You're going on ANOTHER cruise?

I love to cruise, as I guess most of us on here do. But sometimes when people find out I've got another one planned, I get the impression that they are wondering about my finances. When it comes down to it, I think a cruise is a very good use of entertainment money. I seldom go to movies, never go to clubs...I just save up for cruises.

Still, in these times of financial hardship for many, I almost feel guilty for being able to afford this pleasure. Has anyone else encountered this? If so, how do you respond?

Carol

My DH and I went on a cruise in January and are going on another in less than 2 weeks. When people find out they say "wait, didn't you just go on one?" I usually just respond "yea, but January was forever ago!"

I know we're fortunate to be able to go on two this year, but I also know we've worked hard to be able to afford them too! It's really all about priorities!

Yes, I hate to tell anyone that we have another booked when we just got back. My DH and I tell our coworkers we are going to Vegas or something because even though we work hard and deserve to spend our vacation as we please there are others that are struggling.

We are going on our New Years cruise about one month after we get back from our Thanksgiving cruise. I told my coworkers we are going to Lake Tahoe for the week. :D

We just really like cruising, so we do it as often as we can, mostly when our DD10 is out on school break.

Happy cruising! :)

Toni

I feel a little weird because we have 2 planned for next year. Liberty of the Seas in January and Solstice in the Med. in Sept. I am working two jobs to do this, they will both be paid for. I am thinking when I ask for time off in January that I'm just going to say we're going to Florida.

To tell you the truth, I get the same ... if not worse, response.

I'm still in college, people always ask me how I'm able to cruise. I am married, we both love cruising and no, neither set of parents help. How do we do it you ask?

None of your damn business :p

People stop asking after that ... haha or you can always tell them about an amazing sale you got your cruise for (whether you did or not) :)

I guess I don't see the need to "fib" about where I am going. Does it really matter to anyone else that we go on multiple cruises? I understand being respectful of those that are struggling, but I'm not going to feel ashamed that we're thankfully not. I'm not going to rub it in people's faces, but not going to lie or feel guilty either. We work too dadgum hard to afford (have it paid for in cash) these cruises.

Trips to Vegas, Tahoe, Florida etc can be more expensive than cruising!!

(not trying to offend anyone, just my thoughts!)

We get the same. We are going on our third one at the end of this week, and two weeks after we come back, we sail out for #4. Some people will ask where we are going, and other give rather sassy remarks. It's those people with the sassy remarks is why I NEED these cruises! :eek:

I tell people that I work for my vacation habit! It is all about priorities, mine happens to be my cruises!

I also find that for those who have not experienced the joy of a cruise, just do not get it! Some people ask why take a cruise when you can go to an all inclusive. My reply: Boring, why stay at one location when you can travel and see more of the world with out haveing to pack and unpack every night.

Stop telling folks your plans! That's the solution! Do what you want...it's no one's business but your own....you don't need to tell them what you're doing or how you're doing it!

Where else can you have room and board for such a great value.You are right people who have never cruised have no idea. All the ports you see , the entertainment your balcony view if you wish , good food , and fun.

I don't talk about it anymore. I get people that act pretty negative and kinda brings me down. We just talk it up at home and on the cruise boards.

How refreshing to see this post! I was beginning to think I was the ONLY one who got this! I like to try and go on 2 cruises a year...and same thing, when I tell someone I have another planned, they act like I was JUST on one.

I agree with the other poster...it's all about priorities. I LIKE spending my "leisure money" on cruises! (This is also the reason my fiance & I don't plan on having kids...we don't want them cutting into our cruising budget! haha....sad but true!)

I get it all the time....no ones business but yours.

It is a very economical way to travel...especially for us Floridians that don't have to worry about flights....

I tell people that I work for my vacation habit! It is all about priorities, mine happens to be my cruises!

 

I also find that for those who have not experienced the joy of a cruise, just do not get it! Some people ask why take a cruise when you can go to an all inclusive. My reply: Boring, why stay at one location when you can travel and see more of the world with out haveing to pack and unpack every night.

I'm with you there! I work to cruise. I rarely buy clothing, my house is old and out of date, and my fridge is more than 20 years old. And I buy my cars used. I figure when I am on my death bed, none of that will matter. I'll (hopefully) have my memories of great times with family in exotic locations, holding stingrays, climbing waterfalls, snorkeling with nurse sharks and swimming with dolphins. Can't beat that! Most the people who make negative comments have spent there money on other things that I am simply not interested in.

I'm with you there! I work to cruise. I rarely buy clothing, my house is old and out of date, and my fridge is more than 20 years old. And I buy my cars used. I figure when I am on my death bed, none of that will matter. I'll (hopefully) have my memories of great times with family in exotic locations, holding stingrays, climbing waterfalls, snorkeling with nurse sharks and swimming with dolphins. Can't beat that! Most the people who make negative comments have spent there money on other things that I am simply not interested in.

Everyone here has some great comments. I agree that it's nobody's business, but I just get so excited about cruising that it does spill over into my conversations.

I particularly liked the comment quoted above from ksobgynrn. She's put many of my thoughts into print. Thank you for that!

Carol

We often get the same responses! This time it was even worse, because we had JUST got back from a B2B and we booked another 14 night cruise. I don't care what people think about our finances. Quite frankly, it is none of their business. I know we are not in debt and can afford to pay for whatever cruise we want. We also rarely go out to eat, rarely go to the movies, or spend money on other things. We live on a budget and save for our cruises. I swear, some people we know have a hard time believing that we actually pay for things ourselves, but we just laugh and wonder why their lives are so boring or pathetic that they have to stick their nose in our business!

