Comments on: Why cruising for people who don’t do cruising still doesn’t appeal

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:18:39 +0000

Wow, thanks Maxine. Very dramatic article. Like you say, a great piece of writing. I’d need to go on a cruise to have the experiences that this writer endured that stimulated such strong emotions. I don’t suppose he’ll be cruising again anytime soon
Thanks for sharing this.

By: Maxine Sheppard

Maxine Sheppard — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:19:09 +0000

Andy, have you ever read the David Foster Wallace essay ‘A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again’? [Or Shipping Out, as its title was in Harpers magazine.] An amazing piece of writing which I’m pretty sure will cement your position if you were wavering! You can read it online here… it’s pretty long but worth every second.
http://harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

By: Luther

Luther — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:28:38 +0000

Might I propose a third category, the Reluctant Cruiser. Specifically, “doesn’t really want to go but promised a friend for her 40th”.

I’d do a cargo ship run from Calais to Tauranga in a heartbeat yet I find the idea of 29 days aboard the Sapphire Princess quite terrifying. I expect it’ll be like a Riu hotel: tropical, full of inappropriately-dressed Germans, and a huge but monotonous buffet.

As for the destinations, that’s where I can exert a little control. Rather than being herded like cattle around faux tribal ceremonies, we’re studying Princess’ tours and cherry-picking the things we think look interesting and doing them ourselves. Or just finding a good quiet restaurant with a view. Some might view the brief time in port as restrictive: I view it as a challenge. How many cool/interesting/novel/different things can I cram into 8 hours?

By: ayngelina

ayngelina — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:41:33 +0000

I’m totally with you, the idea of cruising doesn’t appeal to me at all.

By: Ali

Ali — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:09:16 +0000

The only cruise I’ve ever been on was an Antarctica cruise so there were no casinos, less frills in general, 350 passengers… So it wasn’t exactly typical but still not my thing. I totally agree with you on this. I feel like cruises are too much of being on someone else’s schedule, too many thing you miss by running through a city in an afternoon & not spending at least one night there, not enough options. Great post, I loved your comparison with the experiment. I’m saying seven too.

By: Why the try everything once mentality is nonsense « Grumpy Traveller

Why the try everything once mentality is nonsense « Grumpy Traveller — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:36:34 +0000

[...] Jarosz of 501places.com wrote a beautiful post the other day about cruises. To sum up, despite people that there’s a cruise for everyone, he [...]

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:09:19 +0000

Thanks again for the many illuminating comments (Helena, I’m also interested in the St Helena boat – it sounds like a great adventure!)

I should declare that I did take two river boat trips in Laos last year – one for two days and one for three. The three day one was accommodated, with nice (if not plush) cabins. I enjoyed the company, enjoyed the visits to villages, the good food, waking up to see the life on the river, etc etc etc. But by the third day I was very pleased to wave goodbye and get back on the open road again with my backpack happily on my back.

By: Helena

Helena — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:48:48 +0000

When my son’s all growed up I’m going to do the post/cargo ship to St Helena!

By: Tom Volpe

Tom Volpe — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:41:05 +0000

I can understand your reticence over the idea of cruising, I am also of an independent turn of mind and don’t generally enjoy following someone else’s itinerary. Having said that, the idea of travelling without the packing and unpacking (my least favourite part of the process) is very appealing! I have never done a ‘cruise’ cruise but did do a sailing trip in Croatia which was on a smaller boat and a little less formal than I would imagine a cruise would be. That was actually really good fun! I wrote a post about it here if you are interested http://www.headingthere.co.uk/Blog/?p=72

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:07:46 +0000

I can understand why cruises are a total turn-off to many solo travelers. There are quite a few downsides to cruises, especially if you are the type of traveler who dislikes crowds, tourist attractions, and operating on a set schedule.

However, I can see things from the other angle, too. I’ve been on a few cruises. And while I definitely prefer other modes of travel, I can’t totally discount cruising as a vacation option, especially when it comes to traveling with the whole family.

I recently went on an Alaskan cruise with my family, and realized that it was the perfect vacation for us — something for everyone, and not 24 hours of forced togetherness each day. Read about it here if you’re curious: http://dangerousbusiness.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/making-a-case-for-cruises-why-they-make-good-family-vacations/