Our approach to spending winters at sea has noticeably changed over the past few years, so I thought it might be time for another FAQ post. You can find the first two FAQ blog posts here and here. When we’re home I frequently receive emails from people who are curious about what it’s like to do extended travel, and this post will address their most common questions. First, though, I really can’t say any longer that we spend “winters at sea”. Lately, we spend autumns at sea, and part of our winters in Hawaii. That’s why I started calling them our “seasons” of cruising.
We used to spend all your time in the Caribbean; lately we’ve done more world travels. Did we get bored? What changed?
No, we didn’t get bored. My very favorite vacation still involves swimming at a different beach every day, and it’s hard to top the Caribbean for that. And we always keep the Caribbean in mind as a backup in case our more complex plans fall through. Even during The Summer of No Fun, we took great solace in believing that, at a minimum, we’d get to the Caribbean for a few weeks of cruising.
But three things changed that motivated us to go further afield. First, we became more comfortable with preparing our house to be gone for several months at a time. When we began doing extended cruising in the Caribbean, we were real novices at winterizing our home, and we appreciated being a quick flight(s) away in the event of an emergency. Thankfully, we’ve had some great luck and wonderful neighbors, and grew more confident each year in being away.
Second, technology has advanced exponentially. We used to think it was a wonder that we could pay all of our bills from our iPhones, but we’re way past that now. We monitor and control everything at the house, inside and out, on our iPhones. Lights and sound control, furnace thermostat temperature and fan speed, alarm notifications, audio and visual security cams...they're all in the palms of our hands wherever we are. USPS’ Informed Delivery app even shows us a photo of each piece of First Class mail that’s delivered. Technology has been a game changer for travelers in a thousand ways.
And, finally, my mom is now safely and contentedly ensconced in her own apartment in a retirement community. Gone are the days when, still living alone in her house, she would email me in the morning to let me know she was okay, and I would log onto ship WiFi as soon as I opened my eyes to check for that email. When I wouldn’t receive one, I’d phone her over the internet. If she didn’t answer, I’d phone her neighbor, and too often there was bad news. Now, I know she is looked after, she doesn’t have to go out in the snow, and if I don’t hear from her, it’s generally because of her busy social calendar.
And, really, it’s not just my mom’s health that we need to consider. G and I know we have a current window of opportunity to travel as we do, but that window naturally narrows a little every year. And I’m fairly certain that we won’t want (even if we’re able, 'cause this kind of travel is work!) to do this ten years from now, so we are making the most of today. I’ve said in the past that we are not getting any younger, the flights are not getting any shorter and the world is not getting any safer. The time to go is now.
How do we choose which itineraries to cruise / regions to visit?
This has been different for each of our past four seasons. Sometimes the ship has driven our choice; other years it’s been the itinerary. A couple of lucky years, it’s been both. We both decided last year that being gone for four months is just right, not too long or too short. In a perfect world we’d leave home by the end of October and return by the end of February, so we focus on cruises offered within those dates and adjust a bit when necessary. And, obviously, we're not big fans of sea days. Some people are sea days people; we like them too, but only occasionally and only when we’ve exhausted ourselves after several port or travel days.
Four years ago we chose French Polynesia on the Pacific Princess because…well, it was French Polynesia! And we loved French Polynesia and the Pacific Princess so much we repeated the itineraries again the next year, initially intending to do the full South Pacific season (Vancouver back to Los Angeles) the second time around. In the end, we dropped two cruises and added a week on both Easter Island and Rarotonga, and that will forever be my favorite season of cruising. However, leaving home so early (September 4) was difficult, and the preparation really cut into our summer.
Two years ago it was all about the Pacific Princess. That ship was in the Mediterranean, so we started there, endured the December transatlantic, reveled in the holiday cruise on a small ship in the Caribbean and actually added 17 more days through the Panama Canal when the weather at home was so wintry. That was also the first time we stayed in Hawaii for an extended period of time, unsure of how we’d like it. We loved it.
