Why not cruise? -pt2

Seasickness.

Today we will touch on another reason or excuse to not cruise.  That dreaded word...Seasickness!

You are afraid you will be seasick on a large ocean liner.  It is understandable.  If you have never been on a large ship before, you probably equate that with your ride on a ferry, or small boat.  Even in calm waters, those things can get a bit rough.  Or, you may have taken a cruise 20 or more years ago.

Today’s ships have state of the art stabilizers that I cannot even begin to explain how they work.  While I will agree that you might have a short period of adjustment (to get your ‘sea legs’), over all the movement of the ship is not all that noticeable.  In fact, several nights I have found myself at dinner when we were pulling out of port, and only realized we were moving because I happened to look out through the window. 

Some people find the movement of the ship helps them to sleep at night.  (While I cannot personally vouch for that, I did notice tons of people sleeping in deck chairs!)

But for arguments sake, let’s say you are still worried about seasickness.  I will tell you from someone who suffers from terrible vertigo, the only time it bothered me was when I would be sitting (like at dinner) and look out the window to see the port pulling away.  (or to be more accurate, we were pulling away from the port, but it seemed to be the opposite!) However, when we were on open sea I rarely even realized we were moving!

So, what can you do?  First action is to prevent it.  Some people swear by Sea Bands. I have never used them, but have a few clients that love them.  Again, I’m not sure how they work, but I believe it has something to do with a pressure point on your wrist.  I like the patches.  You have to have a prescription to get them, and each one lasts for a couple days.  Each patch lasts for 2 to 3 days.  Without insurance (because some will not cover it) they run about $70 at my local drug store.  Prices, of course, will vary depending on your local Drug Store.

Then there are the Dramamine pills.  These are available without a prescription, and are only a few dollars.  Several brands including Bonine are available.  Oh no!  You forgot to pack them?  They are available from the ship’s doctor.  And even for sale in most gift shops onboard ship.

If you don’t want to resort to medication (the Dramamine pills tend to make me very sleepy) there are several natural ways to combat seasickness.  Some work and some are just old wives’ tales.  The most common natural remedy is ginger.  Either in tea or candy form.  (this one has a scientific basis, but don’t ask me to explain it) 

But as more than one doctor has said, no one dies from seasickness (Even if you wish you could!) 

Next week, we are going to touch on ...Boredom!

Why not cruise?

Why not Cruise?


Today’s blog will be a bit different.  I always hate when people say they want a good value, but are actually looking for cheap.  They are rarely the same thing.  See, cheap is a price point.  Price is what you pay for something.  Value is the worth (or in the case of travel, the experiences you get from it) of the item you are purchasing.  A $2 watch is cheap, but not a good value. 

With that being said, I want to now speak to every one of you who have NOT taken a cruise.   Yes, you.

One of the biggest reasons I hear for not wanting to take a cruise, is price.  So let’s look at that for a minute. 

On the surface, a cruise looks more expensive (meaning higher in price) than a comparable hotel stay.  But let’s look at it a bit more in detail. 

Land room – what is included for a four night’s stay.  You get a room with a bed and a TV, usually a mini fridge and sometimes a coffee maker.  You get room cleaning, fresh towels, an extra pillow and blanket, and in some places, expensive room service.  A few places now offer a continental breakfast.   Most hotels in resort areas also have a pool and sometimes a gym or exercise room (or at least I am told this…I’ve never actually thought about exercising while on vacation.)

Land room – what is not included for a four night’s stay.  Meals.  Now don’t get me wrong, this could be a small part of your vacation budget…but when I’m on vacation I do NOT want McDonald’s every lunch and dinner!  So, we plan on something a bit more expensive for our meals.  We may eat fast food for lunch, but when dinner comes around, we want real food.  If we are staying at a beach resort that means seafood.    We generally spend as much on food as we do the actual room.  At least!  Also, entertainment.  Shows, shopping, sightseeing.  How much do you spend on that?

Cruise –what is included in a four night’s stay.  Cabin with all the amenities of a hotel room, along with a nice cabin steward who not only cleans it…but does it twice a day, including the turn down service in the evening.  Fresh towels as often as you need them.  Nice towel animals every night! A TV and usually a mini fridge, but rarely a coffee maker.  At least one pool, some have ropes courses and water slides.  Meals.  As in all you can eat meals.  Some are fast food type, some are dining room type, and some are buffet types.  Desserts.  Ditto what is said under meals.  Shows.  Shopping.  Entertainment. 

