The cruise ship swayed with the waves while my sister and I watched Up on repeat. It was the third day of our four-day cruise to the Bahamas and we were at sea the entire day. The motion sickness medication wasn’t working; walking, sleeping and watching TV didn’t help my nausea either. It was 3 pm and I wanted off the boat but our cruise ship didn’t return to Cape Canaveral, FL until 4 pm the following day. I’ve never wanted a vacation to be over with so fast. While I enjoyed the time spent with my sister, we both decided that in the future, we’ll skip the cruise and head straight to a destination.The cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean was in 2009 and I haven’t booked a cruise vacation since. I’d prefer to fly to my destination and stay in an apartment or a hotel.
The majority of my friends enjoy cruising and I certainly understand the appeal. Cruises can make for great vacations if you want everything taken care of, from meals to entertainment. There are a wide variety of cruise ship vacations, ranging from family oriented cruises on Disney to mega cruises with malls and zip lines.
According to Cruise Lines International Associate, an estimated 17.6M people went on cruises in North America in 2013 and they’re predicting growth in 2014. It’s a huge industry and one that sees a lot of repeat customers.
What exactly is it that I dislike about cruising?
Lack of culture: My favorite part of traveling is immersing myself in culture and exploring out-of-the-way places. From shopping at local markets to eating street food, I want to spend as much time mixing with the locals as possible, not running into fellow shipmates. Most cruise ships only dock for a partial day or a full day, which usually doesn’t give you enough time to explore the hidden gems. Wandering through duty-free shops just isn’t the same as exploring a traditional Mayan market, for example.
You’re on someone else’s schedule: You’re exploring the port-of-call and come across a snorkel trip, only to discover that you can’t book it because the times don’t align with your cruise ships schedule. Sure, you can always book the cruise ship’s tour but then you’re stuck paying their inflated prices and you have to spend even more time with your shipmates.
Crowds everywhere: Ready to explore the port city for your allotted 6-8 hours? Not so fast. You have to wait in line to get off the boat. You also have to wait in line to get back on the boat, to go to dinner, book tours and so on. I hate lines and I prefer to spend my vacation time wandering around, relaxing on the beach or doing just about anything else other than waiting in long lines.
No quiet time: Unless you book a cruise with an older crowd or one full of honeymooners, you’re going to run into other loud people, particularly at the pool. Some people thrive on a spring break-style atmosphere. I tried relaxing by the pool on the way to the Bahamas but got up and left as soon as the belly flop competition started.
Cheesy entertainment: I don’t need Broadway-level entertainment but a comedian, singer or magic act that’s entertaining would be a nice way to break up the evenings. While there were a couple of good acts on my cruise, there was also plenty of scavenger hunts, auctions, trivia contests, miniature golf and more.
It’s expensive: Sure, the total cost of your lodging plus meals is a bargain but once you tack on alcohol, excursions and on-board activities, the price tag goes up drastically. On my cruise, a 60-minute massage was over $200, double the price of a massage at a high-end spa back home.
Sea sickness: Despite my precautions, I still got very seasick as our ship made its way through a series of storms off the coast of Florida. The waves were crashing over the side of the ship and it was bad enough that everyone on board was asked to stay inside for almost the entire day.
Annoying vendors: My cruise included a stop at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. I love islands with clear, beautiful water as well as sitting by the beach, reading or a book or taking a nap. Rest and relaxation was nearly impossible at the main beach on CocoCay. Every 5 minutes a vendor would come by singing “beer, beer, water, water, beer, beer!” This initial beach spot was not quite the relaxing escape that I had in mind. My sister and I spent 20 minutes walking to the other side of the island where we found an almost-deserted beach. There were no beach chairs, no vendors and very few fellow cruisemates. Bingo!
I’m not likely to book another cruise, unless someone else is paying but I would love to hear your opinions. Do you dislike cruises as much as I do? Do you love cruises?
I would never go on a cruise because I get motion sick just sitting in the passenger side of a car. And those people who motion sickness pills just don’t understand! I also don’t like crowds either!
I’ve never had an interest in cruises for the reasons you mentioned. Also, the cruise industry has a VERY bad environmental track-record (open-sea dumping, etc.), and I refuse to support that.
What a whiner. There are tons of ways to avoid just about everything the writer complained about, starting with the most basic of all – what cruise you choose. The determined-to-have-a-lousy-time attitude should probably go, too.
Well said, Christina !!!! Research the cruise line, cruise ship and the destination that you will be going to, before you book the cruise !!! Then, put your plan in action.. You don’t have to depend on others…make your OWN schedule and your own good time !!!
