Cruises are advertised as adventurous, relaxing vacations at sea that anyone can enjoy regardless of their age and what they’re looking for in a trip. You can visit multiple countries in a short amount of time, you’ll have all of your meals included in the cost of the cruise, and you’ll never have to worry about rental cars or shuffling through the airport. As long as you’re okay being confined in a small space like a hamster, bon voyage!
Cruises definitely aren’t for everyone, and that’s why travel content creator Samantha Tatro is exposing the truth about what the experience of setting sail on a cruise is really like. Below, you’ll find a video that Samantha recently shared detailing why her first cruise was also her last, as well as conversations with Samantha and Leah Walker, former travel journalist at Leah Travels.
But after spending two weeks at sea, this travel content creator decided to expose the worst aspects of going on a cruise
“No one is telling you the truth about cruises and I can’t stand by anymore and just watch these happy cruise videos without saying anything so here are the terrible parts of cruises that no one really talks about.
As someone who spent two weeks on a cruise boat in Australia, I’m starting off with the most controversial take. Before I got on a cruise boat everyone told me the food was going to be amazing fine dining.”
“To that I just have one thing to say, which is lies – this is high school cafeteria food at best and it was awful. I think it’s genuinely made for like the simplest of taste buds.”
“Second, ostensibly when a cruise stops at a port you’re gonna wanna get off, do an excursion, do some sightseeing. The pricing of these excursions is outrageous. We easily spent like $200 per person on an excursion it lasted half a day, and I just kept thinking if I was on land I could rent like my own private boat for the day.”
“Look, these are cruise boats and they are massive. The environmental impact is simply unforgivable. If you even care one Iota about the planet, you would knock it on one of these ships. I think it says a lot about an industry that if you completely removed, it it would just immediately improve our carbon footprint. I said I wouldn’t knock it till I tried it but I tried it, and I’m never doing it again for the environmental reason alone.”
“Next, if you get seasick you are going to need seasickness meds. I don’t care what anyone says – you will get seasick.”
“Last but not least, getting around a cruise ship is literally hell – there is an insane amount of walking and if you’re gonna take the elevator you better be prepared to wait. And that’s part 1 of all the things I wish I’d known before I got on a cruise ship.”
“I personally will never go on a cruise again due to the environmental factors and labor issues”
To find out more about Samantha’s experience on a cruise, we reached out to her via email. Samantha is a travel blogger, lifelong expat and journalist based in Prague, and she was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda about how she ended up on a cruise ship in the first place.
“My husband and I live in the Czech Republic, and our family lives in the US. We are always looking for ways to combine our travel and seeing our family. My husband’s family LOVES to cruise, and for their 10th wedding anniversary, they invited us to join them on a Princess Cruise through Australia,” the content creator explained. “I personally have never wanted to go on a cruise, as I had a feeling it probably wasn’t my cup of tea – but I didn’t want to knock it until I tried it.”
Going into the cruise, Samantha says her expectations were pretty low. “Because I knew the cruise would involve half the time on the ship (we had 6 days at sea if I remember correctly). As a foodie and passionate home cook too, I just didn’t think cruise food would live up to the hype,” she noted. “When my husband and I travel, we love to spend lots of time getting to know a certain place and try to travel adventurously, and I didn’t think cruising would be the best fit for me.”
