Cruise Travel

[Copernicus]

Having cast our election ballots early, we thought it might be a good idea to get out of the country for the month of November. My wife and I will be on two cruises back-to-back--the Silversea Ray around the Mediterranean (Athens to Rome), followed by the Oceania Marina transatlantic cruise from Lisbon to Miami. Both of these ships are smaller cruise ships, which I prefer, but they are expensive. I don't much care for the mega ships, which can feel like a floating city and are less personal. However, it is hard to find the smaller lines at a reasonable price.

Right now, we are in Athens, before boarding the Ray tomorrow. Our itinerary will include Greek islands (Santorini and Crete), Turkey (Ephsesus, Bodrum), Malta, Sicily, Naples, and Rome. The transatlantic will just be three ports--Funchal (Madeira, Portugal), Antigua, and Puerto Rico.

For us, this is the best way to travel after retirement, when we can afford it and have the time. When we were younger, we preferred land trips and did all of our own logistics, but cruise ships are basically vacation manufacturers. They arrange all of the logistics, and we get to carry our hotel room around with us, not to mention excellent food and entertainment. But you pay a higher cost for all of that. We mitigate expenses where we can.

Any others out there who like to cruise? I don't mind those who hate the idea of getting on a cruise ship, because they help to keep the prices affordable for those of us who enjoy the experience.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Any others out there who like to cruise?

I went on a three-day cruise on a relatively large ship years ago and loved it. However, I probably wouldn't go again not because I wouldn't enjoy it but because it wouldn't sit right with my conscience given how immensely destructive to the environment and marine life the cruise industry is. I realize that most of our activities within a modern lifestyle also have an ecological and environmental toll, but cruising strikes me as one of the activities with a particularly strong and outsize impact in that regard.

 

[Regiomontanus]

Having cast our election ballots early, we thought it might be a good idea to get out of the country for the month of November. My wife and I will be on two cruises back-to-back--the Silversea Ray around the Mediterranean (Athens to Rome), followed by the Oceania Marina transatlantic cruise from Lisbon to Miami. Both of these ships are smaller cruise ships, which I prefer, but they are expensive. I don't much care for the mega ships, which can feel like a floating city and are less personal. However, it is hard to find the smaller lines at a reasonable price.

Right now, we are in Athens, before boarding the Ray tomorrow. Our itinerary will include Greek islands (Santorini and Crete), Turkey (Ephsesus, Bodrum), Malta, Sicily, Naples, and Rome. The transatlantic will just be three ports--Funchal (Madeira, Portugal), Antigua, and Puerto Rico.

For us, this is the best way to travel after retirement, when we can afford it and have the time. When we were younger, we preferred land trips and did all of our own logistics, but cruise ships are basically vacation manufacturers. They arrange all of the logistics, and we get to carry our hotel room around with us, not to mention excellent food and entertainment. But you pay a higher cost for all of that. We mitigate expenses where we can.

Any others out there who like to cruise? I don't mind those who hate the idea of getting on a cruise ship, because they help to keep the prices affordable for those of us who enjoy the experience.

I am jealous of your itinerary, sounds like much fun. Take a picture or two of some ancient sites/ruins in Ephesus for me?

I have not been on a cruise since a few months before my wife passed away. Cruises were more her thing than mine but I usually enjoyed them. If I went on one now I think I would just feel sad.

Enjoy

 

[Copernicus]

I am jealous of your itinerary, sounds like much fun. Take a picture or two of some ancient sites/ruins in Ephesus for me?

I have not been on a cruise since a few months before my wife passed away. Cruises were more her thing than mine but I usually enjoyed them. If I went on one now I think I would just feel sad.

Enjoy

Sorry to hear about your wife, and I know just where you are coming from. When one of us is gone, I don't think either would be able to cruise again, although that has happened to several couples we've known well. A couple of the surviving spouses have been able to cruise again despite their grief. I don't think I could.

We've been to Ephesus once before, but we did it without a guide. This time we'll have a guide and see different things. I can't get over how important this city used to be in Greek and Roman times, before Constantinople supplanted it as capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

 

[Kathryn]

I have been on a cruise before and hated it because I felt like I had to tour when they wanted me to and where and I just didn't like all that structure. But I get that many people do so more power to you.

 

[Copernicus]

I went on a three-day cruise on a relatively large ship years ago and loved it. However, I probably wouldn't go again not because I wouldn't enjoy it but because it wouldn't sit right with my conscience given how immensely destructive to the environment and marine life the cruise industry is. I realize that most of our activities within a modern lifestyle also have an ecological and environmental toll, but cruising strikes me as one of the activities with a particularly strong and outsize impact in that regard.

That's a fair criticism for most cruise ships, which are heavy polluters. The particular ships we'll be on tend to be among the least environmentally damaging. They've gone to great lengths to reduce paper and plastic waste, not to mention using more solar power and hooking up to shore generators while in ports that support such hookups.

The weakness in your argument is the presumption that the per capita carbon footprint of cruisers would be higher while traveling on a cruise ship than if they were doing other things, such as driving cars, flying in airplanes, burning wood in fireplaces, etc. Global pollution would not be changed significantly if people stopped going on cruises, but a lot of people would lose their livelihoods if they did stop.

 

[Copernicus]

I have been on a cruise before and hated it because I felt like I had to tour when they wanted me to and where and I just didn't like all that structure. But I get that many people do so more power to you.

