Is cruising still worth it?

[BOGOman]

We don't regularly travel with one particular cruise line so can't tell whetherthat one has changed or reduced its standards relative to the others. But for the ones who have carried us to places far from home, we've oftenconcluded that in each cruise the value has decreased in direct proportion to thedegree of selling and promoting. Sometimes it was frequent lures to the casino,other times promoting expensive merchandise on board, getting weird and wonderful things done in the spa or choosing vastly overpriced ship's excursions. And, yes, even the dining experience seemed to gradually decline as more and more specialty dining venues were opened and touted everyplace you went (yes, even while eating in the free main dining room).

 

Where once we cruised because we felt that our comfort andpleasure was paramount, increasingly we're feeling like the bottom line of thecruise line has blatantly become its most important imperative. It's an uglychange, one I guess that comes from the enormous competition in the industrythat holds down the booking fees with the obvious intention of making that upby selling everything imaginable to the captive cruisers. Where once we enjoyedthings like fresh squeezed orange juice and a self-serve laundry, today eitherthose things are relics of the past or priced beyond all reason. And whilein-your-face discrimination as a legitimate prize for paying more or beingloyal is becoming suspect and repulsive in the wider society, it's growing inthe cruise industry to hide the need to make up for rising costs.

 

 

I can't say that the last ship we traveled on is any worse than the others inthis regard. But I suspect that it's a downward trend in the whole industryparalleling what's happening in the airline industry. I submit that thesechanges are making many of us reflect on the luxuries, conveniences, andeconomies we have at home and conclude that getting home is a relief ratherthan a disappointment. But as DW says, we endure all that because we want tosee new places and do new things, and I fully agree with that. She admits,however, that it's a constant balancing act between the discoveries intraveling and the multiple costs of it. My point is that when we've seen somethingonce and the disadvantages associated with doing so again are great, why doit again? I'm beginning to suspect that the cruise industry is nearing the tipping point in thatdelicate balance. ~ Bill

[cb at sea]

There are many folks where being on the ocean is the main goal...and they will continue to cruise as their main "getaway"....I have to agree with you that the total experience has declined over the years.

There will always be a "new crop" of cruisers who don't know how it used to be...and the cruise lines target them...not so much the older cruisers (not age, but cruise history folks).....

Everyone will spend their vacation dollars as they see fit, I reckon!

[Keith1010]

The cruise lines have certainly changed.

 

Part of the reason was that many were losing money and also to keep costs down to be more competitive and to bring more people to the fold.

 

At the same time we have found many amenities offered today that didn't exists years ago.

 

Also I am reminded that we change too as we get more experience traveling but also as we age. That is true of most things.

 

For my wife and myself we see tremendous value in cruising and also for us it works well. We like being able to see many places in a short time frame, not worrying about where we will eat tonight or do today and also not having to unpack and pack as often as we would to see as many places as we do when we cruise.

 

As we have aged we have also tried other cruise lines until we found the one(s) that work well for us.

 

Keith

[Kamloops50]

Someone a number of years ago posted a comparison cost between cruising and a road trip. I agreed with the result. A cruise came out cheaper and more enjoyable when comparing apple to apples.

[easyboy]

We like to go on vacation. We pick places to go. We treat cruise lines like any hotel that we choose to stay in. If not satisfied, we choose other hotels. Deteriorating or increased prices of hotels or cruise lines would probably not discourage us from taking a vacation.

 

 

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[davekathy]

Is cruising still worth it? For us it is. But it's not the only vacations we take during the year.

[OCruisers]

Is cruising still worth it? For us it is. But it's not the only vacations we take during the year.

 

Ditto! :)

[navybankerteacher]

This is a very subjective question for an individual to answer: but, as with many other questions on all sorts of topics, the answer is a resounding "it depends". Does it do more for you than another way of spending your vacation time/dollars?

 

Objectively speaking, the answer is "of course it is worth it". The fact that people save up to buy cruises means there is a demand - so, obviously there is a measurable value to cruising,

[iancal]

It is really a function of your personal preferences and your schedule.

 

Prior to reitirement cruises were a great get away. No phones, no easy contact. No thinking about where we would sleep. Boarded the ship for a week or two in the sun.

 

Now retired, our strong preference is for land travel. We take extended land trips and often consider late booking/last minute cruises as a bit of a respite from that. Cruises often do not go where we want to go or if they do, we want time in port measured in days, not hours.

