Cruise Ship Crashing Fad

[Koogie]

I assume you meant to write "bad" rather than "fad".

 

[Koolau]

The older I get, the less I desire to travel outside the US (the DR appears to have some possible issues right now, for instance.) With all our problems, at least you have some (theoretical) recourse when things go wrong. I've heard lots of stories about cruise lines offering "free" passage on another cruise to make up for things like norovirus outbreaks or major malfunctions which ruin the trip. I can't back this up personally.

Sort of reminds you of the old joke" Second prize is TWO trips on the SS Noro. YMMV

 

[JoeWras]

Looks like the US Navy and Russian Navy almost made the news with this new fad the other day. Close call.

 

[ransil]

Looks like the US Navy and Russian Navy almost made the news with this new fad the other day. Close call.

That has been going on for years, just lately started back up as the Russians are getting back out to sea.

 

[Chuckanut]

The older I get, the less I desire to travel outside the US (the DR appears to have some possible issues right now, for instance.) With all our problems, at least you have some (theoretical) recourse when things go wrong. I've heard lots of stories about cruise lines offering "free" passage on another cruise to make up for things like norovirus outbreaks or major malfunctions which ruin the trip. I can't back this up personally.

Sort of reminds you of the old joke" Second prize is TWO trips on the SS Noro. YMMV

I still enjoy travel inside or outside the country. But, cruising, at this time is not for me. An acquantance recently returned from a Mediterranean Cruise. As I listened to his stories of seeing this and that famous site I realized that he often spent as little as 5 minutes at some of these places. The Colosseum in Rome was literally a drive by "there it is" moment in time. Hit-and-run sight seeing is not for me.

The older I get the longer I want to spend in an area absorbing what photographer Bob Krist called "The Spirit of Place". And, if I don't care for the spirit, then it's time to move on.

I certainly know a number of people who enjoy cruising. They don't build those mega ships for the fun of it. To each his or her own. The time may come when I really NEED the elevators on a cruise ship, so..... never say never.

 

[target2019]

It is definitely true you spend so little time at each site, when on a cruise. We spent a week in Vancouver, which was a great way to segue into the cruise, and its hurryoff/hurryback stops.

We may do another in Europe next year. I think 1 or 2 days in the departing city would be nicer. Cruise ships crashing is not raising my comfort level.

 

[Sunset]

I assume you meant to write "sad" rather than "fad".

I assume you meant to write "bad" rather than "fad".

Nope, I meant fad, as there was a sudden surge in cruise ships crashing being reported. It seems to be a fad right now.

 

[Nemo2]

Nope, I meant fad, as there was a sudden surge in cruise ships crashing being reported. It seems to be a fad right now.

Wow, man...that's rad.

 

[Amethyst]

I'm a little puzzled by the implication that cruise ship captains and crews have developed an enthusiasm, a mania, a love, even a fetish, for crashing the ship. I picture the officers clustered on the bridge, intensely watching the instruments, instructing the deck crew: "No, bring her in closer! Closer! I don't care if there are people on the pier, we want her as close as she'll get! Even closer than she'll get!"

fad
/fad/
noun
an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.
"prairie restoration is the latest gardening fad in the Midwest"
synonyms: craze, vogue, trend, fashion, mode, enthusiasm, passion, infatuation, love, obsession, mania, rage, compulsion, fixation, fetish, weakness, fancy, taste, novelty, whim, fascination, preoccupation; More

Nope, I meant fad, as there was a sudden surge in cruise ships crashing being reported. It seems to be a fad right now.

 

[Sunset]

We do like certain aspects of cruising in Europe, mostly that we get to see various places easily without packing up, transport to new hotel, unpack, go see site and repeat.

At the same time for large cities, staying in the city for days is best. Example we stayed in Barcelona for 10 days (70 Euro/night hotel) so we got to see lots of the sites, and shop/eat at local restaurants.
In fact we went for breakfast very often at 1 place where my language inability was a real roadblock. By about the 9th day, the owner worked through the language issue to ask us if we had moved into the area

So now I try to combine these ideas, and spend X days in a city. Then cruise from that city, if there is interesting places to go that we might not want to fly to separately.

