It's tough enough. I don't see any great history of these cruise ships bein g unstable or the accomodation blocks collapsing.
on.
I had a long chat with someone that went cruising. It just sounded really b oring. Food cut into fancy shapes every day, gambling parlour style lightin g, and stage shows, stage shows & more damned stage shows. Yawn. And hardly any time at the stopoffs, no chance of exploring anywhere. Like anything c apitalism has morphed it into whatever's most profitable for the seller wit hout regard to the point of the exercise.
A moving shopping mall, where you are let out for good behaviour.
In the mid 80s a good book "Fool's Paradise" discussed the tricks of the tourist trade. It noted that the ship's "entertainment officer" or purser was always the last person to return to the ship - because they went around the tourist shops after the tourists so that they could collect their cut of the action.
Don't waste your time on that smug and contentious ignoramus. As I suspected, the so-called air draft is dangerously large and modern design relies on advanced propulsion for stabilization.
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Wind force is HUGE, just take a look at that broadside.
Funny, when I saw the title I thought the thread was going to be about all the plastic that has washed into the ocean. That is another of the many impending environmental issues we are creating and try to ignore until it is too late.
Instead it is just JL ranting about cruise ships. lol
Article summary: 'These new ships look different to the old ones, therefore they aren't right. They do have a system to deal with wind load, and I don't have the first clue about it.'
Ordinarily that might make sense, but in the case of these massive cruise ships carrying up to 8,000 people, it absolutely should not be allowed to operate a ship that requires active power to stay afloat in severe weather.
Well, you Seriously Dynamic Uncontainable Manly Explorer Types will probably despise me for saying so, but I sort of like cruises. I've been on four of them in the last decade, to Alaska and the Caribbean.
If you pick the right cruise line, the food is generally pretty good--as good as your average restaurant, though not as good as I get at home. Normally eating in the main restaurant is a better bet than in the promenade deck buffet. I don't go to the shows, so I don't care about them--I'm not really that big on passive entertainment in general. A cabin with a balcony is key, so that your private space is pleasant.
The slow and expensive internet is a problem, but I'm from back before widespread networking, so I can deal.
Thing is, I really don't like travelling at all, and being on a ship makes going places really easy. Basically your hotel does all the travelling for you, and you just get off the ship, stroll around Ketchikan / Juneau / Skagway / Nassau / Cozumel / Grand Turk /Key West or wherever for several hours, and get back on. I rarely go on the expensive shore excursions.
The poor quality stops, e.g. Port Canaveral and Freeport, give you an opportunity to have the ship more or less to yourself while all the noobs discover why they didn't want to go there. ;)
Nobody makes you buy overpriced trinkets, and it isn't really very difficult to avoid tourist traps. Some of those are actually reasonably fun, e.g. Senor Frog's, which is a chain of pretty decent bars. (It's a lifeline if you find yourself ashore in some rathole like Freeport.)
Four or five days is about right. After that it does begin to be tedious.
lly boring. Food cut into fancy shapes every day, gambling parlour style li ghting, and stage shows, stage shows & more damned stage shows. Yawn. And h ardly any time at the stopoffs, no chance of exploring anywhere. Like anyth ing capitalism has morphed it into whatever's most profitable for the selle r without regard to the point of the exercise.
being unstable or the accomodation blocks collapsing.
go on.
l
lly boring. Food cut into fancy shapes every day, gambling parlour style li ghting, and stage shows, stage shows & more damned stage shows. Yawn. And h ardly any time at the stopoffs, no chance of exploring anywhere. Like anyth ing capitalism has morphed it into whatever's most profitable for the selle r without regard to the point of the exercise.
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IIRC you have a daughter in the industry, is that still true? And perhaps a family discount helps.
I paid the full freight for the Alaska cruise, because it was for our
25th anniversary and Beautiful Flying Hunchback wasn't flying back then.
There are interline websites, e.g. Perx and Dargal, that have discounted cruise and resort deals. They're not that much better than you can do on e.g. Kayak for last-minute stuff.
The main benefit is being able to fly non-revenue (i.e. standby), so that you can take advantage of the last-minute deals without getting reamed buying a plane ticket on 2 days' notice.
There are cruises out of NYC these days, but you really have to go for a week at least, because you lose a day or so worth of warm weather on each end.
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