doesn't give you a "taste" of Scotland.  It barely gives you a "taste" of Glasgow.  Same with many cities.  Would someone who spent the afternoon in Halifax on a cruise conclude that based on it there would be nothing further to gain by visiting Canada?  Same with Bilbao, Walvis Bay, Tampa? 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by K32682

[sayanne]

1 minute ago, K32682 said:

I don't buy that cruise stops give you a "taste" of a place.  A few hours in Glasgow doesn't give you a "taste" of Scotland.  It barely gives you a "taste" of Glasgow.  Same with many cities.  Would someone who spent the afternoon in Halifax on a cruise conclude that based on it there would be nothing further to gain by visiting Canada?  Same with Bilbao, Walvis Bay, Tampa? 

 

 

You have an opinion. Others have theirs. In a friendly world of travelers it should all be good.

[K32682]

8 minutes ago, sayanne said:

 

You have an opinion. Others have theirs. In a friendly world of travelers it should all be good.

 

Are you of the opinion that a person would be sufficiently knowledgeable about all the countries mentioned above from a few hours in a port? 

[sayanne]

2 minutes ago, K32682 said:

 

Are you of the opinion that a person would be sufficiently knowledgeable about all the countries mentioned above from a few hours in a port? 

 

I am of the opinion that I can find out as much as I want to know about some locations in a short visit. Unless you can suggest a way I can extend my life span to about 120 years, I can't visit everything that holds some interest for me in depth. I have to edit. 

[cruizergal70]

1 hour ago, K32682 said:

 

Are you of the opinion that a person would be sufficiently knowledgeable about all the countries mentioned above from a few hours in a port? 

Maybe the aim isn't to be sufficiently knowledgeable  in a single visit. 

 

One of my future goals is to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. I'm going to go, visit the statue, and then come home within 24 hrs. Sure, Brazil has much more to offer but my goal isn't to see it all.

Edited March 2, 2020 by cruizergal70

[Cruzaholic41]

In my opinion, there is no way to see enough of a country by cruise, if the cruise only has 1 stop there. Reminds me of people who go to Cozumel, spend the day at Carlos and Charlie’s, and then tell everyone they went to Mexico. 
 

I do think a cruise provides a good taste of a destination though, so I totally disagree with the comment a few posts back saying it doesn’t. 

[ducklite]

52 minutes ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

In my opinion, there is no way to see enough of a country by cruise, if the cruise only has 1 stop there. Reminds me of people who go to Cozumel, spend the day at Carlos and Charlie’s, and then tell everyone they went to Mexico. 
 

I do think a cruise provides a good taste of a destination though, so I totally disagree with the comment a few posts back saying it doesn’t. 

I halfway agree with you.

 

In the Caribbean I think you get a pretty good idea of what the island is like by spending a day on it--and know if you'd want to return or not.  As an example, the entire island of St. Martin is about the size of the City I live in, and would definitely know in a day if I wanted to go back--and would probably have seen everything I wanted to.

But you certainly can't visit Gdansk and know what the rest of Poland is like.  Or Bilbao and Spain, etc.

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, sayanne said:

 

Unless you can suggest a way I can extend my life span to about 120 years, I can't visit everything that holds some interest for me in depth. I have to edit. 

 

Indeed, it's a big globe. We all have to limit or edit in some way.  Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) my interests are primarily related to ancient history (particularly Classical history). While I also have a few "outlier" interests, I can and do prioritize my travel based on my own internal criteria. Discovering seven new "sites" or things on a tenth visit to Rome is more exciting and interesting to me than visiting ten new countries in South America would be.

 

[pacruise804]

6 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

In my opinion, there is no way to see enough of a country by cruise, if the cruise only has 1 stop there. Reminds me of people who go to Cozumel, spend the day at Carlos and Charlie’s, and then tell everyone they went to Mexico. 
 

I do think a cruise provides a good taste of a destination though, so I totally disagree with the comment a few posts back saying it doesn’t. 

 

How much of a visit makes it legitimate to say you "went to ..."? 

 

For cruises I tend to use the phrase "we stopped at" whatever port but that we "went" on a cruise, probably because I view the cruise as the vacation and the itinerary a plan but not guaranteed.

 

My family spent a week in Niagara Falls, ON this summer and visited some local eateries as well as the Falls, but I feel I got more of a sense of Canada during port days in Saint John and Halifax.

[ducklite]

15 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 

My family spent a week in Niagara Falls, ON this summer and visited some local eateries as well as the Falls, but I feel I got more of a sense of Canada during port days in Saint John and Halifax.

Having driven the Trans-Canada highway from Montreal to Vancouver, and also spent enough time in cities not on the Highway such as Edmonton, Jasper, Saskatoon, and Toronto, that I have a Canadian Social Insurance card, I can assure you that those two cities aren't indicative of Canada as a whole. 🙂 

[Cruzaholic41]

36 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 

How much of a visit makes it legitimate to say you "went to ..."? 

 

I see you’re contradicting everyone who thinks, like me, that a cruise is not sufficient to get to know a place. You need to just accept that you have your opinion and others have theirs. 

[ldubs]

11 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

Maybe the aim isn't to be sufficiently knowledgeable  in a single visit. 

 

One of my future goals is to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. I'm going to go, visit the statue, and then come home within 24 hrs. Sure, Brazil has much more to offer but my goal isn't to see it all.

 

It is remarkable.  Hit Sugarloaf while you are there too.  

 

My late BIL and his wife would take weekend getaway trips like the one you describe.  From the West coast they would go to places in Europe and Asia for long weekends.  Of course, it helps that they flew first or business class.  Lol.  

[Aquahound]

12 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

Maybe the aim isn't to be sufficiently knowledgeable  in a single visit. 

 

One of my future goals is to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. I'm going to go, visit the statue, and then come home within 24 hrs. Sure, Brazil has much more to offer but my goal isn't to see it all.

 

While I still maintain a cruise isn't a good way to know a place, I do understand what you're saying.  There are places I'm not interested in knowing deeply, but still want to see certain attractions.  Your example is a good one.  I'm not interested in Brazil, but I would love to see the statue in person.