 

[Sunset]

I'm a little puzzled by the implication that cruise ship captains and crews have developed an enthusiasm, a mania, a love, even a fetish, for crashing the ship. I picture the officers clustered on the bridge, intensely watching the instruments, instructing the deck crew: "No, bring her in closer! Closer! I don't care if there are people on the pier, we want her as close as she'll get! Even closer than she'll get!"

fad
/fad/
noun
an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.
"prairie restoration is the latest gardening fad in the Midwest"
synonyms: craze, vogue, trend, fashion, mode, enthusiasm, passion, infatuation, love, obsession, mania, rage, compulsion, fixation, fetish, weakness, fancy, taste, novelty, whim, fascination, preoccupation; More

I know I've driven only tiny small pleasure boats, but it is really thrilling and fun to come in fast to a dock and cut the power suddenly to end up drifting into the dock in a nice landing. For me it was a youthful thrill.
Perhaps some of the cruise ship captains are young ?

 

[JoeWras]

"trend" is probably the word. But I like "fad" OK too!

 

[Teacher Terry]

I like cruising the Caribbean but for Europe I prefer a land trip because we like to spend a lot of time in one place.

 

[Nemo2]

So now I try to combine these ideas, and spend X days in a city. Then cruise from that city, if there is interesting places to go that we might not want to fly to separately.

Although we're currently on an enforced hiatus, our modus operandi was/is to either take an eastbound cruise and then travel around a couple countries, or do the countries first and then grab a westbound ship home.

 

[audreyh1]

I still enjoy travel inside or outside the country. But, cruising, at this time is not for me. An acquantance recently returned from a Mediterranean Cruise. As I listened to his stories of seeing this and that famous site I realized that he often spent as little as 5 minutes at some of these places. The Colosseum in Rome was literally a drive by "there it is" moment in time. Hit-and-run sight seeing is not for me.

The older I get the longer I want to spend in an area absorbing what photographer Bob Krist called "The Spirit of Place". And, if I don't care for the spirit, then it's time to move on.

I certainly know a number of people who enjoy cruising. They don't build those mega ships for the fun of it. To each his or her own. The time may come when I really NEED the elevators on a cruise ship, so..... never say never.

Pretty much why we nixed river cruising Europe, although they definitely stay a few hours at each location. But I wanted to spend at least twice that. So we used a few cities as bases found local day trips, and still got to spend some time on the river here and there.

 

[Totoro]

Captains need to start reading the book.

The reviews are hilarious ...

I think this book misses the bigger issue. We shouldn't be just avoiding huge ships. We should be confronting them. If we spend our lives running away, the huge ships win.

As the father of two teenagers, I found this book invaluable. I'm sure other parents here can empathize when I say I shudder at the thought of the increasing presence of huge ships in the lives my children.

The photo on the cover has clearly been photoshopped to make the bow appear larger and perkier. Promotes unhealthy ship image among captains and crew alike.

 

[NW-Bound]

I still enjoy travel inside or outside the country. But, cruising, at this time is not for me. An acquantance recently returned from a Mediterranean Cruise. As I listened to his stories of seeing this and that famous site I realized that he often spent as little as 5 minutes at some of these places. The Colosseum in Rome was literally a drive by "there it is" moment in time. Hit-and-run sight seeing is not for me...

My aunt and her husband told me they had been to Florence, as a day trip from a cruise ship. It turned out that they did not get to enter any museum or site. We spent 3 days and saw only a fraction of what our Firenzecard allowed us to see (72 museums).

That said, I think we will do more cruises in the future years when older, when we feel wanting to get off our rocking chair and have a change of scenery.

 

[Sunset]

My aunt and her husband told me they had been to Florence, as a day trip from a cruise ship. It turned out that they did not get to enter any museum or site. We spent 3 days and saw only a fraction of what our Firenzecard allowed us to see (72 museums).

