Why I'm unlikely to ever "Cruise" (At least on a large ship)

[Pushka]

I'll visit once you have ticked the third box

Well, we used to have a jet ski. Damned expensive hobby that. And a 5 person cruiser that we swapped for it. Next one will be white. One of those sweet white ones. MrP would do with a tinny but I need shade as I get sunburnt too quickly. I don’t like sun. And it doesn’t like me.

 

[JohnK]

I spent 39-40 days on a boat back in the early 70's as a child when we came to Australia. Loved it.

I've been wanting to do a cruise for many years. For a long time I was looking at the luxurious cruises where the cost was >USD115,000 for 3 months or was that a 6 month cruise?

More recently I have been wanting to do some shorter cruises. Unfortunately my wife gets sea sick even with tablets and I do not want to see her suffer. Wife has said I can go alone but the biggest issue being a single cruiser is they would charge through the nose. I don't want to pay that sort of money and I definitely do not want to share with a stranger.

I shall wait and see when daughter gets older then I can look at cruises again.

One thing that I have noticed though is that it feels like drink prices and on shore excursions are very expensive as they have a captive audience. Not sure I understand that gouging. The same with some of the land tours I have been researching recently with Cosmos/Trafalgar.

 

[straitman]

Wow. All of those cruise lovers jumping up and down trying to oversell cruising and suggesting that there's something wrong with you if you don't love cruising tells me one thing for sure. Those cruise lovers are hoping to win over people to their side to further validate their own experiences. When something is being sold so heavily I run the other way.

I'm not sure how people explaining their experiences translates to 'validate their experiences.'

I'm sure the cruisers will be so relieved to hear that last bit!

Just a tad OTT, maybe?

Absolutely to both.

One thing that I have noticed though is that it feels like drink prices and on shore excursions are very expensive as they have a captive audience. Not sure I understand that gouging. The same with some of the land tours I have been researching recently with Cosmos/Trafalgar.

Drink prices aren't such an issue and are cheaper than most bars and restaurants. Tour prices for ships tours are stupid prices which is why we either do private tours or do our own thing.

 

[get me outta here]

Seabourn
P&O

Nothing in between, will now only go 6 star!

 

[straitman]

Seabourn
P&O

Nothing in between, will now only go 6 star!

I believe you need to break that up some more as there is a HUGE difference in standards between P&O Australia and P&O International. I'm not sure either are 6 star but one is 3-4 stars better than the other.

 

[get me outta here]

I was on the Pacific Jewell as a last minute spontaneous trip. Everything was up sell and queuing. Resembled a 1970s RSL Club.

 

[straitman]

I was on the Pacific Jewell as a last minute spontaneous trip. Everything was up sell and queuing. Resembled a 1970s RSL Club.

My point exactly.

I know it may be hard to believe but they actually have worse ships than Pacific Jewel.

 

[Pushka]

P&O British version is chalk and cheese to the Aussie P&O. Feel sorry for any Brits expecting the same when down under.

 

[Anna]

This thread is hilarious

Don't like buffets? Don't eat at the buffet! Easy. FWIW I hate buffets on land too. But a cruise ship buffet is way better than any buffet I have ever seen on land, except maybe with the exception of the true Swedish smorgasbord (and also maybe the Indian buffet at Raffles in Singapore).

Yes a single person in a cabin will usually pay the same cost as 2 people would pay between them to share a cabin. Not always though. NCL has some dedicated single cabins, for example. OTOH a solo cruiser generally earns status twice as fast, because the cruise lines recognise the extra money that solo cruisers pay. (Not that cruise line status means that much really).

If people really want to attack cruising as a concept, perhaps they ought to look in the direction of the institutionalised exploitation of third world workers onboard, or perhaps cruise line cover-ups of sexual assaults by crew on pax or other crew, not buffets and crowds Just sayin'

 

[Pushka]

This thread is hilarious

Don't like buffets? Don't eat at the buffet! Easy. FWIW I hate buffets on land too. But a cruise ship buffet is way better than any buffet I have ever seen on land, except maybe with the exception of the true Swedish smorgasbord (and also maybe the Indian buffet at Raffles in Singapore).

Yes a single person in a cabin will usually pay the same cost as 2 people would pay between them to share a cabin. Not always though. NCL has some dedicated single cabins, for example. OTOH a solo cruiser generally earns status twice as fast, because the cruise lines recognise the extra money that solo cruisers pay. (Not that cruise line status means that much really).

