Why do you cruise?

[gra2172]

Our lives seem so full these days. Work, family, Common Core demands for your kids, community needs, etc., put quite a bit on your plate. When you finally get to take a vacation, what are you looking for? And what about a cruise provides that?

 

We like to visit new places and just enjoy the travelling experience. As another poster said, its nice to see several places and not have to worry about unpacking or worrying about a safe place to stay.

 

Once in port, we really like to find some local food.

I know some people say the ports are touristy, and that may be true of a lot of places (some really are. Looking at you St Thomas! :p), but the people who work there are still eating someplace thats not a mcdonalds. ;)

[GOUSFBULLS44]

iam looking at the value, the travel, the fun, with someone else doing the driving cooking cleaning and no stress

[Billy101]

Unpack once and your hotel takes you to many destinations! That and they are also really fun!

 

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[AquaAdventurer]

I Too have " @ sea DNA " !

I was born in a navy hospital .

My first breath of life was salt air .

 

Sounds like it's both Nature and Nurture!

 

 

[AquamarineBreeze]

For me I really have to say I just simply love traveling. As a child I travelled with my parents and have ever since. I'll travel by air, sea, land.... and enjoy both those types of trips where I am exploring new cultures or those where I am relaxing and diving into a blue sea. It's the experience, the sights, the sounds, the tastes, the languages.

And of course, it's also the people I meet along the way. This is probably what can make a cruise special! There are cruises when you meet some wonderful people and it is so nice if you see them again.

[awaywego0000]

I love to travel to new places but I do not/will not fly. My last time on a plane was in 1996. I was sad that my fear would not allow me to see and explore new places. Then in 2010 I went on my first cruise! Spirit to Bermuda. Now I'm hooked :)

[CruzanCruising]

I enjoy the ability to travel to several different locations in one trip, while staying in the same (floating) hotel.

 

I also love the relaxation of a cruise - those first sea days when you can decompress and explore the ship are paradise. Finally, as a New Yorker, I love that I can take a 20 minute cab ride to the pier, and then, my vacation begins!

[FirstCruiseat62]

It is the most relaxing method of travel. Eat when you want, sleep when you want, party when you want or do nothing at all when you want! That's why I cruise.:)

[Kingofwylietx]

We view the cruise ship as our traveling hotel to the coastal world. It's easy once you are aboard. Everything is at your own pace and dictated by you.

[sid_9169]

Besides the obvious, like getting away from work and the rut of everyday life. On the first day, I settle in and begin exploring my new "home" for the week. On the second day, I wake up when I want, eat when I want , drink when I want, ect... By the third day, I feel like I'm on another planet. I forget about current events, politics, and the stress of my "back home" life. This feeling lasts all the way up until debarkation day, when "post cruise depression" sets in. Immediately upon returning home, I begin searching, and book the next cruise. Then, the countdown begins... I am currently at exactly 100 days till the Getaway, and it can't come fast enough...

[xenagurl]

For many reasons and the reasons do change. Currently. It's nice being on the water. It's an inexpensive relaxing vacation and my husband prefers them to many land options.

[bt0510]

For our upcoming trip, one of the biggest reasons is listed in my countdown, below. We wanted to plan a vacation of some sort. For the past 12 years, my wife and I have owned at a couple MVCI timeshares, so that has been our vacations, either going to our home resorts or trading to go elsewhere. Our favorite home resort is in Aruba. But, we already have those booked for other times this year. So, we were deciding what to do over Thanksgiving, us and our daugther. We were thinking of going back to WDW again, because our daughter had such a great time last year. But, prices were higher than we wanted to spend over Thanksgiving. So, we had loved cruising in the past, so decided to check out our options. We also looked at Disney, but those prices were outrageous, to us. We really narrowed it down to our options of which cruises were available for a Sat-Sat during Thanksgiving week. Then itinerary and departure port, for flight cost.

 

We are very much looking forward to our cruise, as my wife and I have loved them in the past. Our last cruise was 10 years ago.

[kimberja14]

I have always equated water with mystery. The underwater world is really an alien environment, scary and dangerous, yet compelling. Standing on the sea shore as a youngster, staring out at the horizon, my imagination conjured up all sorts of wondrous visions of foreign lands and peoples as well as historic places and the source of ideas that were so important in creating the world we live in today.

 

 

 

I also respond to water in a visceral and emotional way. It can induce tranquility and have a very calming effect on the psyche. But the perspective can change when the schizophrenic nature of water power is witnessed first hand in huge swells and gale winds that can rock and toss huge metal ships to and fro. The best efforts of humankind is tested and often found wanting when facing off against on of nature's greatest forces.

 

 

 

Cruising facilitates reconnecting with nature and rediscovering self; it helps to keep things in perspective. Whether sitting on a chair watching the waves and whitecaps or walking the decks scanning the horizon, can be a cathartic experience.