That said, I think we will do more cruises in the future years when older, when we feel wanting to get off our rocking chair and have a change of scenery.

Where a person goes on a cruise matters a lot, as sometimes ships stop far from the sites you want to see. Example Rome, the ships park about 1->1.5 hr travel time from Rome, so its hard to see things in detail.

However, at Dubrovnik the ships park a $5 taxi ride from the walled city so you can see a lot there easily.

 

[Nemo2]

However, at Dubrovnik the ships park a $5 taxi ride from the walled city so you can see a lot there easily.

We walked.....and even got to 'attend' a wedding on the way back.

 

[Sunset]

We walked.....and even got to 'attend' a wedding on the way back.

Yes I was going to say walking , but the cab was cheap, and I asked 2 other people if they wanted to share the cab, so 4 of us went for roughly $2 each.

It was a rainy day so we didn't want to walk.

 

[NW-Bound]

Dubrovnik is too easy.

In one RV trip, when we were at the Astoria Column in Astoria (where else?), Oregon, I was surprised to see some older couples there, who were cruisers who walked up from the dock. It was a 6-mile round trip, up a 600-ft hill. I was impressed.

 

[deserat]

I like cruises as they allow you to 'try' a place and if you don't like it, you haven't wasted too much time. If you like it, you can then plan a longer trip next time. This is we did for Santorini - our cruise ship docked there and we spent a few hours. We then returned several years later for 4 days. Whereas, we did not like Corfu as much, so the few hours there were enough.

Interestingly, I had wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise since I was a teenager. When I finally went on one, I was so bored as all the stops looked the same. I now will most likely not plan a long term trip in the Caribbean any time soon.

 

[Scuba]

My first cruise was to Eastern and Southern Caribbean islands. It was a great overview and made me realize I wanted to come back and spend a lot more time there, and I have done that on trips to numerous islands.

We considered a cruise for our trip to Greece, but were really glad we didn’t do that. Not enough time in the ports, and many of the really charming islands don’t even have cruise ship docks. We would have missed out on so much if we had tried to see Greece on a cruise.

 

[Badger]

Interestingly, I had wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise since I was a teenager. When I finally went on one, I was so bored as all the stops looked the same. I now will most likely not plan a long term trip in the Caribbean any time soon.

I can understand folks from the cold inland north in winter looking forward to some sun in the islands but since I live a couple of blocks from the beach in Fl and a port is only a couple of hours drive we have been on a number of cruises to the Caribbean. After the first one we were bored. Too many people on crowded beaches (lots of pasty white people coming back with bad sunburns), lots of people getting drunk at the popular chain bars, and multiple tourist shops with junk to buy. I can get just as good if not better prices on watches, jewelry, and cameras at home so that is not a draw for us. The highlight of the evening is when people come back from a day in the sun while drinking large amount of alcohol. Just imagine them trying to run back in that condition before the ship leaves. Run Forest Run!



We have taken cruises after that when the price was too cheap to stay home for the week but on a ships that had a non-smoking cabin area next to the fitness center, with unlimited use of restricted entry to steam rooms, a huge indoor hot tub and a semi-private area with couches where we could relax with some lemon water and read a good book or play games. We never got off at the ports and enjoyed an uncrowded ship. But now that is getting old so we are going to take some barge and bike trips and river cruises for a change. Maybe later an ocean cruise to Norway



Cheers!

 

[Nemo2]

Interestingly, I had wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise since I was a teenager. When I finally went on one, I was so bored as all the stops looked the same. I now will most likely not plan a long term trip in the Caribbean any time soon.

My first ever trip on a ship, (or anywhere, for that matter), some 59 years ago, we stopped in Port Said, Egypt.....there were a few 'older' passengers in the lounge playing cards.

They said they'd 'Been there, done that" and weren't disembarking....I was astounded...how could they not want to get off?

Nowadays, on transatlantics that start or end with Caribbean ports, DW & I feel pretty much the same way. T-shirts and taxicabs.