Haven't been since the pandemic started, but I happened to see this on YouTube yesterday. Going on a Royal Caribbean cruise, in the brand new Wonder of the seas in March. Love the large class of ships. Not crowded, more to do and see.
Not a huge fan of cruises. Haven't been on one since before the pandemic. They're great if you are a bit more limited on budget and/or want to see as many places as possible.
My parents enjoy cruising and I do to. I just enjoy it because you can pretty much set your own schedule and as busy or lazy as you want. I enjoy reading a book by the pool, but I also enjoy drinking and gambling.
I have not been since pandemic and it's not something I would do more than once in a while. Some people love it. I have worked in the industry so have some familiarity. One of my bucket list trips is the princess long beach 7 days goes to Cabo , Puerto Vallarta. It's the original love boat cruise and itinerary. I will buy white shoes for this. Getting old sucks.
With two kids under 4, we haven't gotten to do anything lately. The pandemic helped a little bit with that, but I'm jonesing to do something. May have to look into a family-style all inclusive in the next year.
I’ve taken over a dozen cruises over the years. Alaska ranks high and so is South America. The old lady absolutely loves cruises and she’s been pestering me for the 180 day Oceania World cruise when the kids are in college which will be in a couple of years. The costs are about 100k per person, I love my wife, but the thought of 6 months out at sea gives me the cold feet.
I went on a Greek Isle cruise back in June. It was definitely different. The ports for the most part were great, and the ship wasn't very crowded, but masks were required when indoors (not the end of the world) and there just wasn't a lot of the activities we normally do going on during our cruise. That was with NCL, and normally we do Carnival. We'll be on the Carnival Mardi Gras for Thanksgiving week. Very much looking forward to getting back to something more what we are used to. Just sucks that the kids clubs are closed, so my younger son won't have that option. He'll be about 6 weeks short of being 12, which that group is still open. The 4 of us are fully vaccinated, so we won't have many restrictions on us.
You should try one of the river cruises in Europe. No motion worth mentioning, but beautiful scenery, great food, and you're on a small ship. The trip we took a few years ago lasted a little over two weeks, 3 with arriving early in Budapest and staying in Amsterdam for a few days afterwards. At the time, there were fears of a terrorist attack due to what happened in Paris a few months before. The ship held about 110-120 people, total, and there were 63 passengers on board, including us. The crew was the same size, so we were treated extremely well. They served food, wine and beer from the regions we passed through, with an open bar towards the bow with windows all around. All the single malt you desired, if that's your thing. We went up the Danube then hooked a "right" into Germany - up river, through locks, then across to another river, more locks going down to the Rhine. It was fantastic. We were on a Tauck river cruise. I highly recommend it. We stopped at numerous beautiful little towns, castles, cathedrals. Tours with a stop for lunch if you wanted to, and if you didn't feel like walking with some of the other people, they gave you money for lunch. Seriously all inclusive.
Feel like we are getting close to being able to experience everything virtually through our robots and drones and VR, so wonder, what will someone get out of actually traveling on a cruise in the near future. Basically there is the port food. That may be hard to replicate. And maybe getting away from your family. But it seems like almost everything else you can or could experience immersively and virtually including the people and culture. So what is the point of it. I'm not sure our kids will even care that we traveled anywhere for anything. So when I look around and see these empty Japanese Ferries and Cruise Ships on you tube, it seems like it's not this great no crowd experience they are getting, but rather a glimpse into a future where people just don't go anywhere for anything other than food. It's like all these empty malls and work environments. We are seeing it, but not comprehending that this a pivotal change in human history.
Never been on a cruise before. I actually just came into this thread to ask about the Danube/Rhine. I've seen the area before but never from a boat. Did you go Royal Norwegian? Or back in your day did you have to paddle your own canoe? This is another one I've been thinking about
We considered the canoe, but shipping it to Europe would have cost more than the canoe itself, and then there was the question of space for the luggage. There was room for one of us and a couple of bags, and as we wanted to go together as well as bring a change of clothes, regrettably the canoe was out. Instead, we went on a river boat owned by Tauck that held 98 passengers (only 63 in our case, as I mentioned earlier), not the two or three thousand of a Royal Norwegian cruise ship. After having had the experience, I think I prefer doing a cruise that way. There's a limited number of rivers, though, although in Europe they do an amazing job of connecting them with locks. During the part in Germany, I think the boat used at least a couple of dozen, maybe more. The boat's beam had it fit within inches of the lock on each side. Pretty crazy.
Haven’t been on a cruise in 10+ Years but I do love me a 24 hour buffet! Not so keen on deep water though…
Love cruises. Was supposed to take one in April of pandemic, but got cancelled. Now we have a 1 year old, (plus 4 and 7), so would wait a couple of years before trying it again.
As a person who loves to travel, this is the change for the worst. And you’re right about the kids. Every time we’ve traveled somewhere, I have to take away their electronics, otherwise they don’t even know where we are at the moment.
