I’ve not yet met anyone who is confused about what an ocean cruise is so explaining the science of how a ship floats is unnecessary (plus I’m more of a “faith that it just does” kind of guy). What I do hear a lot from people who haven’t been on a cruise is the question of whether ocean cruising is as great as people say (or as horrible as people say), and whether cruising is a good option for them.
People who haven’t yet been on a cruise get their information from the Internet and from friends and family who have been on a cruise. The danger is thinking a cruise is a cruise. One ship, one experience, one kind of person. That couldn’t be further from the truth. There are cruise lines built for party animals in their 20’s, cruise lines built for elegant, well-traveled adults who want five-star service at sea, and everything in between. The experience on one ship can be so different from another that calling them the same thing is a little like saying a Motel 6 and a Ritz-Carlton are both hotels. Technically true. Practically meaningless.
What I tell people pretty regularly is that ocean cruising is right for about 90% of travelers, as long as they’re on the cruise line that delivers their ideal experience. That last part is the whole thing.
So what makes ocean cruising worth considering in the first place?
Start with the value. You board the ship, you unpack once, and for the duration of your vacation your meals are included, your onboard entertainment is included, and your “hotel” moves with you from destination to destination. Compare that to a guided group tour, where you’re living out of a suitcase and repacking every day or two, with meals included inconsistently depending on the day’s itinerary. Or a fully custom itinerary, where, you’re changing hotels, paying for every meal separately, and if you want to see shows expect to pay extra for tickets. All-inclusive resorts offer a similar bundled value, but they’re anchored to one location. A cruise gets you multiple destinations inside that same bundled price. For most people, once they actually understand what’s included and do the math, it’s a very appealing way to travel.
I’ve written a lot more about cruising specifically if you want to go deeper on any of this.
A woman named Melanie called me a while back because her husband wanted to take a cruise. Neither of them had ever been on one, and she was nervous. Not vaguely nervous. She had done her research, found story after story online about people getting sick, and watched videos from a cruise line that made the whole thing look like a floating spring break. She wasn’t wrong about what she found. She just found the wrong things.
Here’s the reality on the cleanliness question. Cruise ships are held to health and safety standards that are significantly stricter than restaurants or hotels. Norovirus outbreaks get attention precisely because they’re unusual enough to be newsworthy. When you search for stories about people getting sick on cruises, you find stories about people getting sick on cruises. That’s how the internet works. It doesn’t mean it happens often.
The party atmosphere concern was easier to address. After fifteen minutes of conversation, it was clear that Melanie and her husband are not matching “party patrol” tank tops people. When they travel they stay in five-star hotels, eat at quality restaurants, and prefer a quieter, more refined environment. The cruise line she had watched videos from was, let’s say, not their cruise line. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. She just didn’t know there was a different world available to her.
They ended up booking Explora Journeys. It’s a newer luxury line, beautifully designed, smaller ships, a genuinely elevated experience. She told me afterward that it was one of the best vacations they’d ever taken. Not because I found her a cruise. Because I found her the right cruise.
The other thing I want to address is the assumption that cruising means the Caribbean. There’s a reason most people think that. A lot of cruisers start in the Caribbean and fall in love with the format there. It’s warm, it’s accessible, it’s familiar. But cruise itineraries reach every continent on earth. Alaska, the Norwegian fjords, the Mediterranean, Japan, South America, Antarctica. If the Caribbean isn’t your thing, or if hurricane season timing creates real anxiety about your plans, there are itineraries that have nothing to do with beach days and frozen drinks.
Two clients of mine, Antonio and Greg, had written off cruising entirely. They assumed it meant the Caribbean, and the Caribbean wasn’t what they were interested in. What they wanted was to see as many cities in Greece as possible, and they weren’t sure they’d have the opportunity to go back, so they wanted to make the most of it. They had been looking at guided group tours and custom itinerary options when I started talking to them about Greek Isles cruises.
The cruise ended up being more economical than either alternative, and it delivered something neither a tour nor a custom trip could have matched in the same budget. Multiple cities, unpacking once, and the flexibility to experience each port on their own terms. They knew cruises to Greece are a thing but were genuinely surprised it was such a great value. That’s the conversation I have more than people might expect.
Now, who is ocean cruising not right for? I promised 90%, so let me account for the other 10%.
My mother-in-law cannot watch a television program that has footage of a boat without getting motion sick. I mean that literally. She’s not someone who gets a little queasy on rough water. She is profoundly, medically susceptible to motion and movement, and no amount of medication fully resolves it. For people like her, no cruise line in the world is the right answer. Even though ships are constantly getting more stable and there are medications and patches and remedies that help most people manage mild sensitivity if you are someone whose motion sickness is severe, I’m not going to pretend that a cruise is going to work for you. It won’t. There are other ways to travel that will serve you far better.
Outside of that, I genuinely believe there is a cruise line for almost everyone. The work is in finding it. I don’t just sell cruises, I match people to the right one.
When we start planning your vacation, we’re not opening a brochure and picking a ship. We’re starting with what you value, where you’ve been, what worked, what didn’t, and what you’re hoping travel does for you at this point in your life. The cruise, if it’s the right answer at all, comes after that conversation.
Most people who leave that conversation surprised weren’t surprised by the options. They were surprised that someone asked the right questions first.
If you want to figure out whether ocean cruising belongs in your travel life, and which version of it belongs to you specifically, I’m happy to have that conversation. Start here to start a conversation and I’ll take it from there.
