Going To Take A Break

[hensghan]

I'm going to take a little break from Cruise Critic for a while. This last Zuiderdam (12/03/2010) cruise really kind of soured me on HAL and cruising in general. We have an RCCL 02/27/2011 already booked and maybe come late February I'll be ready to cruise again and enjoy it but, for right now, I just feel cruised out and think maybe we ought also to be considering some other vacation options as well. Anybody else ever feel this way? We've been cruising a good bit because it's just such a great value but they've downgraded so much about cruising nowadays -- even HAL! -- that it just ain't what it used to be. Most everything has just been dumbed down a bit too much. Anyhow, see y'all in March maybe when I can perhaps give a comparative account of RCCL v. HAL. Happy holidays to all!

[Randyk47]

I'm going to take a little break from Cruise Critic for a while. This last Zuiderdam (12/03/2010) cruise really kind of soured me on HAL and cruising in general. We have an RCCL 02/27/2011 already booked and maybe come late February I'll be ready to cruise again and enjoy it but, for right now, I just feel cruised out and think maybe we ought also to be considering some other vacation options as well. Anybody else ever feel this way? We've been cruising a good bit because it's just such a great value but they've downgraded so much about cruising nowadays -- even HAL! -- that it just ain't what it used to be. Most everything has just been dumbed down a bit too much. Anyhow, see y'all in March maybe when I can perhaps give a comparative account of RCCL v. HAL. Happy holidays to all!

Absolutely have felt that way and indeed have taken breaks from cruising and CC for awhile. When I don't have a cruise planned and booked or when I'm not researching a cruise I don't come here regularly. Because of circumstances (i.e., a pending retirement, minor health issues) and a less than satisfactory Veendam cruise we haven't cruised since 2007. We got over it and we're really looking forward to our March cruise. Of course, we're also considering changing or at least trying some other lines and CC is a great place to do some of that research. It's hard to beat HAL in terms of value but a poor cruise isn't worth it regardless of the price.

[SeaPeaInn]

I definitely feel this way after a less than satisfactory Cunard cruise just completed. Have an RCCL cruise coming up in February and not looking forward to it at this time. Hope I am in the mood by the time it gets here.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

At almost 40 (I can say that for 3 more weeks!--not 40 yet) I've not done very many cruises, but I've felt this way before...especially after a not-so-good cruise i.e. NCL Sun a few years ago.

In the past 10 years, we've gone to Europe a few times, over a dozen times to Aruba, couple weeks in Hawaii, etc. It does make for a nice mix of vacations. It'll come back though...that yearning to cruise. Or maybe change up the way you cruise. We did the Garden Villa on NCL, and let me tell you, there is NOTHING more luxurious and that truly set the standard...THAT was fun.

[LindaM]

We go thru that from time to time. We become obsessed with cruising, because it's such an easy, economical way to travel. Then we decide to really experience a place, we need to stay on land there. We've got a Baltic cruise on Prinsendam in August. Already, I am thinking about a land tour the next time we go to Europe.

Also thinking about trying Regent instead of HAL. Or even Princess. I believe they too have a liberal rule for bringing wine onboard. We would like a balcony, but don't want to chance having smokers next to us.

[Gramagee]

Cruising is great but don't forget to see this great country we live in.......Yellowstone, Grand Canyon,Yosemite....so many beautiful national parks. Historic sites like Philadelphia and Boston. Colorado and mountains, California wine country, etc......Then come back and cruise some more. Good Luck !!

[Mary Ellen]

I also fully understand. While we do have our next cruise on HAL, the one we just booked for next spring isn't. Time to try something new. After that, we'll either stay away from HAL or stick to the Prinsendam. Sailing on her this past summer made us realize that we were again experiencing what cruising used to be like. We've missed that.

If you decide to try HAL again, try taking a look at the Prinsendam.

I take breaks from the CC now and again as it becomes more frustrating than fun. The respite does me a world of good.

[NJ Fred]

This thread is unique and refreshing. DW and I are both in our beginning 60's. Married for 27 years, we have shared a berth aboard various lines a total of 48 times.