Last year, our choice was all about the itineraries. I think that Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific are our favorite destinations that Princess currently offers. Had it not been for the fact that this year Sydney is the home base only for the Sun Princess and the Majestic Princess, neither of which particularly appeal to us, we’d be down there again. We love Aussies! We love cruising out of Sydney! (We love Grand Class ships when we can't be on the Pacific Princess!) And we really enjoy it when we can do back to back cruises and get some variety in their itineraries, like we did last year.
And, once again this year, our season has been itinerary driven. In fact, it’s been so itinerary driven that we are cruising on three different ships to shape our season to our desire.
I think that taking a cruise simply to be on a ship is really not our goal right now. It has been in the past, and probably will be again in the future. But right now, the ports are what are compelling us to cruise. If we survive this year’s pace, I can see us possibly bookending our seasons with Princess cruises, and then doing some exploring on our own in between them, allowing us to get to places unreachable by ship. We are huge fans of Princess’ Flexible EZ Air, and beginning and ending our season with a Princess cruise allows us to book international flights at a fraction of their commercial rates, and not pay for them until final payment. We are flying from home to London and from Shanghai to Honolulu for far less than half the cost of our Venice to Dubai and Dubai to Singapore flights. That’s the beauty of Princess' Flexible EZ Air.
What’s the best part of extended traveling?
Without a doubt it’s the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the areas we’re visiting. They say that cruising is traveling wider, not deeper, and that’s true. But by staying longer in an area and visiting places multiple times, we like to think we’re doing a bit more than scratching the surface. And hand in hand with that goes the opportunity to meet crew members and fellow guests and locals from all over the world. Nothing pleases us more than returning to a port and being greeted with a hug by someone who remembers us from last month or last year. We love getting on a Princess ship and being surprised by all the familiar faces we see among the crew. And, though it happens far less on cruises outside the Caribbean, other passengers will come up to us and remember exactly when they last cruised with us (we might be able to pinpoint the ship and year, but the specific cruise often eludes us).
And, naturally, being waited on hand and foot for several months on a cruise ship is pretty darn nice, too!
And, naturally, being waited on hand and foot for several months on a cruise ship is pretty darn nice, too!
What’s the worst part of extended traveling?
I used to say I missed people and high speed internet (in an order I wouldn’t admit to) but those have both eased a lot. The boys are freshmen in high school and, between school, two sports and activities, they maintain a schedule that boggles the mind. During the school year, I see them mostly at their events, and while I horribly miss watching them compete while we’re away…well, they’re teens, and leaving them is not as angst-ridden for any of us as it was eight years ago.
Having the T-Mobile cell phone plan with its unlimited free 2G data and texting virtually everywhere in the world has been a game changer. It may not be fast data, but we can reliably count on having free internet access in just about every port. It’s a huge stress reducer, and it has made it exponentially easier to stay in touch with friends and family, too.
What I miss most now, ironically, is having a normal life when I’m home. Really, our travels overshadow everything, and it is never far from our minds that we will be leaving again in ___ days. (In fact, G first announced our departure this year when the countdown clock hit 200 days, and my stomach literally clenched). There are a lot of things we can’t or don’t do because we either can’t commit or time is short, so there is no point in making the effort. Our winter travels change the way we live our lives year-round.
One example: I used to love having big planters of flowers and herbs on our deck, but it required a lot of time to set them up in late May and then empty them, clean them and pack them away for the winter. I started doing that earlier and earlier each year to get the task out of the way, because we’d be so busy just before we left, and eventually there were only three or four good weeks between the time the plants got really beautiful and when I was emptying them out. Then the year we left for French Polynesia in early September, we just skipped them altogether, and haven’t had them since. I miss them.
It’s a small thing, and certainly the trade off is worthwhile, but it is important to point out that the mindset is definitely different from taking a one or four week vacation. Instead of being people whose heads are at home but who travel occasionally, it feels more like we’re people whose heads are traveling, but we’re home occasionally.
