Would you go on a cruise?

My first cruise was on one of the last voyages of the old Queen Elizabeth. We were in Tourist Class ......... read "steerage". Our cabin was about twice the size of the bunk beds but we did have a tiny bathroom, which apparently meant "deluxe steerage".

The whole experience was veddy veddy British and veddy veddy veddy proper. No hairy chest contests, no pool volleyball, no x-rated comedians.

It was definitely an experience for a teenager returning from 3 months of bumming around Europe.
 
jujube said:
My first cruise was on one of the last voyages of the old Queen Elizabeth. We were in Tourist Class ......... read "steerage". Our cabin was about twice the size of the bunk beds but we did have a tiny bathroom, which apparently meant "deluxe steerage".

The whole experience was veddy veddy British and veddy veddy veddy proper. No hairy chest contests, no pool volleyball, no x-rated comedians.

It was definitely an experience for a teenager returning from 3 months of bumming around Europe.
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oh how things have changed since then...:p
 

As usual, lots of assumptions and some misinformation about cruises. Anyway, it all comes down to what an individual likes. Some people like to vacation in a location and do their thing, others love to be on the ocean. I am in the latter group. For some of us, the ship is the destination and the ports of call are gravy. I love sea days. I feel great when walking around the promenade deck or top deck and looking to the horizon 360 is just water. I've told my kids that whatever happens, it can wait until I return. So when I first get to my cabin, I make sure my phone is still on airport mode and lock it in the safe. So nice to disconnect from the world.

For me, a cruise shorter than 10 days is not worth the effort leaving home. Some itineraries I have done:

*French Polynesia and Cooks Islands
*Partial transit and Full transit Panama Canal
*Tahiti to Honolulu
*Arctic Circle
*South America
*Auckland to Sydney

By the way, my bucket list cruise is 180 days Around the World on Oceania. Don't know when I will be able to do it but here is an example:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/around-the-world-cruises/san-francisco-to-san-francisco-INS230115G/

I haven't cruise since February 2020 when COVID-19 first put world travel on hold. Now, cruises are in limited form with reduced capacity and protocols/restrictions. Furthermore, I have zero interest sitting in airports or on planes while the epidemic mutates. Until COVID is in check and a semblance of normality returns, no vacations of any kind for me.
 
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All this talk of cruises reminds me that I came to Canada as an immigrant from the UK and sailed the Atlantic in a ship called The Scythia. Southhampton to Quebec.
It was steerage class of course and shared with two other females but I was just 21 and there were lots of young people on board so we had fun. Made a few good friends. The trip was supposed to be 6 days but it actually stretched to 9 days.
We were marooned in amongst huge icebergs and had to wait for the ice breakers to come and let us sail out. They let us go up on a part of the deck while there and what a wonderful sight that was . Ethereal. Never forget it.
Two years later I sailed back on The Saxonia. Left what I thought then was the love of my life in Toronto so was a sad trip....boohoo..Tears 3.gif
Two years after that came back with the new husband but came by plane as immigrant status no longer applied to sailing.
 
A teenage boy plunged to his death over the side of the 16th deck of a massive cruise ship heading for Miami after a trip to the Caribbean.


The 15-year-old's fall prompted a series of “man overboard” announcements, shown in chilling footage captured on board MSC Seashore.



Fox News reported that the cruise company told them that the 7.30pm fall last Wednesday was an apparent suicide.


The cruise ship was at the tail-end of a five-day journey in the Caribbean, the New York Post reported.


A passenger on board the MSC Seashore cruise captured the moment the “man overboard” announcement was made through the ship’s loudspeaker system after three horn blasts.

Oh my God, oh my God,” the clearly shocked woman says in the footage that was posted to YouTube.


“It’s awful. Can we stop, can we please stop,” she continues, breaking into tears.


Miami-Dade police responded to Port Miami on Thursday to investigate.



A spokesman told Fox News that “no foul is suspected.”


A cruise line spokesperson said: “A young man travelling with his family on board MSC Seashore appears to have died of suicide Wednesday evening.


“Our team immediately notified authorities and our care team is assisting the young man’s family on board.”

The liner runs cruises to the Caribbean and Antilles and also to the Ocean Cay MSC marine reserve, a private island in the Bahamas.


