I'll try anything once, so I might give it a go soon. I think I'd like to go with friends though.
How did you vote and why today
Sign up to Gransnet Daily
Our free daily newsletter full of hot threads, competitions and discounts
Subscribe
GNHQ have commented on this thread. Read here.
Will be going on our 25th cruise in October, first one was in 1995 when our boys were ins school. Our first were on large ships with entertainment for the children. After they did their own thing we discovered smaller, predominantly adult only, ships. To begin with DH was not so enthusiastic for regular cruise holidays but now he's not interested if I suggest anything else. Interesting to know others views.
I'll try anything once, so I might give it a go soon. I think I'd like to go with friends though.
Have only been on one cruise, we had a suite with balcony. Cannot fault the food, service or efficiency of staff.
We enjoyed it, but not sure if cruising on a large ship is for us.
We are looking at river cruises, really like the look of the Doro from Porto.
My one and only from Sydney to Southampton. What a wonderful life experience, would do it again if possible.
Love cruising, though smaller ships or river cruises. Always lovely scenery. Choosing what we want to eat from a lovely menu, visiting places I might never have gone, without having to constantly pack and unpack. No obligation to do anything except relax, unless we choose to do so. Most of all for chance to meet other people, many of whom we have kept in touch with, or met up with again ever since.
Love cruising. Like visiting different places - there's no other way to go on a day trip to San Francisco😊 . Then if you find somewhere you really like you can go back for a longer stay.
But the very best bit is actually being at sea.
Love love them. We get a balcony cabin (( i sound like Im bragging ... Im not )) The staff are sooooo friendly and soooo very helpful. The entertainment is always brilliant, London's West End couldnt do better, the food ohhh my life.... so much choice and perfectly presented. So yes, I love cruises.
😃
We have been on several cruises and enjoyed them all.
Not all ships are massive . No one is subjected to entertainment or anything else. There are plenty of quiet places to be found or on a sea day you can join talks, films , dance, exercise crafts IF you want to.
Of course you don’t get to see a lot of the places you visit but you get a taster.
Most of your travelling is done while you are asleep .
.
Here in Orkney which has a population of about 22,000, we regularly have cruise ships docked in our harbours with over 4,000 passengers, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time often along with smaller vessels carrying about 1,000 too.... They tend to rush back to have their meals on board ship, clog up our small shops but buy little as selected artisans serve them on the quay on arrival, and flood the archeological sites. Although there are bendy buses to ferry them around they also use the local bus service in large numbers so that local people often find they cannot get to and from work on time. Some take photographs of our famous cathedral oblivious that there is a funeral party emerging. I worry about all the waste the vessels must be discharging into our waters too... We have also been receiving letters in our local paper from people who have visited us for decades to say they are not coming back because of the crowds. No I am not a fan.
We’ve been on several, the first on a luxury one where we even had a butler. Then two mediocre cheaper ones by Tui who I would never use again. Lastly we had one on a traditional sailing ship (complete with sails!) to the Caribbean which was amazing. Sadly finances would prevent such adventures now, but they were enjoyable and we visited lots of interesting places as we always booked the land activities. If you can afford it and like the idea then go! There are smaller ships. We always want a balcony. There is nothing like sitting on your own private balcony watching the sun go down over the sea.
Definitely not for me...I would get cabin fever .....and bored ...although I don't mind ferries....and a bit of island hopping
Done all the sea going cruises I want to do and thoroughly enjoyed them. Always chose small ships with minimum at sea days. Now plan to only do river cruises in Europe with no flying involved. Great and unforgettable experiences for me.
eazybee
I daresay I would enjoy it but never had the opportunity.
The people I know who enjoy them are not the sort of people I would want to be shut up on a ship with day after day; all they seem to talk about is the food and the duty free, no mention of any of the places they visit.
All I remember is the interesting places we visited!
lilypollen
I bet you wish you'd never started the thread! What a lot of negative posts.
Yes, I've been on a couple but didn't pay for either of them for different reasons.
It's enjoyable if it's a small ship, I think, but I wouldn't like to go on one of those huge ones.
Whistle-stop tour of places you may never visit otherwise might be very interesting.
I’ve never been on a cruise and I’d hate those huge ships like a floating block of flats. I dislike huge hotel complexes anyway. If I was to go on a cruise , it would be a small ship , river cruise maybe. However I’m not a fan of organised excursions. I prefer to do my own thing.
I'm afraid I would struggle to imagine a worse holiday, its my idea of hell.
I daresay I would enjoy it but never had the opportunity.
The people I know who enjoy them are not the sort of people I would want to be shut up on a ship with day after day; all they seem to talk about is the food and the duty free, no mention of any of the places they visit.
We love River cruises but there is no way that you'd get me on anything bigger.
Not for me, I panic on a cross-channel ferry when I can’t see the coast.
The fast spread of norovirus on a ship would also put me off.
I've considered booking a river cruise. It seems like a good way of getting a "taste" of places you haven't been before. If you enjoy the new places, then you can revisit in the future and explore properly.
But I'd never, ever book one of those ocean cruises on a huge ship like a floating tower block. Don't like crowds; don't enjoy mass activities; once you're aboard and underway, there's no escape if you hate it - except over the side!
Yes, we LOVE cruises. Only the Viking River Cruises, in Europe.
Tunnel over and drive to cruise departure point, except Portugal.
We love the small number of people (150-200), boat size, pretty view cabins, brilliant tables for 2, food choices, and included daily excursions. There are no 'dress-up nights' (wouldn't suit us to dress up to eat).
BlueBelle
My view is I can’t think of anything I d less like to do 😂
Me too. Purgatory - leave the fact that I get seasick watching wobbly TV
Not for me at all. Perhaps one day smaller ship on river cruise- maybe.
Those massive ships are my idea of my worst nightmare, and an ecological disaster.
We have our first cruise booked for next year. With Saga to the Norwegian Fjords. We are going with 2 other couples, long time friends and are really looking forward to the beautiful scenery, lovely food and luxury.
You are not forced into doing anything you don’t want to. Lots of space to just sit and read, watch the scenery and chat with friends with coffee or something stronger.
My sister and her partner have been on lots of cruises and really love it.
What I absolutely hate is the whole flying experience. Herded about in airports, treated like cattle. I will never do that again.
Just as well we are all different.
My sister went on one. Unknown to them, it was the week of a Hell's Angels convention! Oh dear!
Me too Avalon. I saw an advert on tv recently for a cruise ‘with nine hundred and something like minded people’. Nooo! I don’t want to be cooped up with hundreds of other people, be subjected to ‘entertainment’ and have someone latching on to us for the duration! Not our thing at all. We’d much rather stay at home thank you.
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »Get our top conversations, latest advice, fantastic competitions, and more, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.