Embarrassed by DCL cruising so often?

[Sytrace]

No, I do not feel embarrassed - I feel very lucky!

I do have a funny story kinda related to this though. When I returned from my Southern Caribbean cruise at the beginning of this year, I had gotten a few calls from employers who wanted to interview me. I returned their calls and set up interviews. When I arrived at one of the interviews, the manager asked me where I'd been on vacation and I told him I was on a cruise. He happily asked me what cruise line and I replied Disney. His expression changed instantly! He got all sour and told me "Oh, Disney cruises are SOOO expensive. Sometimes when my family is on a cruise and we port next to a Disney ship, I point at them and tell my kids that those are the ships for rich people."

I was pretty shocked by his unprofessionalism. The interview didn't really last much longer and I was dismissed and never got a call back... Not that I would have wanted to work with that guy, anyway. So maybe even though I'm not embarrassed there might be people secretly judging me, who knows?

Yikes...that was really unprofessional.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

What I struggle with is guilt (self-imposed, for the most part) that we don't take our aging parents on vacation, whether DCL or otherwise. We have had smaller vacations that we've spent together, but somehow the fact the we take these more expensive vacations together makes me feel like a heel at times. Is this something any of you struggle with?

I did until I spent almost 2 weeks with them in the Mediterranean this past June! No more of that guilt ever again..... I won't be asking them on another cruise anytime soon.

 

[Savikins]

My biggest problem with non-cruisers is the nonending comments about how "you can't count that city/port/etc. because you only spent one day there" and "cruise ships don't give you enough time to see anything", to which my comment is always how else can you see 8-10 ports in 10-14 days without worrying about transportation and hotels! Cruising just doesn't make sense for some people I guess. One co-worker actually told me Rome doesn't count cause we were there one day -- and yet she's never even been overseas

This is so odd to me but I've experienced it as well. Come to think of it, I've been told that I can't "count" the cities I visited when I went to Europe because I "only" spent 3 nights in each city.

 

[DCLDVC1]

the good thing for us is we live in Orlando about 1 hour from the parking garage at the port, so we dont have expenses such as airline, transfers, rent a car, hotel, etc. All of that adds up and allows us to take more cruises.

I would love that! We spend $2500+ in airfare, hotels and transportation for each cruise.

 

[Trera]

I would love that! We spend $2500+ in airfare, hotels and transportation for each cruise.

That is another 3 night cruise for our family of 3.

 

[RedSox68]

I don't understand the comment about how "you can't count the city" - if you visited the city, spent some significant time in the city, even visited the city more than once on multiple cruises - how does that not qualify you as having traveled to the city lol. It sounds like comments like that are rooted in like jealousy, like since when it travel to cities a competition you know?

Exactly - and I've had more than one person say that to me. The co-worker I mentioned said I could not have possibly seen enough of Rome when we were only there 12 hours! Sure, you can spend a week there and get a lot more out of it, but boy did we get a lot in in those 12 hours and I felt totally fulfilled! There have been ports that we didn't do anything but get off the ship and walk around and see what we could see -- and that counts.

There are just some people who, having never cruised, just don't get it! It's their loss!

 

[cgolf]

We are not embarrassed at all. What we have found is that cruising is the cheapest way to vacation. If you do a land vacation after figuring in the extra cost of hotels, food and land travel, you can't beat the value of a cruise. We were able to do our Hawaii Cruise for just under 6,000, and while the island time wasn't huge, it worked out great for us because we were able to figure out which Islands we wanted to see in the future and which ones we would take a pass on.

To be honest, a lot of the islands we have visited, other than Hawaii, I couldn't see us spending more time there than we did, so a cruise works out great for us. I guess it depends on what you want, the inlaws spent a week at a resort in Mexico and loved it, I would have went crazy. On the other hand I tend to like sea days on a ship and they have slowed down on the cruising because they have seen most of the Caribbean islands so they don't feel the need to go on another cruise. It really comes down to personal preference.

 

[NancyIL]

Exactly - and I've had more than one person say that to me. The co-worker I mentioned said I could not have possibly seen enough of Rome when we were only there 12 hours! Sure, you can spend a week there and get a lot more out of it, but boy did we get a lot in in those 12 hours and I felt totally fulfilled! There have been ports that we didn't do anything but get off the ship and walk around and see what we could see -- and that counts.

There are just some people who, having never cruised, just don't get it! It's their loss!

We were on a Mediterranean cruise from Venice in 2012 that visited Civitavecchia. Knowing its distance from port and that we wanted to spend more than 12 hours in Rome - we began our trip there. We flew to Rome and spent 3 nights, took the train to Florence (not a cruise ship stop) for 2 nights, then on to Venice to board our ship. When the ship stopped in Civitavecchia, we went on a tour to Orvieto and Civita Bagnoregio with Rome In Limo: http://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/orvieto.htm
http://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/orvieto.htm
I highly recommend spending extra time in a location before or after a cruise - especially if you are cruising in Europe.

 

[Tikitoi]

I do keep it to myself pretty much, not because I'm embarrassed but because I don't want others speculating/commenting on the cost. I also don't want to seem to be bragging or smug about it in front of others who might not be able to afford it. I tell my son not to bring up our vacations at school for that reason, as well.

It's not a secret, just something we don't go around chatting about all the time. If I'm asked, I'll tell, but otherwise I save the Disney talk for these boards.

