The main reason to go on a cruise is that it provides a convenient all-in-one package. There’s  food, drinks, entertainment, and travel to beautiful places. That being said, a lot of the time, the food is overpriced, the drinks are watered-down, and you can’t enjoy the travel because you don’t have enough time to explore.

As anyone who followed the Diamond Princess story back in the early days of COVID, diseases spread fast on cruise ships. This happened long before COVID and will most likely happen long after it. Diseases are hard to avoid when there are thousands of people crammed in close quarters.

Although cruise ships don’t seem particularly dangerous, people do manage to fall down stairs, stub their toes, or get heat stroke (among other things) during their cruise. So, what’re you going to do? Head to the doctor’s of course.

Although it may seem like a slapstick comedy gag, it’s also a reality. Roughly 25 people fall off cruise ships into the seas below every year. Although that’s a very small number when compared to the millions of people who go on cruises, it’s still important to keep in mind.

Sea sickness is a major risk while staying aboard a cruise ship. The motion of the ocean is not for the faint of heart – especially if you mix that motion with a stomach full of buffet food and cocktails.

Cruise ships are massive. To move such a massive machine, you need a lot more than a team of rowers pulling oars back and forth – you need lots and lots of fuel. So much, in fact, that a week-long cruise uses nearly three times the amount of emissions people would have used if stuck on land.

Cruise ship advertising is fantastic. It shows gorgeous people with perfect bodies sitting on secluded deck chairs beneath an eternal sun. The reality of taking a cruise is often far different. People and chairs aside, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the weather will be grand for your week or two at sea.

The last thing you want to feel when you’re about to drift away into a good night’s rest is a bunch of bugs crawling up your legs, arms, or, worse yet, your face! Despite that, bed bugs do have a way of making it into people’s bags and then from those bags into people’s beds.

Cruises are expensive. Sure, the initial down payment might be a deal – but that’s how they get you aboard. Once on board and far away from land, then all the extras get piled on. Do you want wifi? That’s going to cost you. A watered-down cocktail? Pony up some cash.

People commit crimes everywhere – from small towns to big cities to, you guessed it, cruise ships. That being said, most reported crimes aren’t too serious. In fact, out of millions of people, only 137 serious crimes occured in 2019. Usually, these involve assault, intoxication, and theft.

It seems like cruise ships don’t have a middle ground. Either everything is great or it’s a complete disaster. The February 2013 cruise by Carnival Sunrise was a (smelly) example of the latter – a complete disaster. Shortly after an engine room fire was safely contained, the power went out. 

The main reason people go on a cruise is to see a few different places in a short period of time. So, spend some time at sea and spend some time in various ports. Unfortunately, the port or land time is usually far too short.

One of the major cons of cruise ships is that you’re on someone else’s time. In particular, the cruise ship’s time. When it comes to traveling, that’s a big problem. One of the central joys of traveling is that you can do what you want when you want.

Serious crimes on cruise ships are so rare that you’re probably not going to have to deal with them. However, food poisoning is a lot more common. So, you might have to deal with it. In fact, statistics say that nearly 1 in 10 guests deal with a gastrointestinal illness.

Before people board a cruise, they often have (very inflated) ideas about what their room will look like. Some imagine an in-room jacuzzi with a massive king-size bed and a huge glass window looking out onto the ocean.

Although most advertising for cruise ships shows nearly-empty boats where you can relax in peace and quiet, that’s far from the reality of a cruise. The picture below is much closer to reality. You’ve got loads of families cramming into a small pool. Nearby are a few dozen intoxicated twenty-somethings causing a ruckus.

Although a rare occurrence, accidents do happen. Within the last 100 years, only 9 cruise ships have sunk (including river cruises). It is estimated around 900 people have died in these incidents.

If you think the internet will be complimentary on your cruise, you are sorely mistaken. Most cruise ship deals (even the all-inclusive packages) charge you extra for wifi. They know how attached we all are to our phones and they take full advantage!

