There are so many ways to describe this trip.
When you do a trip like this, it’s hard to compartmentalize everything in one post because you wonder what just happened.
First, a trip like this is like being on a vacation roller coaster - in a good way. The senses, the awe, the food, the drinks; all coming at you fast was incredibly fun. All the pains of travel have now become effortless to take it all in. Maybe having the comforts at every stage of this trip made this voyage the most memorable.
We decided to go with the Aperol Spritz with Calamari and chips instead of Pesto Focaccia in the Cinque Terre.
We were constantly surprised, mesmerized, and fully content.
When you hear of someone going on amazing trips, do you hear about any misfortunes first? This is typical but not us.
Just as we anticipated we didn’t spend much valuable vacation time having to drag our bags over cobblestone streets, stay in lines to be transported somewhere for too long and check in and check out of hotels. Backpacks are suggested because of how much transporting you do with all your belongings.
Backpacking is a different type of travel and if you’re over that, keep reading.
This is not so much about traveling in luxury either but in comfort.
We’ve been to Europe and really enjoyed traveling from city to city but multiply this experience by 10X and you’re in for the ride of a lifetime. Truly. Not just a trip of a lifetime but the ride of a lifetime.
We were able to take in amazing discoveries with few obstacles. We had nice dinners after being a little tired and hot and we took a tour that we surprisingly welcomed after a few days of trying to discover on our own and I typically don’t like tours.
And when Richard got sick because he ate something that didn’t go well with him we only walked around Slovenia for an hour before having to return back on the ship in an air-conditioned room to take a nap. Boo hoo-hoo. It lasted 24 hours.
Here is what we were surprised to find out on our first cruise.
The straits of Montenegro we saw from our room.
We didn’t get seasick
I’ve heard people get seasick but Richard chuckled when I bought Dramamine. He didn’t anticipate traveling along the Mediterranean coast during summer would be bumpy.
Well, it was.
However, I didn’t get sick and I always get sick. I don’t do well with motion sickness as driving on windy roads either up or down a mountain can set me off and make me crabby. And driving into Eze in France made me sick.
On the ship, no.
It turns out there are many factors that were in our favor when it came to motion sickness. Where our cabin was located was one of them.
We were on the 7th deck out of 12 decks, in the middle of the ship. The idea of needing an outside patio was concerning as we didn’t have one and I felt I most likely would need air - not because I wanted to lounge in my bathrobe as they do in the brochure but because seriously, I would need air if I was going to be seasick.
However, I never needed one ginger chew probably because of where our room was on the ship.
2. Our stateroom was fine.
I had worried whether having a patio was essential, and from a lot of advisors telling us, it is. However, I’m not sure if it’s because this was our first trip, but having a view of the south of France in the morning on our first day was stunning.
And since Richard is terrified of heights he didn’t care to be on any patio overlooking the water anyway. Not having a deck worked out just fine!
Who doesn’t appreciate floor-to-ceiling windows?
3. The itinerary and ship make the difference
Our favorite magazine is Sonoma magazine. We love it for the latest updates on Sonoma County like restaurants, the towns, and things to do when we’re there. It is here where we were drawn to this incredible cruise being advertised among its pages.
Places like Barcelona, the south of France, Monaco, Tuscany, Rome, Montenegro, Croatia, and Venice had our mouths watering. Although we had already visited some of these places and loved them so much, maybe it might have been a different type of cruise had we found it in a health and wellness magazine, a young party venue, or some other way that wouldn’t catch our interest.
Although we didn’t book our cruise for the Food and Wine pairings, the dinners, or even the tours, it sure helped that they were speaking our language.
After booking, we learned that Oceania Cruises, in particular, focuses primarily on destinations and food. Well duh! We somehow made it on the right ship, taking us to the right destinations that fed us well to boot. Steaks (which I don’t eat much but appreciate), fish, souffles, and all the funky stuff that comes with wonderful cuisine were right up our alley.