Have I always had the travel bug?
Haha. Sometimes I wonder if I have it now. To slightly paraphrase the saying about boat ownership…the two best days of a trip are those when we leave home and when we return home.
So, acknowledging the fact that there is no place like home (because there isn’t), I guess I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I wasn’t looking for my next adventure. When I was young, we almost exclusively camped, and I think I had seen most of the states east of the Mississippi by the time I was 11. I loved it, but was becoming increasingly aware that there was a lot more world out there to see. My Aunt Mary went to Hawaii when I was about 9 and I was absolutely gobsmacked by that, as it was the first time that I remembered someone I knew actually flying somewhere, let alone some place as exotic as Hawaii.
Then I graduated from college and my new boss called me to tell me my first day wouldn’t be in the office; I should meet the audit team at the airport. It was my first flight ever and I was over the moon…for the first month or so. Sadly, adding "business" to "travel" subtracted most of the fun (though I managed to squeeze in a lot of nice weekends over the years at company expense), and working long hours didn’t help. I wanted nothing more than to spend any time off in pressure-free days at home.
Fifteen or so years into our marriage, the desire to travel returned in earnest, and we spent three weeks in Hawaii and took our first cruise to Alaska. Unfortunately, the Army was still telling G where he’d be traveling, but I made several trips on my own, or with my mom, or with friends I’d met along the way. I was fitting travel in around doing some consulting until I finally decided to spend some of the money I’d been making and get more serious about seeing the world. And when I wasn’t traveling, I was reading about it. I would literally read guide books front to back, even when I had no plans to visit that destination.
Then, we both retired, and G came up with this crazy "winters at sea" idea, and…well, you know the rest of the story. I remember years ago being told that, in choosing a life partner, it was important to be of the same religion, the same background and with the same spending habits. Hogwash. While I'll firmly agree with the one about spending habits, I would say the others are that you equally enjoy watching sports (particularly football) on TV and have the same desire to travel, whether that means frequently, infrequently or not at all.
I’ve long been fascinated by how kids teach us so much, and it happened again last May. The boys and their family (including their two older sisters) went to Iceland for a week. The night before they left, I was talking with McGee and he said, “NeeNee, I just have no idea what to expect”. And in that moment, I realized that is what I love most about travel. I wake up every morning having no idea of what the day might bring. It’s hard to match that excitement at home. It also explains why I have become a bit more of a "travel by the seat of my pants"-type person in recent years.
How much longer will we do this?
On this one, my answer is unchanged. I really don’t know. In our ninth year of extended cruising, we’re visiting so many new ports that it’s clearly a capstone year for us. After this, with the exception of Antarctica (G still refuses to go but I promise I will get there eventually), we’ve been everywhere we can go during our winter months (we traveled to South America and Africa before I started blogging). In the future, we may have the opportunity to see a few new ports but if we cruise, we’ll definitely be repeating regions, not that we’ve ever been bothered by that.
I am fairly certain we have one more year in us after this (10 is such a nice number), but we honestly don’t know until June or July what we’ll be doing in October. I am always in awe of people who can book a cruise 18 months in advance and never have a change in plans. They book flights 330 days in advance and have independent excursions in place and know precisely how they’re getting from the airport to the ship, and even what they’ll wear on which night of their cruise at least six months ahead of time. Meanwhile, I’m currently watching the weather forecast in London to get some idea about what we might be doing a couple of days from now.
You can see why predicting if and where we’ll be cruising a year from now is a futile effort. ;-)
Do we still pack all that stuff when we cruise?
Well, we would if we could. If we were flying Southwest with its two free checked bags per person to Fort Lauderdale and cruising in the same cabin on the same ship for months at a time in the Caribbean, we would definitely take floats and coolers and a beach tarp and snorkel and maybe even dive gear. We were a lot more comfortable when we could do that, and, boy, did we have some fantastic times. But the more complex the travel arrangements, the less we take with us.
