Of all the types of travel out there in the world, there’s hardly anything more polarizing than cruising! Some people can’t get enough of these floating resorts while others want nothing to. do with them.
Me? I’m honestly on the fence. As someone who travels all the time I acknowledge that there. are some real pros and cons of cruising, and your perspective may depend on who’s in your travel party.
While I’m still learning the ropes of cruising, here’s my honest take on the advantages and disadvantages of cruises. Drop a comment at the bottom and let me know what you think!
Disadvantages of cruising
1. You like to dive in deep on destinations
For me, the biggest downsides of cruises are the short ports of call. If you’ve ever read this blog before you’ll know that we try to do as much in a destination as we can, stretch out our time and even revisit places to see more. During our first year of full-time travel we only averaged one country per month!
While there are exceptions, it’s common for port stops to last around 9 hours. That sounds like a lot on the surface! But sometimes that clock starts as early as 7am – you’ll need to pack your stuff for the day and probably have breakfast before you disembark (which can take a while if you’re cruising with kids). If you aren’t a super early riser on vacation, you may not get off the boat until several hours later.
Depending on how far the ship will be going next, port days can end as early as 2pm or as late as 11pm. Keep in mind that you’ll either return to the ship for lunch or dinner or pay for meals on shore on your own.
When you account for navigating your way through busy cruise ports and driving to whatever excursion you’re planning, in many cases you just can’t experience a whole lot of the destinations you visit.
Of course there are exceptions – the more compact the itinerary, the more time you’ll get to spend enjoying the destinations. Options like river cruises, Alaska cruises and even some Caribbean cruises that have ports close together (or even depart from within the Caribbean) are great choices. For Alaska specifically, a cruise ship gives you to locations that would otherwise only be accessible by long (even overnight) ferry rides or pricey float planes. Small ships that are more destination-focused are also a good option if you want a deeper dive.
2. You hate crowds
Even the smallest mass-market cruise ships accommodate as many people as some small towns… and everyone is sharing space at some point or another! If you don’t want to be around a lot of people, a mainstream cruise may not be for you.
You’ll find the biggest crowds in dining venues, nightly shows and elevator banks (so many crowded elevators!). Thankfully some newer ship designs decrease the crowded feeling in other spaces. For example, Royal Caribbean now uses the “neighborhood” concept on their newer ships in the Oasis and Icon classes to make individual spaces feel more manageable despite the huge number of people. You can also opt for the “ship within a ship” of NCL’s The Haven if you need a quiet experience but are traveling with people who want all-hours activities. But none of that changes the fact that you may find yourself on a big boat with 8,000 other vacationers plus crew.
If you’re on a mass-market cruise line, you may also find big crowds in the ports the are large enough to accommodate ships of that size. Ports like Santorini and Mykonos are finally putting limits after experiencing days with up to 16,000 cruise passengers at a time while Cozumel will be pushing 30,000 cruisers (including us) on New Years Eve this year! CruiseMapper is a helpful website for understanding how packed a port will be.
The crowding will continue in your stateroom, because a typical cruise ship cabin is about half the size of a hotel room. That’s usually manageable for a couple but can be a tight squeeze with kids – especially as they become teenagers. In the photo above you can see that there would have been no way to access a balcony if we’d had one, though it helps to put trundle beds away and often your steward will do that in the morning. Personally I’d prefer a ceiling-mounted berth for one kid to save on floor space but not all ships offer that. Be sure to strategize on how to make your cruise ship cabin more livable.
Options like expeditions, river cruises and other small ships will help you avoid some of the biggest crowds, as capacities are usually just a few hundred (compared with a few thousand) of your “closest friends”. Since those are generally very port-intensive you’ll spend even less time in your room as well.
3. You’re particular about your vacation details
If you want to decide exactly when you go, where you go and how long you stay then a cruise might not be a great fit. The last thing you want is to be frustrated about your vacation!
I know that for our family, often travel dates are determined by my kids’ school schedule and my husband work obligations. Since we like to maximize our time, sometime we can shift our dates a little on either end to add a few days. When going on a cruise, you’re obviously restricted to the scheduled sailings even if they aren’t a perfect match. That may be fine if the port on either end is a place you want to spend some time but that’s not always the case.
You also can’t mix and match stops along the way to get exactly the itinerary you want. Cruise ship itineraries are determined with a lot of factors in mind, but you have to take the package as it comes. Sometimes you may love the itinerary that’s offered but it’s not on the ship you prefer (too old, too big, too expensive etc).
