Yes.
For those of us fortunate enough to live in / near a cruise port, it can be a remarkably cheap 2-3 day getaway, whether weekend or midweek. Even better if you’re retired and can travel on short notice. There are often near give-aways of unsold cabins a day or two before departure.
And yes, IME the worst of the crowding and rowdiness is at /around the pool.
A lot of interesting replies and points of view! I will say my wife and I aren’t totally turned off on the idea of some sort of cruise, some day. Many mentions of Viking cruises, which sounds nice. We’ve been kicking around the idea of maybe doing some sort of Great Lakes cruise this Summer, something that only goes for maybe 3 or 4 days and probably something smaller than a huge cruise ship. Just to get a taste of it. I see Viking offers Great Lakes cruise packages, but the shortest duration looks like 8 days, and yeah, not cheap!
We went on a cruise (to Alaska) once. Once.
There were about 5,000 people on the ship, so it was rather crowded. Catching an elevator meant being packed in like sardines. The ‘entertainment’ was something I’d expect from Branson, Missouri (‘Where Acts Go To Die’?), and not to Los Angeles-in-the-'80s-and-'90s-Guy’s preference. Last cruise of the season, the weather prevented us from docking in Juneau. The whole thing was set up as an overpriced marketplace for a captive market. And we both got COVID.
We’re not going on another cruise.
I have never been on a cruise. Because I can’t think of a single thing I would like about it.
Seems everyone talks about how good the food is. I’m not a foodie, and couldn’t care less about gourmet food.
I don’t gamble. I don’t like pools. I don’t sunbathe. I don’t like crowds, or waiting in line. I don’t like being confined. I don’t like touristy places. I don’t like shows. I don’t like shopping. I don’t like strict time schedules. I don’t like parties or mingling with strangers. Don’t care about oceans or beaches. And the only adult beverage I drink is beer.
I’m racking my brain, trying to figure out a single thing I would like about a cruise. But can’t think of one.
Another vote that one should read this essay from David Foster Wallace before going on a cruise.
I am, to make a mild joke, in your boat.
A holiday for me is adventure tourism, me dealing with vastly different cultures in different languages in very challenging circumstances.
Hanging out on a cruise ship with a curated shore itinerary, with the kind of people who enjoy such things, would drive me mad.
Who’s up for cruises exploring the paranormal, esoteric and conspiracies?
Divine Travels has the ship(s) for you!
Unfortunately, their signature cruises for 2026, like Mystery School At Sea the have already sailed.
However, you can plan for your 2027 Holistic Holiday At Sea with fellow vegans.
Divine Travels achieved notoriety a decade ago by promoting a Conspira-Seas cruise, featuring presenters like Andrew Wakefield to enlighten passengers about vaccine conspiracies, the Truth about government plots and assassinations and so much more.
Never been, do not want. We did an All-inclusive stay at a beach resort, with local (land) excursions, and liked that we’ll enough. No desire to do basically the same thing, but confined to a busy, noisy, dirty ship that stays, for the most part, at sea. No spank you!
I’m reasonably sure the often-curmudgeonly David Foster Wallace went into the experience already prepared to write a negative essay.
Cruises have pretty wide-ranging characteristics. If someone is interested, it’s worth looking at factors that matter to you, such as size, dining ratings, average cruiser age, what they’re known for, etc. For me, destination matters most, followed by size of ship/number of passengers, time of year/school vacation dates, cruiseline ecological measures, cruiseline health measures, quality of excursions/ease of arranging our own adventures. I’ve gone on terrific hikes and other outdoor excursions, visited ruins and ancient buildings that would have been difficult to get to on my own, visited excellent museums (for example, the Hermitage, the Bardo National Museum, the Titanic Experience), fascinating religious site (such as the Church on Spilled Blood, Notre Dame, old synagogues, Mohammed Ali mosque), natural sites (for example, Lake Gatun) and seen a lot of wonderful botanical parks, animal sanctuaries, and animals and birds in the wild. I’ve seen Little/Fairy/Little Blue, King, Gentoo, Adelie, Chinstrap, Magellanic, Humbolt, and Galapagos penguins. In Romania, I saw the courtyard where the Ceausescus were executed. In Hawaii, I walked on a lava field past active rivulets. In Japan, we toured Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All ship’s excursions.
