Friends/neighbors that you won't cruise with

GottaCruz · April 25, 2012

Do you have friends/neighbors that you absolutely won't cruise with? What are your reasons for feeling this way?

We cruised with a couple that we used to be friendly with but it didn't work out and we won't do it again. Although they felt it worked out great, we felt suffocated. It was very difficult to relax since every minute of the day they needed to be with us. We felt a lot of pressure to be with them and never had any time to ourselves. We had cruised with another couple and it worked out fine because they did their own thing during the day and we met up with them every evening. We went with another couple that we sat with at the pool but then did our own thing for dinner and that was fine. But, this particular couple hung on constantly. Even if I said I'm going to the bathroom, the wife was right beside me. It was all just too , too much and we won't cruise with them again.

sailingrose · April 25, 2012

The only people I prefer not to cruise with again is my extended family. My parents are great but the last bunch of siblings and an uncle I could live without.

cruisetarp · April 26, 2012

I would not cruise with anyone (friends, family, neighbors) unless it was completely understood beforehand that everyone would do their own thing and possibly meet for dinner. When we went on our "family" cruise in 2000 after 7 days we were barely speaking to each other. My mom thought we should be together 24/7 and it just didn't work out.

I think when we did the Connie Goes Crazie cruise it worked out so well because we had a schedule of organized events and everyone had a copy. If you were there - fine and join in the fun - If you weren't no explanations or excuses needed.

AndiD · April 26, 2012

I think the most important thing is to have a clear idea of everyone's expectations before you commit to cruising with them. My 3 bridge friends and I had played together for 30 years and had gone on overnights and weekend trips before where we would do some shopping or sightseeing and then play bridge half the night, etc. It all worked great! Then we thought it would be fun to do a 4-night cruise. Well.....one of the group thought that the #1 reason for doing this was to play bridge 24/7 as opposed to the rest of us who thought the three factors of friends, the cruise, and bridge were all important. It got so bad that one begged off as ill so she could sneak over to the casino for an hour and I had to get a little b*#&y about wanting to see the ice show. This almost broke up our foursome forever! What made it worse is that us three supposedly strong, intelligent women could not just honestly face our friend and tell her to stop! So that was our fault as well! We are still friends and still playing bridge but you can bet we won't be going on any trips for quite some time.

timecop · April 26, 2012

_{I have only cruised with my hubby and youngest DD. We very rarely eat in the dining room, so unless we on the same excursions, not sure how we (friends) would get together. Maybe that's why I haven't done it yet}_:-)

ametrinel · April 27, 2012

I won't go with any extended family, or more than one sibling at. Tmr. My companion of choice - my handsome husband, of course!

KeithnRita · April 27, 2012

We've never cruise with family, however we did have 2 sets of neighbors cruise with us a couple times. It worked out pretty well. We did excursions together and sat at the same dining table in the evenings. We are night owls they were not, so after dinner we were on our own.

sailingrose · April 27, 2012

I should also say to never be afraid to Cruise with the Crazies! We have had a wonderful time with all our new friends.

Gymbrat333 · April 29, 2012

I will only cruise with family members because we have an understanding that we will do things together and some alone. I cruised with a good friend of over 26 years and when I wanted to go on excursions, she wouldn't bc she wanted to find cheap excursions from vendor's waiting by the ship, while I will only do ship sponsored excursions., she said that since we went together we had to do everything together. I told her no way because I paid for my part of the cruise and will do what I please.

We were in St. Maarten, and were shopping close to the ship, but not walking distance. The ship was leaving in 30 minutes, and when I stopped a taxi, she refused to get on it bc she said she needed to smoke a cigarette. I got in the taxi bc I didn't want to miss the ship. She was super mad that I didnt wait for her, but there was no way that I was missing the ship. She missed a flight once with her kids bc she went to smoke. She had to wait 4 hours with her kids for the next flight.

She also removed all her tips and asked me to remove mine so she wouldn't look bad. NO WAY. She gave our head waiter and his assistant $3 each for the week.

Since then I have only cruised with family members. I would also cruise with the Crazies because they understand that you're free to go on your own if you would like.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Gymbrat333