 

 

 

But a cruise ship is more than an observation station, it is a small community of diverse individuals who have a lifetime of experiences, desires and expectations of their own. It is only a momentary community that is sharing a similar experience and that tends to loosen some of the inhibitions that bind people in their normal lives. People are more willing to talk and share stories, and mix more readily. This is another positive aspect of cruising.

 

 

 

The chance to visit unique ports-of-call and gain knowledge and understanding of people and places outside of our comfort zone allows us to gain valuable insights into the wider world and, hopefully, reduce any parochialism. The additional opportunity to discover those historical and cultural places and artifacts that we've only read about or viewed on the TV screen is another invaluable benefit that can often lead to more extended visits.

 

 

 

For all that the value of cruising would be greatly reduced without someone to share the experience with. This is an opportunity to strengthen those intimate bonds that connected us with the special person who, perhaps long ago, made a choice to bind their future with yours.

 

 

 

For all these reasons and more I find cruising an experience that I almost couldn't live without.

 

 

Love this!! Very well said:-)

[Summerknight]

I cruise for various reasons. I normally cruise in Feb. It is a week to get away from winter, celebrate my birthday, get away from everyone, and slow season for work. Did I mention getting away from cold, snow filled nightmare? :p

 

Wow, I grew up in your home town!

We cruise because of all the same reasons as above. We love the water and spend our weekends on the Illinois River 6 months of the year. On the cruise ship I don't have to cook, clean and tend bar.

We have done six all inclusive vacations in various locations and always find it a little bit boring. So much to do on the ship....

[newmexicoNita]

We cruise for several reasons:

 

It is still a bargain when you consider all that is included: this may not be the case much longer.

 

we love knowing all we have to do is get to the ship; the rest of the vacation is planned for us, with us still being able to decide what we want to do. The meals, the entertainment, the ports, all waiting just for us.

 

Knowing each day will be a new adventure: we can get off the ship at the ports and enjoy the experience of another new place or we can stay on ship and enjoy the piece and quiet.

 

We can unpack once, that is it.

 

We meet so many wonderful people, both passengers and the crew.

[MarylandCruiseCouple]

Here are a few reasons why we cruise:

• First and foremost we enjoy getting away from everything, especially the electronics. No computer or cell phone (except real emergencies) for 7 to 12 days is nirvana.
  
• We enjoy the destinations we travel to. Alaska, Aruba, Bermuda and the Western Mediterranean are our favorites, although we haven't hit all the ports in the Caribbean yet.
  
• The price of cruising is so reasonable for the on-board amenities available and the ports of call visited It far surpasses comparable land based vacation.
  
• We are not big fans of flying. We do fly when we must but we have several ports within a few hours drive so getting an east coast cruise is relatively easy.
  
• We have a great time together on a cruise - just the two of us (our kids are older and out of the nest).
  
• We enjoy meeting people and becoming friends (in-person or social media) after the cruise.
  
• When we can arrange it, we enjoy cruising with our friends in a large group.
  
  

[RikkuCat]

Before I get into our reasons for cruising, I should identify us as NOT exclusive cruisers. We like cruising, but we also enjoy other forms of travel. We're young (early and mid 30s) and have traveled a fair amount - but mostly limited to Europe, the Caribbean, and the US/Canada.

 

As far as cruising goes, we both like to be on the water. We enjoy the lack of responsibility and the fact that we're disconnected. DH likes to nap or hang out on the balcony with a drink - I like to read or spend some time in the spa. We both enjoy some island time and treat it as a way of sampling places before committing to a week-long vacation there. But primarily, we cruise because it's inexpensive compared to what we'd spend on a non-cruise vacation. Some of our cruises have been impulse "bonus" trips because we saw a good deal and had adequate vacation time to take more than one vacation that year. We don't book the cheapest cabin or split hairs on saving money in any budget category, but cruising still comes in much cheaper than a non-cruise vacation for us.

 

I don't see cruising ever becoming our ONLY method of travel, however. There are so many places in the world to visit. Even if we're lucky enough to travel to every destination on our bucket list someday, I'm sure there will be some places that we'll want to visit again and again - and spend more than an afternoon there. For me, that's the biggest negative thing about cruising: you don't get to stay anywhere long enough to fully experience it. While I enjoy our cruises for the relaxation, my favorite vacations are the ones when we stay in the same place for a week or more - and still, you miss things.

 

I don't think we'll ever discount cruising as an option - the deals are too good not to do it occasionally as an easy trip that doesn't require much effort to plan. But sometimes we just want to spend more time at a destination than cruising allows.

Edited March 29, 2015 by RikkuCat

[joanna0627]

We cruise, because the minute we step on the ship the vacation starts and the world comes to us.