Mups
I have no intention of letting it upset me.
It is all down to ignorance and jealousy 
Cruising is still my idea of a holiday in hell, but to each his own. I’m sure you will enjoy it as it’s what you want.
I’ve been to a lot of the places mentioned in this thread without having to go on a cruise, so no need for me to start now 
Like you I have travelled a lot but had heard from an anti cruise friend she enjoyed her cruise which actually surprised me. I think I will try it. My only concern is it is not too claustrophobic 
Horses for courses, as someone already said.
Cruises don’t appeal to me one tiny bit but I know people who love them.
There again I love opera and some hate it, some like fishing and the thought makes me zzzzzzzzzz, some love F1 motor racing but it bores the pants off me.
But I would say that the places you visit and the things you do, Pompeii and Vesuvius for instance, judging by the photos posted here, can just as easily be seen and done on a holiday to the place rather than a visit off a cruise ship. But of course you have to do the organising yourself. I guess this is the attraction for many that it’s all taken care of for you.
That was just on one day out of a13 night cruise ruthio. You also get the history from the tour guide.
Gotta say cruising does not appeal but I admit I’ve never done it so should not have a closed mind.
Think I’d prefer to pick a destination - say Fiji - and spend 2-3 weeks there.
Better chance of gaining some genuine insight into the place and the people than the tourist facade which I suspect cruise operators provide during a fleeting few hours ashore.
My mother’s been on a dozen or more cruises and I smile politely as she tells her tales
(and give praise to Allah that I was not there) 
Once flew to New Zealand for a business meeting.
Never left Auckland airport and flew back to Australia after two hours.
Does that qualify me as an international traveler ?
I have only been on the one round Ireland and on European river cruises, and realise you see places in a very different light when you go by public transport.
You know where you’ll be sleeping that night, i.e. in your own cabin (without having to keep packing and unpacking), but you don’t know where you’ll be sleeping that night as you don’t know whether there’ll be a view, and if so what sort of view.
I wouldn’t go on the sort of cruise where you don’t land anywhere for days on end.
I have only done one cruise, and yes I enjoyed it, but I don´t want to do another. I like to go exploring and a few hours here and there in different places really doesn´t give time for that. We do know many people who love cruising and at this moment in time friends of ours are on a Caribbean cruise, their third one, they love it, but it isn´t for me. I haven´t done package type holidays for years now, I book flights and hotels and the “sightseeing” I sort out when we arrive wherever we are going. We normally book a car and driver to take us where we want to go, that way we get as long as we like in the places we visit, no rushing back to get the tourist coach, often it has worked out cheaper too.
Closest to a cruise ive got, is several trips around the Farne Islands.
Some interesting and possibly misguided comments coming through from those who have never cruised. Perhaps I can widen understandings.
The notion that you can visit the same destinations as a cruise via say flying and get a better experience that way is not correct. Yes you can fly and stay in one place for 1-2 weeks but it is a completely different experience. Let me compare.
On a flight out to say Spain you will have to go through the typical sheep herding experience at the airport. You will be required to arrive hours before you fly and so have to hang around in the “captive audience” cafes and lounges. You’ll be hugely restricted in terms of baggage and pay significant premiums if you are overweight. You’ll have to endure a flight in a tiny seat crammed in like sardines with crappy food. At the other end you’ll be hanging around in another airport waiting for baggage to come off the plane. By this time you’ve spent the best part of a day and will be ready to just get to your apartment or hotel and unpack and chill.
If you cruise, you will drive your car right up to the port terminal where waiting porters will take your baggage from you and the car park company will take your car. You walk into the terminal and within about 30 mins you are at the booking-in kiosks showing your tickets and passports then straight from there through customs x-ray check and onto the ship. That’s it ! From arriving in the car you are on the ship and free to roam within 30min to 1hr and your holiday starts right there. You can relax in any of the lounges with a glass of bubbly and have a lovely meal. The ship won’t sail until 5pm most likely but you have all day at your leisure. No waiting in airports, no uncomfortable flights, no baggage collection. And talking of baggage, you have NO RESTRICTIONS. You can take 4-5 suitcases if you wish, ladies take all the shoes and dresses you want, all your hair curlers etc. At 5pm everyone will be out on deck for the sailaway waving to the quayside, often with a brass band to play you off.
