A bit about the potential cruisers: We've stayed away from cruises because 1) we don't like the idea of a big ship with hundreds or thousands of people (boutique hotels and resorts like have max 30) rooms; 2) we're not keen on the idea of 5 buffets each day and screaming children; 3) we're very independent travelers (we've gone on our own or done custom journeys to much of Southeast Asia, India, Europe, Southern Africa); 4) we do like fine food and wine; 5) we have wide ranging intellectual and cultural interests and value learning when we travel.
So why are we even thinking about a cruise?? I love being on the water. The water trips we've taken in conjunction with land trips have been wonderful (a one week gulet trip on Lycean coast of Turkey, we had full crew/cook/archeologist-guide all to ourselves and a one week cruise in Alaska, 14 passengers, A&K. A cruise makes sense to me in places with poor hotels and infrastructure. Also in places we can get a taste of with 2 shore days.
So we were thinking of a Baltic cruise or East coast of South America. I began to look up cruise lines and their itineraries and figured that by the time I got it all sorted out and compared apples to apples, I'd be too old to get on board! All suggestions welcomed.
Best time for us to travel is end of May -early September. We live in California and are in our 60s.

It looks like you are Oceania, Regent, or Silversea or Crystal potential clients. There is no downfalls going with these cruise lines other than some of them will cost you an arm and a leg.

Spurs has given you good info.

You might want to check out
www.elegantcruises.com for their
Andrea ship cruise to the Baltics.

They have smaller ships that can dock @ smaller ports (I hate tendering) which the mega liners cannot.

When I was invited to my first cruise, I had exactly the same feelings as you.

After my first cruise (3 weeks from Buenos Aires to New York) I became a cruise addict.

Let's consider your objections:

1) we don't like the idea of a big ship with hundreds or thousands of people (boutique hotels and resorts like have max 30) rooms.

First, there are a lot of small ships available (e.g. the Seabourn ships, Silver Sea ships, Sea Dream Yacht Club, Sea Cloud, Europa).

But even mega-large ships can have a kind of intimate feeling. These ships have several bars, and the most atmospheric bars will be frequented by not more than two handful passengers at a time, so you have a similar feeling as in a boutique hotel. You will find that a certain bunch of people will gather at the same spots, so you have the opportunity to socialize (if you want).

Most ships have one deck, specially for luxury travellers. Usually, there is an exclusive lounge on this deck. There you have definitly boutique hotel feeling.

2) we're not keen on the idea of 5 buffets each day and screaming children;

I do not like buffets either. Each ship has a full-service restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner à la carte. Many ships have small, intimate specialty restaurants for dinner. Here both atmosphere and food are refined - for a moderate additional charge. Many cruisers reserve a table there for each night.

3) we're very independent travelers (we've gone on our own or done custom journeys to much of Southeast Asia, India, Europe, Southern Africa);

We do the same. And when in port, we never participate in the ship's excursion, but explore on our own (often renting a car). You can easily avoid mass tourism.

4) we do like fine food and wine;

On (true) 5-star-ships you will have excellent food which equals that of the world's best Michelin-starred restaurants. Same is true for wine.

The selection of liquors is usually limited on American ships (and overpriced), while European ships offer excellent choices of Cognacs, Armagnacs, Obstbrand, Single Malts etc.

On 4-star-ships food is often mediocre, but the specialty restaurants offer gourmet food even there.

5) we have wide ranging intellectual and cultural interests and value learning when we travel.

Most ships offers lectures on destinations, culture and people. On 5-star-ships you can expect full university professors as lecturers. You can also expect excellent musicians, playing a wide range of musical styles.

Maybe you should try the world's best-rated cruise ship, the Europa.

This vessel will definitly satisfy you.

http://www.hl-cruises.com/redwork/do...amp;language=2
http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/...cfm?ShipID=348

"Each ship has a full-service restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner à la carte."

My first cruise ship had only breakfast and dinner, lunch was buffet only. But it was a short cruise 4 nights out of LA.

I think the biggest challenge you will have is the amount of time in each port. Rarely do cruise ships spend more than 12-20 hours in port, in some cases it is designed that way to help support economy and local hotels. Depending on where, this makes it more difficult to really explore the various cities. We have only taken 4 cruises and our favorite was Boston-Bermuda for just that reason - ship was parked in Bermuda for 4 days and we just used it as a floating hotel. I think this is rare.

Great info. For those with interests similar to mine, what was your favorite itinerary and favorite ship?

I had exactly your point of view until I bit the bullet and took an Aegean cruise on what is now Regent Seven Seas. It's now one of my favorite ways to travel, though I still do a lot of land travel. With a cruise, you unpack once, then have your hotel and transport in one. You spend less time in places than you would on a land-based trip, but you spend zero time on logistics, so you get more time comparatively speaking than it would appear at first blush. It's also a great way to get an overview of a place, then select it to come back for a longer stay.

Look for an itinerary with as few sea days as possible. This is why I favor Regent (I've enjoyed Silversea, but too many sea days for my taste). It's particularly good when the ship stays docked in one port for multiple nights.

You expressed an interest in a Baltic cruise--Seven Seas Voyager usually has a good Baltic itinerary, with 2 or 3 nights in St. Petersburg. Voyager is a 700-passenger max ship with a very intimate feel. It's all-inclusive, meaning tips and beverages (including alcoholic other than *very* top shelf) are included (and of course meals). You never have to eat at a buffet if you don't want to--there's always a service restaurant available. And the food tends to be pretty good, particularly in the alternative restaurants but even in the main one.

Seven Seas Navigator (490 passengers max) has a trip up the coast of Brazil in December, though that's outside your time frame. But, your time frame is winter in South America, so a cruise probably is not an option for that.

As has been suggested above, with your concerns, you probably want to stick with the luxury-level cruise lines. Yes, they cost more--significantly more in some cases--but I've found the experience worth it. And, no, I'm not wealthy or even close to being so. I just maintain a special vacation account and splurge every couple a years.

Thanks for your ship suggestions. Are the sites offering discounts on the ships ligit? Which do you recommend?

Its good to see your postings again.IN my looking for good cruise rates to Tahiti,I looked at numerous "discount"agencies.They are all about the same. With my platinum Amex card, you get a few perks, like a shipboard credit,etc.I used Brown and Keene cruise specialists who were recommended by a number of people on this board with Linda Littaken the agent who handled our request.We look forward to seeing you soon.

The "discount' agencies are not the same. Especially when we talk luxury cruise lines. The difference could be in thousands of $. You can e-mail my agent Alex at [email protected] and see what he can offer. Their agency always has good deals. Tell him spur sent you.

I also use Brown & Keene (usually Susan or Ngaire). They book a lot of Regent, and so really know the cruise line and I think have some clout with the line. Before using them, I tried one of the online discount agents--worst experience I've ever had with a TA. And I got no better than the early booking rack rate.

I second the motion that Regent would fit your bill. Given your time frame, however, I think S. America is not likely. Next year, we plan to try Oceania for a trip from Rio to Valparaiso in February. We also hope to do a Baltics cruise on Regent in August that will be escorted. We, too, use Brown & Keene (B&K)--in particular Linda Litteken, but all of the agents are terrific. B&K sponsors a forum called LuxuryCruiseTalk (LCT), and you don't need to be a client to gain a lot of valuable information from it. We just returned from a 15-day Silversea cruise from Dubai to Athens that was also escorted. I posted a lengthy comparison between Regent and Silversea on LCT. Note, that even though Regent's Mariner and Voyager have more passengers than some of the other ships in the luxury and premium categories, they are sufficiently large, that you never have that big-ship feel.