A cruise for someone who hates cruises

[Spampas]

OK - I know I sound like a total snob here, but we all have different preferences. Each to their own etc.

Many years ago I went on a P&O cruise. HUGE ship rammed to the gills with thousands of people. Casinos everywhere. Food, food, food, food, food. Booze, booze, booze. Swirly carpets. Bling and showy. Shit entertainment from yesteryear. Hated it.

Maybe it's changed since then but the experience I had put me off big time, especially at the price of it. But I like the idea of cruising. I want something smaller, I am interested in more cultural / intellectual stuff. Not into the bling and the lights. Does such a thing exist?

@Aquickturn81🙄 are this helpful on all the threads you post on? If so what a hugely beneficial asset you are to Mumsnet 😂

@BishyBarnyBeeis correct that I was looking for actual recommendations. Didn’t think I would actually have to point that out.

We cruised with Hurtigruten in June, very relaxed atmosphere. They had presentations rather than shows and entertainment, but that suited us well.

I went on the Queen Mary to the Fjords this summer and it was really lovely cruise. Ive never been on a cruise before as I get sea sick and it was all very lovely, refined and slow paced.

What an unnecessarily obnoxious response 🙄

OP I believe that Virgin cruises are for over 18s, possibly a little party-ish but apparently the food/restaurants are the best across all the cruise lines. Myself, I love a Disney cruise but you’d probably hate it 😁

To everyone else, thank you so much - this type of info was just what I was looking for. There are some really interesting options. Thanks also for the blog links and YouTube suggestions. Looking forward to investigating them all. Thank you! 😍

I will be travelling alone but am not yet in the Fred Olsen age range. It’s not too far off tho!

https://www.seascanner.co.uk

I picked up the Cunard cruise through this website - it was a double room inside for £720 x 2 for 7 days

there were many people travelling alone and some rooms were double beds but single occupancy - but the go fast im told

Did 25th Anniversary round Eastern med with first husband. Costa cruises and absolutely loved it. 24 hr food if you want and lots to do. Went TUI with current hubby and it was rubbish. Rust bucket of a ship and the worst cabin you can imagine...... but we had a week in lovely Fuengirola as the Stay bit and tnat was lovely. Ive persuaded him to try again but we're going P&O and doing the Fjords so hoping that's a a better experience. Just do research and get lots of comparisons

The only thing with river studies is -on times- the river levels have been low and has caused issues . Excursions had to be changed or buses used. Do a bit of research on this first. This is what puts me off.

Have a look at Peter Sommer. They do gulet holidays, traditional boats in Turkey and Greece. I went on a fab archeology cruise with a friend. Only eight passengers although they can take 10-12.

@WolfingtonBearlove Disney but couldn’t do a Disney cruise.

We did NCL alaska last year and it was fabulous, not too busy but entertainment if you wanted it. Alaska is so beautiful and majestic.
I made a massive mistake of booking royal Caribbean this year for the Norwegian fjords - we hated it ! Thought it would be great for our teens but honestly sounds like the first one you booked. Far too many people, too many really drunk passengers not looking after their kids who then run riot. Only plus side was the shows really were brooadway quality.

Interested to know which P&O ship. I went on Iona and it wasn’t for me but I love Celebrity, Princess and Cunard. Very relaxed feel about them and a bit classier (sorry - can’t think of a better word).

This is what I want to do! Do you get a decent amount of time in each port?

At the main stops you get the whole day and the smaller stops where they are dropping off post and other deliveries, you might get less than an hour. We went in December so it got darker and more ice and snow the further north we got.

Cairo to Luxor has several sailing days with no excursions.
The second Nile cruise we did was tailor made, and we added Lake Nasser and Abu Simbel.

That sounds and looks amazing! As long as there were a couple of longer stops, I'd be happy with staying on the boat and watching the scenery as it does the short port visits.

Sorry to jump back on your post but I know that Explora have a promotion called a journey for one and they are all zero solo supplements. Think there's 500 odd sailings in the offer
Crystal promo is so low solo and Seabourn have a lit of 146 including 50 odd expedition if tats your thing.
I am sure you know as a solo traveller, the supplements are ridiculous and in my humble opinion unfair. I also forgot to mention a company called Tauck, they have a great product range

Good luck, I'd be super interested to know what you end up doing if you decide to go ahead xx

Interested in this. The very big P&O ships have only been sailing for the last few years. We went on Britannia in May which is smaller than the really big ones. I also found out before we left that it has the best space per person ratio. It never felt crowded and the casino area was so small, I forgot it was there. I think they’ve changed the booze side of things so it’s usually cheaper to pay as you go and so the drunkenness was lower than a cruise we did in 2002 on what would now be Marbella where people were just there to drink themselves silly every day. Also think ships are less crowded when it’s not school holidays because kids fit into the same cabin as parents so the total on ship can increase by up to 50%
YouTube is useful to look at. Lots of cruise bloggers and vloggers post ship tours.

Azamara might be worth a look. My BIL and SIL did a stay cruise with them in July and it looked lovely.

@Spampas I would recommend the Gary Bembridge YouTube channel - he very much advises on the cruise that is right for you ie how to avoid the common herd! He likes culture, enrichment etc and not the partying and stuffing your face at buffets type of cruises.

Someone suggested Emma Cruises but I got annoyed with her as she is a cheapskate in a bad way (ie taking your own can of drink/snacks on shore trips to avoid buying anything in a local cafe) and she is not keen - as you have said you are - on culture.

We are looking to do a River cruise next year, we were planning to do a ship i watched a programme about a massive cruise ship, put me off ! Anyway are River cruises slower paced Where did you go ?

I'm guessing the OP has already done that, and has come on here to ask for suggestions from people who have been on such cruises and can recommend them.

What do people get out of dick responses like this? Baffling

Have a look at Emma Cruises on YouTube. Whatever you want she will have a video on it.

I second this,band would add that you don't have to dress for dinner.

I was going to suggest this too. I loved it and I hate all the things the OP mentioned too.