Very tempting

DD sent me a TikTok last night about a three-year cruise that costs $50,000 a year including all meals and wifi.

When you think about it that’s actually a bargain. For three whole years you’d have no car-associated costs, no electricity or gas bills, no rent, no groceries …

It’s less than $1000 a week for your room and board and housekeeping.

Not quite sure what you’d do about dental appointments and the like …

And as to whether I would go quietly mad stuck on a cruise ship for three years … who knows?

The longest I’ve ever spent on a cruise ship is 19 days – Sydney to Hawaii. I took the kids and my parents, sister and nephew joined us.

(The kids loved that the housekeeping staff made towel animals in the room each day.)

My ex declined to come along, which I later discovered was because he didn’t love me any more, but that’s a story for another day.

Anyways, it was an awesome holiday, but a lot of time was spent traversing vast swathes of nothing.

Everything else at sea pre-Covid were multigenerational short breaks at sea with my parents, sister and nephew.

It was a great, hassle-free way for everyone to spend time together.

During Covid, DD and I pulled off a miracle and got into Western Australia between lockdowns to cruise the Kimberley for 10 nights. Absolutely bloody fantastic holiday.

It gave him a taste of cruising and he was hooked.

There were only 35 passengers on the Reef Prince, so I thought he should experience something at the other extreme.

So I took him on a three-night comedy cruise aboard the Pacific Adventure, which had 3000 passengers and caught on fire.

I decided huge cruise ships aren’t for me.

Then I changed my mind when it was announced a rock festival was taking place on the Carnival Luminosa next October, featuring Mark Seymour, Baby Animals, The Living End and Boom Crash Opera.

Well, it’s on the table, but it might be taken off.

In the meantime, I’ve put a deposit down on a cruise for after the youngest finishes the HSC.

I feel a bit like Goldilocks trying the three bears’ porridge. The Reef Prince was Baby Bear, the Pacific Adventure was Daddy Bear and this next cruise will be Mama Bear, with less than 200 passengers.

I wonder if it will be just right. Stay tuned.

If I love it that could be how I spend most of a holiday each year from now on.

I think you’re either a cruise person or decidedly not one. It’s very polarizing.

I’m drawn to the lack of stress cruises involve. Someone else does all the worrying for you. All you do is get on board, unpack, order a drink and check the activities schedule for the next day.

By the time I get through 2023, I will be very much in need of a stress-free break.

Are you an anti-cruiser?

But for now I’d better keep repeating that “the only way out is through” mantra.