# Cruise tips (ocean, big ship) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [February 28, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255 "2024-02-28T22:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/101 "2025-04-29T18:52:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Don’t do this: When you sail on K-mart of the Caribbean you might expect to see K-mart behavior. What’s interesting is this sounds like one person did something that annoyed several, the several attacked the single, then somehow the whole fracas grew to the point that now 24 people are on Carnival’s shit list? And I wonder how many got arrested or will be charged? How many people does it take to deliver a beat-down to one person? Or was this more like the barroom scenes in old western movies where every table has 4 guys staring into their whiskey, the hero and villain exchange words, then at the first punch the entire barroom stands up and begins attacking their tablemates for no evident reason? So buncha folks decided to riot just for the fun of it? Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/102 "2025-04-29T18:56:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Or was this more like the barroom scenes in old western movies where every table has 4 guys staring into their whiskey, the hero and villain exchange words, then at the first punch the entire barroom stands up and begins attacking their tablemates for no evident reason? So buncha folks decided to riot just for the fun of it? Hmm The customs area in the disembarkation hall is usually pretty crowded. If there was one group chasing someone around, it’s a safe bet that they ran into other people, who would rightly be annoyed at such nonsense, and some of those people would start throwing punches. Shit like this just spirals out of control sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/103 "2025-04-29T19:09:27Z")
Pie! Pie is yummy & makes people happy. If Carnival served [pie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AOeSrLCD-U) in line there _definitely_ would _not_ have been a fight. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/104 "2025-04-29T19:10:21Z")
I’m actually aboard a Carnival cruise ship right now as I type this. I know Carnival is the KMart of shipping lines, as someone pointed out above thread, but how much more comfortable are the other ones like Royal Caribbean? Are they really that high a notch above? Of course, given my finances, I’ll likely always have to Kmart cruising. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/105 "2025-04-29T19:11:56Z")
You mean like this? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RCneye8GuSo/maxresdefault.jpg "The Largest Pie Fight Ever FIlmed! | The Great Race | Warner Archive") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCneye8GuSo) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/106 "2025-04-29T19:31:45Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The captain might be more worried about the front falling off. I know that one. Never really gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/107 "2025-04-29T19:35:14Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > The customs area in the disembarkation hall is usually pretty crowded. I’ve only been on the one cruise (Cunard, New York to South Hampton) but they had a customs guy on the ship. At an appointed time during the passage we stood in line and showed the guy our passport. He seemed pretty bored by it all. The line was about two minutes long and the guy spent all of 10 seconds examining my passport. And that was it. When we arrived in South Hampton everyone just walked off the ship. No customs cuz it was already done. Easy-peasy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/108 "2025-04-29T19:39:45Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’ve only been on the one cruise (Cunard, New York to South Hampton) but they had a customs guy on the ship. At an appointed time we stood in line and showed the guy our passport. He seemed pretty bored by it all. The line was about two minutes long and the guy spent all of 10 seconds examining my passport. Yeah, that’s very different from the arrivals in more tourist-oriented cruise ports. There’s almost always a big line getting into the US, with everyone hauling their luggage with them. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/109 "2025-04-29T19:44:39Z")
It might be different since there were no stops along the way. Cunard does a scan of luggage when embarking and there is nothing that happens from then till we get off (as in no stops at other ports). It is also a pretty old crowd. Not really the sort to smuggle anything so they probably feel pretty confident about the passengers not being criminals. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/110 "2025-04-29T20:02:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Or was this more like the barroom scenes in old western movies where every table has 4 guys staring into their whiskey, the hero and villain exchange words, then at the first punch the entire barroom stands up and begins attacking their tablemates for no evident reason? So buncha folks decided to riot just for the fun of it? Hmm. SCOTT: And I didn’t see that it was worth fighting about. After all, we’re big enough to take a few insults. Aren’t we? KIRK: What was it they said that started the fight? SCOTT: They called the _Carnival Jubilee_ a garbage scow, sir! KIRK: I see. And that’s when you hit the Klingons? SCOTT: Yes, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/111 "2025-04-29T20:05:25Z")
One of my favorite episodes. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/112 "2025-04-29T20:28:09Z")
Every line has a different reputation and type of passenger - Carnival is the party line, with a lot of young people, NCL is people who don’t want traditional cruising ( no assigned seating/tables, no required formal night, the most dressed up you ever have to be is jeans and a shirt with a collar) Holland America has an older and more formal crowd etc. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/113 "2025-04-29T20:31:30Z")
Depends on the port and your documents - I haven’t encountered customs lines in years. The line for people with passports uses facial identification at the ports I’ve disembarked at and I don’t even slow down. There might be lines for people using birth certificates. . ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/114 "2025-04-30T11:51:45Z")
South Hampton is in the USA. Southampton is the major port in the UK. They take a lot more interest in passengers traveling from places like Columbia and they also have people on some ships checking for people who don’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255/115 "2025-04-30T15:14:38Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > **South Hampton is in the USA**. Southampton is the major port in the UK. Where all the rich people have houses on the end of Lawn Guyland is Southampton. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-tips-ocean-big-ship/998255.md?page=5)