![\"Cruising](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Crusing_the_World_Cover_Wine.jpg\")
At a time when travel has come to a complete standstill, award-winning photographer Dennis Cox releases the perfect antidote for cruise-starved readers \u2013 a luscious, photography-laden look at all aspects of the worldwide cruise phenomena that defined the last decades. This retrospective of river, canal, sea, and ocean cruising \u2013 from small boat to large ship \u2013 presents the colorful history of our fascination with vacationing on the water. Whether you see this as a eulogy to the cruise industry or as a temporary diversion until you can again walk the decks of your favorite ships, “Cruising the World \u2013 From Gondolas to Megaships” is just what the (travel) doctor ordered.<\/p>\n
For years I wrote the port excursion tours for one of the largest resellers of cruises, so I know the tourist attractions in and around most port cities. I also know how many people can descend those gangplanks in each port. Often it was many times the number of people the infrastructure was designed to service. That leads to a conflict between residents and tourists that major destinations like Venice and Barcelona have been waging for years.<\/p>\n
Combine that with the norovirus contagions of previous years and the current COVID-19 shipboard spread that had passengers and crew quarantined on board for weeks and months at a time, and you have a genuine fear of cruising building in the tourism sector. What\u2019s a cruise industry to do?<\/p>\n Cruising is a $45 billion industry that helps support local economies. When COVID-19 locked down the cruise industry, popular destinations that depended heavily on visitor spending, sales taxes, and port fees, struggled to survive. The same destinations that once decried the thousands of day-trippers ruining their quality of life realized that it was the tourists bringing the money that helped to keep their local economy alive.<\/p>\n With a few cruise lines now planning to restart itineraries in July, 2020, and others no later than 2021, local governments, businesses catering to tourism, even street vendors, have to wonder if the newly clean, uncongested, and quiet streets (and in the case of Venice \u2013 canals) they enjoyed when the tourists stayed home are worth giving up for the revenues generated. Perhaps a new balance \u2013 one that juggles a trashed destination\u2019s engorged coffers with a citizen\u2019s right to peacefully exist in their neighborhoods \u2013 could be realized.<\/p>\n This book \u201cCruising the World \u2013 From Gondolas to Megaships\u201d doesn\u2019t address that dilemma directly, but it does, just by its very existence, offer a pleasant alternative to cruising. That in itself can be a partial solution. It can also be the fix needed by committed cruisers that can\u2019t wait until next year for the full menu of cruise options beautifully illustrated on these 208 glossy pages. So this book is perfect for those who wish to travel vicariously, those who wish to explore all the cruise options available to them, and those just jonesing for their next cruise.<\/p>\n From Dennis Cox\u2019s preface: \u201cA cruise can last for minutes or months. It can be shared with thousands of other people or with just a few. It can be luxurious or bare bones. It can carry you to sunny beaches or to great cities, tiny villages, and exotic landscapes. The choice is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever your choice, as soon as you see \u201cCruising the World \u2013 From Gondolas to Megaships\u201d you\u2019ll want to pick it up and lose yourself in the splashy, colorful, and exotic cruise options and destinations.<\/p>\n This book has it all! Full and half-page color photos of everything from mega-ships with all the amenities for thousands of people, to duck boats and gondolas \u2013 along with descriptions of the places they\u2019ll take you \u2013 fill these pages, wrapped by coherent and entertainingly descriptive text from award-winning cruise writer Clark Norton.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 1970, the cruise industry has swelled from more than half a million passengers a year to more than 30 million annually \u2013 triple the growth rate of world tourism as a whole.\u201d according to Clark Norton in the induction. \u201cAnd to meet the demand, ships have gotten progressively bigger. Eleven cruise lines feature ships that can carry at least 2,200 passengers . . . and the five largest ocean-going vessels can now accommodate nearly 7000 passengers, resembling virtual floating resorts on the sea.\u201d He goes on to compare them to the many luxurious small ships that can dock at lesser-known ports, even plying the scenic rivers and lakes of the world.<\/p>\n After his captivating introduction and a few dozen pages of historic overview, the book is arranged by region. It can be read cover-to-cover, or dipped into at random, always promising an engaging look at the industry and destinations you enjoy. If your interest is in a specific region, or type of cruise, the table of contents pinpoints it for your immediate pleasure. You don\u2019t have to slog through Southeast Asia cruises if your interest is European River cruises \u2013 and vice versa. Just let your fingers do the walking to exactly what you are looking for. But don\u2019t be surprised when the next eye-popping picture pulls you into a whole new section of the book \u2013 one you may find yourself enjoying even more!<\/p>\n![\"Holland](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Half_Moon_Cay.jpg\")
![\"'Cruising](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Crusing_the_World_Cover.jpg\")
Citing stepped-up cleaning and sterilizing procedures in place, with self-service buffets and snacks closed, cruise lines have to hope tourists will return. But if one miss-step leaves tourists trapped onboard, dying in their floating petri dish, the cruise industry as we know it will likely sink.<\/p>\n![\"Viking](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Viking_Rheinstein_Castle.jpg\")
![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Quantum_Night_Vu.jpg\")
![\"houseboat](\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Kerala_Riceboat.jpg\")