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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

#321

Post by DiggyJohnson »

t0mas88 wrote: post #109
scarab92 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. I've never been on a cruise, but for me renting a beach house does the same. Sleep, eat, watch the ocean from the beach and do totally nothing. Camping with friends also does it. Let all the kids play together, just sit and watch, doing nothing. When I was a bit younger I would have considered "doing nothing" hell on earth, but with a busy life it's good t…

Renting a beach house is very similar to cruising. It's literally a beach house with builtin amenities, restaurants, and no weird trips to the local Walmart.

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

#322

Post by DiggyJohnson »

__float wrote: post #76
JKCalhoun wrote: post #59

Earlier 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.

I think you are mentioning a dichotomy that is more important than most people realize: those who like driving and those who don't.

Driving is relaxing or interesting for me, almost no matter what. Even when it gets stressful I don't mind it. But I feel for those who don't have that same predilection, because everything would be blocked behind a chore.

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

#323

Post by DiggyJohnson »

bosie wrote: post #74
scarab92 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find I get somewhat anxious being at home and not doing anything, whereas it’s just psychologically easier in the middle of the ocean. I’m happy to pay the cost to be in an environment that I can actually relax in.

Hear me out but maybe spend the cruise money for getting coaching from a psychologist/therapist to help you with feeling anxious at home? That doesn’t sound like a great overall attitude, having stress responses at home and work related

I think this is overstating the power of psychological treatment and therapy. Getting away from the normal routine for a bit is probably an ancient therapy for restless humans. I'd rather pay the cruise line than the doctors office.

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

#324

Post by DiggyJohnson »

ryandrake wrote: post #104
verhaust wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get this kind of vitriol toward cruise goers. I like to plan trips as an adventure like you and 6 years ago had zero desire to ever go on a cruise. I ended up going on one because my in-laws wanted to do a European cruise with extended family for their retirement celebration. They don't drink, they enjoy their life and got to celebrate with family so no loneliness. They are just older and don't have the physi…

Same here. My elderly parents love cruises, but I didn't see the allure. Went on one and it was "OK." I spent most of the time in one of the hot tubs where "Tommy From Boston" was a permanent fixture. He had an infinite number of stories in the queue that he had to tell anyone who climbed into the tub, and probably drank over 100 beers a day. It wasn't bad, and I wouldn't go out of my way to plan a cruise, but it was…

Tommy from Boston is the reason I host an open mic and frequent the bar around the corner from my place. Well said.

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

#325

Post by DiggyJohnson »

verhaust wrote: post #102
davidashe wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look into what life is like for the staff. A previous commenter mentioned that cruises (paraphrase) “lack the colonial feel of mexican resorts” which is a testament to the power of consumerist illusion.

Yea, I know the staff can be treated terribly. I can see how the OP I replied to can get the impression that all cruise goers are bitter/terrible people if their anecdotes are mostly staff complaints. I never talked or dealt with staff other than ordering food/drinks. I saw plenty of people talking rudely to staff with petty complaints. I saw one of the entertainers yelling because one woman grabbed his crotch as the…

Do you apply the same scrutiny to other leisure activities in your life?

If you've ever been to a chinese restaurant or hired a landscaper you are dealing in the same or similar unpleasantness that you attribute to cruise staff. Assuming you are American FWIW.

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

#326

Post by DiggyJohnson »

AlbertCory wrote: post #265
sumeno wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know dozens who have come back completely healthy

"dozens"?? is that one dozen? Two? More? how do you know all these patients? Or you just made them up?

Why are you being so skeptical? I know dozens of people that have gone cruising and I don't exactly belong to the stereotypical cruising crowd.

Assuming and a accusing a commenter is lying directly breaks HN guidelines.

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

#328

Post by DiggyJohnson »

DidYaWipe wrote: post #291
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.

For my girlfriend's family's sake, I've taken cruises the last two years. One Royal Caribbean, and one Norwegian. Decades ago I took a couple of Carnival cruises. Things are not better now. What a shitshow. Royal Caribbean sucked, but Norwegian was a new low. The only word that describes both the en-route experience and the destinations is DISMAL. At least Royal Caribbean had a pleasant food-court type of dining area…

> Then there was the smoke. WTF. We had an upper cabin with a balcony. Doing 20 knots on the open ocean, we couldn't hang out out there because it was continually inundated with cigarette smoke... and not even from the immediate neighbor.

Did you notify staff? This would almost certainly get remediated or result in reimbursement.

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

#329

Post by DiggyJohnson »

protocolture wrote: post #300
SoftTalker wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I cannot imagine the attraction. It's almost literally one of the last things I'd ever want to spend vacation time on. I talked to a guy who took a week-long cruise that he described as being locked in a prison breathing diesel exhaust. He said there was no place on the ship were you could not smell the exhaust.

My issue wasnt the exhaust it was rotten food / human waste smell. Also the ship I was on used seacreatures instead of level numbers. Felt like walking around an app designed with security by obscurity.

That is terrible and as someone that likes cruises (but only rarely goes on a cruise) you can safely assume that folks who like cruising and go often do not put up with rotten food or the smell of shit. Decent food and reasonably clean spaces are part of the appeal, in fact.

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

#330

Post by DiggyJohnson »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #42
lotsofpulp wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like it’s just easier to use the existing cruise companies’ public financials. It looks like 10% to 15% are the real world profit margins, but with quite a bit of volatility. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/RCL/royal-caribbea... https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CCL/carnival/profi... https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NCLH/norwegian-cru...

A cruise company is incentivised to say things like depreciation are less than they are, so the company's numbers look better than they actually are. Additionally, it's very rare for a company to own a ship for its entire lifetime. The way they calculate depreciation now is based on resale value. I wonder what happens to that in a world where interest rates AREN'T negative in real terms anymore...

Taking a boat to go on vacation seems like a stronger industry than you're making it out to be. These are huge companies with highly scrutinized finances and obvious capital expenses.
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