Dr Seuss Breakfast aboard the Carnival Sunshine

Sunrises

Dining included

Comfy beds

Water Sports!

Cruise- what is not included on a four night’s stay – some specialty dining.  Almost every cruise ship will have a specialty dining room that offers a signature dining experience. These are not included, but can be had for a nominal charge.  Alcohol.  While you can purchase a drink package to add this to your stay and not have to worry about it.  Occasionally there will be a specialty entertainment option on the cruise, this is also extra.  Excursions.  This is when you are in port and want to go exploring your port…although not mandatory to have a good time, these can be fun and even educational (don’t tell the kids) and some are better values than others.

Have you done the math?  I have.  While every trip or sailing is different based on your particular needs and wants, Almost every single time, the cruise is a much better value than a land based vacation...and that is stopping at this point in the calculations.

So, this shows you that when you boil it down to total costs, the cruise often turns out to be a much better value than a land based trip.

Now, let’s take this a step farther.  Your cruise ship moves.  (Duh!)  So, you go to sleep in one spot and wake up in a new port.  No packing and unpacking.  Yet you are now visiting a new country or island… All you do is get up and eat a BIG breakfast (although if you choose, you CAN get a continental breakfast) and head off the ship to explore a new island.  Then after a long day of scuba, snorkeling, dolphins, or just plain shopping, you come back on board and get ready for a delicious dinner.

And you repeat this for each destination!

Now, on a land based vacation, if you wanted to visit more than one island in a short trip, you have to book multiple rooms, transportation between the hotel and airport, and airport to room…the air fare… you get the idea.  Plus, you have to pack and unpack each day!

I hope that gave you some food for thought.  But in case you need a little bit more convincing let me share a personal story with you.  Two years ago, my extended family rented a beach house in Destin.  There were three families to share the expenses.  We cooked at the house all but two nights.  On those two nights we went out to dinner…once as a family group and one night each couple went out for a date night.  We did not go cheap.  But we did not go super expensive either.  This was a normal moderately priced trip during the week prior to Memorial Day.  When we got home I was curious as to what the cost would have been to go on a cruise instead.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much we would have saved if we had taken a cruise!  We could have gotten three verandah cabins for as much as we paid for the lodging and meals.  

Next time we will talk about another of the common reasons for not wanting a cruise vacation… Seasickness.

Universal part 3

A short addendum to my Universal posts.  I found (finally) my notebook with my real notes in it.  Probably should have looked in the pocket of the laptop carrier to start with!

Anyway, here are some rambling thoughts I wanted to include:

Baggage check is 10x smoother than Disney. 100% metal detector. Moving walkways to City Walk.  From City Walk you can get to either park.  More compact than Disney.  Going through Turnstiles at gate - SLOW!  With very few in line it still took us 15 minutes to get through.
Walk to Harry Potter area-pleasant enough walk, but walking through the closed area is silly.

App- looks cute, but not really much of a help.  NEED paper map.

At breakfast on our park day - At Disney,  you can always tell which families are visiting a park that  day by what they are wearing at breakfast.  Sometimes you can even tell WHICH park.  At Universal all you can tell for sure are which ones are Harry Potter fans. 

At all times we visited the Food Court at Cabana Bay food court was barely busy  Much less hectic and crowded than at Disney.

Gringgotts: Not as expected, but still worth at least one ride.  Not for people with long legs, holds your shins in ...TIGHT!

Transformers - Boys rode.  Liked it but it was more 3D and less actual ride.

Rip Rockit - Complete vertical to start.  Girls sat this one out, boys LOVED it!

Men in Black - lame says 2 out of four.

Mel's diner - horrible service!

The one very odd thing about the room was the way the sheets were put on the bed.  I've stayed in more hotels and motels and ship cabins than I can count, and never have seen the beds made up this way.  There was a blanket on the mattress.  Then a sheet tucked in (I am supposing this is the bottom sheet as it was the one closest to the mattress), then a top sheet also tucked in on all four sides...then the duvet.  Either they were using the blanket as a mattress cover...or you were supposed to sleep just under the duvet...not really sure.  But in the course of getting into bed every night we managed to get the bed completely unmade in order to get in the bed!   And each day they were made up the exact same way.  Maybe I am missing something!  LOL!

While I think I covered 99% of that in the actual review, I wanted to make sure everything was covered.