But nobody actually makes you leave on a tour. There are plenty of other activities and people to interact with.

 

[Debater Slayer]

That's a fair criticism for most cruise ships, which are heavy polluters. The particular ships we'll be on tend to be among the least environmentally damaging. They've gone to great lengths to reduce paper and plastic waste, not to mention using more solar power and hooking up to shore generators while in ports that support such hookups.

That sounds good. I hope you have a great time, either way!

The weakness in your argument is the presumption that the per capita carbon footprint of cruisers would be higher while traveling on a cruise ship than if they were doing other things, such as driving cars, flying in airplanes, burning wood in fireplaces, etc. Global pollution would not be changed significantly if people stopped going on cruises, but a lot of people would lose their livelihoods if they did stop.

I think it's a pretty complicated topic that would probably need a separate thread for more detailed discussion, but I wasn't trying to criticize anyone for going on a cruise or speak to what the footprint of a given individual would be if they didn't go on a cruise (which I also know varies from person to person); I was just answering the question in the OP and explaining why, personally, I probably wouldn't go on a cruise again even though I would definitely enjoy it.

 

[Kathryn]

But nobody actually makes you leave on a tour. There are plenty of other activities and people to interact with.

But I would want (I think, not sure) to see what I wanted to see, and sorry but it seems contrived. I mean, I would pick a cruise (if I had to, which I don't thankfully) based on where it was going and what time of year. Otherwise I don't guess it would matter though where it was going would matter to me. But never mind, I can and do travel independently and at my own pace.

One of the best vacations I ever took, in fact, was completely solo and to the Historic Triangle of Virginia. I did what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I skipped over some things and spent hours doing other things. I feel like I would have felt rushed on a cruise.

 

[Watchmen]

I've been on a handful of cruises. Did Disney a few times with the kids and it was fun, but we were ready to be done after 7 days. Did Virgin earlier in the year and loved it! Didn't want to get off after a week on the ship. Doing a second Virgin cruise soon.

 

[The Hammer]

Enjoy! Have fun. See you later. Au revoir. Bis später. Hasta luego.

I love the ocean, and I may love a cruise. But my time aboard a naval ship deters me. And they are such wasteful, polluting machines.

 

[Martin]

U-571 reporting.

 

[Copernicus]

Enjoy! Have fun. See you later. Au revoir. Bis später. Hasta luego.

I love the ocean, and I may love a cruise. But my time aboard a naval ship deters me. And they are such wasteful, polluting machines.

I am traveling this time with a friend of mine, whom I have known for 7 decades. He is a Navy veteran who spent a lot of time on a ship. His opinion is that taking a vacation cruise is quite a bit different and more enjoyable than the ones he took during the Vietnam war. I just wish he would stop giving tips to everyone in Europe who gives him the slightest bit of service. I told him that they don't do that as much, and they don't give 20% tips in restaurants for meals. It gives Americans a bad name, but they do ask him to come back a lot. This is his and his wife's first trip to Europe, so I don't scold him too much.

But I wouldn't try to persuade people to go on cruises. It is something that I prefer to do in my dotage, and it keeps the prices down for me if ships have to compete with each other for my business. Unfortunately, there is still a high demand for them, despite inflation.

 

[Watchmen]

Enjoy! Have fun. See you later. Au revoir. Bis später. Hasta luego.

I love the ocean, and I may love a cruise. But my time aboard a naval ship deters me. And they are such wasteful, polluting machines.

Virgin has made a concerted effort to be a green cruiseline.

 

[The Hammer]

Virgin has made a concerted effort to be a green cruiseline.

While possible. "Green" and "cruise", while not using a nuclear reactor will almost always be seen as wasteful to me. Amongst other things. This is just one example.

 

[Copernicus]

While possible. "Green" and "cruise", while not using a nuclear reactor will almost always be seen as wasteful to me. Amongst other things. This is just one example.

Radioactive waste is still a form of pollution, but it isn't going to cause severe climate change. Manufacturing is not carbon-free either. I still feel that the problem is not going to be solved by getting rid of cruise ships or even automobiles. We need solutions that have a general impact on human behavior. Just leaving the choice up to individuals is not going to work. That's what got us to this point in the first place. That is why people have proposed solutions such as carbon taxes, which make pollution more expensive than large numbers of people are collectively willing to pay.

Anyway, this gets us into a thread topic that belongs elsewhere than in the travel section. Let's take it as a given that all forms of travel involve some carbon pollution. I just don't buy the argument that cruise ships per se are the pollution problem. It is collective behavior which includes cruise ships and everything else we do. Think of it as trying to weigh a bunch of frogs. Every time you get one frog onto the scale (per Capita pollution problem solved), a frog jumps off somewhere else.

 

[The Hammer]

Anyway, this gets us into a thread topic that belongs elsewhere than in the travel section.

Agreed. Which is why I left my responses as is .

I know the draw backs. I was merely pointing to one way they could be "greener", not that it was the main or most important way. I'm not particularly a fan of nuclear, outside of some applications, because of the waste products involved.

 

[Kathryn]

Agreed. Which is why I left my responses as is .

I know the draw backs. I was merely pointing to one way they could be "greener", not that it was the main or most important way. I'm not particularly a fan of nuclear, outside of some applications, because of the waste products involved.

I am a big believer in the saying, "Never make anything you can't get rid of."