A friend of
mine once dropped the line, “death before a cruise.”
I’ve always felt the same, but really wouldn’t mind so much if it was a private yacht, instead of some
Carnival Cruise ship. The problem, however, is that people go on cruise ships because they can’t afford
their own private yacht (or equally as important, don’t have any friends who own one).
But, as Jill Hartley reports in the
Sunday Times (UK) there is an affordable option; rent out a traditional Turkish gulet and leisurely ply the
turquoise waters of the Turkish coast.
A gulet is a wooden boat, much like a small schooner that was once the main trading vessel of the
region. Today, a variety of outfits charter out gulets (mostly modern replicas) and crew for relatively
inexpensive prices. Indeed, Hartley and her eight friends found it affordable enough they chartered the Tersane II, a 37 meter beauty (see photo) that sleeps
16.
Like a cruise ship, meals are prepared on board, and frequent dockings are made at interesting tourist ports (or
not at all, if you tell the captain). Unlike a cruise ship, there is no shuttle board or senior citizen water
aerobics. Or, Captain Stubing.
Given the option, I know which one I would choose.