Current Events > You ever been on a cruise?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Did it suck? I don't see the point.

Yeah like 5, it's an all inclusive resort that moves. It's great

Maybe 18? But none in the last 20-25 years. My parents used to like them.

Just my honeymoon. 8 days was too long, but it was overall pretty cool. Saw a lot of cool shit and drank heavily on the boat

Me and my wife went on one when we were first dating and I hated it

We did one and only one cool thing that whole trip. We met a couple of other couples, and you were allotted only a certain amount of alcoholic drinks a day, so we would pool them and every night we would go to somebodys room with a ton of beers and just drink till the sun came up

No, but I used to work on a pier as the jackass who had to enforce COVID policies.

Some people ... man

I would love to go on one one day as a bucket list thing. Staff weren't even given tours :/

Yes, and it is a ton of fun. That is the point.

Does a catamaran in the Caribbean count as a cruise?

Yeah, I got legionnaires

Once when I was like 19 or something like that. It was cool from what I remember.

I used to love cruises. I went on a bunch as a kid (my parents really liked them), and I have been on a few with my wife, including our honeymoon. It can be a super fun way to travel.

But in a post Covid world, I am not nearly as eager to take one.

As someone that suffers from motion sickness, I have never gone on one and never have to desire to go on one.

Yeah. I've been on a cruise as part of a free vacation thing where you have to go look at time shares and they pay for everything.

Once, it's fun. It's like being in a huge Las Vegas hotel that stops places.

Still I'll never go again cause the open ocean scares me too much.

Nope. Never had any interest when I was a young adult, and now that I've traveled a bit, it's clear that a cruise is almost as far from what I would call a fun vacation as I can imagine.

I vacation to see live music, take in parks, walk around museums, do food walking tours, escape rooms, haunted hikes, hiking, canal tours, etc etc etc. I don't drink, I don't swim, I don't enjoy the beach/beach adjacent activities in general, and the idea of being stuck on a boat for a week plus sounds like a nightmare, especially if there's a lot of "partying".

Once. My grandmother saved for years to be able to afford to treat all of her children and grandchildren to an Alaska cruise. It was great hanging out with family with ready access to food and other amenities.

Yeah. Didn't care for them.

I've been on three RCCL voyages, and have another cruise booked for February on a smaller Radiance class vessel. Those are the biggest ships that still can fit through the Panama canal, but they are tiny compared to most Royal Caribbean ships. Got a good deal, but the prices on all cruises are still going up since Covid.

Uh, yeah, they are horrible. Stay away from them. They are as bad you hear, diseases for everyone. The food is bad too. Just stay home.

A few, but not the sort most people are thinking of. Ive done river cruises in France and Germany, and a Ha Long Bay cruise in Vietnam.

Nope. Thought about it, but never bothered. If I was going to I'd talk to my Uncle first cause he does multiple cruises per year.

See I don't understand the point of a cruise if it's just like a resort.

Fuck no.

Not a civilian pleasure cruise but I was in the United States Navy and traveled the world multiple times over while being out to sea a lot. We averaged being out to sea 10 out of 12 months the time I was in the Navy. I loved going on deployments. Loved being out to sea. Loved just doing my normal job and jumping from country to country.

Not a cruise, but an overnight ferry, The Spirit of Tasmania. That was enough for me, i wouldn't want to be on a shio for days

Probably 15 of them. Going on one over Christmas

Cocytus posted...

See I don't understand the point of a cruise if it's just like a resort.

It's a resort where you wake up in a new place every day

Nope.
Been on many all inclusive vacations but have no desire being on a cruise.

archizzy posted...

Not a civilian pleasure cruise but I was in the United States Navy and traveled the world multiple times over while being out to sea a lot. We averaged being out to sea 10 out of 12 months the time I was in the Navy. I loved going on deployments. Loved being out to sea. Loved just doing my normal job and jumping from country to country.