If people really want to attack cruising as a concept, perhaps they ought to look in the direction of the institutionalised exploitation of third world workers onboard, or perhaps cruise line cover-ups of sexual assaults by crew on pax or other crew, not buffets and crowds Just sayin'

Geez Anna, you've just given them more reasons for hate

 

[straitman]

Maybe it is time to put some perspective into the discussion.

There is one company that dominates cruising world wide. Under their umbrella there are ten different cruise lines all pitched at a different part of the market.

Carnival Corporation & plc is a United States-based cruise company and the world's largest travel leisure company, with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies, Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc, which function as one entity.

Carnival Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Carnival plc on the London Stock Exchange. As such, Carnival is the only company in the world to be listed on both the S&P 500 and FTSE 100 indices. Carnival Corporation's global headquarters is located in Miami, Florida, the United States, with UK headquarters being at Southampton, Hampshire, and with regional offices in Australia, Germany and Italy.


Carnival

• Carnival Cruise Line - headquarters in Miami, Florida, USA (26 ships)
• fathom - headquarters in Miami, Florida, USA (1 ship)

Carnival UK

• P&O Cruises - headquarters in Southampton, UK (8 ships)
• Cunard Line - headquarters in Southampton, UK (3 ships)

Carnival Australia

• Carnival Australia - headquarters in Sydney, AU (Included above)

Holland America Group

• Holland America Line - headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA (15 ships)
• Princess Cruises - headquarters in Santa Clarita, California, USA (17 ships)
• Seabourn Cruise Line - headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA (4 ships)
• P&O Cruises Australia - headquarters in Sydney, Australia (5 ships)

Costa Group

• Costa Cruises - headquarters in Genoa, Italy (15 ships)
• AIDA Cruises - headquarters in Rostock, Germany (12 ships)

Former brands

• A'Rosa Cruises - Established by P&O Princess in 2001, sold following the Carnival merger in 2003
• Fiesta Marina Cruises - Established by Carnival Corp in 1993, liquidated in 1994. The sole ship was sold to the Epirotiki Line.
• Ibero Cruises - Established by Carnival Corp in 2003, liquidated in 2014 with ships transferred to Costa Cruises and Cruise & Maritime Voyages.
• Ocean Village - Established by P&O Princess in 2003, liquidated in 2010 with ship transferred to P&O Cruises Australia
• Swan Hellenic - P&O Princess subsidiary since 1983, liquidated in 2007 with ship transferred to Princess Cruises
• Windstar Cruises - Carnival subsidiary since 1989, sold to Ambassadors International in 2007.

 

[Pushka]

Princess et al including Cunard comes under the Carnival banner.

 

[straitman]

Princess et al including Cunard comes under the Carnival banner.

Oops.

I'll clarify.

 

[Anna]

Geez Anna, you've just given them more reasons for hate

I believe that the cruise industry has serious questions to answer about some of its practices. Just not about buffets, queues for tenders or other things that people are hating on in this thread And yes I do still enjoy cruising, but I also make sure I pay tips to the exploited.

 

[slinky123]

This thread has been really interesting. The last cruise I went on was "Fairstar the fun ship
in 1986 LOL, I was seasick also.
I'd like to try another one day, I like the sound of the Crystal Cruises.

 

[straitman]

This thread has been really interesting. The last cruise I went on was "Fairstar the fun ship
in 1986 LOL, I was seasick also.
I'd like to try another one day, I like the sound of the Crystal Cruises.

Just remember that your Fairstar cruise will count toward your status level on Princess cruises.

 

[Pushka]

We cruised on Oriana back in the early ‘80’s. Is there any hope with Princess?

 

[straitman]

We cruised on Oriana back in the early ‘80’s. Is there any hope with Princess?

I would think so as the original SS Oriana served for Orient and later for P&O. P&O cruises credit to Princess and lots of people say they have been given the credits for those early cruises.

 

[Guvner]

Thanks Pushka for the heads up on cruising Croatia. I've never cruised before so that looks like a wonderful place to start. I'm currently planning a Oneworld 280k and am looking at a 7 -10 day cruise along the way. Can't stand crowds or queues (where I don't have the option to walk away) so the smaller vessel looks like a good choice.

 

[TomVexille]

I believe that the cruise industry has serious questions to answer about some of its practices. Just not about buffets, queues for tenders or other things that people are hating on in this thread And yes I do still enjoy cruising, but I also make sure I pay tips to the exploited.

Not to get into a discussion about ethics, but if people did have an ethics problem with the way staff are treated they probably shouldn't fly a number of big airlines nor transit/visit many countries.