Enjoy cruising?

My Dad sent me an email, and said that he'd been reading this blog and noticed that I hadn't ever really answered the question "do I enjoy cruising"?

That's a loaded question, which I'll answer here. The answer is "yes and no".

YES

• Who wouldn't enjoy a floating 4-5 star hotel?
• Our room stewards have been fantastic. They notice when we're in and out of the room, and somehow manage to make it up perfectly unseen every day. They introduced themselves the first day, and since then they've always addressed us by our first names.
• The dining room staff has been great. We've gotten to know our waiter well (we have "my time" dining, so if you want somebody's table you have to ask for it), and he knows all of us by our first names (Mr. Douglas, and Mrs. Laura).
• We've had a Norwalk virus outbreak on the ship, and the entire crew is involved in quashing it. Senoir Officers are manning the buffets to serve food for us. To prevent the spread of the virus, there is absolutely nothing handled by the guests themselves - coffee, dessert, ice cream, you name it. Every member of the crew must be working 18 hour days! They sanitize the ship deck by deck once during the daytime and once in the middle of the night. The Captain reports about the virus every day at noon, and we've seen the count go from about 100 passengers and a handful of crew about a week ago, down to 1 passenger yesterday. Their protocols, although a pain in the ass for the crew, work.
• It will take a few days at home to remember that nobody is going to pick up your dishes or make your bed.

NO

• While being at sea on a cruise ship is wonderful in smooth seas. But the higher off the water you are, the more you notice the motion of the ship in rougher water. Today, we have 6-9 foot swells, and you can sit on the 11th deck and watch the pool splash itself dry.
• There's absolutely nothing authentic about a 2500 passenger cruise ship arriving in a port of 1000 people. While the locals love the commerce, I hate the experience.
• It's even less authentic when a cruise ship pulls into a major port (Honolulu). You're at the mercy of the tour operators unless you've been there before and can figure out local transport (bus, taxi).
• I know they need to make something too, but the cruise ship generally charges 200% of what you could get the same tour for on the dock. I hate tours, but sometimes that's your only option in a new place.
• The cruise industry, I predict, will soon become just like a hotel. You'll pay for you're room and some basic entertainment at the start. Everything else, from buffet dinners to dining room dinners, to "headliner shows", to snacks, to booze, basically everything but the room and the transport, will be extra. The business is so competitive, and we consumers are so driven by the initial cost, that they'll have no choice but to reduce the "price" of the cruise and charge for all the add-ons.
• The demographic of cruising doesn't include me yet. Years from now, I can see it - but for now I see it as the "rich, white way to see places in an ultra-safe, cocooned, choreographed way". That's why I  call myself a hypocrite.

So there you have it. I enjoy the time at sea, and I enjoy seeing new places if I can find a way to escape the crowds and the local expectation that I'm going to spend money.