K32682

It is possible to have fewer consecutive sea days if you take a northern itinerary. The itinerary linked below has only single sea days although one the days is cruising only so two days without landfall. I took a version of it a few years ago that departed from Southampton. It was shorter due to cruising past Greenland, fewer stops in Ireland and Canada and because we disembarked in Halifax for convenience. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/find-a-cruise/e4t18a/u450b

The line doesn't matter to me. Big boat, small boat, low cost, high cost are secondary to where the boat is going. Cruises to desirable destinations on a "mass market" line are more appealing than rubbing shoulders with the elites and upper crust going to places in which I have no interest.

Even if you possess those attributes the risk remains that some or all of the other diners at your table will not which makes for a tiresome and occasionally irritating dining experience.

I'd like to remind you that everyone else is on vacation too and making people wait for your late arrival inconveniences all of them. This is one of the reasons more people are choosing anytime dining. No waiting for dawdlers.

Late is late and it is rude to the other people who managed to get there on time. In my experience, people who say they are late by "only 5 minutes" are often closer to being late by ten or fifteen.

What "attitude" I've received is not from locals while cruising but instead from cruisers when I've been on a land-based visit. Some cruisers can be astonishingly obnoxious and a horde that arrives all at once can put a damper on an otherwise pleasant day. When visiting friends in Key West we always made sure to avoid the tourist spots and restaurants downtown when the big boats deposited their human cargo on shore.

I've had more negative experiences than positive dining with strangers on cruises. Were I interested in meeting people I'd look to shipboard activities where there is an already established common interest or take the ship-sponsored excursions where you can get to know people without the prospect of having to sit with them at dinner each night.

It was HAL. The cruise started in Southampton and ended in Boston with port visits in Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada. HAL still offers a version of it but it departs from Rotterdam and is a slightly longer than the cruise we took. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/E4T18A/U450B.html

Sea days are dead time and two in a row is the most I've had to put up with. On my TA there were several sea days but no more than two in a row. The other two sea days were going to the Marquesas and the tedium was worth it. The weather on the first sea day was quite rough which I quite enjoyed.

Previously I would just pack prescription meds, maybe a bandage or two and should anything else be required it would be purchased on board. Now with reports that at least one cruise line is not providing OTC drugs on board to force passengers to the medical center where they will be tested for COVID my packing plans will definitely change. Analgesics, antidiarrheals and decongestants will definitely be included going forward.

My packing style depends on the trip location and planned activities but starts with a philosophy of "less is more." I have no moral objection to checking bags but prefer not to unless absolutely necessary. If I need it I will bring it but I have to be certain that I will need it. My desire to carry-on only increases if I'm taking connecting flights and will be contending with stairs or cobblestone streets on arrival. I am more likely to check if planning social events or activities that require special clothing or equipment or I will be in differing climates. One size does not fit all people or all trips.

Sure. I'm in the first world and been pursuing idle luxury without apology for most of my adult life. 🙂 I have no illusions about cruising. Relative to other shipping it is from a personal and societal perspective the least important by a significant measure and is the "low hanging fruit" when it comes to the imposition of environmental restrictions on large ships.

Because cruising is an indulgence and idle luxury for the first world and the relatively wealthy as opposed to war ships that keep the peace, ferries that transport people and vehicles, and cargo ships that support commerce and bring goods to consumers. Cruise ships go in circles, entertain and amuse those who can afford the fare and provide employment mostly to the residents of impoverished developing countries. If protecting the environment is the objective, cruise ships would be the first to go and they would be missed the least.

Having been accosted on Duval Street at 11am by drunken German cruisers demanding to know "Ver ist der Schloppy Choes," it's not hard to understand why Key West residents would want fewer of them.

Yes. If it is shown that cruising is damaging the Galapagos and Antarctica cruises should be shut down. Their environments are far more important than some flabby first-world cruiser completing his "bucket list" and that includes a yacht ban too.

Environmental pollution takes more than one form and it includes damaging the social environment of a small community when the cruising hordes numbering in the thousands descend upon it. I've seen it from both sides. Appalled at the behavior of cruisers when seeing it as a land visitor, embarrassed to be among them when locals are treated disrespectfully by cruisers. It's not a façade if a community doesn't want that type of pollution.

I've spent time in Key West before and after the mega-ships started arriving. Before tourism was visitors who made the long trek down the Keys, stayed in the community and spent there. They contributed more and behaved better than the frequently drunk and often obnoxious (expletives deleted) excreted from the big boats who overwhelm the small downtown for a few hours a day.

Somewhat dubious comparison. Your family still has to eat and if you can't afford a fine restaurant then McDs is not an unreasonable alternative. But people don't have to cruise and money spent of a vacation I won't enjoy is money wasted. I'd rather have fewer but better cruises than otherwise.

Socialization does not mean spending time with people who fight over deck chairs, allow their children to run amok, turn into over-refreshed ignoramuses or engage in other bothersome behavior. It's always good to have the option of a quiet cocktail on one's balcony and watching the sea undisturbed.

Value is subjective and varies wildly. I'd rather spend $10,000 on a cruise that went where I wanted it to go in a manner I find acceptable as opposed to $1,000 on a crap cruise going to crap places with lager louts and lunkheads. I didn't work hard to forgo the finer things in life.

An extra $300 per day might not deter me. I've spent multiple times the cost of an economy flight to have a little extra leg room and a lie flat bed for a few hours. A cruise is a vacation and if spending more of my disposable income to truly enjoy it as opposed to the quite unappealing prospect of rubbing shoulders with the hordes any time I want fresh air or to watch the ocean then it's money well spent.

I always have local currency when visiting another country. I'm fortunate to have a good currency exchange with fair rates not far from home. Otherwise I accept that the price of convenience is a poor rate at an exchange or ATM at the airport.

A balcony is mandatory when we cruise. I've never found it too windy or two cold. It may be equally windy or cold on deck but the balcony ensures I have my own space far removed from the teeming hordes of humanity fighting over deck chairs or whining about the weather.

The first time is a friendly no thank-you. The second time is a less friendly no thank-you, a mention that this is the second time they've asked and a request not to return. There has not been a third time.

People with a vicarious desire to see sites of great devastation deserve to be called out. When you do backpedaling usually follows.