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I thought of it, but everyone tells me about all the eating and more eating, and the one day here and the next day there and more eating foods one is not use too. I am a diabetic and its hard enough to manage it. I think a cruise for me would make it very hard finding proper foods I felt I could eat and was use to eating, and way to much time in situations where food would be part of my day.
(I'm defending cruises now, even though I don't care for them LOL)
They do serve healthy food with many options and you do get tired of all the food, so this shouldn't be a problem.
I have no desire to go on a "cruise". Have heard mostly negative things about them from friends who did. Not sure why someone would want to be stuck out in the middle of the ocean on a cattle pen?? Dirty, crowded, noisy, no control over where you go or when. Not for me. Just give me a good reliable vehicle so I can do the driving and go where I want to go.
I'm with many on this board who loves the process of planning aspects of my vacations but leaving huge chunks of time to chance... the opportunity to go where we decide to go at that moment. The opportunity to get lost in Rome and end up in a random, wonderful local's restaurant. The chance to decide to leave Florence a day early to take the train to Lucca or Pisa. The chance to choose when to have the do-nothing experience of laying on the beach and not be surrounded by the same 1500 people i've been traveling with. The right not to be gouged by the ship's tour operators for 'experiences' that you could have for 1/3 the price if you found it on your own on shore.
When traveling in Italy, it was really disheartening to be in Venice in early spring with very few crowds, and suddenly realize that everything is packed. Ask the barkeep what happened, and he says "tour ships just arrived".
I did the Alaska inside passage cruise with family a couple of summers ago out of Seattle. 85 degrees and sunny in Seattle - and 4 hours later, the sun was not be be seen again until our return. Generally fog and rain, but that wasn't really the issue. Alaska is unique in that you simply cannot reasonably drive to some of the ports of call, which was a check in the cruise's favor. Unfortunately, the ports are basically cruise ship tourist traps. At each stop (Ketchican, Juneau, Skagway), you'd see our ship, immediately followed or preceded by 2 other gargantuan cruise ships. Each town is tiny, but would suddenly be overrun by 5000-6000 tourists, each going on the same tours, into the same schlocky tourist shops. Depressing to me. Alaska feels just wrong when you're in this vast wilderness but packed next to the same Wisconsin tourists in a bus that you were just next to in an on-ship buffet.
I learned my lesson by the time we got to Juneau and didn't sign up for any of the absurdly overpriced adventures. I walked off of the boat, went in to town, and talked to local outfits, who took me on similar tours at 1/3 the price with 1/5 the people.
Alaska itself is stunning by any measure. I live in Seattle and am cognizant of the natural beauty in this area, but Alaska is on such a ridiculous scale that it is mind-boggling, rain or no rain.
Bottom line - I know that lots of folks use vacations to unplug their brains and just relax, and for that, cruises are ideal. Just enough 'adventure' to stave off boredom, and food, drink & entertainment aplenty. Other folks (like me) use vacation to immerse themselves in something entirely apart from what they're used to - to get out of their comfort zone, so to speak. Cruises are like a depressing prison to us. I'm guessing that folks who love to cruise would also loathe the idea of standing in a foreign train station with a small piece of luggage trying to figure out where they're going to sleep that night
To each their own. I shan't try to convince cruisers that my way is "correct", and i'm quite sure that I won't be convinced that cruising is the way to go.
I'm sorry, but cruises are everything that's wrong with our society today. Even things that are supposed to be beautiful get pre-packaged into bite sized portions, disneyized, and force fed to brainless sheep getting herded from town to town.
As someone who lives in one of those "exotic ports" you speak so highly of, may I paint a different portrait for you?
