February 12, 2010

My wife and I don't like cruises. At least not ocean cruises.

I know I have been saying a lot of negative things about generally popular subjects, but hey that's how I feel and that is the view from the bottom.

Anyway, we don't like cruises.

This is not based on some information picked out of thin air, it is based on a cruise we took years ago.

Don't misunderstood, we had a great time. At the time we went on a Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Key West Florida, Cozumel Mexico, Jamaica and Cayman Islands.

This was our first excursion into the Caribbean and we instantly fell in love. The weather the sea, the palm trees the whole shebang.

The ship was luxurious and comfortable. Not too huge yet not small either. Since this cruise was about eighteen years ago that ship is now living her fourth life with another cruise company still plying the oceans of the world.

And it is good to know that she is not part of some artificial coral somewhere deep down.

We really liked that cruise. We saw beautiful places, ate good food and since we went with friends it was really fun.

What we didn't like were the rigidness of their schedules and the mass of people. At that time time we didn't realize that cruise ships usually dock at the ugliest and most commercial parts of these islands.

Since that time we vacationed in Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten and I can tell you the places where the cruise ships dock are not the prettiest.

The rigid schedules included meal times and getting off the ship and back while at dock. Since this ship spent only two days at sea, on board activities were limited. We wanted to see the islands and not taking part in ping pong tournaments.

OK, the meals were excellent and plenty, the service first class. Entertainment was good and night life was fun.

So if everything was so good why don't we like it? Because once you are on an island everybody is running around like a headless chicken from store to store or going on an overpriced tour and constantly watching the clock to be back at the ship on time.

Eating on the islands and savoring the local food becomes an issue because the meals are paid for on the ship so why spend the money.

The merchants on these islands look at the cruise passengers as cash cows and suckers. Some of them raise their prices when the ships are in believing that once they say the item is tax and duty free it will be sold.

After our cruise we started to vacation on different Caribbean islands by staying two to three weeks in one place and realized what a difference that is. That's what vacation is. Relaxation in the sun and we love it.

The new cruise ship that is roaming the seas is called the Oasis of the Seas. It just went into service and it cost $1.4 billion to make it. This alone is an obscene amount.

It can carry 6,296 passengers and a crew of 2,165. That totals 8,461 people. This is bigger than a small town.

The ship has 16 decks, it is 236 ft high, 1,181ft long and 198feet wide. It is huge.

I saw this ship on a web camera while it was at St. Maarten. There were three other ships at the pier and they were dwarfed by this monstrosity.

When it stops at an island and you add all the other ships there, there will over ten thousand people going ashore pretty much at the same time. These quaint, nice island are being ruined by the presence of these hordes of humanity.

In our resort we are advised to stay out of town when the cruise ships are in. Fortunately, there are days when it is nice and quiet since no ships come in.

A cruise ship of the size of the Oasis is just leave all imagination behind. There are restaurants galore, activities galore and naturally multitude of shopping opportunities.

I know someone who is hung up on these large ships. Every year he manages to go on a cruise on the newest and biggest ship.

I told them once that if I want to go shopping I can go to Macy's and not to a ship. If I want to eat French, Italian or Japanese I go to a restaurant that is on Terra firma.

I just can not see having enough time on a such a huge ship to enjoy it and at the same time leave, explore the islands and also relax.

But obviously some people like it otherwise they wouldn't be building bigger and bigger cruise ships. The Oasis of the Seas' claim to be the largest cruise ship in the world very likely will not last forever.

I'll take my three weeks on the beautiful island of St. Maarten anytime.