We have sailed a few voyages that made us yearn for debarkation day. Conversely, we have gotten the pre-gangway blues when other vessels tied up for us to leave the ship.

It is down right therapeutic to take a breather from something (anything) when you have been severely disappointed. Cruising is not cheap. Even a short voyage can set you back a conservative minimum of $3000.00 - - and that's being frugal on off-ship spending. To leave the boat dissatisfied and angry can make you feel chiseled, to a point.

This and the other boards within CC contain numerous posts decrying the cutbacks the steamship (can I still call them that?) companies have made. My biggest fear is that they have now taken to downsizing the number of stewards in dining rooms, housekeeping, etc. Those that remain are grossly overburdened.

Our October TA aboard Noordam was a good crossing. If there was anything negative to note it was the undeniable hurry that the dining room staff was in. We recall many, many meals whereat the stewards could linger (just long enough not to be obnoxious) and add to the charm of the moment with fascinating comments about the food preparation or tomorrow's port of call.

Alas, that was conspicuous by its absence. We had outright sympathy for the pace our waiter and his assistant had to maintain. We were flabbergasted to see the number of tables under their responsibility.

Arguments pro and con are valid here. Cruise lines need to fill mega ships every voyage. It should not be at issue that one of the best ways to do that, especially given the ongoing recession (or is that depression?) is by containing costs. Nevertheless, those of us who were there when companies like Home Lines, Sitmar, et al. were setting standards miss the personal touches that have all but vanished.

The quick retort to my last paragraph is to state, correctly so, that lines like Silverseas, Regent and one or two others still offer that level. But what average people can shell out $6000.00 + for a week aboard a vessel? Not many.

Yes, take a needed respite. Hopefully your next experience will be everything you have a right to expect.

Happy Holidays to All!

[IRL_Joanie]

hope that your next cruise is better than the last and that you will hurry back to us in a more upbeat mood.

You will be missed!!

Joanie

[andeesue]

Variety is the spice of life! I have loved the cruises I've been on for the ship experience. The short port visits give only a taste of being there. I enjoy travel and "living" in a city or area for days or weeks to explore. So, some cruising, some idependent travel, and whatever else makes for a good mix. I love it all!

[kyriecat]

My husband "burned out" on cruising after our 2009 cruise. We had a couple of cruises with "lots of issues" in a row. He didn't want a cruise this past year so I went on one with my mom instead. I was surprised when he said he wanted to take a cruise next year for his birthday, not that I'm complaining!

If I cruised more often, I'd probably get burned out on them. I only take one or occasionally two cruises a year. We usually take a second vacation that is a land trip. I think mixing things up keeps the vacation experience enjoyable.

There are lots of good vacation values out there if you do some research. Many of the Caribbean all-inclusive resorts offer as good, if not better, bargains than cruising. If you prefer to stay state-side, you can find reasonable prices on condos, beach homes, or mountain cabins if you are willing to travel during non-peak seasons.

The main thing is to have fun in your travels, whatever method you choose!

[robertmnch]

:confused:I have cruised 27 times for 187 days and haven't been on a cruise ship since 2007! Burnt out over the same old stuff: Captains Cocktail Party, (can you imagine being the Captain and shaking a thousand hands every week, he must be bored to tears), Dress Up Nights; Quality of the food; Systems inoperable, i.e. the AC. I don't mind paying "good money" for a cruise, but I want to return home feeling refreshed.

My last cruise was on the Oosterdam to the Mexican Riviera and I was counting the days until I got off the ship. Never did that before!

Looking at the Maasdam for a "repo" cruise in April to Canada/New England, but just can't get excited about it right now! Don't know really why! Maybe the cruise lines could make some drastic changes to the activities on the ships! Any ideas Posters?

