So I saw THIS Atlantic article linked on Bluesky and I found myself conflicted, nodding in agreement with almost everything the author wrote, yet simultaneously thinking he sounded exhausting and pretentious himself.
It made me think though, that while this absolutely jibes with everything I’ve thought after hearing from my acquaintances who have gone on them – and from extrapolating based on my own understanding of their personalities – I’ve never really asked “peers” what they think. Have you been? How was it? Why would you agree to be trapped inside a compacted hotel where you will literally die if you leave at the wrong time?
…also I didn’t think I could post the link in [email protected]
EDIT:
After 44 comments, here’s where we stand:
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28 (including me) responding to the questions
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21 have been, 7 (including me) have not.
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Of the 21, 15 liked it, and 6 didn’t (some answers were a bit ambivalent, so I made a judgment call)
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Of the 7, 5 didn’t think they’d like it and 2 implied they might in very specific circumstances. I guess technically I could make 3, but I don’t really want to “camp” on a personal family history reenactment.
So, of those who have been, the vast majority saw value in it. The people who haven’t been either know themselves or have some serious sour grapes; I choose to believe it’s the former, for completely scientifically objective reasons.
I’ve been on one cruise. 5 days in the Caribbean. Probably the best week I’ve ever had.
It was within a month or two after cruises were allowed post Covid, so it wasn’t very crowded, and that might have made a huge difference, but my wife and I would LOVE to do it again.
EDIT: I read that article, well, some of it. I started skimming part way through and then just gave up. This isn’t about cruises. It’s about a lonely socially awkward person who expected to be more interesting because he was on a boat.
The article reads like the author has the mission statement of being the most miserable motherfucker in the room.
My frozen margarita was very tasty and mixed perfectly but the little blue umbrella clashed with the green of the lime mix, so I was forced to pour it down the sink and rinse it down with my tears.
Yeah, like I said, I’m not quite sure what the writer was expecting. I like to imagine his editors sent him on the trip as a punishment; there’s at least one part where he implies that’s a possibility.
Now, I don’t doubt that he met a lot of thoughtless, unpleasant people on that ship, but the inability to acknowledge that people unlike him could be anything other than worse than him was… offputting. The story was written for an audience of about 5 aging hipsters from Brooklyn.
Well said. The whole “epilogue” read like a hypercondensed Manifesto of the Pathological Twat.