The 169,400-ton ship is 76 metres tall and holds 1648 crew and 5632 passengers.
 
A late friend of mine went on a cruise with his wife and another couple. His wife was ill during most of the cruise, but, he loved it. Unfortunately, he did not live to go on the next cruise he was looking forward to. R.I.P. Murray, I hope there are cruises in Heaven.
 
I've been one one cruise back in the late 80's to Alaska, enjoyed it very much...but that was a different time.....we dressed up for dinner, shore excursions were fun and interesting the entire experience was wonderful. Too many cruises now are a ripoff never mind the big possibility of getting very sick.
 
No. I never liked the idea of being crammed into a big boat with so many people. My vacations are to get away from people, relax and have some privacy. With crowds of people and kids, I'm sure all the facilities on cruise ships are germ ridden and filthy. I do love the ocean and being out on boats, not not with a bunch of noisy people. Now with the Covid, no way in hell.

I've said in the past that I wouldn't mind going on an Alaskan cruise on a smaller ship with less people, but I no longer have the desire to even do that.
 
hollydolly said:
Absolutely not... stuck in one building essentially with thousands of people, all sharing the same small pools, and sports area.. and all the expensive tipping.. and then when you get to port.. a mass exodus of people trying to get off the ship at the same time, with just a few hours to see everything ashore.. ..in reality only time to see not much further than the post area..

My daughter has been on a couple of cruises she loves it... but her idea of a holiday is to sunbathe, and relax reading a good book.. have a nice dinner in a restaurant.. and she's happy...

Not me I'm absolutely all for doing my own thing.. deciding where I want to go and not be led by any itinerary... ..and my own pool...


I would rather never take a holiday again than end up on this floating nightmare...

norwegian-escape-norwegian-ncl-29998.jpg


also what you don't see in the picture is often the loud thumping music that's played from early morning till night
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That is an absolute nightmare for me, no thanks.
 
Gardenlover said:
Never mind Covid, watch "The Poseidon Adventure."
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or Titanic. :oops:

After 3 close-calls with drowning in one summer when I was a kid, I've not wanted to be anywhere near deep water. My viewpoint became even stronger a few years later when I almost fell into Lake Michigan.

So, no, I'd never take a cruise... and if I won a cruise, or even a vacation that meant going over water in ANY craft (Hawaii, etc.) I'd give the prize away.
 
I’ve never understood the lure of cruises. I’m sure it is the lingering romance of “the old days” when the wealthy were the only people who could afford to travel and they weren’t very keen on getting their hands dirty. I’ve travelled around the world overland (bus, train, hitch-hiking, walking) getting my hands very dirty, and I loved it, so I don’t see the purpose of stepping off of a ship for a few hours for a small taste of some city, never having a chance to learn anything about the people and their lives. I do believe, though, that if I’d never had experienced the world and only now at my age felt that I missed my chance of adventure then I guess a cruise might not be so bad after all. :)
 
Purwell said:
Must admit that I have always wanted to go on one, particularly to the Norway Fiords.
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Hurtigruten. I've seen the fjords while hitch-hiking the coastal road (wow!) and I can imagine viewing them from the sea must be 10 times more amazing! Do it, Purwell, do it! (y)
 
SmoothSeas said:
Having sailed as a Merchant Marine, I've already spent a lot of time on the drink and there were those times that I got absolutely sick of the sea...
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I met a sailor once, a "lifer". He told me that when he retires he's going to sling an oar over his shoulder and start walking in-land and the first person who points at the oar and asks, "What's that?" that's where he's going to spend the rest of his life.
 
jujube said:
I love cruises. The last one i went on, the Spousal Equivalent got violently ill (non-contageous, thank goodness) and I was in a terror that they were going to put him off at the next port to go into a hospital.
.....
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Be grateful that he didn't end up in Davey Jones' locker.
 
I’ve never been on a cruise ship but I have taken a couple of boats/ships to get from one place to another: From Cam Ranh to Vung Ro: from Algeciras to Las Palmas: from Beirut – through Latakia (the ship only travelled in a counter clock-wise direction) to Alexandria: and a paddleboat from Aswan to Wadi Halfa. I'm a landlubber but although I've seen a lot of puke I've never been seasick myself.
 

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