Our family gives great Christmas presents.  I haven’t gotten a tie or aftershave in years. Last Christmas, our son and daughter-in-law, gave us a romantic charter cruise out of Santa Cruz Harbor on the Chardonnay.  As seniors, it was new experience.  We loved it.

Enjoying our Romantic Charter Cruise

We were thrilled to get the tickets for our romantic charter cruise, but we had a lot of questions about when, where and how.  It didn’t take us long to realize that we had to do some work to make sure we enjoyed the whole experience.

 Researching Any Experience

Its important to understand what will be happening during any new experience.  In some cases, after research, you can make the decision not to experience the experience.  Our romantic charter cruise was a Christmas gift so we knew we were going to be cruising.  Researching is pretty simple today.  We looked up the name of the charter company.  We read all the information provided on their company website.  As well, we read as many reviews about the cruise as we could find.  We researched:

• Cruise options.
• Suggested personal items to take on the cruise.
• Cruise staffing.
• Seating configuration.
• Cruise Itinerary.
• Possible out of pocket costs.
• Directions to the dock.
• Event parking.

Preparing for Our Cruise

After we looked at all of the cruise options, we decided on an evening pizza and wine cruise around Santa Cruz Bay.  I was ecstatic.  An evening with my favorite things…. boats, pizza and wine….. and, of course, my wife.  We prepared for our excursion keeping in mind our research and our experience of evening temperatures in Santa Cruz.

Preparing was pretty simple.   After checking the weather on the evening of our cruise, we gathered appropriate clothes, some water, hats, sunglasses, cash and, most importantly, our tickets.  We discussed seasickness deciding not to take any medication after checking conditions on the bay.

Preparing for all excursions is basically the same given the specifics of location, weather and duration.  We threw everything in the car and headed for our romantic evening on the water.

At the Dock

Knowing traffic in Santa Cruz, we left plenty of time to travel to the dock.  We arrived about 40 minutes early for the cruise so that we could get a good parking spot. We also want to be among the first to board to secure two good seats next to each other. After purchasing a souvenir hat and pair of sunglasses, we boarded.

Some adventures, by nature, are uncomfortable.  We try to be as comfortable as possible.  If being uncomfortable in any way is a given, that’s okay.  But, I make things as comfortable as I can.  We settled into the large cockpit just in front of the captain.  Protected from the wind with comfortable seats, we enjoyed sailing by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, watching a few fishing trawlers and even sighting some playing dolphins.  Preparing for this adventure through research and planning guaranteed that we had a good time.  We felt that the one variable was seasickness.  Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

After Our Romantic Charter Cruise

As soon as the cruise ended, we agreed to do it again…… soon.   The freedom to be spontaneous enjoying new things is a great gift for any senior.  I would call this planned spontaneity, but the planning added a great deal.  This was a wine and pizza cruise so we didn’t need to stop for dinner on the way home.  A bit chilled, we stopped for coffee and conversation to talk about what we liked best about the evening.  One of us liked the pizza.   The other like the Chardonnay on the Chardonnay.

This Christmas present was a fun adventure that we thoroughly enjoy together not only while sailing, but researching, planning and preparing.  We are looking forward to lots more adventures.  Some we know about.  Some will be surprises.  This is a great part of being a senior citizen.

What adventure have you enjoyed as a senior?  Did you do a lot of planning?  Will you do it again.  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.