Is cruising still worth it?

[Kevin7kodak7]

Cruising is now cheaper than any land vacation for the most part. Even if you don't fly a road trip vacation is no cheap. My god, were can you take a 7 night vacation for 150.00 a night with all you very good meals covered. The though of flying sends shivers up my spine. As some one who once traveled for work it's now zoo. Now I drive half the day so I love a sea trip. Im lucky as live half way between Boston and NYC. Trying out NCL from Boston in 8 weeks.

 

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[jakers]

Our first cruise was a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Norwegian Sky in 2000. What do I remember about that cruise? First and most importantly, IT WAS FREE. I had won a contest and all I had to do was show up. You say it was better in the good old days? The travel agent arranged everything. Our seats on the plane weren't together. It was raining in the "Sunshine State". The hotel was some flea bag near the airport. We had no idea how to get to the dock. The zoo to get on board was unimaginable. But every step of the way somebody took time out of their busy life to go the extra mile and help us get on the ship.

 

Once on the ship, they did every hokey thing you can do on a cruise ship. What do I remember about the ship? Waiting in line for everything. Pictures, Nachos, Popcorn, Booking shore excursions. Showing up 30 minutes early the first day to book a shore excursion, being the second person in line, only to be told that they were sold out. Huh? The ship rocked so hard that you couldn't walk down the hall without feeling like a ping pong ball. The "Private Island" was no more than a strip of beach. Somehow our cabin steward managed to clean our room without us ever catching him in it. They gave us little bottles of shampoo and soap that we didn't use, but we did take home and give to the homeless shelter. The buffet was repetitive but I'm not sure if I actually ate in the buffet or if it was just the sandwich line. I don't remember the food at dinner but I always had a bottle of wine to make the rocking go away. My wife was exhausted every single day. I enjoyed it all immensely.

 

I took the kids on our second cruise and we spent the first four hours sitting on our luggage because the porters were on strike. The next day the Captain handed out Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers if you happened to be sitting in a bar at 10 am.

I patted myself on the back because all four of us managed to sail together in a single room located at the bottom of the ship for $100 per person per day. I still enjoyed it all immensely.

 

We've sailed on 24 cruises in the last 17 years and I have enjoyed every single one of them. With age comes perspective and experience. It's easy to judge, far better to enjoy. Oh, and by the way, I can still find cruises where I can sail for $100 per person per day.

[drsel]

Our first cruise was a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Norwegian Sky in 2000. What do I remember about that cruise? First and most importantly, IT WAS FREE. I had won a contest and all I had to do was show up. You say it was better in the good old days? The travel agent arranged everything. Our seats on the plane weren't together. It was raining in the "Sunshine State". The hotel was some flea bag near the airport. We had no idea how to get to the dock. The zoo to get on board was unimaginable. But every step of the way somebody took time out of their busy life to go the extra mile and help us get on the ship.

 

Once on the ship, they did every hokey thing you can do on a cruise ship. What do I remember about the ship? Waiting in line for everything. Pictures, Nachos, Popcorn, Booking shore excursions. Showing up 30 minutes early the first day to book a shore excursion, being the second person in line, only to be told that they were sold out. Huh? The ship rocked so hard that you couldn't walk down the hall without feeling like a ping pong ball. The "Private Island" was no more than a strip of beach. Somehow our cabin steward managed to clean our room without us ever catching him in it. They gave us little bottles of shampoo and soap that we didn't use, but we did take home and give to the homeless shelter. The buffet was repetitive but I'm not sure if I actually ate in the buffet or if it was just the sandwich line. I don't remember the food at dinner but I always had a bottle of wine to make the rocking go away. My wife was exhausted every single day. I enjoyed it all immensely.

 

I took the kids on our second cruise and we spent the first four hours sitting on our luggage because the porters were on strike. The next day the Captain handed out Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers if you happened to be sitting in a bar at 10 am.

I patted myself on the back because all four of us managed to sail together in a single room located at the bottom of the ship for $100 per person per day. I still enjoyed it all immensely.

 

We've sailed on 24 cruises in the last 17 years and I have enjoyed every single one of them. With age comes perspective and experience. It's easy to judge, far better to enjoy. Oh, and by the way, I can still find cruises where I can sail for $100 per person per day.

Lovely memories. BTW, I can find cruises for $40 per person per day!!!

[drsel]

To the OP,

You can find bargain prices, even $40 person per day; if you know how to search.

But you are right, many cruises are ridiculously overpriced!

[cruisemom42]

To the OP,

You can find bargain prices, even $40 person per day; if you know how to search.

But you are right, many cruises are ridiculously overpriced!

 

"Worth" isn't always about the monetary cost.

 

At least, not for me.

[drsel]

"Worth" isn't always about the monetary cost.

