the one thing I might never understand....

[Toyz711]

that's me, presdents of the "pollyanna" group...i humbly accept. (and my mother said i would never amount to anything)

i can't help it, i love to travel. it's from learning to read from national geographics. the really fun thing, i do enjoy my towel animals (got 5 of them last trip, got a kick out of each one)

every adventure i go on i find something to amaze me..in instanbul, it was my DH going up to some fisherman and having a converstion. it was a lot of waving the arms and pointing, but they kept talking. this trip it was a little girl at the shopping area of quiriqua (the mayan site), my DH fell in love with him, gave her a dollar for a little drawing she was doing. we lost the drawing on the bus before we got back, but i got a photo of them together. her name was claudia and she spoke no english...she will be a artist when she grows up and remembered by us forever.

i have had the honor of seeing stonehenge, sunsets in maui, Akrotiri on the island of santorini, Ephesus (and more)..for a couple of people who never made much money, it's been amazing.

i really don't understand people worrying about buffet trays instead of excursions and ports...i really love those that worry about "freestyle" dining over the other cruise line, gee, do you really think you aren't going to eat all week?

to everyone, it's travel, it's adventure, it's seeing the world as it is...it's the best reality show on earth!!!

end of speech;)

[teacher2cruiser]

I've only been on one cruise (second one coming up), but I wholeheartedly agree with the comments here, and I would like to join your group!

[JerseyHorseLover]

Great thread!!! A cruise is what you make it. Last year on Christmas day it was raining hard while we were in Cozumel, My sister & I had a blast. Ponchos on, we still shopped, stopped in one of the bars to get something to eat, and we met so many people laughing & having a great time. It was raining hard and we still had fun. That evening, she & I stayed in our room, ordered room service all night, watched movies and were still having fun. Yup.....a day on a cruise is better than work. :D

[salty dingo]

I am with the OP... I just can't relate to the people who come here after a cruise with a laundry list of complaints. If you can't be happy on a cruise, you just are not going to be happy anywhere, period!

[Toyz711]

if they move this thread, we (all) need to find it and keep it going.you can find posts by clicking on your name and looking for all your posts. also, watch the new posts..at the top of the page:D

[FarmAnimal]

I think people come home totally worn out and they vent on the little things that bugged them. It's time that is the sandpaper that makes most of the downside go away, but some people really resent some very minor things.

 

For instance: i was in line waiting to get off the ship and got involved in a conversation with a princess (more like an elderly queen) from NY who was badgering her tired husband about what was going on with the ship. (Pride of America). She was insisting that they would never sail on NCL ever again. her cabin was "directly over the engine room" (impossible) and that she couldn't sleep because of the noise. Room service was horrible,. The food was cold and couldn't be eaten. When she got to the part about being no space in her cabin to store things that lights started going off. Yeah, she was in an inside cabin and hadn't even paid for the trip themselves. it was a gift from their children. probably glad to have them gone. The husband was totally PW-ed by her and she wouldn't stop talking about all the horrible stuff that was happening to "her". This was the second day of the cruise. Skip forward two days and she is on line again and has latched on to another victim. Same stories about horrible service, cold food, arrogant waiters. Some people look for problems. Some people have problems happen to them. Other causes problems themselves. Some people just aren't happy no matter what others do for them. They live their lives in misery and cause it in those around them. Complaining about stuff makes them think that they are critics and are experienced. It's just the way some people see life.

[smeyer418]

Great post.

 

I always try to see the bright side of life(sounds like a song)....we were on a cruise that went to Canada instead of Bermuda. We had a great time. Others hated it and spent the cruise crying in their tea.

 

I too don't understand why people spend some much time worrying about what others will wear as long as it doesn't smell or show their cracks who cares....

 

BTW my wife grew up in Fredonia...does she know snow..:)

[petesweet]

GREAT post, JenD!!!

 

I would like to form a club of past cruisers called the Low Maintenance Cruisers Club or the LMCC. I would like to enroll EVERBODY who's posted replies to OP JenD's post!!

 

Proposed Motto: ANY day on ANY cruise ship from ANY cruise line is better than a day at home!

 

Rules: As we are LOW Maintenance Cruisers we should have a bare minimum of "rules". However,we should have some rules so here goes:

 

Rule #1 - NO WHINING!!!

 

OK, so how do we define a "whine" with regards a past cruise experience. Am not really sure but here's some examples from past postings seen on CC:

 

1) Towel animals not available on a regular basis

2) Lack of chocolate milk at meals.

 

I'm sure you can think of others.

 

What do you all think?

 

Tom & Eileen

 

PS: We hereby nominate Cathi (Toyz711) as President and JenD as recording Sec'y.

 

Isn't it scary when someone pulls the thoughts right out of your head? Well, you ALMOST did. I was going to suggest we all go on the same cruise. Wouldn't that be fun? What a review we could write!:D

 

(The whiners could be made to walk the plank.)

[tomk3212]

I think people come home totally worn out and they vent on the little things that bugged them. It's time that is the sandpaper that makes most of the downside go away, but some people really resent some very minor things.

