if You’re asking this question then you’re far too concerned about what other people think. We’ve traveled all over the world, stayed at luxury places, don’t use tour groups, buses whatever. But one of the best vacays we took as a family involved renting an RV and driving all over the western US. Many would consider this tacky. SIL went on a New Edition cruise. Eye rolling and tacky. For sure. But who gives a crap. Life is too sort to worry about what the neighbors think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Yes, for that money you could fly to Italy, stay in decent hotels, eat amazing food, and see interesting stuff, rather than be crammed in a prison ship eating from frozen e-coli buffets with thousands of other middle-brow tourists.

Probably not at spring break. I just booked coach class flights to london for spring break week, flying Sun to Sun (cheaper than Sat to Sat) and it was $7K for flights direct from dulles. Add in another $3500 for the vrbo and thats before we add food or entertainment. People always underestimate the upcharge for spring break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Yes, for that money you could fly to Italy, stay in decent hotels, eat amazing food, and see interesting stuff, rather than be crammed in a prison ship eating from frozen e-coli buffets with thousands of other middle-brow tourists.

Clearly you have never been on a cruise...

Most of the naysayers have not. Fine by me, we don’t need even more demand. It gets more expensive each year as is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Yes, for that money you could fly to Italy, stay in decent hotels, eat amazing food, and see interesting stuff, rather than be crammed in a prison ship eating from frozen e-coli buffets with thousands of other middle-brow tourists.

Clearly you have never been on a cruise...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Yes, for that money you could fly to Italy, stay in decent hotels, eat amazing food, and see interesting stuff, rather than be crammed in a prison ship eating from frozen e-coli buffets with thousands of other middle-brow tourists.

These are not mutually exclusive. We went on a Disney Cruise last month. We plan to go Europe this summer. We went to Asia last summer. I was fine swapping a winter Florida/Caribbean trip for a Disney Cruise.

Anonymous wrote:I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Yes, for that money you could fly to Italy, stay in decent hotels, eat amazing food, and see interesting stuff, rather than be crammed in a prison ship eating from frozen e-coli buffets with thousands of other middle-brow tourists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well yeah, of course. I'd never go on one, let alone take my kids on one. But I don't understand the point of the question. Obviously you're that type of person or you wouldn't want to do it. So just do it.

Or is your question really, "How do I take my kids on a cruise and somehow look cultured afterwards?" If so, the answer is, "You can't, so don't try."

Surely your reflection in the mirror laughs at you about how ridiculous you are.

NP here. Just curious, how does one look cultured after a cruise?

NP here. We are an Ivy League educated international family. My kids have been to Asia and Europe multiple times. The Disney Cruise is a different experience. We have a seven figure income and can afford any type of travel. We travel often and well. I can confidently say that the Disney Cruise was probably the easiest and best vacation our family has been on.

Was it my favorite vacation? Of course not.

I feel confident in our choices. If someone wants to judge us because we enjoyed a Disney Cruise, that is their problem and not mine. When the kids are having fun, that is a good family vacation. Our youngest is 3 so it being a pleasant experience for her is high priority for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t Greta take a ship to come to the US?

It was a sailboat, not a fking cruise ship.

NP. I read through the thread. Your problem with your environmental argument is you have no idea how to scale the impact on a per-capita basis. Cruise ships have a lot of emissions because they carry 5,000 passengers. Evaluated comparatively per individual, they’re very efficient.

It’s like you slept through fourth grade math.

Anonymous wrote:I have not been on a cruise since I was a small child but we are considering a Disney cruise for the kids. I think they would love it. We have traveled extensively and lived abroad in both Asia and Europe for many years so it would be a unique experience for us but it’s hard to ignore the negativity about it.

Kids love Disney cruises-- if you want a vacation where your kids have things that they enjoy doing while you can have a drink or nap, Disney is great. We stopped going once my DS was past eight years old because he was more capable of hiking, sight seeing, and generally more complacent.

At that point, we did things we liked as a family-- ski trips, resort/lake trips, road trips, visiting different cities, etc.

Now that he's thirteen, we will plan a European trip.

Vacations aren't hugely relaxing if you have very young kids-- our worst was when DS was a toddler and we trapped with tantrums, meal time, and nap schedules in a hotel when we wanted to go out and explore. After that, we got more realistic about what kind of vacation works for us, as a family. It changes as the kids get older.

Cruises in general are not tacky-- they work for people who have small children and/or limited mobility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well yeah, of course. I'd never go on one, let alone take my kids on one. But I don't understand the point of the question. Obviously you're that type of person or you wouldn't want to do it. So just do it.

Or is your question really, "How do I take my kids on a cruise and somehow look cultured afterwards?" If so, the answer is, "You can't, so don't try."

Surely your reflection in the mirror laughs at you about how ridiculous you are.

NP here. Just curious, how does one look cultured after a cruise?

I take my family to Europe for less than 8k. We travel in coach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain why it's tacky and why some people hate it? I've never been to one and have no idea what it's like. It seems like a stress free vacation.

Here's why I hate cruises:

- They are HORRIBLE for the environment, on a level most other vacations cannot match. A cruise ship's daily emissions into the ocean are equivalent to a million cars per day.

- Many times they're centered around unlimited eating, gambling ... basically crass consumption while you sit on this thing that is pumping chemicals into the ocean.'

- The stops are often so short that you just get off with throngs of people, go shop at tourist traps (which are usually detrimental to the local economy) and you get back on the ship.

I recognize all vacations take some toll on the environment, but the impact of cruises is way worse than most other vacation options.

Not to mention you're SOL if (as has happened) the ship breaks down somehow. You're stuck on the thing.

OK poor person who can’t afford one.

Can't afford a cruise? People go on cruises because they're cheap.

LOL exactly.

Just curious what you think a 7 night Disney Cruise costs the week before Easter for a family of 4?

It’s not exactly a secret — I just looked it up and it starts at $8K. We could absolutely afford that but would never do it.

I didn’t say you couldn’t afford it. But $8k is not “cheap” by any reasonable standard.

$8K is extremely cheap for a family of 4 on spring break unless you're doing national parks or camping or traveling but staying in hostels. You'd be hard pressed to find a vacation worth taking for 4 people during spring break under $8K

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t Greta take a ship to come to the US?

It was a sailboat, not a fking cruise ship.

Didn’t Greta take a ship to come to the US?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cruises are amazing. I used to think they were tacky, but I had never been on one before. I would definitely do one again, if they weren’t so expensive. I have heard only good things about Disney cruises. I used to teach, and the kids who went came back glowing.

Doesn’t change the horrible impact on the environment. It’s really awful and much worse than most other vacation options.

Go to bed, Greta Thunburg.

Sad you don’t give a sht.