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.

I enjoy self catering holidays in the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as cruises. Enjoying one needn’t necessarily preclude enjoying the other. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

@CounsellorTroi

I enjoy self catering holidays in the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as cruises. Enjoying one needn’t necessarily preclude enjoying the other. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

But if something doesn't appeal at all why include it in that variety. I would love the aforementioned self catering in a random bit of Finland. I would also enjoy a self drive trip round Africa or a walking holiday, or sailing or diving etc. I know I hate big hotels or cramped accommodation and all inclusive resorts. I know I like going for a walk before breakfast and staying in small b&bs. I loved getting to Pompei early morning and seeing the forum virtually empty. At lunch time there were thick crowds, a lot from cruise ships (the signs the guides carry tell you that) and you could barely see a thing. If you like it fine but knowing you wouldn't doesn't make you closed minded or jealous. I'm sure plenty would hate my planned trip for this year camping in Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.

Entertainment is cringy AF.

You only get to see the ports - especially in Caribbean.

I've been on a few with my elderly father where he paid for the most expensive cabin and we had the full back of the boat. That was quite nice, because we could avoid the other people. Otherwise - nah.

@vivainsomnia

This thread is not much different to those about holidaying in Dubai! Full of totally misguided stereotypes spurted by people who've never even done and tried it but think they know better than those who have!

But we all choose where we'd go on holiday based on what we hear about a place from others who've been there and from the adverts. The world is vast and a place built by modern slavery that sells itself on 'luxury' i.e. for people to flash conspicuous wealth does nothing at all for me. So stereotype or not, it's one of the last places I'd explore based on everything i've ever heard.

@Sportslady44

what about all the good things though lol the entertainment, the being at sea, the different countries!!!

But you don’t get to stay anywhere very long, which would be frustrating, many places both depend on your custom but also resent the environmental and social damage caused by cruise ship day visits, and at sea days are essentially being confined in a hotel you can’t leave that isn’t in another country.

My ILs have been trying to make us go on cruises with them for almost 20 years and we say every time we’d rather bang our heads off a wall. It works for them because they’re elderly, not very mobile, and are afraid of ‘abroad’. It doesn’t work for us because if we want to go on holiday abroad, we want to spend proper intensive time in a place.

DH and I looked at cruises a few years ago and wrote off the idea pretty much immediately. They are so expensive and everything adds up quickly unless you're happy to have the worst room, worst dining package, no alcohol, no excursions, etc. Then the excursions themselves seem so stressful because you are dropped at the port and need to make your way to the town and back, which can be a decent trek away so even more money on taxis. The actual travel portion of a holiday causes me so much stress, I only suffer through it to enjoy the chilled out part when I get there. The thought of going through that every day or two doesn't appeal to me.

All that before I even get to the fact that I hate holiday entertainment, cruises are notorious for spreading sickness bugs, and the thought of being stuck at sea with the same people for ages... it's not for me.

Not in a million years! I can’t even cope with package holidays (you know, the ones where there’s a tour guide and you’re expected to chum up with the other families on the same holiday!) learned very quickly to travel independently after our (one) foray into organised trips was a completely miserable experience…

I absolutely love the idea of visiting different places/cities with all the responsibility for the organisation and travel being done by someone else. I just don't fancy spending two weeks in an enclosed space with the kind of people who go on cruises.

@CounsellorTroi

I enjoy self catering holidays in the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as cruises. Enjoying one needn’t necessarily preclude enjoying the other. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

You only get one big holiday a year (unless you are very lucky).

Explain why i would prioritise a cruise holiday over something I really fancy doing and know that I actually like? The risk of hating it and missing out on something I would like is too high.

I absolutely am not jealous of cruises. DHs parents go on them constantly. Weve actually been to places that theyve stopped at - the things we've loved most aren't things they could do and what they said about the same place is just none comparible to our experience. But hell theyve ticked it off the list.

Dubrovnik really is a prime example. We stayed in a quirky hotel there owned by a local. We spent considerable time talking to him. He gave us recommendations of things to do that aren't part of the tourist trap. We could do loads of stuff whilst it was quiet and before the ships off loaded. We went in off season so it particularly great walking around early morning and in the evenings.

What really nailed it for me was being stood in the main street and overhearing a conversation between two Americans asking each other which city they were in today and having established that, still not being able to work out what country they were in or what currency they needed to use.

It was the height of ignorance and just not valuing their experience. It was just another stop to them. But hey think of the bragging rights to your friends back home at the next dinner party.

I genuinely can't think of anything worse than having to be back on board at a set time around people like that, unable to escape it.

If thats snobbery, quite frankly I don't give a fuck. I think you should respect the place you visit and embrace the culture, not ask where the Hard Rock Cafe is (yes really).

I don’t cruise every year, it would stop being special if I did. Why do you think those Americans you met were typical of cruisers?

Why all this talk of “the type of people who go on cruises”? They are as varied as anywhere.

I’m the type of person to cruise, I’m also the type of person who loves a long city break, a long haul holiday to somewhere such as South America or South Africa, all booked independently and out about every day. I also enjoy twin centre holidays in the Caribbean and Europe, walking holidays in the New Forest. I love the Channel Islands and the Peak District, juicing retreats in Portugal etc etc.

@redtoothbrush we had a couple of days in a small hotel near the harbour in Dubrovnik and they hated the cruise ships as they come off, get on a coach straight to the old town then come back and get back on the boat spending no money in the area. We got great tips for a couple of lovely restaurants.

Why all this talk of “the type of people who go on cruises”? They are as varied as anywhere.

I'm gagging to know if I am typical or not.

[quote countrygirl99]@redtoothbrush we had a couple of days in a small hotel near the harbour in Dubrovnik and they hated the cruise ships as they come off, get on a coach straight to the old town then come back and get back on the boat spending no money in the area. We got great tips for a couple of lovely restaurants.[/quote]
When we were in Dubrovnik, we took a taxi to a beach resort area, where the kids splashed around on really impressive inflatables. We then had a lovely traditional lunch, chatting to the waiter as the place was really quiet.

We then took a bus to the Old Town, where we pottered around. We then took the cable car up to a lovely mountain-top bar, with the most awesome views, where we put more money into the local economy.

We took a taxi back to the cruise terminal and spent our remaining local cash in the nearby supermarket.

Is this OK?

Then the excursions themselves seem so stressful because you are dropped at the port and need to make your way to the town and back, which can be a decent trek away so even more money on taxis.

The whole point of a ship's excursion is that you are whisked away and returned by coach.

A lot of people prefer to travel independently for different reasons, cost being one of them.

We have used the coach when it was basically just taking you back and forth, with a little bit of commentary, eg from Civitavecchia to Rome - public transport would not have been a great alternative.

The first time I visited Dubrovnik I stayed on a tiny island called Kolocep and my DC and I got a ferry to Dubrovnik and spent the day there. The second time was when we visited as part of a cruise. We didn’t book an excursion as knew our way around. We took a taxi, had lunch there, coffees, walked on the walls, went to our favourite little swimming bit. We spent about £300 that day. Are either or neither of these visits acceptable?

@craftygin how many of the thousands of cruise passengers who ram Dubrovnik every day do that? Because there were dozens of coaches lined up for each boat to whisk the vast majority of passengers away.

And it's the locals that hate the cruise ships. No skin off my nose. We just went to the old town after all the cruise passengers had left having spent the day visiting other places.

[quote countrygirl99]@craftygin how many of the thousands of cruise passengers who ram Dubrovnik every day do that? Because there were dozens of coaches lined up for each boat to whisk the vast majority of passengers away.[/quote]
And the coaches are all driven by local drivers.

TBH, we were there in July of one year, and I didn't think it was rammed. It was nice and buzzing but not overly so. We had no trouble getting a seat in the hilltop bar.

Half the passengers on any given boat won't even get off.

So half the passengers contribute absolutely nothing to the local economy. A lot of the others might buy an ice cream or a snack and a few spend money. Do you see why the locals might not be wildly delighted?
Like I said, not my problem as I'm a long way from a cruise destination in the middle of England but I can see the problem.

@countrygirl99

So half the passengers contribute absolutely nothing to the local economy. A lot of the others might buy an ice cream or a snack and a few spend money. Do you see why the locals might not be wildly delighted? Like I said, not my problem as I'm a long way from a cruise destination in the middle of England but I can see the problem.

You can't have it both ways!

But it's wrong to say that those passengers who remain on board do not contribute to the local economy.

There are pilots and stevedores who bring the ship in and secure it.

Fresh food is provided.

Larger ports with established maritime stations (eg Venice and Dubrovnik) provide fuel and remove waste.

The there are port fees....

If a port did not want a cruise ship, they wouldn't have them. Think about it.

Norovirus
Having to deal with annoying people and having NO ESCAPE because you're in the middle of the sea
Most cabins are tiny with no sea view
Entertainment usually pretty crap

I’ve been on 11 cruises and never been to a port where half the passengers don’t get off.
Of those that do book excursions, some of that money does go to the local economy, to the cheese making place, the museums, the lunches, the water sports activities, the guide and driver that are so the tour, the souvenir shops etc.

Urghh can’t imagine anything worse.