Although having travelled extensively, going on cruises haven’t previously been my ‘Go To’ method of exploring an area, mostly because I like to really experience a culture hands on and for me that includes waking up in it, walking around it all day, and eating and breathing whatever local area I am in to really get a good feel for it.

Recently, myself and my partner had an itinerary gap of about a week in a 3 week trip. We had very clear requirements of weeks 2 and 3 (attend a wedding in New York City and then coastline drive from San Francisco back to LA before flying home from there).

However, Week 1 was a bit of a loose end for us. So we were workshopping a whole variety of ideas. We wanted to do a sailing trip or a kitesurfing trip (learning to sail is one of our current projects) but sadly, the winds were low at that time of year. We threw around Miami as an option, but having been there recently and it being a very similar place to our home town, it didn’t seem too logical. We had pretty much ticked off the mainland places we wanted to in South West USA, so were heavily focused on water based options. We considered the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands… but we didn’t want to lose massive amounts of time in transit either. This was probably the first time that we didn’t have a really clear place that we wanted to go, and so we decided to have a look at the options Royal Caribbean Cruises had to offer.

We decided to use it as an opportunity to check out a few places that hadn’t been on our radar to visit, as a bit of a test and learn experience. So we could drop in for the day, have a look around and work out if it is an area we would want to go back to for a longer time.

I had previously considered cruises a bit sterile, somewhat limited in terms of the genuine opportunity they give to feel the culture of where you are going due to the industry that is set up around them. I remember being on the Isle of Capri and having a boat load of cruise guests descend upon the island. Quaint streets filled with locals turned into the loud cacophony of tourists working out how much they could fit in before their 4pm boarding time. I shudder at the memory.

I remember wondering at the time how genuinely are you really seeing a place when 2000 of the people in it have just got off the same boat as you? And when there are a 100 local vendors in your face as soon as you step off the boat? So this was the question that I was looking to answer, and to understand what impact that did have on our experience of a place. When I visit somewhere, making a genuine contribution to the local economy in a manner as sustainable as I can manage is important to me and I wanted to test if this was achievable as well.

We chose the 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise departing from Orlando, with ports at Roatan, Honduras; Cozumel, Mexico; Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico and George Town, Grand Cayman. None of those locations had been on my radar to visit, and at each location we had the day to explore. We had options to pre-organise day trips at each location (referred to as Royal Caribbean Shore Excursions), you could get off the boat and organise your own DIY adventure, or you could remain on the boat.

Our adventures in port included swimming with stingrays & snorkelling in Grand Cayman (arranged via Royal Caribbean), hiring a jeep in Cozumel and doing our own road trip, going on a dune buggy adventure in Puerto Costo Maya (organised in port), and renting a scooter in Roatan where we went on an adventure to see local towns and communities, and did some snorkelling at a local beach and ate fresh seafood while drinking rum punch.

Stingray City, George Town

Beach cruising in Dune Buggies

Each of these were really great and particularly the ones where we went our own way we are able to get a bit more of the local flavour, and we had a much stronger sense of the local vibe doing things this way. Doing 2 arranged trips and 2 of our own gave us a nice blend of all of the options. We did particularly enjoy when we were driving ourselves around to be able to pull in and stop anywhere we felt like – the downside to this was taking it easy on the local beers! And there is something to be said for not really having to think too much on a holiday which is where the arranged trips can come in handy also.

Dune Buggy adventure

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

Roatan, Honduras

Overall, we would happily take a Royal Caribbean cruise again. I think it is great for people who may not have particular places they want to see but just want to visit new places, great for big groups travelling together, and is very genuinely something that people of all ages can make work for them.

Highlights of a cruise:

•Great way to get a taste test of a place – do you enjoy it enough to go back?

•Variety of food options. Seriously, there was a lot of food. Plenty of options and great quality (especially considering the number of people they are cooking for)!

•Plenty of entertainment for the big kids (bars, gyms, rock climbing, FlowRider stand up surfing, nighttime shows, nightclubs, on deck dance parties).

•Entertainment for the actual kids (organised activities, movies, ice skating, etc, depending on your ship). To be clear, we weren’t travelling with kids so I didn’t pay this element a lot of attention but I could see that the kids around us were having a pretty great time!

•A real variety of non sporting/physical options on board – both free and paid. Everything from poker to cocktail making, shopping to trivia, there was absolutely something for everyone.

•Hotel on a ship – the convenience of waking up in a new location without having to pack and unpack was a huge bonus! To be able to look out your window in the morning and be pulling up to a new destination was pretty great.

The Not So Great parts:

•Sea sickness – ocean sailing is not for everyone. If you suffer from this or think you may, pack some sea sickness tablets.

