Travel

Making the most of it…

I’m writing from onboard an all-inclusive cruise, where you don’t worry about shelling out extra dollars for your excursions. All you need decide is which ones you’d like to do. Therein lies the difficulty or, rather, difficulties.

As the cruise has progressed and I’ve experienced almost all I elected to do, it has become crystal clear I didn’t do enough homework. I failed to research fuller details about the attractions of each excursion, how likely each was to hold my interest and, equally importantly, how easy or difficult each was. I didn’t look at excursions I selected in terms of the whole itinerary, instead selecting in a piecemeal fashion what seemed the best options. And I am not I alone. Several others have remarked they’ve seen too many temples and shrines. For others, it’s too many gardens. My own husband is now cherry-blossomed out and wonders why the 1,000 perfectly good photos from last year, or even 12 years ago will not suffice! Almost at the end now, we’ve decided to forego the last couple of excursions in favour of our own exploration although we have effectively paid for them by way of a higher cruise fare. Of course, I have still enjoyed myself – and learned heaps about places I’d never before visited. Some were stellar, a couple of others rather mediocre but all up, it has been a great experience. My disappointment is not just in my own failure to do better research but also in the cruise line’s descriptions. I know they are pretty much just passing on descriptions given by ground operators but these lacked a lot of useful detail – why you might find this tour appealing, why it is significant enough to include and how much might be possible for someone with some physical restrictions. Almost all tours on our cruise itinerary were described as having either ‘a reasonable amount’ or ‘a lot’ of walking such that one of my own group, who could not walk long distances, had elected not to do any excursions. Yet David and I found there were several where our friend would have confidently managed enough of the tour at her own pace without inconveniencing others, and thoroughly enjoyed herself. I appreciate there do need to be guidelines but the ones provided seemed to sway too far towards caution and discouragement without offering a compromise option. I feel more thought could have gone into providing a better range of tours, and perhaps identifying them as cultural or historical or lifestyle. There was a lot of sameness. One passenger said she would like to have done ikebana, another to have had more food experiences. For example, we went to two fabulous fish markets where you can select your fish downstairs and take it upstairs to your choice of restaurant for cooking. But we were only there to look not cook and taste …. How wonderful that would have been! integral part of your journey. This is why a good company will differentiate between ‘seeing’ or ‘viewing’ and ‘entering’. And even then it might not be as you had anticipated – our tour yesterday took us to Tokyo Tower but disappointingly only to the first level where the view is less dramatic.

I’m considering putting my hand up for a new job. If any cruise or coach tour would like me to road-test their excursions prior to sale, I’m here … In the meantime, I encourage you to maximise your holiday enjoyment by fully researching the tours on offer, prior to departure. At Trendsetter, we’re happy to guide you. 

While all cruise lines are sensitive about ‘safe’ experiences, and possibly Australians are more adventurous than our American cruise counterparts, couldn’t we have some exciting options? Please?

Exactly the same principles can be applied to coach tours. Be it cruise or coach, or your own individually constructed holiday, sightseeing is an

Words by

Adrienne Witteman Managing Director

Trendsetter Travel & Cruise Centre 9428 5900 I www.trendsettertravel.com.au