Why not just go on holiday to Sicily. It’s an amazing island.

Cant day I would just want to look at it from a tin can.

oh and then when you get off the tin can you pay a fortune to be let off to then swarm around some tourist attraction with another 4000 people from another tin can.

no thanks!

Retired guy in my local goes on cruises on huge container vessels. Last time he went via the Suez Canal to China stopping off in assorted parts of the Far East and I think it was three ports in China. Never really got off the boat as the turnaround in each port was surprisingly fast. He visited a few commercial port cafes but that was it. In the past he’s gone out on a boat got off the far side of the world with almost nothing booked and come back on a different boat a month later.

he loves it, I can’t imagine it…

Sounds like if we largely keep to ourselves we might avoid the worst of the negatives.

Is that even possible? MIL and FIL go, and describe it as though you get allocated a table with another couple at dinner every night.

They suggested we go with them because they had the chance of a great deal with kids almost free.  They weren’t so keen when we suggested they take the kids and we’d go somewhere we enjoy.

Not in this lifetime. More like a punishment than a holiday.

I can see why some people like them,but it’s not for me,a bit like golf.

There’s a significant issue with cruise ships in port as they won’t run off local power instead on bunker oil. This is very dirty and is breaching pollution controls in many of the places that they stop in.

Its even causing a problem in Greenwich, which isn’t in the cleanest part of the UK, but the cruise terminal close to the Dome is causing some considerable problems for local residents.

I’d be worried about having a deadline to catch the boat in the middle of the afternoon.

Retired guy in my local goes on cruises on huge container vessels. Last time he went via the Suez Canal to China stopping off in assorted parts of the Far East and I think it was three ports in China. Never really got off the boat as the turnaround in each port was surprisingly fast. He visited a few commercial port cafes but that was it. In the past he’s gone out on a boat got off the far side of the world with almost nothing booked and come back on a different boat a month later.

How do you hitch rides with container ships? Do you just turn up and ask?

How do you hitch rides with container ships? Do you just turn up and ask?

In a container, obvs.

Of course. I prefer the age-old method of taping myself in a cardboard box with a few cans of sardines and a duvet jacket and sending myself air freight.

seadog101

There is a meme doing the rounds on FB comparing the pollution of a cruise ship to a million cars. Not sure of the truth behind it though.

Emmissions per tonne per mile make shipping by far the greenest way to move things around…

It might be the most efficient way to move “things” around, sure. Cars. Televisions. Ipads. But it’s hardly the most efficient way to move 1000 leathery pensioners about.

There is a meme doing the rounds on FB comparing the pollution of a cruise ship to a million cars. Not sure of the truth behind it though.

I’m guessing it’s no worse then jetting off somewhere in an aeroplane.

How do you hitch rides with container ships? Do you just turn up and ask?

Its apparently a proper business in its own right. There was a really good article about someones experience but cant find it right now. This isnt a bad summary.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-container-ship-tourism-industry

i done an alaskan cruise , it was fantstic always something to do , highlights were watching grizzly bears catching salmon, ,pods of orcas and humpbacks swimmiing past the ship, bald eagles fiying overhead,

on1973

There is a meme doing the rounds on FB comparing the pollution of a cruise ship to a million cars. Not sure of the truth behind it though.

I’m guessing it’s no worse then jetting off somewhere in an aeroplane.

Apparently not.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2006/dec/20/cruises.green

…and that’s from the Guardian so it must be true.

Re cargo ship travel an environmentalist friend of mine took a banana boat to South America to avoid flying.  East European crew, bad food, boring as hell. He flew back and has never suggested he might repeat the experience

I’ve had good times on small boats – a few days around the Whitsundays in Australia, a couple of days off the Turkish coast – and probably half a dozen dive live aboards but big cruise ships look like spending a week in a shopping mall. I’m in the ‘rather stick pins in my eyes’

That said, could be a fun place to go to a music festival –

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/cruise/festival-cruises-festicruises-shiprocked-rhythm-and-blues-holy-ship-nkotb-mdrnty-joco-a7802986.html

I hate most people, so would struggle I think.

