What are the most overrated cruise experiences
out there today?
I'm Gary Bembridge, this is another of
my cruising "Tips for Travellers."
I asked viewers of my videos
what were the cruise experiences
they found completely overrated?
I collected all of those together,
compared them with mine, and I've drawn up a list of
what I think are the most overrated cruise experiences
starting with this one.
Now this one could be a little bit of a surprise,
I've actually done a video about this one,
and that's cruise upgrades that can be really overrated.
The reason for that is when you're upgraded,
which everyone gets very excited about,
you could actually end up in a cabin
which you really don't like,
because the cruise line will upgrade you
to a cabin of their choice, you have no say in the upgrade.
So you could find yourself in a strangely-shaped cabin,
or one that's in a really noisy area
underneath the all-night disco or the theatre,
or in the front of the ship or near the bow thrusters,
or whatever it is.
So, one of the things that I always do is
I like to choose my cabin,
I don't go for a guaranteed cabin,
a like to choose my cabin and I say no to all upgrades
because I really like to have a cabin in a certain place.
I like to be surrounded on all sides by cabins
so it's nice and quiet
and I know I'm going to have a good night's sleep.
Other people I know, they think I'm crazy
and it doesn't worry them,
but cabin upgrades could actually be very overrated
because you can go from a great cabin into the unknown.
So they are really overrated
and I've had lots of people contacting me saying
they went for the upgrade they're really excited
and it actually wasn't a great choice,
it's very overrated.
Chose your cabin decide where you want to be
and go with it to get the cruise experience
that you want.
The second overrated cruise experience
is one that I found quite a surprise
and that's one that gets a lot of discussion and debate
and that's balcony cabins.
A lot of people said to me,
I think the balcony cabins are overrated.
They cost you more money than an inside
or an ocean view and you don't really use them
even when you go to places like Alaska
you want to head up out on deck
to be able to look at the landscape and the glaciers
so actually you're spending money
and you're not really using the balcony.
Now I love a balcony cabin personally
and I really love going out there and when you're at sea,
I love going out there in and out of port,
but a lot of people said for the amount of money it is,
it's really overrated and actually you can go
in a lower-grade cabin and cruise more often.
So definitely there's a lot of discussion around
whether it's overrated.
I love going on the balcony,
I would always chose a balcony,
for me it's not overrated, but I was surprised
just how many people said, the balcony is very overrated.
The third overrated experience was specialty dining.
Now there was a lot of discussion around the pros and cons
of specialty dining.
However the feeling was that actually cruise lines
are really using specialty dining
of course to give you more choice,
but actually to make more money
because you're already paying within your fare
to have food in the main dining room, buffet,
room service often, and a lot of pressure to you
then eat in different venues.
There's a concern actually that they,
for the amount of money you're paying,
you could be paying 30, 40, 50,
or even more dollars per person
to eat in a specialty dining restaurant.
So it's very overrated because in fact
you're not really getting always a huge big step change
and there's just a lot of pressure to eat there
and also the concern that as they encourage you
to eat more and more in specialty dining
that actually they were making the choice
and availability in the main dining room, the buffet,
actually less to encourage people to go to specialty dining,
but the sense that actually it was very overrated.
Now some people of course love specialty dining,
they build it into their budgets
and they don't see it as overrated.
Personally I'm not a massive fan of specialty dining,
I will do a little bit of specialty dining
often just to check it out to report back on it,
but I do think it's very overrated and pushed a lot.
The next area was quite an interesting one
and that was the big resort attractions.
You know on big ships now you've got go-karts courses,
you've got laser tag, you might have a roller coaster,
rock climbing, rope courses,
big water parks, water slides,
all sorts of big features
being built on ships largely on the outside decks
and a lot of people felt these are overrated
because in fact they appeal
to only a subset of people cruising,
but they take up a lot of space on a cruise ship
and it means that around the pools it can be quite cramped
so it's quite hard to find deck space
because more and more of these big attractions
are taking over on the big cruise ships
and what a lot of people feel is they're overrated
because they're really used to get excitement, PR,
hook people in to book, but actually once you're on a cruise
you're out in port you're kind of busy
and you're actually not using them
they're very very overrated.
And the other big concern that people have
is a lot of them are outside.