This year we’ll be traveling for four months through several climate zones, and we’re each taking one checked bag weighing less than 44 pounds and one small carry on. That means we’ll no doubt run short of clothes and/or shoes, and also that we’ll be doing some toiletries shopping at Sainsburys as soon as we get to London. By the time we return home, our clothes (and possibly luggage) will be trashed but that’s fine…by then we’ll be sick of them anyway.
How do I prepare my blog posts, and how long do I spend writing them?
I get asked this a lot, because, to my delight, more and more people are writing travel blogs, and I love reading them during my long, travel-deprived summers!
For the past few years, I’ve been using an iOS app called BlogTouch Pro to write and publish my blog posts. Since Google abandoned the Blogger app, BlogTouch Pro is the only app I have found to manage a Blogspot blog on a mobile Apple device (and I refuse to travel with my laptop). However, upgrading to iOS 12 on my iPad Air 2 threw a wrench into the app. I hate iOS updates just before we leave each fall! I'm never entirely certain until the last minute if I'll even be able to publish blog posts from my iDevices. I did a screen recording that showed what I was doing when the app crashed and sent it off a week ago to the app’s developer, Alexandru Denk. Just Sunday morning, Alex emailed me that an update was available on the App Store. And that's the best thing about BlogTouch Pro; it is supported and updated on a frequent basis. Alex has also incorporated a few changes I suggested in the past, and for that I thank him very much.
How long I spend writing depends completely on what we did that day and how much energy I have after doing it. People have told me I’m dedicated, and that’s very kind, but undeserved. Dedication is something one has toward far loftier goals (like coaching Michigan to a win over Ohio State this season, Jim Harbaugh!). Actually, I’m just doggedly dutiful after 12 years of Catholic education (those nuns). I can’t draw, I can’t dance, I certainly can’t sing, but I can write. Helpfully, it’s also how I decompress and process things at the end of each day.
In the interest of getting a few more minutes of sleep each night, I’ve promised myself (and G) that my posts will be shorter this year. I mean, all my posts after this one will be shorter. ;-) but I’ve made that promise before and...well, we all know how that worked out. I definitely won’t stressing myself uploading photos from the ship. They'll get added eventually, probably from Hawaii. That worked well (at least for me) the last two years.
Do I blog while I’m home?
No, not usually. I did blog during My Summer of No Fun (which was very therapeutic), but, trust me, my life at home is pretty un-blog-worthy. However, G keeps a diary with one photo a day while we’re home. Between the two of us, we have daily life covered.
What other travel apps do I recommend?
We really make use of our iDevices all the time, but especially when we travel. They are the most valuable items on our packing lists. However (and this is my disclaimer) - it’s vital to fully understand your phone and its settings before using it outside your own country.
A word of advice...unless you have an international plan (and, even if you do, to save your battery on a full day of sightseeing), keep your phone in Airplane Mode as much as possible. Turn off automatic updates and cellular data unless you are familiar with what your plan covers and their affect on your battery life. I'm afraid I'll get an email one day from an unhappy reader who used these apps and incurred a $1500 cellular bill while on a cruise. At the same time, don't be afraid to take advantage of the many travel aids that exist on smartphones. We have used our iPhones overseas for years and never incurred a cent in unexpected additional charges.
The first thing to know about travel apps is that some of them work in the absence of an internet connection and some of them don’t. Regardless of whether you have internet access in a port, unless you’re on a ship with unlimited WiFi (lucky you!), you won’t have it for free on the ship. I used to spend a lot of time before we’d leave home putting my phone in Airplane Mode to simulate what it would be like on a ship, and to determine which apps I could still use.
In no particular order, these are my favorites:
• The apps for the airlines we’ll be flying on each season. This year, that means United, Emirates Air, Singapore Air and Air China. I download the apps, set up a log in and password (if required) and fingerprint/facial recognition log in, add our flight(s) to our profiles, and make sure our seat and meal selection is still on the record. It’s easy to check these daily in the weeks leading up to the flights. It’s also easy to complete our online check in when the time comes.
