Hope the way is long
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, with what joy
you shall enter first-seen harbors.
- “Ithaca” by Constantine Cavafy, Greek poet

A cruise out in the ocean. It’s a cherished dream, at the top of the personal bucket lists of most senior retirees. In one of my casual huddles with former college classmates, the usual meandering oldies’ talk drifted towards the topic of sea cruises. Everyone got excited and having gone on a sea cruise aboard one of those mega luxury ships was a bragging right.  

The truth is I’ve been harboring a dream of leisurely traveling and exploring the length and breadth of the Philippines via an imagined extensive railway as a fitting cap to a journey of a lifetime.

Now I realize that the more realistic way is not by land but by sea. After all, ours is an archipelago. A cruise ship is also ideal for island hopping and shore excursions.

I just learned that the Philippines is hailed as the “Best Cruise Destination in Asia.” In 2023 alone, international cruise ships with more than 80,000 passengers visited the Philippines. There’s one luxury cruise that takes foreigners to Palawan to explore our coral reefs and diverse marine life.

The problem is they are for foreign tourists who just pass by, without real interest in getting to know our country and our people.

Why can’t we have cruises with local destinations in mind for native Filipinos, especially seniors?

When I broached this idea to my boomer friends, they asked me: why primarily for Filipinos? And why local destinations specifically?

Remember that old promotional blurb “huwag maging banyaga sa sariling bayan?” (Don’t be a stranger in your own country.) Do we truly know our homeland? Are we truly interested in knowing our land and our people better? I know a Filipino husband and wife couple living in San Jose California who have been to more places in the Philippines than I. They can tell more about Pagudpud, Siargao and Puerto Princesa than any of my circle of Philippine-based friends.

Instead of hankering for expensive international cruises like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Spirit, Oasis of the Seas, Ocean Odyssey, Filipino golden-agers should first embark on taking sea-borne journeys for the opportunity to be awed by the natural beauty and diverse wonders of our mother country before even thinking of going to other lands.

A sage once said, don’t leave this world without really knowing your parent, which in this instance, is our mother country. A consciousness-raising and mind-opening cruise would be a splendid way to honor her and show our gratitude.

To make the idea enticing to seniors, it should be attractively packaged as a refreshing tonic vacation consisting of sun, sea and sky. The schedule should not be hectic but leisurely and no more than 10 days as most old folks can’t endure long voyages.

What would make it different is that it would be more personally immersive, not “touristic” shallow, and superficial. The point is not to give passengers just passing glances of local places, but to allow them to come to shore, mingle with the locals, and have an authentic encounter with them. A value-added educational element would be embedded in the program which you won’t find in usual cruises.

Passengers would have a choice of special cruise packages suited to their respective interests: natural history, ethnography, Philippine history, pre-colonial and Spanish architecture, native cuisine, geology, art and culture. There could be also a combination or fusion of those interests. “Kanya kanyang hilig, iba’t ibang sangkap” as they say. Because each has a different focus, the packages would show various facets of the same country, allowing each passenger to see it from a different angle with every trip. They would reveal surprising aspects we never knew, overlooked, or ignored. In the end, it will add up to a more rounded perspective of the country of our birth.

These packages could be jointly designed by the Department of Tourism, the Philippine Historical Commission, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Philippine Ports Authority with inputs of course from the LGUs included in the itineraries.

While on the way to the destinations, transit time could be used to have easy-going and informal storytelling by local experts, reminiscent of the late colorful Carlos Celdran who used to pepper his walking tours of Intramuros with entertaining theatrics to keep the interest of the audience. These casual “lectures” of course would be related to the destined locales to help inform and deepen the appreciation for the featured places.

To keep passengers creatively occupied, we could probably even hold mini workshops on the arts, such as painting and sketching, journal writing, digital photography, singing, dancing, acting, and healthy cooking. There would also be sessions on meditation or taichi or yoga.

Actually. there won’t be a need to have mega multi-story cruise ships. The big inter-island ferries we have would be just the right size for these special cruises. They just need to be re-purposed, re-designed and refurbished for the greater comfort, enjoyment, and safety of our target elderly passengers, with impaired person friendly facilities and amenities.

The next question is, how feasible is this idea?  How prepared are local destinations to welcome and host these cruises? Do we have enough modern ports to accommodate these cruise ferries?

If we can make this happen, and I don’t see why not, it will definitely boost domestic tourism and spur local economies. Later on, DOT could even promote the sea cruise packages to entice foreign-born Filipinos such as second and third generation Fil-Ams who hardly know the Philippines. Who knows? Domestic cruises could just be the thing that would make them appreciate and take pride in their ancestral country.

Lastly, beyond just being a curative tonic adventure for Filipino seniors like you and me, these cruises would be like a golden voyage of exploration, to expand our narrow view about ourselves as Filipinos, to go back to the wellspring of our indigenous heart and soul or even discover it for the first time.

Are you listening DOT and 2GO Ferry Cruises?

I can just imagine the multi-sensory experience of this sea travel—dropping anchors at different Philippine Island ports, wading ashore, walking down unpaved streets, being welcomed into the homes of simple local folks, eating with them, casually conversing with them. Through these thousand little immersive and serendipitous happenings, we would perhaps encounter the real Philippines and there finally find our place.

What a delight indeed to be able to soak up and savor the vibrant richness of our country of origin, the birthplace of our forefathers, seeing it all in a better light, with a heart filled to the brim with greater respect, awe, and love.

Featured header image: MV Hanseatic Nature while docked in the port of Legazpi (credit: Here in Legazpi Albay/ Edwin Peralta)