People who don't like cruising

[cruiserfromalabama]

My husband and I have cruised 4 times and plan to cruise many many more times, but we have not succeeded in winning our family and friends over to cruising with us! Our daughter and son-in-law hated the lines and everything being so controlling about tour times, dinner times, etc. I happen to love following a schedule and being shuttled around sightseeing. We love getting a little taste of seeing many different places at the different ports and if we feel that the time spent is not enough-we have been known to book all-inclusives at the islands we like the best. Our last cruise was a cruisetour to Italy with Royal Caribbean(5 nights pre-cruise Venice, Florence, and Rome-followed by 7 night cruise of Sicily, Athens, Turkey, and Crete). Wonderful experience with the luggage being hassle free and waiting at our next luxury hotel for us. Guided sightseeing and plenty of free time as well. Many wonderful meals included as well. We have decided that if we can't get family or friends to cruise or travel with us-we are perfectly content to travel alone and have met many wonderful people! Yes, cruising is not for everyone and not the only way to see the world, but we love it!

[geneology]

Some people like to travel and immerse themselves in the local culture (ie: backpacking through a region and staying in hostels, eating in local restaurants, completely soaking up the culture.) To them, spending just a few hours in each port would be useless to them. Some people like picking a single destination and spending their time discovering the area while enjoying a hotel or resort. Some people are afraid of water. Some people get terrible motion sickness. Some people get bored by the rather structured life on board a ship, especially on sea days.

 

To each their own: two-thirds of the population have never taken a cruise - you don't have to have never cruised to know that a certain type of vacation would not suit you.

 

I cringe when I read threads on these boards asking for ways to convince family/spouses/friends that don't want to cruise to give it a try. Why can't we respect that these people may just intuitively know that cruising is not the type of vacation for them? Why try and persuade them? How about if they turned the tables on you? Wouldn't you get a little ticked off when someone keeps on pestering you to try something you just know you would not like?;)

 

I must be the exception to this rule. I live in an area where we ferry from Long Island to Ct. I am always sick on these trips unless I am outside in the air. In-Laws decided to take family on a cruise something I did not want to do. DH said I would insult his parents and let the kids down if I did not go. I was convinced I would be sick and not like being in a confined space. The fear of not having a way out or in this case off the ship while it was at sea scared me. I was sure this was going to be the worst vacation ever. I was forced against my better judgement to go on the cruise. The only good thing was at least it was not going to cost us anything.

 

I must say I loved it and am hooked. If I could afford more than one cruise a year I would be there. I am so glad I was forced to go. I was not seasick and we had rough seas as we had to leave Bermuda early because of a hurricane. Maybe I was being closed minded. My Mother always said, "you should at least try things once before deciding if you like it or not." Mothers are always right!! HAHAHA :D

[Dreamer-too-12]

Yes...my DIL took her Mother on a Med cruise a few years back, she hated it! She hated being 'stuck' on the ship???What??? But this has been OK for us, because we get to take our dear Granddaughter with us... And for some reason she is an amazing traveler when her parents are not around!!! LOL! ;)

[calliopecruiser]

I am just curious, if you have taken only one cruise and don't plan to rush into another one, why have you posted nearly 500 times? And I don't mean to sound snarky.

 

What difference does it make, and how does one relate to the other? Many of the posts and questions on CC are really about travel in general and apply to all types of travel. In fact, I've discovered the Cruise Air board to be full of excellent information that would be helpful to all types of travelers, cruisers or not, vacationers or not. Also, the port-specific boards are as much about land vacations as they are about cruising.......I could go on, but it seems obvious to me that these boards have a lot of good travel information and ideas, not just cruise information and ideas.

[Zach1213]

What difference does it make, and how does one relate to the other? Many of the posts and questions on CC are really about travel in general and apply to all types of travel. In fact, I've discovered the Cruise Air board to be full of excellent information that would be helpful to all types of travelers, cruisers or not, vacationers or not. Also, the port-specific boards are as much about land vacations as they are about cruising.......I could go on, but it seems obvious to me that these boards have a lot of good travel information and ideas, not just cruise information and ideas.

 

That's why I stick around. I travel a lot and will continue to do so, cruises or not, and CC is just another resource where I can learn from others and share my experiences as well.

[Barrheadlass]

What difference does it make, and how does one relate to the other? Many of the posts and questions on CC are really about travel in general and apply to all types of travel. In fact, I've discovered the Cruise Air board to be full of excellent information that would be helpful to all types of travelers, cruisers or not, vacationers or not. Also, the port-specific boards are as much about land vacations as they are about cruising.......I could go on, but it seems obvious to me that these boards have a lot of good travel information and ideas, not just cruise information and ideas.

 

I do apologize if you thought I was being rude, and you do make excellent points! Thank you for your insight.

[Barrheadlass]

Also, I realized after I asked that question, that I ought to look at those 500 posts by the OP to see what they were about!

[leighi123]

We went on our first cruise a few years ago, when my son was 2.5. He is 5 now and we are planning a second one this time with grandparents who .

 

 

We liked it, but we've gone on many other trips in between that are more our style. We probably wouldn't plan a cruise more than once every few years.

 

Our family has always traveled a LOT, we lived overseas for 16+yrs and went all over the world, always on our own, not so much with the 'tourist' type traveling. So its quite different to cruising.

 

 

Things I didn't like about cruising:

 

- the 'tourist' aspect of things, I guess you have to accept that the point of a cruise is more about the ship itself and that experience, vs. seeing the world. Excursions, weather done on your own or not are mostly activities with other tourists/cruisers, not so much about experiencing the locals.

