about luxury cruisers ;-)

[Floridiana]

True or not? "Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world. That is its purpose, the reason why luxury cruises and great hotels are full of fatheads who, when they express an opinion, seem as though they are from another planet."

 

Paul Theroux wrote this in "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star". Personally I believe that he is somewhat right. Some of the requests made by cruisers seem infantile to me, they ask for a certain soda pop, their brand of whisky and their Greek yoghurt to give 3 examples.

 

What do you think? Do we behave like toddlers with our requests and expectations of everything being just so, and if it isn't we throw ourselves on the floor and scream? (letters or complaint, whining on cc)

[wripro]

I'm not touching this one with a ten foot pole!!!

[Keith1010]

False.

[Floridiana]

False.

 

Why?

 

@wripro :D

 

If I posted this on specific luxury cruise line boards, I could get predictable results. I think that cruising attracts people who do not like to step outside their comfort zone. Not all of them, of course.

[Keith1010]

If you do not want to get out of your comfort zone stay home.

 

I do travel on luxury lines but have seen os much of the world first hand through my travels and that includes many countries that very few people visit.

 

Have I seen it or experienced it all? Of course not.

 

But I have learned a big lesson over the years.

 

And that is that the world is not black and white.

 

Generalities like the one you made in your post is the mistake that people make.

 

Thankfully I don't generalize, and don't wear blinders.

 

Keith

[Floridiana]

Well, tell Paul Theroux.

[tv24]

Well, tell Paul Theroux.

 

What's his address?

[Floridiana]

The publisher doesn't print his address. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

 

Keith1010,

No need to get upset. Obviously cruisers go out of their comfort zone if you define comfort zone as home. My definition includes familiar amenities, services, food and drink. Many comments and reviews on cc have led me to the conclusion that lots of people complain when things are different than expected. Paul Theroux is very critical of this mindset, but not everybody can do the type of travel he enjoys, sometimes very dangerous.

[frantic36]

True or not? "Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world. That is its purpose, the reason why luxury cruises and great hotels are full of fatheads who, when they express an opinion, seem as though they are from another planet."

 

Paul Theroux wrote this in "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star". Personally I believe that he is somewhat right. Some of the requests made by cruisers seem infantile to me, they ask for a certain soda pop, their brand of whisky and their Greek yoghurt to give 3 examples.

 

What do you think? Do we behave like toddlers with our requests and expectations of everything being just so, and if it isn't we throw ourselves on the floor and scream? (letters or complaint, whining on cc)

 

I'll bite.

 

I have watched some of Paul Theroux's documentaries and enjoyed most of it. However this statement is a generalisation. It all depends on the person and not anything else.

 

I read various cruise boards and see complaints about minor irritants on all cruise line levels. For example I have read of almost riots on some mass market cruise lines because of missed ports due to weather, food demands etc. But I have seen people on my cruises on Seabourn that have made me shake my head in their demands of crew.

 

Generally though most people are lovely to interact with and I think broad brush generalisations are best avoided.

 

Julie

[Floridiana]

I'll bite.

 

Generally though most people are lovely to interact with and I think broad brush generalisations are best avoided.

 

Julie

 

My next trip is going to be with Australians, seriously! I have booked it already. What a lovely response.

[wripro]

I agree completely with Keith. You cannot generalize that because one likes a certain level of quality in one's life one is a fathead. There are just as many fatheads on Carnival or RCCL as on Crystal and Seabourn. In fact, we don't even need to tell Paul Theroux. In one of his books, where he goes from one end of the Med to the other entirely by sea, he spent one full week on Seabourn and loved it. So I guess he's a fathead too.

[Floridiana]

That travel book is on my list. I'll report in a few weeks or months whether his portraits are 'tinged with malice' as one reviewer wrote. :)

[Keith1010]

The publisher doesn't print his address. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

 

Keith1010,

No need to get upset. Obviously cruisers go out of their comfort zone if you define comfort zone as home. My definition includes familiar amenities, services, food and drink. Many comments and reviews on cc have led me to the conclusion that lots of people complain when things are different than expected. Paul Theroux is very critical of this mindset, but not everybody can do the type of travel he enjoys, sometimes very dangerous.

 

I am not upset at all.

 

I just have a different opinion.

 

Keith

[cruisr]

I have met people who should not be allowed to have a passport as they are such poor travelers. They want everything to be just like at home. Why bother leaving. they want everything in English and they want everybody they meet to speak English, these type of people are possibly the ones that the author is referring to. Maybe this type of person is attracted to a cruise (luxury or otherwise) because that style of vacation is what they are looking for. It doesn't stretch them at all or make them come out of their comfort zone,

 

They can have everything in English and get the familiar food they may want. They can step off a ship, run back onboard again and say they have been to Casablanca or where ever and brag to their friends back home. Sad really.

 

Luckily these type of people are in the minority on cruises but they do exist. I have seen them.

[Floridiana]

cruisr,

I have seen them too. :eek:

 

I 've now read Paul Theroux's chapter on his Seaborne cruise through the Mediterranean. He describes the food lovingly, especially the desserts. The crew pampers the passengers as if they were on a private yacht. The passenger list reads like the first class list on the Titanic. When he leaves the ship in Istanbul, he feels as if he is expelled from paradise.

 

The Greek, however, get a bad rap: the soothing luxury of the ship is preferable to the vendors' harangue in the ports. So yes, he enjoyed his cruise experience more than the ports. He was a cruiser, not an intrepid traveler like on his other voyages on local trains and busses.

[dorisis]

For years I was a traveler, now that I am very old, I am a cruiser. They are two very different experiences.

[Floridiana]

Throughout Theroux's book, Seaborn is spelled with an additional e at the end. By the way, he was on the Spirit 20 years ago.

 

dorisis,

You are right. The adventurous, 'lets just go' travel of my twenties is not possible any more. I slept on ferry floors, in train seats, in a VW beetle, and in hay lofts. One rented room had a honey bucket instead of a toilet. In one house, water was taken from an old fashioned fairy tale well in the courtyard. When I was sick, I recovered fast and still looked young in the morning. I never had back pain, but my grandpa complained of sciatica.

[Travelcat2]

Throughout Theroux's book, Seaborn is spelled with an additional e at the end. By the way, he was on the Spirit 20 years ago.

 

dorisis,

You are right. The adventurous, 'lets just go' travel of my twenties is not possible any more. I slept on ferry floors, in train seats, in a VW beetle, and in hay lofts. One rented room had a honey bucket instead of a toilet. In one house, water was taken from an old fashioned fairy tale well in the courtyard. When I was sick, I recovered fast and still looked young in the morning. I never had back pain, but my grandpa complained of sciatica.

 

Are you referring to the book or the cruise line? The cruise line is not spelled "Seaborn" or "Seaborne" -- it is Seabourn.

 

After years of international traveling, we started cruising with Regent. It did spoil us. Very few luxury travelers, IMO, live the way they do on luxury cruise lines. We do not have a butler, a cook, or even someone to clean our house. We are happy to do that ourselves. When we are on vacation, we do want luxury - a large suite - superior food, etc. However, during the day, we are not prissy in any way. As I like to tell my friends that do camping........ I'm happy to be active - get dirty or muddy doing various things in different places. However, at the end of the day, I want a good mattress, food and a shower.

 

P.S. When someone mentioned the luxury cruise lines, they failed to mention Silversea. While not up to Regent quality, they are very good.