 

For instance: i was in line waiting to get off the ship and got involved in a conversation with a princess (more like an elderly queen) from NY who was badgering her tired husband about what was going on with the ship. (Pride of America). She was insisting that they would never sail on NCL ever again. her cabin was "directly over the engine room" (impossible) and that she couldn't sleep because of the noise. Room service was horrible,. The food was cold and couldn't be eaten. When she got to the part about being no space in her cabin to store things that lights started going off. Yeah, she was in an inside cabin and hadn't even paid for the trip themselves. it was a gift from their children. probably glad to have them gone. The husband was totally PW-ed by her and she wouldn't stop talking about all the horrible stuff that was happening to "her". This was the second day of the cruise. Skip forward two days and she is on line again and has latched on to another victim. Same stories about horrible service, cold food, arrogant waiters. Some people look for problems. Some people have problems happen to them. Other causes problems themselves. Some people just aren't happy no matter what others do for them. They live their lives in misery and cause it in those around them. Complaining about stuff makes them think that they are critics and are experienced. It's just the way some people see life.

DW has a great saying for people like you describe above; they don't have the "happiness gene". We've also run into folks like this on our cruises. Like you, we refuse to let them drag us down into their vat of misery.

 

Tom & Eileen

[greywillow]

I wanted to add:

On our Caribbean Princess cruise we had a not-so-good steward. He did not meet several requests, was not really very attentive, and he seemed like he did not have a clue. So, Bill and I chatted with him a little found out that he was on his FIRST cruise! We took him under our wing and offered helpful suggestions on things. We gave lots of compliments and left a raving review. I really hope that this helped set in off in a good direction.

 

I cringe to think of what other people might have done to this poor fellow.

 

To this day I still think of that cruise as our very best one.

Jen, it's great to have you here.

 

Too many people take too seriously this business about being a "cruise critic" and waste their time (and happiness) "keeping score" of their cruise rather than enjoying it. If I read one more time how someone "only got towel animals three out of seven nights" I'll scream. Or the infamous complaint about not having oatmeal available every day at breakfast.

 

Who cares? Should nonsense like this make or break your vacation? Do you cruise to have fun or to keep notes in order to lengthen your list of complaints to be posted here?

[musicgirl63]

How could any vacation where I don't have to cook, clean, worry about what's for dinner or any other blah, blah. blah thing around the house,.......how could that EVER be a bad vacation.

 

I always have on my list to do some simple things like read, do puzzles, play board games and just hang out by the pool....ok, I do spend alot of time by the pool.... I never seem to find time for the mundane activities because I'm too busy.

 

I also just want to sleep in and take naps. It would almost be worth it to have a rainy day, then I wouldn't feel like I missed the sun and fun!!!!

[MonaCK]

Count me in as part of the club. :)

[tomk3212]

Isn't it scary when someone pulls the thoughts right out of your head? Well, you ALMOST did. I was going to suggest we all go on the same cruise. Wouldn't that be fun? What a review we could write!:D

 

(The whiners could be made to walk the plank.)

Pete,

 

"Great minds..." and so forth"..;)

 

I'm a big fan of keelhauling, myself...:eek: That IS a tad harsh, though. Maybe the "First Whine" you have to walk the plank...into the kids pool and spend the rest of the day there...:p

 

Seconds offense could be keelhauling...

 

Tom & Eileen

[Toyz711]

last week i heard "it's cold on this ship, holland america was never like this".

(swear to you-know-who)

 

no complaining about trays or lack of

no telling people to avoid the buffet (they may like it)

no complaining about the lack of lobster (tho i did really, really enjoy mine last week)

[petesweet]

Pete,

 

"Great minds..." and so forth"..;)

 

I'm a big fan of keelhauling, myself...:eek: That IS a tad harsh, though. Maybe the "First Whine" you have to walk the plank...into the kids pool and spend the rest of the day there...:p

 

Seconds offense could be keelhauling...

 

Tom & Eileen

 

Actually, I'm Kathy. The sweet Pete(rs) is my DH.

 

After further thought, perhaps the whiners should be made to eat the horrible food in the dining room and not be allowed into the "better" restaurants.:rolleyes:

[Toyz711]

just don't send them to my buffet, they don't deserve my crepes!!!

[tomk3212]

Actually, I'm Kathy. The sweet Pete(rs) is my DH.

 

After further thought, perhaps the whiners should be made to eat the horrible food in the dining room and not be allowed into the "better" restaurants.:rolleyes:

Kathy,

 

OOPS!!! SORRY :D

 

Hmmmmmmm...now THAT's a thought on the dining room...:p

 

Tom & Eileen

[mom2jess/alex]

Got to agree with everyone. If you want to have a bad time. You will. If you think you will have a great time you will. Agree no housework, no phones, no work. Looking forward to going away.

