Cruises? Do you love them/ hate them etc ?

GG13 we looked at signing up for a cruise like that in August, but suddenly there was a flurry of wedding and anniversary party invitations do we decided not. I’d love to know how it goes.

Will report back Mollygo

We’ve been on three cruises - two as add-ons to touring holidays and one, probably my favourite, a great value CMV Baltic cities one, sailing from Newcastle on a small unpretentious ship, to so many interesting places we could just walk into from the dockside. I’m very sorry that CMV have gone under just after we discovered them - we fancied trying their British Isles cruise.

I’m another who’s a bit surprised that people who’ve never been on a cruise have such strong opinions on them (unless it’s for ecological reasons, which I could well understand). We’ve had all sorts of holidays over the years with all sorts of budgets and I wouldn’t knock anything we haven’t tried. For instance, I’d rather stay at home with my creature comforts than holiday in a villa miles from anywhere, but at least I’ve given it a shot.

As others have said, you can always find a quiet corner on a cruise ship. I like to settle down with a book for an hour or so looking out at all the expanse of sea, and I’ve never had a problem finding just the spot. We’ve never paid for a balcony, though I can see the attraction!

Can't get over the nagging feeling that I've read that cruises are terrible for the environment so no matter how potentially enjoyable it was I'd spend my whole time feeling guilty ...

Humptydumpty I understand.
I keep reading the same thing about cars, central heating, use of electricity for powering my technical devices, so I can post on here, using too much water for various purposes and some foods. I could spend my whole life feeling guilty if it wasn’t bad for . . . my blood pressure and my mental health.

We've been on one cruise - up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan and back, stopping off to look at various sites along the way.
our cruise took 7 days, some are shorter which means that the ships race to get to the Edfu locks. Our captain took his time. Having taken 6 days to get up to Aswan, we sailed back overnight and were in Luxor when we awoke.

The Nile was beautiful. Much of it reminded me of the Bible story books that we had as children. Houses made of mud bricks, donkeys turning wheels in order to get water from the Nile for the fields. It was very green. We didn't get to Abu Simbel to see the temples of Rameses because we either had to fly from Aswan at vast expense of a 4 to 5 hour each way coach trip along sandy roads.

There were 150 max guests on our boat so no problems with getting seats on the upper decks. Food was good. The best meals were when they cooked N African food. There were several different nationalities and the chefs did their best. our tour guide told us of some Americans who took several cans of tuna on board and ate tuna sandwiches for most of the trip.

This cruise was one of our best holidays.

News today - Italy is banning cruise shops from the Venice lagoon, at long last.

Or even cruise ships…..but hooray !

We did a Viking cruise that went into Venice a couple of years ago, pre Covid. We spent an extra week there ourselves and we were glad we did because the ship excursions seemed to be very superficial and hurried . Mostly that cruise was excellent, though, round the Mediterranean, Greece, Spain etc. Looking forward to Grannygravy report. There’s nothing like your first cruise, you will always remember it.

We’ve never fancied them, especially not those colossal-ship ones. And if it’s anywhere hot, we much prefer to be in the sea, rather than on it.
We used to holiday in a place that was popular with huge cruise ships - we’d see them arrive early in the morning, when enjoying a walk along a pristine, virtually deserted beach, and leave just as it was getting dark (when we’d be last off the beach and enjoying a sundowner or two) and think how infinitely nicer it was to be where we were, than on that massive thing.

Each to their own, though. Two siblings and their spouses regularly go on cruises, of the smaller-ship sort, and certainly do enjoy them. Except perhaps for a river cruise that Dbro and SiL went on a couple of years ago - he said never again, for reasons I’d better not quote here for fear of being accused of ageism!

Oh, and a Black Sea ditto they also did a few years back - the ship lost power in a storm? and was helplessly tossed about for some time - even my fairly intrepid brother said it was bloody scary!

We went on a Caribbean cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary in 1990. It was a Cunard ship with main meals all waiter service in the restaurant. It was a wonderful experience but the way cruises have evolved and become more popular they appeal less to me, especially since Covid. A friend went on a European river cruise which was expensive but she rated it very highly.

Dinahmo, the Nile is one cruise I could really fancy.
We spent a week in Luxor maybe 20 years ago, with dds and my mother. We had wanted a 2 centre thing with a Nile cruise thrown in, but had left it too late to book.
The week in Luxor was brilliant though.

Dh had formerly spent some time in Cairo on business, and once made me green with envy by phoning to tell me he’d just visited the Giza pyramids at dawn, with not another soul there - he’d bribed the guards to let him in!
I still haven’t seen the Giza pyramids.

Love, love, love cruises. Been on 5 so far. Waking up each day to a new destination , a full day of things to do or not to do, the choice is yours. Restaurants to choose from, posh or informal, lazy days, balmy nights gazing at stars or watching a 'west end' show, sipping cocktails in the 'piano bar', eat when you want, bliss, bliss.

On our last cruise our cabin had a balcony, whoaaaaa i felt i had hit JACKPOT. To wake up and sit on your balcony with a coffee, wonderful..

Won't be booking another for few years and if we decide to call it a day with cruising, we have 5 to reflect back on with happiness .