I have done a fair amount of travel around the world. But I have never taken a cruise. To be honest I never even thought about taking a cruise. But...

But... I talk to a lot of people about travel. And in these conversations the topic of a cruise often comes up. People take cruises, and people love cruises.

So, I thought I should at least take one cruise. Just so I can experience it and see what it is like.

You don't need to read this whole page to know what I think about the cruise I took. I will tell you now, right up front: I enjoyed it. It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Will I take another cruise? Probably not. Only because I have a whole lot of other travel goals to experience. But , if the right opportunity comes up I will do it. Not because of the cruise ship, but because of the places that it visits.

Let me outline a few things for you. This may be helpful to you if you are thinking about taking a cruise.

First off I wanted my cruise and travel experience to be very low key and easy. I didn't want the hassle of airplanes, airports and hotels. I wanted it to be very easy. And. We have a cruise port in Boston which is only about an hour away from me. So, I could take a bus right to the boston train station (South station). And then I could take a five minute bus right to the cruise dock which is only 1.5 miles from South station. Easy Peasy!!

Give this some consideration when planning out a cruise. Is there a cruise port not far from where you live? And what cruises do they take out of that port? I think this can really be of benefit if you are taking your first cruise. You start out with very little stress. This also has a big effect on the overall cost of your cruise vacation.

Psychologically it is very easy to not consider travel costs as part of the vacation cost. But you really should consider it. Airfare and other travel costs can actually be more than the cruise itself.

My cruise ship was departing at 4pm, so travel day was very easy for me.

So, where did I cruise to?

They have a lot of options out of boston. This map shows you some of the more popular cruise destinations out of this port.

I am not very interested in island travel, and all of that. I am not a beach/party kind of guy. While people love those cruises I ended up opting for a cruise north into Canada. This would be perfect for me because I have never been to Canada. So, I can check that off my travel list once the cruise is over.

Here is my itinerary.

I took the Norwegian Cruise Lines on the cruise ship "Jade". It was an eight day cruise. We left out of Boston, visiting Sydney, Cornerbrook, Charlottetown, and Saint John. Then we returned to Boston.

Did I get seasick? No! I didn't have any ill effects at all. The seas were pretty calm with one day being just a bit choppy.

What was it like to take a cruise? What were the days like?

A typical day on a cruise ship goes something like this:

The cruise ship sails through the night and arrives in a port city early morning. Within an hour or two you can get off the ship.This is called disembarkation. And you can explore the town or city for five or six hours. Then you need to return to the cruise ship because in the late afternoon it will be sailing again for a new destination. This pattern is repeated.

What else is there on a cruise ship?

One of the nice things I really like about the cruise is that every day they will give you a multipage handout thatt lists all things to do during the day, which includes the buffet and restaurant hours, the excursions you can take off shore, and the various shows you can see on the ship.

And there is a break down of the complete day, by the hour, of all the things you can do. Here is a snippet from the handout.

About excursions

An excursion is an organized trip off the boat. The cruise ship puts these excursions together. You sign up ahead of time (and pay a fee). And everything is taken care of for you. You are given a ticket the night before and instructions on where and when to meet your group and your tour guide.

You stay together as a group and spend a few hours or the day together. It may be a walking excursion or it might be via a bus. But, you have a tour guide that will tell you all kinds of things like the history and facts of places and people.

Excursions are pretty good. They are a safe way to explore the town or city off the port. And they get you back to the ship within the allocated time.

But they fill up fast so you should choose your excursions as soon as possible. On the first day of your cruise if you are able. Even for the excursions that are several days, and several ports away.

One of our excursions was to the House of Green Gables. It was made famous by the Anne of Green Gables series of books. That tour filled up on the first day of the cruise.

Summary

Experiencing my first cruise brought to me a concept of what makes a cruise special. I call it "self selecting tier travel".

What this means is that taking a cruise gives you a lot of options.

Food tiering: You can eat in the free buffet, or you can eat in the free sit-down and menu driven restaurant. Or you can eat in the upscale fancy restaurant for an extra charge with a mandatory restaurant.

AND.. As far as food goes there are other options like you can eat in an Asian restaruant or a barbecue style restaurant, or other specialy restaurants.

Entertainment tiering: You can take in a fancy show in a theatre with seating for hundreds, or you can take in more casual entertainment in a piano bar. You can also avail yourself of a wide variety of crafts or simple themed get-togethers like veteran get-togethers, teen get-togethers or singles get-togethers. And of course there is always someplace to go for music and dancing.

You can also do some unique things like experience an art auction, which is something I did. And I purchased an artwork! You can read about that experience and see the artwork I bought right here.

Shopping - Of course there is some really nice shopping you can do on a cruise ship including all kincs of quality tourist items, some clothes, watches, cameras and more.

Okay, want to get some of the travel experience that I had. I have more for you including my stops and pictures of the various places in Canada that we stopped. Right here

Wonder what's on a cruise ship? I have some pictures for you.	My cruise ship made four stop in various places in Canada. I have pictures right here.