Interesting

My family went through a phase where it was like the big family vacation every year

they fucking suck. Its like the ultimate American manufactured vacation in the worst way

when youre on the boat its just paying way too much for drinks and a schedule of lame shit to pass the time like karaoke and bar games and we have musical productions at home style shows and washed up comedians telling hacky and offensive jokes

People talk about the food but its all just food that is serviceable unless you want to pay -even more- for the sit-down restaurants

when youre off the boat its the same port town everywhere you stop where you either have time to pay an arm and a leg to do exactly one tightly controlled excursion like snorkeling (admittedly this type of thing is very fun) on a strict schedule, or you get to go to like, a fuckin Hard Rock Cafe as long as youre back on the boat by 5pm

the whole time youre there with a bunch of families that have matching personalized cruise ship shirts

and not for nothing but theyre absolutely terrible for the environment

tl;dr just not the way I want to vacation at all. Rigid schedule, no time to actually experience the places you stop, every American tourist stereotype on full blast, monetization of everything beyond the basics. At least most of them have casinos, thats where Id typically spend most of my time

Not yet

TheGoldenEel posted...

My family went through a phase where it was like the big family vacation every year

they fucking suck. Its like the ultimate American manufactured vacation in the worst way

when youre on the boat its just paying way too much for drinks and a schedule of lame shit to pass the time like karaoke and bar games and we have musical productions at home style shows and washed up comedians telling hacky and offensive jokes

People talk about the food but its all just food that is serviceable unless you want to pay -even more- for the sit-down restaurants

when youre off the boat its the same port town everywhere you stop where you either have time to pay an arm and a leg to do exactly one tightly controlled excursion like snorkeling (admittedly this type of thing is very fun) on a strict schedule, or you get to go to like, a fuckin Hard Rock Cafe as long as youre back on the boat by 5pm

the whole time youre there with a bunch of families that have matching personalized cruise ship shirts

and not for nothing but theyre absolutely terrible for the environment

tl;dr just not the way I want to vacation at all. Rigid schedule, no time to actually experience the places you stop, every American tourist stereotype on full blast monetization of everything beyond the basics. At least most of them have casinos, thats where Id typically spend most of my time

You sound like fun

Cruise ships are monstrosities

UnholyMudcrab posted...

Cruise ships are monstrosities

lulz

I've been on a few. I like them. I like seeing ports that I wouldn't go out of my way to see otherwise.

And I like the activities that are easy to get to, and I would do at home except for life getting in the way (name that tune, karaoke, trivia).

Food is plentiful, and you can be as gluttonous or healthy as you choose.

Euripides posted...

You sound like fun

hey if you want to spend all day paying $20 per drink while listening to a reggae band cover Uptown Funk be my guest

Scheduling a week's vacation where I visit 4 different countries would be a nightmare (flights in and out of hotels, etc.)

I can book a cruise and see 4 countries in a week and only have one flight, unpack once, tons of food, etc.

TheGoldenEel posted...

hey if you want to spend all day paying $20 per drink while listening to a reggae band cover Uptown Funk be my guest

Drinks are actually fairly priced on most cruises. And there are also drink packages that are cheap if planning on drinking a lot.

You were probably on a shit cruise line. They vary a lot.

My family enjoys doing them, and I like booking them because its the easiest possible way to book a vacation for a large group in the sense you dont have to worry about transportation between places, having to manage hotel rooms, trying to figure out dining arrangements, booking entertainment, etc.

bsp77 posted...

Drinks are actually fairly priced on most cruises. And there are also drink packages that are cheap if planning on drinking a lot.

You were probably on a shit cruise line. They vary a lot.

Most of them were Royal Caribbean. We did one Norwegian Alaskan cruise and the first one was Carnival (which was clearly the worst). The rest of my family also went on a Disney cruise last year but we had a 1 year old at the time and my wife was pregnant so we passed

Im aware they do drink packages, the problem with those is youre off the ship half the days and you have to drink a bunch outside those times to feel like youre getting moneys worth

the other super annoying thing with that is the evenings they have things like dance parties that give cousins wedding reception vibes but then you have to get up at 6am to get off the ship

Im aware people like cruises, theyre just awful to me

Euripides posted...

Scheduling a week's vacation where I visit 4 different countries would be a nightmare (flights in and out of hotels, etc.)

I can book a cruise and see 4 countries in a week and only have one flight, unpack once, tons of food, etc.

Like in this post seeing a country is stopping at a tourist port city at 6am and leaving by 5pm, with no vehicle. By the time you get away from all the marketplaces selling souvenirs and chain restaurants what are you actually seeing?

TheGoldenEel posted...