Read more: Smooth Sailing: 6 Must-Do Tasks Before Your Cruise
4. You’re on budget (maybe)
Cruising can be a really affordable vacation but the dollars can also add up quickly. If you want a newer ship with all of the coolest activities and neat dining options expect to pay just as much as a land-based all-inclusive, or maybe even more.
In many cases you’ll need to budget for drinks beyond the most basic options like water and lemonade. Some cruises are cutting back on included menu options and pushing guests toward paid “specialty dining” – it’s optional, but can add some variety if you don’t want to be in the same dining room for every meal.
Certain cruise lines now charge for their coolest activities like go kart racing and escape rooms. Our kids have also racked up some pretty serious arcade charges in the evenings while we were busy having grown up fun.
If you’re interested in experiencing the ports your ship visits, you’ll likely be paying for transportation or an excursion once you get there. Depending on your needs, that can be a taxi for two or three people or a private driver in a van if you’re a big group like us. Alternatively, you can book pricey excursions through your cruise line that are a worse value but guarantee the boat will wait for you if there’s a traffic jam.
5. You’re worried about your environmental impact
Lastly, there’s no denying the huge environmental impact of taking a cruise. The CO2 emissions are about double what they would be for flying and staying in a hotel – it’s laid out pretty damningly here.
Hopefully cruise lines will move toward more environmentally-friendly propulsion options. Some have already switched their new ships from diesel to LNG (which has pros and cons), can plug into local power grids while in port and incorporate fuel cells to handle on-board operations.
Advantages of cruising
1. It’s easy to relax, if you want to
Cruises are some of the ultimate relaxing vacations. You really don’t have to do anything to feel like you’re decompressing.
Imagine spending the day lounging by the pool with a drink in your hand, popping into a restaurant for a bite whenever you feel like it, catching an evening show without worrying about making plans and having an otherwise totally carefree trip. You can do that on a cruise an still have an amazing time!
For parents traveling with young kids, it’s even better. You can drop the off at kids’ club while you check out a comedy show or have a drink with a friend and not have to think about paying a babysitter. Select traditional scheduled dinner options so you’ll never have to wait for a table. There’s no stress about kids ordering pricey restaurant meals that they then reject. Heck, the dining room staff is even happy to cut your kid’s meat for them! (Confession: As someone who doesn’t eat red meat, this is my #1 favorite part of cruising with kids)
Even something as simple as sitting on your balcony reading a book while your included breakfast is delivered to your room will make you feel miles away from the frenetic pace of life at home.
2. You can keep costs under control
I know I discussed the rising cost of cruises above, but the fact remains that you can cruise on a budget if that’s important to you. Choosing an older ship or a sailing that’s outside of school breaks will cut your costs dramatically.
What does that look like? For our family’s upcoming winter break cruise, the same ship, itinerary and cabin would be exactly half the price if we were able to go two weeks earlier in mid-December. If we had opted for the same dates and a very similar itinerary on a much older, smaller ship would have been about 60% less.
You can easily eat all your meals during the cruise at the included dining venues. That could include the main dining room, a buffet and a cafe on smaller ships but on larger ships you may also be able to choose a pizzeria, Mexican restaurant and another several unique restaurants without paying anything extra.
While cruise lines generally push their ultra-pricey drink packages, you really don’t need to buy them. Alcoholic beverages can always be purchased a la carte – expect to spend around $15 for a cocktail and $10 for a beer including tax and automatic gratuity. Compare that with $100 per day for an unlimited package! Look out for “punch card” deals on board for alcoholic drinks and specialty coffees as well.
If you’re traveling with a big group and want to maximize your experience in ports, consider booking a private van rather than taking excursions through the cruise line. We saved about $1000 in each port by arranging things on our own! Smaller groups can save even more by taking taxis. Both of these options also give you a more personalized experience since you won’t be on a 40 person bus. We did have one close call at the pier because someone needed to stop for snacks – don’t cut it close like that.
One of the few non-cruise expenses you should budget for is a hotel room the night before embarkation if you’re flying in. If you book far enough in advance or are creative, you should be able to score a decent deal – in Port Canaveral we found this hotel that offered a special deeply discounted rate only for cruisers, while in Miami we’re transferring points from our credit card to Hyatt to book rooms for just 15,000 points.
You can put that money right back in your pocket, or use it to elevate other aspects of your vacation like fun excursions or a massage during a sea day.
