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>what cruise line AND where did you go?<
We cruised from Vancouver, BC, to Hawaii on NCL in October of 2001.
I will never, EVER cruise again, for the following reasons. This is a fraction of the things that went wrong on our cruise vacation.
RANT MODE ON!
1) Seasickness When one books a cruise, the cruise line tells you that the boat has stabilizers, and it's "very rare" for anyone to become seasick. Uh, that's a lie. The Pacific is notorious for rough seas. It also takes quite some time for seasickness meds to kick in (in my case, five days,) if you haven't started taking them before you even left port. Seasickness bands were unavailable; those in charge of the ship's gift shops didn't stock them for the trip.
We hit a storm six or seven hours out of Vancouver, BC, that generated 20-foot swells for the better part of two days. According to the ship's doctor's office, half the ship was ill and incapacitated, including the captain. There is an injection one can get to eliminate the symptoms of seasickness. I was told that the injection was unavailable.
2) Hidden costs If you aren't a major-league drinker, gambler, really enjoy art auctions, or like playing bingo at $40 per throw, there's not a lot to do. There was a gratuity for everything. If one wanted a can of pop, the pop was $1.50; if one did not tip .75 - $1.00 for each can of pop, one would not receive the can of pop in any timely manner. Speaking of alcohol, most drinks are $8.00 and up, and that does not include the gratuity. We drank a lot of bottled water, because the drinking water onboard was loaded with chemicals. Of course, there was a charge for each bottle of water as well.
The "fabulous food" on cruise ships is now in their alternative restaurants, which charge for each meal on top of existing fare. The mere mortal food was okay, but nothing to write home about. If you'd like a picture of your embarking or disembarking, it'll be $14.00. Per photo.
Shore excursions, via the cruise line, were unbelievably expensive. For instance -- a trip to Kaanapali Beach in Maui for a bit of sunbathing was $26.00 per person. They weren't feeding you, there was no other assistance offered besides making sure you got to the beach (a mile or so from where the ship's tender docked,) and getting you back to the dock.
3) NCL first, passengers far down the list Just remember, if it's not making money for NCL, they're not interested. If you miss a port, you will get no refund on your port fees. They'll also lie about the real reason you're missing the port, so they won't have to refund those fees. The same morning we missed the one port we'd booked for (Kauai,) a woman onboard (and sailing against doctor's orders,) gave birth. The entire ship was then taken to Honolulu to offload she and her family. We'd been onboard for six out of the seven days of our cruise. Did NCL think it would be a nice gesture to let some passengers off for a couple of hours to perhaps see the sights and stand on dry land? NO.
There was another passenger who was so loud, obnoxious, and rude that he (and his antics,) were known to the entire ship. He specialized in doing things like disrupting the evening entertainments, foisting himself on older women who didn't appreciate his boorish and amorous attentions, etcetera. It got so bad that one older gentleman, after "Bob" the passenger had bothered the first guy's wife once too many times, invited "Bob" to step outside. The ship's management had scores of complaints about Bob. Did they ask him to leave at the first port? NO. He ruined the vacation of 1700 other people.
4) Safety How safe is it to be sailing in seas so rough that the ship's captain is ill and incapacitated?
How safe is it to "tender" back to the ship after visiting a port, only to have crew members who don't think that they have to secure a safe passage for passengers to reboard the ship? (It's quite an adventure to cross a three-foot gap between vessels when both are wildly bobbing in rough surf. I got off easy by almost being dropped in the water, (and gigantic bruises,) instead of the broken leg on one elderly passenger, and the broken nose on another after she did a face-plant on deck when shoved across the gap by crew members. While leaving the ship, we were supervised by the captain. The trip back was another story.
As you've probably guessed, I could go on and on on this subject. When one goes to a vacation spot on dry land and things aren't working out, you can switch hotels, go to a different restaurant, or even end your vacation and fly home early. When on a cruise, you've just paid a fortune for an experience that can either be tremendous, or the worst vacation you've ever had.
Our vacation fell into the latter category. We spent several thousand dollars for the worst vacation we've ever had.
Julie
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