Every member of the Beatty family was enjoying their multi-generational vacation trip. Tom and Martha were playing pickleball, a popular pastime among people in their
advanced age group.
Their son, Roger and his wife, Betty, were shrieking with delight as they drove electric
cars along a winding two-level track. Grandchildren Paul and Phyllis were getting wet
and wild at a water park.
It may surprise you to learn that this diverse choice of activities was available to passengers aboard an ocean-going cruise ship. The amenities and activities on giant vessels today include some you might expect to find only on land.
Along with those mentioned above, they include bicycle tracks, miniature golf courses, volleyball, basketball, and much more.
Other cruise passengers prefer a very different setting and selection of things to do and see. They opt for the leisurely pace of life aboard much smaller boats that traverse lakes, rivers and canals.
Along the way, people may go ashore to explore cities and towns, historic sites, and other landlocked attractions.
American Rivers and Historic Routes
Image courtesy of American Cruise Lines
You may not have to travel far to embark on one of these voyages. For example, among domestic journeys offered by American Cruise Lines that I have found to live up to their promise, and more, is retracing part of the route followed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the trip to check out the newly acquired territory.
My itinerary included the Columbia and Snake Rivers as they flow through Washington State and Oregon. Among intriguing stops was a replica of Fort Clatsop at the National Lewis & Clark Historic Park in Astoria, Oregon, where the explorers spent the winter of 1805-1806.
Another American Cruise vessel took me along the Intracoastal Waterway from Amelia Island, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina. Stops included a 19th-century rice plantation in Georgia, graceful antebellum homes in South Carolina and Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
The scene was very different during a Grand Circle Cruise Line trip along the Danube River, as it runs through several European countries. Centuries-old churches, castles and villages caught my eye and prompted me to reach for my camera.
Cities there double as architectural showcases that span centuries. The towns serve as outdoor art galleries displaying museum-quality statues, frescoes and other man-made creations.
Ancient Civilizations and Timeless Landscapes
Architecture also rewards those aboard boats sailing along the Nile River in Egypt. The Overseas Adventure Travel craft in which I rode visited the world-famous Sphinx, offered views of some of the more than 100 pyramids and other archaeological gems scattered around the country, and provided glimpses of everyday life.
I spotted women grinding seeds into flour between stones, much as their ancestors did, and farmers toiling in their fields using tools that probably were passed down for generations.
I exchanged hand waves and smiles with fishermen in tiny rowboats, and helmsmen steering felucca, traditional wooden sailboats which are used to carry both people and goods.
Bonjour (good day) was the word with which I greeted people whom I met during a trip along canals that run through the Loire region of France. It’s one of numerous such waterways that have crisscrossed that country since King Henry IV ordered the construction of the first one in the 17th century.
The barge on which I traveled was built in the 1930s to serve as a working boat, and later was upgraded for French Country Waterways to offer luxurious accommodations and amenities that would be at home in a five-star hotel.
We stopped each day to visit Medieval villages, historic sites, and, this being France, inviting vineyards.
Into the Rainforest
The scenery was very different during my exploration of a section of Amazonia, the massive rainforest that extends into nine countries in South America. I was sailing with Latin American Escapes along the Rio Negro (pronounced NAY-grow) River, a tributary of the 4,000-mile-long Amazon.
Along the way, I was intrigued by sightings of some of the 1,800 kinds of birds and an estimated 15,000 species of other wildlife, which make the region their home.
Equally fascinating was a different kind of life encountered during visits to isolated villages that line the riverbanks. People reside in tiny wood huts, tend minuscule gardens, gather edible plants from the surrounding forest and fish in crude canoes made from tree trunks.
From roughly constructed cabins to lavish historic mansions, from priceless artistic treasures to captivating chapters of history, a diversity of discoveries awaits those plying rivers that flow through the United States and elsewhere. Cruises introduce passengers to the tales of those tributaries and the lore of the land through which they are passing.
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