3. You don’t have to plan much
If you don’t want to plan a single aspect of your vacation in advance beyond flights and booking the cruise itself, you don’t have to! You can fly by the seat or your pants and still have a great time. Even if you aren’t a planner, you’ll probably want to download your cruise line’s app in advance and get logged in so that you can check out your options at any moment.
I am generally our extended family’s travel planner (obviously) and part of the reason we are opting for another cruise is that I need a break from planning vacation details for so many people!
Cruise dining has become really flexible over the years. If you don’t want to keep a set schedule, on most cruise lines you have the option to drop by the Main Dining Room whenever you feel like it. Don’t like the menu? Hit up one of the other included eateries… or bounce around and sample them all on a whim!
The same is true for most entertainment, and it’s one of the things I love most about cruising. You can sample everything with no forethought or commitment.
While some options book up in advance, no matter what there are tons of things you can do on a cruise ship without planning in advance. Enjoy some pool time, listen to live music, shoot hoops on the basketball court, go to a spa demo, check out the art gallery or just stroll around taking in the sensory overload and exploring different areas of the ship.
Even for port days, if you aren’t too particular about your activities you can sign up for last-minute excursions or grab a taxi to take you where you want to go.
For flexible travelers, cruises are a really fantastic way to relax!
4. There can be a lot of variety
Modern cruises can offer a huge amount of variety, both on and off the ship.
While you won’t be able to see and do everything at your ports, it’s pretty cool to get a taste of a wide range of places on a single trip – all without repacking your bags. You could enjoy the night life of Barcelona, the beaches of Crete and the history of Ephesus all in a single week. Or take a repositioning cruise from Cape Town to Singapore for a really mind-blowing experience. Even within the Caribbean you can swim in an underground cavern in Mexico and hang out on a white sand beach in the Bahamas at your next port.
Aboard the ship you can do basically anything imaginable. In our family that could mean that at any given time grandma is at the casino, the kids are zooming down water slides, I’m getting a massage and my grown nephew is at a trivia competition. There are also cooking classes, art auctions, karaoke sessions and more.
5. Entertainment is everywhere!
This is another one of my favorite things about cruising: there is so much live entertainment that’s included in your fare!
In my daily life and on a typical vacation, it’s really hard to prioritize going to performances and shows – especially with kids around. Normally we’d have to worry about transportation, about what the kids are going to be doing while we’re at an event they aren’t interested in, how much we feel comfortable spending on tickets and more.
On our last cruise we enjoyed live entertainment for hours and hours every night. There are usually multiple stage shows to choose from over the course of a cruise. And every night we could choose between the piano bar (grandma’s favorite), country music, relaxing classical in a park-like setting, contemporary guitar at a pub and more. Often we’d choose to sample a little in each venue and then move on to the next.
Beyond the adult-oriented entertainment, many cruises have kid-friendly parades, outdoor movies, family carnivals and even silent disco parties to keep the whole family engaged.
6. It can be great for travelers with limited mobility
If you’re traveling with someone who struggles with mobility a cruise can be a wonderful option! The compact nature of many ships makes it easy to get around compared with a similarly-sized all-inclusive resort.
That was certainly our experience traveling to Moon Palace with grandma one year and on a cruise the next. The resort required walking long distances and traveling lots of stairs to get from our rooms to the restaurants and pools or waiting around for a golf cart with enough space going along the route we needed. We even got stuck in a rain storm at one point with no golf carts around and had to walk 20 soaking minutes back to our building (and that was before grandma’s much-needed knee replacement).
On the other hand, when we cruised on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas the following year we just had to walk down the hall for a few minutes to get to the dining room or elevator banks. From there it was easy to get anywhere we wanted to go! Ports with long piers generally offer carts or shuttles to get passengers to shore if they have physical challenges. We were even given an amazing all-terrain wheelchair to take on the beach at Royal Caribbean’s private island, Coco Cay.
7. It’s fabulous for multigenerational vacations
The biggest reason we’ve become cruisers is that our winter breaks have become focused on multi-generational travel. We have everyone from toddlers to teens to exhausted parents to grandma in tow, and cruising is a great way to meet everyone’s needs. Everyone can enjoy their favorite activities part of the time but then come back together for meals or excursions that appeal to the whole crowd.
And it’s fun for all!
Keep planning your cruise
Check out these helpful resources to help you plan a wonderful cruise: