Cruising

[brett]

gerntz...we feel exactly the same way. And not that our time is our own we are doing far less cruises and much more extended independent land travel for exactly the same reasons.

 

[braumeister]

But for the ships themselves, I get tired of them quickly. Same ole same ole. Would much rather be out & about in evenings & exploring countries' interiors.

Well, yeah, you bet. But (at least for DW) it's the convenience of not having to change hotels frequently and getting most of the traveling in while we sleep. That definitely is an advantage, and I think it's why many people prefer to travel that way.

 

[braumeister]

+1.
There also seems to be more fantastic deals out of Florida.

My friend who lives there takes 6-8 cruises a year and never pays more than $100/day. I consider him to be a fairly typical customer of the cruise lines; he's the kind they cater to mostly. I'd go nuts but he loves it.

 

[gayl]

I use Whatsinport & Rome2rio to avoid ship sold shore excursions. What websites do you use to explore on your own?

 

[gerntz]

Well, yeah, you bet. But (at least for DW) it's the convenience of not having to change hotels frequently and getting most of the traveling in while we sleep. That definitely is an advantage, and I think it's why many people prefer to travel that way.

But when we travel by car, I see things & can stop when/wherever we choose. It's part of the experience, not just travel. I've yet to be lost on a lane between hedgerows on a ship or traveled up/down a windy mountain road or thru a village on a ship. To each their own. And different (local) hotels are really cool to see. One of our favorite things.

 

[gerntz]

gerntz...we feel exactly the same way. And not that our time is our own we are doing far less cruises and much more extended independent land travel for exactly the same reasons.

Really, even land tours are better than ships for us. Just be sure to choose ones that stop places for 2+ nights. Grand Circle is great for that.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Might be a function of the cruise line. Holland American has a reputation for attracting the oldest and least adventurous passengers. Maybe try a smaller ship and you might enjoy it more.

+1
The missus has been wanting me to try Holland America. She's been on it and a few other cruise lines while I've only been on X and RCI.
Rightly or wrongly... her impression of HA is that it seems to have an older demographic which doesn't have a large contingent of folks that stay up very late. So, she thinks HA does not invest in evening events, activities, and extravaganzas at much as other lines. She figures I'd enjoy exploring the ship at night with less crowds.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Definitely pro's and con's in doing a cruise vs a land tour.
For us, the sampling aspect worked best for us in the Caribbean and to a lesser extent Greece/Turkey. I'm not sure if we'd invest in a "land" to many of the islands and ports of call in the Caribbean and Central America. WRT Greece and Turkey, the short visits have made me want to plan my own trip.

The missus also likes the convenience of having the hotel room travel along with her.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

I use Whatsinport & Rome2rio to avoid ship sold shore excursions. What websites do you use to explore on your own?

We'll typically look at:

• What excursions the ship offers to get an idea what the popular/common excursions are to see if we want to recreate it ourselves.
• The cruise critic ports of call boards and see other folks do (both tour and DIY), what their reviews are like, and identify any potential tour operators if we decide to go that route.
• Wikitravel to see what local transportation is like, identify some common activities.
• Flyertalk destination forums.
• Blogs that we come across when searching for reviews on activities or DIY info

We'll also do a google search on what the prototypical food or dish is (and a corresponding best place to sample it) or where the local markets are and pin/plan a route to them on Google Maps as part of our day's activity.

EDIT: We sometime try asking certain members of the ship's crew for tips too. We find it a bit hit and miss.

 

[braumeister]

YVRRocketSurgery, that's exactly my approach. Standing around waiting for everyone to get lined up in the typical excursions wastes so much time! Far better to DIY.

 

[brett]

The cruise ship food gets old for us after a few days. It all starts to taste the same. Besides, when we travel we do not want to eat what amounts to banquet food every night. Much prefer a local specialty in a small restaurant.

Same for the cabin. We would much rather spent time in a small hotel, b&b, etc than the same Marriott hotel style cabin on a cruise ship.

Just our personal preference. Now we do cruises as a holiday from land travel, often including a last minute, attractively priced cruise as part of it. About the only area we have not done this is Asia.

 

[Kelor]

The cruise ship food gets old for us after a few days. It all starts to taste the same. Besides, when we travel we do not want to eat what amounts to banquet food every night. Much prefer a local specialty in a small restaurant.
.

I agree. The only time I have ever found an exception to the rule is when we cruised on the Paul Gaugin. The food on that ship was so good, we would go back to the ship to eat.

 

[gayl]

Except no one is limited to the food on the menu

 

[audreyh1]

We'll typically look at:

• What excursions the ship offers to get an idea what the popular/common excursions are to see if we want to recreate it ourselves.
• The cruise critic ports of call boards and see other folks do (both tour and DIY), what their reviews are like, and identify any potential tour operators if we decide to go that route.
• Wikitravel to see what local transportation is like, identify some common activities.
• Flyertalk destination forums.
• Blogs that we come across when searching for reviews on activities or DIY info

We'll also do a google search on what the prototypical food or dish is (and a corresponding best place to sample it) or where the local markets are and pin/plan a route to them on Google Maps as part of our day's activity.

EDIT: We sometime try asking certain members of the ship's crew for tips too. We find it a bit hit and miss.

When I was researching day mini-van tours from Nice, I noticed a huge number of the did tours for cruise ships. I figured that is how I would do it - hire a private tour.

