Andy, I must say my feelings are with you on this one. A cruise does not appeal to me, I am not attr

There is a famous sociological experiment you probably know. A group of 12 people are shown a number of cards. The interviewer then asks each of them in front of the others to say how many they saw. Eight says the first guy; the second says eight ; so does the third, fourth and so on until we get to the last person. He was convinced that there were only seven cards, but now doubts his conviction in the light of the other responses. What he doesn t know is that he is the only subject of the experiment, that everyone else was set up to say eight, and that the whole exercise revolves around whether he will go with his convictions or succumb to the common opinion. In most cases, the subject does say eight along with the others.
I feel a bit like this last guy when it comes to cruising. I ve attended conventions where marketing and PR chiefs have boasted that there are now cruises hotels in bali for everyone ; one cruise line claims to run cruises for people who don t do cruises hotels in bali ; I still wasn t swayed. I have many friends who love the idea of cruising and indulge in this type of holiday regularly hotels in bali and tell of the lavish treats they ve enjoyed on board; I listen without envy.
I can see how it appeals to so many people: seeing many places while never having to pack and unpack; all-inclusive dining and drinking meaning no overspending; excursions showing you the highlights of each place in the shortest time; having all the amenities hotels in bali you could ever want, 24/7.
But those selling points just don t work for me. I don t want to pre-pay my meals or be restricted to the restaurants on my ship; we might fancy something different, or maybe even miss dinner and just have a snack and an ice-cream one night while taking a long walk. I don t want to go to see major attractions with the other thousand passengers; our favourite travel moments are invariably those where we have arrived at a special place before the crowds and enjoyed it in solitude. I don t need the casinos, the clubs, the cinemas, the entertainment shows; we normally take a walk after dinner (further than the length of a ship) and enjoy wandering through the town or village where we re staying the night. As for the hospitality, I figure the cruise ship is a perfect compliment to those who enjoy the luxury and pampering of high end hotels; I m just not one of them.
Like the man who wants to shout it s seven! I know it s seven!! I question my own conviction. Is it me who is abnormal, or are there others out there for whom cruises for people who don t do cruises doesn t work as an idea? I can see why cruising is a great way to travel for millions of people; I m just fairly sure I m not one of them.
On the other hand a sea voyage that does hold some interest for me is where I would be a passenger on a cargo vessel; some vessels allow a handful of passengers aboard while they cross oceans hotels in bali and while you re not working your passage there s little fuss made over the passengers by all accounts. That sounds more like an adventure that I would consider. As for cruising, even in its new form that s aimed specifically at the likes of me? I m afraid I m still only seeing seven.
I think the key to it is don t knock it till you ve tried it! I too was a landlubber who didn t get the attractions hotels in bali of cruising until I went on my first ship about three years ago. Since then I ve been on a fair few ship launches hotels in bali and a few cruises and have to say it s completely challenged my perceptions of that kind of holiday. Cruise companies are making a huge effort to appeal to everyone and mostly getting it right. As a mostly independent traveller and one who loves pottering around towns/cities discovering their unique highlights for myself I understand your view that a ship could be a little limiting. But it s just a different kind of holiday. Why not try a five day taster cruise to see what it s like bet you ll love it!
I m sure you re right. One of these I will try a cruise, and it will surprise me in some way. Like you say, I shouldn t knock it till I try; it s just that up to now none of the hype I ve heard has tempted me to give it a go.
Andy, I must say my feelings are with you on this one. A cruise does not appeal to me, I am not attracted to luxury, all inclusive food and drinks. Crowds are a real turn off for me. The last time I was in France, hotels in bali we went to Giverny to see Monet s Garden. When we saw the number of cars and buses in the car park, we continued on our journey!
The idea of taking a cargo ship does appeal for the sense of adventure but also to keep my carbon footprint down. However the calculations I have seen on being a passenger on a cargo ship seem a little fudged. They go along the lines of a 1 tonne of cargo being shipped from London to Cape Town is responsible for x kg of CO2, I weigh 70 kg so my footprint will be 70/1000 *x . This is a little flawed as you have to include the weight of your cabin and furnishings and the energy used in air conditioning it and for cooking, washing etc. You might say that the cabin is there anyway but if it these ships didn t have the passenger hotels in bali cabins they could carry extra cargo for a much smaller footprint. However, I still haven t got all the answers to this question and would welcome a deeper insight. My understanding is that cruise line passengers have the largest carbon footprint of any type of traveller, with the exception of space tourism (not Virgin hotels in bali Galactic) and taking private jets / helicopters. Again someone may have research to disprove this.
