We Love to Travel. But Cruises Look Miserable.

[22lcidw]

I wouldn't do another Caribbean cruise, because I really didn't like the hard sell I got to buy stuff every time I took a breath. But a river cruise might be different? I'd rather pay the extra bucks up front than be hit up by the staff constantly for the ship's "profit."

They love to sell the gold and silver chains for some reason...And the Cruise Director always has a British accent from my experience. Perhaps someone with a Brooklyn accent and a neighborhood demeanor would be more adequate.

 

[22lcidw]

I also dream of a cruise, but so far it is too expensive for us.

Do not know the area of the nation you are from. 3 to 5 day cruises are in general more economical. From the end of August to February are generally cheaper excepting holidays. Most will be on slightly older and smaller ships although not all are. They are still large ships. From 70 thousand tons to 110 thousand tons to even 160 thousand tons if you find a deal on one of those. Carnival and Royal Caribbean can be a bit cheaper to get on and there are others to find a deal. But those two are more casual also. You can find anything on the internet. Even forums. Cruise Critic is one. You will never know how to complain about one ship to another because you never been on one to begin with. And that would be amenities for many people. The price of the cruise, including the taxes, fees and port charges and pre paid gratuities would cover most of what you need on the ship until you add other things like purchases, casino, drinking, etc. Dinners and any shows and comedy are free. Lemonade, Iced tea unsweetened, coffee, hot water for tea, etc. , ice water are free. You can carry limited canned beverages and/or juicy juice on carry on bags along with a bottle of wine each. Look up what people do. And what each line allows. If you drink a lot drink packages are the best route although there are other options with legality being a question mark for one of them.

 

[Cassandro]

Cruise ships provide transportation, food, lodging and entertainment all together. The secret to experiencing the ports of call is to walk off the ship and hire a local guide.

 

[Blues Man]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

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[rightwinger]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Floating hotel
Lot to do on board, lot to do in port

 

[Blues Man]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Floating hotel
Lot to do on board, lot to do in port

Trapped on a boat

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[dblack]

Hubby and I love to travel: near, far, by car or air. But we never, ever want to cruise. We see all kinds of pitfalls and almost no positives. For one thing, when you cruise you are constantly surrounded by people. Everywhere. A press of people everywhere--a floating city of people all stacked up together.

Cruise ships have morgues.

Cruise ships have norovirus.

Cruise ships are beholden to the waves and the weather.

How unpopular is this opinion?

Yeah. I've never tried one, but I know a lot of people who have. And from what they say - even those who enjoyed it - I'm convinced I would be miserable.

 

[dblack]

Cruises are an interesting phenomenon in one respect: The people who criticize them most vigorously HAVE NEVER BEEN ON ONE!!!

I am an experienced traveler and an experienced "cruiser", and a well chosen cruise (ocean OR river) can be the vacation of a lifetime.

There is NO COMPARISON with a driving vacation, on which you are packing and unpacking constantly, driving, eating as greasy spoon restaurants, and are spending lots of money constantly. On a cruise you unpack ONCE, then do nothing but enjoy the destinations and the hundreds of things to do on the ship.

If you are a misanthrope and don't want to be surrounded by people all the time, you can eat at "different" times in the smaller venues on the ship, or call ROOM SERVICE, and eat in your cabin. Either way, the food and service are both generally excellent. Unlike in a typical American restaurant, the servers on a cruise ship WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY, and it shows all the time.

I personally have no interest in the classic Caribbean Cruise (although that was the first that we did, just to get the experience), but consider the very popular Baltic Sea cruises that start in either Copenhagen or Amsterdam, and hit Helsinki, Oslo, Denmark, Estonia, and a few other places, topping off at St Petersburg, which is one of the most wonderful destinations on the planet. You literally can't go wrong.

As for river cruises, they are fantastic. You dock right in the heart of the historic, beautiful town, take a guided tour in the morning, come back to the boat for lunch, then have the whole afternoon and evening to explore on your own. It is so much better than driving.

I have this conversation with friends regularly: they say they don't want to go on a cruise...until the first time, then they plan their whole (retirement) lives around their next cruises. There are also great deals to be had at websites like "Vacations to Go". You can find cruises for almost any budget and interest, particularly if you are flexible in your timing.

