Cruising

Thinking we might want to experience a cruise sometime before we die, my husband and I started our search online. We narrowed it down to small ships sailing on European rivers rather than ocean liners, since if there's a problem on the ship we could swim to shore rather than drown, die of hypothermia or get eaten by sharks, the main reasons I have never gone on a cruise before. 

Naturally all the websites claim the same things: Their cruise line is the best, their food is prepared by award-winning chefs, their staff is extremely attentive to your every need and their on-shore excursions are exciting and memorable. Digging deeper, we realized that we would have to read some reviews from real people. Those were no help at all. 

For example, the same cruise was described quite differently by different people. Some said the food was awful, while others on the very same ship on the very same dates said it was gourmet at its best. Some cited technical difficulties with the ship, like the AC not working, toilets not flushing, and being stopped dead in the water for a day because of engine trouble, while others claimed the same trip was flawless.

Throw in those odd cruise viruses that befall multitudes of passengers, potential bad weather and debilitating seasickness, and something tells me we're not going quite yet.