Massive Cruise ship holidays

[Roiesin57]

Do you enjoy them, or do you refuse to take one due to their impact on the environment?
We have taken one a few years ago and we had a lovely time. Everything about it was gorgeous and I fancy another one; but when I look at photos of them they look quite grotesque when they're docked in these relatively little seaside ports abroad.
Have you given up on foreign holidays because of the impact on the environment? And they're so damn expensive too

The Pride of Bilbao was a ferry, not a cruise ship! P&O Ferries are nothing to do with P&O cruises.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/oct/19/europe-ports-bear-brunt-of-cruise-ship-pollution

https://time.com/6285915/cruise-industry-climate-action-emissions-passengers/

There are so many non-nonsensical posts here. A major destination such as Dubrovnik or Barcelona has dedicated cruise terminals. They only accept the number of ships they can manage. They have berths, no ship is one of 10-deep. These ports will be key to servicing the cruise ships with fuel and food - all contributing to the local economy.

We've never felt that we were in a port that was overly touristy. For every port, there will be excursions to destinations further afield. It would not be my choice to sit on a coach for 2 hours to see Lake Bled, but maybe if I had been to Koper multiples times, I might consider it. When I go to Edinburgh during the Fringe, it is heaving - and unlikely be due to cruise passengers.

We were in Central America last year, and only shared one destination with another ship. It was an American ship - I don't think super mega - but it definitely influenced the beach area (chicken nuggets etc). It also brought back to me how annoying 10-year old American boys were and their mothers trying to get them to behave (I used to be one).

The mega ships don't seem to spend as much time in port as the medium sized ships (eg Marella) - 4 hours rather than 10, with tenders reducing port time.

We had a holiday in Croatia, just outside Dubrovnik on the utterly beautiful Adriatic coast.
The cruise ships looked truly enormous in the cruise terminal, dwarfing everything else and easily visible from various points .
We learned that the best time to go into the city was mid to late afternoon after the cruise ship passengers (and there were literally thousands of them and the city centre is not large) had returned to the ship.
Early on in the holiday DH climbed the ancient city walls to find a large group of tourists complaining that there were too many steps and no, er, elevators.

This can happen anywhere, someone complained that there was a steep incline and no tea room on top of one of Scotlands mountains once, someone else that the mist ruined their view, you know that it’s not just cruise tourists who have silly comments!
Dubrovnik city walks are lovely aren’t they.?!
Walked them on a port day from cruise ship sorry for making it “ busy” Hehehe 😂

The Pride of Bilbao was a ferry, not a cruise ship! P&O Ferries are nothing to do with P&O cruises.

As i said i THINK it was called that, it was 25 maybe more years ago, the one i went on definately was not a ferry, 3 discos cinema numerous restaurants ect.

The reason I won't go on one is the fact they dump all of their crap right into the ocean. Besides that, I don't have any desire to be that far away from terra firma.

It may be nice, and it may be fun, but they are killing sea life every day they sail.

When a toilet is flushed on a cruise ship, the sewage travels to the onboard treatment plant. Here the waste is filtered before it enters an aeration chamber. The aeration chamber cleans the waste. It is then sterilized using UV light and released into the ocean when clean enough to do so.

As for killing sea life, I take it you don’t buy or use anything that has travelled here by container ship?

@KimberleyClark when the children of 'those who choose to procreate' are looking after you on your old age and providing essential services you rely on you might be quite pleased

I love cruising. Had 16 with P&O.
Unpack once and that's it..
I'm put off the huge ships because there are more people onboard and it feels too busy at times.
Me not cruising would hardly affect the environment...cruises would still happen

I’ve paid for their education, healthcare, child benefit, so it works out equal in the end.

Yes because those are the only two options 😁

I think cruise holidays sound awful , 2 weeks by a pool marginally less awful. Non awful holiday options exist.

all a matter of personal preference though and so many people love cruises, that I cannot see them disappearing any time soon

I think very few people really care about the environment and even the people I know who claim to be super environmentally conscious thing nothing of going on a long haul flight for a “once in a lifetime holiday” to New Zealand then the year after to Florida….

Love them! We go at least once a year 😁

I am incredibly seasick, so a cruise is completely out of the question! I'm not a fan of lots of people all being kept together like that, so even if I wasn't seasick, I wouldn't be keen. I can't cope with Center Parks!

Our first cruise around the Caribbean nearly put us ever cruising again, but luckily we had already booked a cruise to the Baltic later in the year.

The Caribbean trip was with Tui. DH keeps a journal of many of our holidays. I know Mumsnetters are suspicious of ‘Creative Writing’ posts, but I thought this extract would give a flavour of the experience.

