Cruising? That’s not traveling
Don’t get him wrong. Arthur Frommer likes cruises but “travel, it’s not.”
“At best, it’s a prelude to travel, like the appetizers that precede a meal, like an hors d’oeuvre. It’s like those whirlwind tours by escorted motor coach that used to bring you 13 countries in 14 days,” said the 80-year-old Frommer, the dean of travel writing whose best-selling books years ago told tourists how to do Europe on $5 a day.
At most stops, he complains, cruisers have six-or-so hours to look around, always sensitive to the fact that they must return to the ship in time – or else the vessels will sail on without its passenger.
“If the stop is on a small island (Mykonos, Santorini) or coastal resort (Kusadasi in Turkey), you alight at a once-charming village that’s been transformed into a crowded shopping center,” he writes.
Even on those occasional stops (like Istanbul) where the ship stays overnight, the arrival usually is in the early afternoon, and the next day’s departure also is early afternoon, “so you have only a few hours on each of those days to explore the city,” Mr Frommer says.
So why was his own Mediterranean cruise “loads and loads of fun”?
Because of the company of others. And the experience is one of “almost unimaginable luxury” with great food, every kind of exercise known to man, swimming pools and lawn games. The service was great and there were bars and lounges of all types, as well as libraries and internet rooms and enrichment lectures and plenty of ice cream.
“So do I recommend a Mediterranean cruise? I sure do! But don’t call it “travel,” Frommer writes.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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