Sea ViewsFrom President and CEO, Adam Goldstein

I’m in an airport (Boston Logan in this case). So what’s new? This got me thinking about where do I like to go, as opposed to where do I have to go.

There are still a lot more places I would like to go that I haven’t yet seen. Not that I’ve been a shabby tourist with visits to over 50 countries on six continents. But of the places I’ve been, one thing that surprises me after all these years is that my favorite natural phenomenon I’ve ever seen and my favorite man-made attraction I’ve ever seen are both in South America. I visited both of them 25 years ago and I haven’t seen anything more impressive since on either count.

The natural phenomenon is Iguazu Falls between Brazil and Argentina and the man-made attraction is Machu Picchu in Peru. It’s easy to research both of them so I won’t dwell on the details. Suffice it to say they’re both incredible. A slightly less incredible reminder of that trip is the distinct mark that a Saba ant’s pincers left on my ring finger in the Peruvian Amazon. Still there after 25 years! My wife is sick of that story.

There are of course many fantastic cities in the world. My personal favorite is Paris which is hardly going out on a limb as far as world cities go. There isn’t anything like walking along the Seine at night, at least not in my experience. I wish more French consumers would buy Royal Caribbean cruises so I would have justification to go there other than for my INSEAD business school reunions. So if you have any French friends or relatives, please push our cruises for me. Thanks!

I’ll also put in a plus for Prague as a wonderful city to visit. I was fortunate to have seen it in 1988 before the Iron Curtain fell, and then spent a weekend there a few years ago with my wife. It is a magnificent treasure of a city and a valuable reminder of how much of European history unfolded in what I grew up knowing as communist Eastern Europe.

I was just in Australia on business and then my wife and I spent two days in Noosa north of Brisbane. For an American, Australia is such a pleasant place to spend time. And every time you come across a great place like Noosa that you didn’t even know about before, it reminds you why it’s worth putting up with long flights and other hassles.

Of course I’ve been a few places on cruise ships since my first cruise on Emerald Seas in 1987. Top honors? Alaska (twice) is seemingly made for cruises. Our family trip in the Galapagos on Celebrity Xpedition was incredible. Cruising in Asia is very memorable.

By the time you see this I will have FINALLY visited St. Barts. My wife and I have been talking about it for almost 20 years. I’m looking forward to this trip for sure.

Notwithstanding that many of the above-mentioned destinations are on the glamorous side, I will end this by saying there aren’t too many places I would rather visit than the lakes of Maine or the slopes of Colorado. By the way, if any of you visited Portland, Maine in the 1970’s and have seen it again recently, the improvement is incredible.

Happy and safe travels!