 

Diane

[CanadianTwosome]

Yay! A Club!! Can we have a secret handshake? :)

 

Last December while we were on the Dream, apparently there was bad weather all over, through the Gulf of Mexico (where we were), Florida, and all over North America. So, while those of us who were escaping snow were quite happy with a little wind and the occasional raindrop, there were a lot of complaints. The water was really rough, too, so there were a few queasy passengers and cancelled excurions, not to mention we were slowed down quite a bit. Enough, in fact, that we had to go full tilt from Progreso to Cozumel and skip Playa del Carmen (where we were supposed to pull in first thing in the morning and drop people off for some excursions - then head over to Cozumel). Well... during the night, when it looked like we wouldn't even reach Cozumel in decent time, the captain made a judgement call and turned off the cabin A/C to divert power and speed up... I woke up at about 3am and thought that I had turned up the cabin's heat too much when we'd come back from Progreso and found it cold. I went into the hall to cool off and found our neighbour sitting on the floor outside her door as well. I came to learn that some passengers had taken to sleeping outside by the pool also. I found it just fine to go back in my cabin once I'd cooled off. For the rest of the cruise, I heard complaint after complaint. 'The captain should have asked us' (and what, taken a vote? ha ha ha) 'He should never have done that' (but what do you think they would have said if Cozumel had been cancelled?) and of course, everything else that was 'wrong' with the ship came out at that point, too. Me, I was just ecstatic to be visiting Cozumel - we played with a lovely dolphin named Marte!! :) When I think of the cruise, that one hot night is definitely not the thing that comes to mind!!

 

I came back to snowyville and all my friends asked why we weren't tanned, and we told them the weather sucked. The trip, though... it was FANTASTIC!!! :)

[NorthernNeighbour]

I was really glad to read this posting and the comments. Although I try not to be too critical, it caused me to pause and think about myself --

AND realize that any little snafu on a cruise is just part of life and I may have been too critical about things that really did not amount to a hill of beans.

 

About the pizza -- I have a niece that I dearly love but cannot bear to dine out with or travel with. She thinks that any place that does not have pizza on the menu is not worth visiting. She even got upset with us because at a dinner we served after her Grandmother's funeral (our Mother) we had no pizza for her to eat. HELLO -- maybe she is reading this posting and will also learn to be less critical.

 

Once again, thanks for this 'reality check' -- and happy future cruising.

[tcrny]

Hi everyone .. Jen, you said it exactly!!! I've only been on one cruise back March 06 (Celebrity Century) and my upcoming cruise with my family is on the NCL Spirit in April 08. I was checking out some of the boards about the Spirit and I became so disappointed about the negative comments people have about the pettiest things. I was looking at a thread from a cruise this past November and one of the posts said the Spirit cruise was horrible and couldn't wait to get home. How bad is that? I agree with everyone on this thread ... if you hate the cruise so much, don't cruise anymore. Having fellow cruisers that hate everything ... well I hope I don't run into them on my cruise. I am thankful for the opportunity that I can book a cruise for vacation with my family, and that I can be away from full time job, cooking and cleaning for a week!

This is a great thread!!! Are any of you on my cruise leaving NYC 4/19?

Have a great week!

Cathy

[MonaCK]

On that Costa Cruise that I was on (which I did have a great time on, despite it not being my favorite cruise line), the weather was lousy. We ended up missing Grand Caymen, and people were TICKED. So was I, but only because we weren't planning on getting off the ship in Grand Caymen, and my planned nice empty ship day was now full of people. ;)

[NowVoyager908]

This is a great thread and I agree wholeheartedly. I have never had a bad vacation, cruise or land based. No cooking, cleaning, making my own bed; no getting up at the crack of dawn to commute to work. What's not to like? You either learn to roll with the punches or just get rolled over. It's an easy choice for me. Some people are just programmed to be overly critical and miserable. It brings them some weird sense of joy. LOL.

 

With cruising, one thing that I've found that helps with me personally is that I never compare one ship to another or one cruiseline to another. It's a pointless exercise. I just enjoy each cruise in and of itself. I've been on 12 cruise on 5 cruise lines and had a blast each every time.

[JenDalessan]

Wow- what wonderful replies. It's nice to know there are so many positive people here.

 

As I was reading the replies it reminded me of a few little snafu's here and there. Most of them were just little blips on the radar screen and nothing even worth noting. The worst thing I find on any cruise is a handful of rude passengers. Even they are good for a laugh.

 

At lunch we dined with a table of strangers. One guy donned a fake british accent and bragged about all his cruises. Turns out he was from Toronto. (hehe) and his wife bragged about all the stuff they have bought at Diamonds international. The kicker: She saw the small emerald ring I sometimes wear on my right hand and she GRABBED my hand, held it up and said to my husband "For $500 Diamonds International can put a NICE stone in there".....I am not kidding. We still giggle about that one.

 

It's a big ship and there is room for many types of people.

[Queen_Of_Natick]

I enjoy every vacation. Put me in the club with the rose colored glasses I liked our cruise on the Sun, I hope to go on another in the future. The only bad day I had was when the boat rocked like crazy...but thats why they call it cruizin!:D

 

 

 

-Q