I always imagine that cruise ships would be full of the people (usually scousers) that spend their whole ‘beach holiday’ sat around the pool and rarely leave the hotel when they are in  a beautiful location

We lived in America when I was a kid (age 4-8) and at the end we came back from New York on the QE2: As a child, I loved it. However, as an adult I suspect I would become an alcoholic for the duration of the cruise. I love being at sea (my Dad is an experienced sailor and I’ve sailed across the channel with him), but the confined nature of a cruise liner would probably force me to drink. I’d probably enjoy it for a couple of days, but after that it would become tedious.

**Happy to be proved wrong. I  might even check them out when I’m older: My Parents seem to enjoy those posh river cruises and adults-only cruise ships. In fact, they left on one to explore Norway and see the Northern Lights on Saturday.

It appears that a lot of the haters of cruises (not all) haven’t actually been one one? I really didn’t fancy it because of most of what some are assuming.

Me & Mrs Egf really are not that sociable, ie, wer’e not rude & do mix pretty well but prefer our own company to a degree. We found we didn’t even have to get close & personal to other people the whole time.

 MIL and FIL go, and describe it as though you get allocated a table with another couple at dinner every night.

That’s cos it’s what they chose to do. We didn’t & don’t think we sat with any other couples all week.

On most ships youv’e got a gym that would put Bannatynes to shame, so don’t worry about stuffing ya face with tons & tons of lovely grub!

Many years ago when I was 19 the family volunteered (Forced) me to go on a 7 day Fjord cruise with my grandmother, basically as no-one else wanted to do it. The food and service were excellent (Holland-America?), but as I spent the entire 7 days trying to avoid the attentions of newly divorced, 50 year old, orange coloured women all the luxury was somewhat wasted.

Mrs wanted to go on for her 50th. I was not looking forward to it but tried to go with an open mind. We did an all-inclusive round the Canaries. Flew to Tenerife and then did 7 nights. Only one day at sea. It actually worked really well. Got leathered every night. Woke up every day somewhere new. She was in the middle of doing ‘run every day for a year’ so we’d get of early doors and have a trot round and have a look round before it got busy. Back for 2nd brekky and a shower and then out being a tourist all day. The food on the boat was excellent. You could either join other people or keep yourself to yourself. Lots of shows on. Casino, if you were into that. The staff were ace.

I wouldn’t say I’m a convert but I wouldn’t rule out going on another one at some point. Give it a go.

Never been on one myself, I’d imagine will do at some point, informal type mind, sounds like a good way to see lots of places without the hassle of traveling.

Have to laugh at the usual moral high ground prats on here who instantly dismiss as if it’s some sort of Guantanamo-esque hell hole, then off they go on holiday camping in a bog for 2 weeks somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the pissing wet…  🙂

For me it would be the evenings being as bad as the days.

I want to cycle, swim, view the sights in the daytime, i want to take my time,do what i want, when i want. I want to sit and relax in my own space in the evening. Goign to a show, sheesh, i can’t think of anything worse. Possibly other than going to a disco… that’s likely to be worse.

Never been on one myself, I’d imagine will do at some point, informal type mind, sounds like a good way to see lots of places without the hassle of traveling.

Have to laugh at the usual moral high ground prats on here who instantly dismiss as if it’s some sort of Guantanamo-esque hell hole, then off they go on holiday camping in a bog for 2 weeks somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the pissing wet…

Pretty much what I was thinking!

How do you hitch rides with container ships? Do you just turn up and ask?

Container ship i was on in the 90’s as a cadet, we had 2 passengers who were invited on the trip by Lord Vestey who owned the company.

In those days we would stay in port for a day of 3, so a good chance of going ashore, but the longest leg of the trip was 2 weeks at sea, so that must’ve got tedious for them. They’re all much quicker in port now though, not much chance to get ashore, and container ports tend to be far far away from tourist spots