I’ve never been on a cruise. I used to work on ships so the idea of paying to be on one is still strange, though I’m well aware it would be nicer and I wouldn’t be expected to work.
Seems a strange question though for the types of cruises I’ve looked at possibly taking with wife, longer and/or specialized and/or smaller ships. IOW quite expensive. The barrier to me is whether I could find the experience really worth the money. But, while we can all signal what good guys and gals we are by assuring everyone we know that people with money can make complete assholes of themselves in public, we all know it correlates with income in real life, and is generally more likely at lower income levels. Also with a younger crowd, but that also correlates with income.
However shorter more generic cruises are AFAIK a good deal about eating and drinking. And people often behave themselves less well when they drink than otherwise. I wouldn’t doubt stories of other passengers acting like jerks when drunk on cruises that people go on with more emphasis in the first place on drinking. And if they happen to be white, we all know ‘history’ justifies a blatant double standard where it’s OK to bring people’s race into put downs of them if they’re white but not if they aren’t white, so we can call them ‘white trash’.
Never been on a cruise so I didn’t vote, but I’ve been on Caribbean islands numerous times when one or more cruise ships would dock. You’re on a nice quiet, secluded beach when all of a sudden you are overrun with hordes of loud obnoxious jerks who think they own the place. Fortunately they are gone is a couple of hours to get back to the boat. Based on that sampling (1) my wife and I would never go on a cruise unless it is to somewhere inaccessible any other way and (2) we now go to places where few ships dock (or far enough from the dock that most excursions don’t make it that far).
I have no real interest in cruises. That said, I’m very interested in doing that sort of trans-Atlantic sailing as part of a vacation. Spend a week getting from the US to England the old-fashioned way, then a couple weeks in the UK, and then fly (or maybe sail) home. But a lot of the cruises sold in the US just sound unpleasant.
The Queen Mary II is doing Southampton in the UK to Perth in Australia next year, total transit time of roughly two months. If I could afford it, I’d love to do it. A decent cabin with a sea view, a pile of things to read and watch and just chill on a massive great big ship.
I did NYC to Le Havre in 1980, though I went steerage. The crucial question is: how many utensils do you get at dinner. We had seven at least. Now a truly classy operation gives you specialized utensils when you need them, but this was pretty close.
Far classier than cruises I’ve been on these days.
I haven’t done the European rivers yet, but did go on a similar craft on the Yangtse River in China for 3 days/2 nights. Much more…cosy…the rooms are about the same size as a cruise ship, but the public areas and dining are very much smaller than on a big ship, so you probably, if you not with others, find it a bit tedious when you’re not docked (which you will be–in China we had two stops/tour opportunities per day). A big ship has movies, shops, entertainment, and bars. A river craft has…much less. And it costs an arm and a leg compared to a big ship.
I’ve cruised at least a dozen times, from 3-12 days, and usually the longer and more expensive the trip, the better behaved folks are. But hey, it’s a vacation, so having that third beer with breakfast is expected…
And for those who haven’t cruised, they can go places that you would have trouble seeing on your own…like the Galapagos Islands and Saint Petersburg.
Same here. Personal record is 103 days out of sight of land, working 12 hour shifts.
I went on one cruise, and will never, ever do it again. It was essentially a crowded floating tenement. And we were periodically deposited on various islands to be treated as walking wallets by the locals. All I remember is an unending sea of outstretched hands, demanding tips.
White trash? I dunno. But I can’t fathom why anyone would endure it a second time.
I’ve been on three cruises, all Celebrity Cruise Lines. I enjoyed the cruises, but I’d never do another. I much prefer visiting an island for a week or two over hitting a different island every day for a few hours.
My gf pointed out to me that the horde of cruisers that show up act a lot like slow zombies. They amble from their bus, shuffling their feet (often enclosed in socks and sandals). You can watch them developing their severe sunburn. Then they amble back to their bus.
Next time I talk to my wife’s cousin, who’s a professional tour guide in the US, Europe and Australia/NZ who has done the river cruises and possibly others, I’ll see what she has to say about it. She’s always a terrific and hilarious source of all sorts of interesting travel information.
No, I haven’t seen that. I’d say that they are old people vacations if you want to paint with a broad brush, as many of the longer cruises I’ve been on (admittedly I haven’t been on the shorter ones) tend to lean towards older people (50+ is my impression). Obviously, this isn’t across the board, but that’s my general take if we are going to speak broadly.
I used to visit Mazanillo, Colima, Mexico, on the Pacific Coast quite regularly. It’s a great, little town, with some awesome beaches and neighborhoods to its south. The downtown is quaint, charming, etc., and is a great place for a walk and an excellent meal. I’ve almost had only great experiences there. Except, it’s also a cruise port, and I’ve had the misfortune one one occasion to head downtown while a ship full of tourists was also docked. The whole character of the town changed for the few hours that the tourists were out and about. Instead of being able to shop leisurely, I was suddenly expected to buy stuff, and at quite inflated prices. The food quality also tended to change, with an emphasis on changing tables rather than quality (or, it could have been an off day).
It’s not so much that the town was busier that changed things; it was busier with obvious foreign tourists. I’ve also been there a few times during “Semana Santa” (Mexican Spring Break), and let me tell you, the crowds are worse and the whole town is a circus, but these are Mexican tourists rather than foreign, and the whole atmosphere is so much the better for it.
I would never imagine that a shore trip from a cruise shop would be in the least bit culturally validating or interesting.
I don’t like cruises in general, in part because there isn’t enough time at a port to explore. But once, about 20 years ago, we had enough time to rent a Jeep, drive around an island, stop and walk on the beach a couple of times, visit an outside door cantina on the beach for an hour and then drive downtown and go to a couple of local shops and a grocery, all away from the crowds. I try to stay as far away from the tourist stuff as I can.
