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?

No different to a hotel. I have never been ill on a cruise but have had norovirus twice at hotels.

I just went on a bus tour of Norway and saw loads of fjords the ships can't get down and visited towns such as Lillehammer.

Conversely, MIL just came back from a Norway cruise and said she was disappointed at how little fjord scenery they saw as all the sailing was at night.

It sounds to me like I saw more of Norway?

MSC food is vile. Even tomato soup was like inedible dishwater. Cruises can be great but pick a line that aligns with how you like to holiday.

I'm sure you did see more. It's not a competition though, a coach tour sounds like hell to me but I've got young children that would need entertaining on a coach. Each to their own.

We have booked another cruise to go back again as we loved Norway so much (on a different itinerary to visit some other places and fjords.) As to how much of the fjords you see I don't know which cruise your mum did but we had days worth of beautiful scenery. I think this is where it is really important to do your research on the itinerary as well as what times the ship docks and leaves port.

I do understand why some people don't like cruises though. As I said before, they're quite a marmite thing. It's good we are all different.

I can't imagine much worse than going to Dubai on holiday like a PP suggested. My friend went last year and it seemed to mainly be sitting in air conditioned bars, shopping or swimming. Not for me (which is a good thing because the pools on cruise ships are usually tiny! 🤣)

Yeah, I think she didnt research but it's also partly the overselling and the marketing so she made assumptions. She isn't a seasoned cruiser. I'm sure she did many things wrong!

There were some children in my coach tour BTW. It definitely did have its disadvantages and I woukdnt repeat it necessarily but I think my scenery was spectacular. I'm not sure it's true that the best views of the fjords are from the water. You should see my photo of Geirangerfjord from above!

About 7. We tried everything from the exclusive yacht club one to the buffet. It’s nowhere near what you would get in a local restaurant. We had incredible tapas in a Barcelona restaurant the day before we set sail. Our last truly good meal. Cruises are not for foodies, they just can’t be at those numbers.

Splendida. Yacht club is incredible - the service is superb but it’s too much for me. Ultimately, I think I’m not a cruiser, horses for courses

I don’t think any align with me at all, hence my dislike. But this is a gift for someone else so it doesn’t really matter what I think. I’ll just never step foot on one again.

Thing is there is a big variation between cruise lines. My mum loves a cruise but you’d never get her back on MSC.

Cruise food is much better than you’d expect for mass catering feeding 6,000 people.

There’s a whole range from pizza and burgers to al a carte to niche Vietnamese or Sushi to steak houses and everything in between. I’ve had crap meals and some of the best meals I remember on a ship.

You can eat outside too. Being at sea having food in just one of those visceral experiences.

I love cruising but my god 6,000 people. I couldn’t stand that I prefer smaller ships of 700 passengers max.

Not to mention the cruise can skip a stop or substitute a different one.

There was one recently to the Antarctic, that didn't get to the Antarctic.

I don't like being on boats or out of my depth in water so for me that is the big 'no' but I also don't like the way they pay their staff according to where they come from not for the job they do.

Thats interesting. Maybe that was part of the issue for me but really I think it’s just not the holiday for me but I am surrounded by people having a great time so it’s definitely the right holiday for lots of people

At least you gave it a go and now you know @Appletinii. I'm a big fan of trying anything once because sometimes things suprise you. Or you know it's not for you and there's nothing wrong with that.

Exactly. I’m glad I did it because my mum absolutely adored it.

Being oldies we cruise with Saga

It took us a while (14 years!) to find a holiday we both liked. OH is a sun worshipper and I don’t like the heat 🙂🙂

It’s very easy. We live near Dover so it takes under an hour from us being picked up by the taxi (included) to be unpacking in our cabin. They are small ships - under 1000 passengers and the service is excellent. As is the food - as well as the main restaurants there are speciality ones.

At first I thought I wouldn’t like sea days. I like to be out and about. But they grew on me - there are plenty of activities including quizzes and deck games - and it’s nice to have chill days to balance out those ashore.