Most of them were Royal Caribbean. We did one Norwegian Alaskan cruise and the first one was Carnival. The rest of my family also went on a Disney cruise last year but we had a 1 year old at the time and my wife was pregnant so we passed

Im aware they do drink packages, the problem with those is youre off the ship half the days and you have to drink a bunch outside those times to feel like youre getting moneys worth

the other super annoying thing with that is the evenings they have things like dance parties that give cousins wedding reception vibes but then you have to get up at 6am to get off the ship

Im aware people like cruises, theyre just awful to me

Like in this post seeing a country is stopping at a tourist port city at 6am and leaving by 5pm, with no vehicle. By the time you get away from all the marketplaces selling souvenirs and chain restaurants what are you actually seeing?

Man, I wish you could know how awesome my honeymoon was in May and the sheer amount of things we saw. No chain restaurants and the only souvenir shops were the ones we purposefully went in to buy dumb gifts for my kids and for her parents.

We didn't get the $20 drink package because wine is free with dinner, beers were like $5 and even mixed drinks and Scotch pours were like $8.

Admittedly this was a Viking river cruise which is peak luxury.

Just one, but absolutely W want to do it again. Super first effective way to travel, and just overall a great time

TheGoldenEel posted...

Most of them were Royal Caribbean. We did one Norwegian Alaskan cruise and the first one was Carnival. The rest of my family also went on a Disney cruise last year but we had a 1 year old at the time and my wife was pregnant so we passed

Im aware they do drink packages, the problem with those is youre off the ship half the days and you have to drink a bunch outside those times to feel like youre getting moneys worth

the other super annoying thing with that is the evenings they have things like dance parties that give cousins wedding reception vibes but then you have to get up at 6am to get off the ship

Im aware people like cruises, theyre just awful to me

Like in this post seeing a country is stopping at a tourist port city at 6am and leaving by 5pm, with no vehicle. By the time you get away from all the marketplaces selling souvenirs and chain restaurants what are you actually seeing?

I had a day on Jeju, found good shopping at a few different places, and a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

1 day in Shanghai was enough to get a about 4 hours at Shanghai Disney.

An afternoon in Bar Harbor, Maine was enough to do a tour, have lobster and blueberry beer.

There is public transit as well as taxis. Don't underestimate the ability to get around.

TheGoldenEel posted...

Like in this post seeing a country is stopping at a tourist port city at 6am and leaving by 5pm, with no vehicle. By the time you get away from all the marketplaces selling souvenirs and chain restaurants what are you actually seeing?

I've been to a monkey sanctuary in the Dominican Republic, Mayan Ruins in Guatemala, a cultural museum in Grand Cayman, lots of snorkeling reefs, swam with sting rays and dolphins, catamaran booze cruises, etc. Tons of fun stuff

They're really nice for a lot of reasons.

1. No planning. You literally just book a cruise and you're done. Maybe choose some excursions or a beverage package if you want, all of that being available on the site when you book. Flight if you live far away.

2. Lots of entertainment. There are live shows, movies, art galleries, karaoke, swimming pools, running tracks, and whatever people who AREN'T boring as hell do.

3. Lots of food, around the clock.

4. They usually go to fun places, like the Bahamas or etc.

The main downside is that it's not really a substantial experience. Like even if you go someplace exotic, you'll be stuck in the one mile or so radius around the dock, which is gonna just be Caribbean Disney Land. Which is fine and all but you can really only say you went to Mexico with a giant asterisk, lol. They didn't even make us get passports when we went.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

Like even if you go someplace exotic, you'll be stuck in the one mile or so radius around the dock, which is gonna just be Caribbean Disney Land

This is the part I disagree with. It can be this if you let it be this, but there are usually plenty of excursion options and can even do something private if you don't like the excursions. But gotta be careful with the private stuff and getting back to the boat on time.

Yeah my family and I went on one back in 2004. We went with family friends as a group package and it was considered a college graduation present for myself and my sister.

We went Royal Caribbean and did Explorer of the Seas, doing an East Caribbean tour.

It was good enough fun. I liked the excursions and there was an arcade on the ship with DDR. If you've never tried DDR on a moving ship, that's an experience. >_>

The counter argument to "you don't really see the country" is that a lot of the countries visited by cruise ships aren't really safe for you to just wander around on your own. It's the same reason people go to all-inclusive resorts and never leave the grounds.