“At lunch, we sat between two couples, the Chalks and the Cheeses. From stage left "Oh, we really did enjoy the tour of the Baltic which you are planning to do later in the year." From stage right "I'm not prejudiced, but we live live 15 miles from Hull and we don't have a single [redacted by MNHQ] in the village." As I said before, a motley crew.
The Captain's reception does not require formal dress, re-branding itself as "Dress to Impress". However, to quote Mr Cheese, "I've packed a bloody monkey suit and I'm bloody well going to wear it!" The event took place in The Atrium, a nine balcony space with flashy external lifts whizzing up and down. The captain descended a flight of steps and assumed a Starship Enterprise pose, before making an accomplished speech in which all the heads of department were introduced. An affable Pole, he no doubt incurred the wrath of Mr Cheese for coming over here and nicking all our jobs.”

After the Tui trip, we have enjoyed many cruises but with Fred Olsen and Saga, both of which have a more middle class and mature clientele (sorry but we prefer not to be banged up with a lot of racist chavs). The average age seems to be late sixties. Horses for courses.

These, together with the Hurtigruten ships mentioned above are, by cruise ship standards, small. Arriving at your embarkation port, usually for us Portsmouth or Southampton, your luggage is whisked away to appear later in your cabin, you go aboard and have a drink and lunch and the holiday has begun. So much more civilised than airports.

We are looking forward to our next cruise around Southern Ireland in April.

No more ridiculous than spending two weeks by a pool, and claiming to have visited that country.

I think very few people really care about the environment and even the people I know who claim to be super environmentally conscious thing nothing of going on a long haul flight for a “once in a lifetime holiday” to New Zealand then the year after to Florida….

Prior to retiring five years ago I had only been on two long haul flights in my life. Once when I was 21 and once at 41. Both times to visit a relative. Three if you include New York. Since my retirement I’ve been on several. Life is for living. You never know if/when your health will give way.

I do both, cruises on big ship and booking Airbnb and exploring the whole area. Both holidays are quite different and enjoy both of them equally. Cruising for the relaxing mental effect, all is done for you, no planning, and entertainment is great. Good for meeting new people too. I hate, really hate crowds but I always find ways on cruises to avoid them. For a start, I don't do sitting at pool for hours or drinking in the evenings.

What I've learnt from both experiences is that the small islands do rely heavily on the cruising tourism. Without it, many places would close and more locals would fall into poverty. Cruises are their livelihood. They welcome cruise people and yes, they are the ones most likely to spend money.

They’ve never appealed to me or dh, but a DSis and BiL go once a year on a smaller-ship type of cruise, usually Saga. I’m sure they’d hate the floating-tower-block type of ship.

An ex colleague took mega-ship cruises out of Miami several times. She said most of the passengers were very fat Americans who would spend much of the day eating at all the different outlets, and partying all night.

She was about a size 18 and one reason she loved those cruises was because she felt positively skinny beside so many of the other passengers!

I love them.

we did our first 2 years ago, with 2 young dc. Then last year I took my elderly father on one. This year we have one booked and next year too.

It worked so well for us. Getting to see different places without flying, trains etc. so much for kids to enjoy. Childcare so we can have a break.

when I booked the first 2 I honestly didn’t think about the environment, it just wasn’t on my radar. I’m more aware now but I won’t cancel them. Hopefully they can improve things on the environmental aspect.

Absolutely. I’ve just come back from Costa Rica, volcano climbing, rainforests, zip lining, sloths, monkeys, agouti’s. Thats my holidays. Oh I did a couple of days by a pool though, needed a rest.

Absolutely, or going to Jamaica etc and never leaving the locked hotel complex!

Godyes - the idea of those compounds in places like the Dominican Republic and Cancun seems much worse to me than being on a cruise ship. And those places don’t benefit the local area at all. I’ve never been in one though so obviously cannot know for sure.

Is that environmentally sound though? Zip wires sound very touristy and you will impacting what should be an unspoilt rainforest environment.
What if everyone decided to do trekking in Costa Rica like you. You would have the same issue that people mention with Croatia and Venice.
Everyone wants a holiday. Being on the water is as nice as anything else.

I saw one of those massive ones leave Port Glasgow in the summer... I remember back in the day when they used to build oil rigs in Clydebank and tow them down the river, and honestly this thing was bigger than a fully assembled oil rig. They are so big.

Is the environmental impact to do with the fact that they have to use diesel, or is there something else? I do wonder what the impact is per passenger. That's a whole lot of people on there, so maybe per passenger it's not actually that bad. I've always avoided them but we had to get the overnight ferry over from Amsterdam to Newcastle last year and we all actually really enjoyed it! We saw dolphins, and they had a wee cinema, and we had dinner - obv it's not the same as a cruise but it made me think, my kids might actually quite enjoy tailor made activities rather than the sort of worthy, what shall we do today type hiking and sightseeing holidays we've been taking them on for the last few years.