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…
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
#242This 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
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Train rides across the country? Actually though, road trips scratch that itch for me as well. I don't plan them out except to say — let's wander off to the Great Lakes or lets follow the Mississippi River south — see all the river towns along the way. I've used AI to throw out ideas of things to see while on the road, or the wife and I fall back to looking for antique stores as an excuse to wander through the small d…
Driving is very unpleasant for some. Trains in the US are not exactly luxurious by any stretch: compare the food on a nice cruise to the food available on a train.
Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#244If one is going to watch sea life, dive etc, then it makes some sense.
I honestly don’t understand the appeal
Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#245Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#246What can one do in these massive, employee abusing, law dodging, polluting piles of monstrosities that can’t be done on land? Drink, party, fight (Google cruise ship fights for some colorful stories)…? makes zero sense. If one is going to watch sea life, dive etc, then it makes some sense. I honestly don’t understand the appeal
Other than that, I don't understand it either, especially since you're just stuck on the boat for the majority of the time.
Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
No mention yet of "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again?" by David Foster Wallace? Okay, so this. Read it if you haven't. Probably the best essay on a generally "unheavy" topic I've ever read, and so iconic that "Cruise Essay" is dang near becoming its own genre, e.g. Gary Shteyngart's "A Meatball At Sea."
Behold, I have found the source! Original title was “Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise” but then it was given a new title when it was included in the short story collection “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazi...
Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#248Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#249The cruise industry is very fascinating to me. I think in the medium term we could see significant populations of people living long-term on cruise ships; it seems like the economic model is long-run more efficient (assuming the shipbuilding industry is very good at building these structures). You avoid the property tax, zoning, and regulatory burdens that go with living on land. It's likely safer because you're not…
There was an effort a few years back (I looked it up, and it was 2001, oops) to market this, a perpetual cruise ship for retired people. "MS The World". I suspect it didn't do all that great, since there weren't a lot of copycats, but it took until covid to strand the project. Now apparently there's a second ship trying the same business model, "Villa Vie Odyssey". Predictably, the marketing suggests it's the first o…
Annual carrying costs coming to 30% of the purchase price.
Re: Cruise ships chopped in half are a license to print money
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not an "American" thing. I'm American, and I would never, ever, ever in any known universe within the multiverse, bring my work phone with me on a vacation, let alone answer it or do work stuff. And, I would never give anyone at work my personal phone number. Strict separation of work and personal, and never the twain shall meet. We should not accept jobs that keep you on the leash even during your vacation a…
Not intending this to be snarky, but do you not have friends you meet at work? Is it a case of your friends knowing not to call your for work reasons?