 

- "buy this" - I got SO sick of all the sales pitches on the RC cruise, wayyy to much emphasis one buying all kinds of junk.

 

- scheduling - cruises are like summer camp in a lot of ways, you have activities set up that are at specific times, you can take them or leave them, but still, you can't do any activity, any time.

 

- the dinner/show thing - I like shows, I liked most of the shows on our cruise, and I like going out to dinner as well. But doing dinner and a show EVERY night is a bit much, and you don't have any way of just making your self a pb&j for dinner instead (I like to cook!), and if you don't go to a show, you've missed it, its not going to be the same show tomorrow.

 

- allergies and food restrictions (such as being a vegetarian) are a lot harder to deal with on the ship. Its really hard to find snacks that are safe, meals are easier, but there is usually only 1-2 vegetarian choices, where on a land trip, you have more choice.

 

- smokers - it sucks to be on a balcony next to one, in a hotel, the non-smoking rooms are together so you don't have to smell anyone else.

[Haoie]

Haters will hate. Usually people my age think of cruising as an old folks activity.

 

Needless to say, the haters have never gone on a cruise of their own.

[sailinglisa]

I must be the exception to this rule. I live in an area where we ferry from Long Island to Ct. I am always sick on these trips unless I am outside in the air. In-Laws decided to take family on a cruise something I did not want to do. DH said I would insult his parents and let the kids down if I did not go. I was convinced I would be sick and not like being in a confined space. The fear of not having a way out or in this case off the ship while it was at sea scared me. I was sure this was going to be the worst vacation ever. I was forced against my better judgement to go on the cruise. The only good thing was at least it was not going to cost us anything.

 

I must say I loved it and am hooked. If I could afford more than one cruise a year I would be there. I am so glad I was forced to go. I was not seasick and we had rough seas as we had to leave Bermuda early because of a hurricane. Maybe I was being closed minded. My Mother always said, "you should at least try things once before deciding if you like it or not." Mothers are always right!! HAHAHA :D

 

geneology - you are one of the lucky ones! I have a friend who would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go to where I go on a cruise, but she is terrified of being on the ocean out of sight of land. Me, I am happy on a transatlantic cruise. She has no interest in going to Alaska on an inside passage cruise where she can see land a lot of the time. I wouldn't ask her to do any other type of cruise, because I know she will absolutely freak if she can't see land. And why should I force her to face her fears? Someday if she wants to go bad enough, she will ask me to go with her on a cruise, I have no doubt. And we will have a blast if that time ever comes.

[Zach1213]

Haters will hate. Usually people my age think of cruising as an old folks activity.

 

Needless to say, the haters have never gone on a cruise of their own.

 

So you're saying nobody that dislikes cruising has ever been on one? IE - it's not possible to dislike cruising after going on one?

[Gloria Mundi]

So you're saying nobody that dislikes cruising has ever been on one? IE - it's not possible to dislike cruising after going on one?

 

I can guarantee you DH and I would hate a cruise on a 3,000+-person ship and we've never taken one. We're not going to take one to prove it!

[Zach1213]

I can guarantee you DH and I would hate a cruise on a 3,000+-person ship and we've never taken one. We're not going to take one to prove it!

I can understand that!

 

I may be misunderstanding, but it sure sounded like (s)he was saying that people who say they don't like cruising have never been on a cruise, which I read to say that it's impossible to dislike cruising if you have ever been on one...which I can't agree with.

[printingchick]

I'm admitted cruise addict. It's my FAVORITE type of vacation by far.

 

That said, I am not blind to the downsides. ALL vacations have pros and cons.

 

You choose a pre-set itinerary when you book a cruise. You're visiting THESE ports on THESE days for THIS amount of time. It's very regimented. Yes, I recognize there are definite negatives to that.

 

However...you also get a taste of a LOT of different destinations on one trip, allowing for a diversity of experiences, cultures and geography. I consider that a HUGE bonus.

 

To get the most out of a cruise, sleeping in and moving at a leisurely, "what do you want to do? I don't know, what do you want to do?" pace is counter-productive. You have about 8 hours in port. It's critical to get up and get moving...and have a plan in place in advance.

 

So maybe that makes cruising a less-than-relaxing vacation alternative when compared to a lounge-on-the-beach at an all-inclusive resort experience. Again, because I have LIMITED funds for a vacation, I like to get the MOST out of my vacation and appreciate being able to pack a wide variety of activities into one trip.

 

I often visit islands I'd like to return to for longer stays. To date, I've not been able to afford to do that. Cruises are such a tremendous value. Spending a week or two in the Virgin Islands may be on my bucket list, but it's currently out of my budget. I'll have to be content for now to visit them one island at a time, for one day at a time.

[lady_cruiser]

I appreciate on here we all like cruising.

 

Has anyone got any friends, relatives, neighbours etc. who have a short or longer cruise, hated it and will never cruise again ??

 

:cool:

Two of my friends' husbands went on seven day cruises and said never again. They especially hated the sea days.

[destinationdad]

I know someone that went on Carnival and did not like it at all.!

 

Though they are very kidaverse and did not know that there would be so many kids on the ship. I keep telling him that is they went on a different line, like celebrity, they would have a better experience. wont listen!!!

 

it pays to do research beforehand!!!!1!11

 

 

I appreciate on here we all like cruising.

 

Has anyone got any friends, relatives, neighbours etc. who have a short or longer cruise, hated it and will never cruise again ??

 

:cool: