2023 travel plans - need advice

[drcam]

Hello, wondering if anyone here can help here.

I am booked to go on a trip to the Middle East and South Africa in October-November this year. All flights have been booked, and I am spending some time in the USA first. However, I have just been notified of a 40-day Holland America cruise to South America and Antarctica departing from Florida. The price is really tempting.
This is a major bucket list item but I notice that I may be amongst the youngest people on the cruise at only 43, and there are quite a lot of sea days where I prefer to make full use of my vacation time with cultural experiences.

Also it took me an age to co-ordinate all my J redemption flights for US to Middle East to South Africa back to Oz.

The other issue is that the Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo may not be open when I am scheduled to be there.

So which alternative should I take?

 

[bPeteb]

Hello, wondering if anyone here can help here.

I am booked to go on a trip to the Middle East and South Africa in October-November this year. All flights have been booked, and I am spending some time in the USA first. However, I have just been notified of a 40-day Holland America cruise to South America and Antarctica departing from Florida. The price is really tempting.
This is a major bucket list item but I notice that I may be amongst the youngest people on the cruise at only 43, and there are quite a lot of sea days where I prefer to make full use of my vacation time with cultural experiences.

Also it took me an age to co-ordinate all my J redemption flights for US to Middle East to South Africa back to Oz.

The other issue is that the Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo may not be open when I am scheduled to be there.

So which alternative should I take?

Only you can answer that question Cam. My partner and I took a 25 night HAL cruise back in 2007 when he was 38 and I was 44. Back to back Venice - Lisbon Lisbon - Rio. We had a fantastic time. bAlt was def one of the, if not the youngest, adult passenger onboard. It was on the now sold off Rotterdam. Gorgeous ship. Great itinerary. Great food. Great people of many ages, the majority 50+. The longer the cruise the older the average age.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm a newbie to blue water cruising and Antarctica (booked for this December, def bucket list job), but two things I would look at closely are the size of the vessel and the time of visit to Antarctica.

From my research, the cheaper cruises are at the coughpier (literally ) end of the Antarctic season and in larger vessels. I'm no expert in either, so hopefully others can opine. Also beware of headline cabin prices - the cheap ones can be very ordinary, and if you are prone to sea sickness, the more stable cabins are usually up a price band.

I too don't look forward to 'sea days', as I always like to be doing something, but I'll suck it up this time. I'm cruising from Puerto Williams, the very tip of Sth America, so only a handful of sea days.

If the cruise stacks up on price/size/timing, I'd go for it with the caveat that you've go years ahead of you travelling so if its not right what you want, there will be others.

Definitely don't plan on the GEM being open .... anytime soon!

 

[bPeteb]

As RooF has said Antarctica cruises are a different thing. We've been lucky enough to visit Antarctica on an expedition of the Ross Sea. With HAL it will be scenic cruising with no peninsula landings. It's only expedition cruises that allow you that opportunity. But scenic will be spectacular, if a giant tease. Unlike RooF we like sea days My partner eventually gets fidgetty, but I can sit and stare out at the sea for days.

 

[drcam]

I don't need a landing - I am sure this will not be my last trip to Antarctica and I will be better able to afford a landing trip when I am older. But it potentially ticks off a lot of my South American bucket list items.

November is okay in terms of sunshine hours - if a little more cold than Christmas.

Had a great time on Oceania last year where the average age was about 80 - was the youngest adult except for a uni student cruising with his very generous mother, and a handful of gay couples. The people I met were lovely and they had a lifetime of stories to tell.

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2023

That being said, I've done so much preparation for my original trip. Reading up about Egypt and the Bible. And Middle Eastern natural scenery is no slouch by world standards (at least as far as I know).

 

[Catardale]

Hello, wondering if anyone here can help here.

I am booked to go on a trip to the Middle East and South Africa in October-November this year. All flights have been booked, and I am spending some time in the USA first. However, I have just been notified of a 40-day Holland America cruise to South America and Antarctica departing from Florida. The price is really tempting.
This is a major bucket list item but I notice that I may be amongst the youngest people on the cruise at only 43, and there are quite a lot of sea days where I prefer to make full use of my vacation time with cultural experiences.

Also it took me an age to co-ordinate all my J redemption flights for US to Middle East to South Africa back to Oz.

The other issue is that the Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo may not be open when I am scheduled to be there.

So which alternative should I take?

I’d wait to take the cruise. You will definitely be one of the youngest at a mere 43.