Do you get jealous of people who go on cruises

[Sportslady44]

Feeling very envious today. Friend is about to set off on a cruise for 14nights.

Cant stop thinking about it and them.

Can you put me off please?

Tell me some downsides of cruises.

We have friends with young children and they love the big cruise ships as there's so much to do for the children.

I can only speak for myself but my standards are much lower since having children. Before that, I would actively seek to avoid holiday destinations with bland food which had treasure hunts, foam parties and mini-discos as entertainment. Now I equate them with a well-fed child and a good night's sleep (and a lie in until 8.30am if I'm lucky). And apparently my DS is now of the age where he can be left with the kids club staff and I can walk out and do....something else? Still figuring out what that is.

We did look at cruises for this year but I can't shake the feeling that one or all of us would end up in the ocean.

No Internet 😱

I never fancied one but everyone I know that has been on one said it was brilliant. From a Mediterranean cruise, to a Caribbean one to the fjords.

I have no desire to eat dinner with strangers but the rest sounds great. I’m envious with you OP.

I went on an educational cruise when I was about 16 (very early 1970s). It was a small ship, half school kids in dormitories and half adults having a more educational type experience with lectures, etc.(Of course never the twain did meet).
I loved it. But it was a 'real' ship, with decks and rails (that I used to stand by and gaze at the sea/passing islands and coastline in a dreamy kind of way). It was all really atmospheric.

Most of today's cruise ships are nothing like that though. You can't walk along the decks and look out, because they're slab-sided. And just huge. I'm not remotely tempted.

Teeny tiny pools and everyone stares

I’ve been on 11 cruises and always lose a kilo of weight. I think it’s a combo of choosing all the delicious good quality protein meals and also the amount of steps I choose to do. I’m an early riser so get up early to watch the sunrise and walk a few laps of the ships. This helps cancel out out my champagne and prawn lunch I have on days at sea and my favourite eggs Benedict breakfast dish. I enjoy all my lunches in the ports too, one of favourites was in Peterhof, St Petersburg and another in a really beautiful place in Mexico called Yelapa.

A floating butlins, not a chance

Only someone who'd never been on a cruise could possibly think they're comparable 😂

I always think it sounds like it would appeal to the people who like golf clubs.

No. Difficult to think of a holiday I'd hate more (camping in a tent maybe or Benidorm)

no. what is it you are exactly jealous of? are you jealous of other holidays people go on?

I'm not helping but ginestjt cruises are the best. Waking up somewhere different every day is awesome.

You can get dune xhwao deajs. My cheapest was £400 just book last minute

I used to, so I booked one to see what it was about. Loved it, go on another next October. Italy (which has 3 stops on the cruise) isn't somewhere I'd ever book a holiday to as I'm not a fan of the Roman Empire. However, Being able to visit Pompeii, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum does interest me and, there's enough time in port to do that.
If you don't want to miss the ship (or be a pier runner) go on a sip organised tour. If the ship organised tour runs late, the ship waits for you. If you go off on your own, tough luck. I know some people that went on a ship tour while in Israel, due to a delay, they didn't get back to the ship until around midnight. The ship waited for that tour to return. They have to.
I've never been told who I am sitting with for meals. If I'm cruising with someone, we're seated together at a table for 2. If I'm cruising solo, I'm on my own at a table for 2. I can dine when I want, where I want. There's no dressing up unless I go to one of the posher speciality restaurants. I think they have one more formal night per cruise, but there's no obligation to attend, even on the lines that are seen as more formal you don't have to attend the gala evenings if you don't do dressing up to the nines. I'm not forced to have fun and join in. If I want to grab a drink from a bar and go back to my room to sit on the balcony with a glass of wine watching the world go by, I can do. I don't have someone stopping me shouting, "No, Epic, you can't do that! It's bingo!" Tackiness is a personal thing. I think going on an AI to Benidorm is tacky. Conversely, someone who goes to AI resorts in Benidorm might find cruising with P&O tacky (and I'd likely agree with them.)
There's a muster drill early on in the cruise so you know where to go and what to do in an emergency. For those saying about norovirus, it seems that numbers of infections have dropped since people using the buffets (and you don't have to eat at them, there's plenty of other restaurants included in the price) were being reminded by crew to wash their hands before using it. Remember cruisers, "Washy Washy - Happy Happy!"
All that said, any cruise line that has in it's FAQs "What happens when we cross the international dateline?" Should probably be avoided. P&O, I'm looking at you. Seriously, what do the people who ask that question (and enough of them obviously have for it to be an FAQ) think happens?

I've been on one once. It was OK but it was a lot of money for what is essentially a floating, upmarket, holiday camp. I liked dressing up in the evenings and the food at dinner was excellent but I found it very claustrophobic (and this was a big ship with 3000 passengers) and the buffet breakfasts and lunches were nothing special.

When we went ashore (in Alaska) we were very time limited so couldn't go far and the ports all contained the same highly expensive tourist trap shops and amusements aimed passengers with more money than sense. A lot of the shops were owned and run by the cruise companies and only opened when a ship docked so you didn't get any sort of a sense of real life there. I will go back to Alaska one day and spend more time to try and get a real feel for it. .

On the plus side we saw eagles and whales and sea otters and had fun drinking and dancing and chatting but it wasn't worth the ££££ we spent.

Coincidentally a group of my friends are off for a 14 day cruise today. I am so glad I'm not going with them. Once was enough.

@FinnulaFloss

A floating butlins, not a chance

Only someone who'd never been on a cruise could possibly think they're comparable 😂

I have been on a cruise and to Butlins. We dressed up more on the cruise but apart from that it was very similar.

