How in the world...

[Jess_S]

I went in blind to my first dcl cruise and glad I did. I wasn't worried about missing anything because I didn't know what there was to miss. it was after that cruise (maybe after the second cruise) that I discovered the dis and found out soooo much I would never have known. i'm glad I was late coming to the table. it gave me the opportunity to explore without expectation.

It's funny because it seems to me that most of the people who review any given trip, service, whatever on the internet are writing the review because they were unhappy with some aspect. As a result, my tendency to over-research has meant that I've come into most trips with low expectations -- and those expectations are invariably exceeded. In particular, I remember booking a Hawaii cruise on NCL. I picked them because they were the only line that left from Hawaii so there was more time at each island. But the online reviews for the ship were just awful. When I opened my cruise cabin and found a clean, perfectly normal looking cruise ship cabin, I was so excited that I squealed and jumped up and down. (I was expecting there to be something terribly wrong because the internet assured me the ship was a floating dump).

Even though I'm missing out on the joy of the unexpected feel of coming in with no knowledge, but I don't think I would trade that for the fun of anticipating and research my trip for months in advance online.

 

[squirk]

I am a planner. It makes me feel secure because I feel in control; I probably have some level of OCD.

On the other hand, I also know, rationally, that if I did no planning whatsoever and just walked on a cruise blind, I would still have a fantastic time.

On the third hand, I find it very stressful to go someplace new and have to try and figure out what to do right there on the spot. I don't like that time-sensitive pressure.

I'm as guilty of this as much as anyone, but I think these message boards foster planning stress as we all enable and feed off of each other's obsession with minutiae. Stuff like room service trays left out in the hallway really don't matter in the grand scheme of things, but instead of folks just telling people that it's not a huge deal, we become an echo chamber that amplifies the conversation and makes the topic seem far more important than it really is. Suddenly, you find you've spent 45 minutes of your life reading about and opining on the room service tray issue which, in reality, might actually only occupy 30-60 seconds of your time and attention on the ship.

 

[tvguy]

Just as the availability of information has expanded with the internet, and the whole cruise industry has changed. There are options.

Prices have been forced down by the glut of ships out there. My first cruise in 1980, which I was on Producing a week of TV shows so I did not pay for it, my fare would have been $5,000 for 10 days, that about $15,000 today. I wouldn't pay $5,000 today per person for a cruise.
There was one sitting for dinner, 6 pm, and dinner lasted until 9:30 pm
The emphasis was on luxury and gourmet food. Wine was included at no extra cost at lunch and dinner.
There were just 2 children on the ship.
We were told the average age on board was 65.
The entertainment....well.....the Cruise Director was the Comic. The Captain was the singer. Although they did has local performers come on board in every port, and they put on a show while the ship was docked because there were a lot of elderly people who did not get off the ship in any port.
The night life was hopping late into the night, actually, since the night club didn't even open until 1:30 am, I guess it was more like starting early in the morning.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

"Ignorance is Bliss"