Going Nowhere on a Cruise

But, the concept of cruising has just never really appealed to me. My wife would like to go on a cruise, but I keep explaining that the idea makes me feel claustrophobic. I have these visions of being stuck on this boat with a bunch of people that are gorging themselves on food and drink and gambling and shopping and lying around in lawn chairs sunbathing. None of which sounds the least bit interesting to me. I enjoy none of those things.

Well, our cruising friends told us about an idea they had for me to test out a cruise and at least take a step in the direction of considering a longer cruise with my wife. They told us about a little know type of cruise that is offered by most of the different cruise lines called a cruise to nowhere. This is a short cruise of only a couple of days where the ship will leave a port like Miami and just go out into the ocean for a couple days and then come right back to the port where they departed from. There are no stops along the way and hence it is called a cruise to nowhere because, technically, you don't go anywhere.

There are Norwegian cruises to nowhere and Carnival cruise to nowhere and most of the other major lines also offer them. But, the trick is that they do not advertise them. These short cruises are only offered through select travel agents and directly to previous cruise line customers. They are specifically arranged so that people like me can "test drive" a cruise and see how the like it. Either that or to let previous customers and VIPs come see a new ship when it is first brought into service.

And so, we will be taking our first cruise in a couple of months. And it will be a cruise to nowhere that leaves from Los Angeles (Long Beach actually). After that, who knows? My wife certainly hopes that it will lead to a nice longer cruise in the Caribbean!