 

At least, not for me.

Yes, I agree. It's what you get for the price you pay, in terms of entertainment, shows, activities, gourmet food, included alcohol packages, beautiful destinations, etc.

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, I agree. It's what you get for the price you pay, in terms of entertainment, shows, activities, gourmet food, included alcohol packages, beautiful destinations, etc.

 

It's not all about shows, alcohol and activities either.

[drsel]

I would pay more for the best entertainment, shows and activities. I'm not fussy about food, ports and room type.

[dreadpirate3]

I enjoy cruising and it has kept the value for me. I like land trips, and plan to switch to mostly land trips when I retire.

 

For now, being able to drive to the port, park my car, and take a voyage to the Caribbean is absolutely still a great value.

[Beachdude]

We like the cruises of the old days when elegance and service was part of the product. We only cruise now when my CPA wife needs to recuperate from tax season. Otherwise we go on land vacations.

 

But I can see why young parents would be attracted to these new ships designed to entertain the whole family. One ship is coming out with a go-cart track. Not really cruising in my mind, but I can see it working as a family vacation.

 

A go-cart track! What next?

 

Burt

Edited August 29, 2017 by Beachdude

[BOGOman]

We like the cruises of the old days when elegance and service was part of the product. We only cruise now when my CPA wife needs to recuperate from tax season. Otherwise we go on land vacations.

 

But I can see why young parents would be attracted to these new ships designed to entertain the whole family. One ship is coming out with a go-cart track. Not really cruising in my mind, but I can see it working as a family vacation.

 

A go-cart track! What next?

 

Burt

 

Thinking along different lines, box seats in the theater, speedboat rides instead of tendering for paying passengers .... ~ Bill

[bUU]

This is the same kind of transition that we saw when families (in the northeast) moved away from the old Catskills resorts (Grossinger's, Kutsher's, the Nevele, etc.) and started flying the family to Florida for beach or theme park vacations.

 

The only constant is change.

[nyllrap]

I love both land and sea vacations. However, for my husband and I, cruising works. My husband tends to be ahem frugal, and when we do land vacations, he scrutinizes most things we do. On a cruise, I get lots of good food, entertainment, etc. without worrying about the cost. We do not tend to purchase a whole lot of the extras, mainly because we don't care about them. My husband doesn't drink, so all inclusive resorts are not worth it. Plus, I love to be on the ocean. I hate flying these days (who doesn't?), although I will. But since we live in Florida, we are within driving distance of lots of cruise ports. My niece went on a 2 night vacation recently with her boyfriend, and spent $400 on just the room alone. For that amount (per night) we can cruise, eat, and be entertained. Cruising is not the only type of vacation I will go on, but I am sure I will continue to cruise as long as I can. And yes, there are a lot of things that have changed since I first began, but in the long run they are things I don't really care about (free room service, midnight buffets, etc.). I don't pay more for cruises now than I did when I first started, and that was a long time ago.

[VennDiagram]

Cruising is definitely "worth it" for us. Good value, interesting ports, interesting people. Is it the same as it once was? No, not at all. But it is still (for us) good value.

[Warm Breezes]

Yes, I agree. It's what you get for the price you pay, in terms of entertainment, shows, activities, gourmet food, included alcohol packages, beautiful destinations, etc.

 

Actually worth is about what you get for the price you pay that you personally value and enjoy....and that can vary vastly from person to person. If you don't enjoy or value something, then it is worthless to you.

[BOGOman]

Actually worth is about what you get for the price you pay that you personally value and enjoy....and that can vary vastly from person to person. If you don't enjoy or value something, then it is worthless to you.

 

Yes, and worth is also related to whether you can get the same things someplace else and for different prices and/or accompaniments. For example dining. Cruise lines now tout their specialty dining venues where you get essentially the same quality of food as in the free main dining room but pay a cover charge up to $50 pp. How many of us can do the same thing at home, get the same or better food, served with enormous attentionj, and in exquisite surroundings that often include live music? So if we can do it at home with comparative value, then it's hard to argue that we go to sea for that.

 

Consider many other things we get on the boat that we can get at home (or within short distances from home), often just as cheap or cheaper and just as good or better. Photography for instance. Entertainment on a par with ship entertainment (admittedly that's always more at home because free on the ship, but you get my point). Nice hotel accommodations. Some of us can even enjoy beaches or swimming pools that are every bit as good as obtainable through cruising. And spas? Now that's really an indulgence on the ship and a very expensive one compared to the competitive salons at home.

 

So what we're paying for on the cruise are the [diminishing and/or changing] free things plus a bunch of other things that we get at huge cost and often enormous discomfort and weariness (I'm thinking flying there and back). Therefore my premise is that if we don't take advantage of the high class dining, entertainment, spas, and occasional photos at home, why spend the big bucks to go to sea for them?

