Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Biggest Waste of Time on a Cruise Ship...

Wilda

By Wilda,
in Ask a Cruise Question

 Share

Recommended Posts

Twice_a_year

Twice_a_year

Posted
Posted
I have to agree in part about MDR's breakfast and lunch. I can't recall the last time I 'wasted time' having breakfast in the MDR, to start with the choices are poor, and I can seldom get anything to eat, other than a Danish, until I have refused a third cup of coffee!!!

Lunch, I enjoy it, IF I HAVE TIME, however it usually takes an hour and a half. Regretfully with so many other things to do in the pm, lunches in the MDR are often few and far between.

Remember this old line,

"We're busy doing nothing working the whole day through,

trying to find all the thing not to do.

We're busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime?

We want to beeeeee unhappy, but, we never do have the time".

 

From a' Yankee in King Arthur's Court.'

 

john

 

Except for river cruises, I don't recall being REQUIRED to eat breakfast or lunch in the MDR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Velvetwater

Velvetwater

Posted
Posted

I think the type and length of the cruise might affect views on this too, especially with the breakfast in the dining room discussion.

 

We forgot to have breakfast in the MDR on our 12 day cruise last year but as our upcoming cruise is 13 days with 7 sea days we will definitely be going to the MDR for breakfast/dinner...well sea day brunch as it is now.

 

If theres good stuff going on the ship itll be a quick bite in the buffet...Im easy.

 

 

I also find it a waste of time for people to sunbathe for hours and hours on holidays and cruises. For one I would get bored (even with a book etc) and as I am fair skinned it is potentially dicing with skin cancer for myself. I love the sun but I would rather hit the pool/slides or court.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
slidergirl

slidergirl

Posted
Posted

These are my entries in the "waste of my cruise time" sweepstakes:

 

bingo/trivia contest/Quest/karaoke/etc...

lounge shows

theater productions

art auctions

port talks

shopping talks

ship's excursions

group excursions

cabin crawls

pool games

fixed meal times

tables with strangers

 

I'm on a cruise to relax, recharge, revive. I'll do my own activities at port, curl up with my ereader and iTunes on board, work out when I decide to..

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr green

mr green

Posted
Posted
For us it would be a three way tie...

 

...port shopping talks...

 

...bingo...

 

...art auctions...

 

I agree. However, I don't know how much money that cruise lines make on the items above, remembe,r it seems that there are 'kick backs' involved with 'shopping talks'. Soooo without these items the cost of our cruises might rise!!!

 

john

Link to comment
Share on other sites
herbanrenewal

herbanrenewal

Posted
Posted
I am posting here because this is the only way it appears that I can post. I never see the "New Thread" button anywhere. I've checked help and all I can find is that I'm supposed to look for a "New Thread" button in the upper right corner.......I am signed in, the site greets me with my user name, invites me to post......................BUT HOW?????????. Sorry for the interruption.

 

if you are in a thread (topic) at the top and bottom of the thread you see Reply to thread.

 

But if you are looking at a board forum, such as the Royal Carribbean forum, or Roll Call forum, you will see New Thread at top or bottom so you can begin a new thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PoppyandNana

PoppyandNana

Posted
Posted
These are my entries in the "waste of my cruise time" sweepstakes:

 

bingo/trivia contest/Quest/karaoke/etc...

lounge shows

theater productions

art auctions

port talks

shopping talks

ship's excursions

group excursions

cabin crawls

pool games

fixed meal times

tables with strangers

 

I'm on a cruise to relax, recharge, revive. I'll do my own activities at port, curl up with my ereader and iTunes on board, work out when I decide to..

:D

 

What the h... is a cabin crawl?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lionesss "Live from...." Rare

Lionesss

Posted
Posted (edited)
What the h... is a cabin crawl?

 

 

A cabin crawl is like a planned moving party, that you visit different categories of cabins on the ship, from people on your roll call.

Some, play poker with a deck of cards, the best hand at the end wins.

Some "Shoot" their favorite drink and are half crocked by the end.

........c...r....a.....w....l...........cause you cannot walk.

The majority now are just to see all the cabins.

Enjoy.

Edited by Lionesss
Link to comment
Share on other sites
LA_CA_GAL

LA_CA_GAL

Posted
Posted
Casinos.

 

Yes I realise how much money they give to industry and how many consider them as part of a holiday experience but seriously...why?

 

 

Without casinos, they would have to find other ways to compensate for the lost revenue, and assuredly, your costs to cruise would increase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted
Sitting in front of a computer, surfing Cruise critic, using slow ship internet.

 

Too funny, but very true! A few years ago Princess Cruise lines gave unlimited free internet to their Elites (might have also included Platinums). This was before shipwide WiFi and before many cruisers had their own personal devices. Princess had very nice internet rooms on each ship and they were packed from morning until night. On every cruise there were always a group of folks that would spend their entire day in the internet room just browsing the net, playing games, etc. This is how they would spend much of their cruise. It was almost sad and it also deprived others of having the ability to use the internet. So Princess finally had to put limits on free internet (although on our most recent 25 day cruise they gave us 1,000 free minutes).

