seeking positive feedback about cruising or is it really that bad?

[SargassoPirate]

49 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I always though they should put a portable bar out there serving alcoholic beverages and coffees 

I was reading on the promenade on a HAL cruise one time and here came a crew member pushing a cart with coffee and pastries.

 

I was pleasantly surprised and it made for an even better experience.

[Keksie]

There are a few items that are deal breakers for us.  When I am trying to decide what to do for a vacation I read the reviews to see if any of the deal breakers are mentioned.  Right now we are opting for land vacations.  

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

I was reading on the promenade on a HAL cruise one time and here came a crew member pushing a cart with coffee and pastries.

 

I was pleasantly surprised and it made for an even better experience.

I do not know if the practice has survived, but when I cruised HAL to Alaska they served hot pea soup on deck as we neared a glacier, and when entering the Panama Canal they served their special “Panama buns”.

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, Keksie said:

There are a few items that are deal breakers for us.  When I am trying to decide what to do for a vacation I read the reviews to see if any of the deal breakers are mentioned.  Right now we are opting for land vacations.  

I read CC a lot, but I never read reviews any more.  Not for cruises, not for stores, restaurants, products.  Just too individual, and too Wonderful or too Awful.

[shipgeeks]

OP, As to your question of Is it really that bad?  No, not in my opinion.  We loved cruising during our 30 years before the shutdown, and we love it now.  We've done two cruises since February, and have three more booked in the months to come.  Wearing a mask in February wasn't great, and a few of the shows were cancelled due to sickness among cast members, but otherwise the experience was excellent. Good service, good food, nice surroundings, pleasant people to spend time with.  No complaints!

[jsn55]

4 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

A wrap around full promenade is a must have for me.

 

I think the reason promenades are disappearing is that they don't produce any revenue per square foot. 

See?  This is the irreplaceable benefit of CC boards.  I love the promenades, out there nearly every morning ... and had no idea that all ships didn't have them.  Now I've learned something so I won't be booking the wrong ship.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

I do not know if the practice has survived, but when I cruised HAL to Alaska they served hot pea soup on deck as we neared a glacier, and when entering the Panama Canal they served their special “Panama buns”.

Yep, pea soup is still served on cold, slow, "scenic cruising" days, and in places besides Alaska. It was served on our Iceland/Greenland cruise last month.

[Keksie]

5 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I read CC a lot, but I never read reviews any more.  Not for cruises, not for stores, restaurants, products.  Just too individual, and too Wonderful or too Awful.

I just read them to see what is really happening mostly when travelling to different parts of the country.  I get my questions answered regarding cruising from CC threads on the different lines.  Too hard for us to both get away, only to be miserable on a trip.

[SargassoPirate]

19 hours ago, jsn55 said:

See?  This is the irreplaceable benefit of CC boards.  I love the promenades, out there nearly every morning ... and had no idea that all ships didn't have them.  Now I've learned something so I won't be booking the wrong ship.

 

Yeah.  I got fooled once on one of the newer ships.  It had a "promenade" that was really access to the lifeboats.  One could walk back and forth with a view of the lifeboats.  Now I'm even more careful about reviewing the deck plans.

[Markanddonna]

We've learned to research and use our common sense and past experiences when picking a cruise. Short cruises tend to be more party cruises with groups of locals and families traveling together for a quick, short drinking weekend getaway. That isn't our idea of fun, so we avoid those.

 

Now that I am retired from teaching, we don't have to travel during peak travel times unless we are taking a cruise with grandkids. I read reviews but look for details that make sense. If the focus is on how rude all the crew are, or how their 95 year old grandma was neglected by the crew (usually involving waiting), then I ignore the review. I don't expect great food in the buffet or MDR, so I set my expectations accordingly. If the review talks about inedible food or how they lost weight because the food was so horrible, I ignore.

 

We are generally very satisfied with the cruising experience and realize that most cruise companies are suffering through a difficult period.  We will all be happier when the ships are fully staffed and more profitable. Hopefully, some of the features taken away during the pandemic will return.  

 

I have to say that I miss the more social aspects of cruising that were diminished because of social distancing. Of course, others who enjoy solitude probably loved it.

[Z'Loth]

If you read LifeHacker, you would read some anti-cruise articles such as 12 Reasons Why Cruises Are Terrible Vacations and Don’t Retire on a Cruise Ship, FFS. Here is my opinion...

