Eric Anderson, MD

Only 11% of Americans have taken a cruise in the last 3 years, and these non-cruisers likely don’t know what they’re missing out on.

Despite a couple of years where several cruise lines and their passengers have taken a beating with unfortunate results and for the bad publicity regarding health and mechanical issues, a cruise is still a great vacation—and for busy physicians, it’s almost a perfect one.

. It removes a lot of the problems associated with personal travel. You can almost take off your watch and for doctors—who live and die by their appointment schedules&mdash;this, by itself, gives credibility to a cruise.

We often hear southeast Asia is the new Europe. Let’s talk about that destination for a moment. It may not be the best trip to arrange for your 

 cruise, because air may be complicated, but it’s a good example of how a cruise can simplify a vacation.

 in the background of the top image; we cruised this part of Asia for 13 days along with 2,433 other passengers. We began the cruise in Hong Kong with stops in Bangkok (middle image) and Singapore (lower image).

Major cities can help to make a cruise memorable. Many people cruising on this particular ship said they never expected to visit those cities ever again so they were really pleased to get even a small exposure to places with such mystical reputations. And to get the exposure with so little activity on their part.

You’ll see a lot of boats, but none as comfortable as your cruise ship. And since Asia can be humid the assurance of returning to your ship’s air conditioning at the end of the day is most agreeable.

For those with Bucket Lists, a visit to places on them—even for a day visit by cruise ship&mdash;enables people to cross one more spot off the list. Tourist offices don’t criticize what might be seen as a superficial approach. They favor such visits because a quick look is often enough to make a tourist return for a longer stay.

So if, in Cambodia, you have a hankering to see, say, Angkor Wat you might find the easiest way is by cruise ship. And with upfront costs established, it may be both less expensive and less dangerous.

The karst islands of Ha Long Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin were formed when limestone eroded over millions of years.

Some parts of a foreign country spark interest from a traveler’s knowledge of history or a remembered scene in a movie or a photograph barely recalled from a high school’s geography text book. Such might be 

 off northeastern Vietnam—one of UNESCO’s 5 World Heritage Sites. The bay stretches over 620 square miles of awesome seascape and you can sail amongst those karst islands on a cruise ship excursion

There are karst mountains as well all across southeast Asia and in the rice fields locals work hard to reap what they have planted.

On land, shore excursion guides know where they want the drivers to stop. Their tips from passengers may depend on whether the foreigners get good photographs with their smartphones. Their tips also depend on whether they get passengers back to the ship before it sails. (The ship will always wait for its shore excursion passengers, but not for those on their own personal travel if they are late coming back.) Vietnam has many canals and bridges are lifted up at irregular times for boats that need to pass.

That said, the 98 million people in North and South Vietnam seem to have forgotten the war that devastated America. The war ended in 1975 and more than 60% of the population has been born since. Douglas MacArthur was wrong: old soldiers 

 die. And once they are gone, young people forget the issues.

On the road from Da Nang to Hue lies a memorial for North Vietnamese soldiers killed in the Tet Offensive. A mother shows her child the statue of a local girl, then age 17, who helped dig a tunnel here to hide a wounded Vietcong. The girl, a combatant, holds her weapon high in her right hand but from her left hand, ready to fly, is the white dove of peace.

A memorial for North Vietnamese soldiers killed in the 

. A farmer on his way to market. Asian live theater. Ha Long Bay still fascinates even at night.

Autonomous travelers in southeastern Asia would have trouble finding those places where cruises take them. Or finding locals who speak English and can explain what they are seeing. Even with a cruise to Vietnam and Cambodia, it takes time for ship personnel to arrange a visa for United States travelers.

Tourism in Vietnam is still in its infancy and American travelers staying independently in the country after a cruise would do well to choose an upscale hotel group like 

, which has Vietnamese resorts like the Anantara Hoi An and the Anantara Mui Ne with their reputation and ability to help if they run into problems.

But guides cannot completely enlighten Americans, who visit a foreign country hoping to gain better understanding of the world. We had an uncle who used to say, “Travel broadens the … feet!”