Plenty of excursions from strenuous (kayaking this year) to gentle (coach tours). We are going to Iceland this July and we are both looking forward to it immensely. It will be our fourth cruise. We don’t live together so being in the same space for a couple of weeks takes a bit of adjustment but there is so much going on we don’t notice it much

We’ve talked to a few of the lecturers/teachers on the cruises and they say Saga treat the crew very well. They are mostly Filipinos and certainly seem happy and contented

As PP say cruises are marmite. I wasn’t sure about them myself but am now hooked

A slight downside for me is the smart casual dress code for the evenings (there are formal nights too which we don’t do). More than outweighed, though, by the lack of children onboard!

A Canaries cruise means flying to Tenerife and then hopping around the islands. One sea day as the boat goes up to Madeira.

With P&O the boats are registered in Bermuda and everyone gets paid out of there (I think there are some tax advantages for UK residents in that). It's nothing to do with where they come from, it's entirely based on the job they do.

We did the (P&O) canaries cruise last year (it's two sea days, one to Madeira and one back), it was OK. I didn't love it or hate it. I did get very seasick though.

I've also done the fjords with Hertigruten which was far better, and less seasick because it's not real sea except overnight when the seasickness tablets helped me sleep anyway.

@Pippa246 I live in cruise ship coach stop - the port is about 25 mins away but not somewhere you'd sight see...we don't re red carpet, we find you incredibly annoying and don't need the over tourism. The tourism industry functioned quite well without this added extra!

When I’m free to do so, I shall rent out my house and go on a really long cruise. The knowledge of this keeps me going when the kids are playing up and the dog won’t stop barking. I think “sod off, one day I’ll be on a cruise again, sipping margaritas in silence.”

@Negroany You are right that P and O are one of the better companies in terms of pay. But £900 per month for 12 hour days and no day off is still pretty bad.

https://shiplife.org/salaries/

I know they can pay agency workers less. And they use a lot of agencies. www.pocruisescareers.co.uk/hiring-partners/

Also part of the salary is based on tips so the £900 'base' is not what you receive, but that means if you happen to e on a half empty ship your salary for that cruise is reduced.

Finally not everyone on board is actually an employee, it's normal for spar staff, the photographer and sometimes entertainers are not employed by the cruise line.

thecatandme, we are also oldies and have long abandoned family camping trips to France, and more recently we have stopped skiing, though we still take any of the family who want to join us on holiday twice a year.

We love cruises! A Saga holiday starts when the included taxi turns up to take you to the ship, no driving, no organising parking, your luggage is put into the taxi and reappears in your cabin, no lugging it through airports.

Lovely views from your balcony, included room service, WiFi and drinks. I am a veggie and Saga give me a menu for all restaurants every evening for the next day, with a huge list of alternatives in the unlikely event that you can’t spot anything you fancy. DH does all the cooking at home which he enjoys nevertheless a break from it is appreciated.

I enjoy sea days, so many activities that you are spoiled for choice DH likes the gym.

The mainly Philipino staff are delightful. It was explained to me that in their culture the elderly are respected and cherished so that is how they treat their guests.

You do need to choose your cruise company carefully. Our very first one was with TUI and many of our fellow passengers were pretty awful ‘There’s no P*s in our village’ etc. Saga and Fred Olsen appeal to a different clientele. P&O are cheap but it seems you are ‘nickel and dimed’ for everything on board, altogether very bargain basement.

We are off to the Fjords again in two weeks’ time and are looking forward to it immensely. I think it is our fourth trip to various parts of Norway. Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea are consistently wonderful, but I lost my heart to Greenland, nothing like I imagined and totally beautiful.

Not sure that ‘nickel & diming’ is a fair assessment of P&O - there is no compulsory tipping for starters, and drinks prices are comparable with UK pubs. In the Caribbean, certainly, you can easily make your own arrangements for beaches and excursions. As regards other passengers, it’s easy to avoid the busy, loud venues and deck areas.

Compulsory tipping ensures that stingy passengers find it hard to avoid.

When you are leaving the ship, whether for an excursion or a wander around town, bottles of water are by the exit for you to pick up and take, no charge. Returning on a chilly day there is likely to be a pop-up hot chocolate stall awaiting you at the bottom of the gangway.Ex-P&O passengers whom we met on Saga, were amazed not to be charged, loved the free room service and found the free WiFi far more convenient than wandering around ashore looking for an internet café.
That’s the sort of thing I meant by nickel and diming.

Got to say one of the best things on the Saga ships is the serve yourself ice cream machine 😋😋😋😋😋😋

It's always busy and regularly needs topping up.