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O.K. you old seadogs, lets have your comments or stories on the above quote, please.
Passengers and the passenger mix has changed.This is what makes the difference.
quote:Originally posted by topgun:Passengers and the passenger mix has changed.
Topgun, in what way? For better or for worse?
A little off the subject as it doesn't pertain to the luxury part...but just an opinion!
Anybody else got an opinion?
Obviously the personal touch is missing on the larger vessels. I agree with sailmom, one of the best things about cruising is getting to know your fellow passengers and service staff.
I cannot report from a continumum [M/J-you should have a spellchecker on this site!] of cruising as can many cruisetalkers, so I must limit these comments to ovservations.
My wife and I have taken only three "cruises" since the 1960s. But we have taken many "voyages" and "crossings" during the same period.
There is, to us, a world of difference between the two.
Based on our experiences, our preferences are massively in favor of the latter.
But, alas, they seem to have gone from an "endangered species" to a "vanishing species!"
Of the cruises we have taken, two were on honest-to-god ocean liners, "le France" and "Rembrandt."
We rate this genre light-years ahead of cruise ships, built for the market.
Certainly our one cruise on the 1975 "Nordic Prince" was a poor second place.
I might observe that the "cruise ships of the past" were (and in some cases still are) retired ocean liners. But the flat-bottomed barges now in service will not have us as passengers in the forseeable future.
quote:Originally posted by topgun:...I'm not going to be suckered into that one.
Topgun, the pull is getting stronger...
The liner voyagers generally where well behaved and had a purpose for there some times very long time at sea, eg 'London to Sydney,6 weeks'...
The ones on a cruise would be on holiday mood, and simply out for a good time, the fact they were on a ship plodding aimlessly around the sea was imaterial. It was always noted that we lost more crockery, deckchairs,etc, and cleaned up more unmentionables even when the voyage had been perfectly smooth. B
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