•By the end of the week you tend to see the same people everywhere…. and they may not be the people you want to see!

•There is no getting around the fact that a large cruise ship is going to have thousands of other people on it, which, naturally has it’s drawbacks. The workaround here is all in the scheduling. Work out the things you want to do the most, and get there early enough to make sure you don’t miss it.

Two beautiful ladies docked together – Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas & Liberty of the Seas

When I am planning a weekend getaway with my very favourite person, there are a few things that I always look for. Active options are a big requirement, but we also like to have plenty of opportunities to relax.… And we are lucky in Australia to have so many great options. The Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Sunshine Coast, and Hamilton Island are all favourites for a lot of people. But we have so many other lesser known spots that are also worth a visit. So I have put together a couple of our favourite weekend spots to visit with the perfect mix of romantic setting, but with plenty of scope for adventure to go with it!

Fraser Island

We visited Fraser Island for a weekend last year, and were absolutely blown away. It had always been one of those places that international visitors seemed to talk about but no one I really knew had been there, or if they had, didn’t seem to say much about it. But when we got there, wow.

For our first visit to the island, we opted to stay at Kingfisher Bay resort, which is the only resort/hotel on the island. The Seabelle Restaurant is a must do here – think indigenous bush tucker cuisine. Absolutely incredible, my mouth is watering just remembering how happy my tastebuds were that night. There are also cabin and camping options on the other side of the island but for our first trip we wanted to keep things simple. The hotel is based right on the beach, and watching the sunset at the aptly named Sunset Bar at the jetty is another must do. Truly magic!

We chose to take the Beauty Spots 4WD tour  of the island which gave us a really good overview of the island, and got to see a lot of the absolutely stunning scenery without needing to do the hard driving ourselves. A great way to get a taste for the sights of Fraser Island, but it is definitely a bumpy trip!! Eli Creek was one of my favourites. Such a sweet peaceful little spot and if you go right upstream you feel like you never have to go back to the real world….

An added option at 75 Mile Beach (and worth every cent!!!) is the Air Fraser Island scenic  flight. It was such an incredible way to see the island and we were lucky enough to see a whale from the air. The planes are quite small which means that every one has a window seat and is getting an amazing view at all times.

Considerations:

• Depending on where you are coming from, it may need 2 flights (connecting via Brisbane into Hervey Bay (which may mean it may be more of a long weekend…not necessarily a bad thing). Most people get across the island via ferry from River heads.
• Depending of the time of the year, you may need to watch out for dingos. Apparently, if you stay facing them, you will be ok. But if you show them your butt, they will eat it like toast. And your butt will be sore.
• Apart from that….nothing….unless you are a terrible person that hates nature and the wondrous beauty of the world 🙂

Kakadu, NT

This one was a happy accident for us. On the back of a Darwin work trip, we decided to see what the NT had to offer. And boy, were we happy that we did. We had 2 days only so this was a super quick trip for us. I flew in at about 11pm on a Friday night, we stayed at an airport motel and got going first thing Saturday morning. We knew what we wanted to check out and had a drive plan to get there, and only tweaked this based on some local advice. FYI, the invaluable advice was to visit Maguk Gorge instead of the more popular and well known options. This place was heaven and we did not regret it! If you are after an adventure that is (literally) off the beaten track, and an amazing adventure that few people (even us Aussies) will actually do in their lifetime. For more info, check out my guest post over at Wood & Luxe 48 Hours in Kakadu for all the details.

Highlights

• Yellow River cruise. We did this at sunrise (pictured above). There are no words. This is not an optional tour. if you come to Kakadu and do not see this area, you have not really been to Kakadu.
• Maguk Gorge
• Ubirr rock – a great spot to visit at sunset if you can manage it
• The Spectacular Jumping Crocodile river tour (fairly self explanatory! Further info at jumpingcrocodile.com.au

Considerations:

• Get ready to drop some dollars…. when a pad thai costs $25 you know shit is getting real. The reality is that this place is remote. So therefore it costs money to get resources there, and as the end consumer you will end up paying this price. Which, i should add, I consider for the most part to be worth it (although TBH the pad thai was only ok. Side note, it definitely feels odd to be in an outback restaurant in Kakadu where the only menu options are Thai. What, no kangaroo?) But in general, NT is not the cheapest place.
• You need to be prepared to hit the road. Too see the good stuff, you need to be happy driving. We rented a sweet FJ cruiser so we were all set and had an epic time – so much so that i wanted to take it home (this seems to be a common issue for me when renting large 4WD vehicles).
• A lot of roads can only be accessed by 4WD. So if you are self driving, keep this in mind.
• Consider Litchfield National Park if you aren’t keen to venture quite that far. By all accounts it is amazing.

