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

[shingledshack]

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

I think it depends where you cruise really. I have elderly relatives who have cruised the world, they really have seen everywhere from the Galapagos to Alaska. Right now they're in Norway and they get off the ship and go on smaller cruises through the fjords so they get to see the scenery, which is what they go there for.

He’s right, he has visited it. It’s true he can’t possibly have seen as much in one day as you could in a week, but he has definitely visited it. And it sounds like he’s seen enough to decide if he’d want to go back there.

That’s one of the beauties of cruises - you can see lots of different places, get a flavour of them, perhaps return if there was somewhere you really like. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.

I don’t think there’s any point in getting superior about it, OP. We all have our preferences when it comes to time and places spent on holiday.

I have been to Luxembourg, Montenegro and Bosnia-H for 6-8 hours. Would you class that as visiting?

I went to Luxembourg as part of the German school exchange and the other two as part of my Croatia touring holiday.

Loads of cruise liners visit where I live.
They see the main sites/sights by whizzing from one place to the next on coaches. They don't actually really experience the atmosphere of being here, the slower pace, the remoteness, the food, the wildlife, the just being.

It really depends on the location. If it's a big city then obviously you can't see enough of it, if it's the middle of nowhere then once you've seen it you've seen it.

But lots of people think you haven't visited a place properly if you've only been once, and people holiday differently. I went to Vegas for a week and went literally everywhere, whereas my friend who lives in California and goes a few times a year has seen much less of it overall because she goes to the same few places every time. It doesn't mean either of us hasn't visited.

That's a snapshot.

I couldn't cope with that, it would make me panic. Once I've seen the scenery I've seen the scenery. I'd get so bored.

If I could ban cruise liners I would. They're destroying our small community, for locals and more traditional types of tourists. They're a scourge.

Many people who live here cannot cope with how it's destroying our communities either.
It's not just scenery though, there's much more to it, and a day doesn't do it justice.

No I agree with you completely. We were in Antigua once and the cruise ships came in. Thousands of people got off to have a little walk around the most horrible tourist tacky area. Not at all representative of the island at all. The whole thing was awful and fake. I would never go on a cruise after seeing that.

I have a family member who used to travel for work, so would fly into an airport then stay at a hotel for a night and fly back. Whenever we are talking about a holiday or trip they immediately say they've been there but in reality they saw nothing of the place and had no time to explore as they were working. It's infuriating but we joke about the predictability of the response now!!

It might be a snapshot, but it’s still visiting.

Each to their own, I guess.

Of course he visited the place. Just visited and nothing more.

He's visited briefly , didn't think much of it when he was there, not sure what the problem is. Has he done alot of travel in his life?

Of course you've visited. Some cruises do two day overnight stops in interesting ports as well.

You may not have had an in depth experience. Having done both there's something to be said for taking your time, but equally visiting the 5th best restaurant in the area and the local geological museum isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be either.

At the end of the day you're as much a tourist as your father, you need to actually live somewhere for a few months to truly immerse yourself.

A day trip around the island may not be as good as a whole week of sightseeing but better than many ai customers who don't leave their hotels

I'm sure he realises, as do we all, that you were trying to get across to him that your holiday was superior in every way to his, and you're snobby about his choice to cruise.

Ps I like a cruise, a road trip, an ai holiday and a villa / apartment holiday - variety is the spice of life

I've done a handful as a relaxing way to get some winter sunshine and have chatted to many fellow passengers.

Many reel off exotic places the ship has docked and said that they only briefly went ashore. Reasons range from needing an expensive excursion to access the billed attraction (eg Rome), or poor weather or just didn't fancy it. In the Caribbean many passengers simply take a taxi or walk to a beach for the day.

Whatever; it's their holiday and they can do whatever they want. No need to be a snob about it.

Of course you visit somewhere in a cruise

Visit means going there not how long you stayed.

Not sure why it matters to you but of course he has visited. I went on my first cruise recently and really enjoyed going different places. Some places I did a walking tour that covered a lot of a city. It's a good opportunity to see a lot of places in one trip and from that you can decide if there are any places you would like to return for longer.

I’m think it depends on the definition of visited, if he has just seen the beach of one resort then he hasn’t experienced the culture of the island or its people - but he may not want to , just wants somewhere with sun. Most cruises I’ve seen offer a variety of excursions so presumably he chose
to stay at the resort.

We get cruise ship visitors, the opinions of the place range from 3/10 for those who never leave the port/main town to 10/10 for those who take excursions. So I see where you are coming from.

A cruise is what you make of it. You don't need to just get off and walk around the tourist areas, there are plenty of excursions on offer or you can arrange your own transportation.