We have just come back from a wonderful three and a half weeks away, including a 19 day cruise. We love cruising.
We were fortunate enough to go on a 11 day South Pacific cruise on P&O Pacific Sun some years ago, and this started our love of cruising. It is wonderful anticipating the time away in a luxurious stateroom with beds made each day and no cooking or cleaning - just relaxing or choosing to do what ever we want. And then there are the places one can visit .... This started our love for cruising.
We were fortunate enough to go on a 11 day South Pacific cruise on P&O Pacific Sun some years ago, and this started our love of cruising. It is wonderful anticipating the time away in a luxurious stateroom with beds made each day and no cooking or cleaning - just relaxing or choosing to do what ever we want. And then there are the places one can visit .... This started our love for cruising.
Of course, there are lemon cruises. We did a short three night Christmas Markets cruise on the Rhine River in Germany, with a company that no longer exists. The cabin was clean, but very uninviting; the beds - single were so uncomfortable.
The food was ok; the staff ok; everything cost extra, even water and tea at times other than meals.
The only plus was the spectacular scenery and the historic, pretty little villages we were able to visit.
Last year we did a 7 day Alaska Cruise on Celebrity Solstice - WOW!!! What a wonderful ship. We had a drinks package included, which was a bonus and we had booked a verandah cabin, which is a must for Alaska.
This adventure lead us to our recent cruise.
So..... how did this happen?
Back in June we were looking for a cruise and in doing so signed up for many cruise line emails. I mentioned to my sister that we were looking at a New Zealand Cruise, and she mentioned a cruise she had just booked - we looked, we liked, and we booked. In the meantime, emails started coming through - so many specials on so many lines - when one caught our eye - a relocating cross Pacific Tahitian Treasures Cruise. I spent days looking at all the different cruise ship lines and the specials available and chose Celebrity Solstice. We booked when the special prices starting going up again, supposedly as cabins became less. This was all 14 days before the cruise left. We had American Express Frequent Flyer points and these paid for most of the trip. We had to go to 'helloworld' to use the points and Sally at Albany Creek was a great help in organising the extra accommodation and flights.
So begins our most recent adventure.
Hi Allison
ReplyDeleteHow exciting - can't wait to read of all the adventures you had cruising. Must admit that we have not yet been bitten by the cruise bug. But have recently returned from 3 weeks over in your country, travelling on the mighty Ghan train. As you say, it's so nice not to worry about making beds, doing housework (except finding a laundry every so often) and best of all, not wondering what to cook for dinner every night! But then it's down to earth with a thump when you return home, isn't it.
We love cruising and we are going on another one at the end of November - this one was booked way back in June. Doing the Ghan is on our list. Was it fun? Did you have time to see everything you wanted to see?
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