I’ve been working continuously for ten years now. No holidays, no vacations, no nothing. All of the money I’ve earned is mostly spent on trivial stuff and there’s really nothing exciting about that. I want to travel the world. I want to breathe without thinking about a deadline tomorrow.
Luckily, my ever-supportive boss saw through my needs and gave me a one-month vacation. At first, I thought I was unreasonably suspended, but then I realized, he was serious. This was my chance to have my longest vacation in a lifetime. First thing I thought about was a cruise.
I have always wanted to travel the oceans and visit key destinations for the longest time. And here was a great offer from Holland America Cruise Lines that I wanted to take: a 10-day European-Mediterranean cruise that will take me to Civitavecchia (Rome); Livorno (Florence) Italy; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Barcelona, Spain; Mallorca (Palma), Spain; Carthage/Tunis (La Goulette),; Palermo, Sicily, Italy; Naples, Italy. This cruise will only cost me $2,388.15 from an Oceanview stateroom, and I couldn’t ask for more.
Holland America Cruise Lines is at par with the great destinations they offer, and their ship’s features are far from modest. They’re marvelous. They have a spa onboard, where I could have a massage and relax. They also have various gourmet dining restaurants that cater to every meal anytime. They also have art auctions and galleries that are extensive in range and number, which will sate every art aficionado.
To entertain their passengers, they also have live music and dancing in their bars and lounges, some old and new movies at their movie theater, and a casino for the hearty gamblers. What’s so amazing is that they also have a Culinary Arts Center onboard where guest chefs can be seen to prepare gourmet dishes, and passengers, both young and old, can partake in the cooking activities. They also offer various digital workshops on digital photography, video editing, blogging and web skills to all passengers while on board.
All of these surprised me. I’ve always thought that cruising was all sun and sea. But to my delight, I can now live in my modern world while living like a pirate for a few days without setting foot on land.