[drcpa]

...that the very nature of these boards is a certain negativity. I'm as guilty as the next guy of "telling one person when I'm happy and ten people when I'm not" and there's also the man bites talk aspect of wanting to post things troublesome or out of the ordinary. I get it and do it myself, so this is not a critique of the members of this forum.
However, as someone who has never sailed with HAL, but has a trip planned next year, this board has frightened the hell out me.
If there's a theme to many of these posts it's an underlying disappointment and dissatisfaction with HAL as it seems to be entering a market driven decline.
While there are still folks who use the forum to ask questions (and I'm not saying that's the only reason for posting) most folks complain about the food, service, smoking, age (too young or too old) and rudeness of the fellow passengers, entertainment, and on and on.
My Sept cruise is a major investment for me, not quite the trip of a lifetime...but close, and now I'm worried that HAL has become a low class, mass market line.
Rather than wait excitedly for our sailing I'm starting to hope I haven't made a major mistake (would not be my first) selecting an inferior product.

[NJ Fred]

To DRCPA,

You have not made a mistake. Cruising remains one of the best forms of vacationing I can think of. And Holland America Line is one of the best sailing the seven seas.

Please don't think we use this as a forum for negativity. Frankly speaking however, I do believe many of us (me among them) do relate our occasional disappointments in the hope that it will prompt others to step up to the plate and share theirs.

The hope being that cruise industry decision makers - who have been known to peruse the comments found herein - will take heed. In that respect, I think some of the criticisms are beneficial to us all.

That being said, rest easy knowing that your vacation will be something I am confident you will enjoy and remember.

Happy Holidays!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoy your break and your next RCI cruise.

Hopefully you will come back in March and tell us all about it with comparisons between the 2 cruise lines.

[jotabecu]

We like cruises and find them a good way to transport ourselves in some parts of the world like in Africa and some points in Asia, however by no means do we abandon our preferred vacations driving throughout Europe or going by plane on our own also in Asia, Europe or South or North America.

[GORDONCHICK]

We only cruise once a year or so, and spend other vacations traveling the country (by car). We remind ourselves what a privilege it is to travel at all. We've not gotten to the point of taking a break from any kind of vacation yet, though DH did lose the right to choose hotels last summer when we went to Yosimite (but that's another story!).

However, I do feel the need to take a break from CC every now and then, and just frequent a certain thread with friends during those breaks. Sometimes, ya just gotta do that.

[Homala]

I am just wondering if I will ever get to the point where I am bored with cruising or find myself counting the days until a cruise is over. If I do, I think it will be time to take a break from all "me-vacations" for a while and sign up for another Habitat for Humanity home build for someone who would think they had died and gone to heaven if they could take a cruise.

Now taking a break from these boards - that I understand.

Happy cruis--, er, well, Happy Holidays.

[mikjr]

Personally, I feel the cruise is what you make out of it. Same shows? don't go. Our last 14 day cruise, we didn't attend any shows in the big theater, been there and done that! Some comedians are funnier than others. I can pay $20 dollars and go to a local movie theater and watch a terrible movie!

We cruise to get away... from home, from work, from family, from the everyday grind. So any day on a ship has been good. Have they been perfect... NO. have some been better than others... YES.

Keep in mind, you can spend big money going to a fancy restaurant in town, and have it be a lousy meal! You can stay at your favorite hotel and have it be a "less than exciting" experience. All said and done, when cruising, the food is usually better than what I eat at home, and I don't have to cook. And more important... I'm not having to work! I can kick back by the pool and relax. I don't need to be entertained, but if I need that, there is always something to do.

[suse]

I totally understand. I love cruising. I love CC sometimes, when it's fun. However, last week, we were in San Juan for a week, and it was fantastic.
Beach, beach, beach and really, except for sampling PR cuisine every nite, that was it. Enough said. Good to do something different once in awhile.
Merry Christmas to everyone here. Enjoy the blessings.:)

[DeepWaterMariner]

We've been on the brink of giving up on certain cruise lines only to give them another try and find that the cruise that had put us off was the exception and things were really pretty much what we had always enjoyed. Even so it is nice to have a change from time to time.

If you miss the old style of cruising you might want to try one of the Princess small ships, the Ocean or Pacific (the Royal is leaving the fleet but you still might catch it before it goes). They are much closer to what cruising use to be 20 years ago than any other mainstream cruise experience that I know of.

