When not cruising, what other vacations places you like to do?

We have cruised 8 times in the last 7 years . I love cruising but I would like to do something different.. any suggestions would be appreciated . Tell me your great vacation getaways..

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I do two things. First, I grew up in Vancouver so I like to go back there plus my son and grandkids live in Seattle so that is my other "go to" place. Otherwise, we are on a cruise. Cruises have been our family tips since my kids were little and now their kids.

We do all kinds of land vacations, to get to know a place better. We've done driving trips all over the US and Europe. We've had resort stays on several Caribbean islands as well as Fiji and Tahiti. We've also done longer trips in Japan, and most recently New Zealand.

For us, a cruise is for relaxing. When we really want to experience another country, we prefer to do it by land. We'll be heading back to Europe next for a month or so, using a combo of rail and driving.

We do All Inclusive packages in Puerto Vallarta. Vacation is relaxation for us.

my favorites are vegas san francisco and the ocean

Our present routine is to alternate a cruise with a trip to Germany to visit DW's family.

Twice we did cross country motorcycle vacations.

A 17 day 6,700 mile and a 19 day 6,900 miler from Boston Mass. to Yellowstone and back. :cool:

In addition to cruising, we enjoy land-based vacations. On several occasions, we've rented a beach house on Florida's Gulf, a condo at Hilton Head Island, a cabin in the Smoky Mountains, and gone camping.

my favorites are vegas san francisco and the ocean

Love Las Vegas.

Love Las Vegas.

I would love to go, which would mean giving up a cruise one year. I'm still working on convincing DW.

A stay on St. Maarten each January helps deal with winter, and a couple of weeks on the Gulf coast of Florida in March ends winter. A week or so in Italy, or in England, followed by a trans-Atlantic repositioning home is good in October or November.

We really enjoy choosing one major European city and going for a week/10days and thoroughly exploring it as well as day trip or two surrounding towns that are a 1-2 hr train ride away. (You can't beat European train service!) We like to go in the fall and take a T/A home. We've done a couple of European "Oceanliner" cruises but feel we just don't see or experience enough of any one place.

We love New Orleans. The food, music and history keep us entertained for days at a time. To really enjoy N/O take a cruise from there followed by a few days staying in the French Quarter. The 6 to 8 hour night-time trip down the Mississippi to the Gulf is fantastic.

African safari, land tour north to south in Viet Nam, expedition ship toward the South Pole (less than 100 passengers), explore Thailand, a couple weeks in Ecuador and then go to the Galapagos (on a small boat -- 16 passengers).

Take a land tour in Peru that includes the Amazon, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. Hike the Inca Trail.

Head west and explore the National Parks and beautiful scenery in Utah, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota. Rent a houseboat and spend a week on Lake Powell.

Spend time at a ski area in Colorado (or any where in the world) winter or summer. The mountains, wildlife, sunrises and festivals are incredible.

These are just a few of the places we have explored and still going strong. There is so much to see and do in this world that can't be accessed by a cruise ship or time is limited in the area if one is on a cruise ship.

Look at web sites of company's that specialize in land tours and see what looks interesting. Figure out what you like and don't like on the tour, customize a trip and be adventurous or just jump on one of the tours offered that fits your desires.

We're not into lots of beach days or packaged vacations.

So it's either cruises or road trips, sometimes combining the two with a road trip tacked onto a departure or arrival port & often renting a car at ports of call. Or a short city break by air.

On big land masses like Europe or North America, a road trip makes far more sense - lots of glorious scenery, freedom to make our own itinerary at our own speed, to see as much or as little as we want en-route or at the destinations, to experience evenings at those places, to mix with the locals, to be "travellers" rather than "tourists".

And it's so difficult to find cruises to Vegas or the Black Hills or Kruger Nat Park or through the Swiss Alpine passes. :rolleyes:

Cruises to places like the Caribbean or the South Pacific or the Greek Isles - islands well worth visiting but few worth more than a day or two, so combining them on a cruise is ideal.

And in almost-landlocked places like the Baltic, where touring in a cruise ship is so very much more practical than by road or by air. I can even understand Americans choosing Med. cruises - so many places can be so easily combined into a cruise, though a one-day port-of-call visit is woefully inadequate for many of those places.

Finally, 3-to-5 day city breaks to places like London or Paris or Berlin or Rome. If we lived on the other side of the Pond we'd choose places like Boston or Washington or the Big Apple. Places close enough to be worth the flight, and where a car is perhaps more of a hindrance than a help.

If we were to stay in a hotel for a week or more, the hotel would have a name like Independence of the Seas or Crown Princess or Azura rather than Marriott or Hilton or Hyatt.

