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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think you don’t really visit somewhere when you go on a cruise?

80 replies

shingledshack · 31/12/2024 10:05

Recently spent a week on an island and rented a villa, drove around the whole island, tried different restaurants, villages, beaches etc cetera.

My dad visited the island on a cruise as an excursion. They had half a day there and got off at the cruise dock and sat on the beach.

I asked if he’d like to go back and he said no he’d already been there. So I said sure you’ve seen a little bit of the place but you’ve not really visited somewhere if you just go for a half a day on a cruise. Then he got pissy with me and said of course he’s visited

OP posts:
Bluevelvetsofa · 31/12/2024 10:10

I agree. But it does give an idea of a place, to visit for longer. There are places I wouldn’t want to spend more than half a day in and others that are the catalyst for a longer holiday.

JMSA · 31/12/2024 10:11

I'd still love to do a cruise though. It's on the bucket list.

ExtraOnions · 31/12/2024 10:12

Yes you have still visited it .. you haven’t done an in-depth, immersive, island exploration .. but you’ve still been, and you can still have an opinion about it.

Unless there is some sort of tourist Top Trump “I was there longer so my opinion matters more” game, I am not aware of.

LightDrizzle · 31/12/2024 10:13

You’ve visited but you haven’t stayed.

SerenityNowSerenityNow · 31/12/2024 10:13

Of course you've visited.
You haven't seen as much as someone who spends a week there and makes an effort to see different parts of the place but you've seen enough to know if you like it or not.

cartagenagina · 31/12/2024 10:15

I agree it gives you a flavour of whether it’s a place you want to return to or not. Also, as I get older, I am very reluctant to travel anywhere I have been before, aside from my favourite places.

Are you a cruise snob OP? It sounds like you were being snarky about your dad’s holiday and he was defensive in response?

TyneTeas · 31/12/2024 10:15

What about people who stay somewhere for a fortnight and barely leave the complex

How many excursions or meals out must they do to qualify under your rules?

HeddaGarbled · 31/12/2024 10:16

That’s just snobbery, IMO. Some people like cruises. Get over it.

FrenchandSaunders · 31/12/2024 10:16

Depends on the tone OP … I can understand why he got pissy tbh

Sirzy · 31/12/2024 10:19

If your on holiday somewhere and go for a day trip somewhere else have you not visited that place?

NCfor24 · 31/12/2024 10:19

Surely that's the definition of visited. He went there, he didn't stay.
You holidayed there.
I think a cruise is a taster of places and lets me know if I want to go back. From a Med cruise I took, I know I want to return trips to Rome and Nice for a couple of nights each. I think it's fair to say you've visited somewhere on a cruise and got sufficient enough impression of whether you'd want to spend money staying there for longer.

ConflictofInterest · 31/12/2024 10:20

Of course you do. It's sounds like he just didn't like enough to return to. On a recent cruise I went on four out of the five stops I wouldn't go back to but they were a lovely day out in a new place. One of the places we're planning to go back for a week but I don't expect to find out more, just enjoy it for longer. I still feel like I visited all of the places and got a good enough impression to know what a longer stay would be like and if I liked it enough to do that. Why not go to somewhere similar or nearby that neither of you have been to? People travel for different reasons and some people prefer variety of experiences rather than relaxing or exploring one place.

NeedToChangeName · 31/12/2024 10:20

Yeah we get it. You're a traveller not a tourist, therefore superior to a cruise traveller

cariadlet · 31/12/2024 10:21

Technically he's visited it but not enough to know anything other than one beach. It might have been a lovely cruise and an enjoyable time on the beach but he wouldn't have scratched the surface of getting to know the country.

It's like going on holiday and staying in an AI resort. Technically, you've visited the country but if you spend the whole holiday in the resort and don't venture outside then you haven't seen anything of the country.

In both cases, if you were in a conversation about the country/island you'd not have anything much to contribute.

arethereanyleftatall · 31/12/2024 10:22

Definition of visit

To think you don’t really visit somewhere when you go on a cruise?
KimberleyClark · 31/12/2024 10:22

You could equally argue that you haven’t really visited a place if you just go and sit on a beach/beside a pool for a week, or as pp said never leave a resort compound in Cancun.

I did an intensive Croatia cruise a couple of years back and certainly felt I had visited.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 31/12/2024 10:23

We did coach trips everywhere the cruise ship stopped, my friend just gets off the boat and looks round the port. I don't think you can generalise.

Tagyoureit · 31/12/2024 10:23

Does it matter?
Your dad feels like he has visited and would prefer to spend money on going somewhere new in the future.

Why are you getting so snobby about it?

arethereanyleftatall · 31/12/2024 10:24

This isn't really a superior/inferior thing op which you have made it sound like.

Some people like cruises as they allow you to visit (😂) multiple places without having to pack/repack or deal with transport. Rather obviously you spend less time in each place.

Auburngal · 31/12/2024 10:25

TyneTeas · 31/12/2024 10:15

What about people who stay somewhere for a fortnight and barely leave the complex

How many excursions or meals out must they do to qualify under your rules?

AI hotels, you could be anywhere. Even on FB when some friends put up photos of their holiday in an AI hotel. Don't mention where they have been or no photos of anywhere outside the complex. Sometimes, you may get an idea where they are based on writing on their bottle or can they are drinking from...

TangerineClementine · 31/12/2024 10:26

YANBU, but does it matter really?

2025hello · 31/12/2024 10:27

Of course he visited it. Up to him how he spends his time. Why the need to be snippy?

Simonjt · 31/12/2024 10:28

Saying he hasn’t visited is like saying you haven’t been to Alton towers unless you stayed the night in their hotel.

Printedword · 31/12/2024 10:30

I see what you mean OP. It's a different experience and one reason that some people wouldn't do a cruise holiday. Some land based hols are the same though. People who have a base and then spend their days touring around an area by car. Not quite the same scale but similar mentality. When we go to the Lake District we don't usually travel about by car, we bus to a walk or walk out of where we are staying. The tourers do all the towns and steam trains and so on.

There's one company - Viking, I think - that advertises its cruises using criteria for travel that I personally don't identify with. Firstly, to be educated by continuing your learning experience. Don't get me wrong, I love a museum or art gallery but I'm not seeking knowledge in quite the way the ad describes. There's another ad where the voiceover sets out a quite patronising agenda of what they expect of locals as a traveller. I think it includes, being hardworking and honest and it's very patrician. Like some 21st century Downton Abbey

Rainbowdottie · 31/12/2024 10:36

If we're splitting hairs, I think it's fair enough to say "he's been there", "he visited it". He was on the same island as you, "he was there". He just didn't spend as much time there as you nor did he have the same experience. But people can visit the same countries and islands and have different amounts of time and experiences there. I'm not so sure why it matters so much