Flightster

Why I (probably, most likely) will never cruise again


Seventy five percent of all cruisers will cruise again. Then there’s the other 25% of us. I’m sure the reasons vary a lot amongst non-cruise lovers but here is why I have no plans to go on another cruise.

1. Too many people just like you

I think one of the things that repeat cruisers love about cruising is that there are a whoooole lot of people just like them traveling from place to place. Speaking the same language, eating the same food, doing the same things. For me, this is exactly why I don’t like it. Why go to another country just to be surrounded by exactly the same kind of people that you can find at home?

2. You’re stuck on a boat

T-Pain bragged about being on a boat but I don’t like it. I don’t care how many rock climbing walls and water slides and casinos and shows they pack onto one big floating city, the fact remains that you’re still stuck on a boat. I’m a busy body and after reading a book a day, attending every show, eating at every restaurant, spending lots of money in the casino, etc., etc., I get bored. No access to more books that I want to read, no more desire to spend money on drinks or the casino and no reliable Internet connection. But there is a lot of food. Lots and lots of food. Cruising is the only trip I’ve ever taken where I actually gained weight.

3. Tourist Hell

A lot of popular travel destinations are very touristy but none quite so concentrated as a cruise. Every port you arrive to is just packed with trinkets and trash and excursions just for tourists. How authentic do you think many of those items are? Some are authentic, many are not. All have inflated pricing. You might say “well, just get away from the port and it’s not as touristy” which is true…if you have enough time which leads me to my next point.

4. Schedules

I like a loose schedule even on vacation but on a cruise, you’ve got to go by their timeline. It’s not a huge deal on board to attend shows and activities according to a schedule but it’s a huge deal (to me anyway) when arriving at a port. Many cruises stay at ports for only a few hours and if it’s a tendered port, that takes time off the beginning and end of your stay at that port. This isn’t the kind of thing where if you miss a dining reservation, you don’t eat. In this case, you get left in another country.

5. Motion sickness

People who cruise during the winter months and who are prone to motion sickness (raising my hand) will need to use every ginger, metallic-bracelet and ear patch remedy to help them. This can be particularly brutal when you’re stuck on a boat (see item #2).

6. Germs

This isn’t one I think about a whole lot but the people who’ve been on ships with infectious breakouts probably didn’t either. Crews work hard to maintain cleanliness but anytime you have that many people densely packed into a space, germs can spread quickly and easily.

7. Work condition issues

This is a little heavy for a fairly lighthearted post but the enormous service crew required to run a cruise ship is almost never American for a reason: Americans wouldn’t work in those conditions for that amount of money. I can’t get over how it feels a lot little like the workers are in a sweatshop and I feel guilty for being a part of that. I think many of the workers are probably grateful for the jobs but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t encourage a higher standard.

Exceptions to this proclamation

OK, I might consider cruising in a few circumstances.

  • My husband’s dying to go on an Alaskan cruise. I can’t imagine paying to be cold but he wants to so I’d do it with him.
  • Small cruise lines are another possibility. They can go places that the mega ships can’t and don’t have the touristy vibe to go along with them.
  • And then, of course, a Disney cruise…because I’m obsessed (though I’m not sure even Disney could change my overall cruise opinion).
  • Lastly, I’d go with a group that wanted to go. It’s great for multi-generational travel and it would be fun to hang out with people that we know.

Are you a cruiser? Did you love it like most people do? Or did you decide, like I did, that you just aren’t a cruisin’ type?

PG

Shannon Albert

Shannon loves to share awesome, fun and hopefully useful info that she's collected and to connect with other travel freaks. She loves the planning part of travel as much as the traveling itself. Shannon's background includes working as a web developer and as a digital producer for an advertising agency. She lives in Texas with her husband, 2 kids and dog. New York City is her favorite city. Her blog is shannonalbert.com.

10 Comments

  1. 1 year ago
    Bobby Laurie

    I like cruising. But, not very often. I’ve been to Bermuda, Nova Scotia, Mexico. It’s a lot to take in.. and I also don’t like being on a schedule. I like to do what I want, when I want on vacation.

    Reply
    • 1 year ago
      Shannon

      Sounds like you like it about as much as I do. :)

  2. 1 year ago
    Christy

    Yeah I hear ya. I don’t like cruising for those exact same reasons. Large amounts of people scare me, I get major motion sickness and I like to take my time and explore countries rather than just a skip and hop here and there. Plus then no stamp on the passport and it gets a little foggy on whether or not you’re allowed to say you’ve been to that country. And that’s not fun! I think I’d be ok with cruises in Alaska, Hawaii, East Coast or a 3-4 day weekend though. Now the river cruises and smaller ships, heck yeah!

    Reply
    • 1 year ago
      Shannon

      Sounds like we’re non-cruising soul mates, Christy (if only I believed in soul mates!). So funny you say “gets a little foggy on whether or not you’re allowed to say you’ve been to that country.” I never quite know either. Sure, I’ve been to Honduras…..for 6 hours. Does that count?