JB :)

Thanks for all the great responses.. and for all you cruise lovers how many cruises do you do a year... i'm

think about doing 3 this year although I just got back from 1...is 3 too much?? We are. It's in our early 40's and have 2 kids in college

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We LOVE Vegas! Absolutely love it!

We have a condo in Myrtle Beach, where we go frequently.

We also love the Sarasota area....and of course, Disney on occasion!

Next big trip, if hubby ever gets a kidney , will be to Yellowstone!

Las Vegas for us, too!

Thanks for all the great responses.. and for all you cruise lovers how many cruises do you do a year... i'm

think about doing 3 this year although I just got back from 1...is 3 too much?? We are. It's in our early 40's and have 2 kids in college

 

 

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This really is a personal choice. In addition, it 's important to clarify (at least, for yourself) just what you mean by "3" cruises. Is that 3 seven day cruises or 3 one month cruises, etc.? Destination is also a key consideration. For example, we prefer new itineraries/locations over repetitive "return" trips to what have become for us boring places like (IMO) the Caribbean.

In our particular situation, which includes the time flexibility afforded by retirement, our "cruising base" has become 2 cruises of approx 20-30 days with different start/end ports that are interesting enough for extended pre/post cruise stays (figure about one month for the total trip to make the most of international airfare and minimize repetitive planning). Under the right circumstances, we'd consider adding a third cruise or a return land trip to one of those new ports we've recently discovered.

Outside of the cruises, we have what has become the annual "pilgrimage" drive with our young grandkid to Disneyland in SoCal and 2 or 3 other seasonal short driving trips here in NorCal (Mendocino coast, wine country or down to Monterey). Every couple of years we'll toss in a flight to hometown NYC (to satisfy a culture fix) or to a favorite US "foodie" destination (e.g., NOLA).

Given our SF Bay home base, we're fortunate to also have the luxury of "staycations" whenever the mood strikes us.

Back to OP: one piece of advice based on the well worn phrase, "life is what happens to you while you're making other plans": TRAVEL now!!! (while you have the means, health and circumstances) to do so.

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SE Asia for the past three winters. South America and Central America this winter. We usually go for 2-3 months.

We are getting tired of cruises, our dollar is low, so we look for land travel opportunities to places on our bucket list where our currency goes further. We have vacationed extensively in the US but avoid it now because of our low dollar. Lots of other places to try. In Europe our preference is Greece and Turkey, Italy,Spain, and Portugal.

I love hitching up my trailer and taking road trips.

I usually combine a cruise with several days before and after in the dparture area. I prefer to rent small apartments so I can grocery shop where everybody else does, walk to interesting places, and feel the daily rhythm of the city.

There's a whole lot of this world to see. And I aim to see as much of it as possible.

We stopped cruising several years ago after we bought a large RV. Now it's road trips only - SO much fun! (and we can bring the dog)

My favorite road trip was to the national parks in Southern Utah: Brice, Zion, Canyonlands, etc. AMAZING sights to see! Absolutely amazing!

When we retire next year, we'll be living part-time in the RV traveling all over the USA. Can't wait!

Road trips! Long trips that last a couple of weeks and allow lots of time for exploring. It's hard to name my favorite-- either Portugal or New Zealand. Ive done more (NE US, red rock country in the SW US, partial cross Canada), but those were my faves.

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Napa Valley CA, Sedona AZ, Scottsdale AZ, NOLA, Orlando, Washington DC, Niagara Falls, Australia, Hawaii, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, UK, Italy, Boulder CO, Spain, France, South Africa, San Antonio TX, Point Clear AL, Key West, Gruene TX, Vancouver, Seattle, Tokyo, the list goes on and on! We just love to travel and do it every chance we get.

Back in the 2000s, I was fortunate enough to be involved at the international level with 2 winter sports. I got to travel to various places in Europe where I got to combine "business" with pleasure - Innsbruck, St. Moritz, Konigsee (outside of Salzburg), Altenberg (between Dresden and Prague), Cortina. These allowed me to spend time traveling the area around these and to front and back-end the weeks with mini-trips to Venice, Milan, Vienna, Salzburg, Dresden, Prague, Paris. We also did events up in Calgary, so we'd do time in Banff or, if it was a summer event, drive to Vancouver. I live in a place where I can do weekend trips to plenty of National Parks and Monuments (Bryce, Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Grand Teton, Yellowstone). I've taken big vacations to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, a Kenyan safari. When I was still married, a week on The Big Island of Hawaii was our "default" vacation every fall.

But, I fell in love with Italy, especially Florence. For some reason, I feel totally at ease and at home there. I try to get back there and wander the city and countryside at least every other year. I wish I could do more than a week at a time, but alas, work and the limited Paid Time Off I have do not allow that anymore.