Just got back from our first ever cruise

[AlanW]

The highlight of being at sea, was watching a huge water spout develop behind us

 

[AlanW]

There seems to me a myth that you go on a cruise and sit in a sun lounger all day. On the three I have been on I’ve never sat in one.

There are many cruises where you arrive in a port early in the morning and can go ashore after breakfast for a choice of organised trips or do your own thing. The ship then leaves port later afternoon / early evening. At that time you will be having dinner and then maybe watch a show before going to bed. The next morning you wake up somewhere difference. Rinse and repeat.

Not all cruises have full days at sea and that is something I wouldn’t want to repeat.

This was our time table:

Day		Port	Arrival Time	Departure Time
1	Tue	Palma, Majorca		22:00
2	Wed	At Sea
3	Thu	Olbia, Sardinia	08:00	15:00
4	Fri	Naples (for Pompeii & Capri), Italy	08:00	18:00
5	Sat	Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy	07:00	19:00
6	Sun	Ajaccio, Corsica	09:00	15:00
7	Mon	Palamos, Spain	09:00	17:00
8	Tue	Palma, Majorca	06:00

 

[AlanW]

And my favourite photo of the 313 that I took, this one!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I said we have only done one cruise

which is not totally true - we have done 2 others
but in a small boat - 3 crew and 8 guests crusing around Mull and a few nearby places

That was wonderful - lots of "nature" to look at at nice people
some days we stayed on board as we didn;t tie up at all - and just anchored ina bay overnight and set off again after breakfast

Totally different and we will do that again!

 

[BrumJim]

Regardless of the pressure at work, it involves sitting down all day. Hence never really enjoyed sitting on a beach to relax, and would rather go on a monster bike ride. It is exercising the bits that don't normally get worked and want to, and allows the bits that have been stretched to relax.

Usually we turn up on holiday, I'm stressed and can't work out what food to buy, what to do and when. Wife forces me to take my son out on a long bike ride so that I am bearable.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Regardless of the pressure at work, it involves sitting down all day. Hence never really enjoyed sitting on a beach to relax, and would rather go on a monster bike ride. It is exercising the bits that don't normally get worked and want to, and allows the bits that have been stretched to relax.

Usually we turn up on holiday, I'm stressed and can't work out what food to buy, what to do and when. Wife forces me to take my son out on a long bike ride so that I am bearable.

yes same here. I'm currently landscaping the garden which I enjoy much more than sitting in the sun. If you enjoy lying down in the sun then fair enough, but on a holiday I like driving or walking or doing some sort of activity. We went to Spain last summer (not a cruise) for a sunny holiday but I was bored sitting by the pool and/or the beach. I tended to drink to cure the boredom and got sick of that after day 1. So was great to go out snorkelling or exploring market towns on the bus.

I guess it has to do with having an active or curious mind maybe? And also for me I don't like wearing sun cream because I'm hairy!

 

[T4tomo]

I object to big ship cruises morally. none of the money you spend goes to the people / businesses in the places you visit. it goes to a massive corporate who employ people on near or sub minimum wage by playing with their places of employment.

The big ships then disgorge 100's of people into place like Venice etc completely overrunning them with people spending virtually no money at local business as they pile back onto the boat for their all you can buffet.

 

[Alex321]

I was checking for research purposes!!

And did your new wife know?

 

[AlanW]

A quick tweak that went easily, 5mm allen key to loosen left grx400 brifter clamp to line it up with the flared drops, similar to right which felt far more comfy.

Still can't get over how harsh the wrapped alloy bars are on the egravel, compared to my unwrapped Primavera bars on my road bike with the bulbous 505 brifters, despite 27vs33mm tyres!

Thinking of pushing my luck and using 2mm allen key to "quickly" slightly reduce reach of levers on both brifters.

I might be wrong, but I think you may have posted this in the wrong thread?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

And did your new wife know?

I did tell her

actually I didn;t go in

I was more interested in the railway loco opposite

it is possible I am getting old!!!

 

[Animo]

actually I didn;t go in

Is that a bit like the "I didn't inhale" defence.

 

[Alex321]

A big ship cruise would definitely not be for us.

We have done a couple of river cruises, and would definitely do more of those. And small boat type coast-hopping cruises would probably appeal - we did look at one in Croatia for this year, but decided against it in the end.

 

[Shortfall]

I object to big ship cruises morally. none of the money you spend goes to the people / businesses in the places you visit. it goes to a massive corporate who employ people on near or sub minimum wage by playing with their places of employment.

The big ships then disgorge 100's of people into place like Venice etc completely overrunning them with people spending virtually no money at local business as they pile back onto the boat for their all you can buffet.

In my experience of talking to some of these people, they welcome the employment and earning opportunities which aren't necessarily available in their own countries and they receive tips on top of their wages. We always tip generously because they're some of the hardest working and most pleasant people you'll ever meet. They can certainly teach a chunk of our own working age people a thing or two.

There's something in what you say about places getting over run when a cruise ship docks but again, many of the local businesses only thrive because of tourism like this.

 

[T4tomo]

There's something in what you say about places getting over run when a cruise ship docks but again, many of the local businesses only thrive because of tourism like this.

not really as "tourist's like that" don't actually spend much off the boat, and most of the ports of call for the big ships were already well established tourist centres long before cruising got popular for the masses.

More places should follow Venice's lead (Palma too now iirc) and and levy a decent tax on cruise passengers / ships to go into the local economy. To be honest Venice should have just banned them from the Grand canal full stop.

 

[Shortfall]

not really as "tourist's like that" don't actually spend much off the boat, and most of the ports of call for the big ships were already well established tourist centres long before cruising got popular for the masses.

More places should follow Venice's lead (Palma too now iirc) and and levy a decent tax on cruise passengers / ships to go into the local economy. To be honest Venice should have just banned them from the Grand canal full stop.

It's certainly true that some destinations are a victim of their own success and are effectively ruined by too much tourism, but that isn't just down to cruise travel. At the end of the day it's down to each individual country to decide on what incentives and deterrents to travellers they want to use. I'd be interested to hear what sort of tourism and holiday you approve of. We all have choices after all. Don't moan about the traffic when you are the traffic and all that.