MIAMI - Golly gee, I wish I was a kid again – a kid whose family is planning a cruise holiday, that is.

SKAGWAY, ALASKA - Cruise lines aren’t kidding when they say they want to attract a younger audience. And they are appealing to young families by turning unused space aboard ships into everything from daycares to discos. And the kids, in all age groups, love it.

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC - Joachim Koerper pointed to a small white dot on the black ocean and wondered what the light twinkling in the night represented.

CHONGQING, CHINA - A group of “coolies” jumps to attention and charge our taxi when it pulls up in front of this city’s cruise ship terminal.

JUNEAU, ALASKA - When booking a cruise, make sure you bring along some running shoes and workout clothes. That is if you want to keep off the one pound a day the cruise industry says passengers gain during a normal trip.

ROME - The car that picks us up at Rome’s international airport passes golden fields of autumn grain that sweep down into the Mediterranean as it heads in the direction of Civitavecchia, the ancient seaport where we’ll begin a seven day cruise aboard Silversea’s sleek Silver Spirit.

PRAGUE – The landscape is lush. Inviting. A panoply of sizes, shapes and colours neatly stitched together in a seamless portrait reminiscent of early Flemish paintings

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA – It’s 6:30 a.m. and we’re huddled beneath the overhang on Deck 12 of the Crystal Symphony, zipped into our rain jackets in the face of a driving rain.

SOMEWHERE IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA - On a dark and stormy night at sea, we ask our Seadream I concierge Brenda to recommend a DVD that we can take back to our comfy cabin and enjoy on our state-of-the-art entertainment system.

ABOARD THE CRYSTAL SERENITY - With 18 restaurants in his portfolio, celebrity Chef Michael Mina is an in-demand guy because of his West Coast/Asian-influenced cooking fame. But this afternoon, aboard the Crystal Serenity, I and a few dozen other cruise passengers attending his cooking demonstration, have Mina all to ourselves.