Cruises

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Best Cruise

Caribbean
1
8%
Bahamas
1
8%
Alaska
3
25%
River
0
No votes
Cruises are the worst
7
58%
 
Total votes: 12

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CardsofSTL
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Cruises

Post by CardsofSTL »

Have you been on a cruise? Would you recommend it? What kind would be most interesting or was most enjoyable?

Asking for a friend.

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lukethedrifter
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Re: Cruises

Post by lukethedrifter »

Only cruises i have been on were small ship cruises, ie ~100 passengers. Far fewer amenities but much more about seeing destinations. Antarctica we zodiaced off to see penguins and whales, incl one that bumped the boat I was in. Another time, Capt redirected ship to observe humpback whales.
Caribbean, lots of time snorkeling etc, full moon party at Bomba Shack on Tortola. Black Sea, disembarking passengers quick enough that we got to spend some real time at destinations, Yalta, Odessa, Istanbul, Romania, Bulgaria.

I figure the big ships are if you’re a fan of resort type vacations, all-inclusives, etc as opposed to adventure travel.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Cruises

Post by CardsofSTL »

Lots of cruise hate here.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Cruises

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

I've never been on a cruise so, take this fwiw, but I think that the hate comes from being a lot of angles not the least of which is being confined in an abundantly crowded area. But also the difficulties of where to eat and dealing with those reservations on the ship, the metric [expletive] ton of negative cruise stories over the past decade from the crash of the Concordia to disease outbreaks to disabled ships etc etc etc, the expensive booze options, and the overcrowding of ports when docked all probably play into why cruises aren't as prestigious in my mind as they once were.

That said, a lot of people really love them. Looking at youtube, there are people that have channels dedicated solely to taking cruises and the hacks they use to make it all work. I haven't thought about going on one in ages, but I wouldn't turn down the opportunity if it made sense.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Cruises

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Not that it matters all that much for people thinking about going on a cruise, the cruise is happening with or without them, but there seems to be a growing backlash from ports and the cruising community (single family vessel type cruisers) against them. The complains mainly being that the cruise ships don't bring tourism into the port areas where tourists can spend money and take up a ton of resources at the ports. Cruise ship operators are increasingly trying to keep their guests/tourists in areas where the operators control the vending and avoid paying any taxes back to the host government. Obviously, no tourist from a cruise ship is going to be paying for a hotel/accomodations and rarely do they eat meals. I saw something from the Bahamian govt complaining that cruise ships are responsible for something like 90% of total tourists to their islands, but that 90% only accounts for about 10% of the overall tax revenue produced by tourism. All the while, they require deeper passages which requires extra upkeep and the docks are massive, requiring a huge chunk of land/destruction of nature to be built. Etc etc etc. Cruisers just don't like them for the most part because the massive ships can be extra hassles to avoid and dropping off thousands of people in a small area leads to an influx at the beaches they visit (ie, they're just being whiny).

ETA: The financial argument really is a legit argument, imo. Take a family of 4 on a typical vacation for example. When on a cruise, they pay all their costs up front for the cruise/meals. They get dropped off in, say, Nassau for 4 hours where they probably eat before leaving the ship and are told what beaches are available. They'll possibly buy a shirt and a couple drinks at a vendor. Maybe pick up a taxi. Spend $50 over those 4 hours, probably most of it in an area controlled by the cruise ship, and generating probably less than $5 in revenue for Nassau. Granted this is multiplied by hundreds of families every time a cruise ship docks, but docking that cruise ship requires lots of infrastructure that cruise ships are trying to get governments to provide in exceedingly many areas. Then they board the ship and are gone. Conversely, a family of 4 that comes to Nassau for a week will spend thousands of dollars for lodging and meals, generating hundreds of dollars in tax revenue. All to visit and support existing areas for which all the infrastructure exists.

