Mega Large Cruise Ship Holiday

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What do you think of the gigantic mega cruise ships liners that are like a town. Have you ever been on a cruise on one of these? How was it?

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Was never on a cruise, and from the stories I hear, I don't care too. Although I always thought an Alaskan cruise would be nice, but it wouldn't be on one of those giant mega cruise ships. My idea of a vacation is to get away from large crowds of people, not be packed on a boat with them like sardines. But some folks love them, just a matter of taste.
 
I've never been on a cruise and don't have much desire to. I don't like large crowds either and prefer to stay on land. But people I have met go, but on smaller ships.

My sister and BIL have been on many cruises all over the world and seem to enjoy them. But these new mega ships are incredibly large and must produce a lot of waste into the ocean.
 

There was a time I considered it, was planning to do go on with with a friend, as time was getting closer, plans changed and ever since that time, I've done everything to avoid it and finally realized it would be the last thing on earth I wanted to do. Also had an opportunity for a free all expenses paid cruise with an ex-beau and I made every excuse not to go on that either, he loves going on cruises. Me, no thanks. I don't mind the one day cruise from port to no where, but that's it.
 
Couldn't stand the thoughts of being "stuck" on a cruise ship for any length of time. But I do love other kinds of boats.
 
A cruise is something that really doesn't interest me. When I travel I don't like to be pampered or pigeonholed, I prefer to experience the real people, not what a cruise line or someone else thinks I should experience.

Now sailing and working on something like a clipper ship would be a blast (and something that I want to do). But I'd want to be part of the crew and make things happen, not sit around and watch others make things happen.
 
Speaking of cruises, we will be leaving soon for the Carribean on the Freedom of the Seas out of Port Canaveal, Florida. We went on a 3 day cruise a few years back but this will be for 7 days. Tons of things to do and we will be in ports for 3 days.
 

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Took a Holland America cruise in Alaska some years ago and it was a great experience, as we had great weather which is not always the case from what I have heard...
 
One of these days, they'll build a mega cruise ship so large that the bow will be tied up in Miami and the stern will be in the Nassau harbor. It will never leave the dock. You'll have to catch a shuttle to get from your cabin to the dining room. The Super Bowl will be played on the Lido Deck. The Boston Marathon will be moved there. There will be so many dining rooms, the ship will be named The Giant Floating Restaurant of the Seas.

That said....I love cruises! What's not to like? Someone feeds me twelve times a day. I don't have to wash dishes. If I can't hold out between meals, I can tip someone to come to my cabin and stuff food down my throat. I wander off to sightsee and like magic, the good cabin fairies have come to tidy, bring me dry towels and make my bed. I wake up in the morning, look out my window and voila! a new island has been miraculously transported to the side of the ship while I slept. As I said, what's not to like?
 
I went on 4 cruises and absolutely loved them, when I wasn't thinking of being caught in the middle of the ocean on one. Traveling was done in the 80s, long before the megaships. There was only 1 of the four that got a bit rough . . . the ship I was on, the Oceanic was the heaviest at that time 33 tons; today I think they are somewhere in the vicinity 150,000 - 250,000 tons.
 
Would LOVE to go on one of these. Wife and I went on a cruise in 2008 and I loved it. She had already been on one, but not me. However, from being in the Navy and onboard a Destroyer for some years, being on this thing was pure PLEASURE! Yes, things have happened, but things happen everywhere!
As far as being around crowds on a vacation.......don't bother us at all. Heck, we go out shopping on Thanksgiving night and Black Friday, so crowds surely don't bother us that much.
 
I don't want to either, but my sister and her husband seem to be addicted to them. They've done the big ones, and the little ones all over the world. She tells me that they don't get crowded, as everything is organized and they are relegated to their own section. She only complains about the quality of food, sometimes it's not that great. But they love to travel and feel safe going on group bus excursions in certain countries that would otherwise not be accessible.
 
It's a case of each to their own isn't it? The thing that puts me off cruises [apart from the price] is....... the ocean! Thoughts of being sea-sick, erk! The new mega ships do look daunting [I would certainly get lost on one, many times.]Just think if one of those ships went down, like a whole town of people lost at sea, scary.
 