 

We figure some of those cruisers came home from their cruise and told their friends about all the fun they had on the internet. Boggles the mind.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vacation luvver

vacation luvver

Posted
Posted

To me, the biggest waste of time on a cruise is the time I spend standing on line or waiting for something when, in my opinion, it is completely unnecessary or results from the inefficiency of the cruiseline personnel.

 

Some examples:

 

I consider it to be a waste of time when I have booked a shore excursion at a docked (not tendered) port, and instead of being able to go ashore and look for the bus, I have to go to the theatre with approx. ten other shore excursions and wait for them to be called one at a time, at which time, they are taken out to their bus. It always seems that my group is the last group to be called, and by the time we are taken out to the bus, we are so late that the tour guide tells us that we will not get to see some of the sightseeing that we have already paid to see. So after the excursion, I have to spend time waiting on line at the Shore Excursions desk to tell them that I want a partial refund to compensate me for the fact that I didn't get to see what I had paid to see, simply because their staff insisted that we meet in the theatre, and it took an extremely long time before they got around to us and walked us outside to our bus. I would ask why we had to meet in the theatre. They always said that it was because they wanted to be helpful. I always answered that it was not helpful to us to be so delayed that we missed out on some of our sightseeing.

 

I consider it to be a waste of time when I make reservations for MyTime/Anytime/ Select Dining, only to have to wait and wait and wait on line because a woman is complaining to the hostess that she made a reservation with some other people to have dinner together, but she doesn't know where the other people are, and she doesn't know what to do. And instead of telling her to stand on the side and wait for the other people, the hostess talks and talks and talks to her, delaying those of us who made reservations in good faith, because it is more important to the hostess to talk to the woman than to let the rest of us be seated. And, of course, there was only one hostess to help us, so we had no choice but to wait and wait and wait.

 

I consider it to be a waste of time when, after I get into my cabin, I search very carefully for my shore excursion tickets and cannot find them, and then I have to go to the Shore Excursions desk to wait on line until someone can help me, and then when I ask for my tickets, the Shore Excursion guy insists that my tickets are in my cabin, and I say that they are not, and he keeps insisting that yes, they are in my cabin, and I say that they are not, and finally he calls my cabin steward to ask about them, and the cabin steward says that he was never given shore excursion tickets for me. So the Shore Excursion guy prints up some tickets for me, and he never even apologizes.

What is a TOTAL waste of time to us may be very enjoyable to others.

I doubt if anyone would find the above circumstances "very enjoyable."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted
To me, the biggest waste of time on a cruise is the time I spend standing on line or waiting for something when, in my opinion, it is completely unnecessary or results from the inefficiency of the cruiseline personnel.

 

.....

 

Not sure if you saw my earlier post (somewhere) about our personal program of "Queue Avoidance." It is based on the philosophy (developed by moi) that most folks who wait in Queues have only themselves to blame. They wait on those long queues, complain to anyone who will listen, and then can't wait to get back into another queue :) For example, in your case you continue to book cruise line excursions...just so you can wait in another queue. The "Queue Avoidance" strategy is quite simple....Do not book any excursions. As to waiting in queue at the dining room, although they cannot always be avoided one can certainly decrease the possibility by dining after 8.

 

So we think your examples are more a statement of insanity...in that you will follow the same activities again and again, wait in Queues again and again, and expect a different result?

 

There are just so many daily examples of folks loving queues. For example, go to a supermarket where there are 10 open cashier lanes, and some folks will get in the longest line. If there are several TSA security stations at an airport, most folks will head for the one with the longest lines. If there is usually a line when the Lido buffet opens for lunch, some folks will always be running to get into that line (rather then waiting a half hour when there is no line). One of my favorite examples are the folks that line up (sometimes more then 15 min in advance) for their Fixed sitting dinner on cruise ships. These folks already have assigned tables (some are even 2 tops) but they still get in a line rather then wait for a few minutes after the doors are open when they can simply walk right into the MDR.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dwjoe

dwjoe

Posted
Posted
There are just so many daily examples of folks loving queues. For example, go to a supermarket where there are 10 open cashier lanes, and some folks will get in the longest line. If there are several TSA security stations at an airport, most folks will head for the one with the longest lines. If there is usually a line when the Lido buffet opens for lunch, some folks will always be running to get into that line (rather then waiting a half hour when there is no line). One of my favorite examples are the folks that line up (sometimes more then 15 min in advance) for their Fixed sitting dinner on cruise ships. These folks already have assigned tables (some are even 2 tops) but they still get in a line rather then wait for a few minutes after the doors are open when they can simply walk right into the MDR.

Sometimes, the shortest line is not necessarily the fastest choice. If the expected wait time is relatively long, it can pay to watch the lines for a while to observe which one is moving faster before selecting one. Once, while waiting for customs control, I noticed one officer was taking much longer than the others. I guess he was asking a lot more questions than average. Even though his line was shorter it made sense to go in another line. Another time, in traffic, while waiting for a toll booth, I noticed one lane that later opened up into two, and so was moving faster. I chose that one even though it had a longer line than others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Velvetwater

Velvetwater

Posted
Posted
Without casinos, they would have to find other ways to compensate for the lost revenue, and assuredly, your costs to cruise would increase.

 

Yes, I mentioned that point in that sentence you quoted.

 

 

This post was what I consider a waste of time on a cruise and I gave my opinion and questioned their appeal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...