The Andersons, who live in San Diego, are the resident travel & cruise columnists for Physician's Money Digest. Nancy is a former nursing educator, Eric a retired MD. The one-time president of the NH Academy of Family Practice, Eric is the only physician in the Society of American Travel Writers. He has also written 5 books, the last called

The Man Who Cried Orange: Stories from a Doctor's Life

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Cruises not only simply the vacation experience, but they also enable visits to countries that might be difficult to navigate otherwise.

How a Cruise Can Simplify Your Vacation

How does a European country recapture its capital and from whom? Franks, Vandals, Huns? No, those were the barbarians of earlier centuries and the Dark Ages ended about 800 AD.

The communist criminal from whom the people of Romania finally wrenched its “Lost City,” Bucharest, was more rapacious than any Visigoth tribe that ever crossed their land. It was the despised (and possibly demented) despot, 

. When he and his wife were arrested and shot by a firing squad on December 25, 1989, it was surely a Christmas present to the Romanian people.

In Bucharest we drive into Revolutionary Square with its 2005 Memorial of Rebirth. The controversial column has been ridiculed as an Olive on a Toothpick or a Potato on a Stake and as not adequately representing the 1,500 people who suffered and died in the revolution needed to bring down Ceausescu.

The monstrosity originally called The Palace of the People (now the Palace of the Parliament) is said to be the largest parliament building in the world. It has become a national government office, perfect for politicians with the usual bloated sense of their own importance.

Those standing on the balcony of the palace can look down the avenue Ceausescu deliberately made wider than the Champs-Élysées in Paris as he destroyed most of historic Bucharest. It is the same balcony from which Michael Jackson looked down on his local admirers and shouted, “Hello, Budapest!”

Inside the palace is stark marble: no money was left for furniture and Ceausescu was executed before it was finished.

Ceausescu’s largesse with his people’s money and the communist regime probably set Romania back 44 years (if you count from the end of World War II in 1945 to the People’s Revolution in 1989). The extraordinary megalomania of Ceausescu may have done even more damage because his power lust (which he thought was vision) made vast destructive changes to his capital.

Top and middle rows: The Patriarchal Cathedral. Bottom row: Church in the Bucharest National Village Museum.

It wouldn’t be a European vacation without seeing more than our share of churches. The striking thing about them is that some are so large and so over-decorated by North American standards. While many interiors are in poor repair, there are no obvious enthusiasts with collecting cans asking for help to restore the churches.

Such apathy may be because the country is still poor and the communists who were so anti-church have left their mark. After all it was Karl Marx who said religion is the opium of the people.

A less flamboyant church is the delightful and small Stavropoleos Church, built on the edge of what is now Old Town in 1724 by a Greek monk. The Stavropoleos interior is exquisite—a surprise, because the outside is not particularly striking.

St. Nicholas Church has a more upscale history. It was created in 1905-1909 thanks to a 600,000 gold ruble donation from a Russian: the tsar, himself.

Tsar Alexander II approved the 7 Russian onion domes on top and the iconostasis below that is reputedly a reproduction of the altar in one of the cathedrals in the Kremlin.

We get directions from our guide and head for the 16-room hotel, the 

 that we had booked online. It is a great choice: simple, clean and conveniently located in the Old Town. It was also inexpensive. At the time of our stay we paid $160 a night.

The next day we walk with a street map of the city. Our destination has been marked by the hotel:

(the Old Court). We wander past alleys with ancient gates, along deserted streets as quiet as a Sunday and come, at the end of Strada FrancezÄƒ, to the ruined walls of the 

The prince of Wallachia, who built the Prince’s Palace in the 15th century at the apogee of his powers, is someone not seen as a prince by his enemies—and he had many in the Ottoman Empire. His successors later increased fortifications, but by the 18th century, after an earthquake and a fire, the palace had fallen into ruin. A museum was established here in 1972.

The best records of this Palace of the Wallachian Princes were those dated September 20, 1459, by Prince Vlad III. His bust stands on a pedestal outside as if guarding the ruins. He is the most famous of the Princes Vlad.

Prince Vlad II was chosen as a member of the Holy Roman Empire’s secret society “to uphold Christianity, the Order of the Dragon.” The Romanian word for dragon is “

meant “the dragon” and the “a” at the end is the diminutive. Thus, the name used by his son, Vlad III, was Vlad Dracula: the little dragon. He also used Vlad Tepes, but especially enjoyed being called Vlad the Impaler.