ETA 2: It's not 90/10 it's 75/25. So, cruises bring 75% of visitors but those visitors account for only 25% of the tourism revenue. I think on average they spend $83 at port.
Mr D'Aguilar told Tribune Business that while cruise passengers accounted for 75 per cent of the Bahamas' visitors, they are "only spending 25 per cent of the money". He added that it was key to grow stopover, or hotel-based, visitors, and improve yields/per capita spending from both these visitors and cruise passengers.
http://www.tribune242.com/news/2017/aug ... ine-reset/
Last edited by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 on June 17 19, 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Freed Roger
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Re: Cruises

Post by Freed Roger »

To be fair, the only opt-out was the hate one. There wasn't a no thank you or I'd rather take a cruise thru Leroy's woodchipper

Never been and if I ever go, it means I've got a unique situation and/or way too much leisure time on my hands -I'd essentially be going to experience it with someone else who might enjoy it i.e. hey Mom. with your bad knees - let's go to Alaska or cruise a river in Europe -the only two options that make any sort of sense other than Antartica or Greenland if those cruises exist.

The bad press and stories affect it some. More of it is the anecdotal evidence, almost all the people I know that have enjoyed cruises I don't share much in common with. Some are douchebags frankly.

Don't get me wrong, I'd make the most of of it, However, mainly, i wouldn't want to be contained to a boat with thousand(s) of other people, many presumably like the douchebags I know that have been on cruises. Inherently, you aren't free. Booze - not into. Beer I veer towards whatever the the local flavors are - not what was loaded into cargo. Food? - Not into the strap on feed bag thing - ( i know, this may be shocking to read from a The Feedlot™ tycoon. )

I've done partial to all inclusive land resort trips with my wife, we had fun, it was a decent deal. But if it's tropical, I'm content to roll a cooler down to the beach and hang all day etc.
Last edited by Freed Roger on June 17 19, 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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lukethedrifter
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Re: Cruises

Post by lukethedrifter »

Freed Roger wrote:To be fair, the only opt-out was the hate one.

Never been and if I ever go, it means I've got a unique situation and/or way too much leisure time on my hands -I'd essentially be going to experience it with someone else who might enjoy it i.e. hey Mom. with your bad knees - let's go to Alaska or cruise a river in Europe -the only two options that make any sort of sense other than Antartica or Greenland if those cruises exist.

The bad press and stories affect it some. More of it is the anecdotal evidence, almost all the people I know that have enjoyed cruises I don't share much in common with. Some are douchebags frankly.

Don't get me wrong, I'd make the most of of it, However, mainly, i wouldn't want to be contained to a boat with thousand(s) of other people, many presumably like the douchebags I know that have been on cruises. Inherently, you aren't free. Booze - not into. Beer I veer towards whatever the the local flavors are - not what was loaded into cargo. Food? - Not into the strap on feed bag thing - ( i know, this may be shocking to read from a The Feedlot™ tycoon. )

I've done partial to all inclusive land resort trips with my wife, we had fun, it was a decent deal. But if it's tropical, I'm content to roll a cooler down to the beach and hang all day etc.

Oh ffs

Freed Roger
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Re: Cruises

Post by Freed Roger »

lukethedrifter wrote:
Freed Roger wrote:To be fair, the only opt-out was the hate one.

Never been and if I ever go, it means I've got a unique situation and/or way too much leisure time on my hands -I'd essentially be going to experience it with someone else who might enjoy it i.e. hey Mom. with your bad knees - let's go to Alaska or cruise a river in Europe -the only two options that make any sort of sense other than Antartica or Greenland if those cruises exist.

The bad press and stories affect it some. More of it is the anecdotal evidence, almost all the people I know that have enjoyed cruises I don't share much in common with. Some are douchebags frankly.

Don't get me wrong, I'd make the most of of it, However, mainly, i wouldn't want to be contained to a boat with thousand(s) of other people, many presumably like the douchebags I know that have been on cruises. Inherently, you aren't free. Booze - not into. Beer I veer towards whatever the the local flavors are - not what was loaded into cargo. Food? - Not into the strap on feed bag thing - ( i know, this may be shocking to read from a The Feedlot™ tycoon. )

I've done partial to all inclusive land resort trips with my wife, we had fun, it was a decent deal. But if it's tropical, I'm content to roll a cooler down to the beach and hang all day etc.

