Cruised on the RC Freedom during mid Feb, then cruised on the CC Elation two weeks later. On the Freedom, I traveled as a guest. Even though I called my last cruise my LAST cruise, I figured it's been a couple years and now that I am older and a little slower, I will try a cruise again. Once the cruise was over, I swore it would be my last cruise until I retire! The next week, my sister really pushed to get me to visit her. Since I already had a cruise bag packed, I decided I'd try it. I traveled as crew. Once the cruise was over, I swore I would never cruise as a guest again until I retire. However, I will visit sis as a crew member multiple times a year. Three things I noticed that were very similar on both RC & CC 1- Top sport - Competing for position in the lunch buffet line. I saw this one lady who was complaining she had sore knees and back and needed her room closer to the elevator because the walk was too long in the mornings. She was within 10 rooms from the elevator. When buzzer rang for the lunch buffet, she could of won a medal at the special olympics for the 200m dash. She placed top 10 in at least 4 lunch races I witnessed.. 2- Top Activity - Bingo. On the first day, I thought there was only 1 game. By the last day, there was 4 games a day. It was great for the pool... All the parents would make their kids get out of the pool while they went to bingo. It gave the pool water time to dilute the excess ammonia. 3- Everything is scheduled - it didn't feel like a vacation. The boat is one big government who controls everything you do. Sure, they make it feel like it's your choice, but it's not. They say you can eat whatever you want whenever you want, you're just limited to when they serve and what they serve, dinning room times, seat assignments... You can drink as much as you want, but alcohol is only served for 15 hours a day and guests are not allowed to board with their own stash. The worse part is, if you're on an island and find a bar you like, you can't close it, as the boat will not wait for you. My personal opinion is that I'd rather stay at a Bed & Breakfast in Cornwall than cruise as a guest.
FYI... The above opinion is based on my experiences, which don't even include the water got pretty rough one night, half the boat was throwing up in the hallways, kids were screaming in between dry heaving because they couldn't be sick anymore AND it affected the bar and wait staff, so liquor service was slowed to almost a complete halt.
Similar to my experience as well when the weather gets rough. And just think, the Cruise lines rarely cancel a cruise because of bad weather or storms. They’ll just re-route to a destination that's usually less desirable
You were leading the race? I know about all the good things you wrote about.....trust me, I am not the biggest cruise fan either .... sitting with strangers at dinner is the pits. Thanks!!