I've only met two or three people in my life who didn't enjoy cruising, and that was because they had problems with sea-sickness (not an issue on river cruises). There are drugs to help with that, but the drugs make you super-sleepy all the time, so maybe if you are a person who simply can't stand the gentle movement of a giant ship, don't go on a cruise. But for everyone else, it is an option that you are almost guaranteed to enjoy.

Guilty as charged. Never been on one, but it seems like a lot of being herded around from what I've seen. We used to go diving every winter in Cayman, and we'd see the cruise boat people being shuttled around the island, from tourist trap to tourist trap, on overcrowded busses. It looked like pretty much every excursion was like that.

Maybe I'm too cool for cruises.

Or maybe I just have a lot of screwed up social anxieties that would make it unwonderful for me.

 

[rightwinger]

Cruises are an interesting phenomenon in one respect: The people who criticize them most vigorously HAVE NEVER BEEN ON ONE!!!

I am an experienced traveler and an experienced "cruiser", and a well chosen cruise (ocean OR river) can be the vacation of a lifetime.

There is NO COMPARISON with a driving vacation, on which you are packing and unpacking constantly, driving, eating as greasy spoon restaurants, and are spending lots of money constantly. On a cruise you unpack ONCE, then do nothing but enjoy the destinations and the hundreds of things to do on the ship.

If you are a misanthrope and don't want to be surrounded by people all the time, you can eat at "different" times in the smaller venues on the ship, or call ROOM SERVICE, and eat in your cabin. Either way, the food and service are both generally excellent. Unlike in a typical American restaurant, the servers on a cruise ship WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY, and it shows all the time.

I personally have no interest in the classic Caribbean Cruise (although that was the first that we did, just to get the experience), but consider the very popular Baltic Sea cruises that start in either Copenhagen or Amsterdam, and hit Helsinki, Oslo, Denmark, Estonia, and a few other places, topping off at St Petersburg, which is one of the most wonderful destinations on the planet. You literally can't go wrong.

As for river cruises, they are fantastic. You dock right in the heart of the historic, beautiful town, take a guided tour in the morning, come back to the boat for lunch, then have the whole afternoon and evening to explore on your own. It is so much better than driving.

I have this conversation with friends regularly: they say they don't want to go on a cruise...until the first time, then they plan their whole (retirement) lives around their next cruises. There are also great deals to be had at websites like "Vacations to Go". You can find cruises for almost any budget and interest, particularly if you are flexible in your timing.

I've only met two or three people in my life who didn't enjoy cruising, and that was because they had problems with sea-sickness (not an issue on river cruises). There are drugs to help with that, but the drugs make you super-sleepy all the time, so maybe if you are a person who simply can't stand the gentle movement of a giant ship, don't go on a cruise. But for everyone else, it is an option that you are almost guaranteed to enjoy.

Guilty as charged. Never been on one, but it seems like a lot of being herded around from what I've seen. We used to go diving every winter in Cayman, and we'd see the cruise boat people being shuttled around the island, from tourist trap to tourist trap, on overcrowded busses. It looked like pretty much every excursion was like that.

Maybe I'm too cool for cruises.

Or maybe I just have a lot of screwed up social anxieties that would make it unwonderful for me.

Problem with cruises is you have maybe 6-8 hours in every port

You have to run around to see anything. You can hire a cab to drive you around and do things at your own pace

 

[petro]

I hear the SS Listeria and the Royal Norovirus are excellent cruises to go on.

I tend to seek rural settings with few people for vacations. A cruise ship wouldn't fit that.

Rather be fishing in my own boat.

 

[G.T.]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Floating hotel
Lot to do on board, lot to do in port

Trapped on a boat

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Its like the size of a City. I know America's obese...but if you feel trapped on a cruise you need to do the snake diet. lol

 

[rightwinger]

I hear the SS Listeria and the Royal Norovirus are excellent cruises to go on.

I tend to seek rural settings with few people for vacations. A cruise ship wouldn't fit that.

Rather be fishing in my own boat.

Ever been out of the country?

 

[petro]

I hear the SS Listeria and the Royal Norovirus are excellent cruises to go on.

I tend to seek rural settings with few people for vacations. A cruise ship wouldn't fit that.

Rather be fishing in my own boat.

Ever been out of the country?

Does Canada count?

Otherwise not. Seen a lot of America.