 

[Teacher Terry]

One of the down sides of taking a non ship tour is that the ship doesn’t wait if you are late getting back.

 

[retired1]

Curious... With so many companies/options to book cruise from, what's the best way to get the highest perks? Directly with cruise line? Specific travel agency? Please share. I've used "CruiseDirect" last time & it was OK. I'm looking for "good deals" for next year... destination dependent on price

 

[DrRoy]

We just made reservations for a Viking River Cruise, the romantic Danube tour. We had several friends that highly recommended this tour. Big bucks, but you get what you pay for.

DW likes for us to go cruising with her sisters. We just booked this too for next year.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Curious... With so many companies/options to book cruise from, what's the best way to get the highest perks? Directly with cruise line? Specific travel agency? Please share. I've used "CruiseDirect" last time & it was OK. I'm looking for "good deals" for next year... destination dependent on price

Not worth booking directly with the cruise line IMO.

Off the top of my head, when you book with a travel agency there are two ways to get additional bang for your buck:
1. Agent/Agency commission: The travel agent and agency is obviously making money off your booking. The agent and/or agency can reduce their commission and provide it back to you in terms of OBC, gifts (eg bottle of wine) etc. This is kind of hit and miss depending on your relationship with your TA as it's completely up to their discretion. Obviously, repeat customers will likely get more favourable treatment, though not always.
You can also use a service like Cruise Compete which kind of has various TA's bid for your business in terms of how many perks they can provide which likely comes out of their commission.

2. Mass bookings by the agent/agency: A large travel agency can buy a block of cabins from the cruise line at a discounted rate. (You can too if you can organize a group/organization/family trip with a bunch of cabins.) They then can sell customers cabins from the block they purchases and provide a category upgrade compared to list price.
This is one advantage of going to a larger Travel Agency that has the scale for purchasing power.

Note: One hesitation I have with "perks" like the ones X provides is that they're essentially bribing you with your own money. The perks do provide an incentive to book early like during January's Wave season. But I find that you can sometimes get a cheaper price when you get closer to the sail date, even after subtracting the value of the perks. However, it is a bit of a risk booking that late in terms of cabin availability, price, etc.

 

[Souschef]

Not worth booking directly with the cruise line IMO.

Off the top of my head, when you book with a travel agency there are two ways to get additional bang for your buck:
1. Agent/Agency commission: The travel agent and agency is obviously making money off your booking. The agent and/or agency can reduce their commission and provide it back to you in terms of OBC, gifts (eg bottle of wine) etc. This is kind of hit and miss depending on your relationship with your TA as it's completely up to their discretion. Obviously, repeat customers will likely get more favourable treatment, though not always.
You can also use a service like Cruise Compete which kind of has various TA's bid for your business in terms of how many perks they can provide which likely comes out of their commission.

2. Mass bookings by the agent/agency: A large travel agency can buy a block of cabins from the cruise line at a discounted rate. (You can too if you can organize a group/organization/family trip with a bunch of cabins.) They then can sell customers cabins from the block they purchases and provide a category upgrade compared to list price.
This is one advantage of going to a larger Travel Agency that has the scale for purchasing power.

Note: One hesitation I have with "perks" like the ones X provides is that they're essentially bribing you with your own money. The perks do provide an incentive to book early like during January's Wave season. But I find that you can sometimes get a cheaper price when you get closer to the sail date, even after subtracting the value of the perks. However, it is a bit of a risk booking that late in terms of cabin availability, price, etc.

Well said! On the Note: The perks we get; free laundry, free internet, OBC, etc. is worth any small savings later. Booking early guarantees better cabin availability,

 

[Scuba]

I agree. The only time I have ever found an exception to the rule is when we cruised on the Paul Gaugin. The food on that ship was so good, we would go back to the ship to eat.

I agree! The Paul Gaugin was my kind of cruise. Great food and very small ship so wait times for tenders (if tenders were even used) was minimal. Great service too! When we went it was about 1:1 ratio of crew to passengers.

 

[97guns]

The cruise ship food gets old for us after a few days. It all starts to taste the same. Besides, when we travel we do not want to eat what amounts to banquet food every night. Much prefer a local specialty in a small restaurant.
.

Took my wife on her first cruise and she surprisingly liked the food especially the dinners, not so much the buffet but she loved the desert spreads

 

[Jasthley]

I love to cruise too

 

[kcowan]

When I was researching day mini-van tours from Nice, I noticed a huge number of the did tours for cruise ships. I figured that is how I would do it - hire a private tour.

Yes we did that in Naples. Got together with another couple through cruisecritic and arranged a private van tour. The guy said to take to hydrofoil to Sorrento to get the maximum time for sightseeing. We did the Amalfi coast and still had time for Pompeii. It was half the price of the cruise tour and we did twice as much. Avoided the compulsory shopping stops plus the loading and unloading time of 40 passengers on and off the bus.

 

[kcowan]

We have done 5 cruises, the first three on Celebrity, Princess and HAL. Then we decided to defer future large ship cruising until we are somewhat infirm (old).

The next was an Adriatic cruise through the Croatian Islands on a yacht. The last was a bike/barge cruise on the Moselle River. We are now small ship cruisers!

 

[WestUniversity]

DW and I love cruising as well. Thus far we have been on eight - big ships, small ships, Alaska, Caribbean, Hawaii, Europe. We love that we can cover a lot of ground, get a flavor of each place, and that it’s all so carefree...