Can think of nothing worse. We did a ferry crossing from Gran Canaria to Tenerife. It was so rough, people were throwing up everywhere. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

Nope

@Carpediem15

Never been on an Ocean Cruise but love River Cruising. Rhine, Danube, Moselle etc with a small company so there are only about 100 onboard. No flashy dressing up, evening entertainment is usually up on deck watching the world go by or maybe local person comes onboard for the evening. They usually dock in the middle of towns so if we are there overninght able to go out for the evening if you want. Can't wait for the next one.

See, that sounds lovely.

We’re any of the travellers solo? And if so, do the Crew make A Thing of ‘rounding up’ the solos (hellish…) or is everyone free to chat / socialise or not at will?

FinnulaFloss
A floating butlins, not a chance

Only someone who'd never been on a cruise could possibly think they're comparable 😂

Only someone who’d never been to butlins could possibly think they are not.

@vivainsomnia

Out of curiosity, how many if those saying never have actually been on one?

I wouldn't go on one.

I don't think it's a "gotcha" to say that if you haven't been on one you can't criticise them.

I've stayed in AI hotels and have fought shy of the organised entertainment element. I've lazed my way around dozens of European cities, seeing cruise passengers ushered in and out.

It's not for me. That's before you get to the expense, the sickness record and the fact that even beyond the specifics I find the whole concept screaming naff. It may not be a palatable opinion to all, but I'm entitled to it.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Looking out at the infinite blackness of sea merging in to sky at night.

Funnily enough this is something that sounds amazing to me!

Its fabulous....I have seen flying fish, whales, hammerhead sharks, bioluminescence, smelt land before i could see it, seen the green flash at sunset and fata morgana where HUGE items, usually ships, appear to float in mid air. looking back it feels a bit like Rutger Hauer's speech in Blade Runner

Ex cruise ship worker here!

Pros:

• Exploring different countries - even if it's just a taster and then you can go on a longer holiday there if you really want
• Scandanavian ports are amazing and you really get the most out of your port times here as it's mostly small towns you visit.
• Food (and in some cases drinks) all included
• Fancy evenings... sometimes
• You're waited on hand and foot

Cons:

• Assholes. Assholes everywhere.
• Floating care homes. Seriously. A lot of people put their relatives on back to back cruises as it's cheaper than a care home. Therefore - many deaths.
• If one person gets norovirus then everyone does. People are too self-righteous to be told to wash their hands or use sanitiser
• Minimal time at ports unless there's an overnighter included
• How's your seasickness?
• The entertainment is cheap and tacky. If you enjoy butlins style entertainment at 50x the price then a cruise is for you.
• If there's bad weather you probably won't be able to get in to the port
• Sea days. Not much to do during the day and depending on where you go there's a lot of them
• Tendering at ports. Can take forever to get off depending on how many tenders they're running.
• You have to get up early to make the most of your day.
• Excursions are expensive so unless you take a lot of spending money then you can only really get off to visit the surrounding area and maybe some food/drink.
• More assholes.

They're not actually that expensive if you break down the travelling, food and how many ports you visit...

But yes. Minimal pros and it depends on if they outweigh the cons for you.

@maddy68

I'm not helping but ginestjt cruises are the best. Waking up somewhere different every day is awesome.

You can get dune xhwao deajs. My cheapest was £400 just book last minute

chinese cruising?

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Looking out at the infinite blackness of sea merging in to sky at night.

Funnily enough this is something that sounds amazing to me!

Took this two nights ago. Was like I was on another planet. It was so beautiful 😍

There are so many nonsensical misapprehensions on here about cruises that I don’t know where to start. So I won’t.

We are retired so each year we have two family holidays, one skiing and a summer one in the Caribbean. DH and I also cruise on our own two or three times a year; the sort of ships we use are not geared up for families.

We do not go on the enormous ships, but with 1000 or fewer passengers there is plenty of space; of course you are not crammed together.

The food is excellent, especially for vegetarians, and not all cruises involve dashing around big cities in a couple of hours. We particularly loved Norway, some beautiful small ports, spectacular scenery, reindeer sledging and a fantastic sighting of the Northern Lights.

You do not need to travel far, we spent a delightful week last summer cruising around the western Scottish Isles and two weeks in September in the Baltic. No airports, just turn up at the UK port, embark, settle into your cabin and have a drink; heaven.

For many years I sneered, like so many posters here, about cruises. We decided to try one. The reality was totally different from my expectations and a million miles away from the absurd suppositions posted here by non-cruisers.

We are heading to the Western Med in April, looking forward to it immensely.

I’ve lived in two Italian cities with regular cruise ship departures and know people who have worked on board as entertainers or welcome staff. I agree with several points.
Cruise tourism benefits the area very little as the stops are so short. Some historic places like Venice have suffered damage from allowing cruise ships to dock in inadequate ports.
They make life difficult for people who live there. I stay away from the city center or begrudgingly take public transport if there’s a cruise ship in town. The main thoroughfare gets blocked with supply lorries etc. Hence the lack of welcoming locals!
The cleaning and kitchen staff are basically slave labour. $50 to do an entertainer’s laundry for the month made a huge difference. I’m not sure if I could look those people in the eye as they’re serving mostly over-privileged, overweight retirees.

The ships are monuments to overconsumption. Fuel, food, decor, dressing up, gala nights, flash restaurants, room service, Broadway medley shows or snippets of well known operas. Dumbing down to appeal to the most people.

The companies are competing on scale. Bigger ships must be better, right? I watched a gigantic cruiser being built in the local shipyard and they offered a two-day pre-maiden voyage at a low price. Just to iron out any problems before it went into service.

Would I have gone? No, no, no. Imagine if one of the hitches was a kitchen short circuit and fire! Which I’ve seen in a docked ship, by the way….