What is your "alternate" vacation?

[nhtravels]

We are fortunate to have a 2nd home on a large lake in NH.  So we'll just do some staycationing here. We are on the boat all day (but I miss having a beverage package!).

 

 Our next trip will be January and March 2021 to the Atlantis (if The Bahamas opens back up) and some snowmobiling weekends come winter.

[Travelling2Some]

35 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

Not quite cruising on large cruise ships, but at least it's something on board vessels and on the water (the fresh water "inland sea" of Lake Michigan). Actually, the Badger is pretty big, just like a full size ship. Besides carrying cars/trucks, she also has numerous staterooms for rent, 2 bars, a restaurant (o.k., really a snack bar), a TV lounge, a movie theater and a gift shop, to name a few amenities on board.

 

 

When it first began to look like our June Baltic cruise would be cancelled but we could still go to Europe I looked into the ferries between Oslo/Copenhagen and Stockholm/Helsinki/Talinn.  I was so pleasantly surprised to find that they are very much like small cruise ships, not just car ferries.  They all have various cabin categories, several restaurants, bars and evening entertainment.  One of them even has a supermarket on board.  Now I think that when we do get back to the Baltic we will use the ferries instead of booking a regular cruise.  That way you can spend as many days as you'd like in each place instead of rushing back to the ship every day.  The only downside is that we'd need a visa for St. Petersburg if we wanted to include it.

[KarimaJ]

I haven't seen this here, so I was wondering, if you had a cruise cancelled or not, with what is going on, what is your vacation looking like for this year?

I was lucky enough to cruise in early February this year, but have now booked a home right on Lake Lure NC for a week in September for my family.  This is not something I would normally do for a full week (we have done a weekend trip there), but my brain is telling me it is time for a break from everything.

What are your alternate vacations looking like?  If you already went I would love to see a picture or two.

We just got back from St.Thomas, did lots of snorkeling and beach time!


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[Eggs2Go]

Fortunately, just before the world shut down I'd taken a trip to Las Vegas;  saw the Cher show, cheered the Golden Knights, and feasted on fine food  -- pigs ear pad thai, anyone?

 

Safer back at home in Florida but with restlessness stirring, I decided to put my St Petersburg house up for sale. It sold in a day, and I've been busy packing up and then unpacking in my new abode a couple of hours south on the Gulf coast in Naples. New location for me with miles of beaches to explore for now. But hopefully 2021 will find me back on a Norwegian ship (s). 

[TeresaJ]

For now, I've been vacationing on my deck and floating in my pool a lot. Here in Wisconsin, we've had a really warm summer, so I can't complain because the winters here are long.

 

If my January cruise gets cancelled, we will look at other warm destinations such as all inclusive in Mexico, Jamaica, or Costa Rica, as long as we're allowed to travel! 

[davemy]

Since our December cruise is all but cancelled, we are looking at spending a few days in the Keys, diving and fishing. Providing that Florida gets a handle on their current outbreak.

[Sweetnspicy]

3 hours ago, farmersfight said:

Release the Kraken!!   

                    

Sweetnspicy

• Cool Cruiser
• 
• January 30, 2016
•  
• 469 posts
• Seattle
  
  SeahawkSiren  

 

• Cool Cruiser
• 
• November 28, 2013
•  
• 878 posts
• Bremerton, WA

 

Congrats on your new NHL team's name!

I actually love the name! I am so excited to have hockey! Maybe next year I’ll catch a game.

[NJGeorge]

We were in a VRBO house in Costa Rica the first week in March and made it back just in time for the lockdown. Went through US customs at EWR in worlds record time 5 minutes maybe less. Customs agents just waved everyone through like a traffic cop. That will never happen again!  

Cancelled our October Baltics cruise on the Escspe before final payment to avoid all the problems with FCC etc.

We decided to rent a cottage on the beach in OBX in September.  As long as we can hang on what will probably be a mostly deserted beach and grill some seafood it will be ok. 

[BonnieJeanne]

I haven't seen this here, so I was wondering, if you had a cruise cancelled or not, with what is going on, what is your vacation looking like for this year?

I was lucky enough to cruise in early February this year, but have now booked a home right on Lake Lure NC for a week in September for my family.  This is not something I would normally do for a full week (we have done a weekend trip there), but my brain is telling me it is time for a break from everything.

What are your alternate vacations looking like?  If you already went I would love to see a picture or two.