Considering the Caribbean at some point. Would rather stay on land and go on day excursions on the water.

 

[SweetSue92]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

With a bunch of people you don't know. With whom you are forced to dine and bump elbows with for DAYS...heh. Hubby and I are pretty much 100% introverts. Our daughter is made for cruises. She never met anyone who wasn't a friend in about ten minutes. Us, not so much. Put at a table to dine with strangers? We're pleasant people (we are, really) and we'd be polite and friendly. But in true introvert fashion, this is not our idea of RELAXING. It takes too much out of us. And then to recharge...we have a tiny CABIN.

Nope

 

[Blues Man]

Trapped on a boat

No thank you

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Floating hotel
Lot to do on board, lot to do in port

Trapped on a boat

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Its like the size of a City. I know America's obese...but if you feel trapped on a cruise you need to do the snake diet. lol

It has nothing to do with my weight which BTW is perfectly healthy.

I don't like the idea of not being able to do what i want when I want but if you need someone to schedule your vacation for you and tell you where to go and how long you have to stay at any one place then a cruise is for you.

I prefer to plan my own trips book nice hotel rooms not something the size of closet and go where I want when I want

 

[jasonlee3071]

Hubby and I love to travel: near, far, by car or air. But we never, ever want to cruise. We see all kinds of pitfalls and almost no positives. For one thing, when you cruise you are constantly surrounded by people. Everywhere. A press of people everywhere--a floating city of people all stacked up together.

Cruise ships have morgues.

Cruise ships have norovirus.

Cruise ships are beholden to the waves and the weather.

How unpopular is this opinion?

I went on a Hawaiian cruise years ago with my mom. Because hubby couldn't make it and as she paid for two people I went instead.
Only good thing I enjoyed about the cruise was getting off ship and visiting the various islands in Hawaii that I saw.
My favorite was the big island Hawaii itself.
It wouldn't be my favorite way to travel at all. Even though I visited and saw quite a few islands I didn't stay long in any one of them to
really get to know the place.
Also it's really expensive to go on a cruise and I don't think I would ever want to spend that much money on one.
I would rather just visit one of the islands and spend a minimum of one week there exploring around rather than just spend a few hours in
port and leave the same day later in the evening.

 

[Correll]

Hubby and I love to travel: near, far, by car or air. But we never, ever want to cruise. We see all kinds of pitfalls and almost no positives. For one thing, when you cruise you are constantly surrounded by people. Everywhere. A press of people everywhere--a floating city of people all stacked up together.

Cruise ships have morgues.

Cruise ships have norovirus.

Cruise ships are beholden to the waves and the weather.

How unpopular is this opinion?

I went on a Hawaiian cruise years ago with my mom. Because hubby couldn't make it and as she paid for two people I went instead.
Only good thing I enjoyed about the cruise was getting off ship and visiting the various islands in Hawaii that I saw.
My favorite was the big island Hawaii itself.
It wouldn't be my favorite way to travel at all. Even though I visited and saw quite a few islands I didn't stay long in any one of them to
really get to know the place.
Also it's really expensive to go on a cruise and I don't think I would ever want to spend that much money on one.
I would rather just visit one of the islands and spend a minimum of one week there exploring around rather than just spend a few hours in
port and leave the same day later in the evening.

1. The cruise ships generally have nice shows, and interesting people on them, if you get a chance to talk to them.


2. Yes, the cruises that only have a few hours stay, are not the best, imo. I can't relax and enjoy exploring a place, when I have to keep my eye on my watch like that. Some cruises do stay in port overnight. That is the best.

 

[evenflow1969]

Hubby and I love to travel: near, far, by car or air. But we never, ever want to cruise. We see all kinds of pitfalls and almost no positives. For one thing, when you cruise you are constantly surrounded by people. Everywhere. A press of people everywhere--a floating city of people all stacked up together.

Cruise ships have morgues.

Cruise ships have norovirus.

Cruise ships are beholden to the waves and the weather.

How unpopular is this opinion?

Take a mini cruise! Great place to start is Saint Marys georgia. The Emerald princess is a cruising casino. Ports every night. So big you will not feel teh waves. The captain is a personal friend of mine. Promise to have fun. Great place for short excursions for blue crab. Better than lobster. The captain of the emerald also has grouper charter boats you can go out on.