4. The age group of all the cruisers made it So. Much. Fun.
Sure, we were most likely on the younger end of the age group but when you’re traveling with a group with all the same interests, this was better than traveling with parents our age with kids.
It can sometimes be tough to relate with couples who have kids but couples who like food and wine? All. Day. Long.
We met a nice couple who were celebrating their 31st anniversary with the Food and Wine Trails group. Throughout dinner we talked about recipes, wineries, and dogs.
I can’t believe I met someone who could nail down an eggplant parmesan recipe.
5. We didn’t catch COVID.
On a Vaporetti (water bus) in Venice missing our stop in Murano. It was just a bummer having to wear masks.
Turns out it helps to be vaccinated.
However, there were people on the ship who even though were vaccinated AND tested negative prior to boarding (which you had to show a negative test 72 hours prior to boarding along with being vaccinated), they still had to be quarantined for a few days because they tested positive shortly after boarding.
There were safety measures throughout the ship. There were hand sanitizing stations, tissue by the bathroom doors so as not to touch the handles, and all workers on the ship were masked.
When we docked in Italy and had to wear masks on board, we just listened.
the Tinder
This is what made me sort of nauseous; inside a rolling egg-shaped boat.
6. We had well over enough time to enjoy each stop.
When you are hopping from town to town, you need to rest. At some ports and in one day, we visited up to 2-3 towns on trains, buses, the hop-on-hop-off buses, taxis, Ubers: sometimes all of these too however way we could get there. When you have intention, it’s amazing what you can do and when you travel this much and this hard, (without suitcases mind-you), you fly!
So, why wouldn’t the perfect way to rest is to indulge in fine dining in the evening and maybe have a tasting too?
We signed up for additional champagne bubbly and whiskey tastings on the ship but it turned out we were so full of amazing food, entertainment, and awe that we just either forgot we signed up or we were too tired and headed to bed in anticipation of what the next day had to offer.
We looked forward to our feather-down comforters and fluffy pillows at the end of each day. Our bed was turned down every night for us with a piece of chocolate too.
I would not skip your food and wine tasting prepared by your tour. The tour guides such as the wineries, arrange to bring the wine onboard, set up the tastings, (not physically but organize them), and put in a lot of work and effort. (More on what we’d do differently later).
One day we were in Cannes and the next, we were in Monaco finding our way to Eze.
We didn’t care to hang out on the beach in Canne although it did look nice.
Instead, we found a bar overlooking the Mediterranean to enjoy drinks and snacks - A bar that Bono frequents might-I-add. We didn’t care what else we missed. It was off to the next discovery.
Nothing like ginger ale after a twisty and windy road uphill.
7. I overpacked even with carry-on luggage for almost 3 weeks.
We saw a lot of YouTube videos and one of them said the biggest mistake was people tend to overpack for cruises. Understanding there are washers and dryers on board, the problem I had was that many of my dresses I didn’t want to put in the washer. That was the first bad idea.
As cute as I thought I looked, I could have left this dress at home.
The second bad idea was that I had one dress for 2-3 days and a couple of nice dresses for dinners that I would most likely wear twice.
What I forgot to think about was when you travel you want to buy the clothes from your travels to walk around in. Linen was inexpensive and light which was perfect for hot and humid days and what everyone else was wearing. Not the rayon dress I had.
The shopping was so affordable too that I would have shopped more. Even though everything fit in the somewhat carry-on-sized luggage, I could have still gotten away with half that. Wow.
The trip had so many nice surprises that I can’t even list them all here. The nicest one though is how lucky we were. Not everyone has had the good fortune on their vacation this year with the flight debacle, the COVID, and the hot weather.
At least we now have an opinion of what cruising is really like. Everyone we had asked who had actually been on a cruise told us we would have a great time.
And surprisingly, we did.
It’s no wonder the retention rate of cruisers is around 90%.
What are your fears of a cruise again?