I, too, was lucky enough to cruise in February, and have another booked February 2021. I have a 5 day trip to Tampa booked for September ( my big sister has a condo there and it’s her 60th). Just booked a week at Secrets in Huatulco in December. If the cruise doesn’t go in February thinking a week in Dominican Republic ( our cruise is supposed to go there.


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[Roger88]

My alternate vacation would be going to Dubai in January and stay there for a month or two. Just to stay away from all these problems. Enjoy the sea, eat some good foods.. relax in the appartment under the AC. Cruising shouldnt be the only option really. There are way too many ways to choose from of how to spend your holiday

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

My alternate vacation would be going to Dubai in January and stay there for a month or two. Just to stay away from all these problems. Enjoy the sea, eat some good foods.. relax in the appartment under the AC. Cruising shouldnt be the only option really. There are way too many ways to choose from of how to spend your holiday

A month in Dubai ! My idea of hell. Have you actually ever been there?

[TSUmom]

Our vacations will not be near as exciting as Dubai.  We plan on heading to Durango Colorado in a few weeks to escape the Texas heat and a short getaway to Key West.  That is if things are good.  We don't want to arrive anywhere and have to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days...…..

[NayRN]

I was going to spend a week I was supposed to be cruising in Chicago - but those plans quickly got canceled do to all the upheaval going on there. Now we’re heading up to Mackinaw Island and the UP. It won’t be the same as the ocean waves - but we will be hearing the waters of Lake Huron hitting the sand. 

[lexxfield]

I have been to Glasgow three times in the past month.  Glasgow, Virginia, that is.  I am thinking about a trip to London, Paris, Rome, and Athens next month - Kentucky can be magical in August.

[farmersfight]

8 hours ago, Sweetnspicy said:

I actually love the name! I am so excited to have hockey! Maybe next year I’ll catch a game.

 

I love NHL hockey as well. In late Dec 2019, I was fortunate (before COVID shut down the U.S.) to fly down to Tucson, AZ to visit my younger son (19) who lives there and attends Univ of Arizona as well as my older son (22) who stopped over in Tucson to meet up with us on his way to his home in Pullman, WA where he attends Wash State Univ.

 

While visiting my 2 sons in Tucson, I took them to an Arizona Coyotes NHL game in Phoenix (about an hr west of Tucson). Arizona was hosting the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. We had a great time...NHL hockey is such a fast sport. Kind of pleasantly strange though, that you have NHL franchises in the desert (Arizona Coyotes and Las Vegas Golden Knights). Guess the same could be said for having 2 NHL hockey teams in Florida (Florida Panthers- in Miami and Tampa Bay Lighting).

 

For me, the "jury is still out" on the name Kraken. Since I am a maritime type a guy, I appreciate the fact that it is a fierce, mysterious sea creature that attacks ships and nicely tied to the close relationship Seattle has with the sea (and Pugent Sound). Maybe it kind of bugs me that the name doesn't end with an "s" - but, there is precedent in the NHL, i.e. Tampay Bay Lightning.

 

Anyway, enjoy your new NHL franchise and I do hope you'll be able to catch a game (or two or three) next year! NHL hockey is a great spectator sport, especially live! To all reading this, I apologize for turning this into a NHL hockey thread. Got carried away 😳...

Edited July 24, 2020 by farmersfight

[farmersfight]

11 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

When it first began to look like our June Baltic cruise would be cancelled but we could still go to Europe I looked into the ferries between Oslo/Copenhagen and Stockholm/Helsinki/Talinn.  I was so pleasantly surprised to find that they are very much like small cruise ships, not just car ferries.  They all have various cabin categories, several restaurants, bars and evening entertainment.  One of them even has a supermarket on board.  Now I think that when we do get back to the Baltic we will use the ferries instead of booking a regular cruise.  That way you can spend as many days as you'd like in each place instead of rushing back to the ship every day.  The only downside is that we'd need a visa for St. Petersburg if we wanted to include it.

 

Doesn't surprise me that the Baltic countries have large, modern car ferries that are just like ships. The SS Badger is kind of the opposite (although large like a ship) - old, but historic.

 

Sounds like a good plan to use those ferries instead of taking a regular Baltic cruise, for the reason you pointed out. Another possible downside is that you may have to unpack and repack at each place, unless you live out of your suitcase, lol.

 

Good luck with your potential (likely?) travel vacation in the Baltics, with which ever form of maritime transportation you decide to choose!

[Travelling2Some]

5 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Doesn't surprise me that the Baltic countries have large, modern car ferries that are just like ships. The SS Badger is kind of the opposite (although large like a ship) - old, but historic.