[macs312]

Someone a number of years ago posted a comparison cost between cruising and a road trip. I agreed with the result. A cruise came out cheaper and more enjoyable when comparing apple to apples.

 

"A number of years ago..."

 

The OP might agree with you. He may even agree that it is still cheaper than a road trip.

 

He is comparing earlier cruising to now.

 

Also, you don't have someone in the back seat of your car trying to get you to buy something. (Unless it is your children. [emoji6] )

 

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[Joebucks]

I have never been a fan of judging an experience by how "it used to be". For me, it's about is this an enjoyable experience that gives me good value for my money. I'd say is a resounding yes. The value you get on a cruise between entertainment, food, service, and ports of call is tough to beat.

[BOGOman]

Someone a number of years ago posted a comparison cost between cruising and a road trip. I agreed with the result. A cruise came out cheaper and more enjoyable when comparing apple to apples.

 

I'm skeptical of that conclusion. When making such a comparison you need to add in all costs, including the base cost of the cruise, the cost of flying to get to/from the home port, the mandatory daily surcharge for gratuities, the comparatively higher prices for drinks with mandatory surcharge for gratuities, and the temptations such as gambling, photographs, specialty restaurant cover charges, vastly overpriced excursions, etc. When you travel by car you control the costs as you go along. not possible or easy when you're on a cruise. Personally, I don't think we cruise to save money or, alternatively, rarely get by cheap when we cruise. ~ Bill

[NLH Arizona]

Someone a number of years ago posted a comparison cost between cruising and a road trip. I agreed with the result. A cruise came out cheaper and more enjoyable when comparing apple to apples.

Totally agree. I do summer "get out of the heat" road trips and when you added in the cost of places to stay getting to my destination, cost of the rental house, rent-a-car cost, food, etc., my road trips are much more expensive than my cruises.

[Shorex]

Theme and variations: is it worth it? The "it" can vary from buying up to a different class of stateroom, buying up to business class on flights, paying for specialty restaurants, and on and on. The basic answer is always the same - is "it" worth it to you? Not to me or to anyone else, but to you? The answer is based on your criteria and choice of how to spend your leisure dollars.

 

But since you asked, cruising is very much worth it to us. Yes, some of the nice touches have disappeared, even on the luxury lines. Our next cruise has nothing new to offer in the way of ports, but it is on one of our favorite ships. We already know our favorite bartender will be on board, he's a Facebook friend. We will surprise the piano player, we've cruised with him occasionally for about 15 years and we're a great audience.

 

There are many intangibles that draw us back to cruising, intangibles that override the numbers crunching. We feel as much at home on our favorite ships as we feel, well, at home. And that's an incredible feeling.

[ice_berg_ahead]

For me, who wants to see and experience as many different countries as possible its SO worth. I don't know of any other avenue. you can travel to numerous countries in a region, in a relative short amount of time, and not having to pack and unpack a million times.

[cruisemom42]

Those who moan about the disappearance of some of the niceties of the past need to look at the bottom line. The base cost of cruising has not risen much in several decades. Something has to give. Cruise lines charge low base fares and then entice you to spend more.

 

There are two paths -- if you like the lower prices and don't spend much on extras, then the mass market lines are still a good deal.

 

On the other hand, if you do the math as to how much money you'd need to spend in 2017 dollars (or euros or whatever) to pay for the same cruise -- with all the inclusions -- from 25 years ago, it would be substantially more than current base prices. For those looking to repeat the experiences of those days, you can still get it by spending an equivalent amount -- on the premium and luxury lines.

 

As far as I'm concerned, cruising has never really been a "cheap" vacation. (A lot of my cruises are solo, so I'm paying double.) It's about the experience, the enjoyment of life onboard ship and the places the ship can take me, relative to staying in one place. Don't get me wrong, I like land trips too -- in fact, I'm leaving this week for a trip to Spain and Portugal. But I enjoy cruising for its unique features.

[bUU]

With the exception of trips that are little more than week long road trips we are finding that at least our Carnival Cruise is less expensive and any comfortable land-based vacation that we would consider taking. That's why we've returned to cruising after many years of taking land-based vacations. Yes Cruises have gotten more expensive in absolute terms but as pointed out by the previous poster it has declined adjusted for inflation. Combine that with the overall value and we're finding it to be a better option than many of the land-based vacations we would take instead.

 

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[champagne123]

You simply have to know how to shop and get the good deals and best prices. It is called research. Shop around and take your time to find your best deal.