[CowPrincess]

I'm going to take a little break from Cruise Critic for a while. This last Zuiderdam (12/03/2010) cruise really kind of soured me on HAL and cruising in general. We have an RCCL 02/27/2011 already booked and maybe come late February I'll be ready to cruise again and enjoy it but, for right now, I just feel cruised out and think maybe we ought also to be considering some other vacation options as well. Anybody else ever feel this way? We've been cruising a good bit because it's just such a great value but they've downgraded so much about cruising nowadays -- even HAL! -- that it just ain't what it used to be. Most everything has just been dumbed down a bit too much. Anyhow, see y'all in March maybe when I can perhaps give a comparative account of RCCL v. HAL. Happy holidays to all!

We are waiting till we've done our upcoming cruise before deciding whether or not we are done for cruising for a while. The last cruise DH and I went on together was not all that great, and had it been our first HAL cruise, we'd have never given them another chance. I understand where you are at.

We know several people who own vacation homes in resort-type (warm weather) places, who have offered them to us for a couple of weeks in the winter, so we are considering that for upcoming winter vacations.

Looking forward to your comparison report when you get back from RCCL!

[cruisemom42]

For many people (myself included), too much cruising doesn't suit. I try to plan two vacations each year, and generally only one is a cruise (if that). This year I did two cruises due to unusual circumstances. I enjoyed both because they were completely different experiences -- one was an Eastern Med cruise on the 2,000 passenger Westerdam. The other was a cruise with ports mostly in the Middle East on a 350 passenger ship called Aegean Odyssey.

Sometimes it's good to not only try other types of vacations but to try other cruise lines as well.

Also, just as a reminder for NJ Fred: in the days when stewards and waiters had time to actually talk with and get to know passengers, cruises were considerably more expensive (relatively speaking) than they are now. So that $6,000 cruise on Regent or Silverseas might not compare all that unfavorably in terms of actual costs of a cruise in the late 1970s or early 80s. Certainly I know my dad was earning about a third of what I do now and still managed to afford a cruise each year for our family of 4.

[JimnKaren]

There have been many changes in cruising in the past 15 years. Including Cruise Critic. When I started cruising in the 1980s, many dining rooms were low and had no windows. Now we expect openness. Large midnight buffets have gone away and specialty restaurants have come to the fore. Entertainment in the olden days was so-so with many problems with posts in the middle of a show lounge, that has changed. The wait staff in the dining room has had to change as well as dining options have changed. Open seating, anytime seating, call it whatever, it ain't the same. Wait staff used to do 'magic' tricks at the table, Princess used to have a pasta course just before the main dish, all gone! Too bad. It much different.

Being on CC? I will admit that I lurk a lot when we aren't planning a cruise and increasing my postings as we near departure date. Then, we come back and we are back to doing what is necessary. I won't quit CC, but I am not burned out either.

I really enjoy telling people about the quality one gets with the cruising experience. I compare it to the vacations that our family used to take when I was young! Drive like crazy all day, unload the car, stay in a motel, eat in a diner nearby and then do it all over again. Sheesh! Go on a cruise...one generally has some sea days...and that's when you relax.

Enjoy traveling, keep on cruising, have fun with life and leave me in your will!

Jim

[Himself]

Change always happens. I am sorry you are thinking of not crusing.

[DeepWaterMariner]

Princess used to have a pasta course just before the main dish, all gone! Too bad.

Princess continues to have two pasta dishes on the menu every night to be served any time you want it, as an appetizer, before the main course, as the main course. It is often my choice as an appetizer.

[amunhbuu]

I think it happens with anything you repeat over.

We ended up burned out on Disney world. So now we have switched to cruising. I rarely go to disboards anymore and I come here several times a day. I am sure that in a year or so, we will decide to do something different and I will change my communication habits.

[SwissMyst]

...
My Sept cruise is a major investment for me, not quite the trip of a lifetime...but close, and now I'm worried that HAL has become a low class, mass market line.
Rather than wait excitedly for our sailing I'm starting to hope I haven't made a major mistake (would not be my first) selecting an inferior product.