So if you're cruising where the weather's not good,
or it's raining, all of those are closed
they can't be used a lot of the time
and therefore you've got all this space
that's being cluttered up with these big attractions
and you can't use them and more and more people
are kind of cramped inside the ship
and in less space.
So a lot of people think they're very overrated
and they only really cater for a smaller part,
or subset, of the cruising population onboard the ships.
So again, some people of course love them,
but a lot of people say to me they're very overrated
and they take a lot of space
and they could be used
for just more regular cruising activities
like sitting around the pool or having more deck space.
For a lot of people hot tubs are also overrated
and often there's not enough of them.
Really mixed feelings on hot tubs.
A lot of people when they're cruising
like hot tubs whether it's cold, whether it's warm
and they really like them.
A lot of people have concerns about hot tubs
they don't think they're warm enough and they therefore
are perhaps not as hygienic as they could be
and if that's true or not, I'm not a big hot tub user
and also one of the concerns is lots of kids
pile into the hot tubs, it's not really regulated,
and kids are allowed to kind of use those
as a playground so it is becoming
a very overrated experience
because you expect a hot tub,
sit there with a glass of champagne
as you're setting along and having a really good time,
but actually there's just kids jumping in and out
and using them as kind of a bit of entertainment.
So hot tubs, again, a very mixed bag.
People like the idea of them,
but feel the actual experience itself is very overrated.
One of the things that a lot of people have said to me
they think are overrated although it's becoming
a big trend in cruising,
is the cruise line-owned islands.
So this is really particularly true in the Caribbean
where all of the cruise lines are starting to have
their own private island and on all the cruises
they will stop in there at those islands
which they control and they control the whole experience.
Now bear in mind these islands are actually created
so they're normally just small islands
and what they've done
is they've then created experiences on them.
So some beach areas, they might have zip lines,
they might have snorkelling,
they might have some cycle stuff,
they might have really luxurious cabanas
where you can go and relax,
but these are really created.
They're not, you're not actually seeing the Caribbean,
you're not seeing authentic islands.
And what the cruise lines have done is really create
kind of a captive audience
where they can sell you more stuff
and there's a real concern
this is an underwhelming experience.
Now there's some great things so you've got like,
well Caribbean have opened an amazing place
where you've got big water slides and water parks,
really big attractions.
So they are starting to make them much more packed full
of features and benefits
and all sorts of things going on.
But the sense of actually, if you're cruising in a region
you're not getting to see an authentic island
and the culture and the people and the history of the place
so a lot of people say they are also becoming very similar
so they're all kind of a much of a muchness
and the distinctiveness is getting
out of the ports you're calling.
So you're going to the Caribbean
but you're not really calling on authentic genuine ports.
So a lot of people feel that
that whole experience of cruise line created islands
and destinations is very very overrated as an experience.
Cruise transfers to and from airports at various ports
are seen as being very overrated
partly because they're very expensive
and can be quite a slow process
particularly if you're in an airport
you can be hanging around for quite a long time
before everyone's arrived from their flights
to get on a bus.
The same when you're leaving you kind of hang around
waiting for people when actually you'll find often
for less money, you can have a private transfer
whether it's, you know, Uber,
some of these ride-hailing services,
or even maybe some independent bus transfers,
it can be cheaper, easier and quicker
to actually avoid the cruise line transfers
because they can be quite long, slow,
and can be very expensive so they are seen
as pretty overrated.
Obviously the security of knowing
that you're connecting with the cruise line,
the cruise line is managing it,
but they can be seen as pretty expensive
and pretty underwhelming.
Definitely one of the areas
that is seen is as very overrated is the spa.
Now spas on cruise ships are taking over
more and more space, okay a lot of people are using them,
but they can be very expensive.
So when I compare the cost of treatments
to what I can get back in big cities like London,
or New York, or wherever, they are pretty expensive
and then there's the big cross-sell.
So you have a treatment and then the therapist
are incentivized to really cross-sell you
buying lots and lots of products.
So it's quite a, it's always a stressful experience.
I do find going to the spa kind of stressful
in part because it's stressful on the bank balance,
but also you know at the end
you're going to have to fight off the cross-selling,
up-selling of products so it's not as a relaxing experience
as it could be.
But definitely the spas a lot of people feel
that they're very overrated as an experience.
Saying that there clearly is a huge amount of people
who love the spa because they're always busy
and always packed out which is why I guess
they're getting bigger and bigger.
