Category: cruise

New Year’s Eve 2022 in Vancouver, BC Canada

[29-DEC-2022 to 02-JAN-2023 Vancouver, BC, Canada]

Traveling in winter is always tricky – especially when flying. Sometimes you don’t get there, get there late, and so on. Then of course the return trip could be a “side adventure” on it’s own.

Last time I was in Vancouver was 1994 (I think). So I decided to go there for an updated visit and planned a boat ride for New Year’s Eve. Visited a few restaurants/microbreweries while there, of course. The city has expanded since the last time I was there by a LOT – almost three decades (!) – therefore, a much longer visit would be needed – maybe in the summer…

The New Year’s Eve Boat trip was great, made a bunch of instant friends, then we all went off on our own ways. Flying back looked dicey. Massive snow in the US. Got as far as Denver. My home airport was snowed in!

Travel Tip 1: Take one day’s worth of extra clothes.

Travel Tip 2: Book at a hotel that has a restaurant in the hotel so you don’t need to venture out (unless you want to, of course).

Travel Tip 3: Get a hotel with an airport shuttle service. That will save you two Uber/Lyft costs…

Travel Tip 4: I was stuck in Denver for three nights! Use the extra set of clothes so you don’t smell bad (!) and do laundry at the hotel.

This was a great side-adventure. If you are stuck, whether you are happy or miserable is all in your own brain. Make the best of it and you’ll have fun! Made more instant friends and we had a blast during happy hour 🙂

Here are some pictures from this trip:


Steamworks Brewing Co, Vancouver, BC Canada

Virgin Voyages Richard Branson Birthday Bash Cruise 2022-July

[17-July-2022 to 22-July-2022, Virgin Voyages Caribbean Cruise]

After being delayed for two years, The Richard Branson Birthday Bash Virgin Voyages took to the sea from 17-July-2022 to 22-July-2022. I booked through Shelby at travelfun.biz (or on Facebook here). The cruise left the Port of Miami to Cozumel and then to the private beach for Virgin on Bimini. But enough talk, here are the pictures – just click on the pic below or the link under it to go to the picture page. The first set are pictures I took followed by selected the pictures that were shared by the TravelFun group:


Pool Deck Party on Virgin Cruises

All shared pictures from the TravelFun group are Copyright © 2022 respective to the person who took those pictures and appropriate permissions are needed if used for any purpose other than personal use. All StarkRavingNomad pictures are Copyright © 2022 talcMedia Productions. All Rights Reserved.

New Year’s Eve 2018 Washington DC River Cruise

[December 31, 2018 Alexandria, VA, US]

New Year’s Eve 2018 was spent in Washington DC onboard one of the two dozen or so remaining operational paddle boats, the “Cherry Blossom”. It was a rainy and foggy night. Very foggy. In fact is was soooo foggy, you could not see the fireworks at midnight! Just bright flashes in the sky. At the very very end, we saw five or six faint fireworks. I think this was the first time I have been fogged in during a fireworks display…

That was fun in itself, as it was a totally different experience: on a paddle boat, in the middle of the Potomac, visibility near zero and you knew there were other boats out there… To top it off, as more and more fireworks were set of, the more and more dense it got. Eerie kinda cool.

Inside the mood was very festive, with the three hour cruise (10:00pm to 1:00am). There was a ton of sandwiches and finger foods including dessert. There was no shortage of food, which was different – I expected the food to run out just like most large events. Nope, food was there all throughout the cruise. And of course beer, wine, and spirits too. All included in one price. Oh and sparkling wine at midnight of course. So it was a fun fun cruise.

The paddle boat, the Cherry Blossom, is open to a public cruise only twice a year – New Year’s Eve and July 4th. So, if I am in DC on the 4th, I will definitely do the cruise again, and this time (hopefully) no fog! Here are some pictures from the cruise (click on the pic or the link to view them all):


New Year’s Eve 2018 Washington DC River Cruise

Here is information on the paddle boat, Cherry Blossom.

Canal Boat Ride from Camden Lock to Paddington – UK Oct 07-12, 2015

[OCT 07-23 2015, Camden, UK]
So I have been to the UK a bunch of times and posting the same pics each would be not-to-exciting. So, this time, I stayed in Camden and took the canal boat from the Camden Lock to Paddington. If you ant speed, take the tube; if you want to go slow, take the boat. About an hours ride.

This boat started at Camden Lock and went to Paddington. Now there are canal boats that go through the lock itself so that might be cool to do next time… Anyway, here are the pics:


Canal Boat ride from Camden Lock to Paddington

Club Med Prodvinciales (Turks and Caicos Islands) with SinglesCruise.com 2014

[Aug 28, 2014 – Sep 01, 2014, Prodvinciales, Turks and Caicos Islands]

This is my vacation from my vacation. Just relax and do nothing weekend at Club Med booked through SinglesCruise.com. No, it’s not a cruise, it was a land only thing. The picture below is from the Sunset Cruise on Friday night. For more pictures, click on the pic or link below 🙂


Sunset Cruise on Friday