  3. 1 year ago
    Srinivas Rao

    Shannon,

    I went on a cruise with my parents for the first time last year. My dad said jokingly “this is a perfect family vacation because if we get sick of each other we can split and we’re still all in the same place.” My favorite part of the entire cruise experience was when we docked in Puertor Vallarta and I took of to a surfing village 30 minutes away called Sayulita. I agree with you on the port calls. As far as gaining weight, as much as I didn’t like that part of it, the thing I enjoyed most about the actual cruise itself was the food. I was aimed at how high quality the food was. That being said, if you gave me the option of 10 days of surfing in Costa Rica or a cruise, I think you know what my answer would be.

    Reply
    • 1 year ago
      Shannon

      We looooved the food also. In fact, I just tried to replicate our favorite dessert the other night and failed miserably. I can totally see why you would have loved it so you can each do what you want. That does sound fun and I’d totally do that with my parents if they wanted to go.

  4. 1 year ago
    J.T. Wenting

    Easyjet was going to operate some cruise liners in the Med. You’d buy a pass for say 10 legs, and hop on and off as you want over a period of say a few weeks. Facilities on board low (but so would be the price), and most things not inclusive (so you’d have to pay an entrance fee to the pool for example).
    I don’t know if they went ahead with it. It would have allowed people to mix “the cruise experience” with visiting a variety of French, Spanish, Italian and maybe other cities at their own schedule.

    I agree with your sentiment about cruises. Never done one, and don’t feel much like it.
    I would go for a polar cruise, it’s pretty much the only way to visit places like Antarctica and Nova Zemlya where there are no facilities on shore.

    Reply
  5. 1 year ago
    Suzanne

    Interesting comments, Shannon. I agree and disagree. I guess that puts somewhere in the middle of cruiser and non-cruiser.

    1. Too many people just like you – yes and no – depends on the cruise line. Major lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, probably – if you want different people, try a different cruise line. MSC or Costa, for example, or a different itin – just not the Caribbean

    2. You’re stuck on a boat – no way – how can you be bored on today’s ships? They have beautiful libraries with hundreds of books, games to play, great Internet cafes and tons of activities – even golf on real grass on Celebrity and a hot glass show – too cool – not to mention the classes and lectures from renowed speakers like NASA to the ship’s chef and captain themselves

    3-4 I agree with you on schedules and tourist traps

    5 Interesting – I got terribly sea sick with motion sickness on Disney cruise (in the winter) despite bands and ginger but was fine on Celebrity in October – why is winter worse?

    When you do your Alaska cruise, may I suggest Celebrity or Princess – they are topnotch up there
    I HIGHLY recommend the smaller cruise ships, but typically they mean luxury/high end service and thus are pretty pricey. Paul Gaughan is doing 2-for-1 fares plus free airfare for French Polynesia/Tahiti, but still a bit steep
    I, too, am obsessed with Disney was thrilled that my first cruise experience was on Disney Magic – it’s nothing like the parks, though. However, the new Disney Dream, launching this month, looks pretty cool!
    Finally, I HIGHLY recommend you consider a river cruise vs ocean cruise – you get the culture of the destinations, the people are from all over the world, the food/trinkets are authentic, you control your schedule more and NO MOTION SICKNESS – can’t wait until we can do that again!

    Reply
  6. 1 year ago
    Amanda

    I think cruises can be good options in certain situations. For instance, I think they make fantastic family vacations. I went on an Alaskan cruise last summer with my family (Alaska is amazing, by the way!), and it was a good getaway for us all because, while we were all on the same vacation, we didn’t have to be together 24/7. Plus, since we were on one of those “once-in-a-lifetime”-type trips, we even convinced Dad to splurge a little bit on some things in port that we could all enjoy.

    I’d love to try a smaller river cruise someday. Even though I tend to get seasick, there’s something about traveling on a boat that’s appealing to me.

    Reply
  7. 1 year ago
    Kemmie 67

    Just a guess….but I think the author of this article, and most of the commentators are of the Boomer generation.

    I think cruising, at least on the popular lines, has much more appeal to those who no longer feel comfortable doing independent travel. Being the parent of Boomers, I’ve watched my own attitude about cruising make a 180-degree turn. In my 40′s and 50′s we did lots of hiking, hopped by plane from one European country to another with no advance hotel reservations and often no local language skills. It was great!

    I had the same criticisms of cruising that have been cited here..and more. But then, another decade arrived, we still liked to travel, but the knees were getting creaky (too much hiking maybe?) and finally we tried our first cruise, in the Caribbean. Yep, it was touristy, but the ship excursions DID get us to some great places with almost no hassle–snorkeling in the Virgin Islands was wonderful. Now, our “independent” land travel is minimal, although we certainly enjoyed going to Angkor Wat with our son a couple years ago. We have become more selective in where we cruise too. We’ve never tried the smaller ships–they ARE more expensive and require more physical ability to take advantage of those out-of-the way places.

    Our all-time favorite was a river cruise from Vienna to Amsterdam. That cuts across the heart of Europe and the trip is full of day excursions to villages, towns and cities (all included in the cruise price.) The food was maybe better than the cruise ships, only about 100 passengers and, as “Suzanne” said, you will NOT get seasick!

    I’d re-visit cruising in a few more years. The cruise lines are paying attention to what Boomers like, so I think you’ll see them making the experience more to your liking. They are going to need you to fill those huge ships!

    Reply

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