'My husband and I just cruised around this European party destination. It was nothing like we expected.'

My husband, Andrew, and I just had the most action-packed week of our lives — and it was on a cruise!

Yes, I know, cruises are for "oldies". They’re floating retirement homes. They're lazy travel. I've heard all that but I don't agree. 

This most recent cruise with Azamara was the 12th cruise we've enjoyed since 2016. 

Their style is relaxed luxury and extended destination stays, which meant multiple ports in one country rather than a whistle-stop tour of as many cities as can be crammed into one cruise. 

It also meant long stops. Most days we were docked by 8am and we departed at 9 or 10pm. That left plenty of time to enjoy the ship and the port or, as we did, combine culture, history, amazing activities and the comforts of the ship (which included an amazing array of food and drinks).

Image: Supplied.

Our cruise was called Croatia Intensive. Over 10 days, we stopped at six ports in Croatia and one in Montenegro. We started in Venice and we finished in Athens. Sound like a dream? It was!

Other than booking a canyon hike as a shore excursion, we hadn't booked any other activities until we boarded. To be honest, we had been travelling in Europe for seven weeks by the time the cruise started and we were thinking that we might just have a slower, quieter pace and enjoy the floating resort. 

Once we boarded, unpacked (the first time we unpacked properly in seven weeks!) and did some washing in the ship's free guest laundry, we changed our mind and decided to book a couple of other activities. A couple turned into a few!

Some activities we organised through Azamara (cruise lingo is "shore excursions"). Some shore excursions were already full, so we organised them privately. Google makes this easy. We usually use GetYourGuide as many different tours are grouped by location. 

Watch: Tips from savvy travellers. Post continues after video.

A word of warning, though. If you organise your own excursion, make sure that you are back on the ship in time or the ship will leave without you. If, on the other hand, you travel on a shore excursion booked through the ship, the ship will guarantee not to leave until the excursion returns to the port. This rule applies across all cruises, everywhere.

Our first activity was a lush, verdant canyon hike. We drove out of Opatija to Kamačnik Canyon. It was not a difficult hike being mainly flat but we did need to keep our heads down so as not to be tripped up by the uneven path or the tree roots. The six kilometre hike was alongside the Kamačnik River which was glass-like and filled with fallen logs and trout. We hiked to the deepest spring in Croatia, Kamačnik Spring. It’s been measured at 120-metres deep and is brilliant turquoise. Surrounded by what seems to be every shade of green, this was a beautiful start to our adventure.

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We settled into a rhythm over the next few days. We would have breakfast outside at the back of the ship looking out over the Adriatic Sea, do an activity off the ship in the morning, have lunch and a drink in the town and do a walking tour in the afternoon. 

It was a perfect combination of culture, history, exercise and fun. Loads. Of. Fun!

Day Two, we sailed and lunched on a yacht, feeling like celebrities! We motored in the morning, stopping at Lazaret ("small island") and another secluded beach, swimming in the warm waters of the Adriatic Sea. The wind picked up in the afternoon so we were able to help the Captain hoist the sails and take the helm ourselves. I looked over at my boat-mad husband at the wheel, in his element and grinning like a teenager! "This is living," I thought to myself. To top off an already amazing day, before we re-boarded the Azamara Pursuit, we wandered the Roman city of Zadar.

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We organised our Day Three hike on our own, simply hailing a taxi to the Skradinski Buk Waterfall at the Krka National Park (about a half hour drive from Šibenik). We bought a ticket and followed the well-marked, four-kilometre loop trail around the Falls. 

It was swelteringly hot but we were lucky that a lot of the walk was shaded. Closer to the waterfalls there was also a cooler breeze coming off the water. The Falls were breathtaking and you were able to get super close to the thundering water.

The taxi dropped us off in Šibenik Old Town and we wandered around the gorgeous stone town which includes four fortresses and several ruins, dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Back on board, we dined at the Chef’s Table (French-themed) then we danced the night away to live versions of ABBA songs.

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Day Four was white water rafting in the Cetina River with a guide telling us about the local area. 

We rafted for about two-and-a-half hours, stopping twice for swims in the crystal-clear river. I thought I had seen every shade of green in the Kamačnik Canyon and Skradinski Buk Falls but I saw even more shades of green in and around the Cetina River.  

The rapids were very mild, much gentler than the ones I’d experienced before in New Zealand and Bali. Not having to hold on for grim death so that I didn’t fall out of the raft, I was able to float along, only occasionally paddling. It was as stunning as it was serene.

Returning to the bustling Venetian port of Split (the second-largest city in Croatia), our tour guide took us on a walking tour showing us, amongst other things, the ruins of the 1,700 year old Diocletian Palace. (It was used as a filming location for "Game of Thrones.")

The next day we had wanted to do a self-drive ATV (buggy) tour. We drove on local roads and on rocky tracks, we drove through vineyards and olive groves and we stopped at two different beaches for swims. It was exhilarating. It was beautiful. It was FUN!

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After we handed the keys back, the tour continued to a local winemaker across the road. There, the son of the winemaker described their wines and liqueurs and offered us tastings with salami and locally-made cheese. His English was perfect, his smile wide and, as he served us all alcohol, he told us he had just had a birthday. He was 17!

We wandered around Korčula to walk off the wine. The Old Town is an almost perfectly preserved Venetian town of the 16th century. It's all honey-coloured stone with a castle, a beautiful "avenue" of shaded restaurants overlooking the emerald sea and a labyrinth of steep alleyways. 

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The most strenuous activity was the last one — sea kayaking around the magnificent fortifications of the old city of Dubrovnik. "Games of Thrones" was extensively filmed in Dubrovnik, a city of medieval origins and city walls but brimming with Baroque architecture.

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 A quick, light lunch and it was time for sea kayaking. We paddled for about 45 minutes, stopped at a beach for a swim and a snorkel and paddled back. Looking up at Dubrovnik from the azure water was an amazing perspective.

Returning to the ship, we changed for "White Night" and enjoyed the biggest buffet we have ever seen whilst being entertained by a DJ and then live singing and music. Many guests (us included) were soon dancing under the balmy sky and stars. When the poolside party concluded at 10.30pm, the music and dancing continued on in various bars on the ship.

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Wowee — what a week!

To anyone who thinks that cruising is sedentary and boring, it's not. It's as active as you want it to be. 

The weather was about 35 degrees every day with sunny, cobalt, cloudless skies. There probably were passengers who used the ship as a floating hotel and who didn’t leave the cool lounge areas or the pool. Nothing wrong with that if that’s what they wanted for their holiday.

For us, it was adventure activities with walking, history tours. It was gourmet food with swimming in rivers and the sea. It was nightly, live shows with reading on our balcony or on padded, shaded sun lounges (depending whether we felt like having company or not). 

It was an experience that was part adventurer, part foodie, part history student, part swimmer, part partygoer (cue eyerolls from our kids!) 

It was heaven! 

We felt more alive and younger at the end of the ten days than at the start — the mark of a great holiday!

This writer sailed as a guest of Azamara.

Feature Image: Supplied.