The travel industry may be a tad in the doldrums but The Cruise is riding a HUGE wave of success!
21 March 2009
Summer holidays mean different things to different people. My slice of paradise is Boomerang beach...3 hours north of Sydney. A beach house with a stunning coastal and hinterland view with perfect crisp white and lustrous blue beach as far as the eye can see. Always with the family. What's yours? What else do I crave?
With out hesitation it would be sailing to an exotic locale with a crew to wait on my every whim with seafood and champas on the menu almost every night. Where figuring out which gorgeous nook of coastline we'll nestle into for the night, THE biggest decision I'll make each day. Naaah...sounds far too boring...no screaming kids, no inconvenient interruptions, no toddler toilet trips to attend to, no boisterous brawls to break up...what WAS I thinking?!
But many a family, couple and singles are not just dreaming about a holiday on the high seas, to exotic lands and cultures. They're doing it and in droves!
Driven by great discounts and an 'all-inclusive-price', these savvy travellers know that once they've paid, that's it! They can sit back and relax knowing they'll be housed, fed and entertained and it's convenient...all there, ready to be 'dipped' into whenever the mood takes them.
My parents are huge fans of the cruise. For them it's smaller boats and tighter waters (sea sickness a great worry for my mum). They've worked extraordinarily hard most of their lives and are now enjoying the fruits of their labour. Mum, the avid planner, Dad happy to be organised and just turn up...the perfect travel partnership I'd say! Mum does the sums and swears that it saves them a nice tidy sum travelling by boat and it's easy...no luggage to pack each night, lug around and put in the lobby. Stay on board if you don't want to go ashore and have a lovely relaxing time with everything on tap.
They've done a few now...Europe, Russia and the Kimberly here at home. For them, the Kimberly cruise was THE best trip they've ever done. My father, not one to get too carried away by much wouldn't stop talking about it for oh the best part of 2 days. We all found it rather disturbing to tell you the truth...who was this gushing man?!
Have you cruised lately? Where did you go? What did you do? What did you pack?! What were the traps?...any lessons learned for next time? We know that quite few of our girls have done it recently...having bought their cruisewear stash from us before setting sail.
Do tell. If cruising continues to grow in popularity as it's has done in the past year or so, odds on many more of our girls will be embarking on one soon and like a good girl, you should 'share' to help make their experience, a fabulous one. Drop me a line and let me know and I'll pass it on.
I think I like the idea of the Kimberly and perhaps Sardinia and Turkey...though I hear that the Croatian coast line is stunning and not to be missed. Oh dear! So many choices, so little time...think I better start my 'dream list' to make sure I give them all enough air time at night.
Until next time.
Happy cruising!
H.G.
xx
Related Link: Dream a little...cruise the Kimberley coast on the True North