Those who chose to fly will have to find their way to an apartment or hotel or be transported there if part of a package. On a cruise you are straight there in your 4-5 star floating hotel replete with air-con cabins, lounges, restaurants, bars, casinos, theatres, cinemas, shops, coffee shops, libraries, computer rooms, ballrooms, sunlounging decks, outside walking prom decks and so on.
In terms of seeing the sights the experiences are totally different. If you fly you are usually in one place for the duration of your holiday. Whilst you can hire cars, take buses and taxis to explore, you are pretty much in one place. And I concede that this lets you sample that one country/place in far more depth than any cruise. You can sample lots of the local food in different restaurants, you can see more parts of that place and see more people.
On a cruise however you get variety. Whilst the flier will sit in Spain for 2 weeks, the cruiser will call in at Spain on day 2-3 (prob Cadiz) and spend a day there, then spend a couple of days at sea, then a day in Naples, then days in Corfu, Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor and then on the way back, call in at Malta then Gibraltar and then home. Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta etc, what variety !
Let me also make clear that sailing into some of these places is a unique experience that fliers will never have. Sailing into Venice early morning as the mist rises is magical. The Cathedral dome slowly appears out of that mist and St Marks tower. The ship being so tall towers over the buildings so you get a unique view of the terracotta tops and bell towers that you would otherwise never see. You sail right past the palace and St Marks Square and round to the back of Venice to berth. It is a breath taking sail-in.
If you cruise to the Fjords you will sail through the most picturesque waterways with towering rocks and tumbling waterfalls, twisting and turning jagged corners to your destination.
If you cruise to Lisbon, Portugal you will sail down the river past many important landmarks and finally sail under the magnificent “April 25th” suspension bridge.
All these “sail-ins” are unique and afford views and experiences you will never have if you fly into local airports.
Once actually at any of these varied destinations you are free to do whatever you wish. You can just walk off the ship and roam at your leisure, you can take a local bus, train, tram or taxis somewhere, or you can take an organised ship’s tour, of which there are many. Mostly I just do my own thing. I know the places I go to now, I have my favourite cafes and restaurants and have no need of tours and taxis. You go at your own pace, whatever that is. All you have to remember is to get back to the ship before it sails again. The visits are fleeting being just 1 day in each country port (very occasionally an overnight 2 day stay) but you get a taste and flavour of many different countries.
I willingly concede that in some places I wish I could stay longer and here the fly holiday scores. In Spain for example, I always wish I could buy some of the beautiful fruit and vegetables in their immaculate markets. On a cruise you could buy and enjoy the fruit but not the veg.
Overall though, the sheer hassle of flying and being herded about is overwhelmingly trumped by a cruise by being able to drive up to the quayside, drop off baggage and car and walk straight onto the ship where your holiday immediately begins. For those with infirmities, wheelchairs etc you are looked after brilliantly on a cruise and there will be tours organised that suit you. Lots of people take their own electric scooters on the ship.
Definitely worth trying at least once for the experience but be warned it is very addictive.
Very interesting article. I definately would give it a try. I am never put off by negative comments. Our problem is we already live in Spain so our dilemma starts. Is it worth us flying back to UK etc. It is deciding what suits us best and destination.
Sounds great being stuck on board with hundreds of people ill with norovirus, when I could be up over the mountains in a open top 4x4 enjoying the reason why I am there in the first place.
Who wants to be herded about like sheep by a tour guide, have people no imagination of their own and a roaming spirit to explore.
Duke you can get that visiting your local hospital
Interesting post Realist, not necessary to quote it in full yet again!
Funny you should mention being herded about at airports, I’ve always imagined that a cruise meant plenty of herding when visiting cities. Not to mention the anxiety of not getting back to the ship in time if you’ve taken off to explore on your own!
Then there’s norovirus…
Most day cruise tours are limited to the number of people . So lets get that clear. Second it is a great way is getting a taster of a country before deciding to go there on holiday.
Third a tour guide does not “herd you like sheep” that is pure ignorance talking. he maximum number of people on such day trips I have been on is less than 13, hardly a herd
Quote “Sounds great being stuck on board with hundreds of people ill with norovirus” unquote
I have never heard such crap coming from someone who claims to know it all yet never been on a cruise.
