I need advice...Have you lost your Cruise "butterflies"??

[legaljen1969]

Your problem is that you haven't been mixing up your vacations enough. I felt the same way after 10 straight vacations to Disneyworld. I was walking around one of the parks and thought, "I'm not having much fun this time." So I changed the way we vacationed and that made all the difference. A few years later, I went back to Disney and loved it!

 

Alaska will be a drastic change and I highly recommend a Med cruise. That will be an unforgettable experience - when you start seeing places you read about in school or saw in movies. But also think of doing other types of vacations, such as a river cruise (our river cruise had people from ages 28 to 93 on it - it was amazing!), land vacations, adventure cruising - for example the Galapagos or Antartica. Mix it up and you will appreciate the cruises more.

 

I have been to Disney many times and have never gotten tired of it. We sometimes go with our nieces- so we get the kid experience. Then, since we do not have children, we go on our own. It is a completely different experience.

[portocaller]

Your problem is that you haven't been mixing up your vacations enough. I felt the same way after 10 straight vacations to Disneyworld. I was walking around one of the parks and thought, "I'm not having much fun this time." So I changed the way we vacationed and that made all the difference. A few years later, I went back to Disney and loved it!

 

Alaska will be a drastic change and I highly recommend a Med cruise. That will be an unforgettable experience - when you start seeing places you read about in school or saw in movies. But also think of doing other types of vacations, such as a river cruise (our river cruise had people from ages 28 to 93 on it - it was amazing!), land vacations, adventure cruising - for example the Galapagos or Antartica. Mix it up and you will appreciate the cruises more.

 

I was going to say the same thing about Disney World. Our last trip was fine but I realized I was done.

 

Going different places on different ships help. Enjoy Alaska.

[srlafleur]

I still get excited, but our goal is to go to as many new ports as possible, though we've done Hawaii twice and have a second Alaska cruise booked for next year. After a while, all the Caribbean ports do look alike, and, at this point, if we wanted to hang out on a beach, which we don't, we'd likely just do an all-inclusive on one of our favorite islands.

The time I get the urge to go on a cruise, any cruise, is when I'm trying to plan a road trip/land vacation (because cruise ships can't take you everywhere). We can't sit still in one place, so we tend to visit at least a few areas on one trip. Yeah, I'll enjoy the trip, ultimately, because I love exploring, but finding the hotels, figuring out what we want to see and how to maximize our time, where the restaurants are, what they'll cost, how far a drive from place to place, etc. etc. etc. = not as much fun up front as planning a cruise, going on a cruise and unpacking once, dining on the ship, with multiple options and fixed prices...

 

You want to get excited again about cruising? Plan and take a few land vacations.

Edited June 17, 2015 by srlafleur

[CruiseCrAzieS]

I love to hear that I am not the only one who feels like this. :o

 

We have taken many land vacations in between our cruises. We have done all inclusive resorts, Disney World, time shares, Universal theme parks etc...but by reading all of your posts I realize we have made a few mistakes along our vacation path. ;)

 

Thank you all for the wonderful advice! I am going to soak it all in and listen to your suggestions. :)

 

1) We are going to try different cruise lines

2) We are going to try new ports

3) We are going to avoid the caribbean for a few years

4) We are going to try new excursions that are out of our "normal" choices

5) We ARE going to get our butterflies back!!!!! :D

[cb at sea]

It's like anything else...the more you do it, the more comfortable you are doing it...no worries!

[marshhawk]

I book the cruise and I get butterflies-

but when I get on the ship, it's like being at a good friends house, it's comfortable, I know the layout, I know what games are being played, I even like to go to the same ports sometimes, because I like a certain beach, but thank the lord I don't have butterflies when I am cruising, because I would never sleep! I would want to be up all night

 

-for me vacation, and that's what my cruises are, a vacation to get away from the phones, the tv, the cook the dinner wash the dishes, do the laundry vacuum the floor go to work 6 days a week life that I lead on land. that's why I like cruises.

 

the only FLAT cruise I had was when DH couldn't cruise with me last year, he had been out on disability and had to head back to work the week the cruise was booked, so I went with a friends daughter, (she turned 30 on the cruise)and put 30 years between us, and we don't have the same interests, the same level of energy or activity- I was up early having coffee at 6, doing my track walking, and she was out til 2 sleeping til 10.

just different for me not to be sharing the experience of doing things with someone-now if I have to cruise solo again, I will leave it at that, and make sure I do excursions so that I am not alone or I should say lonely on the cruise.

 

I don't mind going to the same ports, I change the excursions-in Belize, I have done the snorkeling, and walked the through the city to go to the museum, and now I want to do the ruins,- in Nassau, I've done 4 different beach locations, and have more to go.

 

I've got the pre cruise butterflies these days, but more for the ports, than the ships. I just love the ocean-and we too are doing Alaska next year, but it is for the ports and the view, not the ship. I hope you get your butterflies back, and I sure enjoyed reading how to keep the butterflies alive.:)

[Keith1010]

Wishing you a wonderful cruise.

 

Keith

[iancal]

Yes. We were thinking of Baltic cruise this summer but we just did not feel like taking another cruise. We had a month of cruising this past winter and became tired of the food and the accommodation. The food started to taste the same and we got tired of travelling in a US hotel style room.

 

So we opted instead for five weeks of independent travel in Southern Europe. Perhaps after that we will be ready for another cruise. We are at the point now where we only take a cruise when it is combined with a land vacation of some sort.

[Velvetwater]

I get cruise butterlfies although they are a little quieter this year because I am nervous about trying a new line but also very eager to see. I know I will be jumping about like a nutter on 'Cruise Christmas morning' as I call it.

 

I would never book a cruise that had lots of places I had been to before on, with a few exceptions (desperate to try the Vista and this Celebrities offering was too good to pass up).

 

Maybe the butterflies will go when I have done all the cruise locations I want to do.