[sfaaa]

I consider a stress free and one inclusive price vacation totally worth it. Pay one price at the time of booking and pretty much everything is taken care of the minute you board the ship. What more can you expect?

[kira5]

I find that there are quite a few features of a cruise that do not appeal to us, either ever or not anymore. We're not interested in art auctions, the spa is over-priced compared to what we can get locally, I think we've almost seen enough song and dance shows, we use Apple products so the Windows demos are not for us, we have enough photos of ourselves . . . We have to watch our diet now so the quantity of free food is not so appealing.

 

We like being on the water, relaxing, having someone else cook and clean. Some of the music, trivia and enrichment activities are appealing.

 

I worry about having a poor experience (flooding toilets, no A/C in tropical locations, endless queues) that I have read about in reviews.

 

If I get a 'really good deal' then it works for us but I don't feel sufficiently gratified to spend the ten to twenty thousand dollars that some do.

[bUU]

... over-priced compared to what we can get locally, ...

"Locally" is a red herring. One of the best things Cruise director Rev. Dr. E says when he is imploring passengers to participated in the party is reminding us that we're never going to see these people ever again. That's part of what you're paying for with a cruise, at least on Rev. Dr. E's ship.

 

 

 

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[Warm Breezes]

Cruising is worth it to us. The things you are missing are things that never mattered to us and we find ourselves enjoying some of the things that have been added. We like taking land vacations as well. Having said that, most of the time now, since the kids have grown and rarely go with us, we cruise to relax and from experience I can tell you that cruises relax me more than any other vacation....and that makes it well worth it to us. If you no longer feel it is worth it to you, then maybe it is time to rethink your vacation choices.

 

 

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[marco]

It's "worth it" if that's what gives you pleasure and enjoyment. For instance, is a suite on the ship "worth it" rather than a more modest cabin? For some yes, others..not so much. It's your call.

[Spif Barwunkel]

In 2015 we cruised the Baltic States and Russia on the Celebrity Silhouette for 12 days. Wonderful ports of call, excellent service, great folks and a four year old ship that proudly showed her fancy for all to enjoy. We just completed a 12 day August 2017 British Isles cruise on the Silhouette. Wonderful ports of call, great folks, but compared to 2015, things have changed. Service was not as crisp due to crew reductions, things were not as tidy, food not as good, ridiculous changes to packages and a six year old sea lady that seemed older than her years. For the money, the overall cruise experience was not as good in 2017 as it was in 2015.

 

Here is what I think. Celebrity Cruise Lines has devoted all it's attention, resources and money to the new "EDGE" class ship due to begin sailing in late 2018. Lots of adverting, lots of pomp and circumstance, lots of well-known experts involved. As is the case in business, the shiny new money-making endeavor casts a dull focus over what is already in place. You might say everything else, at least for the time being, becomes "those other ships." Whether or not this neglect stretches across the fleet, I do not know.

 

The new "EDGE" class is unique and appealing. Indeed, we are scheduled to experience the Edge in January 2019. Hopefully, the personal experience will be worthwhile and enjoyable, Hopefully, not at the expense of those other ships.

 

Wally

[BOGOman]

Someone a number of years ago posted a comparison cost between cruising and a road trip. I agreed with the result. A cruise came out cheaper and more enjoyable when comparing apple to apples.

 

I questioned this conclusion elsewhere, but I thought I'd calculate what our recent cruise of the British Isles cost us. Adding together just the cost of the cruise and the flights from midwest America, I found that we paid nearly $600 per day for two of us in the cheapest outside cabins with a mid-priced cruise line.

 

Compare that to the cost of traveling on the road in far more luxurious hotel rooms, "specialty" restaurants for every meal, modest prices for incidentals like laundry and Internet, etc. I agree that once upon a time cruising was relatively inexpensive, but most if not all other posts on this thread are staying away from that way to justify it.

 

But my focus is on value, not absolute cost. The question is whether we're getting as much value in exchange for the escalating costs and movement toward mega-ships that transport thousands of people, all who want to eat, get on/off the ship at virtually the same time. At a tendering port on our recent cruise, some had to wait more than 2 hours to tender ashore and another 2 hours or more to wait for a tender back. Considering that mega-ships are more likely to need to anchor offshore, that means more time needed to get to the ports that cruisers dreamed of visiting and the likelihood that mega-ships will avoid those more remote ports. Is that progress or what? ~ Bill.

Edited August 28, 2017 by BOGOman