Royal Caribbean/cruise rant

[The Tortoise]

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

Hey, you don't hear Thai prisoners bragging about the free room and board.

[XXX-er]

15 yrs ago I drove thru Skagway when there were 4 ships in town, right away I could tell there were literally thousands of not my people in town

it was easy to tell who the locals were cuz they all waved and smiled at a VW with the ww kayak and bike

Coming back to the mother land the Canadian border guard said she had seen my car go west into the USA 2 hrs earlier and i'm back already WTF ... she laughed when i told her it sucked

[k2skier112]

FIL took us on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Stayed out of hot tubs and only went in a pool once. Always always buy and drink offering they have, even soda and water is ridiculous.

What disgusted me was the gluttony, gastrointestinal distress that overeating obese fuckers do to themselves. Though we did find ourselves drunk at 1:00am shoving free chicken wings and fries down our pies holes more than I care to admit.

3 good things about it, awesome sunrise and sunset photography
Did the Vallarta Adventures zip line tour. It was more expensive from the ship, but we had to take a 4 mile ride down the coast in a rigid inflatable with twin Yamaha 225 HP's on the back (held about 18 ppl) to get to the first staging place, then a 14 mile ride in a Unimog to the top of the Sierra Madras. ( You could drive your own car up there but the roads are shit).
Rented a quad, off road style, to drive around Mazatlan, we got to some sketchy as fuck places since we had to drive through an industrial area by the port.

[SumJongGuy]

God damned it.. Now I'm getting fucking cruise ads in my browser thanks to posting in this thread LOL!

[old goat]

A lot of the overtourism seems to be the result of the big cruise ships. I suspect places like Venice would be a lot more pleasant if the ships didn't go there. Most cruise ship people couldn't manage it any other way. We were in Santorini some years ago and the place was mobbed during the day--relatively speaking; it wasn't that bad--and then cleared out in the evening when the cruisers went back on ship. I've heard it's a lot worse now.

It's not just cruise ships. Tour buses too. In Provence we learned to avoid the towns that had large parking lots that could accommodate the buses.

[Bobby Stainless]

I've only been on one cruise. Alaska with my folks when I was a senior in high school. I took a bag of mushrooms and didn't have a minor card so it was fun.

We went to a salmon bake at the edge of a creek somewhere. Still the best salmon Ive ever had.

Of course everyone here fancies themselves a Anthony Bourdain style of traveler but Alaska by cruise ship, is pretty convenient.

[summit]

I've only been on one cruise. Alaska with my folks when I was a senior in high school. I took a bag of mushrooms and didn't have a minor card so it was fun.

We went to a salmon bake at the edge of a creek somewhere. Still the best salmon Ive ever had.

Of course everyone here fancies themselves a Anthony Bourdain style of traveler but Alaska by cruise ship, is pretty convenient.

AK is hudge with few and indirect roads. Not having to drive yourself everywhere is a good thing.

[Bobby Stainless]

One place I went didn't have roads period. Cant remember where.

[Grange]

I've been on two cruises and am going on my third one next year to Alaska. First was a last minute cruise on a larger ship to the Caribbean without the drink package. We actually had a good time though I was able to sneak on some rum from one of the ports and did buy a bottle of vodka on the ship. Got some interesting looks walking around the ship with an open bottle of booze. We went to a show and throughout the show I cracked open a cans of lemon lime soda to mix with the vodka only got thumbs up from the people around me.

Second cruise was a shorter one on mid-sized ship with the drinks package included. We went to Cuba and a private island. While the drinks weren't very good. I had made up for it by having many pours of Jameson whiskey. That was a fun cruise.

I look at cruises as a floating hotel. I get to see multiple places and sleep in a luxury hotel in between. After my first cruise on a big ship I doubt I'd want to do another cruise on big ship. Too crowded and too many kids. Smaller ships are more my style.

[muted]

Classic ski dog rant!!!!

I did a family + girlfriend cruise similar to Old Goats to AK, it was surprisingly rad despite shitty weather. Flew around Mount Waddington in a cub, hiked up to top of the tram in Juneau, saw glaciers from a rubber boat, travelled the inside passage, etc. Landing in a small AK town with hundreds of other tourists really sucked, but we sucked it up. 24/7 room service and lotsa alcohol with the girlfriend made everything tolerable. I can't imagine doing a huge ship through the Caribbean, that would suck.

[Skidog]

Classic ski dog rant!!!!

I did a family + girlfriend cruise similar to Old Goats to AK, it was surprisingly rad despite shitty weather. Flew around Mount Waddington in a cub, hiked up to top of the tram in Juneau, saw glaciers from a rubber boat, travelled the inside passage, etc. Landing in a small AK town with hundreds of other tourists really sucked, but we sucked it up. 24/7 room service and lotsa alcohol with the girlfriend made everything tolerable. I can't imagine doing a huge ship through the Caribbean, that would suck.

Alaska would be fine Caribbean? Not so much. Literally in Port of San Juan for 4.5 hours. How can you see anything without feeling rushed?

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[garyfromterrace]

I did an Alaskan cruise, last of the season so the sea got pretty heavy. The people we were assigned to eat dinner with never made it to dinner the last night. Some of the excursions were cool--whale watching, kayaking in some very heavy seas where if anyone had flipped they would have died (no one flipped). We were supposed to helicopter to ice climb on a glacier but it was canceled. They said weather--I think they took a look at the average weight of the passengers and decided the helicopter couldn't handle it;
I won't do another cruise, but I'm glad to have seen the Inside Passage.

Never Alaskan cruised but the ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert up the inside passage is a great trip (specially if you can hit Cain and Shames on the trip).