Finally someone writes some of the negative truth about cruising. My wife and I and my 2 year old son went on the same Royal Caribbean cruise you described. We were ferried to the ship on a cheap bus, told to stack our suitcases on the pier, and I had to stand in line upon boarding the boat for over an hour to get a “ships’ credit card”, (because you can’t use your own credit card!!), before I could get to our stateroom. “Fabulous Gormet Food Opportunities Abound!!” Ha!! The first meal we had on the boat was mostacioli. Hell I make that at home. All those restaurants and snack bars they advertise? Only one or two of them were open at any time. Ships bells going off all day long advertising shuffle board, trivia games, charades, and other esoteric crap, etc. They empty the pool every day and you can’t into the hot tubs for all the bodies in there. You have to pack formal dress for the “captain’s dinner” which was a very substandard lobster dinner. Hell I don’t go on vacation to be told what I have to wear to dinner!! The crowning glory and finishing touch to that cruise, as you pointed out, was the excursion to Royal Caribbean’s “private island”. They served chicken and hamburgers,(gormet food my butt!!), you could walk across all the bodies snorkeling in the lagoon, and the beach was wall to wall people in chairs. We could only sit on the sand. Then a nice couple in front of us offered their chairs. We said “don’t you still want them?” They looked around the beach and replied, “no, we’ve had about all of this idyllic private island we can stand!!” That summed up that trip for me. I love boating. I’ve been an avid sailor and sail racer for over 30 years. I’ve never had a less enjoyable time on the water and I will NEVER willingly subject myself to that kind vacation again.
I say a BIG “AMEN” to Terry’s comment!! My husband and I took a cruise supposedly as a “reunion” of some employees where he had worked several years before. We saw them ONCE at dinner the first evening and then never again!! We both agree that was our first and LAST cruise. Yes, there were some good things about it, namely the off boat tours we took. We never would have gone these places on our own tho we are avid travelers. They were in central America–not the safest nor easiest areas to visit on one’s own. Also, as Terry mentions, getting on/off the boat was a nightmare: every time!!! The food was abundant but of VERY mediocre quality. Besides, who among us needs to eat THAT much??? Also, the crowds around the food area………..well…… The evening entertainment was good, but much too LOUD!! And I am hard of hearing and it hurt MY ears! So: Been there, Done that, Don’t need to do it again!!
We love cruising – only unpack the luggage once, catch up on our reading, relax without pressure to cut the lawn – run to the store or pick up the grandkids from soccer. It is not for everyone but you can have adventures and see places you might not be able to get to on ones own. Our favorite cruise is the Adriatic Sea from Venice to Turkey and back via Greece and Split. Food abounds at any time of day or night – probably not $50 a plate entrees in 5 star restaurant but it is usually good and sometimes wonderful. We don’t have to cook or clear the table for 14 days and meet a lot of interesting people. Several cruise lines allow you to bring your own wine on board and charge only a small corkage fee. I have taken computer classes, photo classes, and joined book clubs. Definitely not for anyone who gets seasick but then neither are many other movement types of travel. Between the pool, the fitness center and the upper deck jogging track I usually feel like I have had a week of tuning up and more than compensated for the extra food. Try AMA Waterways river cruises if one wants all the benefits of cruising minus the bobbing up and down that influences sea sickness – plus they include complimentary wine, beer and on some cruises cocktails as well.
Anyway when one can do all that for less than the cost of a middle to upper class hotel in Washington DC on a daily basis – one gets quite a bit for your dollar.
My husband and I take 3 to 4 cruises a year, leaving from NY!
Cruising is awesome!
We are a hot, smart ,young and extremely healthy couple! Not cheese at all!
Being that I am a full time finance and investments student, Cruising is super cheap!
Minina!
Being that you are “a full time finance and investments student,” one would think you’d have a better grasp of punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. Are you able to end a thought without an exclamation point or do you talk like that, too? If so, I can see why some people would avoid cruising. I love long days at sea but we would change tables were we seated with you at dinner.
Nor do we care that you are, in your own modest summary, “hot, smart, young, and extremely healthy.” That alone is one definition of “cheese” to me: loudly braying your high opinion of yourself, for starters. And given that relatively few cruises leave from New York or rather, New York, Brooklyn and/or New Jersey, you must be getting tired of the same destinations: Nassau, Bermuda, New England and Canada for the foliage, and crossings to Europe. Somehow, though, I think you’d be shunned on the Cunard ships, the only ones in regular transatlantic service for being a bit too, um, full of oneself, perhaps?
I love cruises. Just as there are those who think the only problem with France is that it’s populated by the French, I think that cruises these days (thirty-plus years of crossings and cruises too numerous to count) carry far too many people like you. Sorry, but for some of us, “awesome” has a different meaning.
My husband and I cruise every year, sometimes twice in a year. We love cruising with our friends, meeting new friends and the comforts of it all. I feel everyone should experience cruising at least once. You don’t have to worry about running to the telephone, the grocery store, cutting the grass, doing any chores and especially no getting up early to go to work. What a life.
