Staying on board

[Ereggae]

Stayed on board for the first time last month and basically had the pool, spa and services to ourselves.  Beware, the so-called "duty free" prices on board as they are quite inflated.  Found a bottle of alcohol in St. Maarten for $40 versus $54 on board.  If you need to make such purchases, best to get off for a bit then go back on board, unless you want to use up your on board credits.

[Sascol]

On ‎4‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 2:52 PM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

I'm sure there are - especially in the Caribbean where a lot of people are BTDT but love cruising.

 

 

BTDT?

[Sascol]

On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 9:53 AM, tallnthensome said:

I feel sorry for those who sail to places they have been to so many times that they feel it's not worth getting off the ship? Why bother going?

 

Really??  Many cruise for the ship - not for the destinations.  The ship in and of itself offers things to do and a level of relaxation you will not get at home or on land based resorts. 

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, Sascol said:

 

BTDT?

Been There Done That. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

12 minutes ago, Sascol said:

 

BTDT?

 

8 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Been There Done That. 

 

Thanks @davekathy! I was doing bussing at school and not on my phone.

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

 

Thanks @davekathy! I was doing bussing at school and not on my phone.

Anytime. 

[villauk]

48 minutes ago, Quo Vadis? said:

Just the ones from Portugal.. 😁

 

 

Well, I did think it was a little bit of an exaggeration to say most ports, there must be hundreds if not thousands all over the world (no doubt someone will post now that they only have 2 left in the world to make a full house) 🤭. As the saying goes, ‘whatever floats your boat’ 😉.

[grandgeezer]

On 4/28/2019 at 12:11 PM, OCruisers said:

 

Even when you retire, you might still just enjoy the cruise to cruise ... not really to travel. We do!  

 

Before we retired we went lots of places (Europe, Med, South America, etc. etc.) basically to see them as well as doing the fun water things in the Caribbean.

 

As time has gone by all we WANT to do are take cruises to the Caribbean and enjoy being on the ship!  

 

We have been retired for awhile and come to the realization that there is no longer a draw to cruising. We live in Arizona so getting way from the weather isn't a concern. We don't work so getting away from a stressful job doesn't trigger anything.

Even though money isn't a factor the value for the cost is. 

No crowds or chair hogs at the pool, we just walk out the patio door and we're there. Drinks are practically free compared to on the ship. Yes, I have to get my own but I don't have to sign for them.

Food: We fire up the barbie just about every night. Sitting by the pool, with a cold one in my hand, tending the grill, it doesn't get any better than that. My wife is a great cook and loves to do so. There are dozens of restaurants, less than fifteen minutes from our house, so we have plenty of choices. We have a handful of favorites that we go to knowing we'll get great food and great service every time, at a fair price. The best part being that it doesn't take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to eat. We feel the food in the MDR is fairly good most of the time so we don't fall into their trap of booking specialty restaurants. The bottom line is that we would not frequent any of the restaurants on a ship if they were land based establishments near us

This is as stress free as you can get for peanuts a day compared to cruising.  We just got back from Vegas Saturday. We stayed at a hotel, on the strip,and and only ate twice a day, (none at the hotel), like we normally do at home. We drove and went with our son and daughter in law, and split the cost of gas. Not counting gambling, which we did very little, the total cost came to about $130 p.p. per day, including transportation. Worth every penny of it.  In comparison when we cruise, since we have to fly to every port to catch the ship, the airfare, hotel, meals, and taxi runs us well over $1000, depending on where we stay and when we go. Add the cost of the cruise and the value for the vacation is in the toilet.

We still cruise occasionally, but it's in a suite and not Celebrity, strictly on cost. It's a lot more money but, for us, the value is there.

 

[Muffinz]

on our Great Barrier Reef Cruise on Solstice last year we got talking to a couple of ladies at the OVC one lunch and they said they were not getting off the ship at all - said they have already been to the ports that we were stopping at and they just wanted to relax and stay on the ship....

[Marelaine]

On 4/28/2019 at 9:53 AM, tallnthensome said:

I feel sorry for those who sail to places they have been to so many times that they feel it's not worth getting off the ship? Why bother going? To those that stay on board saying there is nothing to see makes me want to laugh! You actually paid to go to places you've been to before and paid for "nothing to see"? With all the places to sail to in the world I'd never let my vacations and cruise experience sink to that level ...... We strive for new ships and as many new ports in the world as we can and if there is a repeat port then there are many excursions (ship or private) that can take you to new places for new experiences. If I have to save more money to get somewhere we have never been then that is what we will do. I'd never in a million years pay Celebrity prices to simply sail a western caribbean that I have sailed so many that I  just stay on board ..... Awful waste of money in my opinion ......

 

That's your philosophy. I don't judge how other people enjoy their vacations. Some may just be happy to meet new people onboard, relax, enjoy the amenities and you can't beat the view. My husband and I usually choose one port to stay on board to do just that. It's lovely, quiet and all the amenities are there for us to enjoy without waiting in line. For all the other ports, we book excursions, but we like to enjoy one quiet day on the ship.