Will we begin to prefer land based trips?

[Markanddonna]

In the past, I was a huge cruise enthusiast. I understood all the cancelations in the past year or two. Now, I consider a land based trip a far better option if you want to see things in a port. This probably doesn't apply to most "relaxing" cruises in the Caribbean.

Case in point:

We booked an easter Med cruise in order to see some popular historical ports. We were to embark from Athens, then: Santorini, Kusadasi, Ashdod, Haifa, Limassol, Rhodes, Messina, Naples, and then disembark in Rome. We bailed on the cruise before final payment fearing that Israel would be deleted before the $ was due. We were correct. The itinerary has devolved into the present:

Athens*, Mykonos, Rhodes*, Iraklion, Katakolon, Corfu, Messina*, Naples*, Livorno, Rome*.(* on original itinerary)  Some of the passengers (on the cruise right now) are rightly upset because the only ones who were informed appear to be those on the previous sailing. Those boarding this sailing are only finding out through the informed people of Cruise Critic. 

 

Except for the poor communication, the change of ports is not the fault of NCL. I just don't want to plan a cruise with so much disappointing change. BTW, I wonder if they will make it to a few of these other ports in the next week.  Two years ago, I sailed in late Nov in the Med and we experienced a Medicane (A hurricane in the Mediterranean) and Iraklion was canceled because we needed time to sail in the storm. I also heard that the Christmas Markets in Germany were canceled, so even land based trips are messed up. We came across a 7 day Baltic for $500 in August but the nonrefundable deposit was also $500. Just not worth it and I can see why the cruise stocks tumbled yesterday. So sad for all.

[cruisemom42]

Cruising (in many but not all destinations) is a crap shoot right now. Particularly for those of us who like to cruise in Europe. The uncertainty of whether your ship will be allowed to call or not, whether you'll be allowed off the ship on your own, etc. is just not worth it for those that sail for the ports. In addition to the kinds of issues you mention, there is also the fact that some countries are not allowing ships that have called in Turkey -- which in real life terms usually means the port in Turkey is canceled and then substituted with something else.

 

I have been expressing concern from the beginning especially about the "bubble tours" idea. For me it's entirely not worth cruising if I can't do what I want to do in port. I'm getting quite tired of the snide comments from those who say that people not cruising are "hiding in their basements".  I just don't see the value of getting on a ship in Europe if I have no idea whether the itinerary will hold and if I will have to take one of the (often sadly limited) ship tours.

 

On the other hand, I have always been a proponent of traveling by land as well as cruising. My trips are about evenly split between cruises and land travel (mostly DIY but also some specialty tours).  There are advantages/disadvantages to each. I am fully prepared to shift into doing more land tours if necessary, at least for the near future.

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by cruisemom42

[navybankerteacher]

I began feeling that preference several years ago.  A week on St. Maarten certainly beats four or five seven hour visits to different islands with perhaps a few thousand others crowding ashore at the same time.

 

 Cruising remains an option for a relaxing time on a ship leaving from a convenient port, and a TA is certainly the preferred way of coming back from travel in Europe - either a repositioning hitting good ports or a straight shot across on QM2.; but if I want to spend time exploring in a region or revisiting, I find land travel the logical way to do it.  

[shipgeeks]

We feel like we've done all the land trips we will ever want to do.  Fortunately, we both traveled extensively in our younger years, when we didn't mind flying for hours at a time, or multi-segment flights, and we were able to spend extended time on several continents.  Now that has no appeal, nor does sitting in a car for even a few hours.

We still prefer being on a ship at sea above any other leisure activity.  We're okay with going to the Caribbean/Bahamas, or Canada/New England, because it's convenient.  Whether or not we get off the ship is secondary.

[iancal]

Our cruises were greatly reduced when we retired.  We switched to extended land travels.  Sometimes with cruises interspersed.

 

Having a one day port stop in the Greek Islands does not do it for us.  Our idea would be to spend a month or more island hopping.   

 

When working we would often zip down to FLL or San Juan for a Caribbean winter cruise plus some pre and post.  Not so any more.....our time is our own.  Our retirement winters have typically been spent doing independent land travels in SE Asia/Australia or Mexico or Central America for 8-9 weeks at time.  Occasionally longer.  Same in the fall to southern Europe.   

 

Now we typically pick up a late booking cruise  to intersperse with land travels.  It makes a nice break. SA would be the exception where we planned a cruise and then organized land travel before and after.

 

It is not that we are 'off' cruising.  We simply have moved on to a slower travel pace with at least 3 days in each location, often 7 or 10 if we like the locale.  

 

14-21 days is our max on a ship.  We get tired of the food, tired of room after a while.

 

We made one other change in retirement.   We switched to carry on only.  We need to be able to handle our bags without any assistance.  Challenging at first but it did increase our travel enjoyment.   We are nudging 70.  I expect as some point we will start doing more cruising if we develop health challenges.

Edited November 27, 2021 by iancal

[donaldsc]

I would much to do land tours where we spend 4 or 5 days in each of 5 or 6 cities or regions.  That way we get to immerse ourselves and not have to pack and unpack as a city-per-day land tour.  However my wife feels differently so we do more cruising than land trips.   Of course w Covid, all bets are off.  