 

I admit that, like most other people posting here, that cruising can be fun, adventuresome, and certainly easy. And I'm willing to pay for that to a certain extent. But, and here's the source of my growing uncertainty, is it worth the fun and easy when I can have fun and get easy in much cheaper and controllable ways? And is it adventuresome to cruise to the same ports again with limited time to do much if any more than you did the last time at that port? And assuming that I'm good with simply riding the ship regardless of the destination, are the amenities on the ship still a good value when compared with moving into a resort, having your bed made for you each night, free food, pool, etc. Maybe so for those in Florida who live near multiple ports and can get cruises dirt cheap compared with the rest of us, but maybe increasingly less so for the rest of us who have to plan far ahead and fly to/fro with all the unpleasant problems that flying now holds. ~ Bill

[lenquixote66]

This is the same kind of transition that we saw when families (in the northeast) moved away from the old Catskills resorts (Grossinger's, Kutsher's, the Nevele, etc.) and started flying the family to Florida for beach or theme park vacations.

 

The only constant is change.

 

There will soon be legalized gambling at the site of the old Concord hotel .People are moving back to the Catskills.

[Warm Breezes]

Yes, and worth is also related to whether you can get the same things someplace else and for different prices and/or accompaniments. For example dining. Cruise lines now tout their specialty dining venues where you get essentially the same quality of food as in the free main dining room but pay a cover charge up to $50 pp. How many of us can do the same thing at home, get the same or better food, served with enormous attentionj, and in exquisite surroundings that often include live music? So if we can do it at home with comparative value, then it's hard to argue that we go to sea for that.

 

 

 

Consider many other things we get on the boat that we can get at home (or within short distances from home), often just as cheap or cheaper and just as good or better. Photography for instance. Entertainment on a par with ship entertainment (admittedly that's always more at home because free on the ship, but you get my point). Nice hotel accommodations. Some of us can even enjoy beaches or swimming pools that are every bit as good as obtainable through cruising. And spas? Now that's really an indulgence on the ship and a very expensive one compared to the competitive salons at home.

 

 

 

So what we're paying for on the cruise are the [diminishing and/or changing] free things plus a bunch of other things that we get at huge cost and often enormous discomfort and weariness (I'm thinking flying there and back). Therefore my premise is that if we don't take advantage of the high class dining, entertainment, spas, and occasional photos at home, why spend the big bucks to go to sea for them?

 

 

 

I admit that, like most other people posting here, that cruising can be fun, adventuresome, and certainly easy. And I'm willing to pay for that to a certain extent. But, and here's the source of my growing uncertainty, is it worth the fun and easy when I can have fun and get easy in much cheaper and controllable ways? And is it adventuresome to cruise to the same ports again with limited time to do much if any more than you did the last time at that port? And assuming that I'm good with simply riding the ship regardless of the destination, are the amenities on the ship still a good value when compared with moving into a resort, having your bed made for you each night, free food, pool, etc. Maybe so for those in Florida who live near multiple ports and can get cruises dirt cheap compared with the rest of us, but maybe increasingly less so for the rest of us who have to plan far ahead and fly to/fro with all the unpleasant problems that flying now holds. ~ Bill

 

 

 

The biggest lure to me of cruising is the peace and relaxation I get from being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Sitting on my balcony or on the open deck and just looking at the vastness of ocean calms and relaxes more than any massage ever could. That in itself makes a cruise worth it to me. In the same way, the biggest lure to me of going to Las Vegas, is the sight-seeing day trips we do from there to see the desert and the canyons. Looking out over the vast and colorful canyons relax me more than any jacuzzi ever could. That in itself makes those trips out west worth it to me.

 

On a ship the food, entertainment, and ports are just extras that sometimes I am willing to pay more for and sometimes I am not. They are all secondary to just being on a gently swaying ship and that I can not get at home. In Vegas the food, shows, and gambling are just extras that sometimes I am willing to pay more for and sometimes I am not. They are secondary to the peaceful feeling I get from seeing God's natural paintings out there and that I can not get at home.

 

In our 29 years of marriage DH have been on 15 cruises and my guess is we have taken just as many trips out West. They are our 2 favorite types of vacation. We have done quite a few other types of vacations as well but the cruise ships and the deserts/canyons always draw us back for more. If the lure from them ever goes away, then and only then will cruising lose its value and worth to us. At this point in my life, I don't see that lure going away...if anything it has gotten stronger.

 

Sometimes it is the intangibles that give something its value to people.

 

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[bUU]

There will soon be legalized gambling at the site of the old Concord hotel .People are moving back to the Catskills.

Interesting, so yet another change coming to that area.

