I know dog shouldn’t eat dog, but I felt compelled to take issue with a blog posted by one of the UK’s leading travel editors this weekend, and attempted to add my comment to his (in my view) misguided thoughts about cruise lines imposing extra charges for speciality restaurants and bottled water.
He made what I felt, to be frank, was a totally unfair comparison with RyanAir and even suggested that it was like visiting “Uncle Geoff and Aunty Eileen” and being charged for breakfast or the use of the toilet.
Now I don’t know what this particular writer’s uncle and aunt have ever done to upset him, but he has now upset me because my comment – which merely pointed out that there are always plenty of inclusive alternatives to extra-charge restaurants on board cruise ships, and invited him to recommend a land-based hotel that did not charge for water – has yet to be published.
Having seen evidence of his antipathy to cruises, I was somewhat surprised to discover an article about his recent Black Sea voyage in the newspaper yesterday. Perhaps he had taken exception to his treatment on board the Pacific Princess, but nowhere in the three-page feature did he find room to express his critical views about cruise lines’ charging tactics.
In fact the 2,330-word article barely makes reference to the fact that he was on a cruise at all. The word “ship” appears only once, as does “cruise” .
He went on at great length about the Crimean War, the Charge of the Light Brigade, Florence Nightingale and Lords Cardigan and Raglan, even giving us an insight into his schoolboy misery at being forced to wear a knitted balaclava. Thanks for that.
But of the ship and the experience of cruising there is nothing. Not a word.
A grave omission? Or am I being unfair?
I’ll happily accept that in a feature about a holiday in, say, Spain or the Seychelles, it’s not necessary to go into detail about the flight that took you there. But a cruise is an altogether different matter and surely to describe it fully, the writer should take into account at least something of the on-board experience.
What do you think? Unlike my colleague, I’m prepared to publish all comments.
ADDENDUM: Within moments of this item being published, my comments on the original item went online, together with the comments of three other readers
John, there seam to be two types of cruisers (and some inbetween the extremes, of course, too):
Some love ships and prefer a sea day over a port stop most of the time. Usually these are experienced cruisers like us who know some of the crew members by name and appreciate their service, even if it’s not perfect.
Others go on a cruise, taking the ship just as a floating annoyance they only accept for transportation from A to B – of course while expecting the ultimate 5-star-hotel comfort for the price of a cheap bed-and-breakfast.
Another reason for your observation (which I share) might be that a cruise is such a great experience that it’s beyond the imagination of some that a cruise line is not a idealistic dream factory but simply a profit-making company like any other land-based resort hotel. And hence, it’s unimaginable for them that a cruise ship *charges* them for anything.
“Yeah, please give me a huge load of the finest, aged Angus beef plus a fresh, full-sized Maine lobster; I really deserve it; and please add some great Bordeaux red wine, that’s how I like it. Oh, you say it’s just a regular 500-Dollar-a-week cruise and the special dinner is not included? What a rip-off!”
Guess we have to live with that, and the cruise lines have to live with that, too. Best way to deal with it probably is to just ignoring it …
Whats wrong with going that extra mile once in a while ?
My past experience has been that hotel “all inclusive” is invariably limited to local (rubbish) drinks and slightly above average dining with limited (pay extra) speciality dining.
The choice and standard of cooking on cruise ships far surpasses that of hotels and I suggest your colleague sticks with Butlins and leaves well alone matters he obviously doesn’t understand.