 

Sounds like a good plan to use those ferries instead of taking a regular Baltic cruise, for the reason you pointed out. Another possible downside is that you may have to unpack and repack at each place, unless you live out of your suitcase, lol.

 

Good luck with your potential (likely?) travel vacation in the Baltics, with which ever form of maritime transportation you decide to choose!

No problem.  We're like a pair of over aged backpackers.  Never take more than carry on luggage anyway.  That is a downside for fans of "cruise luggage" though for sure.

[farmersfight]

11 hours ago, Eggs2Go said:

I'd taken a trip to Las Vegas

 

11 hours ago, Eggs2Go said:

cheered the Golden Knights

 

11 hours ago, Eggs2Go said:

Safer back at home in Florida

 

Another NHL hockey fan (here I go again...). Sounds like my Dec 2019 trip to Arizona when I cheered the Coyotes. Living in west Florida, are you a Tampa Bay Lighting fan? Great team...I hope they win the Stanley Cup in this abbreviated NHL season.

[NayRN]

1 hour ago, farmersfight said:

 

 

 

Another NHL hockey fan (here I go again...). Sounds like my Dec 2019 trip to Arizona when I cheered the Coyotes. Living in west Florida, are you a Tampa Bay Lighting fan? Great team...I hope they win the Stanley Cup in this abbreviated NHL season.

Not a Red Wings fan or have you just given up on them?? LOL 

 

My “cruise” is going to be on  the ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinaw Island! Yours sounds so much better. I’ve always wanted to cross Lake Michigan on one of the ferries - but living so far south, it’s faster for me to drive around Chicago to get to Wisconsin. Maybe next summer I’ll give it a shot!

[dcipjr]

We were also lucky enough to cruise in February—16 days on the Joy, it was wonderful!

 

That trip zeroed out my vacation balance, so right now I'm focusing on staying home, doing things around the house on weekends, and building my vacation balance back up again.

 

I'm not counting on cruising in 2021, of course, but I'm hanging onto a little hope that a vaccine is forthcoming, and that we'll be able to cruise sometime soon afterwards, so maybe by late next year. By then I'll have 5 weeks of vacation time available! 

 

If it looks like cruising is out for the long-term, I would consider saving up to buy an RV or camper van, so we can travel around the country and spend a couple weeks at the beach, a couple weeks at the mountains, National Parks, etc. I want to save up for one anyway, but it'll happen sooner rather than later if final payments to NCL aren't happening. 😄 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by dcipjr

[oteixeira]

6 hours ago, NJGeorge said:

We were in a VRBO house in Costa Rica the first week in March and made it back just in time for the lockdown. Went through US customs at EWR in worlds record time 5 minutes maybe less. Customs agents just waved everyone through like a traffic cop. That will never happen again!  

Cancelled our October Baltics cruise on the Escspe before final payment to avoid all the problems with FCC etc.

We decided to rent a cottage on the beach in OBX in September.  As long as we can hang on what will probably be a mostly deserted beach and grill some seafood it will be ok. 

OBX in September is anything but deserted, it is also where a LOT of our cases are originating inland, I am guessing they come from different states and it spreads, but I am no doctor.  Please be careful while you are there.

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

2 hours ago, lexxfield said:

I have been to Glasgow three times in the past month.  Glasgow, Virginia, that is.  I am thinking about a trip to London, Paris, Rome, and Athens next month - Kentucky can be magical in August.

Hey, we have those in TN, too!

[Laszlo]

Spent a week in the mountains of New Hampshire a few weeks ago and in early September we have a beach front rental in Nags Head.

[Sweetnspicy]

2 hours ago, farmersfight said:

 

 

Anyway, enjoy your new NHL franchise and I do hope you'll be able to catch a game (or two or three) next year! NHL hockey is a great spectator sport, especially live! To all reading this, I apologize for turning this into a NHL hockey thread. Got carried away 😳...

Haha as long as it doesn’t turn political I don’t think anyone cares. I’m actually from a small New Mexico town that is a couple hours from Tucson so I know that area very well! I haven’t ever been to a hockey game there. I really like your upbeat attitude. Thanks for shouting me out about hockey! 

[Seminole1975]

We were supposed to go to Italy in October. I don't think that is happening. We are now planning a trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona in the beautiful American west. I will check another thing off my bucket list as we have never been there. We will reschedule going to Italy whenever it opens up to Americans- probably at this rate in 2022!