If you’ve been on a cruise, did you feel rushed ? And always paranoid about time ?

[Rainbowdeer]

Don’t know if I want to try it this year

Interesting reading the responses on here. We book a cruise on the basis of the itinerary as we like to get off and wander and explore. The ship is important to us, but not as important as the opportunity to visit different places in one holiday. There are people who don't seem to leave the ship, and lots of people with limited mobility, and then there's those of us who like to explore different ports. The holiday is what you want it to be.

But if you really wanted to visit specific places, surely you'd book a holiday that allowed you more than a few hours in each, and that wasn't organised around a copperfastened set of timings with no wiggle room?

We go for the destinations too, we like the cruise experience but also like sightseeing. We have never stayed on board on a port day but sometimes come back after lunch if we have seen what we want to and eaten on shore. You do have to keep an eye on the clock though that is the one thing I don't like because I am paranoid about lateness at the best of times. In many ports you can walk into the town or city from the ship which make it easy, or get a local bus but you can find the queues for the buses are big in the afternoons. It is a good way of getting a taste for places we would go back to, or for somewhere like Mykonos, felt we could easily see enough in a day (we caught an early boat trip to the island of Delos, which has amazing ruins, then lunch on the harbourside which wasn't outrageously expensive and was very good, a mooch round the old town for a couple of hours and walk back to the tenders).

Looks like I might be in a minority but I didn't find a cruise relaxing nor good for destinations. U had to constantly keep an eye on the clock and everything felt rushed. One couple got left behind and had to find their own way to the next port, not sure when they caught up as we never saw them again.
Worth trying so at least you will know whether it's for you or not. I wouldn't go again.

I worked on a ship, i was always very "aware" of the time. I could never take dh on one as he will be late for his own funeral.

We have nearly missed several ferries in greece and it's very stressful!

Well you could argue that but we feel it gives us the chance to dip into somewhere, have a wander and decide whether we'd like to return for a longer break. This has definitely been true of Cadiz and Barcelona for examp!e where we have gone back.

There is a good website here - called Whats in Port - apologies for the advert overload - but once you get over that - it has some good info and often printable port maps

https://www.whatsinport.com/Mykonos.htm

There is also a website called Cruise Critic with lots of helpful info

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/destinations

It also has reviews of the ships so you can get an idea of what to expect with each one.

@NeedWineNow It really is just a dip though. It’s impossible to see everything that’s worth seeing. No ports in Italy can ever get close to all the city nearby has to offer and Venice should definitely be off limits. Cruising is a holiday for people who don’t really want to see much.

We have headed back to Alaska on a small boat after we did a Princess cruise there with dc. We also went to the Great Bear Rainforest on a boat with 12 passengers. We also now go on boats with 100 passengers and go to destinations like the Antarctic, Arctic, Hebrides, Iceland and Sicily. Everyone is fully engaged in the activities but it’s expensive. That’s really why you need to decide what sort of person you are. In Europe I’d actually go and stay in Nice or Rome or Palma. Local food and more time.

Yes definitely.
It wasn't the relaxing holiday I expected. However my ideal holiday is a very relaxed beach holiday.
We did a few cruises when DC were late teens / early 20s and it was fabulous for our family. We had never done a lot of sightseeing or city travel with them as younger children and this ticked off a lot of places.

But rushed , yes. Lots of early starts and I hate that especially on holiday. Who wants to set an alarm on holiday. I didn't do many organised trips, really only where the port was a long way from the city.

The best ports were those where the ship docked in the town and you could just hop off and wander - Split for example was an absolute highlight.
Trickier were Barcelona and Venice where there was a large area and a lot to see but it wasn't quick or easy to get back to the ship and you had to be constantly aware of the time.
There were always a couple who nearly got left and you could see them running down the quay to get on.

Cruising is a holiday for people who don’t really want to see much.

No, sorry, I can't agree with a blanket statement like that. Everyone gets something different out of cruising, like any holiday. For instance, some people go to a resort just to lie on a sunbed whilst others will go to the same resort but will travel out to visit other places. Similarly on a cruise, we've met people who go to enjoy the ship and being away, and the ports are secondary whilst others go to enjoy the ports and go further afield, possibly on a ship excursion. Like I said up thread, we like to get off and have a wander round, have some lunch, and decide whether the port is somewhere we'd like to come back to for a longer period another time. There are some places we've been to on cruises that I wouldn't wish to go back to but others we've enjoyed and indeed have been back since.