Not all cruises, but most of them, will charge single occupants extra for their accommodations. Having your own room is a luxury, apparently. The charge for “singles” can be anywhere from 10% to 100% more than what the average Joe who is traveling with others is paying.

As far as we’ve come in terms of safety regulations and precautions, we cannot control the sea or the weather. The ocean can be a dangerous place and as big as cruise ships are, they are no match for the strength of the open water.

A cruise ship is  a well-oiled machine, but it’s not a perfect machine. Operational mishaps can and do happen on cruise ship journeys. Still, only a small number of people are usually injured from these issues, but they do happen.

If operational accidents do occur, like small fires or loss of power, hygiene might have to go out the window. In one incident on the Carnival Triumph cruise ship, the boat caught fire and lost power as a result.

If some of these concerns have struck a chord with you and you’ve decided you’d rather not take that cruise ship trip you were planning on, beware the cancellation fees. They’re killer! If you miss your cruise or don’t cancel far enough in advance, you’re going to be in the hole for a ton of money.

This might be fine for some people, but if you like to see new faces everyday instead of the same ones time and time again, a cruise is probably not for you. Cruise ships are big but not that big. You’ll start to see the same people everyday.

You definitely do not want to be that person that misses the ship when it takes off for sea after a pitstop. Not only will you feel silly and have to pay for a different way home, but you’ll be without your belongings for the foreseeable future.

If you were persuaded by leisure and luxury to buy a ticket on a cruise ship, prepare yourself for (potential) disappointment. Unfortunately, the more affordable a cruise is, the more outdated and worn the decor is.

You should be careful with sun exposure no matter where you are, but cruises are a common environment to get a sunburn. When people take cruise vacations, they often want to lay out and get some good sun.

All-inclusive cruise ships are known for their indulgent qualities. And if you’re on vacation you should be allowed to enjoy a treat or two. But if you’re trying to eat healthy, cruise ships don’t typically have the best options.

There are also tons of fun excursions offered when the cruise ship makes stops. These activities can range anywhere from snorkeling to museum touring and everything in between. But, these fun activities come with a price tag, like anything with a cruise.

Make informed decisions on what to bring for your journey. Taking an Alaskan cruise? Pack a hat and a blanket to stay warm on deck. Headed to the Bahamas? Don’t forget the sunscreen.

Cruises make lots of stops at different destinations so you might assume that this would have positive implications on the economies of these places. But their impact on local economies is actually very slight.

In addition to being major polluters, cruise ships negatively impact marine life as well. These huge ships release tons of waste into the ocean and ocean animals inevitably eat this waste and it becomes extremely harmful and potentially fatal.

Cruise ships dump all kinds of waste into the ocean. Unfortunately, with so many people on one boat, all that human waste has to go somewhere. And it lands into the homes of whales, dolphins, turtles, and fish. 

You would assume that all the same laws apply to cruise ships as they do in the U.S. But this is not always the case. One way to check which laws apply to the cruise ship is to take a look at the flag onboard the ship.

As we’ve mentioned above, accidents do happen on cruise ships. Most often these are manageable, but sometimes real accidents can happen. And when you’re out at sea there aren’t any hospitals you can go to for care.

While this one might seem obvious, it’s a major reason that people decide a cruise ship isn’t for them. When you take a cruise, the journey is most of the adventure. It’s fun to visit new places, but you spend the majority of your time on the boat.

Since cruise ships don’t really help out the economies of the destinations you travel to, not every place is all too welcoming of the hundreds of people that come off cruise ships. To be fair, many of these places can’t handle the huge influx of visitors.

Cruise ships are certainly not the only business that avoids paying their fair share of taxes, but many cruise lines have become masters of this malpractice. For example, the Carnival Cruise Line’s HQ is in Florida but it flies Panama and Bahamas flags.

Since cruise ships register in different countries, there are also different labor laws. And some cruise lines have no problem taking advantage of some of these laws. They tend to hire people from countries with limited opportunities to make money.

Like we mentioned, crime does occur on cruise ships as it can occur anywhere. But these crimes go under-reported in comparison to other environments. This is largely because cruise lines are their own little world and they are able to get away with a lot.