Travel advisor Alison Rieger set out to host a group cruise on the NCL Joy and came home with something she never anticipated: a full-blown love affair with Bermuda.
At a Glance
Bermuda stands apart from other Caribbean islands with its British character, immaculate streets, turquoise waters, and absence of beach-side hustle. A three-day docked cruise itinerary allows unhurried exploration, while renting a Twizy electric vehicle provides flexible island access. The combination creates an experience distinctly different from typical Caribbean cruise ports.
When Alison Rieger boarded the NCL Joy in New York City bound for Bermuda, she was thinking like a host. She had a group of friends and family to look after, a cruise itinerary to manage, and a professional reputation to uphold. What she was not thinking about was falling in love. Yet that is exactly what happened the moment she set eyes on the island that would quietly rewrite everything she thought she knew about Caribbean destinations.
Rieger, a seasoned travel advisor who has since built a signature annual hosted cruise program, describes Bermuda in terms that are almost reverential. "It is not like any other Caribbean island," she says. "From the beautiful color of the ocean to the pinks, to the friendly people. It's one of the most beautiful places, as far as islands go, that I've ever been to, and I can't wait to go back again." For a professional who has seen a great deal of the world, that kind of enthusiasm is not offered lightly.
An Island Unlike Any Other
Part of what makes Bermuda so striking is precisely what sets it apart from its neighbors in the Atlantic. Rieger arrived with a set of assumptions shaped by years of Caribbean travel, expecting something familiar. What she found instead was an island with a distinctly British character, immaculate streets, and a refreshing absence of the beach-side hustle that can wear travelers thin. "I thought Bermuda would be like any other Caribbean island," she admits. "It was not at all. It was so much cleaner, it seems safer. There wasn't people on the beaches trying to sell you things. It was a very different feeling than a lot of the other Caribbean islands."
The aesthetic details reinforced the sense of somewhere genuinely unique. Locals in their iconic Bermuda shorts and high socks gave the island a charm that felt both timeless and effortlessly stylish. Pastel-painted homes and the famously turquoise waters completed a picture that, by Rieger's account, no amount of travel brochure research could have fully prepared her for. It was the kind of place that rewards the traveler who shows up without too many expectations and simply pays attention.
The Ship as a Home Base
The structure of the NCL Joy itinerary proved to be one of the trip's quiet revelations. Spending three full days docked in Bermuda, rather than arriving and departing in a single port-call rush, transformed the experience in ways Rieger has since come to champion with her clients. "I loved being docked in Bermuda for the three days," she explains, "being able to come and go off the ship, having the ship as a floating hotel. It reduced the lining up to get on and off a cruise ship. You could go off at your leisure and not worry about getting off the second we arrived in port."
This unhurried freedom to explore on one's own schedule is, Rieger believes, one of the most underappreciated aspects of a well-designed cruise itinerary. Rather than the frantic scramble of a single-day port stop, her group had the luxury of returning to the ship for lunch, heading back ashore in the afternoon, and waking up the next morning still in the heart of Hamilton. It is the kind of insider knowledge that only comes from having lived it firsthand.
The Twizy: Bermuda's Best-Kept Secret on Wheels
If there is one piece of advice Rieger now presses into the hands of every client she sends to Bermuda, it involves a small electric vehicle called a Twizy. Compact, nimble, and entirely emission-free, the Twizy has become her signature recommendation for exploring the island's winding roads and dramatic coastal views. "Renting a Twizy is an electric vehicle that takes you all over the island," she says. "We did it last time, we weren't sure what to expect, and this time everybody in our group has rented an electric vehicle. It's a great way to see all of Bermuda at your own pace and speed."
It is the kind of tip that only surfaces through genuine experience, the sort of detail no guidebook quite captures in the same way as an advisor who has personally navigated the island's pink-sand lanes in one. For Rieger's clients, this insider knowledge is the difference between a good trip and an unforgettable one.
Building a Career Around Hosted Cruises
The NCL Joy sailing to Bermuda was not just a memorable holiday. It was, in many ways, the trip that launched a new chapter of Rieger's professional life. "This was my first hosted cruise in August of 2022," she reflects. "Since that time I've done a hosted cruise every year. That was the start of this hosting cruise adventure as a travel advisor that I'm loving." The pattern she discovered on that first sailing, of gathering a community of travelers and guiding them through an experience together, has become a cornerstone of her practice.
The lessons have compounded with each voyage. On her upcoming return to Bermuda aboard the NCL Aqua, Rieger is bringing a more intentional approach to the sea days that bookend the island stay. Recognizing that the itinerary includes multiple days at sea both before and after the Bermuda port calls, she has curated a fuller program of onboard activities to keep her group engaged and connected. It is the kind of thoughtful, experience-informed planning that separates a travel advisor who has simply read about a destination from one who has truly inhabited it.
A Love Affair Still in Its Early Chapters
Ask Rieger where she is headed next, and the answer comes without a moment's hesitation. "Back to Bermuda. Here we come." It is a sentiment that captures something important about what travel, at its best, can do. It does not just tick boxes on a list. It creates genuine attachment, a pull back toward a place and its people, its colors and its rhythms. For Rieger, Bermuda has become exactly that kind of destination, one she is not merely recommending but returning to with genuine joy, and one she is excited to share with the group of travelers who will experience it alongside her.