Cruise ship companies like Holland America register their vessels in places like Nassau so they don't have to pay US taxes, then hire immigrants and other marginalized people and don't pay them even minimum wage. When cruise ships invade towns, big business isn't far behind, and what was once a vibrant local economy is decimated by out of town chain stores, leaving behind street after street of outsider jewelry galleries and tourist trap emporiums. The local businesses are forced to shut down, and unemployment skyrockets. All the while, the cruise industry tells everyone that they bring life the communities they call ports, when all they are really doing is signing its death certificate.
In the end, the only people that benefit are the bloated rich cruise ship owners, while the rest of us are scrambling to pick up the pieces of our broken communities.
Chew on that for a while before you book your next "adventure".
I didn't read this entire thread; perhaps tomorrow when I have a bit more empty time, but I can answer the question nonetheless...
I haven't been on a cruise because I have seen my home and the homes of my friends and family destroyed by the cruise ship economy, and because the blithering fools that waddle off of those floating food bins aren't exactly the type of companions I'd care to be cooped up with for days at a time.
(Well, my particular home wasn't destroyed, as the community had the foresight years ago to deny port access to the big ships. )
So, you see, it's a matter of principle.
My 80 year old father was knocked of the boardwalk in Skagway by a herd of tourons intent on the nearest shiny trinket filled window. A great big fat one that must have trussed out at 450 easy stepped right on my foot. I encountered rudeness of the most boorish degree on a daily basis.
This was my first, and last, year in a port city. Before that, I actually had a rather benign opinion of the cruise ship industry, other than the fact that they dump their sewage into our waters.
What I found the most unsettling about the touron infestation was the amount of people who would actually come out and blare that our communities wouldn't exist without them.
Like hell we wouldn't.
The cruise ship industry has brought nothing but carpetbaggers and other parasites with them.
$800 bucks, eh? You can find them cheaper. Cruising used to be a classy thing to do. Personally I'd rather pay for a quality vacation. You couldn't me enough to indulge in the explosion of white trash that SE Alaska has become over the summer months.
Cruise ships tend to carry the least able class of "travelers". Many are unaware of where they are or have any interest in truly experiencing the culture. At best they stay on the ship or near the port. At worst they wander into the towns without local currency, a map, any preparation at all and treat the locals like deck servants.
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When traveling in Italy, it was really disheartening to be in Venice in early spring with very few crowds, and suddenly realize that everything is packed. Ask the barkeep what happened, and he says "tour ships just arrived".
This sounds like what happened to us in Dubrovnik.
Quiet streets in Old Town at 9am, then, two hours later, hordes upon hordes of people, each group following a bobbing tourguide sign.
Mind you, these people were not all Americans--they were speaking all sorts of languages. Cruising is not just for the stereotypical sunburned American with Hawaiian shirt.
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. I'm guessing that folks who love to cruise would also loathe the idea of standing in a foreign train station with a small piece of luggage trying to figure out where they're going to sleep that night
Probably not. But to me, it's heaven!
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To each their own. I shan't try to convince cruisers that my way is "correct", and i'm quite sure that I won't be convinced that cruising is the way to go.
Yes.
I do think there is a place for cruising, but I don't picture myself being an active participant.
And what Metlakatla has to say about cruising is worth thinking about.
Up until a few months ago, I was living in a very small beach town that was pursuing becoming a real port. I wonder what would happen to that beautiful bay where I used to walk for 40 minutes and not see another human being.
OMG, did not know they were all whales! Ugh... no wonder they are on a floating boat.
I went with 3 other friends years ago to tour Europe, all on our own. We had Eurail pass and used it to full advantage. We were many times in a train station with our little backpacks, wondering where to sleep. It was just life for four young travelers! We landed in Belgium one night about 11 pm, had no where to go. A young guy heard our story and invited us to go home with him. Hey, it was four against one, and he looked harmless. We ended up sleeping on his linoleum kitchen floor that night, but at least was dry. It was very cold and raining outside. He was very kind, went out and got us breakfast the next morning. I would not trade all of our exciting experiences in any way, by being stuck with a boring cruise agenda.
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Interesting thread...
Ugh
