Have You Thought of Cruising Your Roots?

[jhannah]

Have you had a DNA profile done that shows where your ancestors are from? Ancestry and 23 and Me both do them. (Maybe others.) If you have, have you considered cruising to those areas to connect more personally with your family heritage? I've been, but just recently discovered my family forebears had a castle in Scotland that still stands. I think I need to go find it!

[CrabbyPatti]

I am such a mutt, I don't think I could get to everywhere my ancestors came from!  Would certainly go if I had a clue to where to go.  It sounds like a fun idea though.

 

[Been There, Planning That]

LONG before easy DNA testing, we took our first ever cruise to Bermuda as it was the least expensive way to visit paternal origins.

 

I suspect that's not the current sort of offerings.

 

[Mary229]

  I am going to visit Lucca while in Italy this year since my great grandfather emigrated to the US from Lucca.  My sis and I will visit Nova Scotia, also part of my heritage.  The DH's mother's family arrived from The Bahamas - that is nice. 

 

During the pandemic I took the grand nieces and nephews to the archeological sites of the Natchez Trace to discover their cultural roots. Our family has been in New Orleans and the lower Mississippi for hundreds of years.    I wanted them to understand that not all of your traditions, foods and ideas come from your DNA.  

[Cruising-along]

My Mother's side of the family are French, but the area where they lived is nowhere near a cruise port.  Then they immigrated to Quebec, and the closest we've come  to where they lived is Gaspe, Quebec.  After checking and seeing it would be 3 hours' drive each way to get to their region, we've given up on that. 

That would be fabulous if you visit that castle, Jim!

[Taters]

Yes!  We are scheduled to cruise from Rotterdam on the 150th Anniversary TA in October.  Searching for family history we discovered that my maternal great great great grandmother emigrated from Zierikzee, Zeeland, Netherlands in the mid-1800s when she was a child.  Hubby and I are going to go there to walk the streets and soak it all in before the cruise.  I am really looking forward to this!

 

We have other family history that brought us to the US prior to this and are planning on more exploration in our Icelandic, Norwegian, Welch, Scottish, and German roots. I find it all very exciting!

[TiogaCruiser]

What a cool idea. I have no plans to have DNA done, but I recently found out some important information about one of my sets of grandparents, and have started tracing their tree. I know what town they came from, and would eventually like to visit. With Covid, and how things are “heating up” around where they came from, I don’t see it happening, at least for a long time. And I should probably learn at least a few words in their language. ( It’s not a very common language). I was reading a blog written by someone who returned to the same village, and the priest who held custody of the church records scolded the lady for not learning the language. 

[PACD_JG]

2 hours ago, jhannah said:

If you have, have you considered cruising to those areas to connect more personally with your family heritage?

 

I laugh a bit at this comment because it shows why a lot of tourists (such as myself) look down on cruisers.  If you want immersion, immerse.  Visiting a port is barely a step up from landing at the airport.  And FWIW, I'm 25% Scottish and have vacationed 28 nights there - go visit...by land.

 

EDIT:  Before I get too roughed up by the aged, I'm going on my first cruise this summer (Alaska), and that's why I'm here.

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by PACD_JG
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[Mary229]

Oh people can learn a lot in a short time.  My grandfather declared to anyone who would listen that he was French and not an American. He was angry with me when I married an American. Remember we had been in the US for hundreds of years.  One weekend in Paris he came home and declare he was not an American at age 85. 

[GUT2407]

I doubt I could do it in any meaningful way by a cruise. A dream of mine should I ever win lotto is to do a World cruise in segments spending a few land weeks in different locations. One reason would include visiting some ancestral locations.

 

my second ever cruise was largely motivated by it visiting Cooktown where my great grandfather is considered a pioneer of the district, unfortunately a Cyclone meant we didn’t get into port.

[MTAK]

My family also had a castle in Scotland but I don't think it's practical to try and visit during a cruise. We were planning a land trip (including Ireland also) prior to Covid and likely will reevaluate that, possibly in 2023 if things stay stable.

 

But to be honest I never thought of cruising that region so I'm glad you brought it up!

[kazu]

DH and I both knew our backgrounds.  We deliberately went to a spot in Spain to track.  That was a land tour.

 

When our cruise ship’s itinerary was changed last minute to Cobh Ireland - I was delighted to find the family crest there.  I thought I would see more and didn’t.  I then wish I had bought more for my siblings.

So immersing on land is good and love land travel, but never discount what you can find on a cruise.  JMO.

[Norseh2o]

Love the idea of 'cruising your roots'! My Father was adopted but through decades of sleuthing, we learned that his folks immigrated from Croatia with other stone masons at the beginning of the 1900s.   Visited Croatia briefly (a stop on  a cruise, November, 2021) and am looking forward for more time in Croatia. As much as I have traveled, I have yet to visit Norway, home of my Mother's people. My cc handle is Norseh2o as I am hopeful that a trip to Norway's waters is in my near future... 

[shadesofblonde]

Yes!...... my fathers family immigrated to Prince Edward Island from Scotland 250 years ago. When we cruised Canada/New England I purposely selected an itinerary that included a port stop in PEI, and had been in contact with relatives who lived there. As it turned out the weather was bad that day and the ship couldn’t dock.... so much for that!

 

My mom was from Slovakia. It’s landlocked, so no....

Edited February 16, 2022 by shadesofblonde

[Caribbean Chris]

In April 2011, we sailed out of Tampa on Ryndam for 21 wonderful days, ending in Dover.  I had known for years the name of the small town on Ireland’s Hook Peninsula where my great grandmother was born, and after seeing on a map how close we’d be at the end of the cruise, realized it was time to turn “some day” into reality. We added ten days in Ireland to our plans and flew post-cruise  to Dublin.
 

Before the trip, my husband searched online, found one pub in the town, and emailed the owners asking if any people by that name still lived there. The next day, my newly-discovered cousin’s wife emailed back with lots of information, and we made a plan to meet for lunch at the pub. We rented a car after leaving Dublin, toured around Ireland, and stayed in a nearby small manor house B&B for several days to explore County Wexford.

 

My cousin Alan and his wife took us to the old, restored family farmhouse (which his London-based sister still owns) where my great-grandmother had lived. Alan showed us the town’s church with family gravestones and centuries-old church record books kept in a safe, with handwritten entries of our family’s births and deaths. We had a wonderful day and still keep in touch.

 

We also visited the Queensland Heritage Center in Cobh, from which my great-grandmother sailed alone as a very young woman to find her destiny in North America. We talked to a staff genealogist there about the family line.

 

The whole trip was a dream come true for me, and absolutely ranks as one of my happiest travel memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Caribbean Chris

[SueMo]

I found a cousin through ancestry research who lives in Dunedin, New Zealand.  Our great-great-grandmothers were sisters from England.  One married and emigrated to America and the other married and emigrated to New Zealand.  Dunedin is a port of call for most NZ cruises, and I think it would be really cool to meet her for a day.