Ever been on a cruise? Tell me your story...

sorry, link is not working

What link?

This is another link. Let's hope it works.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1693552

Well that's nice.

I'm still hoping people will share their stories. Particularly about a Caribbean cruise.

Thanks!

I have been on two Caribbean cruises. One on a rather small ship, and one on a much larger, fancier one.

There are a lot of things to do on a ship..............swim.........eat..........shop..........eat...........work out...........eat............see shows.............eat.............dance and drink...............eat.............gamble............eat............sunbathe......eat

The point that I am making, is that if you like to eat, a cruise ship is for you. The food does not stop. If you are on a diet, it is a very dangerous place.

The larger ship had beautiful accomodations. Although I was in an inside cabin, it was very comfortable, with a lot of amenities, including a TV.

When you get into port, you can either go on the side trips which are arranged by the cruise lines, (which are grossly overpriced), find your own side trips, or go it alone, and explore, (which was what we did most of the time).

If you go to Jamaica, there are people who stay by the ships, and attempt to lead you into stores. In the stores, they feed you the most delicious cake, which is laced with rum. On both my cruises, I returned with a tennis bracelet, the second one bigger than the first. I also came back with a diamond ring.

Each port is famous for one particular thing. I don't remember which was which, but I remember that one place was full of diamonds, the other sapphires. In Mexico, one can purchase silver, (I got a necklace and bracelet)at a much lower cost than in the states. And I an NOT a jewelry person, so you can see what the temptation is.

The Cayman Islands were absolutely fascinating. The water is exquisite. We walked around the town. We went into a rather small, innocuous office building. On the directory, there were the names of many, large, famous corporations from around the world, including many from the US. (You know what they say about the Caymans )

When you book your travel, the cruise line will tell you which nights are dressy, and which are not.

Thanks Phoenix! You always have useful info to share. How much did your cruised cost? If you don't mind.

Hickory Stick- It was a few years ago. I'll check with my husband, and get back to you.

Phoenix, thank you! I hope other people share their story, too.

A cruise, in which , "the revenue" are treated like veal calves, is not for us. Wed been on one and almost jumped ship.
We cruised on our little boat about 3 summers ago, and took a small one last summer . On the 03 trek, we went from Jonesport Me to St Georhes Bay in Newfoundland. Next Year we want to go through the Belle Isle straits and on to Lanse aux Meadows. The tedium is interspersed nicely with moments of sheer terror. Eating is never a problem, you are either too sick, too busy, too tired , or too in love with the sea to worry about eating. BUT, we always have lots of tea aboard and keep cases of gallons of spring water to make it with. Our boats water system has a disinfection syste and a charcoal filter that , although the water is ok, its always tepid cause the dum designers put the tanks below in the engine compartment witha huge diesel engine.

Id like to own a Hinkley Talaria 55. That would be a nice step up to a boat that could, conceivably , sail the ocean. (But it takes some skills)


Its a fact that I get seasick on any boat that Im not skippering or otherwise running. I am a control freak , and Ive noticed that most ships crews are fluent in many languages that dont even allow them to talk among themselves . So how would they save your ass? Also, lots of really weird things have recently been happening on cruise ships that resulted in crews actually letting the "revenue" fend for themselves

farmerman, in your last sentence there are you referring to the gastrointestinal illnesses?

no, I mean when the ship catches fire, as it inevitably will, the crew leaves you to die unencumbered by rescuers and compassion.

Overall a cruise is an enjoyable experience. The only problem with cruises I have found is that when a ship docks (together with others) at some of the smaller tourist spots, its passengers tend to swamp the local amenities (shops,cafes, cable cars etc). Beware overpriced inland group excursions. A little research on the internet can reveal cheaper local alternatives.

I remember some other thread or threads on a2k where people talked excitedly, positively, about cruises. I think Cicerone Imposter and Eva have had very enjoyable experiences, and probably many others.
Hickory, you might click on search at the top of the page and play around with possibly finding old posts on the subject.

I won't go on about my own lack of interest as I am probably phobic about being on a cruise at all, much less paying to do that to myself.

Farmer, do you have a thread on your recent trip? Did I miss it?

osso, no I didnt start a thead. I didnt even take my camera because we were choppering in and we were under contratct with some very paranoid people. We were in a place that wsnt even accurately mapped yet. We hadda use SLAR (radar) maps that were mere topo locators. Ill be going back in late April and in mid June . Itll be snowy up high but we should be done with the seismic work.
Fishing ws pretty good, and I had a chance to meet with some colleagues who were doing dino and cenozoic flightless bird fossils searches .

Such really exists today?

(I remember that in 1970 we had to follow a soviet spy trawler ... unfortunately way up north, further north than Iceland and surrounding ocean, up to what point I had ordered maps. So I only could use a very large scaled and not at all updated DECCA map: felt a bit like an explorer.)

oh yeh walter. There are some places in the Amazon basin and the East Andes that are still pretty much guiesswork. Weve got satellite and radar maps but their scaling and references are not very accurate.
Side looking radar (SLAR) ws done in the whole South American continent in the 70's and , for some areas , thats still allthere is. We are "making up" the geology so we can verify some claims for future investment and resource development by the countries themselves.

Uh , were you a submariner Walter?

No - they actually wanted me to go there but since I wnated to see the world ... (I would have the first conscript, and I didn't like such.)

Was on a minesweeper. (Coastal, an altered Bluebird-type class boat.)

In those days of the cold war, we did such quite often.
This was during an reserve exercise (and due to the fact that we went up so far north and had to follow for such a long time - I "became civilian" well at early morning watch ).

well, theres my idea of a cruise. Take a wooden ship to the North Sea and enjoy yourself tracking Russians. I know Id be busy "chumming" if I couldnt pilot the boat.

To be honest: we even had some fun!

(Our third officer, reservist as well, had the 'International' on cassette. So every morning, when both of us were in the same wtach, we played this tune .... over our outboard loudspeakers, circling around that Russian trawler, where more than 120 persons [sic!] were making morning gymnastics between some dozen antennas [trawler, sic! antennas, sic!].

(This only worked as long until we forgot to switsch of the inboard loudspeaker system = some duty free alcohol for everyone spend by reservists ... and some voluntarily done additional anchor watches.)