Cruises have become one of my favourite ways to travel. I have been on six of them and planning to go on way more as I get older. I used to think that cruises was for “old” people (i.e. above 65 years old) and growing up in the 90s, I had the “Titanic” fear. However, much of my previous impression of cruises has changed over the years. Below are my personal top pros and cons of cruising.
Before I get going, I just wanted to address the “Titanic” fear factor. In 2026, I had the privilege to speak directly to a ship’s captain (who happened to be Canadian! Woohoo!), while actually on the cruise. He gave me a lot of comfort when explaining all the security measures in place in case a boat ever sunk. If you ever have the privilege of going on a cruise, I highly recommend attending any event where you get to meet the crew of the ship who do a Q&A about the technical and mechanical aspects of cruising. I find it really interesting learning how the ships work.
Now onto my personal pros and cons based on the experiences that I have been through. I will not be endorsing any specific cruise line, so there will be no mention of any brands. I will really just be focusing on the actual overall experience.
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I’m going with cons first to get them out of the way, because in reality, I love going on cruises, but I do want to balance this post out.
1) Con – Getting Sea Sick
One of the biggest reasons people dislike going on a cruise is getting sea sick. I personally get very nauseous on the cruise, but luckily, I haven’t thrown up yet. That is how much I love going on cruises, I am willing to tough it out for the overall experience. I did find a natural way to ease the nausea with organic natural gravel. I would take one in the morning and one at night. It has solved my problem without any sort of medication, so cruises have been much more enjoyable.
2) Con – Not Enough Time in One Place
For Alaska and Caribbean type of cruises, it may not be as big of a deal that we would only spend 8-10 hours at one stop. But for Asian and European cruises, many of the stops may feel too short for sightseeing. That being said, if you really want to visit a place, I suggest just going there directly. Going on a cruise is a great way to sample many different places that can help you decide if you want to make a longer trip back in the future.
3) Con – Crowded and Loud
The more luxurious cruises, especially adults only, are generally less crowded. However, the family oriented ones get very busy. So if you do not like crowds, you may need to spend a lot more money to avoid this issue. And yes, it can get very loud on the ship. The days of “low season” on cruises seem to have disappear. It is better if you expect that cruise lines will find a way to sell out or close to it throughout the year.
4) Con – Not Always “All Inclusive”
The more expensive and luxurious cruise lines tend to do better at “all inclusive”. But no cruise is actually “all inclusive”. There are always add-ons and solicitation to encourage you to spend more. Often times, we may feel like we got a fair price to go on a cruise, but many things are not actually included. There are quite a few items, such as restaurants, excursions, activities that require extra fees. It is totally understandable, because if everything was actually included, the price we pay up front would not cover it. Nowadays, it does feel like cruise lines keep the base cost affordable so more people can go. The trade off is that they offer more onboarded upgrade options at a cost.
5) Con – Not environmentally friendly
Let’s face it, cruises are not the most environmentally friendly. There is no way to get around this. They do what they can to minimize the impact. But there is only so much they can do. We can only hope that they continue to find more ways to be environmentally friendly.
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That’s enough of the cons, let’s get to the fun stuff!
1) Pro – Peace of Mind
This is by far my absolute top reason to go on a cruise. As much as I like going sightseeing and trying new experiences, sometimes I just want to relax and “not think”. Transportation and food planning are two of my pet peeves of going on a trip. Both require too much thinking for me: “How and when do we get from point A to point B and what to eat along the way?” Having both of these two items taken care is a real mental vacation. People ask me, what is my favourite way to vacation. My answer is generally “a real vacation is when I do not have to think!”
2) Pro – Waking up to Somewhere Different Every Day
How fun is it to be able to wake up somewhere different every day, without needed to pack and repack, nor check in or check out. We can keep the same room while visiting different places and even different countries.
As I mentioned in the above pro, transportation is one of the more stressful parts of a holiday. Cruises are very efficient in the sense that it travels while we are asleep. When we wake up, we arrive at our new destination. That is a lot of time savings and gives us more time to spend at our destination. We would not be able to travel such far distances in such a short period of time at this kind of cost.
3) Pro – Variety of Floating Cities to Choose from
Considering the sheer variety of cruise lines and cruise ships, there really is something for everyone. When searching for the cruise vacation, in addition to the destination, I always recommend researching the details of the boat before choosing one. Cruises offer so many different amenities, activities, entertainment, culinary options, that you can basically live on the boat. I completely understand why some people choose to live year round on a cruise. If I had less attachments and less responsibilities, you would find me living on a cruise full time. I would probably also be way more active on Pointshogger too!
4) Pro – Honourable Mentions
Below are other pros that I believe are true, but less applicable to me personally. I much value the above 3 items significantly more than the following ones.
- Great Value – If you calculate dollar for dollar, cruises actually offer amazing value.
- Romantic – If you need a romantic date idea, your entire day can be a romantic day. There is so much to do on a ship, which is why it is popular for honeymoons.
- Socializing and Meeting People – There are many events throughout the cruise that makes it easy to meet new people. Many friendships are formed on these types of trips.
- Great for going with large groups (e.g. friends and family) – We have all been through it, how hard is it for everyone to agree on anything (especially where to go and where to eat)? Take the pressure off and just go on a cruise. Take it from my personal experience. My first time was with 21 family members. We all agreed that it was the best decision ever when trying to accommodate that many people.
- Visit hard to reach places – The truth is, some people really are easy to access by a sea than by land. If you value visiting those places, get on the ship!
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Final Thoughts
There you have it, my list of pros and cons of cruising. I am thinking of writing another post about cruises. Maybe something along the lines of: my top recommendations on how to make the cruise experience more enjoyable. I often hear people coming back from a cruise feeling overwhelmed instead of feeling relaxed. If you enjoyed this post or have other ideas on what you would like me to write about cruising, please let us know in the comment section below!
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Matt
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