The joy of taking a cruise is in the great variety offered by this style of holiday. You leave from one port, often finishing at another, and on the way from setting out to finishing you see a wealth of different places that you have never seen before, from a perspective that gives a real flavor to what otherwise can be a quite mundane pursuit. If we take two holidays a year in our adult lives, and we live to at least the age of seventy, that’s at least 104 holidays. Keeping the enjoyment and the uniqueness in your holiday itinerary can be a struggle in that respect, and a cruise can be the ideal antidote.
Crystal Cruises are of the opinion that variety is the very spice of life, and thus even when you’re on board the cruise, the variety is right there for you. Call to mind anything that you were able to do on your last land-bound holiday (within reason obviously – if you did a spot of horse riding then good for you, but taking horses out to sea for that purpose would be cruel) and you can do it on a Crystal Cruise. Interestingly, some of the many options on board a Crystal Cruise are devoted towards learning and self improvement. There is quite a bit of shameless entertainment as well, of course. A newly-installed casino gives holidaymakers the chance to let their hair done and try and beat the house – although in this case I think it’s actually the ship they’re beating.
From a point of view of improving the mind, though, this is where a Crystal Cruise ship comes into its own. The on-board library is stocked with over 2,000 printed tomes which range from classic fiction to biography, and a selection of DVD movies that is almost as large. The Creative Learning Institute offers a range of courses that would put many community colleges to shame. You can learn very nearly anything that you wish to, from Chinese Brush Painting to Real Estate Appraisal, and from Candle Making to Pilates.
This approach will attract people who want to broaden their horizons – which, given that they will be sailing to a range of destinations covering pretty much the whole world, is unquestionably appropriate. Why not take a course in Italian in preparation to dock in Rome? Broaden the horizons, broaden the mind – and for those of you who are skeptical about the benefits of adult learning, don’t damn it until you have tried it. The positive benefits of adult learning are clearly proven – just like any other part of your body, it is important to give your brain a bit of exercise. And just like physical exercise, mental exercise gives more benefit the more varied it gets. So even if you’ve always been skeptical about Feng Shui, having a go at it will enable you to sneer from a position of some knowledge. Go on, give it a try. There are so many classes that one of them will definitely be to your tastes.
Caterina Christakos is a published author and reviewer. Read her latest reviews of dolce and gabbana eyewear and joico hair products.
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