Everyone please ignore this ignorant person he is just out to stir things up and a trouble maker on forums
Norovirus can be picked up anywhere visiting a sick friend in hospital. I find comments interesting and some cruises spend more than one day in port. I certainly would consider it.
Nope no herding during city visits. The ships usually dock in the morning anywhere from 6am-9am. People come and go as they please at whatever time suits them. Plenty of people will have breakfast on-board ship before wandering off at their leisure around 10-11am. Many do that to wait for shops to be open anyway. People are getting on and off the ship constantly throughout the day. You can do it as many times as you like.
This is simple planning and time keeping. There is only anxiety if you have chosen to do something you are not familiar with and don’t know or understand the local bus/train timetables. In general I just walk off into the local cities so never that far from the ship. The ship puts on Shuttle buses between the ship and the main city centre drop off point and they run continuously through the day. So you hop on and hop off at your leisure.
To miss the ship sailing you would have to have travelled a significant distance from the ship and run into traffic problems or other delays. Even so you would have had to not build any contingency time into your planned schedule which would be silly.
If I travel far afield, I take a ship’s tour which guarantees that you will get back in time. Even so a day in port is plenty of time to travel and see things. I’ve called in at the port of Naples, walked 30 mins to the main train station, bought a 6 Euro ticket to Sorrento (quite a few miles away) and enjoyed the train journey past Vesuvius and Pompeii and had a lovely day in Sorrento’s narrow streets and shops
and returned back no problem at all.
This is a media hyped situation and completely misleading. There is many times more prevalence of Norovirus and similar gastro-intestinal bugs on-shore than on cruises. Hospitals and schools figure the most high. I’ve done some 25 cruises and Norovirus has been reported on at least 5-6 of those. When it is reported, when the numbers reach a certain limit within a certain timescale, everything changes on-board. The Salt & Pepper shakers are removed from dining tables and replaced with personal sachets, hand gels are enforced on entry to restaurants, crew members are out constantly wiping down hand rails, lifts and door handles with disinfectant etc. The situation is taken VERY seriously, and is a world away from a hospital or school where such bugs run rife and often unchecked.
In those 25 cruises, despite having some cases of Norovirus on board I have only ever caught the bug once and then I treated myself and was fine within 12 hours. The reason for this is that I take my health seriously and am not blasé about things. I don’t touch handrails or lift buttons or other well used things. I wash my hands constantly and properly. It’s common sense really.
Well I don’t generally do tours unless I want to travel very far afield from the ship to get to a specific place. I just get out there and do my own thing, either walking or via bus/taxi etc. I did take a “Bike Glide” trip in Alicante once which was fabulous. They drove us up to the top of a tall mountain and gave us mountain bikes and let us gently coast down the winding roads back to the bottom, roads like you see on James Bond movies with breath-taking views.
Then they took us back up again and we coasted down the other side of the mountain before then being taken to a local taverna for lunch and wine.
You can also do 4x4 jeep trips, city cycling and all manner of other activities. You pick and choose as you wish. There’s no herding TBH. If you take a coach trip then you simply board a coach and then go off and do your own thing when you get there and then return to the coach later. If you want a tour guide for the duration then you just select that type of tour. Each to their own.
Please do not refer to me as ignorant and a forum trouble maker for not sharing your views, it just makes you sound stuck-up and very ignorant. The very reason why I would not share and dine at your table on a cruise and would pay £500 to charity not to have to do so, and that is not trouble making that is the truth.
Wife has just confirmed that 260 passengers and crew have fallen ill with the Norvirus on the cruise liner Balmoral. In todays news, so much for my ignorance of the facts.
As for airport waiting, not if you pay the extra and get fast tracked though to the luxury of the holding lounge.
Then if Cruising is your pleasure then fine with me, but not really the great snob pleasure some imagine it to be however, in my opinion.
Come on folks I listen to all views. I saw the article as well. Same thing can happen at beach resorts or city breaks. I just fancy a change. Realist has taken the time to write an extensive review. I found it interesting We are not all going to agree but appreciate your comments as well.
Couldn’t agree more Goldi, some great posts on this thread and some enlightening points of view.