Maleny

Picture this…a stunning hinterland view cottage. Local markets, cute towns everywhere, beautiful hikes everywhere. See them, or stay in your cute house and don’t see anything else. Heaven either way.

There is something mystical and magical about this area. It is ethereal somehow, particularly in winter where you see the fog rise up through the rolling hills and somehow feel like you are in a fake land that isn’t really part of this world but somehow is only an hour or so outside of Brisbane.

Considerations

• If going for option B (to stay in for the weekend), plan ahead visit a supermarket first as you would be unlikely to be in walking distance from a store unless you are right in town

Kiama

I consider this a NSW version of Maleny, although being seaside makes the scenery quite different. A quieter pace than some the options above, but still enough to give you options if you feel like exploring the area.

I have included a few of my favourite things about the area in my previous post about Kiama so check it out if you haven’t already.

Highlights:

• Crooked River Winery – a truly spectacular view with beautiful food and wine to enjoy it with!
• Kiama Blowhole and the surrounding walks

Considerations:

• Approximately a 2 hour drive south of Sydney

Enjoy! And as always, feel free to contact me for any questions you might have!

New York has a reputation for being one of the most expensive cities to spend time in. And it absolutely can be. But on my last visit, I set a challenge to survive New York for a day at minimal cost. And actually, it was a really fun day! Here is a snapshot of how the day went and my tips on what to wear and take with you.

To kick start the day, coffee and a bagel are required (because, New York). Head to your nearest deli (and there plenty of these in NYC to choose from). With a variety of options, breakfast is doable for between $5-10 depending on your appetite and if you drink coffee. While you are at this deli, buy a large bottle of water and grab something you can take with you for lunch (and a piece of fruit or healthy snack to keep you going). Snacks, water and a sandwich should set you back $12-15.

After you are all set from the deli, it’s time to get going! The best way to really take in New York’s amazing variety of sights, sounds and smells is on foot, so get walking. Where are you walking? Towards Central Park! Depending on where you are staying, this could take quite a while. For me, it was about 20 or so blocks. I walked at a very leisurely pace, stopping whenever I felt like it to check out anything that took my fancy.

Despite it’s expensive reputation, there are plenty of free things in NYC to admire that don’t cost a cent. A couple of my favourite suggested detours (again, depending on the direction you are coming from) would be Grand Central Station (to re-enact the opening scene of Gossip Girl, of course), and the LOVE sculpture on the corner of 6th ave & 55th st.

Once you make it to Central Park, you can head to one of the NYC Citi Bikes stations and get set up for a full day bike hire for just $12. The catch is you can use the bikes for 30 minutes at a time. (Another option if you don’t like the idea of walking all the way to Central Park is hiring a Citi Bike closer to your accommodation and riding to the park instead of walking).This works really well for checking out Central Park because it is such a large area that walking around the whole thing would really take a long time. So if you have a bit of a plan of the parts of the park you want to check out, you just ride your Citi Bike to the nearest bike station, and then park it and have a walk around. When you are ready to check out the next spot, you head back to the bike station and grab another bike.

There are so many stunning spots to set yourself up for an impromptu picnic lunch, and by now you will have well and truly earned it! And if you have really planned ahead, having a bottle of wine and some plastic cups would add the extra touch! 

Now the day is yours to explore Central Park on your bike at a leisurely pace, taking your time wherever you like. There is no schedule here and you have nowhere to be apart from exactly where you are, enjoying this magnificent piece of nature in the middle of this magnificent city. There are often free events on in the park which you may enjoy also. For movie & TV buffs, there are free walking tours available to show you the sights from famous movies and TV shows such as the Central Park Movie and TV Tour which can be done as a self guided tour.

Once you have had your fill of Central Park, either ride or walk on down to Times Square. Whilst plenty of money can be spent here, it is one of the best places in the world for people watching, which is totally free! For dinner, you can find a slice of pizza or something similar for about $5 to enjoy as you take in all the bright lights.

What to wear: Something that you are comfortable walking and bike riding in. Weather dependent, but on warmer days this may be comfortable shorts and a tank top, and in cooler weather perhaps jeans, a shirt, and a jacket if needed. In the middle of winter you will need to layer up and definitely take a scarf and gloves! Flat shoes only for this day trip – no heels will survive ladies!

What you will need: Water, a hat, sunscreen, and your wallet.

Over all, this day can be done for about $40-50. A major benefit is all of the activity, which is great for working off some of those calories you may have picked up on holiday food on the rest of the trip 😉 but more importantly is such a pleasant way to take in the sights of this beautiful city.

Enjoy!