The Cruising Bug

I wrote this 2 weeks back in our Stateroom onboard the Princess Cruises cruise ship the Majestic Princess, while berthed in Wellington Harbour New Zealand. It was 4.40 on Sunday afternoon but just 1.30 back in Orange. It was a glorious day and my wife and I had just returned from having our first formal afternoon tea in the Concerto Lounge. Earlier that day, we did a four-hour shore excursion around Wellington visiting among other sites, the city's Museum which is unbelievably spectacular. Could have spent several hours there alone.

No doubt I'll share more with readers when I return, and next week, get ready for something a bit special., For now however, I thought I'd share a few early observations.

For us, as first-time cruisers, it was a bit of an eye-opener on several fronts. We opted to dine on tables of several people, and this gave us the opportunity to meet and talk with a wide range of people from all parts of the world. The most surprising thing for me was the number of people who were regular cruisers, in fact we found it hard to find anyone who was like us, first timers. The very first couple we met were on their twentieth cruise, the next their eighth, several are on their third or fourth and so on. One couple said they had racked up 300 nights at sea and had friends who were almost at 1000 nights. At breakfast one morning since, a lady from Miami said this was her 70th cruise!

Several mentioned something called a Platinum Card, obviously some sort of loyalty card which gave them a variety of extra benefits such as having their laundry done for them, a stocked up bar fridge and receiving various discounts for on board services etc. Others spoke of getting some really good deals, such as two tickets for the price of one, or paying greatly reduced prices simply by waiting and booking late, when time is running out and cruise companies are keen to fill empty cabins.

Another observation was the variety of people who clearly now have what I call the cruising bug. Curiosity drove me to ask our fellow travelers about their occupations, where they were from, what they liked most about cruising and so on. On face value I thought they must all be high earners or professional people who can afford such a lifestyle, but not so. Much to my surprise at least half were just ordinary working type people, most are now retired, who just love this type of travel. We met retired labourers, farmers, engineers and former business owners from regional Australia to right across the world, one chap provides services to a variety of industries including the US space industry.

So, what do you think is the Number One attraction for cruising, against other holiday options? If you ever find yourself on a game of Family Feud and that question gets asked, I have no doubt the number one answer will be "you only have to unpack once!" Of course, there are other reasons but almost everyone mentioned this as a high rating attractive benefit. Many had travelled and found living out of a suitcase every day as quite a pain.

So, after 13 nights on a magnificent cruise ship, what do I think about cruising? Honestly? The jury is still out. There's a lot to like but I have to say, at this stage, my getting the cruise bug like the people I've mentioned is unlikely.