Should I go on a cruise?

And also whether sea sickness is a big issue. I generally do not suffer from motion sickness but have never been on a boat long enough to see whether this might be a problem especially when it is rough

The best thing is it's a complete rest. Everything is done for you. You don't even have to turn down your own sheet to get into bed!

I do get very seasick so would suggest an enclosed sea for the first go. Baltic cruise maybe.

We went on a ‘Taster Day’ with a cruise line down in Southampton, we had a guided tour of the ship an excellent lunch in one of the restaurants and were able to ask lots of questions. FYI, apparently the lower down you are in the ship the less likely you are to get seasick.
I will never find out because my husband still hates the idea of a cruise, but the friends that came with us on our taster day, are on their 5 th cruise!

It has never appealed to me as i think I would feel trapped with the same faces every day and a bit claustrophobic shut in a cabin at night I need open windows and doors. If those things don't bother you I'm sure they can be enjoyable.

My friend won’t fly, so they cruise every year, and love it. They also like to dress up, so love the dinners! She also likes the first day or so ‘at sea’, because she says it forces her to chill by the pool.

We did try it once, and it was fine that we could eat as formally or as informally as we liked. It was nice to see a lot of places, but I prefer to spend more time in a particular place, so I imagine it would be a good way to see which places you’d like to go back to. I also found it kind of restricting to have to be back at the ship for a certain time.

There is a programme on ITV called The Cruise: Return to the Mediterranean which was interesting.

There have been many threads on this subject and there are many Gransnetters who are fans of cruises. A good compromise, or cruise for beginners, would be a river cruise. Here, too, there have been lots of discussions around Gransnet - try the "Travel" forum.

Thank you and I had not thought of a river cruise to start off with. I do like the idea of not having to think about anything for the whole trip though

Tanith if you have a cabin with a balcony you can leave the sliding doors ajar. I'm pretty sure a lot of outside cabins have opening windows too.
We like cruising as it's so relaxing, sit back, enjoy excelent food, great entertainment and see different countries without the hassle of trains and planes.
As for being 'trapped seeing the same faces every day' IMHO this dosen't happen, especially on the larger ships. Where a lot of the time you only see familiar faces at meal times.
Sorry tanith please don't think I'm having a dig. As we know, one size does not fit all

DH and are are trying our first cruise this summer. We are looking forward to it immensely. We chose an 8 day cruise to the Norwegian Fjords with a smaller cruise line. I can't wait, roll on August.??

I forgot to say hildajenni, that I would really like to cruise the fjords.
I think on ‘ Cruising with Jane Macdonald’ she cruised fjords ( or maybe it was Alaska!) It should be on catch up.

The fjords would be wonderful - thankyou for all your comments

We went on our first sea cruise this year. We had previously been down the Nile and loved it. We went to the Norwegian Fjords which were beautiful. The ship, however, I found just like an enlarged cross canal ferry boat. We went with Holland America so very luxurious and the food was excellent but I hated being surrounded by people all the time except when we were in our cabin and you dont want to have to stay in your cabin all the time. As others have said you either love it or hate it. I can see as we get older it may be an option to see places and not have the worry of packing and unpacking but this year we have booked to go to Lake Garda with a company that includes a few trips. It will be on dry land. I should also say we found the excursions and the drinks extremely expensive which was of course added onto the huge cost of the cruise itself.

Firstly, join up and get daily e mails from Cruise Nation. They do great "deals", we have used them 3 times and the prices are brilliant. Secondly, look for itineraries that don't have too many sea days, there is a limited amount of entertainment available and i would hate to get bored. Thirdly, look up people's views of cruise lines in Cruise Critic, at least get a flavour of the line/ship you might be contemplating. My advice would be to sail on a deal with Cunard. Lovely ships and they know how to do service.

Happy hols! ?

I have a good friend who adores cruising. I think I'd hate trying to see a lovely city in one day. Horses for courses.

Cruises can be wonderful. You are taking your hotel to different cities. You only have to pack once. The service is top notch. The food is wonderful. We've done 8 cruises and have seen so many places we'd never dreamed of seeing.

We've done 4 cruises and can't wait for the 5th. We both dislike the idea of an inside cabin, so always go for one with a balcony, and I love the escape it gives us when you don't want to be with lots of people.

The cruises have given us ideas of where we'd like to spend more time, but the excitement of new day/new city is always fun.

You really should give it a try, they are good fun.

If you are worried about sea-sickness, try a canal trip somewhere in Europe, you are not on the open sea, or only for a very short time. You can find canal cruises in the Netherlands, Germany and France.

If you are travelling on your own book a cruise with assigned seating at dinner. That way you will be sure to get to know People and make friends

I understand from someone who regularly goes on one, that Saga cruises are very good especially for singles. The more you pay the better it is of course.

The worst seasoicknes I have ever had was on a large ferry from Gotland to Stockholm in the Baltic. Spent 4 hours with my head down the loo!

Have been on two. The second confirmed my original view not to bother again. Had nothing to complain about but it depends on what you want to get out of travel. Cruising is sanitised, safe and ultimately boring. I found it claustrophobic.

If you're unsure about ocean going try river cruise. Have done both. The River cruises can berth so much closer to the big cities, can often walk in when you like. Have just done a Rhine..we walked into Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf, also Amsterdam. Had a music theme and went to New Year concert in Amsterdam. Was brilliant. Picked up coach in Folkestone which took us to Cologne and boat. Easy.

I an fully with Taniths point. I would hate being contained on a ship with hundreds of others following the on shore tourguides is just not what I would want to do.

When I was in Madiera with a small group on geology trip,
we encountered those massive liners in the harbour.
They really put me off a proper cruise. It was the time it took for the passengers to get off these huge cruise liners. The passengers were clattering down the gang ways and into the clutches of the on shore tour touts.

I would be bored out of my mind. OMG they might even have bingo sessions.

"I joined the "cruise ship" to see the world, and what did I see. I saw the sea.

I don’t think it’s a case of love it or hate it. We’ve just been on two, Alaska and New Zealand, both places we thought we’d get round better by ship. For us, the loves were the food and service in the formal dining rooms (fabulous), the crew, some of the entertainment and exercise classes (tai chi on a moving ship’s quite the experience ), packing and unpacking just the once, walking round the deck and looking out to sea (it’s surprising how quiet it often is out there - another underused spot if you want to escape is the library) and the check in, so much easier and quicker than an airport. The hates were more for the second cruise - we were practically the youngest onboard and there was a significant number of braggers and boasters (no, we’re not impressed that it’s your 90th cruise and you live in the best country in the world, whichever you think it is!), the buffets, where you see plates piled up high with food that isn’t eaten, the rip-off costs of drinks and some excursions, such as £20 for a coach to town and back, for those who couldn’t manage the 1 mile walk! The good outweighed the bad, and we’d definitely go on a cruise again, but I’d check out reviews and stop offs carefully. 6 hours or so was about right for each town in Alaska, but I wouldn’t want to be herded round Rome in that time. We spent 4 days there when we went and could have done with longer.