[m2711c]

So, is the train shown on this pdf that goes from prince rupert to both terrace and smithers a passenger train or freight? Can I take a train from prince rupert to shames?


that would be sweet.....


https://www.bcferries.com/files/imag...routes_map.pdf

[ncskier]

Somebody’s been living in NY too long. Free vacation, yes plane tix, but at the end of the day, your kids will remember spending time with mom and dad and the grandparents.
I wish my grandparents had the coin to spend on my parents and I when I was a kid.



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[brutah]

Somebody’s been living in NY too long. Free vacation, yes plane tix, but at the end of the day, your kids will remember spending time with mom and dad and the grandparents.
I wish my grandparents had the coin to spend on my parents and I when I was a kid.

^^^^This^^^

I went on a few cruises when I was a kid because my grandmother wanted to spend her money vacationing with the family and my uncle's a cruise guy, which is kinda surprising since he isn't overweight and very well traveled.

I always thought of cruises like getting a soup sampler appetizer. Sure, you get a little taste of every place you stop, but you don't get to really immerse yourself in a culture and destination like you would if you just went to a single place, or order one bowl of soup.

Overall, I have fond memories of the trips. That said, I haven't been on a cruise since those few times as a kid.

Oh and if you wonder around like a bored teenager, you might just stumble upon a case of wine.....

[JongDoe]

For some asinine reason...it was cheap and my wife wanted to go on vacation around the holidays...we went to an inclusive resort in Mexico. She hated it more than I did. "It is like a cruise without the boat".

Which resort? We;re not really into AI either as we both don't like to overeat and I have a few drinks/day on vacation and my wife maybe 5/week. We loved RIU Palace RM.

Cruises definitely don't appeal to us as we like to get out and explore. Excursions when a ship is in port are completely different than when a ship is not in port. 4000 people getting off a ship at one time all scurrying to the same spots?? By the time you get the lay of the land it's time to get back to the ship. Homey don't play that.

[Gcooker]

15 yrs ago I drove thru Skagway when there were 4 ships in town, right away I could tell there were literally thousands of not my people in town

it was easy to tell who the locals were cuz they all waved and smiled at a VW with the ww kayak and bike

Coming back to the mother land the Canadian border guard said she had seen my car go west into the USA 2 hrs earlier and i'm back already WTF ... she laughed when i told her it sucked

If you lived in Whitehorse, like I did, Skagway was a tropical fucking oasis when it’s -45c... and the tourons coming into the Skag were a welcome sight after a cold, dark winter when you see the same ladies evvvvverrryyy night.

[Kinnikinnick]

Alaska would be fine Caribbean? Not so much. Literally in Port of San Juan for 4.5 hours. How can you see anything without feeling rushed?

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It’s almost like their real objective is to keep you on the boat for as long as possible. I wonder why...

For my money I’d rather spend more on flights and lodging and get to know one place better.


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[garyfromterrace]

So, is the train shown on this pdf that goes from prince rupert to both terrace and smithers a passenger train or freight? Can I take a train from prince rupert to shames?


that would be sweet.....


https://www.bcferries.com/files/imag...routes_map.pdf

Well train doesn't go right to Shames but yep it stops in Terrace, also Smithers then continues eventually to Jasper , 3 potential ski hills. Four if you include Cain. The train ride is amazing.

[Skidog]

Somebody’s been living in NY too long. Free vacation, yes plane tix, but at the end of the day, your kids will remember spending time with mom and dad and the grandparents.
I wish my grandparents had the coin to spend on my parents and I when I was a kid.



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No I get this. I guess the rant was really more about cruises kinda sucking..

the kids were ok with it, bit not overly enthused. My littlest, 7, who has done flow rider when younger and on a bigger pad, was not allowed to on cruise. Mini zip line? Nope 75lbs. Basketball court? Nope bigger teens and adults playing full court. Shoot around at 8am or don't. How many times can I play the same shitty mini golf course? 6 ping pong tables. 2 big climbing walls, but only one ever opened, even on at sea days which meant long lines. The ship was just the wrong one. Mariner of the seas, also royal ship was in Port next to us in Bahamas and it looked like it was super kid friendly. Waterslides trampolines.

Staff was excellent for the most part. Food was good. Weather was nice, but the crowds made it feel weird.

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[waxman]

No I get this. I guess the rant was really more about cruises kinda sucking..

the kids were ok with it, bit not overly enthused. My littlest, 7, who has done flow rider when younger and on a bigger pad, was not allowed to on cruise. Mini zip line? Nope 75lbs. Basketball court? Nope bigger teens and adults playing full court. Shoot around at 8am or don't. How many times can I play the same shitty mini golf course? 6 ping pong tables. 2 big climbing walls, but only one ever opened, even on at sea days which meant long lines. The ship was just the wrong one. Mariner of the seas, also royal ship was in Port next to us in Bahamas and it looked like it was super kid friendly. Waterslides trampolines.

Staff was excellent for the most part. Food was good. Weather was nice, but the crowds made it feel weird.

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I have no desire to go on a cruise "too peoply" to quote mntlion. The only thing I have ever seen that appeals to me is shooting clays off the deck, does that happen because that might be tolerable.

[Skidog]

I have no desire to go on a cruise "too peoply" to quote mntlion. The only thing I have ever seen that appeals to me is shooting clays off the deck, does that happen because that might be tolerable.

if it did it was not offered on my ship. That would be cool as hell. Royal is very much about not tossing anything into the water though so...

[SkiBall]

if it did it was not offered on my ship. That would be cool as hell. Royal is very much about not tossing anything into the water though so...

Cruise ships toss enough stuff into the ocean with their mere existence. But they're trying at least I guess.

[plugboots]

We avoided the pool.

[Skidog]

Cruise ships toss enough stuff into the ocean with their mere existence. But they're trying at least I guess.

agreed but as you said, at least they are bringing awareness to it.