 

Cruising is essentially a good way to sample some destinations. You board what can be called a "floating hotel", unpack once, and that hotel takes you to each destination. Each cruise line is different and caters to a certain audience. You have Carnival which targets the value-minded cruisers. You have Disney which targets families. I tend to favor Celebrity which targets a more mature audience, thus fewer kids. Also, the length of the cruise makes a difference. I haven't taken any cruises shorter than seven days because of the reputation of shorter cruises being party and booze cruises. It doesn't help that, in the past, I had to fly quite a distance for anything more than a Mexican Riviera cruise, and even those destinations have been curtailed since I last cruised there in 2005. (Hint: Acapulco is off the destination list). At least DFW is a better departure airport than SMF. 

 

 

[sprint180]

Been on two cruises since the restart and haven't had an problems.   Cruising is still awesome

[shipgeeks]

26 minutes ago, sprint180 said:

Been on two cruises since the restart and haven't had an problems.   Cruising is still awesome

Same here.  And I'm realizing that food-wise, ships are doing a better job of providing a variety of meals than my local supermarkets.  I go shopping, they have milk but not cereal.  Potatoes but not beef. Fruit but not yogurt.  And yet, so far, I have not felt a lack of any foods I wanted on a cruise.  How do they do it?  I don't know, but I like it.  (I kind of like that they prepare it and clean it up, too!)

[Markanddonna]

I'm not reading the latest reviews of the cruise ship we are to be on in November. Seems that most people are angry about NCL closing an area for repairs. I would not likely use that area anyway, but improvements and repairs are ongoing. 

[sparks1093]

On 8/9/2022 at 9:54 PM, World Gallery said:

My husband and I are long time cruisers.  We have tried most cruise lines and have been on a variety of itineraries over the years. I have been a CC member for over 12 years. This is the 3rd attempt to research and book a cruise.  I am overwhelmed by the negative reviews in general, so I am considering just doing land trips, but we know we are "cruisers by nature" because you see more, and we love the convenience.  We are hoping to do a British Isles cruise either July, Aug., or Sept of 2023.  I was about to book Viking Venus but starting reading about how shore excursions and diner reservation are done by category (and you won't get your choice if not in top Cat.) along with many other negative points.  Looked in Oceania Riviera and the reviews are so negative I stopped reading. Regal Princess and NCL Dawn, negative reviews. I am hoping to hear what is still good and positive about cruising or should I wait until things recover a bit longer from Covid?  Is it really that bad?  I have not been on a cruise in 4 years.  Also, any feedback about a British Isles cruise getting positive reviews, it would be appreciated.  We are open to any cruise line. PS I meant this post for the "Other" forum. 

I've found that most reviews require a bit of reading between the lines and also some putting myself in the reviewer's place and asking "if that happened on a cruise would I be that upset about it". If a review is addressing a specific cruise line practice, such as Viking putting excursions and dinner reservations in a category, then it's a matter of deciding if that practice affects us or not. It must also be kept in mind that most people only write reviews if they have something negative to say, because right now we live in a negative world. I cruise to spend time with family and friends and the cruise is only the backdrop to that. Every cruise we've been on has had some kind of issue, but nothing so major that it sullied the experience for me. 

[Markanddonna]

I always write a long review with details for two reasons: it is a great summary of the entire trip and cruise for my future reference (what was the name of the hotel we stayed at???) and to provide an objective reference for others. I'm a writer, so it is no big deal.  

 

Since I write about every cruise, most of my reviews are very positive.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Markanddonna

[dolittle]

Cruising is great getting away is great , some on this site think that any criticism is bashing cruising. I can go on a cruise have a great time and still have some things I don't like. There are some on this site who are burnt out on cruising and should take a long break . 

 

[crystalspin]

On 8/9/2022 at 7:54 PM, World Gallery said:

We are hoping to do a British Isles cruise either July, Aug., or Sept of 2023.  I was about to book Viking Venus but starting reading about how shore excursions and diner reservation are done by category (and you won't get your choice if not in top Cat.) along with many other negative points.

My aunt loves Viking. Although she hasn't sailed them since re-start, my uncle & his wife have, and their daughter (who actually cruised British Isles!). All liked it well enough they are booked to do Greece to Italy in October. 

 

She says: "Not necessarily so about dinner reservations and shore excursions.we found we could make dinner reservations at the special restaurants after we were on board as to excursions, I think upper categories do have the opportunity to choose them ahead of other categories but quite frankly the included is usually so good that we have only booked special ones a couple of times. Oddly, the more expensive excursions book up faster! "

 

She adds: "Each passenger is able to book 4 times in the special restaurants. The Main dining room is really nice anyway and has good food. I liked the Italian special restaurant but could live without both of the other two special ones!"

[Skippy]

Cruising is what you make of it. Generally with reviews, you will see more complaints than positive reviews. There are people who like to complain for the sake of complaining. 
 