Shopping, shopping, shopping is definitely seen
as being something that's overrated.
One of the challenges you have
particularly in a place like the Caribbean and Alaska
the cruise ships have shopping advisors
because they're incentivised to drive people
into a lot of the chain stores.
When you get off in a lot of those ports
it's basically generic, it's all the same stores,
Diamonds International, those kind of things,
you know the cruise line is getting incentives
for sending you there I guess they're getting
some kind of commission and the big focus on shopping.
You almost feel that you're going to some of these places
and shopping is the most important thing to do.
And the real sense and feeling
that this is very overrated.
Shopping is not why you're on this cruise
also because you're buying a lot of time
very generic products that you can buy anywhere else.
Also on board it's seen as very over rated,
it can be relatively expensive.
I think stuff on board is quite expensive
although cruise lines would disagree with that
and you constantly got all these various promotions,
you know, they'll put the tables out
selling off inches of gold chains
and watches and bags and stuff
and the sense that actually shopping has become
a big part of what happens around cruising,
but it's really kind of overrated
because it's not about authentic genuine stuff
that's really linked to the region and place
that you're cruising in.
Drinks packages are another area
that is seen as being very overrated.
Drinks packages I think are really expensive.
I'm not a big drinker myself,
but I look at the cost of drink packages
and they seem really costly.
Even bearing in mind that some of them
you could have some of your drinks,
you know, especially like coffees,
or I guess some sodas, but they are pretty expensive
you do have to drink quite a lot
to make them worthwhile and the sense that actually
they're very overrated because the cruise line
is pushing and pushing and pushing you
to buy drinks packages.
And I always ask myself, if the cruise line people
are selling something so aggressively
it's presumably because they're making
a good margin of money out of them.
So I always prefer personally not to have
a drinks package unless I bought it
as part of an overall kind of cruise package
and it's bundled in and tend to just buy drinks more
ad hoc because I found that actually
it's very overrated, the drinks packages,
and I do spend much less money
and I probably don't go quite as crazy
which I guess some people like drinks packages for.
The thing that I think is overrated
is buying art on a cruise ship.
A lot of cruise lines have a lot of space
for an art gallery and they do art auctions
and I guess it works a lot of people buy art.
When I talk to the people who bought art
they feel that again it's overrated
and actually they probably could've got it
at sharper prices on land
when they've got more time to think about it,
consider it, compare prices,
but art auctions I think are definitely overrated
and the whole art concept of buying on a cruise ship
I just personally don't understand
and a lot of people raise that as an issue.
A lot of people go to the art auctions, by the way,
because you often get a free glass of champaign
and so that's quite a big appeal for some people,
but I do think they are an overrated part of cruising.
There are things that I do like to do
when I go on a cruise ship.
I do like the casino, I like to play bingo
and all those kind of things; however,
a lot of people don't and the casinos
do take up quite a little space.
There's often smoking in a lot of the casinos
and actually the odds are people would argue
on a cruise ship is not as good
as saying going to a place like Las Vegas or whatever.
I like to do it, I've never really won much money
doing that so I always see it as a cost,
but a lot of people think the whole focus
on a gambling casino is very overrated
and it's not really something that cruise lines
should be focusing on as much
because there are other things they could do with the space.
Well now it's very interesting
because a couple of cruise lines,
like Azamara for example,
have started to take the casino out
to use it for more spaces
for stuff around the shore excursions,
the destinations, more places to drink and eat
and that kind of stuff.
So they decided actually getting rid of the casino
is something that's going to add
to the cruise experience overall.
I guess on bigger ships that's less of an issue
and they want to give more diversity and choice.
But a lot of people said the whole gambling thing
is very overrated and actually it's something
that I end up spending money on
and there's things I probably could've spent more money on,
but I guess that's something about self-control
and getting stuck in yourself and doing that.
I do like to have a little bit of a flutter on a cruise
and see it as part of the fun experience,
but a lot of people say very very overrated.
There are lots of wonderful things about cruising
and as I've said some of these things
that people rate as overrated
other people think are a real plus
but those are things talking to people they saw
as the most overrated cruise experiences.
If you find that helpful, interesting,
why don't you watch another one of my many
cruising tips and advice videos,
why don't you watch another one of those right now.