Well, the first part’s true, not sure about the second part. I’ve been pretty critical of ‘cruising’ as a means of vacation - not to be confused with sailing as a means of transport.

I’ve done the freighter thing - down the west coast, just as a test (loved it!) And I’ve done the ‘Blue Lagoon Cruise’ through bits of Fiji, as any regular reader of this blog can attest. But to actually join throngs of puffy white people (statistically, people of colour don’t ‘cruise’ much) to fight over deck chairs and melon slices has never entered my mind as an option - EVER!

Truth be told, this cruise is a bit of a ‘freebie’, so my attitude has been to allow it to take place with me in it as an ‘all-expenses-paid’ means to find out whether I like it or not. In other words, if I hate it at least it didn’t cost me anything!

Shallow, cynical, jaundiced, prejudiced, one-sided, opinionated… yup - all of the above.

Regardless, I first spend two days in Istanbul, followed by 12 days cruising through the Eastern Med with stops at Izmir, Alexandria, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Corfu and finally Athens for two days, then back to Vancouver. How bad can it be…?

I’ll let you know on June 3rd when I return!