One of the major knocks against going on a cruise is that if you're not immersed in the places you're going, you don't have time to see everything, do everything, and that's why you should do a land vacation. Well, obviously, I don't agree with this, but it's interesting because I thought about this particular knock on cruise, this myth, if you will, because I've spent the last two days in Lisbon, Portugal, enjoying some time pre-cruise in this city. I came in two days ahead of time for a couple of reasons.

First of all, as many of you know, I was talking about... in Lisbon, Portugal, enjoying some time pre-cruise in this city. I came in two days ahead of time

for a couple of reasons. First of all, as many of you know, I always talk about the importance of coming in at least a couple days before your cruise begins. You never want to risk it. Leave it to chance that travel delays. And I mean, these days with the airport stuff going on here in the U.S., you just can't be too sure. So I booked my flight two days early,

so that way I would come in. If there was any delays, I wouldn't have a problem. And so that allowed me not only to avoid possible, although I didn't run into any delays in my travels, but also to acclimate to the local time. You know, when you travel from the U.S. and you go to Europe, basically when you go east, jet lag is real. I mean, it's really tough. And that first day I was here, because my flight landed at, I think, like, 8 o'clock in the morning when I was at the hotel by like 9.30, you know, I was dragging by early afternoon. So jet lag is a tough one. I'm not here talking about Jellig, I'm just saying that it takes some time to adjust to it. So after two days in Lisbon, which is a fair amount of time to explore a city and more time than I would have ever had had I been on a cruise ship that visited Lisbon, I can tell you, I think this myth about cruising is totally overrated. I mean, being immersed in the city is great. And I would be the first to admit it is really nice to be able to have dinner and enjoy a sunset in anywhere, pretty much. But I do believe the advantage of a cruise actually makes it a better choice than immersing yourself, so to speak, in a city. What I mean by this is when you go to any port, now think about any place in the world you'd like to visit. And probably by creche it would be helpful in this case, right? If you're thinking about Paris, everything about London, if you're thinking about Lisbon, sometimes there's like one thing that generally comes out ahead, like the number one thing you want to do. And there are other things too, don't get me wrong. But there's usually one thing that comes to your mind, and then there's like ancillary things.

Like, I really want to go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but I'd also like to see the Architriam and go shopping here and do this and this and this. You come up with like, you know, second and third options, but there's usually one thing. With a cruise ship, you're obviously going to only be in port for about somewhere around six to eight hours. If you're lucky, you get closer to 10, but generally speaking, it's that day visit.

But that is enough time to for about somewhere around six to eight hours. If you're lucky, you get closer to 10, but

generally speaking, it's that day visit. But that is enough time to probably see that number

one, maybe the number two, and if you're lucky, the number three thing on your list. And that

might leave you coming back to the ship and wanting more. That's okay too. But I do believe

that's still better because being here in Lisbon, it kind of opened my eyes

something I recognized because I spent a week in Copenhagen last year before one of my cruises.

I've gone to London, I think three times now when I've spent probably two or three days

in each trip pre-crues to enjoy that. So I've spent a collective, let's call it a week, not quite, but you know what I mean. And in all these cases, these are fabulous cities, great places to go, good restaurants, all that good stuff. The thing is, after you hit the major thing or two or three that you really want to see, you start to get like, well, this is nice, but I really want to go on the cruise ship. And maybe this is just because I'm a cruise guy and I gravitate towards these things.

But I really do believe that having just a couple of hours in each of these cities is enough of a taste to get a sense of it without committing to it.

Because Lisbon is a fabulous place.

I really enjoyed it. Actually, we've had perfect weather, sunny, highs in the 70s, really comfortable temperatures all around. But, you know, I feel like after about a day or so, and certainly once I got my jet lag taken care of, it was more than I needed. I was ready to get on my ship and, you know, probably I would

have minded actually getting here one day later to be able to just get in what I need to see

and then to get on the ship. So I really do believe that seeing cities by cruise actually is an

advantage because you get the highlights of it. And certainly, it's okay to come back again.

I mean, you know, when I go to many ports, I will probably end up going back to the same thing again. I mean, you know, I could use Cozumel as an example. I've been to Cosemel probably, oh my God, like 20 times easily, probably more than that, right? And I probably do the same. I go to the beach, like almost every single time.

Occasionally I deviate a little bit, but it's like a beach date, right?

And when we went to London, we did a lot of the same things again. We saw the same sites because they're really cool. And I feel like when you see them on a cruise ship, you know, there's an advantage to coming back to a port and maybe either hitting those highlights again. We're seeing different things.

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