Cruises, Trains, or Road Trips

Murrmurr said:
I prefer road trips, too, but I took a ferry cruise from Washington state to Victoria Island, and then from there to British Columbia and back again, and it was awesome. But ferries are mostly open, you know? So you don't get that trapped, cramped feeling at all, plus you're free to roam all you want. And it only took a couple hours or so.

Me and my travel buddies spotted a whale, which was really cool. It didn't breech the surface, but still a really cool sight.
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I've been on that exact same ferry. It takes you through the San Juan Islands. A very enjoyable and scenic cruise. Loved it.
 

We’ve done all of these and it’s what you make of it.

The cruise ships were large and the crowds were in the pool areas. We didn’t hang out there. It wasn’t hard to find quiet areas to sit and read and enjoy the fresh sea air. I wasn’t fond of disembarking for the shore events. We did our own things. I’ve never heard anyone complain about the food. There’s a reason so many gain weight.

Train for day travel is great; none of the stress of driving. The longest trip I had was for 14 hours in New Zealand. It became boring looking out one side of the train. It made me decide I didn’t want to travel across Canada via train and that had been a dream.

RV travel was great while we could do it and we did it every year for 30 years. Nothing like having your own bed.

The best compromise was flying somewhere, staying for a bit and then heading out in a rental car.
 
I have traveled all these different ways. I took 6 cruises and loved them. I am tired of road trips but used to love them. I have taken many trains but now don’t want to be on one longer than 12 hours. I still fly because it’s the quickest way to travel far but it’s a hassle.
 

When I was doing the preliminary research for the cruise, I spoke with an agent from Vacations To Go. He advised that we do not book the party ships that tend to be more rowdy nor ships that cater to children. We booked Celebrity, which wasn't a large ship; it held just over 2200 people. I never had more than two people in front of me at any of the buffet stations. There was always plenty of room to sit in the buffet area. Dinner seating was done in shifts and we had assigned tables and wait staff; no no hassles there either.

I had some trepidations about going on the cruise although I've always wanted to do it. At the time, there were scary incidences happening with cruise ships. Now I'm glad we went and I wouldn't mind doing it again someday.
 
When we cruised it was always with royal Caribbean when school was in session so very few kids. They also have adult only swimming pools. Even on big ships never waited in lines to do things except to get off the ship early in the morning at ports. We met really nice people that we ended up hanging out with part of the time.

We bought a used motorhome and traveled for a month at a time with 4 dogs. 3 were small but one was 84 lbs. We went to many national parks and visited friends and family around the country. We had some great times but it got old and we sold it in 2019.
 
I’ve enjoyed our cruises well enough. Our bus tour to England was ok, but I realized we had to get up early most days because the hotel wanted the large tour group out of the hotel before the other guests. I didn’t enjoy that part of it. My favorite is the road trip, because I can choose the hotel and restaurant, and when to get up. Hoping to take a road trip to South Padre Island with friends in January.

I investigated cruises up the Mississippi and OMG they are expensive!, I told Dave we could drive , stay at 5 star hotels and eat at 5 star restaurants and still save a bunch of money.
 
JBR said:
CarolfromTX, how does a bus tour to England work? Were you passengers on a bus that went from the U.S. by ship to England?
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You fly to Europe and the tour companies all use buses to travel around the country you are visiting.
 
My parents took an average of 2 cruise trips per year as well as going to Florida year and usually England. They loved cruise ships and travelled the world. They drove to Florida and back yearly. Once they retired they stayed there 6 months out of the year. They retired in 1994.

You couldn’t pay me enough to go on a boat cruise and I love the water. The only train trip I went on was to travel to be a maid of honour at my friends wedding.

I’ve been on a few bus trips to go skiing. One with a university to Quebec City. It was a blast.

I’ve driven across Canada on motorcycle
I’ve been on many road trips . Some with family. Some with friends and some with my husband. Road trips rule.
 
When we were teens, my late sister and I spent three months traveling on European trains. We had Eurail passes and sometimes we'd decide where to go next on the basis of what train was leaving at 10 p.m. and would take eight hours to get somewhere. That way, we could sleep on the train and save the $1 or so we'd spend at a youth hostel.

Of course, I was young and didn't need as much sleep as I do now. Or comfort.

Ah, youth....
 

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