We get those comments too. We work hard and save our money. We don't have kids, we don't eat out a lot, go to movies or shop. We cruise. We do 2 most years, all based around my school vacations (teacher). The worst comments and attitudes we get are from dh's family. So we don't tell them anything till we are just about to sail away. My family on the other hand is always excited for us and cheers us on. Cruising in our opinion is the best value for your money when it comes to vacations.

Kayla

We get those comments too. We work hard and save our money. We don't have kids, we don't eat out a lot, go to movies or shop. We cruise. We do 2 most years, all based around my school vacations (teacher). The worst comments and attitudes we get are from dh's family. So we don't tell them anything till we are just about to sail away. My family on the other hand is always excited for us and cheers us on. Cruising in our opinion is the best value for your money when it comes to vacations.

 

Kayla

Ditto on the no kids thing! That frees up TONS of money for things like cruises. People at my husband's work like to tease him about cruising, and he always points out that if we had kids, or they didn't, things would go very different. My family is always excited about us cruising. In fact, we have gotten them addicted! They don't cruise as often as we do, but that is because my father travels so much for work. Other family members, well, I know they know we cruise, because they can read my posts on these boards, but we don't talk to them about it because we know the reaction we would get, but hey! We don't really care, we are cruising!

We often get the same responses! This time it was even worse, because we had JUST got back from a B2B and we booked another 14 night cruise. I don't care what people think about our finances. Quite frankly, it is none of their business. I know we are not in debt and can afford to pay for whatever cruise we want. We also rarely go out to eat, rarely go to the movies, or spend money on other things. We live on a budget and save for our cruises. I swear, some people we know have a hard time believing that we actually pay for things ourselves, but we just laugh and wonder why their lives are so boring or pathetic that they have to stick their nose in our business!

Because they don't cruise. :D

Because they don't cruise. :D

Actually, some of them do! They just have a hard time seeing us enjoying life. It is sad, really.

Ditto on the no kids thing! That frees up TONS of money for things like cruises. People at my husband's work like to tease him about cruising, and he always points out that if we had kids, or they didn't, things would go very different. My family is always excited about us cruising. In fact, we have gotten them addicted! They don't cruise as often as we do, but that is because my father travels so much for work. Other family members, well, I know they know we cruise, because they can read my posts on these boards, but we don't talk to them about it because we know the reaction we would get, but hey! We don't really care, we are cruising!

The no kids comment made me laugh! We have 2 adult kids that I wouldn't trade for anything, but......we would probably be millionaires by now if we had been childless:p And to make matters worse we drag them along on cruises whenever possible so they can cost us even more :D

I smile sweetly and say "just spending the childrens inheritance" ...not true.

My wife and I cruise a lot and have been for the last 15 years. We've done as many as 5 cruises in a years time and you'd think people thought we were loaded or something. Strategic cruises are probably the cheapest and best ways to vacation as we have done land vacations where we spent thousands in a short week. For the same amount of money we could have done 3 cruises so we began to prioritize how we wanted to do future trips and cruising affords the best way dollar for dollar to see parts of the world we'd probably never visit. We cruise the Caribbean at least once or twice a year and if we miss something we know we'll catch it later. We eat great meals, we have our room taken care of and we can be as lazy or energetic as we wish. We sit out on our balcony and bring up from the cafeteria cheeses, sandwiches, deli meats and veg's and have our bottle of wine and watch the ocean waves sail by..where else can you do this?

We are careful to watch trends of when cruises are the cheapest since we're retired we pick and choose....we've learned that cruises are the least expensive during the last two weeks in Sept...the week before,,during and after Thanksgiving and then in Dec. right before Christmas. We are able to get balconys or mini suites for the cost of an ocean view on regular cruises.

We take plenty of books to read...we bring our own movies and IPODs for music and we take our walks and exercise everyday. I seriously don't understand how people think that taking cruises are not the best way to vacation.:confused:

I seriously don't understand how people think that taking cruises are not the best way to vacation.:confused:

As you can tell from my signature line, we cruise A LOT. When I get the raised eyebrows, I always talk about how economical cruising is especially in some areas of the world where our dollar does not stretch very far. If you watch what you spend on board, you can cruise much cheaper than taking land tours--and only have to unpack once!

The other thing I explain is that we use a cruise to introduce ourselves to an area of the world we haven't explored yet and then decide if it's worth our while to go back and explore by land. By the time I'm done, their eyes are glazed and I'm usually getting, "La, la, la, I can't hear you."

It boils down to this, there are cruisers and non-cruisers. Most (not all but most) people that have been on a cruise love it and cruise again. The people that say they don't like cruises usually have never been on one. They say things like they will feel claustrophobic and that they don't like having to stick to a schedule - case and point - they have never been on a cruise ship because let's face it, even restaurants have open and close hours where they serve certain meals etc. And if you go to an island and want to do a scheduled tour, you have to pick a time - you get my drift.

It is also as simple as they are jealous. Maybe not intentionally jealous, but it's a knee jerk reaction of jealousy, and that is why they HAVE TO comment in a negative way. Think about it, if it didn't bother them, they'd be happy for you and wouldn't have to make a negative comment. When you hear that a friend is going on "another" cruise, don't you want to talk about it with them and share the comradery or is your first reaction to say, "another cruise?" Mine is to talk about what ship they are going on and say oh you will have a great time, I'm jealous I wish I could go. I would NEVER think to say, "AGAIN?"