Cruising

My husband and I discovered cruising on our tenth anniversary, and found we liked it.   While we still do land trips, we prefer cruising.   With land based trips, we must make our reservations for each motel, then plan our route.   We are also deciding whether to buy some groceries so we can eat on the cheap, or which restaurant to eat at.   On our last few trips, we've brought long an immersion hot water heater to bring water to a boil as well as some instant coffee.   We also pack heater meals.   These are shelf stable meals with their own heating packs, so we get hot meals without the need of a microwave.   Now when we're traveling over land, we must pack and unpack each night, as well as hunt up some food.  

With cruising, once you get to the ship, you have your vehicle to drive you to your points of interest.   You also have your restaurants, as well as you lodging all within easy access.   In addition to this, you can book your land tour reservations via the cruise company.   Most cruise companies require full payment a couple/three months in advance of sailing.   So, once you get onboard, most items are paid for.   You still have to pay separately for your bar bill, excursions (some cruise companies allow prepaying those), specialty restaurants, spa treatments, specialty coffee and souvenirs.     At the end of the cruise, they suggest you tip your cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter.   Some cruise companies have an auto tipping system, that adds the tips to your bills, while other cruise companies give you a form to fill out to add the tips to your bill.   The food is delicious, and it seems that there is food being served some place.   The cabin stewards clean your cabin twice a day, and also fold your towels into cute towel animals.   In addition to this, there are live shows nightly, as well as movies in the theater.   On our last cruise, we were 36 hours late out of dock, due to fog, but it didn't bother us.   For us, the ship was our destination!