A student who spoke some English walks past as we take some photographs, hears our conversation, and directs our attention to a poster on a wall.

“The drawing is not realistic,” he says. “Vlad did not limit himself to just 2; he impaled thousands, but most were Ottomans!”

It is surely not a children’s bedtime story.

The Andersons, who live in San Diego, are the resident travel & cruise columnists for Physician's Money Digest. Nancy is a former nursing educator, Eric a retired MD. The one-time president of the NH Academy of Family Practice, Eric is the only physician in the Society of American Travel Writers. He has also written five books, the last called

Once called "the Paris of the East," Bucharest still shows signs of the vast and permanent destructive changes wrought on the city by despised despot Nicolae Ceausescu.

Romania's Recaptured and Restored Capital

We have a Czech friend who says cities are either introvert or extrovert. Paris and Las Vegas he labels extrovert and London and Brno, his country’s second largest city, he calls introvert.

Interesting — Spanish novelist, Carlos Ruiz Zafón also has something to say. He calls his two favorite cities “living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman … a woman who's extremely vain.”

Well, certainly Madrid pulsates with macho pride. How could it not? This is not the north of Spain with its less chauvinistic attitudes. Yet this strutting conceit is surely part of Madrid’s fascination.

We love Madrid; it’s cleaner than Rome, less noisy and its people more helpful. And you can walk its cobblestones without being knocked down by vehicles or motorbikes. Or gouged by the prices in tourist spots.

Read the full article as it originally appear on Physician's Money Digest

What's not to love about Madrid? The city is cleaner and less noisy than Rome, and Madrid's people are more helpful. Here are the top 10 sights to see in the capital of Spain.

Madrid: The Beginners' Top 10

We are arriving at historic and, to Norwegians, nostalgic Trondheim; a city at the mouth of the River Nid said to be surrounded by 87 mountain peaks! This former capital was founded in 997. It is no surprise to find in 1,000 years of history much of 

We hear some of those tales as our bus from the 

 takes us through the old part of town, Bakklandet. It is raining and no one is keen to get out of the bus at this moment. The overview is useful for getting our bearings.

The story the guidebooks mention is how King Olaf was killed at the 

 in 1030. Olaf had recently been baptized a Christian and sought to convert his kingdom, dealing harshly with any remaining pagans. The nobles rose up against him and he was killed in the battle. King Olaf was placed in a shallow grave. Water apparently started to flow from this dry location and a legend grew that the site was sacred. His body was moved farther inland and the 

 was built over his grave with an interior fashioned from beautiful grey-green soapstone.

In time King Olaf became St. Olaf, the patron saint of the Catholic country. Pilgrims would come to the cathedral from as far away as Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but the 1537 Reformation Act stopped the worship of relics. Olaf was reburied in a secret location.

The Crown Jewels can be seen in a side chapel in the cathedral. The stained glass rose window by Gabriel Kjellan, created in 1930, has 10,000 pieces of glass. The red color stands for God and blue for evil, and as the day progresses the colors change, blue fades and red becomes predominant.

There are two organs in the cathedral, says a priest addressing our group in a rich Irish brogue (just another of those Irish-Norwegian connections. The Vikings founded Dublin). One old Baroque Wagner organ dates from 1739.

More recently, in 1930 the cathedral was fitted with a Steinmeyer for the 900th anniversary of the battle Olaf died in. It had 9,500 pipes — too many, says the guide. So they fitted the extra pipes in all the walkways in the upper level.

The smaller stained glass windows were all re-done in 1920; the ones on the south wall with stories from the New Testament and the ones on the north wall from the Old Testament. The stories are read from the bottom up.

The bus takes us up to higher land for a view of the city then to the Skansen area where the old 1277 hospital lies and still functions. Here also stands the 1705 

, the oldest surviving church in Scandinavia. It has a red-painted octagonal central part from which the long house escapes to the west and the choir to the east. Cars hurry past in the rain uncaring they are dashing past their city’s history.

Off-shore the island Munkholmen was Trondheim’s execution place. It became a Bendectine monastery, but by 1658 had turned into a prison fort.

The authors recount their trip to Trondheim, Norway.

Eric Anderson, MD

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