Cruise Vacations: The Pros and Cons

Over the years I’ve done a lot of research about cruise vacations. I have taken four cruises myself (read about the last one here), talked to other travellers, read forums online, and watched countless YouTube videos about what people love and hate about cruising. There seems to be two camps of people out there with the loudest voices: people who love cruising, and people who hate it. Personally I think there are a lot of people in the middle who neither love it or hate it, and I’m one of them. There are reasons I love cruise vacations, and there are reasons I hate them. So I think that leaves me somewhere in the middle. As a neutral party, let me share what I believe are the pros and cons of cruise vacations.

Pros of Cruise Vacations

• You only have to unpack once – you’re in your cabin for the duration of the trip, and despite moving from country to country you don’t have to pack/unpack or lug around a heavy suitcase.
• Food is included – and the food is great. I’ve never had terrible food on a cruise vacation. I’ve had some average food, but it was still great in comparison to all-inclusive food. There is buffet and table-service restaurants to choose from, and they usually have a few specialty restaurants for an additional charge. Personally, I tried a few specialty restaurants and thought the food in the buffet and main dining rooms was just as good!
• Transportation between ports/countries is seamless – once you are on the ship, you don’t have to worry about how to get to the next port. You go to sleep (maybe a few sleeps if there are sea days) and when you wake up you are at the next location. This eliminates all stress about catching trains, flights or uncomfortable bus rides to your next destination.
• Entertainment day and night – there are always activities happening on the ship throughout the day and evening. Entertainment includes dancing, musical performances, comedians, games, meetups, and other activities. The ships I’ve been on had daily schedules with everything listed by time and location. You can only be bored on a cruise vacation if you chose to be!
• Amenities are plentiful – most ships have an array of amenities to choose from. On previous cruises I’ve seen rock climbing walls, tennis/basketball courts, full spa services, adult only pools/areas on the ship, child care services and the list goes on. When selecting your cruise take a look at the ship for more information on what they offer.
• Room for lounging – throughout the ship there are plenty of sitting areas. Some are quiet, some are right in the action, some you don’t find until your last night! I never had issues finding a seating area on any of my cruises.
• Organized tours – see the world and don’t get left behind! One thing we liked about the tours organized through the ship was that you were basically guaranteed to get back in time or the ship waited for you. We used the organized tours for destinations where we wanted to see a number of sights or that the attractions were far from the ship. The tours can be pricey though, so make sure it’s worth it (to you!) before booking.
• Enjoy the outdoors or stay inside – depending on your preference you can spend time outdoors on deck, or if you prefer being indoors there are plenty of spaces you can stay inside. It’s completely up to you!

Cons of Cruise Vacations

• Seasickness – this one is pretty self explanatory. If you are prone to any kind of motion sickness, you may become seasick. If the waters are rough or the ship is moving at a fast pace, this may also make you sick. You have options though! You can take an anti-nausea pill, or use a patch behind your ear. I prefer the patch and after being seasick once, always wear the patch when I cruise.
• Limited time in port – because you are on the ship’s schedule, you often don’t get enough time in port to explore and see the sights. This is one of the biggest cons of a cruise vacation for me, because I like to see as much as I can and with only 6-8 hours that is just not enough.

• Disorganized tours – for the most part, the tours we took through the ships were very well run and planned out. However on our last cruise vacation we had poor experiences just getting off the ship for a number of our tours. There were too many groups doing the same tour, the staff weren’t prepared and the tour buses were late in a few ports. That can really impact your day.
• Not enough tenders in the water – the worst experience we had on any of our cruises was in Edinburgh, Scotland – they only had three tenders running from ship to shore. Luckily we found a way to get off (by pretending we were part of another group – thank you to those kind cruisers!) but we lost 2.5 hours waiting. We later heard that they didn’t even call our tender number, so many people weren’t able to get off the ship at all that day. That was one of the main ports I wanted to see, so this really put a damper on our day.

• Alcohol is expensive – no matter what ship you cruise on, alcohol is expensive. Factor in the Canadian to USA exchange rate and it is even worse. It’s not worth it for us to get the unlimited beverage package because we really aren’t big drinkers, so we just pay as we go. Usually we drink in port because we like to try the local specialties, and it ends up being cheaper!
• Completely booked ships – we had an issue with our room on our last cruise vacation, but because the ship was completely sold out there was no other room for us to go to. On the second night (after no sleep the night before) we were given a new room. The only reason this happened was because there was a medical emergency and the couple in that room had to leave the ship. Just beware – if they are completely booked, you can’t just take your luggage to another hotel on the open seas! Plus, when ships are fully booked or close to it, the lines are longer for everything.

• Rooms are small – the cabins on cruise ships are usually not very large. Typically, we don’t spend a lot of time in our cabin, but for people who do it might be worth upgrading to a balcony room or suite. We’ve done inside cabin, ocean view and balcony. We liked having the balcony and window to see outside, but I’d easily cruise inside again with Royal – not with Norwegian.
• Expensive in general – cruise vacations are expensive in general. Sometimes you can get really good deals that make the cruise worth it. It really depends when and where you are going.

I’ve tried to remain neutral, but include both the positives and negatives of cruise vacations here. What I love the most is being able to see quick snapshots of different cities and countries. What I hate the most is that I’m completely at the mercy of the ship. I guess you could say I have a love/hate relationship with cruising, but would I take a cruise vacation again? Absolutely, but it has to be the right time, price and itinerary to make it worth it.

What about you: Do you like cruise vacations, or do you prefer to explore on your own?