The Benicia Fullosopher

More activities: Reserve the wedding chapel to get married or renew vows. Make use of the card room, Internet Café, jigsaw puzzle, board games, book clubs, multiple pools, gigantic water slides, or pool table (which is fun to watch stay level as the guests rock up and down with the ship). Watch movies in the ship theater or on the cabin TV. Attend religious services—often daily non-denominational or Mass, sometimes a minister, priest or rabbi on board—or Friday night Sabbath services. Check out a book or DVD from the library. In general, libraries are much bigger on the small, luxury ships. Some libraries are being eliminated in order to use the space for producing revenue. Visit lectures and multimedia presentations.    When I worked on ships as a guest speaker, I was told that the focus of the talks must be “edutainment”—that is, factual but entertaining. One ship specifically said I must not use the word “lecturer” to describe my talks. There are usually talks related to the ports being visited or “special interest” talks which covers just about everything imaginable. My talks were all multi-media presentations related to music. Speakers range from superb to so boring that their talks are a good antidote to insomnia. Walk around the deck. There’s usually a plaque on the wall of the promenade deck telling how many loops it takes to walk a mile. On one ship we had to make the loop thirteen times, and on another it was only three laps to walk a mile. You’d have to work hard to be bored on a cruise.

THE BIG SELL CONTINUES: Ship Excursions
The cabin TVs and special presentations in the theater give excellent descriptions of what you will see and do on a ship tour. You may see listings for a wide range of tours from sightseeing on a bus to choices for the more active guests. There are tours that focus on history and culture where you might walk through an ancient city or a modern museum. For adventure, you may choose to ride a camel, take a zip-line through a rain forest, a river-raft trip, swim with dolphins, go whale watching, snorkel, scuba dive, 4-wheel drive on back roads in a forest, take guided bicycle or segway tours and more. When buying a ship tour, you are paying a premium for the time it takes to reserve venues, organize transportation, hire tour guides, pay for insurance, and sometimes to arrange for meals. The_ship scares guests_with the admonition, “If you go out on your own and are late getting back to the ship, we won’t wait for you,” which encourages guests to sign up for the ship-sponsored excursions. Thus, on a ship tour you are also buying peace of mind. But if you are adventurous, you might consider touring on your own.
At most ports you will be greeted by taxi drivers waving signs for many of the tours offered by the ship and for much lower prices. I’ve taken tours in taxis, on public buses, boats, subways, trains, and rented cars. For example, a safari_in South Africa booked from the ship,_cost_$375 per person. Three couples rented a car, had lunch, and saw more animals than the ship tour—and it cost us $35 per person. I walked to and attended an opera performance in Odessa for $5 and sat in the third row, center. The guests escorted from the ship by bus paid $75 and sat in row twenty. Many cities have hop-on, hop-off bus tours where you pay a single, nominal price to stop at the major sites. Sometimes these “Ho-Ho” tours begin right at the port or a short walk away. Before leaving home, Google “hop on hop off bus” to find out if there are tours from the ports you will visit. Taking numerous excursions on our own, my husband and I have never missed the ship. A few times we have seen guests running toward the ship and waving madly as we sailed away. One man was lucky. A local motorboat picked him up, brought him to the ship, and he was able to climb a ladder to board. Advice: If comfortable going on your own, plan carefully. Study the ship-offered tours and research the possible alternatives on the internet before leaving home. Give yourself plenty of time to return to the ship before sail-away. Have a “plan B.” Consider traffic conditions, how far from the ship will you be, what would you do if your taxi or train breaks down? Would you be able to get to the next port? Take the ship’s phone number, bring a_credit card, and always buy travel insurance before leaving home._

Coming next: Favorite ports and port shopping

The Benicia Fullosopher is retired as a guest speaker and dance teacher on cruise ships.

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