[BOGOman]

The biggest lure to me of cruising is the peace and relaxation I get from being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Sitting on my balcony or on the open deck and just looking at the vastness of ocean calms and relaxes more than any massage ever could. That in itself makes a cruise worth it to me. In the same way, the biggest lure to me of going to Las Vegas, is the sight-seeing day trips we do from there to see the desert and the canyons. Looking out over the vast and colorful canyons relax me more than any jacuzzi ever could. That in itself makes those trips out west worth it to me.

 

On a ship the food, and ports are just extras that sometimes I am willing to pay more for and sometimes I am not. They are all secondary to just being on a gently swaying ship and that I can not get at home. In Vegas the food, shows, and gambling are just extras that sometimes I am willing to pay more for and sometimes I am not. They are secondary to the peaceful feeling I get from seeing God's natural paintings out there and that I can not get at home.

 

In our 29 years of marriage DH have been on 15 cruises and my guess is we have taken just as many trips out West. They are our 2 favorite types of vacation. We have done quite a few other types of vacations as well but the cruise ships and the deserts/canyons always draw us back for more. If the lure from them ever goes away, then and only then will cruising lose its value and worth to us. At this point in my life, I don't see that lure going away...if anything it has gotten stronger.

 

Sometimes it is the intangibles that give something its value to people.

 

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Very well put and very understandable. I can relate exactly to your very moving explanations, and that's why we keep going back to cruising too. Not the upscale offerings they have to lure us beyond the necessities. But somehow I'm finding that as they keep scaling up everything, i.e .the extras, the immensity of the ship, the consequent delays in getting everywhere in or off the ship, I'm getting an uncomfortable feeling that all of that is making the experience more like doing Las Vegas than viewing the canyons. And that's not the essence of the experience we want when we go to sea. ~ Bill

[cruisemom42]

Very well put and very understandable. I can relate exactly to your very moving explanations, and that's why we keep going back to cruising too. Not the upscale offerings they have to lure us beyond the necessities. But somehow I'm finding that as they keep scaling up everything, i.e .the extras, the immensity of the ship, the consequent delays in getting everywhere in or off the ship, I'm getting an uncomfortable feeling that all of that is making the experience more like doing Las Vegas than viewing the canyons. And that's not the essence of the experience we want when we go to sea. ~ Bill

 

It seems that you keep discounting the experiences that don't support your position while focusing on those things that do. Since "worth" is subjective, then perhaps it is true that cruising isn't "worth" it to you -- but you can't really make a sweeping statement based on that.

 

You seem locked into a single type of cruise experience. But:

 

-- One doesn't have to cruise on the larger ships.

-- One doesn't have to cruise on the ships that are most known to nickle and dime everyone

-- One doesn't have to choose a cruise that only goes to the same Caribbean ports. Cruises are available to just about every corner of this globe that is currently accessible by water and not "out of bounds".

 

For my own assessment, a cruise offers more than an all-inclusive. Who wants to be stuck in a single place (often confined in a single area in places where there's not much else to do) for a week when one can visit 4-5 different places?

 

I do like land travel and probably spend about 2/3 of my vacation on land trips -- mainly ones where I base myself in a single large city (e.g., London, Rome, Paris) and plan to see and enjoy it thoroughly, including the surrounding area.

 

I mainly cruise for the ports to be visited, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy certain things about cruising. (If I didn't, I would no longer cruise....) For example, I love the feeling of casting off into the 'great unknown', the serenity of watching the ocean glide by, the opportunity to meet others who also enjoy traveling and have interesting stories to tell, etc. I also choose ships that are likely to be in line with my expectations -- smaller ships, ones that offer enrichment lectures, etc.

[BOGOman]

-- One doesn't have to cruise on the ships that are most known to nickle and dime everyone

Consider me naive. What ships or cruise lines DON'T nickle and dime us?

[BOGOman]

-- One doesn't have to cruise on the larger ships.

 

Agreed, but which line has a good combination of modern experiences and small ship adventures without breaking the bank?

[Warm Breezes]

Consider me naive. What ships or cruise lines DON'T nickle and dime us?

 

 

 

IMHO no cruise line nickel and dime us. If I purchase anything it is my choice and no cruise line has ever twisted my arm to get me to purchase anything I didn't want to buy.

 

 

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[Kevin7kodak7]

IMHO no cruise line nickel and dime us. If I purchase anything it is my choice and no cruise line has ever twisted my arm to get me to purchase anything I didn't want to buy.

 

 

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Well said. I agree. On 5 cruises, never felt that way. I knew very well what was included and what was extra. To be honest was surprised to find not having to spend like a drunken sailor to have a GREAT time. My god, UBP is 15 drinks a day. After 7 days of that you need week to dry out, lol. But to each own.

 

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