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?

Sounds like you have picked the wrong type of cruise for you. Have you tried Hurtigruten up the Norwegian coast? All locally produced food. No mass catering or dressing for dinner.

We also went on an exceptional cruise with Regent Seven Seas to Singapore and Brunei.

Never appealed to me. Why would you travel around the world and literally have just a few hours at each stop? No time to do anything 🤷‍♀️

Neighbours went on a Carribbean cruise recently. They were very bored and came down with sickness and diarrhea 3 days in. Sounds delightful. "Never again" she said.

Why would you resurrect an old thread on a subject you hate? How did you find it?

ETA: Sorry just realised it wasn’t you who resurrected it. Apologies.

Ok, no one do a cruise then. Let’s write them all off!

And there are smaller ships. Not all cruise ships are like those horrendous floating office blocks.

A cruise never appealed to us but my daughter really wanted to do a Disney cruise so we thought we'd try it once.

We've done two now, both Disney and both out in Florida/ in the Caribbean.

We like Disney so the theming and shows are a bonus for us. We loved just being really looked after by our room host and servers at dinner (at Disney there is no booking restaurants, they do rotational dining). Disney's two island's are both lovely. We've done some great excursions at the various ports we have visited.

The first cruise was in October so my daughter didn't make a lot of friends but the second cruise was in the summer and she made a huge group of friends so we hardly saw her. We were sat with another family at dinner who had a daughter the same age as ours and got on with them brilliantly.

No more cruise plans in the pipeline as although we enjoyed them, we do prefer staying somewhere for a bit longer. We would do another though.

Yes let's 🙄 Last time I looked,this was a forum for people to talk about their options 🤦‍♂️

you say you’ve done everything have you done Azamara? Smaller ships, excellent food, no dressing up for dinner, all inclusive including drinks.

I couldn't think of anything worse than being stuck on a ship if you want to get somewhere just fly there rather than take two weeks to get there

Well I just really love travelling by sea. The leisurelyness is what appeals. We’re all different.

I found it so relaxing. E.g a cruise to the Norwegian fjords. The best way to see them is from the water. Just sit with a drink and take in the amazing views.

Get on at Southampton and you are immediately on holiday. No hassle of airports, much quicker to board and get through security and it was way, way easier than flying with young children. I think we arrived at Southampton at 12pm and by 1pm we were having lunch and a glass of fizz.

Having breakfast on deck with a gorgeous view set out before you. And sunsets at sea are something else entirely.

Loved our Caribbean cruise. Not sure how it would've been possible to be bored.

We also had full days at each stop, some cruises do overnights as well. We had plenty of time to explore and also did some excursions too.

Because the idea of spending only a single day, or a day and a night, in somewhere you’re interested enough in to have travelled a long distance to is crazy to me. I entirely get why people with limited mobility or energy compromised by illness, age etc would find cruises good for what they need, but I would class other cruisers as like people who go to Dubai on holiday, because what they go on holiday for is not a new place.

I'm not interested in going to Dubai at all.

Island hopping around the Caribbean was amazing though and a great way of experiencing multiple Caribbean islands. Did we experience as much in one place as we would've done if we had stayed for a week in the same place? Of course not but it was always so much fun waking up in a new place almost every day.

A cruise an be a great tester for a location - if you like it you can then plan a holiday to that area.

Agree. And the thought of all those people confined together. No wonder bugs and sickness are rife 🤮

Yeah, I see that, I suppose. But unless you do also enjoy the floating hotel experience of being on the ship, it seems to me that it would be a rather inefficient way of ‘test-driving’ a location? I mean, I don’t think I’d go on a Caribbean cruise just to see whether I wanted to go on holiday to St Lucia.

Not all cruises are huge floating hotels.

I get that not all cruise ships are ‘huge’, but surely they are all, essentially floating hotels, in that you sleep there, mostly, for the duration of your holiday, and eat there as a default if you’re not off the ship?

My idea of hell quite frankly.

What type of holiday would you choose instead

I am off on my 3rd cruise in September with 3 friends. We started with a mini cruise to see if we liked it and we did . Last year we did the Canaries, Madeira, Lisbon and Cadiz. This September we are doing a Baltic cruise. So far we have done only P&O from Southampton. A friend has done a Caribbean and transatlantic.

We find it relaxing Sea days we take part in activities or chill out and we tend to self organise days ashore. We love the main dining Rooms and gala nights. All our families are over 18 and Cruising is some me time

Bigger cruise ships are more like floating holiday resorts, smaller ones are more like floating hotels. I much the latter, not interested in resort ships.

Indeed. I was so excited to be visiting Acapulo. Awful place. So disappointed. Glad I wasn't there for a week.