Cruisers are in some ways the opposite of home exchangers. On-board ship one's activities and meals planned by others. There are lots of obsequious workers about in faux-military costumes. Movement on or off the ship is strictly controlled. Far from having a bedroom for each family member, laundry machines and free internet access, four of us are sharing a 250 square foot room, washing our duds out in the sink and paying a dollar for two minutes of internet access.
On the plus side, someone makes our beds for us twice a day and leaves a piece of candy on the pillow.
The most interesting aspect of my anthropology observations has been the approach to off-ship travel taken by most of our fellow vacationers.
"Shore excursions" are big business. Each day brings a new lecture on which excursions to book, and exhortations to sign up quickly before the roster fills up.
The strange thing is that we are cruising Alaska, which is technically part of the United States. English is spoken here, companies have telephones and my credit card or cash work as well here as back home. Yet most of the other passengers leave the ship only in a paying group to do a ship-sponsored activity.
Here is how a home exchanger thinks: I took the shore excursion book and spent 15 minutes with a guide book on sale in one of the ship's many shops. I found all of the tours that interested me listed in the guide book. Every activity was accessible by walking, shuttle, bike rental or taxi.
Most of the best sights were part of National Parks, which are free to enter with an inexpensive Parks Pass, available at any of them. Others were completely free. The more exotic offerings, like the rain forest zip line ride, were offered by independent tour operators. The ship bought those experiences and resold them to passengers for a huge mark up. They were available for far less to individuals with no more bother than dialing the phone.
In every port we have done the same side trips as our fellow passengers. We know because we see them being herded through the same attractions we are seeing at our own pace. Yet we have paid an average of $10 per person, per trip, including transportation. The ship sells the same trips for $50 to $200 per person.
The reason so many tourists overpay for travel boils down to two things: lack of information and fear of the unknown.
We have never visited any of these areas before. But we are able to call a tour company and book a trip by ourselves. We are not shy about asking a local how far it is to a destination. We have internet access on our mobile phones and can do a simple search for "name of town" plus "local attractions".
Home exchangers are willing to do research and book things for themselves. They would rather go at their own pace than travel in a tourist scrum. Home exchangers have friends and local intelligence everywhere we go -- from those with whom they exchange.
Are you willing to call a taxi by yourself or do you need the concierge to do it for you at a 300% surcharge? Most tourists over pay for their vacations because they are timid. Are you? Or are you a home exchanger?
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