Why are cruises trashy?

[Anonymous]

I sang on a smallish, fancy cruise ship that sailed mostly around the Aegean, it was lovely. We had mostly well educated European seniors. It was not trashy at all.

[Anonymous]

I recently went on a Carnival Cruise. Was it trashy - a little. Crowded, a little but not crazy. We met some really nice people on board.The food - ok to not great, but plentiful with options for everyone. The staff was very gracious and kind. Many really took an extra moment to say hi to the kids. I found out that many have kids that they are away from for months at a time.

I am fairly well traveled and have spent months abroad. But with 2 little in tow now, this was a decent vacation and actually relaxing and not expensive. The kids loved the shows and the pool and the spray ground. One of the ports we didn't even get off the ship.

[Anonymous]

I get a shit ton of ads for cruise vacations from my Yale alumni account. And, based on my time at Yale, I’d say they consider themselves the opposite of trashy. But maybe all those whiffenpoofs are secretly trashy. They probably love a fried Twinkie washed down with a miller hi life too.

Anyway, my view is—-go on the vacations that work for you and your family, not the vacations that you think your parents think you should want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up similarly and with the same perception.

I think upper crust WASPs like to think of themselves as ultra-refined and more knowledgeable about most things than mostly everyone else. Whether or not this is true is another conversation. Cruises aren’t “true” travel but are packaged experiences on a sort of floating Las Vegas, which is why the WASP community might see them as gauche/crass. They kind of scream “new money.” I’m not saying this is an accurate perception, but I think this is the perception.

It’s hard for me to unlearn this. My husband, from a LMC background, loves cruises shamelessly and urges me to give them a try. I just have no interest due to my snobby upbringing!

OP here. This is very close to my experience. Cruises, Disney, Vegas, the list goes on. DH grew up lmc and he once suggested a cruise. I shut it down immediately but I do wonder if this was perhaps a knee jerk reaction based on my upbringing. A poster above did bring up taking a small cruise down the nile or something similar and I will say I don’t have the same immediate negative reaction to that.

Try one and then you can form your own opinion .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think of giant Carnival like cruise ships as floating toilets riddled with e-coli and norovirus.

This is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sang on a smallish, fancy cruise ship that sailed mostly around the Aegean, it was lovely. We had mostly well educated European seniors. It was not trashy at all.

Does having well-educated people make being on a boat not trashy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sang on a smallish, fancy cruise ship that sailed mostly around the Aegean, it was lovely. We had mostly well educated European seniors. It was not trashy at all.

Does having well-educated people make being on a boat not trashy?

Not the OP, but yes.

[Anonymous]

Please define well-educated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sang on a smallish, fancy cruise ship that sailed mostly around the Aegean, it was lovely. We had mostly well educated European seniors. It was not trashy at all.

Does having well-educated people make being on a boat not trashy?

I say no. You can be rich and well educated and still partake in trashy activities (I do!). The above sounds like a lovely vacation, especially for elderly people that may not be up for very involved travel planning. Yes, wasps hate cruises but that doesn’t make them all bad.

[Anonymous]

Because it's the most (air and water) polluting way to travel und people working on cruise ships are kept more or less as slaves.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/04/26/cruise-ship-pollution-is-causing-serious-health-and-environmental-problems/?sh=8f033fd37db3

[Anonymous]

We like cruises because I have a kid with some issues that make it hard to travel, but a cruise makes it doable. Food is easy for the pickiest of kids. One parent can easily take one kid back to the room to rest while the rest of the family does something else. There's always something to do. Many things are included, so if you're at a show and the kid needs to leave, you didn't waste your money on a ticket. It's a good way for them to try new food without wasting money on it.

Are the boats on the average family cruise lines generally flashy and tacky looking? Yes. Do you get a ton of people who are pushy and entitled while waiting in line for food or hogging pool chairs? 100%. But like anything else, you make your own fun. You find what works for you both on and off the ship.

It's an easy to plan family vacation where I don't have to go shopping or wash dishes in a rental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently went on a Carnival Cruise. Was it trashy - a little. Crowded, a little but not crazy. We met some really nice people on board.The food - ok to not great, but plentiful with options for everyone. The staff was very gracious and kind. Many really took an extra moment to say hi to the kids. I found out that many have kids that they are away from for months at a time.

I am fairly well traveled and have spent months abroad. But with 2 little in tow now, this was a decent vacation and actually relaxing and not expensive. The kids loved the shows and the pool and the spray ground. One of the ports we didn't even get off the ship.

We did a Carnival cruise a couple years ago and enjoyed it. The pool areas were swamped with people , but ship is so big that there is plenty of elbow room. Food was fine, not fine dining, but who really wants fine dining all the time….kids especially??? For us, cruise was part of family reunion. It was a good way to see a lot of family. Only disappointing part of cruise was one of the excursions- pricey and not much fun. One of the better parts of the cruise were the days at sea. I thought I would hate these, but they were so relaxing.

While I don’t see us going on a ton of cruises, looking down on those that enjoy them says a lot about some people. Strange to fixate on what others enjoy and to spend time posting about it and calling them names?!?!?!

[Anonymous]

Bad for the environment
Norovirus
All you can eat buffets
Having to socialize with strangers
I like more authentic travel experiences

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't judge a cruise as being any more "Trashy" than say, Atlantis in the Bahamas or most any other resort. Caribbean cruises are the same thing.

A Baltic or Mediterranean cruise can give you a small taste of a variety of different places- not immersive by any means, but a sampling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get a shit ton of ads for cruise vacations from my Yale alumni account. And, based on my time at Yale, I’d say they consider themselves the opposite of trashy. But maybe all those whiffenpoofs are secretly trashy. They probably love a fried Twinkie washed down with a miller hi life too.

Anyway, my view is—-go on the vacations that work for you and your family, not the vacations that you think your parents think you should want.

Way to work in the fact that you attended Yale, which is apropos of nothing.