All Aboard!

A high-seas holiday sure has its advantages. Sneha Mahale sets sail from Shanghai to experience the luxury cruise life.

- Sneha Mahale

To seasoned travellers, going on a cruise often feels like a loll in sheer luxury. Over the years, I’ve dragged suitcases up long stairways to European train platforms, packed and unpacked several times a week on multi-city tours, woken up at unearthly hours to catch a flight to the next destination, and wasted countless hours fretting about where to grab a bite. All because I was entirely sure I didn’t want to board a gigantic floating condominium. Movies like Titanic and Poseidon didn’t help matters, and the fact that I can’t swim meant a constant worry about being trapped in a hotel that rocked in choppy seas.

But a previously jinxed trip had made the idea of touring China seem improbable. So when the opportunity to attend a cruise ship’s inauguration in Shanghai presented itself, I jumped.

SET SAIL

Aboard Genting Cruise Lines’ Explorer Dream, I unpacked. Once. It is undoubtedly the first great thing of cruise travel. You can put your socks in the drawer, hang your clothes in the cupboard, stove your suitcase away and take your room along on your journey. My ocean view room, one of 928 cabins aboard a ship with a lower berth capacity of 1,856 passengers, had a small bathroom, a desk, and a bed. It also had a balcony with two lounge chairs and a view of blue to call my own.