Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
Marti Sanville takes trip to see camels in Egypt, elephants in Thailand. Page 2
Travel
November 19, 2015
November Issue
BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Boat cruises have been the travel mode of choice for Judy and Bob Gyurci of Bloomington for many years. The two estimate they have taken at least 40 cruises. “We started when we were both still working,” Judy said. “When we started doing it, I wanted to go on a cruise and Bob had no interest in it, so we went Dutch.” As it turns out, that cruise with a church group in Austria was Bob’s favorite trip. “I’d like to go to southern Germany and Austria again,” he said. Bob formerly was a Hennepin County attorney prior to retiring at 65. Judy was a community health worker for Hennepin County before she retired in 2008. Cruising quickly became a passion for the Gyurcis, to the point that one year they took two cruise trips. They worked with a travel agent for a while, but now they go with different lines, “whoever has the best rates,” Judy said. “We just love all the cruises.” The Gyurcis generally find the best deals though CruCon. “They have a lot of specials,” Judy said. Founded in 1995, CruCon Cruise Outlet is a full-service North American cruise travel agency headquartered in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, that sends more than 90,000 people on cruises every year. The Gyurcis found that transatlantic cruises, with six nights at sea, are offered in the fall and spring. “In the fall they bring the ships from Europe and put them in the Caribbean; in the spring, they go to Europe from the Caribbean,” Judy said.
Bob added, “When you’re on the Caribbean, you’re in a different port every morning. Most of the people on those trips have sailed quite a bit. Not many have children with them.” The Gyurcis bring books to read and always find ample activities on-
board to occupy their time. “The thing that people think about cruises is that when you’re on a ship, you’re confined,” Bob said. “One advantage is that you don’t have to both be doing everything together all the time. You can go to the library, there are shows every night, speakers, movies during the day, art auctions and cooking demonstrations. You can
each pick and choose what you want to do.” Bob also likes that he knows exactly what the trip is costing. “You can have as much as you want to eat, you can choose a special restaurant, a buffet or a dinner, and you don’t have to worry about the cost. It’s all taken care of,” he said. “My rule of thumb is that I don’t want to spend more than $100 per day per person,” Bob said. On their last cruise, the Gyurcis paid between $1,200 and $1,300 each for 16 nights, and that included transportation, hotel, entertainment and food. It is customary to tip the crew at the end of the trip, he said. “The biggest ships have 6,000 people; the biggest one we were on had 3,000 people,” Judy said. “Usually we’re on a ship with 1,800 to 3,000 people.” As many have attested, the meals are sumptuous. “You can’t go hungry,” Judy said. “They treat you like royalty,” Bob said. “You can get room service, they make your bed, they clean your room every morning, they turn down the bed in the evening.” Cruise ships offer laundry and dry cleaning service, and there is a physician on board. Many of the people the Gyurcis meet on cruises are frequent boat travelers, and most are adults. Frequent boat travelers accumulate privileges, including special CRUISE - TO PAGE 2