I like how you compared yourself cruising with the experiment of seven . I`ve spent some time with you in Valencia and I know you`re a different type of traveler than myself. But I agree with Sarah on this one. There is still a lot of misperception on cruising. These days they offer them in all lengths, chapes and regions. I`m a convinced cruiser hotels in bali sorry and I recommend it to everyone. But I do understand your point of vue on the mass visiting of sights, the food freedom on a ship. Cause you`re still on a ship! I would love for you to try it and let me know what you think about it. Maybe you`ll still say seven but maybe you won`t Keep me posted!
Hi Andy, I know exactly what you mean. I have been invited on to the most super luxury ships, think that it would be amazing for a while, then realise it s probably not for me, and most definitely not for my boyfriend.
We re like you, we like to explore towns and speak to people hotels in bali who you would never see on cruise ships. I don t like the whole pretence of the passengers on board, some of whom didn t even know Barcelona was in Spain last time I visited one!
Looks like I m not alone, hotels in bali judging by the comments from David, John and Sam. Maybe they should lump all the people who are convinced that cruising isn t for them on one cruise ship and see if they can convert us. I would pity the crew on that one
David s point about not liking most people gets nearer to the heart of it maybe. While I wouldn t say the same for myself, I do find that spending too much time in any sort of group has me craving to break away and have some space.
You re describing an adventure / voyage / travelling cruising is a holiday hotels in bali so, until you want a holiday (as in rest, everything done for you, hassle of thinking too much removed) don t waste your money!
I read this post and the comments with interest. Several years ago I was lucky enough to be taken on a free 3 week cruise (a Caribbean cruise which started in Italy) by a widowed Aunt – she wanted some company and it was nearly as much to pay for the solo upgrade as it was to take me. It was quite an experience, with many positives and many negatives and I can never make up my mind whether or not it’s one I want to repeat.
I had many issues with it. The extravagance and wastage was a major problem for me. Meals consisted hotels in bali of several hotels in bali courses and most of the diners didn’t have an issue with ordering hotels in bali something to try and then leaving the entire plateful hotels in bali if they weren’t keen. I can’t abide food wastage and consequently left the ship in the only pair of trousers I could squeeze hotels in bali into – apparently seasoned cruisers take larger clothes for the homeward journey. There were also fantastic food sculptures laid out on long tables that we weren’t allowed to eat afterwards. How much food must have been dumped in the sea, I can only imagine.
hotels in bali Something else that bothered me was that all the passengers were white Europeans, and all the staff were from East Asia or Central America. When I asked the staff about it they said they could earn a lot more on the cruise ships than they could at home and were able to send regular payments back to their families. I can see where they’re coming from – and would quite possibly do the same thing in their situation – but it felt horribly colonial to me. We were the rich white people and they were our slaves and believe me that’s how a lot of the passengers acted too.
The last item on my list of gripes is that the passengers were so ungracious and dissatisfied! They were on a luxurious ship, eating as much fine food as they wanted, visiting amazing places, hotels in bali being entertained and waited on hand and foot. But how they complained! The biggest issue for the English passengers was that the ship was Italian and had five different nationalities on board. Most announcements, particularly important ones such as what to do if the ship starts sinking, were given in five languages, and guess what? Shock horror English hotels in bali wasn’t first on the list! So the small percentage hotels in bali of English passengers huffed hotels in bali and puffed and said this is the last time I’m coming on a multi-nationality cruise! If I remember rightly the order of translation may have altered once we picked up American passengers hotels in bali on the other side of the Atlantic, probably hotels in bali to suit the new arrivals who had even worse attitudes than the English. I don’t know, maybe if I’d paid a couple of thousand pounds I’d have found more to grumble about.
But if you can get past this (it is difficult) there are a