Cruising. Anyone do the BIG luxury cruise ships ?

[tyred]

I do like being on board a ship but I don't think a cruise like that would be for me. I couldn't consider it a holiday.

Where would I ride my bike and where could I pitch my tent?

I have always felt the same about cruises as I do about coach trips. I've cycled a lot in coastal area and in Summer at the famous beauty spots you tend to get bus loads of tourists that arrive and park up and about fifty people jump off the bus and take a quick photo or two and then board the bus again and go somewhere else. I prefer to travel under my own steam and have freedom to do as I please and not have anything too regimented but I guess everyone is different.

I do have an interest in the great ocean liners of old but I would have taken more enjoyment from having a detailed look around the engine room than I would have done from sitting in a posh dining room

 

[CanucksTraveller]

The dancing is much livelier down there.

Plus if you're lucky you get to see / draw Kate Winslet's unmentionables, I understand.

 

[MichaelW2]

One holiday in Madeira I took a cruise on a very big old wooden sailing ship, it was built for some American tycoon to race in the Americas Cup. Very classy way to travel.

 

[Julia9054]

Book flights and accomodation seperate. Do everything local at destinations

Which is fine until there's a pandemic, one part of your holiday gets cancelled and refunded and your travel insurance refuses to pay out on the other bits that you can't now use without the cancelled bit. Grrrr!

 

[fossyant]

I'm a DIY holiday person. Package holidays do not interest me .
Book flights and accomodation seperate. Do everything local at destinations.
The only water Hols I take are hiring a narrow boat for a up to a week on our wonderful canals , chuck the Bromptons on board and gone. Solitude Bliss. I'm the skipper and my partner is the cabin girl

We've done package hols, which are easy with kids. I'll echo DIY when it's just two of you. Loved Prague for 5 days back in January - booked flights, booked hotel, then planned what we were doing most days, and eating where we wanted in the evenings. Walked 40 miles in 5 days.

 

[vickster]

I’ve always liked a package for 10 days in the sun spring or autumn, easy and cost effective.
Long haul a private or group tour

 

[stephec]

Would be my idea of hell since my ideal holiday involves getting as far away from other people as possible. I know quite a few people who have done the cruise ships as musicians. A good way to make decent money in a short amount of time

On the cruise we did we got talking to a comedian who did a show once a week, he was picked up in Menorca, did a show one night, then he and his wife spent the rest of the week with their feet up, there must be worst ways to earn a living I suppose. 😊

 

[screenman]

The nearest I got to a cruise liner was the QE2, I was doing security at the boarding ladder at Southampton Docks

I used to do security a Southampton Guamont, some good groups as well.

 

[MntnMan62]

I’ve been on two cruises. Once before my wife and I got married with her family. Second time for my parent’s anniversary. Both times I was bored out of my mind. And both were many years ago. No interest in ever going again. The thing about the food isn’t really about how good it is but more about how much of it there is. You can literally eat 24 hours a day. And I can’t stand being cooped up with so many people in such close proximity. My ideal vacation is to get as far away from other people as I can.

 

[Brandane]

OK, about time we had a post in favour of cruise ships (or at least a certain type of cruise ship)...

I would never have chosen a cruise normally, but then along came the fragrant fiancée who won't fly, and cycling to her is a 5mph dawdle along a disused railway path. She had been on a cruise years ago with her then husband (she was widowed at age 50 ), so I agreed to give it a try given that it was with Fred Olsen out of Newcastle on an older fashioned ship (Balmoral) carrying about 800 passengers. I was sceptical, to be honest. But we boarded at lunch time and were ushered into one of the restaurants for a buffet. Well from that point on I was in heaven. The atmosphere was very relaxed, it was never crowded, the ports were fine, food was excellent, fellow passengers (mainly Scots and Geordies) were friendly and completely unpretentious, entertainment was good (especially an ex member of the Drifters - I was one of the 4 "volunteers" dragged onto stage to help out with a rendition of a song, and despite being something of a social phobic, I actually loved it!).
It might have helped that I love being at sea, having spent 3 years in the Merchant Navy on leaving school (cargo ships though, for 6 month trips).

Having said all that in favour, I still wouldn't like to go on one of the floating Benidorm type ships. Each to their own but not for me. As with most activities, there are different types to suit different tastes, and cruise ships are no different. I like cycling but wouldn't want to join a club and go out in a peleton with my head down, backside up, on a trunk road, as some local club cyclists seem to get pleasure from. Horses/courses etc...

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I've been on a cruise, against my better judgement, about 30 years ago. It was dreadful, for the reasons many have listed above.
This year my in-laws had their 60th wedding anniversary and they suggested all the siblings went with them on a cruise (they are big into them). I said I wasn't going, which went down like a lead balloon but Covid cancelled it all in any case.
I'd much rather stay at home.
In fact, I'd much rather find another job, that's how much I detest them.

 

[Notafettler]

I always think of it as being on holiday in a floating Working Mens Club... yuk

Oh god no, I am with you, keep those dirty working class people away from me.

 

[Adam4868]

Worked on a few when younger,spent a couple.of years on the QE2 so a good way to see places I'd never get to and get paid.
They wouldn't be my choice for a holiday but there again I wouldn't say no if it was free.

 

[Jenkins]

Did a week on a small ship going round Norway. It's basically the post ship and stops at every port. Entertainment is limited to a few guides pointing out stuff and organising trips from ports.

Fantastic way to see the coast and we saw the Northern Lights several times. Food was really good but a bit too formal for me - but interesting to meet people.

My mum & stepfather did a slightly longer version of that a few years ago and absolutely loved it, along with a couple of others that they did with Hurtigruten (Voyages of Discovery?) on the smaller ships.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Not luxury..... But pretty big!

The bike got personal attention though....