Cradle of Civilization Cruise

Truly a trip of a lifetime, Agnes and I were blown away by the wonders of the world found on our recently completed cruise around the Eastern Mediterranean.

It all started not that long ago in March of this year when it looked like it might just be a good time for both of us to go on a trip we had both been thinking about for a long time.  Egypt and Greece have always been on our list of "must see" countries and up to this point, I had always envisioned flying directly to both of those countries and spending time there on separate vacations.  I already had the Sofitel Hotel picked out in Cairo, near the pyramids, and was talking to a couple of sailboat charters in Athens since I imagined it would be great to take a week or so on a small boat sailing the Cyclades islands, like Santorini and Mykonos.  I suppose a trip to the Holy Land was something else I thought would be great, but one thing at a time!

Ultimately, though, doing two separate vacations--much less three, if you counted the Holy Land--would prove not only time consuming, but expensive.  But, hey, I am a travel agent, so could I get some kind of deal?  Long story short: not really.  Airfare is expensive for everyone--including travel agents--and the margins on hotel, resort and cruise vacations remain fairly slim.  Every now and again, you get a new resort that wants to promote their place with offers for industry insiders and cruise lines will offer what's called "fam" or familiarization rates for short sailings primarily out of Florida, but you still have to fly to those places and there aren't any real discounts there.  And, yes, I do get a commission on vacations that I book, including my own trips, but the savings on that is a very small percentage since the difference between wholesale and retail prices is slight in the travel industry.

 Based on my own experience, though, I knew that a cruise would be a way of killing two or maybe even three birds with one stone.  I knew also that Royal Caribbean does a lot of Mediterranean cruises in the late Spring, Summer and early Fall and their prices would be about the best you could get for that type of excursion.  Clearly, I would be looking for probably one of their last Mediterranean sailings for 2012 since I can always see prices drop the later in the season it gets.  This is partly due to the fact that September and October are almost always the best time to go anywhere from a price standpoint--the kids are back in school, people have already done their summer vacations, etc.--but also because late October in parts of the Mediterranean start becoming more brisk and less summery.

There was still some decision-making that needed to take place, however, because Royal Caribbean had several ships in the Med all on different schedules going to different places at different times throughout October.  Likewise, when you are looking at doing a cruise, there can be MAJOR differences in price depending on whether you are doing an Inside (windowless) cabin, Oceanview (usually a large porthole or small window), Balcony (a small, private porch attached to your cabin that lets you sit out in the open air) or Suite (basically a super-sized Balcony).    Ultimately, we chose a Balcony cabin because: a) its still cheaper than a hotel room, b) there would be a lot to see on this particular cruise and c) well, you only go around once and, as I have heard it said before: "You'll regret what you didn't do in life a lot more than what you did do".  See the photo below and consider for yourself whether we made the right decision or not though...

The absolutely still waters of the Mediterranean as seen from our 

balcony cabin aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas