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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you get jealous of people who go on cruises

849 replies

Sportslady44 · 19/02/2022 16:37

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Pennox · 27/02/2022 01:14

Even thinking about a cruise makes me feel claustrophobic.

HootOwl · 27/02/2022 02:00

Yeah @ExcuseeeeMe and a mortuary. 😬

HootOwl · 27/02/2022 02:13

To the poster saying Royal Carribean do quality food... looking online the menus are so boring! Even in the "premium" restaurants. It's like a time warp, even for generic food.

And room service food looks limited mainly to sandwiches and burgers etc?! 🤣 And breakfasts are what you'd expect in a Crowne Plaza. 😬

I can't understand how anybody would pick that sort of "pub" food over local restaurants and bakeries etc that you can find on land. Then seek out a few more special restaurants further away for a few meals. I just do not get it. It all seems so bland and uninspiring.

ExcuseeeeMe · 27/02/2022 02:37

@HootOwl

Yeah *@ExcuseeeeMe* and a mortuary. 😬
And a jail Grin
TheFormidableMrsC · 27/02/2022 02:39

Never ever have I understood why people book cruises. I can't imagine anything I'd rather do less. My idea of hell.

HootOwl · 27/02/2022 03:10

And a jail Grin

Possibly. Although judging from the reports available on this, since there are no police on board and boats are registered in dodgy jurisdictions, they often tend to just ignore/ deny any crimes including sexual assaults and murders! So little need to bother with a jail. 😬

CrabSnake · 27/02/2022 03:16

Before I went on a cruise I thought it would be crap but then I went on one and it was amazing, sorry OP.

We went with crystal cruises and did a 7 day cruise and I'd go again in a heartbeat. The downsides were, as others mentioned, the food wasn't as good as what we'd have got off the boat and because it was a inclusive you felt obliged to eat on the boat even if you were in port for the night. I didn't find it too claustrophobic but not sure if that would be different now with covid and having to book things like the pool.

ExcuseeeeMe · 27/02/2022 03:18

@HootOwl

And a jail Grin

Possibly. Although judging from the reports available on this, since there are no police on board and boats are registered in dodgy jurisdictions, they often tend to just ignore/ deny any crimes including sexual assaults and murders! So little need to bother with a jail. 😬

They have their own security . Happy to report I have cruised for years never once been a murder on board . In fact with the strict security and cameras everywhere I feel safer than I do walking down the street .
Furries · 27/02/2022 03:22

@HootOwl

And a jail Grin

Possibly. Although judging from the reports available on this, since there are no police on board and boats are registered in dodgy jurisdictions, they often tend to just ignore/ deny any crimes including sexual assaults and murders! So little need to bother with a jail. 😬

This is a point worth making. And not just to do with large cruise ships, but with any size vessel. Maritime law can be very complicated - and very distressing for families of those that come to harm.
LoveFall · 27/02/2022 03:44

Having cruised many times, we too have felt very safe. Only once there was a domestic type dispute across the hall from us around midnight. Security was there before we even managed to call them. Didn't hear anything the test of the night but both were there the next afternoon.

I think the worst issues are too much alcohol.

SmugOldBag · 27/02/2022 04:28

Christ no. Cruises are extremely non-u.

Aside from their extreme tackiness they are an environmental disaster, their employment terms are fucking terrible and they wreck the ambiance in every single port they dock at in their floating council estates, barging all other water users out of the way. The dead eyed cruisers who disembark are generally obnoxious and travel no further than the trinket shops on the quayside demanding discounts and GST free purchases and claim to have 'done' the city in the 4 hours they were there shopping. They don't eat anywhere lest they lose out on their dining package on the boat

Watch a video of a walk around of cruise at sea to see how like a massive Weatherspoons/Pontins they are. Family gangs with matching T shirts, buffet food in a massive sticky carpeted area, Huge screens and arcade games, shops of shite, loud announcements, pools with hundreds of people around them and screechy music, tiny rooms hilariously called 'staterooms'.

Yes I'm judgy. Anyone who thinks these monstrous, unethical filth producers are in anyway viable in this day and age is massively unreasonable. I was hoping the Covid age would have signalled the end to it but it seems they have too much money behind them and too many idiot consumers who don't give a shit.

HootOwl · 27/02/2022 05:31

They have their own security . Happy to report I have cruised for years never once been a murder on board . In fact with the strict security and cameras everywhere I feel safer than I do walking down the street.

Their security have no legal authority. They are basically like bouncers, private staff. The usual laws do not apply at sea. Did you check where the boats you went on where registered and clue yourself up on the legal systems for those countries (not usually the ones you are stopping off in) before you went?

Also they tend to keep most crimes hush hush so as a passenger you have no idea whether anything happened on your boat or not, unless there is a high profile media campaign by family afterwards. That's the whole point.

HootOwl · 27/02/2022 05:39

*were

Goodness me I need to sleep. So many typos!

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 27/02/2022 08:00

N

lightisnotwhite · 27/02/2022 15:55

SmugOldBag Not a fan😁

SmugOldBag · 28/02/2022 06:42

@lightisnotwhite

SmugOldBag Not a fan😁
There's a few things that grind my gears but cruise ships are up there with the worst of them!
Jasmin82 · 28/02/2022 10:05

@SmugOldBag Not much of a winning argument when you resort to calling anyone who goes on a cruise "dead eyed", "generally obnoxious" and "idiot consumers". You say you don't care about being called judgy, well I hope you don't mind being judged as being the kind of person I wouldn't want to meet out and about. Because otherwise you're a massive hypocrite.
And I say this as someone who has never been on a cruise.

vivainsomnia · 28/02/2022 10:12

Honestly claustrophobic central
To give an idea, I went on a large but not largest fleet of the cruise line 2 years ago. I ran on the running track and did 18 laps. That was 10k! That's how large it is. It is so spacious and lage, it doesn't feel claustrophobic at all. You can always find secluded spaces. I'm very claustrophobic.

As for food quality, just like in land restaurant, you get what you pay for. I j'ai cruised with a few lines, and the difference in quality was flagrant. The best quality was Royal Caribbean. The food was just amazing, Co.patable to the Michelin stars restaurants I've gone to.

vivainsomnia · 28/02/2022 10:17

Yes I'm judgy
Judgy and fallen to the stereotypical stereotypes from about 25 years ago which is now totally laughable!

Sorry but what you've described is absolutely nowhere near what I've experienced and I've been on 10 cruises now. What you describe is horrific, and certainly not the holiday I aspire to, thankfully, it is nowhere near what my experiences have been.

CounsellorTroi · 28/02/2022 10:21

SmugOldBag you are not only judge you are very ill-informed.

DetMcNulty · 28/02/2022 10:29

Not on the environmental impact she isn't.

CounsellorTroi · 28/02/2022 10:38

Re waste, this is an interesting read, though I doubt the antis will set much store by it.

www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/01/30/where-does-the-poop-go-cruise-ship

motormouth89 · 28/02/2022 10:44

I was on a cruise (Miami to Bahamas) in 2005 when hurricane Wilma hit.

We were caught in 30ft swells, boat tipped multiple times sending cash machines, people, casino tables, buffet cutlery flying.

We were told to stay up and not to go down to our rooms (apart from to sleep) because if the boat tips fully, the doors will be locked and there is no way out as they will prioritise the boat not sinking as fast as it should by doing this.

I spent 3 years in therapy for PTSD. The port of Miami was wrecked so we had to stay on for an extra 4 days, bottled water run out, my family member had food poisoning, they had staff in the casino with concussion dealing whole decks of cards for 3 card poker, no water in the pool where it all tipped out.

My uncle has the whole thing on videotape (camcorder days) and it makes me feel sick, only watched it once but I know there are YouTube videos people posted.

It was truly horrific and I will never step foot on one again. I spent so much time staring at the emergency dinghy's wondering if I could drop one and make it to shore because I was so terrified of being plunged into shark infested deep cold water or worse, drowning.

AngelicaElizaAndPeggy · 28/02/2022 11:44

Urgh, I can't think of anything worse than going on a cruise. All that gross food and mandatory entertainment while you gas-guzzle your way round the world. Can't bring myself to imagine the carbon footprint these ships ratchet up while they belch their way across the seven seas.

For anyone who has been on a cruise- do they offset? Or make any claim to be environmentally friendly? What do they do with all the rubbish? Do the crew dump it at the ports you dock at?

waterlego · 28/02/2022 11:54

I’ve been on a couple of cruises many years ago, but I wouldn’t again. I don’t like the feeling of being stuck on board, no matter how big the boat. And the excess and indulgence make me feel uncomfortable. Any situation in which overweight Westerners are being waited on obsequiously by people from developing countries makes me feel really embarrassed. Environmentally, they must be an absolute disaster and for that reason alone I wouldn’t do it again.