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Cruising and the future

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elfed

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After 10 cruises, Donna and I will be taking a break and going to an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean There are reasons for this. First of all on our last cruise we visited Key West and The Cayman Islands. Both places were unbelievably crowded. The shops, the bars the streets-it was awful. The 7 mile beach in G.C. was the same.Now Royal Caribbean are going to introduce the 200,000 ship to further contaminate the popular islands such as Jamaica, ,St. Thomas, St. Marteen My question is WHY? Haven't they already put the biggest ships into the Caribbean at 150,000 tons not to mention the Voyager class at 138,000. I fear for the future of cruising. Many people I have spoken to reflect on their cruising experience saying not only are the major ports crowded but the"Mickey Mousing " of passengers on board for extra money even for bottled water is ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong. I love cruising but not the hassle that is now a big part of the experience. I blame Royal Caribbean for their greed. Not only are they an expensive cruise line compared to Carnival, Ncl, Costa etc with the smallest staterooms afloat, but now they will be ruining the wonderful Caribbean Islands with the off loading of all these mega liner passengers.The Caribbean is not the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean with room for thousands of these mega ships. Caribbean cruising doesn't need any more ships. Many lines cannot fill the berths available now. I will be interested to read any comments.

Regards,

James.

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I just got back last week from the Costa Magica. It had 3,000 passengers. It was way too many people. Everything on the ship was crowded. You couldn't get a lounge chair or even a table or chair for entertainment. All the extra kids did not help at all. The buffet lines were long too. One thing, tho, we can all still choose those smaller ships. I will never take a ship that has this many people again. You can really tell the difference. Our casino was filled to the max. People waiting for machines and tables. I cannot imagine larger ships at all.

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I agree, it is getting difficult in ports of call around the carribean. You really have to "work" at finding a bit of personal space. :wacko: We are heading to our yearly stay in St. Maarten in June and I've already checked the cruise calendar to see when the ships will be in. There is no use going to Philipsburg or Orient Beach on those days. I try to plan for visits to the lesser known beaches or Marigot on those days. This time, I've decided to leave the island for a day trip to Saba on the day when three mega-ships are scheduled for port. We are going to try to start cruising on smaller ships that stop at less frequented ports. Judging by some recent reports, it looks like the cruise industry may be heading for a bit of a "correction," but who knows what that means.

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BRING BACK THE SMALLER SHIPS........PLEEEEEEZ!!!!

I totally agree - the large ships are way too big and even worse is places like Alaska or the Caribbean islands having thousands of people being dumped out for a day. It sure doen't make for that feeling of having the beach to yourself does it?

We love the smaller ships - but the cruiselines don't care - they just build them bigger and bigger... more revenue for them... it's a shame.

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Hi you are right in some ways .The cruise ships are resorts now .We go for the ship now not the ports !! We are not the first off the ship .My wife likes spleeping in .We don"t shop that much .We are sun and beach people in the Caribbean ! It's funny how people on the first or 2nd cruise site see and shop but never get to some of the best beachs in the world !! We done the resort but after the 3rd day .i start getting bored !! I like the night life on a cruise and the shows .Now when we first started cruising on back in 1981 on the Home lines Oceanic dose anybody remmber that ship and line .Well for a 7 day cruise you had to get dress up every night for dinner .Not menny ships had lido cafes either! all meals were taken in the dinning room .Back then it was more formel then today.We like trying a new ship each time out .And untill resonly cruise line to !! The ship we like the best is the veendam been on her 3 times .55000 ton 1250 people .But i love the big ships to.To each his own .But i can understand youe resoning .

Mr Veendam

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I agree with that. A couple of years ago we went to an all-inclusive in the Caribbean and found that we were also getting bored, especially in the evenings. We're not beach people, and when we're on a cruise we try to find excursions with less people than some of the others. It isn't always possible, but we try. We go for the ship, and don't usually find that even the big ones are too crowded for what we want to do. Nevertheless, there may be some limits on the size.

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James, it was great to see you posting again. We have only been to an all-inclusive once, a few years ago in Cancun. We had a room that overlooked the beach. At night, would go to the hotel bar, which was on the beach and then go sit on the chaise lounges and watch the moon on the water. It was a lot of fun and as the drinks were included, I got to try all the different kinds, such as a chocloate monkey, sex on the beach, bahama mama, etc. Hope you all have a great time.......

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Thank you all for your comments and as usual they were very interesting. We are beach people because we live in a climate and area of North America that throws 4 months of Winter at us!! So we NEED the warmth!! Yes I too liked the older, smaller ships. In fact the best cruise I was on was my first. I took my 15 year old son as I didn't know Donna then. The ship was the 36000 ton Costa Riviera-now scrapped. Great food, wonderful staff and tons of fun. We have heard and read many,many reviews of these resorts and like cruising reviews, they vary from 1 to 5 stars. But we need a change. Two hours or so on a shore excursion on a crowded beach is not enough for us. Yes I know we can do our own thing and not take a shore ex. but still you have to be back at the ship at a specified time.

I have told my wife of the possible "boredom factor" of the 7 day beach thing and lack of nightlife choices compared to a cruise but she wants to try it anyway! I'm pretty sure though that we'll be on another cruise in the not too distant future.

Thanks again folks for your replies.

Regards,

James.

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