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Oh yes there is. One of the disadvantages of a cruise. The food - and booze - well, let's just say I know how they get those foie gras geese to gorge themselves. Waddle waddle.
So here's the Cruise scorecard so far:
Plus: You don't have to pack and unpack, and especially in the Baltic where flying between countries is practically required (I don't have a yacht and if I did trust me it would be someplace warmer) and you save a lot of boring waiting-in-airport waiting-in-security-line time.
Minus: No walking aimlessly thru the town after dinner. Or before breakfast. No discovering the cute gelato shop, the bad but enthusiastic singer in the piazza. Little contact with the natives.
Plus: Little contact with the natives. I'm thinking of that oh-so charming Russian immigration officer. Would not want to run into her in a dark alley after dinner. Or hear her sing.
Minus: You can't just zip into the cute restaurant for a bite, or have a lazy drink and watch the cow parade. You're always watching the clock, on a deadline. I missed the spontaneity. And the on-shore down time.
Plus: No gelato on the ship. So that more-of-me thing could be a lot worse...altho if you've seen Wally's photo of us waddling out to our bikes, you may indeed be wondering: how much worse could it get?
Plus: No bar bill.
Minus: No bar bill. You (and by that I mean I) pay more attention when you pay for it. Of course, for the people we saw stumbling around half ripped at all hours, no bar bill would be in the plus column...but we're not ready for the meetings. yet.
Plus: Being rocked to sleep. Going to sleep in one place, waking up in another. Watching the islands slide by.
Minus: When a ship hits a town, it changes the character of that town. Especially a tiny town like Tallin. We overwhelmed the bathrooms, swamped the gift shops. And people, there is more to a town than its gift shops!
Our ship held 900 and something; some of the ships held 4,000. And those numbers don't include crew. There were 10,000 cruise ship crazies in St Petersburg when we were there. We have been in Mykonos when the ships arrive - and when they depart. Big difference. So we know we saw things differently than we would have on our own.
Plus: You're coddled, shepherded.
Minus: You're coddled, shepherded.
We had a great time, but we're not sure we'd do it again. We think we're not quite ready for Assisted Living.
Not yet, anyway.
So here's the Cruise scorecard so far:
Plus: You don't have to pack and unpack, and especially in the Baltic where flying between countries is practically required (I don't have a yacht and if I did trust me it would be someplace warmer) and you save a lot of boring waiting-in-airport waiting-in-security-line time.
Minus: No walking aimlessly thru the town after dinner. Or before breakfast. No discovering the cute gelato shop, the bad but enthusiastic singer in the piazza. Little contact with the natives.
Plus: Little contact with the natives. I'm thinking of that oh-so charming Russian immigration officer. Would not want to run into her in a dark alley after dinner. Or hear her sing.
Minus: You can't just zip into the cute restaurant for a bite, or have a lazy drink and watch the cow parade. You're always watching the clock, on a deadline. I missed the spontaneity. And the on-shore down time.
Plus: No gelato on the ship. So that more-of-me thing could be a lot worse...altho if you've seen Wally's photo of us waddling out to our bikes, you may indeed be wondering: how much worse could it get?
Plus: No bar bill.
Minus: No bar bill. You (and by that I mean I) pay more attention when you pay for it. Of course, for the people we saw stumbling around half ripped at all hours, no bar bill would be in the plus column...but we're not ready for the meetings. yet.
Plus: Being rocked to sleep. Going to sleep in one place, waking up in another. Watching the islands slide by.
Minus: When a ship hits a town, it changes the character of that town. Especially a tiny town like Tallin. We overwhelmed the bathrooms, swamped the gift shops. And people, there is more to a town than its gift shops!
Our ship held 900 and something; some of the ships held 4,000. And those numbers don't include crew. There were 10,000 cruise ship crazies in St Petersburg when we were there. We have been in Mykonos when the ships arrive - and when they depart. Big difference. So we know we saw things differently than we would have on our own.
Plus: You're coddled, shepherded.
Minus: You're coddled, shepherded.
We had a great time, but we're not sure we'd do it again. We think we're not quite ready for Assisted Living.
Not yet, anyway.
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