Arranging tours on our own, we’ve had a boat ride on the Seine, toured the Jerusalem Old City, visited Nara and shinto shrines, and taken a ferry to a native bird island in New Zealand. We’ve seen hundreds of bird and animal species. We’ve also had good meals both on shore and off the ship. Cruises give my lovely wife many more medically-restricted food options than does a land tour. I like to get up early and watch for big fish, birds, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and turtles as we arrive in port, often while walking a few miles on deck with binoculars and an audiobook. We usually take in music in the smaller venues, or find somewhere quiet to read or write. Now that I’m retired, I no longer need to be on call for my jobs, but we usually buy internet for a few 24-hour periods. I like to walk around and explore new places, and my wife likes to unpack once and not be hauling her bag over cobbles every day. If one of us has an injury or medical issue, we can go on shore for a coffee or stay on the ship or take a sightseeing bus or train. As women traveling without a man, we can choose a ship excursion that is safer anywhere we’re not sure of. As a Q couple and for me as a person of Jewish heritage, there are places I’ll visit with a group and not on my own.
I might have two drinks during a cruise. I might get one soda. If it’s unexpectedly cold, I might buy a sweatshirt with a sloth on it or a windbreaker with a wallaby. I might dance a little or listen to a band. I usually go in the pool. Many ships have a quiet adults-only area with a pool, cover from the sun, and a vegetarian/smoothie cafe with tables. We rarely go to shows. We mix dining at a table with other people with a 2-person table.
My preference is for Celebrity Xpedition, Hurtigruten Expedition, and river cruises. They’re smaller, the entertainment is mostly or entirely geared to the destination (for example, on our Tauck lower Danube river cruise, we had talks from a Serbian and a Croatian crew member about their experiences of war between their countries, and in Antarctica we had talks about marine life). Dress on these is informal (in Antarctica, boots were prohibited in the dining area and walking around in socks and sweatpants was encouraged) and for those to whom it matters, drinks are included, as well as the excursions.
It works well for me. You’ll never find me at a Disney or lying on a beach. De gustibus non est disputandum.*
*YMMV.
--I think you’d find this to be largely not the case, other than ocean transits.
Yeah, we’re more all-inclusive resort people. We did an all-inclusive resort in Mexico a couple months ago, and Jamaica last year. Maybe we lucked out both times, but both all-inclusive resorts were fantastic. The food was outstanding, and the portions are of a smaller size so you can eat as much or as little as you want, and try different things.
Again, maybe it was just good luck, but neither resort felt very crowded at all. Certainly nothing like the descriptions I’ve heard about some cruise ships. In Jamaica we were in a high-rise hotel, but in Mexico we had a ‘lagoon view’ villa with a little backyard surrounded with greenery so we could not see our neighbors at all. Some of my favorite memories from that trip are sitting in our little yard all by ourselves, with a Tecate or two, watching the Coatimundis walk by.
I love cruising, tho the Caribbean doesn’t appeal to me at all. That’s where my first cruise was and that was quite enough. But I’ve done British Isles, Transatlantic, Antarctica (tho on too big a ship to disembark there), the Arctic, Bermuda, and New England/Canada. In January, we’re doing a full transit of the Panama Canal (San Diego to Fort Lauderdale.) We’ve never been on a ship that had any sort of viral breakout. We also avoid the humongo ships (which seem to stay in the Caribbean anyway.) I would love to do a trans-Pacific cruise some day.
Just this weekend, my granddaughter told me she wants to go on a cruise ship. My husband and I had already discussed when we’d be ready to take both of the grands (at the moment, they’re 8 and 4, When the boy is 8 or 9, we’ll probably be ready to take them.)