This is us, too. Don't want to sound paranoid but I know people are being judgemental. When you hear things behind your back being said such as...she thinks she can go anywhere...or another vacation...And unfortunately this comes from family too.

So we just keep plans to ourselves until the last minute then only tell to necessary family members.

 

[RedSox68]

We were on a Mediterranean cruise from Venice in 2012 that visited Civitavecchia. Knowing its distance from port and that we wanted to spend more than 12 hours in Rome - we began our trip there. We flew to Rome and spent 3 nights, took the train to Florence (not a cruise ship stop) for 2 nights, then on to Venice to board our ship. When the ship stopped in Civitavecchia, we went on a tour to Orvieto and Civita Bagnoregio with Rome In Limo: http://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/orvieto.htm
I highly recommend spending extra time in a location before or after a cruise - especially if you are cruising in Europe.

I would love to do that. That itinerary, however, started in Barcelona and only stopped in Rome for the one day and moved on. I would love to leave from Rome or Venice someday and spend 3-4 days pre-cruise in the city.

Your train trip sounds awesome. I love train travel.

 

[kiapepito]

I totally know what you mean. There are certain friends that I am selective at telling where we travel too before we leave on our trip. I know it sounds petty, but I'm also the type of person that does not want to seem like I'm showing off. My husband and I are very blessed to be able to have a double income where we can take many vacations each year through our hard work and dedication.

Enjoy your trips!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Wow look at all the replies! I'm so glad to see (and not at the same time if that makes any sense) that I'm not the only one experiencing judgement from others. We are going on another cruise in October and we are pretty much keeping it a secret for now.

 

[Ofinn]

We were on a Mediterranean cruise from Venice in 2012 that visited Civitavecchia. Knowing its distance from port and that we wanted to spend more than 12 hours in Rome - we began our trip there. We flew to Rome and spent 3 nights, took the train to Florence (not a cruise ship stop) for 2 nights, then on to Venice to board our ship. When the ship stopped in Civitavecchia, we went on a tour to Orvieto and Civita Bagnoregio with Rome In Limo: http://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/orvieto.htm
I highly recommend spending extra time in a location before or after a cruise - especially if you are cruising in Europe.

We always spend a few days in the city we cruise out of. We spent 3 days in London last cruise and are spending 3 days in Athens prior to this cruise. I love the pre cruise stays as much as the cruise. Even if we cruise out of city like Miami or Galveston I still enjoy a couple of days to enjoy a city and relax in a nice hotel.

 

[NancyIL]

We always spend a few days in the city we cruise out of. We spent 3 days in London last cruise and are spending 3 days in Athens prior to this cruise. I love the pre cruise stays as much as the cruise. Even if we cruise out of city like Miami or Galveston I still enjoy a couple of days to enjoy a city and relax in a nice hotel.

It also helps to arrive a few days early in case your luggage gets delayed! I arrived in Copenhagen 2 days before a Baltic cruise in 2014, but I didn't see my suitcase until I boarded the ship!

 

[RedSox68]

We always spend a few days in the city we cruise out of. We spent 3 days in London last cruise and are spending 3 days in Athens prior to this cruise. I love the pre cruise stays as much as the cruise. Even if we cruise out of city like Miami or Galveston I still enjoy a couple of days to enjoy a city and relax in a nice hotel.

The further away we travel, the more I want to spend extra time in the embarkation city to make the whole thing worthwhile. Last year for our London cruise we spent 5 days pre and 5 days post cruise. Barcelona next year we want to do 4 days pre-cruise; and when we sailed out of LA for the PC in 2005, we did 5 days pre-cruise there and visited Disneyland and many of the famous sites. It's great fun and like two vacations in one because you still have the cruise at the end!

It also helps to arrive a few days early in case your luggage gets delayed! I arrived in Copenhagen 2 days before a Baltic cruise in 2014, but I didn't see my suitcase until I boarded the ship!

Ouch -- that's awful. Did it get on the wrong flight, or never make the flight from home airport? When we flew into Barcelona in 2007, they were having a baggage handler strike. We witnessed several families whose luggage never made it to the ship for the 10-night med and were in tears at guest services. We found out later that the baggage handlers were removing destination tags and switching them on the luggage. One couples bags ended up in Germany and they didn't get them until they returned home! Disney was giving the families vouchers to shop for clothes in their stores and other necessities. No way to start a vacation for sure.

 

[NancyIL]

Ouch -- that's awful. Did it get on the wrong flight, or never make the flight from home airport? When we flew into Barcelona in 2007, they were having a baggage handler strike. We witnessed several families whose luggage never made it to the ship for the 10-night med and were in tears at guest services. We found out later that the baggage handlers were removing destination tags and switching them on the luggage. One couples bags ended up in Germany and they didn't get them until they returned home! Disney was giving the families vouchers to shop for clothes in their stores and other necessities. No way to start a vacation for sure.

It didn't make the change of planes in Dusseldorf, Germany from American to Air Berlin. Unfortunately, it also wasn't put on the next available flight to Copenhagen. I could've used my trip insurance "baggage delay" feature to shop for clothes, but I didn't want to waste my touring time doing so - especially since I kept thinking it would arrive sooner. It got to be funny when people on our cruise, who were staying at the same hotel, kept seeing me wearing the same shirt at breakfast! I had my toiletries with me in my carry on bag, and one change of underwear. Since then, I have packed a little more in the carry on bag!

I would never arrive at an international port the same day a cruise ship departs, and I won't do it for domestic cruises, either.