[Mum2Mercury]

On 8/10/2022 at 2:22 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

Have you tried a river cruise? I actually prefer it to ocean cruising. You have much more time in port and the attractions are closer to where you dock. The scenery is wonderful. The ship is more intimate and you get to know many of the passengers. Plus there are no dinner reservations because everyone eats dinner together at the same time. It’s a much different experience than ocean cruising.

I wasn't interested in this at all -- until my mother went on a river cruise.  After hearing about her experience, I really want to do it sometime.  She says it's definitely an older crowd, so maybe we're "not ready". 

 

Another "old person" thing we want to do is the train trip through Canada. 

[lynncarol]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:06 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

I wasn't interested in this at all -- until my mother went on a river cruise.  After hearing about her experience, I really want to do it sometime.  She says it's definitely an older crowd, so maybe we're "not ready". 

 

Another "old person" thing we want to do is the train trip through Canada. 

My husband and I told our three grandkids in 2019 we would take them on a trip of their choice.  Two of them chose South Africa while the oldest (age 23) wanted to see France.  I asked her to come up with suggested sites to visit in France, but she was 'too busy'.  So I suggested a river cruise along the Seine with Vantage which included 3 days in Paris. I told her she would be probably the only young one there but we would get her a single cabin. We all had a fabulous time.  The other (and much older) passengers kind of adopted her.  We would be walking along some street and in would come a text (with photos) to our grandaughter from other passengers about something they had seen in a local shop she was sure to love. They even took videos of her line dancing late one evening onboard to show us, since we were, of course, sleeping.

[jsn55]

On 8/17/2022 at 7:06 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

I wasn't interested in this at all -- until my mother went on a river cruise.  After hearing about her experience, I really want to do it sometime.  She says it's definitely an older crowd, so maybe we're "not ready". 

 

Another "old person" thing we want to do is the train trip through Canada. 

We did our first river cruise when we were about 45, Amsterdam to Vienna.  We booked it for the itinerary, we had no idea what to expect ... and few expectations.  River cruising immediately became our favorite way to travel.  It was easy to spend time with the people who 'acted young'.   The only negative "age-related" thing we noticed were these crotchety ol' peeps 'saving seats' in the dining room.   They weren't very nice about it either, kind of yelling at us.  Once we found out which people did this, it was easy to avoid their tables.   "Saving seats" was, of course, against the rules, but Tour Directors like their tips, so it was never enforced.  We never held buses for the late arrivals, there was none of that stuff that people think old people do.  River cruise lines need to do some marketing to the younger crowd ... waking up in a new city every morning, each one more charming than the last?  All ages would enjoy a river cruise.

[ontheweb]

17 hours ago, jsn55 said:

We did our first river cruise when we were about 45, Amsterdam to Vienna.  We booked it for the itinerary, we had no idea what to expect ... and few expectations.  River cruising immediately became our favorite way to travel.  It was easy to spend time with the people who 'acted young'.   The only negative "age-related" thing we noticed were these crotchety ol' peeps 'saving seats' in the dining room.   They weren't very nice about it either, kind of yelling at us.  Once we found out which people did this, it was easy to avoid their tables.   "Saving seats" was, of course, against the rules, but Tour Directors like their tips, so it was never enforced.  We never held buses for the late arrivals, there was none of that stuff that people think old people do.  River cruise lines need to do some marketing to the younger crowd ... waking up in a new city every morning, each one more charming than the last?  All ages would enjoy a river cruise.

We really thought we would enjoy river cruising. After only one ocean cruise, we found a river cruise that fit our schedule and where we wanted to go perfectly. (DW was a teacher and it fit into the time between Christmas and New Years Day.) And then after final payment, the company chartered the cruise out from under us. They did give us other offers that I am sure they though were better, but we had a destination (Amsterdam that we ended up doing on a land trip.)

 

Since then we have never really found a river cruise that fit our schedule that well. Plus we would never use that company again.

[Mary229]

My sisters, who are very accomplished travelers, insisted we try river cruising.   Now I am not adverse to spending money, as a matter of fact it is one of my favorite things, but I do like quality and value for my money.  I felt the river cruise provided neither.  
 

I had just finished a 21 day sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Rome on a moderate, mass market HAL cruise and flew to meet them for a river cruise out of Amsterdam on a supposedly luxury line.  Follow my profile to find one of the few reviews I have left on Cruise Critic.  It will be a while before I river cruise again.  I would rather rent a car to go from town to town.

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

…

 

I would rather rent a car to go from town to town.

The problem with driving from town to town can be what to do with the car when you hit a large town - Italian cities are tough to drive in (and park) at best, and French only a little easier.  Of course, if you focus on very small towns - like visiting the hill towns of Tuscany - a car is the way to do it. But coming into Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, etc. driving your own car is kind of like swimming with an anvil.