 

We have however booked 2 cruises in late 22 and early 23 - a 24 day Greek Island cruise on a Clipper Lines sailboat and 12 days (I think) in the Caribbean on the Viking Sky to see how the other 10% travels.

 

DON

[ilikeanswers]

To be honest I never felt a desire to cruise Europe. The reason I really started cruising was to visit places that are difficult to visit independently and most of Europe is just so easy to travel yourself. On top of that Europe's coastline is not really my favourite part of the continent so I have even less reason to cruise Europe. 

 

As for COVID-19 changes it has solidified my thinking that my near future travels are not going to be anything pre organised. I'm sticking to independent flexible trips. At least if I have to change my itinerary I can choose how I want to change it instead of being at the mercy of a cruise or tour company. 

[evandbob]

We have done many, many land vacays in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America in addition to over 50 cruises.

 

We have enjoyed each type of getaway and really don't have a preference. Sometimes I used a quickie port visit to decide if I wanted to return to that isle for a more in depth stay.

 

But I will say that when we are at a hotel and cruise guests mob our beachfront it isn't a perfect day in paradise.

[pris993]

I understand your concerns.  We have cruised all over the Mediterranean, Middle East and Europe over past 20 years.  We were booked on a land trip to Israel in 2020 that was cancelled.  I have been trying to re book trip to Israel because we have an airline credit.    Reading all that one needs to do to travel makes me think such travel will not be easy to do till about 2023.  I have elected to do closed loop cruises out of San Francisco, my home port, to Mexico in January and Hawaii in December 2022.  I don't want to deal with cancelled flights and the changing nature of govt regulations on the Covid 19 around the world.  I guess I think land trips at this time are not easy to do even if it means I lose a $3000 airlines credit in the process.  

[donaldsc]

13 minutes ago, pris993 said:

I understand your concerns.  We have cruised all over the Mediterranean, Middle East and Europe over past 20 years.  We were booked on a land trip to Israel in 2020 that was cancelled.  I have been trying to re book trip to Israel because we have an airline credit.    Reading all that one needs to do to travel makes me think such travel will not be easy to do till about 2023.  I have elected to do closed loop cruises out of San Francisco, my home port, to Mexico in January and Hawaii in December 2022.  I don't want to deal with cancelled flights and the changing nature of govt regulations on the Covid 19 around the world.  I guess I think land trips at this time are not easy to do even if it means I lose a $3000 airlines credit in the process.  

 

Instead of land traveling, could you pick 2 or 3 really interesting and safe spots and stay a week or so at each spot.  At least you won't loose the credits.

 

DON

[pris993]

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Instead of land traveling, could you pick 2 or 3 really interesting and safe spots and stay a week or so at each spot.  At least you won't loose the credits.

 

DON

Nice thought.  I will be watching to see if Israel drops some of the current travel rules, i.e., pre flight covid test, post arrival covid test with possible quarantine for 10 days, plus another covid test before flying back to US.  We had planned to visit family on the trip but do not want to be forced to quarantine with family if we test positive which is the current requirement.  We must provide an Israel cell phone number and address where we would stay if we need to quarantine before we leave USA and that address can't be changed later.  We traveled to Israel to visit family at least 12 times in past 20 years never stayed with family, always stayed in hotels.  We are seniors and most of the family are up in years too, so better for us and them if we can stay in hotels.  My dh is 90 and I am 75, not an easy trip, Covid is making it more difficult.  Hoping it gets better sooner than later.  Time will tell.  Thanks for your positive thoughts.  

[iancal]

It is interesting.  We always wanted to take a cruise to SE Asia.  Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 

We first went to there because it started to snow.  Went on line, saw an offer for return air to Bangkok and we booked it there and then.   A week or so later we were there.  In the intervening period we drove three hours to the Thai Consulate to arrange for extended visas.

 

 After numerous winters and lots of traveling about we came to realize how very little we would see and experience on a cruise.   We came to appreciate what we would be missing out on.  So we dropped that cruise off the bucket list.

Edited November 28, 2021 by iancal

[iancal]

We are watching covid carefully and we do have some land travels tentatively  planned.

 

One thing that makes it easier on us is that we have been very spontaneous travelers who are accustomed to making changes on the go or dealing with the bumps. 

 

We may leave home for 8 weeks with a rough outline of where we plan to travel.  More often than no there are few weeks that are undecided.  Or we have found that somewhere like the Philippines was not to our liking so we changed our plans completely and went back to Thailand for an extra few weeks.  Last trip to Greece we had two weeks open at the end.  It was going to be Cyprus, Israel, or somewhere else.  We ended up in Cyprus.  Did not matter because our flight home was from London.  Connections to London are always excellent no matter where we happen to be.

[lenquixote66]

We did not fly until 1993.We did driving vacations beginning 1972 .

[sverigecruiser]

On 11/27/2021 at 7:39 PM, navybankerteacher said:

 if I want to spend time exploring in a region or revisiting, I find land travel the logical way to do it.  

 

I absolutely agree about this.