While I’d love to have more time in some of the ports, I look upon cruises as being a tasting menu. We had several stops in Iceland last year, and we hope to return and spend a couple of weeks in-country, exploring on our own. We loved Shetland, too and have talked about going back. On the other hand, our stop in Punta Arenas, Chile, was more than enough for us. Anyway, I enjoy the variety, not to mention not having to cook or clean for the duration!
I did not think of myself as a Cruise Person, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go on another one. But I did want to see the Inside Passage, and there’s really no other way to see it except on a cruise. So I invited 5 other people, and off we went.
I enjoyed it far more than I expected I would. For a certain type of relaxing holiday, where planning and schlepping of stuff is minimized, it was great. I saw things I would otherwise be unlikely to see: Glaciers, ice bergs, lots of whales, beautiful scenery, a railroad that was built during the Klondike gold rush that we rode, Grizzly bears and places I’d only heard about, like Ketchikan and Skagway.
We chose Holland America solely due to it being a smaller carrier. As such, they are permitted to get much closer to the glaciers I’d gone to see than the huge cruise ships. I don’t care about gambling or clubbing, so I didn’t avail myself of those offerings onboard. But hanging around the pool or in the viewing lounge never felt packed in or crowded. If there were children, they didn’t bother me.
The food was good and I appreciated all the effort that went into presentation. Their signature rolls were good enough to move me to find a copy cat recipe.
On days at sea, we amused ourselves with learning about wine making and how to make those silly towel animals. We enjoyed a high tea one afternoon.
I saw what I went to see, we all had a fine time except for sea sickness. It afflicted all my companions, but not me, so I was lucky. Only one night was a little bouncy. No one caught a disease.
I would do it again, but I’d continue to seek out smaller ships and would avoid party boats. I’m interested in a Panama Canal transit cruise.
I was glad for the companions I brought along. We always had someone to do something with if we wanted, and we stuck to ourselves for the most part.
@susan describes the sort of cruising I’d seek out.
This is a really good point, that sometimes the only practical way to experience certain things, like glaciers, is by ship. I do want to see glaciers up close one day-- kind of a bucket list thing, I suppose. I looked up Holland America cruises, and they are actually surprisingly affordable.
Cruise ships don’t have to be like that. Even with the tours, there are usually multiple ones to choose from. But depending on the cruise, you can do things yourself. We didn’t do the tour of the Acropolis, we took the train from Piraeus to Athens and did it ourselves. Ditto for Rome. Some places, like Ephesus, you need to do the cruise tour or hire a guide.
My wife hates the beach, so when we docked in Aruba we didn’t head for it, but got a pass for the island bus. We headed south for the lighthouse, past all the hotels, and then got on the northward bus which went to where people lived. (The driver asked us if we really wanted to get on.) It was great, and it went through the center of the island with a different climate.
We’ve gone to lots of museums on our own during cruises also.
I’m an introvert also, but have no problem on cruises. What you saw that day automatically gives you something to talk about, and this is usually at meals. Our Viking river cruise had only one seating, no reserved seats. The tables are just the right size to have someone who wishes to talk if you don’t, and big enough you can keep quiet if you want to.
The picture of the Viking lounge looked about right. BTW, Viking river cruises don’t have shows or casinos,
I’ve never been on a mega-ship, that sounds horrendous.
You can see the glaciers up close in Alaska out of Seward - it’s just a day trip. We saw an abundance of wildlife and several glaciers, as well as enjoyed drinks made with ice that calved off one of them. I suspect there are few, if any, experiences that are unavailable except by big cruise ship.
There’s also a glacier you can walk on between Banff and Jasper. But it’s shrinking fast, so perhaps you should see it soon, if that interests you
I did 2 cruises last year and that was enough for me. I may do cruising again at some point in the future, but probably not until a few years from now.