No longer the glamorous vacation

Whilst watching bazeboll last evening, the thought occured...no....glamorous isn't the right word...thats for Hollywood types....the right word thats causing this angst is "EXCLUSIVITY"...don't care if you had to work OT, invest and be lucky, or found it under your pillow, married into it...no matter...the plain fact is once upon a time it was as simple as having enough disposable income to spend (or waste) on something like a cruise...conspicuous consumption at its finest. Now, anybody can do it, whether they can actually afford it or not, or even have a basic understanding on how to conduct themselves in public....so the sense of ENTITLEMENT that used to be almost understood, but unspoken amongst veteran cruisers is replaced by a sense of resentment. Pedestrian food, poor cabin service, milling crowds, more and more rude, borderline ignorant people, many of which feel the need to act superior..."look at me I'm cruising!" Add as much as you like. Now, nobody wants cruise lines to "go under"...or your favorite bazeboll team to get creamed....but then, if you don't watch bazeboll, or cruise, you'd wonder why anybody would care.

This is some kind of awesome thread....

As the man once said ..... no such thing as a free lunch

I'm in complete agreement. The mainstream lines are increasing fares and reducing service not because they're greedy, but because they have no alternative if they're to stay in business. That crushing debt they were forced to take on can't be paid off by filling ships with bargain basement fares and high cost amenities.

...and economy of scale will pay off with the new, large ships. The newest ships have a lower per-passenger operating cost due in part to lower crew to passenger ratios, and better fuel efficiency, with some of the newest running on cheaper LNG. As a bonus, it seems that customers are willing to pay higher fares for that newness and the extra onboard bells and whistles while the level of quality and service remains about the same.

As for the premium lines, it's worth noting that Carnival Corp, and Royal Caribbean both have dogs in that fight. Carnival Corp has Seabourn, while Royal Caribbean Int'l has Silversea, and in the middle, there's Holland America and Cunard versus Celebrity. The big guys are both going after every segment of the market.

Ya know, I'm wondering what we are all really lamenting here? Is it the fact that the "glamour" is gone? or is it really that most of us either can't afford or don't want to pay for "glamour" any more? Folks, the glamour isn't gone, it's just that along with most everything else in life its gone up (way up) in price. As others have noted, it can still be found on the premium and luxury cruise lines. But few of us can afford the costs. If we could, we'd all simply switch to Viking or Seabourn or Oceana cruises and never look back.

The major lines (CCL, RCCL, NCL) are publicly traded corporations that have to answer to the shareholders. They must consistently produce a product (cruise vacation) at an affordable price AND show a healthy profit margin AND respectable business growth, all while dealing with government regulation, shifting market trends, changing consumer preferences and cutthroat competition. And lets not forget they recently had a 15 month shutdown with ZERO revenue and had to take on crushing debt. Quite frankly, I'm surprised some of them are still afloat (pun intended).

Their costs need to either be trimmed or maintained at current levels, and while a lot of us may think we're being raked over the coals, I still tend to believe they're doing what they can and where they can to offer us something of value. We don't like it, but I'll bet newbies who don't know what it used to be like, do. Those are the people they're now after because there are many, many more of them than us.

They've responded with ever larger ships for a number of reasons, but I think the main one is "economies of scale". Newer ships can cart around 6,000+ people for about the same amount of costs that older ships could only handle 3,000. That's double the amount of fannys sitting on their wallets in deck chairs and bar stools, and that means more revenue. That size of ship totally crushes any intimacy and diminishes the "glamour".

People who know me realize I'm not a shill for the major cruise lines. I'm just pointing out that they have to deal with the realities of their current situation. For them it's "adapt or die". For us it's "accept, or move on".

I agree! I've been cruising since the 70's when I was a young teen. It was gourmet meals, awesome buffets and personalized service! I took my husband on his 1st cruise in the early 90's and at that time it was still pretty great! I miss those days. But even with all the changes over the years, I still feel it's still the best bang for your buck! But sometimes looking back on those memories, I realize how the quality and glamor has gone downhill! The times they are a changing!

Well yeh, but the exact problem was a show-off captain...didn't he go to jail? anyway...imagine THAT happening in mid ocean, frigid water, in a storm, ship burning, listing, and they decide to hold a muster drill..the old-fashioned kind....yuk yuk....hmmmm...mebbe that wasn't funny...

Well yeah ... but the exact problem WAS that they were actually near shore ... TOO near shore ...

BTW, the thought occurs...COSTA CONCORDIA actually happened near shore...if that had happened at sea, in bad weather etc etc......well...I shudder to think of it.

It would be easy for me to agree with you. I can remember smaller ships, with more amenities. More attentive crew, better entertainment, meals.....less rude, abrasive entitled louts, with an assortment of rugrats. Cruising wasn't for everybody. wasn't meant to be..but now... Mega ships were supposed to mean mega profits, until covid hit. Now all it means is mega debt. As for drinking, thats a personal decision, and hopefully, some folks can still do 2nd grade arithmetic to see if those drink packages are worth the price, given that everyone in a cabin has to buy it if one does. We cruise those mega ships, are VERY careful where our cabin is located, and what level of "cruise within a cruise" we're willing to pay for to insure we can still enjoy it. Our bucket list now includes one of those "boutique cruises" to some off-the-wall place...as soon as I can swallow the idea of what THAT lil jaunt costs...As for mega disasters...I give you COSTA CONCORDIA...and they at least supposedly had real muster drills....supposedly...for all the good it did...

I agree. The big ships have ruined cruising. They are so vast that anyone with a disability would find it tiring to get around them.

Cruises are sold cheap these days but the operators make their money from things such as very overpriced drinks packages, sold to the gullible in the belief they are a bargain. I do not want to consume a vast amount of alcohol during a 14-night cruise so as to convince myself that I received value.

I feel sorry for the inhabitants of small towns and islands who suddenly find they are swamped with disgorged passengers. While a few businesses may welcome the trade, it is at the expense of local people who are trying to do their day-to-day shopping.

I fear that one day there will be a dreadful disaster way out at sea involving one of these mega ships. Rescuing thousands of people would not be easy. Then it would be asked: why were massive cruise ships allowed to be built?