We said we would never cruise, and yet I found myself on a Holland America ship for thirty five days in order to sail around South America. My hesitation for cruise travel had nothing to do with the ship, the sea, the time, or the money. I dreaded the people.

I didn’t want to feel crowded or to have to chit chat with strangers. I can be a bit of an introvert. I had stereotypes in my head of self-entitled travelers engaging in constant excess….the so called ugly Americans. Thankfully my fears were overblown and most people we encountered were lovely. Germans, Aussies, British, Chinese, Japanese, Canadian. Lovely people from all walks of life with wanderlust. Unfortunately when they were downright dreadful….people you wanted to avoid, they were almost always American (stories for another day).

People who cruise have a unique sub-culture. The questions started immediately upon boarding. “What deck are you on? Do you have a balcony? What mariner level are you? What did you pay for your package? Do you get free laundry? Did you get the drink package?” In St. Louis, people ask “where did you go to high school?” In the South, “who are your people?”

The purpose behind such questions is to sift and sort. To determine who is of like means. To figure out who is worthy. To help the one who interrogates feel a bit more control and confidence. Occasionally, people ask to just make idle conversation. You can recognize the queen bees and king pins instantly, for before you can answer, they launch into why their choice is better, more expensive, a smarter choice etc.

At dinner, the conversation turns to “where have you cruised?“ or “how many cruises have you been on?” My answer of “none but this cruise” was met with astonishment. Additional questions always followed. “What did you pick 35 days in South America as your first? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get seasick?” We felt a little like the new kids in school. Plenty of cruisers felt compelled to assimilate us and show us the ropes.

At port, the people would line off the boat and file onto land tours. We would get horrified looks when we said we were traveling by foot or public transport and seeing local culture. It seems our independent travel ways were in the minority. But we love to immerse ourselves in the life of a country and its people. That is hard to do with only a few hours in port. Nevertheless, we tried. The times we joined a tour out of need for transport, we remembered why we don’t usual join a tour.

Cruising definitely has its own culture, very different than our usual sustainable, local adventures. However, I was so overjoyed to see the number of elderly travelers. There were plenty of people in their nineties still out seeing the world. I was inspired by their moxy and I loved hearing their stories of adventure.

So while cruising, unfortunately, did have some of the elements that I had hoped to avoid, mostly it was a group of people trying to experience life in its fullest. From all corners of the Earth and all walks of life, people gathered to see the world and understand it a bit better. That is my kind of sub-culture. Still, we will likely put off future cruising until we are unable to travel independently as we prefer more localized cultural experiences. But it is very nice to know that our 80 and 90 year old selves have plenty of travel options. And we have new roles models of senior travel experiences.