papermoon~that problem is not only on cruiseships and flights.....even the grocery store is no longer safe!

Yes, no doubt the air part is a real downer. Trouble to start and loads of anxiety at the end, especially if you end up in Philadelphia on USAirways. Then there the shore excursions that cost an arm and a leg and reserve half the trip for shopping - at a rug shop or favored T-shirt shop. Also on some the elderly are worse than the kids. On our recent cruise, I found myself dodging "scooters" all over the ship. Some others were so far out of it that they delayed everyone else repeatedly. Then there are the cruise collectors who have been on every ship afloat - twice. But mostly cruises are great, if in depth sightseeing is not important to you. There are other ways to travel.

All the above and...

1. The Hairy Chest Contests
2. All the stupid games being yelled over the loud speaker around the pool
3. Lounge chairs crammed together that are actually touching each other
4. Feeling like cattle
5. Being pounced on immediately upon arriving at a port
6. Pretty much everything about cruising.

However...everyone keeps insisting that I will like 'high end' cruises, but I am too afraid to try in fear of finding much the same as what I've experienced on Carnival and RCB.

Maybe one day, I'll get the nerve to try again.

Try Star Cipper Sail boat cruising. Max is 170 people and no silly games, etc. You go into small harbors, no one fools with you on the dock, etc. It's a great way to go. I did one Celebrity cruise. Left from Ansterdam and did the Baltics. Never again.

We are recently back from what is likely our last cruise until we book a luxury line.

The crowds, sloppily dressed people at dinner, kids on wheelies flying through public areas, undisciplined kids in the restaurants and the all around cost cutting necessary for the cruise lines to survive have made the experience one neither my husband nor I have a desire to repeat.

We will stick to Europe at every opportunity and enjoy the adult only resorts in the Caribbean which are getting better and better and give us a better standard for our vacation.

It always pays to at least explore making your own flight plans. On an upcoming Celebrity cruise, the airline tickets would have cost us $1100 per person through Celebrity but only $675 by purchasing them myself.
Also, since I want to make sure that we and our luggage arrive together and on time, I am nervous about connections of less than 90 minutes, especially when the connecting flight is the last one of the day. If you rely on cruise lines or tour companies or even the airlines to select your flights, you will often get unrealistically short connections in today's uncertain flying environment.

We've been on several cruises and I've enjoyed them all but the thing that is the least enjoyable (compared to a non-cruise vacation such as to a resort) is that it seems like you start preparing for the end of the cruise on about the third day. You get forms in your cabin with information about disembarkation procedures, onboard luggage checkin options, tipping, etc. I feel like my vacation has just started and I already have to think about the end. It's depressing! If I'm at a resort I don't think about leaving until the evening before I leave.

Disembarking at the end of the cruise. They make you leave your cabin early, and then you have to sit around for hours waiting to get off the ship.

Disembarking can be a real pain, especially if you are crammed into one of the restaurant or lounge areas and wait for several groups of people to get off first (called by number). This was particularly bad on a Princess cruise we took this year when lines of people waiting to get off the ship mixed in with lines of people waiting to get into a waiting lounge (too many areas too close together).

For me it's getting off at Ports of Call, especially when we have to be tendered off.

I don't mind taking time at the beginning and end of the cruise because I'm not going anywhere anyway. When I have a half day in port, I don't want to lose half of it to getting on and off the ship.

Does anybody mind the constant music EVERYWHERE? I enjoy quiet. We use to love laying around the pool. Now the music never stops and it is LOUD. You have to yell to talk. It is just not peaceful anymore.
That being said -- we enjoy cruising!

I hate disembarking for the final time.

Everything else I can deal with. Ok. Except for the hairy chest contest. Thank goodness my cruiseline of choice has not yet started that. Or, if they have, I have been blissfully unaware.

I'm not a fan of the goofy hijinks that usually goes on during a cruise either. The beautiful part about it is you certainly don't have to participate or even watch.

I think the biggest turn-off for me was a contest in which a bunch of fruit (of varying size--up to pineapple) was thrown in the pool. The contestants (loonies IMHO)dove in and the one who was abale to put the most fruit inside their bathing suit won. I must admit the size of women's swim wear these days would put you at a decided disadvantage. LOL

Pineapple in your swimsuit?!? OUCH!

WE LOVE TO CRUISE! BUT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT REALLY BOTHERS ME IS WHEN WE HAVE A BALCONY WE ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE A LOUD MOUTH ON EITHER SIDE OF US! THE LAST TIME IS WAS SOMEONE WHO HAD A CONSTANT LOUD COUGH. THERE ALSO WAS A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT WOULD NOT GO ANYWHERES WITHOUT THIER BOOM BOX PLAYING! OH AND WHEN I FINALLY WENT TO RELAX IN THE ADULTS ONLY POOL, THERE WERE KIDS IN IT THAT HAD TAKEN IT OVER WHILE THEIR PARENTS SAT AND PLAYED CARDS. I HAD ASKED WHY THE KIDS WERE IN AN ADULT POOL, THAT HAD SIGNS ALL AROUND ADULTS ONLY, I WAS TOLD THAT THEY HAD TO CLOSE THE BIGGER POOL FOR SOME REASON. THERE WAS ANOTHER KIDS POOL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHIP, BUT I GUESS THAT WAS TOO FAR AND SO MUCH FOR THE RULES! THIS WAS ON THE PRINCESS LINE, YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU WILL RUN INTO! STILL CRUISING THOUGH.

My least favorite things are:

1. Disembarking
2. Muster Drill. Yes I know it's important, but I still hate it.
3. Settling my bill at the end of the cruise. Did I really have that many drinks? Why did I charge all this stuff to the room?? Oh, the pain!! #-o

Oh, P_M, muster drill is fun! Bring your camera, and start snapping pictures. We even posted ours

P_M, the muster drill means you're on a cruise and about to set sail! I love it!

Plus, like Faina said, take your camera and take pictures of your cabin mate (in my case, my parents). It's fun, and most importantly, it may one day save your life.

OK you muster-lovers, you win!! Next time I must muster up a better attitude during the drill.

Wait a moment! Just waaaaiiiiittt a moment!

Are you saying you don't like muster drink or muster drill?

Oh, well, just combine the two