• Flight View. This is an oldie but a goodie. I add our upcoming flights to my profile, and each day check their arrival and departure times from the previous day. For our original flights from Shanghai to Honolulu, this saved us from potentially missing our connection in Tokyo. I had booked flights through Princess EZ Air, and then, checking them daily in Flight View, realized that the flight to Tokyo was never on time, and that meant we’d have to overnight in Tokyo and arrive in Hawaii a day late. We changed to a different routing, with an unusually long layover in Beijing, but our chances of making our connecting flight improved dramatically.
• Google Translate. We didn’t use this much last season (except in New Caledonia), but I have a feeling it’s going to be invaluable to us this year.
• Maps.me. This app is perfect for visiting a city in the absence of cellular data. Though we now have unlimited international data, it’s still slow, and I download the maps ahead of time on Maps.me to have as a backup.
• Units Plus. This app took the place of a couple I used in the past for currency, weather, distance and weight conversions.
• CityMapper. I just discovered this one this year, so I haven’t actually used it yet, but the trial runs I’ve done at home lead me to believe this is going to be a game changer. I have long used Google Maps for routing on public transit, but CityMapper takes that one step further with even more detailed directions (such as moving from one subway platform to another in the same station). Google Maps just assumes we’ll find our way during those connections. Not all cities are included in the app, but, fortunately, many that we'll be visiting this year are.
• Hotels.com. We are big fans of Hotels.com, not only for their great customer service but also because of their ‘one free night after 10 nights’ rewards policy. We’ve booked all of our hotel nights this season on Hotels.com. We easily manage to earn one free night at least every 12 months (based on the average price of the 10 nights), and, next year, after our stay in Dubai, that’s going to be a mighty nice perk.
• Visit a City. This app is great for providing the highlights of a city based on the length of your visit and your desired activity level. Sure, their primary focus is to sell sightseeing tours, but you don’t have to use it for that. I love having all the ‘must sees’ provided to me; I can figure out myself how I want to get to them. The plans are also handily downloadable for offline use.
• And, finally, I have the usual transfer apps (Uber and Lyft) and well as similar apps specific to the cities in which we’ll be traveling; the Trip Advisor app; and my favorite weather app, Accuweather. This one provides a 25 day extended forecast, and I’ve been checking the weather in our ports as far out as possible.
What are some of my favorite travel websites and blogs?
There are many, but these are the ones that keep me going during those long months at home:
• SV Delos
About 15 months ago, I came across the online media presence of SV Delos, a sailing yacht crewed by a variety of people who basically spend their lives traveling around the world. I found them by searching YouTube for videos of cruising in Australia and New Zealand, and after watching a few and checking out their website, realized they actually started this adventure in Mexico years earlier. The quality of their video editing and photography has grown exponentially since the beginning, so let yourself get hooked somewhere around the time they're in the Philippines or SE Asia. Their diving videos are among the best I've ever seen outside of commercial photography. They just spent six months in Brazil (incredible) and are making their way up to Grenada for hurricane season (on the videos. In real life, they're about to leave Grenada to go...somewhere). Just search on SVDelos in Google or YouTube and you'll find their stuff. It's addictive and heartwarming and sometimes just plain raucous fun.
What are some of my favorite travel websites and blogs?
There are many, but these are the ones that keep me going during those long months at home:
• SV Delos
About 15 months ago, I came across the online media presence of SV Delos, a sailing yacht crewed by a variety of people who basically spend their lives traveling around the world. I found them by searching YouTube for videos of cruising in Australia and New Zealand, and after watching a few and checking out their website, realized they actually started this adventure in Mexico years earlier. The quality of their video editing and photography has grown exponentially since the beginning, so let yourself get hooked somewhere around the time they're in the Philippines or SE Asia. Their diving videos are among the best I've ever seen outside of commercial photography. They just spent six months in Brazil (incredible) and are making their way up to Grenada for hurricane season (on the videos. In real life, they're about to leave Grenada to go...somewhere). Just search on SVDelos in Google or YouTube and you'll find their stuff. It's addictive and heartwarming and sometimes just plain raucous fun.
