Seafarer here. After bouncing from ship to ship from 1998-2009, and spending a few days in each place I was dumped between ships, I narrowed my options to Viana do Castello in Portugal, Edinburgh in Scotland, and Whangarei in New Zealand.

I ended up settling in New Zealand in 2009 because I love the culture, the fact that it's a long way from the rest of the world, it's affordable, and it has a lot of options for travel. I fly from there to my ship, then go home when the trip's over.