15 Reasons Why I Wont Go On a Cruise
Cruises are an increasingly popular way to travel. The draw is being able to visit several ports, cities and countries without the hassle of building an itinerary of different modes of transportation and accommodations, and arranging tours and entertainment on your own. No hauling around luggage, trying to find good food and getting lost on your way to the show. You book one room, pay one price, and have an all-inclusive experience that includes lots of dining and entertainment options, swimming pools and lots of other attractions like water slides, amusement parks, private islands, and more. Thus cruises are a much more convenient, and much less expensive way to see the world than planning a multi-stop itinerary on your own. These ships are nothing like the boat my father took from Kingston, Jamaica to London, England when he migrated to my birthplace in 1962; his boat took many weeks at sea, and accommodations and food were fairly basic.
According to Statista, globally almost 32 million people took a cruise in 2023 with a predicted 35.7 million will take to the oceans in 2024, and the three largest cruise ship companies - Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian - will make more than 50 billion dollars. On average, most ships carry about 2000 - 4000 passengers on a ship that is on average 1000 feet long. And there are about 300 cruise ships traversing the oceans in any given year.
I get invited to go on cruises by friends and other people who know how much I love to travel. But for all kinds of reasons - as you will read below, cruises do not appeal to me. Now I know that if I want to see Antarctica or the glaciers and sea life of Alaska, a cruise is the only way to go, and I am hoping I get to see their frozen treasures by boat one day. But cruises to Alaska come with their own environmental impacts, especially in Canada where the laws are less stringent than those in the USA.
I am far from alone in my disdain of cruises and cities like Venice, Mallorca, Barcelona, and Amsterdam have moved to restrict the number of cruise ships that dock in their ports, mostly because of pollution and the logistic and infrastructure issues that accompany large number of tourists who spend a few hours in port.
Most of the reasons people usually give me in support of cruises are about the ‘entitled’ traveler and their needs, and/or about the less than optimal ‘economic opportunities’ for the poor brown workers from globally exploited countries.
So here are my reasons why I have no interest in taking a cruise. I would love to hear from you why you love cruising, or why you have yet to take one.
Poor labor practices. They treat their employees like crap: long hours, few days off, crap pay, poor living conditions. They usually fly flags of convenience from countries that have lax labor laws.
Too much waste. According to the EPA, in one week the average cruise ship produces 800,000 litres of sewage, 4000 million litres of grey water, 8 tons of solid waste and 568 litres of hazardous waste.
Ocean pollution. Cruise ships dump way too much pollution in the ocean. Cruise ships are allowed to dump treated waste water within 3.5 miles of US shores and beyond that there are no restrictions on dumping untreated raw sewage in US waters.
Avoiding economic obligations. Local economic needs such as small businesses, artists because cruise ship companies often build their own stores on shore and use their own tour guides. Cruise lines also fly ‘flags of convenience’ to avoid labor regulations, health and safety codes, and minimize taxes. This is the case in Belize for example. Cruise ships also encourage passengers to book tours through their agents, because if passengers book tours on their own and are late for the ship, they will be left behind.
Cruise ships interfere with wildlife. For example, cruise ships are very noisy and interfere with communication, hunting and travel patterns of sea life like whales and dolphins.
Too many people in one place. Dumping thousands of people into any small town (or big city) for a few hours destroys the daily rhythms of the local people and puts pressure on infrastructure. This is why cities like Venice and Santorini have placed limits on the number of passengers that arrive in their cities.
Too short a visit. Although I am not judgmental about what constitutes a visit to a country (my visits to Dubai and Panama were a few hours on a long layover), spending a few hours in a country barely gives one the opportunity to experience the culture, and with all the pre-paid food, drink and entertainment on board, most passengers are not contributing much to local economies.
Ruined ocean views. Noone goes to the beach or takes a long walk along a coastline to see sailing hotels. For example, as I sat on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, my view of the horizon and the ocean were blocked by massive cruise ships. The same happened as I have sailed around Puget Sound in Seattle.
Employment discrimination. With regard to #1, cruise ships employment tends to replicate global inequities, with white people in leadership and client-facing roles and brown people doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work like cooking, cleaning, etc.
Privatization of public spaces. Many cruise companies buy/lease tiny islands that they develop (getting rid of entire ecosystems) into exclusive stops on their trips, and these very rarely benefit locals from the countries these islands are part of. According to Bloomberg, cruise lines have spent more than $1billion since 2019 to expand or improve private stops in the Caribbean, that includes at least 15 islands in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Bahamas, Belize and Haiti. The companies that own these islands charge more for stops that give them more control over the experience on land, by creating island experiences that reflect their brands.
Ecological interference. As ships go from place to place they also upset ecological systems by dragging around non-native species in their ballast water into new habitats while ruining coastal eco-systems. These non-native species often have no natural predators and so they overrun local sealife populations. An example of this is lionfish in Belize and zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.
Too many people. For me, traveling in a closed community of thousands of people I don’t know is too much for me. I barely like traveling with a group of friends or family, and have only done two ‘girls trips’ - both of them in my fifties.
Interferes with my sailing fun. As a sailor who works my ass off on little boats with sails, these massive things close to shore totally ruin my sailing experience. Yes, other large ships that haul goods across the planet also do this, but this post is focused on cruise ships.
I want to eat local food in local places. Being a bit of a foodie, a big draw for me when I travel is the food. I want the real thing in the real place. I want to sit in a cafe in Paris or Zagreb, drinking the local bev and eating the local bites, while I watch the locals go about their lives. Give me grilled octopus by the sea in Ischia, and some steamed fish on the beach in Jamaica. And I don’t want to wait hours because there are 5,000 of us dumped into a town with a few hours to experience local life.
I want to travel on my own schedule. Yes, booking a cruise will save me lots of hours on various websites booking flights, ferries, trains, buses and rental cars, and making dinner reservations and purchasing tickets for timed entry at museums, and….. but I want to go where I want, when I want, how I want, and with who I want. I don’t like crowds so I don’t want to live with one. I love the freedom to change plans on a whim and linger longer than I planned. I want to have interesting conversations with strangers, without the time pressures of a day on shore.
This week’s rave
Since the above was a long rant, it’s time for a rave. I want to rave about one of my favorite airlines - Alaska Airlines. When I moved to Seattle, Alaska Airlines became my ‘home’ airline. But it took me a while to take my first flight as I had moved from the Bay Area where United Airlines had a hub. The first time I fell in love with Alaska, it was because they rescued my 14,000 miles from and administrative fail at American Airlines. I had status on AA and flew to Sydney, Australia from Seattle. This is back in the day of paper boarding passes and calling airlines to book flights. Upon my return, I waited for AA to credit my miles to my account. Weeks go by and my account was not credited. So I call. And I get told that the code on my airfare meant I did not pay enough to get my miles. After lots of negotiation I got 3000 miles as a customer service appeasement. So I find out that Alaska also had codeshare with Quantas. I call them and was told to fax my boarding passes. And boom! 14000 miles credited. Since then, they have saved me when I booked a ticket out of Oakland, but forgot and ended up in San Francisco. The ticket agent laughed with me at my mistake and booked me on the next flight out of SFO to my destination. Another time I booked two one-ways one NYE in the same direction instead of a roundtrip. Realizing my mistake on the way to the airport, I tell the desk agent and she laughs with me. It was my birthday and I was going to be stuck in New Jersey for a few days unless I booked a first class ticket. After a few minutes of checking and checking, the desk agent hands me a boarding pass and says, Happy Birthday. It was a first class ticket on the next flight out. Aside from great customer service, their food options are fresh and delish and reflects their Pacific Northwest roots.