When you stop to consider the steps, previous bike tours waste an hour of precious vacation time with each change of hotels. That’s how long it takes to find the hotel, figure out where to park and lock your bike, stand in line to check-in, find your stuff, schlepp it to your room, unpack to clean up before dinner, repack the following morning, drag your luggage to the truck or van and then stand in line to check out; all before unlocking your bike and pedaling to the next hotel. On a chartered cruise ship you unpack once. Instead of living out of suitcases, waiting in front-desk lines, or securing your bike, you simply flash your scan-card as you walk your bike across the gangway.

When participants don’t need to adjust to a new mattress, pillow and thermostat each evening, they sleep better. The spacious staterooms on Santana’s charters are soundproofed, individually air-conditioned and furnished with luxurious twin or king-width bedding. Private bath with shelves, cabinet and hair dryer? Of course.

Previous forms of bike tours follow a dot-to-dot format. When viewed on a map the dots show the location of the overnight stops and the lines are the rides linking them together. A few lines represent fault-free days of cycling. Most of the lines are flawed. Stretches of busy roads with boring or ugly segments are a natural feature of routes linking places to sleep. A cycling cruise breaks the dot-to-dot pattern. As you dine, shmooze and snooze, the ship unties and relocates up to 150 miles, passing all those less-than-perfect stretches to find a hand-picked spot for a superior selection of rides. Compared to a set-in-place string of hotels, a cruise ship is like a magic carpet that allows a perfect string of vacation days; all with great cycling.

Santana selects ports after scouting thousands of miles of available routes. Each day has multiple choices. Shorter routes are flatter and follow the coast. Longer options loop inland to find great climbs and descents. Normal cruises stop at one port per day. On most days of a Santana cruise our chartered ship sees us off on our morning ride before racing down the coast to welcome us back aboard at a different port. When the ports are separated by too many miles or hills, a morning convoy of buses and moving vans can whisk some or all riders (and our blanket-wrapped bikes) to a various higher-elevation ride starts closer to the afternoon harbor. Unlike previous tours, the afternoon rides of a cycling cruise feature a downhill finish. Additionally, every day is a potential layover day. If you “play too hard” on one day, it’s always OK to take the following day off. If you don’t ride, there’s an additional choice. You can enjoy the ship before exploring the afternoon port, or hop aboard Sergio’s reclining-seat coach to see the country. It’s your vacation, and no other cycling tour features a wider range of included daily options.

When you look at other week-long cycling tours, the total distance between start and finish seldom exceeds 250 miles. At most you’ll experience two adjacent regions. On Santana’s cycling cruises you’ll cover up to 1,000 miles, which allows you to experience twice as many regions. Most cruises cross international borders (while you sleep!) to experience multiple countries. When you consider how much it costs to fly overseas, why not sample more places before returning home?