Cruises

[TexasHusker]

We were in St. Thomas for a week last summer, and got to explore a great deal of the island - history, local restaurants, of course the wonderful beaches.

Then there is the harbor where the cruise ships pull up. Right next to it is a quasi-outdoor shopping mall specifically designed for the boat people. They get off, walk into all of the t-shirt shops, go into the Chanel store (the same store that was at the last port) eat at Hooters, drive around the island on a sight-seeing bus for a couple of hours, return to the boat to eat, and depart the next a.m.

At one particular local restaurant at Blue Beard Castle overlooking the harbor, I asked the waiter "Do any of the cruise passengers ever come up here?" He said "Rarely...they usually just stick with the fast food places right near the boat."

That's not my idea of vacationing, but to each his own.

[snafu]

I really liked the two cruises we've taken. So much nicer that usual 18 hour travel combinations of ghastly security lines, hikes under stress to departure gates, the craziness of people anxious to deplane and how rudely exhausted travellers behave at the luggage carousel.

I hope you'll look at Cruise Critic.com to see other people's opinions if this is your first cruise experience. I thought the most important factors were picking the right cruise line and itinerary. Your booking choices are similar to flight options. I never book directly with airlines because if something goes off the track I will need help. If your cruise is offered by one of the discounters, I'd use that option for possible future benefits.

[disneysteve]

At one particular local restaurant at Blue Beard Castle overlooking the harbor, I asked the waiter "Do any of the cruise passengers ever come up here?" He said "Rarely...they usually just stick with the fast food places right near the boat."

That's not my idea of vacationing, but to each his own.

That's not generally our idea of vacationing either. When we cruise, we always try and do something beyond the port area. Sometimes we do it through an organized excursion. Sometimes we do it on our own. It partly depends on how safe the area is to wander freely and how widely English is spoken. On our last cruise, for example, one of our stops was Falmouth, Jamaica. That's not a place that is safe to just stroll around, so we booked a wonderful plantation tour and afternoon tea. Not something the locals do, I'm sure, but something unique to the area and not sanitized touristy either. On some islands, we've hopped on local public transit and gotten some distance from the port area to really see the area outside of the tourist zone.

Cruises are very much whatever you want them to be.

[97guns]

That's not generally our idea of vacationing either. When we cruise, we always try and do something beyond the port area. Sometimes we do it through an organized excursion. Sometimes we do it on our own. It partly depends on how safe the area is to wander freely and how widely English is spoken. On our last cruise, for example, one of our stops was Falmouth, Jamaica. That's not a place that is safe to just stroll around, so we booked a wonderful plantation tour and afternoon tea. Not something the locals do, I'm sure, but something unique to the area and not sanitized touristy either. On some islands, we've hopped on local public transit and gotten some distance from the port area to really see the area outside of the tourist zone.

Cruises are very much whatever you want them to be.

We cruised to Hawaii a few years back and rented a car at the 3 stops, got to see volcanoes national park, botanical gardens, a couple factory tours and some family. When we did Alaska we took a couple tours and had a great time also, got to pan for gold for the first time. Ive been to Hawaii numerous times so the 8 hours at each port was enough for us

[msomnipotent]

A bit off topic here, but I went on a cruise once and it was the closest thing to being in jail that I can imagine.

- A shower so small I couldn't bend over to pick up the soap that fell. In fact, I just soaped all the shower walls and spun around a few times and I was squeaky clean.

- They tell you when to eat, where to go for the next show, when to get off the boat, when to get back on. "OK everyone...we are having an activity at the pool at 2pm." So everyone heads over there like a bunch of sheep. Just like prison.

- The food was supposed to be grandiose, but give me a break. Do you really think you're going to get fresh food out on a boat in the middle of the sea? It was fairly nasty other than the chocolate pudding (which came straight out of a can). I lived on that stuff for 4 days.

- The rooms felt like jail cells. Hot, uncomfortable beds, a peep hole window looking out into the free world, dingy carpet. You could tell someone had puked in that room.

If you are going to pay hard-earned money for such fun, then truly God bless you.

I see your cruising experience and raise you a tailbone that was broken a week before departure and a major earthquake in Mexico while I was floating off the coast near Cozumel. Everyone thought we were all going to die. People were dropping to their knees to pray right in the middle of the hallways. I would have to be paid to go on another cruise, and it is iffy even then. We had 4 hours to explore Cozumel and an hour of it was wasted standing in line to get on and off the ship. I would much rather fly to an all-inclusive hotel. It is basically the same thing, only on land and with more things to do.

I would go through a travel agent with 24hr service. There are a lot of things that could go wrong. You miss your flight, so you miss your ship. You get sick and need to be flown somewhere (this happened to two people on my cruise, and my parents and sister said it happened on their cruises, too). You miss departure at one of the stops (again, happened to a group of people on my cruise). Let a professional handle your problems. You can always price things out on your own and then see if they can beat it.