• Tom's Port Guides
Again this year, I downloaded Tom's port guides for the Mediterranean ports we'll be visiting. I used these extensively when we were in the Med two years ago, and their level of detail can't be beat.
• Captain, who's driving?
I mentioned this one last year, by Captain Jonathon on Holland America's Amsterdam. He's the captain for their World Cruises, so his posts are a great resource for that, but he also just returned from Alaska.
• Fungirl Across America and Beyond
I'm never sure whether I should keep the bookmark for Fungirl in my "Just for Fun" folder on Safari or in my "Travel" folder. Get ready to laugh; she could be a comedienne. I've met her, and she's even more fun in person.
• Deb's Days
A little bit of travel, a little bit of crafting, a lot of heartwarming ideas for life. Deb blogs nearly daily year-round, and for that...so much respect.
• Two to Go
I've never even communicated with Ellen and Pete, but, if they're reading here now, they'll know I'm a fan. They write like professional writers (I suspect they are/were) which is admirable, but they do it "on the run" while they're traveling (which, trust me, is much harder to do). Again, so much respect. I love that their blog isn't a diary-al listing (no, wait...that’s not quite right) of what they do each day; instead, its more reflective and emotional.
• Vickie and Bernie Travel
If it's about Princess Cruises, Vickie has it covered. She's also blogs about planning and packing tips, which are very helpful.
• My souvenir memories
Mary writes wonderful posts about her cruises on several cruise lines, accompanied by lots of great photos.
• Travel Snippets and More
Good, all around travel advice, and not just cruising-related.
• David Cross International Travels
David travels...all the time, everywhere. I discovered his blog three years ago when I was researching Easter Island. Great adventures, great photos. This one is a real keeper.
Does extended travel like this still excite us? Is taking one long cruise better than several shorter ones booked back to back? Are ten cruises in a row ten times as much fun as taking one cruise?
To the first part, yes, definitely. G has been raring to leave for months. My excitement level runs in cycles, but I will admit that sleep has been hard to come by lately. Part of it is nervousness about not forgetting anything (we’re leaving so much behind that my lists have proven to be fairly useless this year), but most of it is sheer anticipation. Of course, the closer we get to leaving the less I want to go...until I’m on my way to the airport. And then I’m all in and leading the charge. (Transitions are tough for me, but you already knew that!)
We may be unique in this, but we much prefer several shorter cruises to one long cruise. Sure, there is some disruption on turnaround days, but embarkation days bring happy new cruisers full of excitement and politeness and good cheer. In our experience (granted, based mostly on our Transatlantic and Transpacific crossings), some people get a bit grumpier and more territorial the longer they are on a ship, and long strings of bumpy sea days just exacerbate the issue.
We may be unique in this, but we much prefer several shorter cruises to one long cruise. Sure, there is some disruption on turnaround days, but embarkation days bring happy new cruisers full of excitement and politeness and good cheer. In our experience (granted, based mostly on our Transatlantic and Transpacific crossings), some people get a bit grumpier and more territorial the longer they are on a ship, and long strings of bumpy sea days just exacerbate the issue.
To the final question...no, ten weeks of cruising are not ten times as much fun as one week. They can't be. I remember how crazy with excitement I would be just before a one or three week cruise, but I don’t think the human body can appreciate or even cope with that level of euphoria for an extended period of time. I know that many people really believe that they would love to do a World Cruise or wish they could just live on a cruise ship, but we have found the reality to be quite a bit different than a single, shorter cruise - still wonderful, but different. Extended cruising is a calmer experience, an exercise in moderation.
Usually. This year, with 58 port days out of 80 days, I think it will be an exercise in endurance.
We’re ready for it. We’re excited.
Life is good. :-)
