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Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

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Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#31

Post by scarab92 »

jajko wrote: post #25
djtango wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't much like cruises but I do really enjoy being out at sea and would be more than happy to "raw dog" (in gen z parlance) some trips out at sea.

There are many ways to enjoy seas, cruise ships are by far the worst. As per people who worked on those, they are mostly for people who simply don't know how to enjoy life well but have money, are quiet alcoholics, and/or suffer massive loneliness. You can do amazing traveling experiences for less, you are in control of your own life and what happens next and you will feel like spending much more time when discoverin…

There’s times I want to explore, and there’s times I just want to do nothing.

Cruises are good for when I want to do nothing for a while.

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#33

Post by pfdietz »

This reminds me of the case a British destroyer from WW1.

This ship started as two Tribal class destroyers, HMS Nubian and HMS Zulu. In 1916, the first lost its bow to a torpedo (and then running aground); the second lost its stern to a mine. The admiralty decided to salvage the remains by joining them together into a new ship, dubbed HMS Zubian.

https://www.twz.com/royal-navy-once-created-a-franken-ship-f...

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#34

Post by shreddit »

EnigmaFlare wrote: post #21
ge96 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tape an ipad to a wall, loop an ocean scene... Window

Parallax, sunlight intensity, directionality, heat. It's a pity we don't have affordable (or even any?) artificial windows that even emulate the sun. Just think how much more economically buildings could be made if they had effective fake windows.

You can do-it-yourself https://youtu.be/6bqBsHSwPgw?si=fWO5-pYa6kPYKLZO

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#35

Post by heresie-dabord »

lbriner wrote: post #16
protocolture wrote: post #4

I worked on a cruise ship below decks, once, for 3 hours, and I swore I would never take a cruise. Take the dirtiest hotel you have ever been in, and then ensure you cant leave it for days at a time. It interests me that demand is increasing but I suspect thats just good advertising.

"Prices from $1,000" but shows the picture of the presedential suite to lure people in. "Oh yeah, $1,000 is a room next to the engine room with no window and a single bed" at which point people feel a bit embarrassed and accept that it is another $10K just to get a window. On the other hand, lots of people are returning customers so maybe there is something to be said for moving slowly across the ocean as your life e…

> lots of people are returning customers so maybe there is something to be said for moving slowly across the ocean as your life ebbs away ;-)

It's a sort of floating Las Vegas, with casinos and other passivities such as (from TFA):

"buffet food, all-inclusive child supervision, shuffleboard, plentiful liquor and winking entertainers"

Of course the scale of the operation could produce significant unhappiness if the cattle are forced to fight for food and live in their own filth, as in the case of the notorious Poop Cruise:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stranded-c...

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#36

Post by joshstrange »

lbriner wrote: post #16
protocolture wrote: post #4

I worked on a cruise ship below decks, once, for 3 hours, and I swore I would never take a cruise. Take the dirtiest hotel you have ever been in, and then ensure you cant leave it for days at a time. It interests me that demand is increasing but I suspect thats just good advertising.

"Prices from $1,000" but shows the picture of the presedential suite to lure people in. "Oh yeah, $1,000 is a room next to the engine room with no window and a single bed" at which point people feel a bit embarrassed and accept that it is another $10K just to get a window. On the other hand, lots of people are returning customers so maybe there is something to be said for moving slowly across the ocean as your life e…

Ehh your life “ebbs away” no matter what you are doing. I’m neutral on cruises. I went on one with my family and had a good time but I don’t seek them out. There is something to be said for the “almost everything is included” nature of cruises. Not having to think about food and just relaxing or doing one of the many activities available is attractive.

The various excursions or stops can be fun as well. It’s not for everyone but I see the appeal. Also, it doesn’t cost $10K to get a window.

EDIT: I just price checked a cruise of the Caribbean on the Princess line (didn’t spend time checking the specific ship) but for a 7-day cruise for 2 people, a mini-suite (balcony and more room), and the premier package (unlimited drinks and other stuff) it came out to $3,800 total. If you drop the drinks it comes down about $1K. Now you have to get to the port and back home so factor in flights but that’s not absurd pricing IMHO. And you can get a balcony-only for cheaper as well.

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#37

Post by janfoeh »

EnigmaFlare wrote: post #21
ge96 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tape an ipad to a wall, loop an ocean scene... Window

Parallax, sunlight intensity, directionality, heat. It's a pity we don't have affordable (or even any?) artificial windows that even emulate the sun. Just think how much more economically buildings could be made if they had effective fake windows.

There is an Italian company called Coelux which builds something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ4TJ4-kkDw

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#38

Post by jillesvangurp »

Cruise ships have a huge ecological impact everywhere they go. They burn colossal amounts of fuel, they produce lots of toxic exhaust, sewage, etc. A lot of destinations for these things don't exactly have a lot of regulations for any of this either.

Just flying to your destination and staying in some nice place is arguably both better for the environment and probably a lot more enjoyable depending on your tastes. Not that flying is particularly good for the environment of course. Or that enjoyable these days. But I wanted to put in context just how nasty cruise ships can be.

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#39

Post by nixass »

scarab92 wrote: post #31
jajko wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many ways to enjoy seas, cruise ships are by far the worst. As per people who worked on those, they are mostly for people who simply don't know how to enjoy life well but have money, are quiet alcoholics, and/or suffer massive loneliness. You can do amazing traveling experiences for less, you are in control of your own life and what happens next and you will feel like spending much more time when discoverin…

There’s times I want to explore, and there’s times I just want to do nothing. Cruises are good for when I want to do nothing for a while.

> Cruises are good for when I want to do nothing for a while.

Weird way to spend not-insignificant money on but to each their own

Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money

#40

Post by icegreentea2 »

protocolture wrote: post #4

I worked on a cruise ship below decks, once, for 3 hours, and I swore I would never take a cruise. Take the dirtiest hotel you have ever been in, and then ensure you cant leave it for days at a time. It interests me that demand is increasing but I suspect thats just good advertising.

Cruises hit a spot of:

* All the fun and "not thinking" of an all-inclusive resort (though obviously only if you pay for the drink packages) on land

* Generally cheaper than all inclusive resorts on mainland USA (I'm not as familiar with Europe)

* Competitive on pricing with all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean/Mexico

* Get to skip out on flight to the Caribbean/Mexico

* Get to skip out out of the overt semi-colonial feel of like... a Caribbean/Mexican all inclusive resort. If nothing else, while the crew (ie the people running the ship) are almost certainly going to be mostly south/south-east asian, the staff (ie the people actually supposed to interact with the passengers) are going to be sufficiently multi-culturally mixed to help make all those thoughts fade away...

And let's be real about most Caribbean/Mexican all-inclusive resorts... they aren't always the cleanest, and most people don't leave them except on tightly planned excursions anyways.

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