Oh ffs
so they do have Antartica, Greenland? Ah, I see they do, and read your post above/now recall that you did. I would perhaps spend some of my vast The Feedlot™ wealth on experiences like those.

and a boat for 100 people or less, that's vastly different than the Cruises as they are known.
Last edited by Freed Roger on June 17 19, 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Cruises

Post by G. Keenan »

It all depends on what you like to do. Personally, I don't have a lot of experience with cruises. In college I took one on Royal Caribbean out of Miami that went to the Bahamas and back. The highlight was snorkeling on whatever private island Royal Caribbean dropped us on for one of the half-day shore visits. It also dropped us in Nassau for a day and in Key West where we went kayaking which was kind of nice. Other than that, quite boring in my opinion. There is not much to do on the ship really. Does anyone really enjoy those cheesy shows in the theater, or gambling? The boat was huge and pretty crowded. The cabin was small and didn't' have a window. It wasn't a terrible experience but I would not do it again. If I were looking for a low-cost family vacation of the all inclusive variety I'd just go to a resort in Mexico or Jamaica, something like that. Not my personal tastes but I understand the role they play in the travel industry. My brother just got an all-inclusive weeklong package to Puerto Vallarta for his family of 4 for $3400 total including air through Costco of all places. At least there you are on a beach the whole time whereas on the ship you are kind trapped most of the time.

Cruises do get a lot of backlash these days, some of which is out of snobbery, but they are generally pretty terrible for the destinations they visit. The passengers are all on all-inclusive packages so they spend almost no money in the ports of call beyond cheap souvenirs probably made in China. And yet their cost to the destination is huge. The ships dump all their waste, sewage, and so on into the local infrastructure which often it is not robust enough to handle properly. In some locations, like Venice, the size of the ships is literally destroying the destination. They are so big that the water they displace is eroding the foundations of the city and destroying the lagoon. And yet still they come in ever greater numbers. They pull up and disembark 5,000 people at a time who are all trying to get to the exact same spot on land to take a picture and get back on the boat. It's not what I would call relaxing but other people obviously like them.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Cruises

Post by G. Keenan »

Freed Roger wrote:
lukethedrifter wrote:
Freed Roger wrote:To be fair, the only opt-out was the hate one.

Never been and if I ever go, it means I've got a unique situation and/or way too much leisure time on my hands -I'd essentially be going to experience it with someone else who might enjoy it i.e. hey Mom. with your bad knees - let's go to Alaska or cruise a river in Europe -the only two options that make any sort of sense other than Antartica or Greenland if those cruises exist.

The bad press and stories affect it some. More of it is the anecdotal evidence, almost all the people I know that have enjoyed cruises I don't share much in common with. Some are douchebags frankly.

Don't get me wrong, I'd make the most of of it, However, mainly, i wouldn't want to be contained to a boat with thousand(s) of other people, many presumably like the douchebags I know that have been on cruises. Inherently, you aren't free. Booze - not into. Beer I veer towards whatever the the local flavors are - not what was loaded into cargo. Food? - Not into the strap on feed bag thing - ( i know, this may be shocking to read from a The Feedlot™ tycoon. )

I've done partial to all inclusive land resort trips with my wife, we had fun, it was a decent deal. But if it's tropical, I'm content to roll a cooler down to the beach and hang all day etc.

Oh ffs
so they do have Antartica, Greenland? Ah, I see they do, and read your post above/now recall that you did. I would perhaps spend some of my vast The Feedlot™ wealth on experiences like those.

and a boat for 100 people or less, that's vastly different than the Cruises as they are known.
You can take an Abercrombie & Kent cruise to Antarctica for a mere $50,000/person.

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