Page 23 - DreamScapes Magazine | Winter/Spring 2023

MUST DO
DISCOVERMore tours offer select activities for an
additional fee. Visit wineries and baroque palaces. A cruise highlight was a private chamber music concert in Vienna held in a restored palace.
Wellness on the Water
According to the Wellness Tourism Association, travel that allows the traveller to maintain, enhance or kick-start a healthy lifestyle, and support or increase one’s sense of well-being, is the backbone to wellness travel. Modern cruisers now embrace active pursuits and companies have introduced special wellness programs to experience desti- nations in a healthy way.
One cruise industry specialist explains how river cruising is an excellent way to accomplish those goals, both mentally and physically. “It’s clear that small-ship cruisers of all ages are increasingly interested in active, health-con- scious travel,” says Patricia Wu, Brand Director at Emerald Cruises Canada about the company’s active programming both on-board and in ports that help guests reach their goals while seeing the world in fun and unique ways.
Indeed.
Friendships are Born
One of the joys of our two-week European river cruise on board the new Emerald Luna was making new friends. The other delight was the pure pleasure of stretching our legs and breathing fresh air, with the added excitement of exploring a trio of Europe’s splendid rivers: Rhine, Main and the Danube that started in Amsterdam and ended in Budapest. As today’s travellers are interested in a safe, clean environment, with fitness activities and time spent in nature, our river cruise offered it all. Our cabins were immaculately maintained and sanitized and the ship itself was spotless from stem to stern. GenX and Baby Boomers like us, who make up two-thirds of the cruising public from ages 40 to 74, have a wide range of physical abilities. We were able to choose activities that fit our daily wellness goals, from gentle walking to high-inten- sity hiking. Moreover, we were surrounded by the natural world sailing on the water.
WINTER/SPRING 2023 DREAMSCAPES 23
PHOTOS: EMERALD CRUISES | SHUTTERSTOCK/BORIS STROUJKO | SHUTTERSTOCK/FOKKE BAARSSEN