We like HAL but we never expected perfection from her. We did not get perfection even when paying twice as much on Crystal. With HAL (and just got off the Statendam 12/10/2010) we think we get continued good value, good itineraries and a welcoming homey feeling with a quiet and understated ambiance. We don't have to pack and unpack, have a deliciously comfortable bed to sleep in and 24 hour free food on command. HAL takes us to new places as we sleep, cushions our jet lag and keeps us relatively safe as we continue to travel.

However, we still add more adventure cruises with smaller boutique lines like Voyages of Discovery and next Voyages to Antiquity when we want more of a "working" cruise vacation. And we still take concentrated land-based trips as well. HAL trips are our just kick-back trips for some new port novelty or returns to some past favorites.

Nothing wrong with HAL trips and ships at all from our own recent experiences, including a trip last year on the Rotterdam which offered one of the best single itineraries called "Northern Strongholds" (or something like this) which I have not seen them duplicate but it was great: Rottedam-Newcastle-Edinburgh-Goteburg-Oslo-Stockholm-Gdansk-Keil- Bornholm Island - Copenhagen (order may be mixed up here).

Each trip and each ship has some hits and each has some misses but we have seen no "overall" drop in quality or service at all. We just really like HAL and just moved up to 3-star Mariners starting our first HAL trip in Jan 2009. And have another one signed up for Aug/Sept 2011.

[Oceanwench]

I think it happens with anything you repeat over.

We ended up burned out on Disney world. So now we have switched to cruising. I rarely go to disboards anymore and I come here several times a day. I am sure that in a year or so, we will decide to do something different and I will change my communication habits.

We get burned out on WDW too. Right now we have season passes and have been there four times in the last four months! When our passes lapse, we'll probably wait 6 months before renewing.

We've not gotten burned out with cruising though! :)
Maybe because it's only once or twice a year?

[amunhbuu]

We get burned out on WDW too. Right now we have season passes and have been there four times in the last four months! When our passes lapse, we'll probably wait 6 months before renewing.

We've not gotten burned out with cruising though! :)
Maybe because it's only once or twice a year?
We own DVC and were married there, so we tend to go quite a bit. But, three times a year is pretty much our limit.

It is funny. People complain about the same things with Disney as they do with cruising. Oh well, time goes marching on.

[Typhoon1]

Hurry back. The more, the merrier.

[mikjr]

Princess continues to have two pasta dishes on the menu every night to be served any time you want it, as an appetizer, before the main course, as the main course. It is often my choice as an appetizer.

just got off the Golden a couple of months ago, and Deepwater is correct... at least one pasta dish, sometimes two are on the menu every night. And since I don't eat a lot of red meat, I tried a lot of the pasta dishes and most were good.

I actually feel bummed sometimes after I read the CC boards... so much negative talk about how things have gone down the tubes, it's a bit scary to hear the horror stories, especially when you have cruises coming up on that cruise line or ship. I still feel cruising is a great way to travel and provides tremendous value for what you get in return. I recently read a poster say they had taken a land vacation to Europe. Factoring in plane, hotel, food, etc, it cost them FIVE times what a cruise would have cost them for the same about of days.

[Bramcruiser]

I think the OP's feelings are quite normal. As much as I fell in love with cruising a few years ago there really is life beyond a cruise ship. In fact, the world doesn't revolve around CC. Had a couple of fantastic land vacations to places I never thought I would ever get to see this past year and plan to mix it up more in the future. Still have a cruise planned for next year but will likely now not solely stick to cruises. We all need a change of pace from anything now and again.

[DFD1]

There is an old saying..."Constant luxury is no luxury at all." Perhaps when you cruise very often, the luxury of cruising becomes routine and loses its luster. Who knows?.....

We usually cruise two or three times a year. This year it was three times, the last being 11days on Maasdam. It was a good cruise on a fine ship, but we've also decided to take a break.

This winter, we're going down to the beach to a rented villa for January and February.

No cruises booked and not even thinking about one.

I agree with those who say that variety is better. This is a remarkable and magnificent country. There's lots to see and do without going to sea.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. This is a wonderful group of people here on CC and you provide great information for us all.