My first cruise was on the Queen Elizabeth in 1967. My sister and I were on the next to last westbound journey returning from three months of backpacking around Europe. The ship was getting very shabby but it had such an air of glamour about it you didn't notice the frayed carpet or the threadbare drapes. The wide staircases, the ballrooms, the dining rooms were regal compared to the grubby youth hostels and ratty pensiones we had been making our homes. There were three "classes" of decks back then: First Class, Cabin Class and Tourist Class (read: steerage.....guess which one WE were in.) Those of us down with the "great unwashed" were not allowed to mix with the higher classes.....

We had a cabin that was exactly twice as wide as the bunks (you could just open the door without hitting the bunk. Then there was just enough room for two people to get around at the end of the bunks; I think there was one chair. Everything was metal - walls, bunks, lockers (not a closet, definitely). We were lucky that we had a tiny head with a shower, most everyone else on our corridor had to go down the hall to shower. We usually had the room in a complete mess and our lovely Welsh stewardess, a motherly type, asked us one day, "Dearies, do you have a mother living?" We answered to the affirmative and she said "Please give her my sympathy."

Except for a quick and surreptitious tour of "the upper classes" provided by a nice young steward who had an eye for American teenage girls on their own, we had to stay in our class. There wasn't a lot to do during the day except for "horse racing", bridge, etc. so we banded together with a bunch of other young'uns in their late teens and early 20's, hung out in the bars and drank. Mixed drinks were .35, beer was .05. I had the first, second and third cocktails of my life, followed the next morning by the first hangover of my life.

Food was "weird", at least to teenagers. Pickled herring on a bed of chopped onions for breakfast? Grilled kippers? Broiled tomatoes? The menu selection was somewhat limited and what you saw was what you got. Maybe first class got to get custom meals but not in "steerage". No buffets. And no room service in our class. Get hungry at 2:00 a.m.? Well, those pickled herrings are going to look pretty good come 7:00 a.m......

At night after dinner, there was more drinking, followed by an evening of dancing to a live band on a floor that had the surface of an ice rink. When they would cut back the stabilizers for the evening to make better time, the ship started a gentle rolling which made dancing VERY interesting. They have been talking for years about making ballroom dancing an Olympic sport. I can see why. I had bought a sexy little black dress in London and a pair of very high heels....high heels, slippery floors and rolling ships do not make for comfortable dancing. The band mostly played foxtrots and the like, but we would occasionally bribe them to play something a little more lively for us young whippersnappers.

The pool was a cold small tank somewhere in the bowels of the ship..... I took one look and knew I wouldn't be hanging out there. No hairy chest contests, no belly flop contests, no showing off my French bikini. I had entertained visions of draping myself artistically across a deck chair in a flowing dress, reading Sartre in the original French (yeah, right....) and waving languidly at the passers-by. Reality was that you could get wrapped in a blanket by a deck steward while freezing gale-force winds threatened to blow you off the deck and handed a cup of hot consommé that you could either drink or soak your frozen toes in. It wasn't until the last day before hitting New York that it was warm enough to do much strolling.

It seemed that the whole ship's crew was English, Irish, Welsh, or Scottish. They were kind and efficient.

We had a ball and I'll never forget that experience, but in retrospect I think I definitely enjoy the modern-day cruises more. These old bones love their comfort.
 
Thanks for that great read, jujube. Sounds like a fabulous experience and lots of fun. What wonderful writing. If I ever get an opportunity, I think I'll try a small cruise somewhere warm. :)
 
My problem with the adventure is my very active imagination, being confined on that boat out at sea all that water, allllllllll that water every which way and no where to go, I'm starting to hyperventilate just visualizing right now. LOL. I love water, but I want to be able to get back to shore as quickly as possible if necessary. Yes I know all the dangers that can happen just a few yards away from the sand, don't think I have been down that road a time or two. Then theres the motion of the ocean for long periods of time with my vertigo. I can take it in small doses, but, I'm not interested in finding out how it will be on an extended stay.

Then there's this, though not likely to happen to anyone making future plans. Seeing this doesn't help me with my phobic unreasonable fear and yes I know it's mostly unreasonable, I am that when it comes to my phobias, will you join me in my fear if only for a few minutes. :D



 
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