6 Reasons To Never Go On A Cruise Vacation

By Margaret Bristol for Bookish:

Call me a landlubber, but recent disturbing news stories about cruise ships have me reconsidering my vacation plans. In January, the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground in Italy, leaving more than 30 passengers dead or presumed dead. Today, another vessel from the same company, the Allegra, is being towed into Seychelles after a fire left the cruise ship inoperable and over 1000 passengers stranded for about three days. If these horror stories on the high seas aren't enough to make you reconsider your next cruise vacation, these literary tales of very un-smooth sailing surely will.

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Comments

[SirGigglehead]

12:50 PM on 03/10/2012

I'm really disappointed that this article didn't mention the best reason not to go on a cruise: the cruise industry relies on shameless exploitation of its crew in order to make its profits. The workers are usually recruited with false promises, kept in close quarters for extremely long periods with little opportunity to return to family, paid a pittance (with the promise that they will be tipped well, which most cruise passengers don't end up providing,) and worked long hours and days on end.

[mnastro]

10:23 AM on 03/10/2012

My next best seller: "A million and one reasons to never leave your home."..I have been on 13 cruises without any complaints.......wake up people...whats the agenda here...theres ALWAYS an agenda.

[sacmom3]

02:02 PM on 03/09/2012

" A bad day of cruising is better than the best day at work."

[istas3]

12:50 AM on 03/06/2012

Don't forget Judith Barrington's memoir called Lifesaving. When she was 19 years old her parents died in a cruise ship accident.

[Gronkie]

04:57 PM on 03/05/2012

I can think of a million reasons not to go on any vacation at all, from crime to unequal monetary exchange to weird food to language barriers to TSA pre-flight gropings to potential incarceration in third world prisons for running afoul of some odd local law, but we go on vacation anyway. Living in Orlando, I used to have a job that put me in daily contact with vacationers and there are exactly two types:

1) Those who look for problems, and when they find one, no matter how tiny, they scream bloody murder and make sure that it ruins the vacation for their whole family, and

2) Those who are glad to be on vacation and are determined to have a good time, and won't let anything ruin it.

The first ones typify the "ugly American," and the second are fun to be around. I am of the second variety.

[flyinghigh0905]

11:32 AM on 03/05/2012

I thought this article was just going to be a series of pictures from that latest cruise liner that crashed, or at least a picture of the captain.

[nutty4tahoe]

10:50 AM on 03/05/2012

Oh, honestly. I've been on 7 cruises with nary a mishap. If people want to be afraid of everything, it's much more dangerous to drive down the street in your car. MUCH more dangerous! Of course, if you get on a plane it might crash. If you eat something, you might get food poisoning. My house is along a golf course fairway. I'm much more worried about getting hit by a golf ball than I am of taking a cruise (which is a great travel bargain many times, by the way).

[prodigaldaughter]

09:55 AM on 03/05/2012

I guess it depends on which line, destination, etc. I did the 2 week Mediterranean cruise from Venice to Barcelona on the Queen Victoria last fall and it was incredible. Classy, first-rate service, gorgeous ship, nice people. To me the worst part of the trip was the flight from JFK to Venice and the return flight from Barcelona. I'd do it again. Since Carnival owns most of the big ships now, including the Costa Concordia and Allegra, and the three Queens, you have to do some digging to find another line that can accommodate your needs. I would never say all cruises are bad or good.

[fuzzynormal]

05:01 AM on 03/05/2012

Ha. I've been on a few dozen cruises, never paid for 'em though.

I had colleagues on the Norwegian Dawn and were in the nightclub when the wave crest busted through the windows. It set off an electrical fire and my friend was chastised by the officers for pulling the fire alarm.

"Yeah...but the ship was on fire..."

Oh well. It's an entertainment/hotel biz, not much of a nautical adventure, hopefully.

It takes a certain kind of attitude and individual to spend their own cash for the so-called-enjoyment of a cruise in the modern era. Not my thing and I hope I'm never the type of person for which it is.

[yogajan]

12:28 AM on 03/05/2012

Cruises became big after the TV show Love Boat. I can tell you for a fact that the golden days of cruises are gone and will unlikely return.

I have been on a lot of them, but the last was the worse. The food was terrible, the entertainment, mediocre, the spa service expensive and the very worse was getting the norovirus. Three days of quarantine was not fun. So many on the ship got it, that the food service was affected and the infirmary was not equipped to handle so many being ill.

The ports of call were tourist havens filled with vendors selling junk.

Now if I want to travel, I travel by land or by air and have a much better time.

[Gronkie]

12:00 AM on 03/05/2012

My only cruise experience was extremely fun. I'd definitely go again.

[left in vermont]

09:26 PM on 03/04/2012

Nothing beats "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace.

[juna]

02:12 PM on 03/04/2012

Contagious disease is one of the best reasons not to take a cruise, IMO.

[Bettanowthanltr06]

10:59 PM on 03/03/2012

my favorite go to line,, who cares..

[Chale4]

10:17 PM on 03/03/2012

Well, as the great man said, "Another supposedly fun thing I'll never do again"...