Recently, Robert and I had our DNA tested to determine our ancestry. No surprises for either of us. Robert’s mostly English and German, and I’m mostly German and Finnish.
But when it comes to cruising, our recent adventure has convinced us that we’re really Dutch—at least in our loyalty to Holland America over Norwegian.
It’s funny, but when you’ve taken over 20 cruises like we have you can begin to forget what is really important about the experience—until the things you like the most aren’t there.
At the beginning of May, on a lark, we embarked on a 5-day repositioning cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver on Norwegian Cruise Lines. We had a great time (more about that in a moment) but we also discovered what matters to us.
For me, I now realize I like my chocolate on the pillow each night, the 8-page New York Times digest each morning, the attentive server in the Lido who keeps your coffee cup full, and the bar staff each cocktail hour who remembers that I like my martini with a lemon twist. I prefer food that doesn’t taste as though I just opened my freezer and stuck something in the microwave. And above all, I appreciate finding quiet places to read and watch the ocean go by. Our long cruises on Holland America these past few years provided those small luxuries.
I didn’t get many of these favorite moments on Norwegian, although I must admit we did enjoy some high value production shows that were pretty amazing. You just don’t expect to see an acrobat bungee jump out of the ceiling of a theater on a moving ship! Or maybe you do. On the other hand, I had more than I wanted of crowded restaurants and bars, noisy children, and endless hawking of extra services.
With Norwegian’s Freestyle (or as I liked to call it, free of style) dining, there is no need to worry about fixed locations or tables. Instead you have to worry about reservations and timing, usually well in advance, unless you want to be disappointed by a fully-booked restaurant or a missed show. You also don’t have to worry about being stuck with unpleasant dinner guests. But that’s never been our problem; instead, we found on this trip we didn’t easily meet other passengers. That was a miss. But that proved okay, because our short itinerary gave us two opportunities to meet up with folks we met on our last Holland America trip.
In San Francisco, we spent the day with John and Steve, who had been our trivia pals on the first leg of our 90-day cruise in 2016. It was great catching up. Then in Vancouver, we met Otto and Aida, two dinner mates from that same cruise. Again, it was as though we just picked up where we last ended. It was a great time in both cases.
For us, that’s the beauty of cruising. Yes, we get to see beautiful spots. And certainly Butchart Gardens in Victoria on a warm sunny spring day this May was fabulous. Enjoying so many tulips in bloom convinced we were Dutch at heart.
We also loved our walking tour of San Francisco. Hard to believe, but it was our first time in the Castro. But in the final analysis, it’s always the people we meet that make a vacation memorable.
Perhaps that’s why we still are in touch with a person we met thirty years ago on our first trans-Atlantic crossing, and why our Christmas card list contains names of people around the country and world.
So while we travel the world to see the sights, we also travel to become friends . . . because at the end of the day, we’re not really Norwegian, or Holland American, or Finnish or English or German or American. We’re just all people who are fun to know.
My newest novel, The Devil’s Analyst, is now available as a paperback or e-book on Amazon. com. To check out any of my novels, visit www.amazon.com/author/dennisfrahmann
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