[Keksie]

What I loved about taking a cruise was the ease of travel.  No having to find a place for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Entertainment, bars, casino, pools etc. all within a short walk from my cabin.  I liked to get a glimpse of different places to see if it might be a place to revisit for a longer period of time. What I didn't like was the bum's rush off the ship on the last morning and the long lines sometimes for meals, entertainment etc.  Now with all the protocols we will be doing land based vacations.  So far we have 2 planned for the spring and once we know how our new house sitter works out we can make more plans.  

[iancal]

We have had some wonderful last minute cruises interspersed with land travel.  Especially nice towards the end of a trip.

 

 We picked up a Med cruise and cruse air home at the end seven weeks of independent Italy travel.  It was wonderful to get on board, relax and not have to arrange a thing.  Great way to make our way home.

 

Same for a 21 day Oz/NZ cruise at the end of a SE Asia/Australia trip.

[marco]

Depends where.  We took a European cruise once.  Not nearly enough time in any one place to explore, no evenings/nights ashore, only coastal ports (obviously).  We do enjoy the European river cruises and choosing a couple of major  cities and spending  a week or so on our own in each and traveling by train to cities within a hr or two to explore for the day on our own. We do really enjoy cruises to Bermuda, we've been on over 20 and a 7 day cruise to Bermuda gives you 3-4 days there, which is long enough to explore and enjoy and WAY less $$$ than if you flew and stayed there for a week.  And of course,  an Alaska cruise is the perfect way to enjoy it.

[firefly333]

Never. I'm solo and dont want a vacation by myself. I cruise to see the ocean and be around others. I dont want to pack up and change hotels daily. 

 

Will I do land vacations, probably but cruises will remain my go to choice to get away. 

[Tapi]

The first time I traveled to Europe with my parents and siblings as a teenager, we did a 32 day land vacation, hopping from one country to another, and spending multiple nights at several cities. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip.

 

Now, when it came time to introduce my own family to Europe (with 6 and 8 year old kids), there was no better way than to take a cruise. It was truly perfect. Just enough sightseeing at each port to keep everybody entertained, and the logistics of traveling from one place to another, where to eat, and checking in and out of hotels, were all simplified, something that was a blessing traveling with small children. 
 

In a nutshell, both types of trips were wonderful in their own respective ways. I wouldn’t give up on either one, 

[ldubs]

49 minutes ago, Tapi said:

The first time I traveled to Europe with my parents and siblings as a teenager, we did a 32 day land vacation, hopping from one country to another, and spending multiple nights at several cities. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip.

 

Now, when it came time to introduce my own family to Europe (with 6 and 8 year old kids), there was no better way than to take a cruise. It was truly perfect. Just enough sightseeing at each port to keep everybody entertained, and the logistics of traveling from one place to another, where to eat, and checking in and out of hotels, were all simplified, something that was a blessing traveling with small children. 
 

In a nutshell, both types of trips were wonderful in their own respective ways. I wouldn’t give up on either one, 

 

 

"In a nutshell, both types of trips were wonderful in their own respective ways. I wouldn’t give up on either one, "

 

I can only agree.  And if we can do a combined land and cruise, so much the better.  Knock on wood, that happens Spring 2022.   

Edited November 30, 2021 by ldubs

[navybankerteacher]

9 hours ago, marco said:

Depends where.  We took a European cruise once.  Not nearly enough time in any one place to explore, no evenings/nights ashore, only coastal ports (obviously).  We do enjoy the European river cruises and choosing a couple of major  cities and spending  a week or so on our own in each and traveling by train to cities within a hr or two to explore for the day on our own. We do really enjoy cruises to Bermuda, we've been on over 20 and a 7 day cruise to Bermuda gives you 3-4 days there, which is long enough to explore and enjoy and WAY less $$$ than if you flew and stayed there for a week.  And of course,  an Alaska cruise is the perfect way to enjoy it.

Oceania is ideal for 7 day cruises to Bermuda from New York.  Great food and service, small uncrowded ship, and - most important - you stop at St. George and Hamilton rather than that way-out-of-the-way, over-crowded tourist trap of Dockyard,

[K32682]

With the lack of certainty surrounding cruises during the pandemic I'm doing land vacations only. 

[iancal]

We are only planning land trips at the moment.  We will not commit to air, etc. until very close to our planned departure since our time is very flexible.

 

Extended independent land trips with a cruise (or two) interspersed is a very happy place for us. 

 

It just depends on where we are traveling, good  itineraries from ports that we can easily reach, and of course attractive late booking fares. 

 

This used to be a very easy combo in Europe.   Not certain what the market will offer post covid.

[cruisingguy007]

Even many land vacations aren't what they once were. Many of the AI's that folks enjoyed, that are comparable to a cruise, are a shell of their pre-covid value. A lot of places are closing earlier and the party, boisterous and lively atmosphere tampered down. Couple that with all the travel restrictions, limited excursions, and local rules and land based doesn't look much more appealing. Every place I have considered has some form of restriction or less appealing environment. It's a frustrating time to  be sure. The value of cruising, vs other land vacations, is still there IMO.