Do 'real' sailors go on cruises?

Halcyon Yachts

Halcyon Yachts

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The sight of Norwegian Breakaway in the Solent made me wonder whether any yachtsmen enjoy going on cruise ships?

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I have never been on one and the thought of it just doesn't appeal in anyway. I'd happily sit on a 40ft yacht and sail across a large ocean, and I know that I would never be bored doing so. Why therefore do I assume even one day onboard a cruise ship would leave me wanting to jump overboard?!?

Pete
 
Did a cruise (first ever) on the Queen Victoria to the Baltic a couple of years ago. It was "different" but wouldn't really want to go on one again (unless I could spend the whole trip on the bridge! :cool:)
 
Maybe a high latitudes one would be worth going on.

We encounter the Hebridean Princess on almost every cruise we do, and it pleases me to think that we are enjoying exactly the same view as the Queen and co, whilst spending a little less money...
 
Certainly lots of people enjoy it. Doesn't appeal to me though. Far to many of them. And Noroviris
I'm with Dylan.
aaaagh
 
'Some' Americans have it down to a fine art. Three days, "all you can eat", offshore gambling and flirting, take a suitcase full of your own booze, cheap innit....
 
I got thoroughly disenchanted with these cruise ships when I saw then in the Caribbean, at a number of islands.

When the ship turned up, the island was suddenly flooded with several hundred people (shorts, white legs, cameras) which seemed totally to change the atmosphere of the island (i.e. ruin it).

Sometimes a free bar was set up on a beach - and lots of free water-sports toys provided - so that a formerly lovely anchorage in a remote Grenadine island was suddenly overwhelmed with noisy crowded activity.

And perhaps the worst thing was that the islanders didn't benefit economically. Because the tourists had everything for free on and from the ship or beach base, they would wander up to the village, looking at the sights and the locals, but not even buying a cup of coffee in the local cafe. They were quite bitter about this.

I will admit that, being white, we could sometimes blag a free drink from the beach bar ...

Everyone to their own, but it's not for me.
 
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dylanwinter said:
Butlins afloat - but with no means of escape

aaaagh!
Click to expand...

That was exactly my feelings after a Fjords cruise. Pleased to have been and very sociable with relatives but not for me. Too many people, 4 hours ashore is just silly, a lot of "cruising bores " who feel they have been everywhere and done everything, you tend to over eat to relieve the boredom. It is sort of travel but without leaving the UK.
However probably great for the elderly and those with poor mobility.
 
The average per head 'spend' some years ago on St Maartin was $10. Which funnily enough was the price of a T Shirt and a BurgerKing, both available within 20metres of the cruiseship dinghies' landing on the pier end.....And back on board they went.

Leaving all the 'happy hour' food n drink deals to the other, raggy, cruisers...
 
I can't think of anything worse; trapped, no reasonable means of escape from the itenary, no choice of course, noisy greedy snobby other passengers, and novovirus !

I'd quite seriously rather be in the tiniest sailing boat like a Hunter 490 deciding my own fate than death by snobbery and overeating let alone the costs.

It would also mean putting my and my dearests' lives in the hands of people like an Italian berk keen on showing off then keen to get off the sinking wreck...*

I don't like putting myself under the control of others especially at sea, I expect a lot of sailors feel the same.



* In WWII when the seasoned RAF pilots met the Italian air force, the latter would perform all sorts of aerobatics and twiddles, showing off; the experienced RAF guys just raised their eyebrows a little, then shot them out of the sky.
 
I'm not sure I'm a real sailor as I don't have a boat, (yet), we only do flotillas and bareboat charter.

Last year for our fortieth wedding anniversary we were very seriously considering taking our first ever cruise on a Cunard Queen, out of Southampton down to the Canaries and back, our reasoning being if you're going to do something then do it properly.

In the end we decided that we just were just didn't feel ready or old enough to be cooped up with a lot of other mostly old people eating and drinking heavily for a couple of weeks so we went scuba diving and windsurfing at a really nice hotel in Egypt instead.

Perhaps we'll try a cruise for our fiftieth!!
 
No I would rather have the provos drill through my kneecaps with a Black and Decker. It will totally spoil Greenwich if they build a terminal there as well. Good luck to the flips who get a chance to send money home though.
I would guess that most posters on here would like to do the navigation,or handle the ropes,or even a watch in the engine room,for the crack. But the international manning "regulations" allow the skilled sailors to be treated like animals with minimal rights. I'm not being a marxist that's the coup. Since you ask. All the best Jerry.
 
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We're going on our first cruise later this year to the Norwegian Fjords. Going with friends so we won't have to socialise with the masses. Looking forward to it.
 
I imagine bits of the Tirpitz are still there; I've always said the only way to do a tour of the Rhine is in the front seat of a Lancaster, same applies to Tromso Fjord...
 
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