What Do You Like About Cruises

[oya]

Cool. Now do resorts with diving. Enough resorts for 5000 people arriving all at the same time.

Cool thing about cruise ships, they can just simply float away without a trace, when the industry dries up. Resorts are a permanent scar.

Not just a permanent scar. But a permanent scar that typically takes all the money that is supposed to be injected into the local economy, but is usually owned by foreign interests and moves any money spent in one country to another country while paying the local workers the absolute bare minimum.

 

[oya]

"I know that some people are adamantly opposed to cruising, and that's fine, but I like to learn about other people..."

Yes, it's a bit of hyperbole, but not a ton...

"I know that some people are adamantly opposed to genocide, and that's fine, but..."
"I know that some people are adamantly opposed to blood diamonds, and that's fine, but..."
"I know that some people are adamantly opposed to clear cutting the rain forests, and that's fine, but..."
"I know that some people are adamantly opposed to hunting elephants for ivory, and that's fine, but..."

What I'm saying is that none of those things are good.

Cruises are not good. They are the opposite of good.

This is an industry that is about to dynamite miles MORE of coral reef on Cozumel - a place with dozens of endemic, at-risk species - to make room for yet another giant ship that will disgorge a bunch of people to shop for crap they could have bought at home while they try to get over their stomach-ache from the breakfast buffet.

They are, actually, goddamned evil.

And you are not visiting Mexico. You are visiting a mall. A mall that might be in Mexico. But there's nothing Mexican about it other than the people there are going to try to hard-sell you tequila until you get back on the boat and the town will close up shop until the next vomitorium of cruise-tourists splatter onto shore for the day.

There's nothing "sampler"y about cruise destinations. They're the same boring ports where you can buy the same boring coconut carved into the same stupid monkey that says "Mexico" or "Jamaica" or "Aruba" or whatever on your way to Senor Frog's.

Rethink your curiosity and wanting to learn more about something that is obviously and demonstrably responsible for the destruction for the ecosystems we claim to value as divers.

I am curious about other people and their experiences. People are interesting. But I am not that curious about people who happily just destroy things for no other reason than they pretend not to know better.

 

[Rob9876]

I've been on two cruises -- one Caribbean cruise and one Mediterranean cruise.

We did the Caribbean cruise before I got into diving. While it allowed us to see brief glimpses of multiple islands, to me it had too much time pressure for a beach vacation. Have to wake up early, eat early and line up to disembark if you are doing shore excursions. Leave with everything you'll need for the day (a good bit with little kids). Mind on the clock a decent bit, because you don't want to miss the ship leaving. Some of this would be less of an issue if not taking formal excursions. But generally too regimented for me for a relaxing beach vacation.

On the other hand, while the Mediterranean cruise was basically the same way, for a "historic sight-seeing" vacation it was a great way to get to visit multiple countries and get an overview. We would probably never take a trip just to Ephesus, Turkey or Olympia, Greece, but they were fascinating places to visit and I feel like we actually got to see about everything we would want to see during our day-long visits to each place. On the other hand, our cruise visits to Rome and Naples/Pompeii were both jam-packed visits where we were able to see the major sites, and know that we would like to come back and spend more time there -- which we did, and our prior visit helped us know what we wanted to be sure our kids got to see. (Note: while the Caribbean islands do have some historic sites to see, that's generally not the primary reason for visiting, so I don't consider them "historic sight-seing" ports -- YMMV).

So for me, I'm not that interested in "beach cruises", but I might do a European or Asian "historic sight-seeing" cruise again if the itinerary made sense.

 

[schuylerclark]

I like how I can search out Cruise ports to determine exactly where NOT to go on vacation. Almost always there's a great destination just a few miles away from the port where people are friendlier, prices are lower, and the food is better (to say nothing of the impacts, which are considerable).

 

[MidOH]

A few cruises gave me a list of places Ill likely spend a week in. And a list I wont. Its a handy option, but not a long term option for diving. Since its usually only 6 tanks per weeklong cruise.

Cruise is cheaper than a resort for me. The hectic schedule and ignorant lines are the worst part. I can skip the shows to find time to relax, but waiting in line to get off the ship is unacceptable. They need to get the doors open earlier. Usually the ships been docked for hours before.

Dive resorts arent exactly perfect either. Even bigger impact. Higher prices. And still not enough dives. 10-12 dives per week just aint enough.

 

[drrich2]

While it allowed us to see brief glimpses of multiple islands, to me it had too much time pressure for a beach vacation.

This is worth expanding on a bit. A typical 7-day Caribbean cruise might hit 4 (give or take 1) ports, and time at a given port for passengers might be something like 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. or thereabouts (it varies).

There are excursions to visit and spend time on beaches, but if long, leisurely 'beach' days are your thing on tropical vacations, this may not satisfy you. A land-based resort with on-site beach might be more your thing - such as a Sandals (adult) or Beaches (family) resort - though the prices I've seen for those put me off, and you don't get the multiple island experience and some other things. There are pro.s and con.s either way.

Cruise is cheaper than a resort for me. The hectic schedule and ignorant lines are the worst part.

This is also worth a deeper look. Some cruise lines, like Celebrity, lend themselves more to a relaxed, 'classy' experience (as opposed to flow riders and rock walls), and some, like Carnival and Royal Caribbean's big ships, lend themselves to 'big family fun,' 'get out there,' 'I can sleep when I'm dead' type attitudes. If you cruise one of the larger, family-focused ships, and you want to experience several different things, you can make a hectic week of it. Doing the paid port excursions adds scheduling hassles.

Oh, CruiseCritic.com is a big online cruise forum, under The Boards, if anyone's interested.

 

[Carlos Diver]

Been a long time since I was a cruiser, 15 years already (yikes), but they do offer a chance to see multiple places on one vacation without working on logistics.

Because of diving, I prefer land-based or AIs. I don't get into the battles back and forth on any of the three.

If you are someone that likes to be motivated to get up and get into gear while on vacation, cruises are great for that. If you like gambling at night or guaranteed night life, cruises are great for that. If you like the idea of waking up in a new place every morning and look forward to opening your window to a new view every time, cruises are great for that.

Also, If you live near a port, and airfare doesn't enter in the equation, cruises can be cheaper than an AI package.

My saying is, A cruise isn't what I would pick, but I wouldn't turn one down either.

 

[Eric802]

We like them because it's about as stress- and decision-free of a vacation as you can get. We cruise on Royal and like the bigger boats, not so much because of the activities but more the dining options. We have no interest in the Carnival or other "booze cruises" and don't get into the casino or nightlife on the boats. Most exciting thing we usually do in the evenings is listen to live music in one of the bars.

We do other vacations - just got back from a week on Maui - but it's nice not to worry about cooking, or where to go for dinner, or traffic, etc. Most times we don't even get off the boat at port visits, unless it's somewhere we haven't been before or I'm diving. It's just a nice getaway.

 

[scubadada]

While living in Switzerland, my wife and I took a 2 week trip to Egypt in 2016. There were very few tourists back then. We spent several days in Cairo and a day in Abu Simbel. A river cruise on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan was a great way to see much of the country in a relaxed way. We had only 10 people on our boat, capacity was 80. Not exactly what people think of as a cruise ship

 

[scubadada]

Our cruise ship for the Nile, only 5 attachments allowed per post, even I did not know