The main thing is that whatever holiday you have, whether cruising or land based, is your holiday, and you enjoy it whatever what you want.

You cannot possibly see much in a short day off the ship and having lunch. Obviously people who lounge on a beach or by a pool don’t want to see much either. A cruise is similar to those holidays. You don’t have time to explore on a cruise. Plenty of people never go back and revisit where they spent a few hours. They just keep cruising. Each to their own but you do not get time to see much on a cruise and the ship organised trips are very expensive.

I had a good time on a Costa ship. It was beautiful to be honest. Got a bit hectic queueing for the buffet but other than that not crowded and the evening sit down meal was something else. The rest of the passengers seemed to be mainly Italian.

Wow £400. That really is a weekend away for me!

I’m currently cruising the Bahamas and never been more relaxed

£400 pp! That's £800 just for a day in Rome. That's an eye watering sum.

No, but it depends on the ship. I feel 2000 guests is easier for getting on/off, finding somewhere to sit in the evening, and getting a sunbed than say a ship with 5000+ people on.

No! I really enjoyed my two. Only time we had to be very aware of the time was on excursions where we got off and walked.

If you're on a coach or small boat excursion, the cruise company are in charge.

But you must be on board for sailing time because the ship cannot wait because of the tide and harbour berth slots and so on.

They will know if you haven't made it back ( there was a couple who hired bikes and were too late back) because you have a swipe card to get on and off - but they cannot wait for you.

Everything else we made our own itinerary.

I'm going on a Northern Europe Cruise next month and think it's a fabulous idea. 3 different ports with a day in each city. Relaxing on board inbetween.
We have booked excursions through P&O so fingers crossed we won't have to rush and everything runs smoothly!

@Aintnobodygottime Now you know why people don’t get off the ships! Trips off can be eye wateringly expensive. You can have the fun of being on your own in the cinema instead.

It's a way of seeing a lot of places in a week. We visited Marseille, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Sicily, Corsica, Venice, Dubrovnic, Split, Corfu, Montenegro and several others all in two one weeks cruises.
A bite size visit is still worthwhile. I hate city breaks so would never have seen those otherwise.
It also allows you to find out whether you actually like the places. We were all bowled over by Split and underwhelmed with Venice (though DH and I had been a few times before). My DC have been back to favourite places and spent more time there.

@Boope You haven’t seen them though have you? You have a had a drive by. Why not do a city break and see more? Are you not interested in a deeper experience? Local food? Museums and art? Parks, fabulous buildings and even shopping? Cruises narrow down the pleasure of a city. To me, that itinerary sounds awful.

I usually go on excursions for about two thirds of the ports and my own thing for the rest.

More recently I’ve got into going to local beach clubs when available which I’ve been really enjoying as I’ve done ever such a lot of sightseeing over the years. I also really like the thermal spas on cruise ships and have many a happy nap on the heated curved beds they have in there.

I’m fortunate to be able to go many different holidays each year and do enjoy a couple of cruises. I don’t feel rushed, I feel chilled. I’ve been back to lots of the places I’ve visited on cruises for longer holidays/mini breaks. Plus I’ve done it the other way around and visited somewhere on a cruise that I went on holiday to years ago.

I absolutely love cruising and am a real stickler for timekeeping so I'd have thought this would worry me before I went on my first one but it's totally fine. You're usually in port from first thing in the morning until at least 5pm and sometimes overnight. Obviously this can vary but it's been true of the cruises I've been on.

We tend to do one organised excursion during the cruise and the rest just pottering about. If you want to go further afield you can always book directly through the cruise company as the ship then has to wait for you. This was the case with our cruise last year, we were an hour late leaving port because the P&O organised excursion was late back. If they'd gone with another provider the ship wouldn't have waited for them.

It may be helpful to go to the Whats in port website and find out more about the ones you're visiting. Often the ship docks very close to the centre and it's an easy walk. We are early risers anyway so tend to get up, have breakfast, head off the ship early to explore, lunch on shore and then back to the ship in the early to mid afternoon. The sea days are so relaxing anyway that we never mind being up and off the ship once it docks.

Don't do it, OP- it's absolutely hideous for the environment and all the poor communities that live under the shadow (literally) of these massive tubs.

I don't know how anyone in good conscience can choose a cruise.

I love my cruises. Done two P&O and two Virgin. Both very different. Both great.