To wonder why everyone raves about cruises?

[malificent7]

It has never appealed until recently. I thought it sounded like you are trapped to an itinery, on a long , boring journey woth only a day in each place and no space from fellow passengers but everyone I know seems to love them...i am seriously tempted.
So what is so good about a cruise and has anyone actually hated them?
Is the food as good as everyone says and is it relaxing? Apparently you don't get sea sick...is this true?

The holiday starts as soon as you get on the ship- no flights/transfers etc if you go from Southampton

If you go on a line like Royal Caribbean, it’s like stepping into another country- love that feeling!

It’s an unparalleled way of seeing the world- the fjords in Norway are best appreciated from a ship

Have been to Amsterdam and the ship was docked right in the city centre- amazing!

Our favourite thing is seeing a city or a different country nearly every day but coming back to your cabin- so no packing/unpacking etc

The food is as good as you want it to be, can pay to use better quality restaurants or slum it in the buffet!!

Also it’s a great multi generational holiday, grandparents can watch a show, parents can sit in the jazz bar and kids can be in the kids clubs which are usually excellent. Everybody happy!

The biggest downside is other people, but we just do everything at a different time to everyone else- we’re early risers so sometimes have the ship to ourselves.

You need to choose your line carefully, some we love and some we’d never do again!!

I'm also intrigued - I'd love to try a cruise but I get horribly travel sick (still!), even on a train. Concerned about booking a holiday only to find I'm being sick throughout (and travel sickness tablets tend to make you feel drowsy).

Tried it with DH and 21 year old DD. All agreed never again. The buffet is a scrum and the formal dining rooms is lovely but we got some total arseholes assigned to our table.

You don't get very long in each port so you see bugger all really and the ports are far away from everything interesting.

Personally I thought the entertainment was good but I can't say I enjoyed the crammed in sensation around the pool etc.

This is a great post, I'm tempted now myself 😂

It's cheaper than hotels in each of the ports.

It's everything I despise about travel and nothing I like. Environmentally horrifying while being the most surface experience of each place. With food poisoning.

But I can see why people like it.

I had an elderly relative who lived on board a cruise ship for a number of years. She was widowed and liked the idea of the on board classes and entertainment and meeting new people.

She had a wonderful time, but in my head cruise ships are for adventurous pensioners

Has anyone done alone when you have mobility issues?

I love them because they are so cheap! Just priced up a one day trip to Bath on a steam train £1000 per couple one meal included. For £2000 DH and I could cruise to the Canaries 14 nights all food and entertainment included.
We will not be doing the steam train!

Who did you cruise with? We've done 30 cruises and only ever cruise on ones where you can dine at a time of your choosing and without sharing a table. And never use the buffets.

I find on every ship I've been on I'm constantly wondering where everyone else is.

OP: you need to research cruise lines carefully to ensure you get what suits you. It's a floating, 5+* hotel if you choose well enough.

This pretty much sums up how I perceive cruising. The thought of landing in a port at 8am and having to race around a city at break neck speed to see things just does not sound enticing. Additionally, the 'ports' can be miles away - e.g. The 'port' of Rome is not particularly close to Rome itself.

Which liners do you rate or not?

How long will you be at sea going to the Canaries though? Spending days at sea sounds dreadful to me, but each to their own.

You don't have to. You can get off in the port at anytime and do your own thing. You'd be crazy to do Rome from the cruise port unless you honestly believe you will never have the opportunity to do it again. But that's not likely as you can get a flight to Rome for £50! Get off the boat and look at local stuff. Or plan your own day and go to Rome (if must!) on the train.

We did a Caribbean cruise a few years ago and it was amazing. The ship is enormous so it never seemed super busy to me.

Sea days were great. It meant exploring the ship, relaxing around the pool etc and then we’d wake up in a new place.

I know they wouldn’t work for me. I hate hotels, and would want to spend an absolute minimum of a week somewhere I was interested enough to visit.

How long will you be at sea going to the Canaries though? Spending days at sea sounds dreadful to me, but each to their own

As you say, each to their own . I love sea days! It can be very relaxing.

it’s true that ships can be a bit crowded at times - especially at the buffet, and some bars. But it’s easy to avoid the crowds - go to the buffet at non-peak times, or eat in the main restaurants instead, even at breakfast and lunch. You’ll soon find quieter spots around the ship. Food is generally good to excellent, and specialty restaurants are excellent on the whole.

We usually cruise with NCL - as we love the freestyle atmosphere, and we’ve never had to share a table with anyone (unless we’ve chosen to)

I don't understand spending £5k min to fly to Turkey, sit round a pool all day and eat AI buffet food for a week - but hey, some people count down the days to their annual break.

Horses for courses.

I went on a cruise with my family, parents, brother & wife & my husband, it wasn't my choice of holiday and I was really not looking forward to it at all but I enjoyed it. Started in Venice, went to Croatia, Turkey & Greece. What I liked was that it was so easy, everything was taken care of, you can choose different trips on the land days, in Croatia we spend the day at an amazing waterfall. We ate lunch and breakfast looking out at the sea, evening drinks watching the sunset. There were a couple of club nights which were great fun, cocktails, off to the restaurant afterwards before falling into bed that was a walk down the stairs. So convenient! I'm not sure if I would go again but I had a great time.

Likely stop at Gibraltar, Madeira, Cadiz or similar. Maybe Barcelona then three Canaries. Sea days we swim, gym, eat, cinema, theatre, golf range, escape room, Go Ape type thing, read, shuffle board, go to talks, music bars, walk a few miles, join a group, from gay travellers to exercise classes or art.
Plus we do spend a lot of the time supervising elderly parents, but that doesn't apply to everyone!

Oh to be clear, I would never dream of doing a cruise and have visited Rome by plane. I have spoken to someone who did a Med cruise that included Rome and it sounded horrendous. She is American and that is quite typical from what I understand.

Rome is an extreme example - but those cruises where you spend one day in each visting port just do not appeal to me whatsoever.

@Skyrainlight could you tell me what company that was. I have been given money for a special holiday and that sounds amazing.

That is still very far to travel to Cadiz or Madeira though! I spent a day doing a speedboat tour in Croatia and to be honest with you that put me of being at sea for any prolonged period of time life!

I wouldn't want to go on cruises all the time, but I've hugely enjoyed the two I've been on (Baltic cruise for honeymoon 20 years ago and Med cruise with in-laws a few years ago). We normally do self-catering or camp, and cruises are incredibly relaxing by comparison. Food was great, locations lovely, I enjoyed being on the ship. Both times I had one day of horrible seasickness though!

For us they are ideal. Ds would struggle to fly so we drive straight to the port, we don’t need to worry about the amount of luggage we take which is great with all of his medical supplies.

There are lots of quiet areas for DS, we don’t tend to join in the activities as that’s not what we want to do. We enjoy the food and the variety of locations.

when I first went I was sceptical but now I love it.

Oh I think they sound utterly ghastly op.
Never been on one, but this is what puts me off, in no particular order:

• all the gas guzzling pollution and sewage - where does that go?
• norovirus risk
• everyone at your destinations hating you
• feeling embarrassed that your socking great cruise ship is cluttering up the ports of places like Venice, ruining the view
• being with lots of other people mostly eating all day
• having to rush back to your ship after only having the shortest time to explore somewhere
• terrible Facebook compilation videos of cruise ships in storms
• cruise ship entertainment - cringe
• risk of falling off the thing and ending up in the sea
• it sinking

Sorry, this is an awful list. I'm sure a lot of it must be nonsense, but you'd never get me on a cruise ship, ever.