What A Cruise Is Really Like – Fantasy Versus Reality!

The average American family takes one “big” vacation per year.  For many, this vacation is a cruise.  You see the ads on TV and all over the web: the beautiful rooms, the massive decks with pools, waterslides and parties, the lavish dining areas and the amazing cruise buffets.   What’s not to love?  What you think a cruise is and what it ends ups being can be world’s apart in many cases.  Cruises are like any other business: they promise you what you want to hear to get you onboard, and once you’re on, you’re locked in!  Read on to discover some of the terrifying realities of cruising.

All Aboard! – The Fantasy

After spending days ahead of your departure, packing your clothes, your iPhone, your iPad, your flip flops-pretty much anything and everything you think you will need-you head out to your port of departure.  Only to find that you will have to begin the fun by-standing in a very, very long line waiting to board the ship.  At this time, maybe a few little snapshots are in order, to commemorate your trip, with smiling faces and relaxed body language.  Almost giving you the impression that waiting to board the ship isn’t really that big a deal at all.  However, do not be fooled.

All Aboard! – The Reality

To say that the perceived boarding of a cruise ship and actually do it are, well, night and day.  If you are not a very patient person, then this aspect of your trip is going to get you off to a stressed start.  The major thing to keep in mind is that hundreds of others will be boarding when you do.  And because you all board at the same time, there will be one massive crowd of people.  Also keep in mind that most cruises board in warmer climates,  so it is most probable that when you board it will be hot, and possibly muggy.  Add these two factors together, and we are pretty sure you won’t be seeing too many happy boarding pictures of your cruise.

Soaking In The Hot Tub – The Fantasy

After a stressful day of getting through the boarding lines and settled into your cabin for your cruise, what sounds better than a nice, luxurious soak in the hot tub?  You can lay back, relax and gaze at the billowy white clouds as they pass by.  You can stretch your legs out and let the stress of the day slip away.  You have all the room you need to enjoy the heated waters as they wash away your cares.  This may very well be the scenario if you are fortunate enough to have your own private jacuzzi, however not particularly so on a cruise ship.

Soaking In The Hot Tub – The Reality

The cruise hot tub is a totally different reality than the one fantasized about above.  For one, you are and will never be alone.  That’s right.  If you decide to spend some time in the hot tub, you will be soaking, more often than not, with multiple complete strangers.  And forget about having room to stretch your legs out.  With more than one in the tub that is not even a consideration.  Also, there is no room to lay back, to even start to relax, and enjoy the peace of the moment.  There will be people moving, talking, and pretty much making a commotion all around you.

Pool Side – The Fantasy

When you see an ad for a cruise, one of the areas they will play upon the heaviest is the pool onboard the ship.  The area will appear massive, with lounge chairs, large pools and in some case colorful umbrellas.  You begin to daydream of lounging by the pool, under an umbrella, sipping your favorite beverage.  The feeling of a tranquil, relaxed afternoon plays over you time and time again.   The thing to keep in mind is that the picture you are given has no people in it.  Once your fellow cruise-goers are added in, the entire atmosphere will change.

Pool Side – The Reality

The pool area of a cruise ship is one of the most continually used areas as most of the passengers congregate there.  Although at first glance the area appears massive in size, once you add a few hundred people, well, the size isn’t quite what you think it was.  For most of the trip, the pool area will remain packed with people, in some cases making it very hard to even find a place to set down.  The entire reason for taking a cruise mainly to relax, however with these many people squeezed into such a tiny place, relaxation is very difficult to come by.

The Cabin Bedroom – The Fantasy

If you have never been on a cruise, it is really hard to conceptualize what the cabin you will be staying in actually looks like.  If you rely totally on the pictures is provided in the ads for the cruise, then you are in the mindset that the cabins are lavish, spacious, and filled with natural light.  In some cases, this may very well be true.  But in the majority of cases, not so much.  It is in your best interest to keep in mind that the pictures are there to entice you to book passage.  As so, they will show you pretty much what you want to see.

The Cabin Bedroom – The Reality

The first thing to keep in mind is that even though cruise ships are enormous, they have to accommodate not only their paying passengers but their crew and staff members as well.  As such, the cabins that are available for the passengers are not always as large as one would like, and not all of them have a window.  Unless you book a large cabin, with a window, and pay the large price that goes along with that luxury, your cabin will almost assuredly be very cramp and very dark.  The cabins available on most cruises are barely able to accommodate a queen sized bed, let along much of anything else.

The Bathroom – The Fantasy

Along with a spacious, bright cabin, most first-time cruise passengers assume the bathroom will be one of, well, pretty much luxury.  They see the pictures in the brochures, and they think that what they see, is what they get.  They envision an overly large shower, with a glass door, and possibly a rainfall showerhead.  Also present in the bathroom, they see their own luxurious hot tub, which would, in turn, make the bathroom pretty significant in size.  Rounding out the vision is the marble countertops and backsplashes around the shower and the hot tub.

The Bathroom – The Reality

The actual bathroom present in the cabin, which in some cases there are none – but rather a community bathroom, is far from the one they have envisioned.  At first glance, the bathroom is barely on the level of some of the youth hostel offered ones. There is not beautiful marble countertops or backsplashes.  There is no hot tub, and the shower is not a shower in the sense of what one would usually refer to one.  There is no shower stall, instead, the entire bathroom is essentially a shower.  The showerhead is usually installed above the commode, and there is nothing to keep the water from flying and splashing all over the room.