To wonder why everyone raves about cruises?

@sweetpickle2 although I notice that the report cited compared a 7 day cruise travelling to 4 ports, to a weeks holiday with one flight and one hotel.

How much damage to go by air or ferry separately? What's the environmental cost comparison of a cruise just going to one port for 7 nights.

I mean that's one reason a cruise is popular. You visit more than one place in a 7 day holiday. Is the amount of places travelled worse than the way we travel to them?

It's about three times more carbon-intensive to go on a cruise than it is to fly to a holiday and stay in one hotel- https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/transport/weekly-data-is-it-better-to-take-a-cruise-than-fly/?cf-view

Devices being shipped on on container ships is a disingenuous comparison- one trip on one of those ships will supply thousands of people with the devices they need to work and live every single day, it's not quite the same as people taking a one or two week holiday that is entirely a luxury.

Fair enough if you like cruising and decide to do it anyway but the posters tying themselves in knots trying to claim that cruising isn't that bad an environmental impact need to give their heads a wobble.

They're also forgetting all the pollution etc caused by traditional hotels, holiday resorts, etc., in terms of the infrastructure, building, utilities, power, etc.

@Parker231 @saltinesandcoffeecups @TheBers2024 @nocoolnamesleft

Sorry if I have missed anyone but thank you all for the many and varied answers. I will do some research - thanks again!

I've been on a few, as my parents love them and have taken me with them a few times, either as a teen or later as an adult when it was a dying wish of one of them.

They are definitely good fun and great value, a fantastic way to see lots of places, and not flying (if you go from Southampton) is an amazing way to start a holiday.

I wouldn't choose to go on one myself though, they're really appalling for the environment. The Virgin ones look incredible though, if I was going to do one again I'd do one of those.

@Paulettamcgee I didn't say all Americans are bad .

I SAID there are too many Americans ON many cruises. Cruising is much more of an activity for all ages than is the trend in the UK.

How do I know? I used to live in a place where every Thursday 4 large cruise ships came into port. I saw the effect of their off shore dumping on the local beaches. To be fair though locals had a very poor attitude towards dumping crap in the sea.

The minibuses, taxis etc were lined up to collect them. In general though many see cruising as a one stop spend and contribute very little to the local economy. They go back to the ship for lunch. They offer ridiculous prices to local vendors. There's always another port and another vendor - no real involvement in the community they are docking at for a few hours. Places and people are disposable.
I saw a family fighting in Santorini because father insisted on going back to the ship because he had paid for it . I have acquaintances who post endlessly about how they just stay on the ship and drink. Cruise ships are seen as " third class tourism" by many of these countries. A friend did a Greek one recently - two hours at most on a destination. What is the point?

I know many love aspects of it but as a former aid worker I'm not blind to the negative effects of them.

The anti cruise contingent on here seem to be posting on the basis that cruise ships are the only pollutants of the sea. They aren't -;most of the antis will be typing on devices that have been shipped on container ships from the far east.

If Bob and Mary's home was entirely powered by low grade marine fuel and so were their local shops, restaurant, cinema, heating aircon water treatment centre etc then you'd be getting close to equivalent emissions at home and on a cruise.

Likewise!

https://www.passionforcruises.co.uk/

a single friend raves about this company and has been on multiple solo cruises with them. No single supplement.

Cruise ships are in the business of keeping people happy and spending money, whereas ferries are in the business of getting you from A to B.

So it is in the interests of the cruise ship to keep things as smooth as possible, even if that involves skipping a port.

If you are travelling from Southampton to the med you might get a rocky ship in the bay of Biscay.

If you fly to the med to get on the ship then it will be as smooth as possible.

You can obviously take sea sickness pills and according to one of the YouTubers I follow you can get a jab on board that costs about £150, knocks you out for a few hours and after that you are fine

@pestowithwalnuts 💐💐

@malificent7 look at cruise critic. A mine of information. Check out the reviews as each line has different classes of ship. Look at the boards and if you book then the roll call for your ship where you could share excursions. I think for some people on the first cruise though to do ships excursions can be a good starting point- but they are busy!

The worries about massive cruise ships running on traditional heavy fuel oils are not just about "carbon," which someone might offset in other ways, but about eye-popping amounts of sulphur dioxide and other stuff being emitted and all the stuff getting released in the harbors of charming historical cities. And the fact that cruise tourists tend to flood cities suddenly in huge numbers and spend less than other kinds of tourists.

More and more cities are banning them, and I don't blame them. They may play a role for disabled and elderly tourists, but Europe is building a lot of high speed rail and sleeper trains right now, and hopefully they will be ensuring some accessible accommodation, so it would be nice if this became an alternative for travelers who have less mobility but want to see different places.

Smaller cruise ships running on clean synthetic fuels would be OK, as long as they stop dumping crap in the sea, seriously.

So very sad about your husband. I hope you’re able to have some more lovely memories before he passes. X x x x x

@Ineffable23
Most ships do have single cabins which are less than paying for a single in a double occupancy cabin. I believe the best are NCL ( Norwegian Cruise Line). The cabins are tiny but they are together and you have your own exclusive singles lounge nearby .
They do go quickly though. Lots of people want to sail as a single.
There are issues with some of their ships. Epic sounds bad!

www.ncl.com/uk/en/freestyle-cruise/solo-cruising

We've loved cruising.So much so that we've done 15.
One of the great things is you unpack once and that's it.
Get a balcony cabin midships..and with cabins above and below.No noise from night club ..show room or dining rooms that way.
Yes the buffet can be a scrum but only if you go at the same time a loads of others .And you can lunch in other venues with no extra charge.
You can book excursions for each port.you don't have to stick to walking around the port all day.
These can be expensive if booked with the cruise line so it pays to do some research and book your own trips independently.
We've had some wonderful times including a Christmas cruise.
Sadly my lovely husband has terminal cancer so no more cruising...but lots of lovely memories

Can’t breathe!

I'm looking at a cruise round Japan. It's £10k. The single supp is over £8k! DP can't come.

I could let someone come for, say, £4k and still save money! I might look at one of those solo traveller websites and see if I can find someone to share with!

You can do actual knitting cruises with them it seems:

https://arnecarlos.com/journeys/

I think this is just river cruises… but google to find out who doesn’t charge the single supplement… https://rivercruiseadvisor.com/2024/06/single-supplements-for-solo-travelers/

Cruisecritic is also a reputable source for information.

I was reading somewhere about educational river cruises. That would suit T least one of my nerdy kids.

I haven’t got over reading that there’s a knitting area on the Hurtigruten! That’s next year’s cruise sorted! One of them, anyway!

We did a Norwegian fjord cruise this
summer. It was fabulous! Slightly choppy on the one day Uk to Norway, but once in the fjords, it’s super smooth. Plenty to do, whale watching, hiking, Flåm railway, kayaking, RIB safaris, e-bikes and zip-lining. All very wholesome. We went with Silversea. Highly recommended.

It's the main reason I can't afford two cruises a year. Though I was a bit naughty one time when there was a great deal for 2 people travelling, that didn't apply to singles, and pretended my non existent twin sister was going to come, then had to pull out at the last minute. Saved me over a thousand pounds. Though now they want passport/insurance details in advance online it would be harder to pull that one off...

Is there a good way of dealing with the single supplement issue or do you just have to live with it? I've considered going on cruises but as I don't have a partner currently they are all nearly double the headline per person price and that's just too much to justify.