My husband and I have been cruising for over 11 years. We are in our late 40’s / early 50’s and have 2 adult children (who have cruised with us as well, twice).
I don’t think cruising is for everyone, and that’s OK. Some prefer land-based vacations, more power to them. We enjoy both, but our nod is towards cruising. Not to slam your choice in cruising, but we tend to stay away from the party scene / cheaper cruises (Mexico, Caribbean, Bahamas) and do not cruise during summer or spring breaks when there are more families, children, etc. on a cruise ship. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy beaches, jet skis, hiking, etc., but would rather cruise to exotic locations.
As another poster mentioned, do your homework on cruising, what the demographics are, location, “hidden gems”, etc. Also, you can plan a land vacation around your cruise as well. For example, last year we cruised from Alaska to China, it took 15-days. Picture sailing through fjords and past glaciers, islands and seeing hundreds of pods of whales. Amazing…our ports were Japan, Russia, South Korea and China. Flying – land-based vacations couldn’t give us all of this beauty as we sailed past. We ended our cruise in Beijing China, where we stayed an additional 5-days at the Fairmont to see Tinamin Square, The Great Wall, Silk Market, Emperor’s Palace and Temple of Heaven.
Other European cruises we have taken have led us to ports and countries such as: Morocco – Casa Blanca on the African Coast, Baltic (Germany, Estonia, Russia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark), UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia…Just to name a few!. There is plenty to do and plenty of “hidden gems” in these ports and we never feel rushed. Sometimes we get lost in the fray of locals, and sometimes we take a ship excursion, which isn’t 200% inflated at all. There is also a form of safety and protection, by taking a trusted tour through a licensed tour guide. Then again, sometimes we find a cab and ask him / her to drive us around and show us the hidden areas of the town so we can immerse ourselves in the culture and customs. Sometimes we just walk or take local transportation to find churches, museums or attractions which we want to see. We’ve found ourselves marching in a local parade in Guatemala…quite by accident, and the only tourists there! We have also enjoyed sailing through the Saganay River in Canada, amazed at the Baluga Wales and gorgeous Fall colors surrounding the land. Sometimes on a cruise, we wake up in a different country every day or every other day. Sometimes, the ship ports overnight – such as in Venice or Lisbon or Quebec. Two days is a great span of time to go-go-go, and we do!
The entertainment? Some we like, some we don’t. We’re not obligated to watch the talent. Some times we take our iPads and sit in the solarium or on our private veranda and just read, watching the waves go by, or looking for whales, dolphin or fish swimming next to the ship. We do what we want, and seldom experience “long lines”. Sometimes getting off the ship takes 10-minutes, but how long does it take to board an aircraft, fly and then get off, collect your luggage, fight the crowds, TSA, etc? On a cruise, you unpack one time. You have your home-away-from home.
Others who have had negative experiences most likely had a cheap / crappy cruise…and there are a lot out there. Do your homework and look for places you want to see. I will tell you this though, Our bucket list of destinations is very high…and there is probably no way we could see all of the countries and continents we have so far, (and continue to do so) with land vacations. We have a taste of each country, and those we like? We can always plan a land-vacation to return!
Happy travels, whatever you decide to do!
Well written, a well chosen cruise is a great way to wet your feet for a future land trip. I love travelling, any way, any time….. Cruising is like taking English 101, then move on to English in Depth.
My EXACT sentiments, and for all the reasons you’ve listed!!
Thanks for posting what I’ve been feeling for ages………this validates why I don’t cruise!
I can see how a cruise could be fun *IF* you don’t experience sea sickness, however IMO is a waste of money if you do. On my first cruise (Disney) I felt hung-over pretty much the whole time and I don’t recall ever having a cocktail…thank goodness it was only 3 nights. 2nd cruise w/ my husband and friends (RC): same thing. Felt okay the 1st evening so I though I was in the clear. Nope. Only thing that truly works is regular Dramamine and that knocks you out so all you’re doing is sleeping. FYI I do not get car or air sick, nor feel nauseous on smallish boats. Lastly, food is usually mediocre and watching people shove all-you-can-eat “free” food down their throats like they’ve never eaten is kind of gross, too.
Many people tell me about all the things on a cruise ship. Sounds like a hotel. So WHY go on a cruise ship when it is like a hotel. Why pay thousands of dollars to see second rate shows, go to a movie, and be stuck on someone else’s schedule. AND in many cases have eat with strangers.
I’ve not yet cruised, but your reasons are why I have hesitated. I like being on my own schedule. I can’t stand waiting in lines. And I do appreciate being away from crowds. I’m not sure if I will ever take to a cruise, although I’ve heard that re-positioning cruises are a lot less crowded.