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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 10, 2024 13:59:25 GMT
I know this isn't the original topic...but I love going on a cruise! And I would not say it's like Disney or Applebee's on water, though some might be like that. I understand that crowds of people visiting a small town could be overwhelming, but I've cruised places that would be dirt poor if not for the visiting ships. There are two sides, of course. My comment was in reference to crowds. Disney is a very overwhelmingly crowded place for someone like me. I imagine cruise ships to be similar. I'm sure it varies by ship, but in my limited experience, the cruise itself doesn't feel crowded at all. The size of the restaurants, pools, clubs whatever were well designed to the number of people on board. Our only other cruise actually was a Disney one when our kids were toddlers, and we went after a trip to Disney World. It was a way, way better experience than the theme park. You can actually find really small cruise lines - we considered those, but they tend to be older and we were traveling with a mixed group with some early 20s. We settled on a midsize. We never waited in lines for anything on board, and chairs for everything were plentiful - it's more your inability to really experience the culture you're visiting (we really like to spend 3-4 days minimum, ideally a week, at a spot to get a real for the place. Plus the food is at least 90% of why we visit a place and even if the cruise ship food is good - it's not an authentic meal in the country. |
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rickmer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,146 
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Post by rickmer on Aug 10, 2024 14:10:08 GMT
I have travelled to Europe a bit, my least favourite places to go are the big "draws" (Paris, Eiffel Tower, Barcelona, sagrada familia - I am sure that is spelled incorrectly). I prefer to wander around neighbourhoods, like cathedrals and museums, but try to time them on days like Wed this museum is open til 8pm and show up at 5pm. My son was in Italy in May and I was shocked at his pictures of Rome and the throngs of tourists. Like other have said, I won't go in summer months and if a city if a port for cruise ships, try to be aware of those schedules.
I agree social media has changed people into weirdos, are you having an experience or framing the best shot so you can show the world "I WAS HERE!!!!! AREN'T I SOOO COOL??? Everyone is jealous of me". I have hilarious pics of my daughter on the steps of Sacre Cour with this woman behind her doing 50 different poses, duck lips, pulling her sunglasses down to look over them, etc, etc).
I am hoping there is continued momentum *against* airbnb type accommodations. Many airbnbs are overpriced and you are a servant on the last day to meet the list of demands on how you leave the place, to be charged the obligatory cleaning fee ANYWAY. I prefer to stay at small apartment style hotels with a small kitchen but no $200 penalty for leaving a water bottle in the garbage or not stripping the beds. our city changed the rules where you can only use your primary residence as a short term rental, therefore, by definition, you can only have ONE. rent hasn't gotten any cheaper or rental units any easier to find, mind you.
I live in city that is a tourist destination in the summer. doesn't really affect me as I live east of the downtown core, but I would never go to that area to do my own day-to-day things because... why would I? However, a lot of people depend on those tourists and convention folk for their living.
spraying tourists with paintballs seems like a terrible and cruel way to get your message across. write letters, create groups and petitions, call local politicians. if enough voters are unhappy about a situation, there will be some politician willing to take it on if they think it will get them votes.
my daughter is studying in Denmark so I saw her last oct in Copenhagen and we visited Edinburgh (loved it!), heading to see her again this Sept and debating on adding on either Berlin or Prague to the stay in Copenhagen. I am careful about how I travel, when I travel, but I don't feel any way that I should stop visiting Europe.
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Post by whipea on Aug 10, 2024 15:13:05 GMT
I grew up in South Florida and lived in the Florida Keys for over twenty years until I was driven out by the influx of tourists. It wasn't that they came to the area, it was their behavior. Part of the influx was due to the construction of new bridges in the 1970s that made it a less hair raising drive.
For example, people urinating out in the open in parking lots, side of the road, beside building and anywhere else. I remember an incident of a family in the parking lot of a grocery store supervising their children urinating out in the open. The store was right there, why not use the restroom?
Also the dumping trash everywhere including in the water. I would watch people just open their car windows and throw out trash and even stop, open the door and dump a bunch of trash into the nearest body of water.
Plus there was the influx of drunkenness. People were on vacation and felt very entitled to party and were not well practiced. By noon you knew that at least 20% of the people on the road were driving drunk. And not just on the road, the behaviors bled into any public place often making any outing ridiculous and stressful. People would get so drunk they would lose, forget or give their children to some stranger to watch or just vanish to pass out somewhere. We would often find kids wandering around without any parent in sight.
I left the Keys, it was no longer a good or safe place to live. And Key West, forget it. Not to be offensive, but the cruise ships absolutely ruined the area.
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carhoch
Pearl Clutcher
Be yourself everybody else is already taken
Posts: 3,044
Location: We’re RV’s so It change all the time .
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Post by carhoch on Aug 10, 2024 16:01:18 GMT
We are building a house in a small touristy town in northern Georgia, I joined the locals facebook groups and often I see comments like we don’t want you here , don’t come and so on , there is a influx of Americans people moving there , lots of people are coming from Florida and the rest come from the northern states.
It does make the prices go up and they are afraid of liberals moving in and changing things.
Some people have tendency to look at the past with rose colored glasses. I don’t think it’s helpful. The future is in front of us not behind and change is not avoidable.
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Post by smasonnc on Aug 10, 2024 16:17:25 GMT
I grew up in South Florida and lived in the Florida Keys for over twenty years until I was driven out by the influx of tourists. It wasn't that they came to the area, it was their behavior. Part of the influx was due to the construction of new bridges in the 1970s that made it a less hair raising drive. I remember Key West then, before it was Margaritaville. It was quaint, populated with drop-outs, and charming. The next time we went, it was very touristy and has just gotten worse. We still go down there sometimes and it gets wild. This is what European cities are dealing with with cheap regional flights making it easier for people to go partying for the weekend and acting like they're in Vegas. |
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Post by malibou on Aug 10, 2024 17:01:38 GMT
Regarding wearing t-shirts with American logos or sayings - they are worn everywhere by the locals! We are in a small town in Spain…basically no Americans are here. We are sitting at a small restaurant outside on the square last night (we walked to dinner at 10:30pm!) — the local guy next to us is wearing a Sacramento jersey. I just thought that was so funny. Sacramento! (No offense to anyone from Sacramento lol) That is exactly the kinds of shirts we were seeing everywhere. We were quite sure that many people had no idea what their shirt was about. |
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,122
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Aug 10, 2024 20:40:59 GMT
I read an article recently that compared big cruise ships to being imprisoned inside of Applebees! 🤣🤣🤣 Is Applebee's crowded? My comment about the cruise ship was intended to talk about crowds. I like small scale adventures. Let me start by saying we aren't big cruisers in my house. We went on 1 Disney cruise when the kids were little. And we did an Alaskan cruise in late May this year. Just cancelled a Greece cruise for May 2025 due to the overcrowding on the islands. The Disney cruise was quite crowded. We were on the Norwegian Encore in Alaska. We were in a category called the Haven. It's known as a ship within a ship. People in the Haven have their own restaurant, lounges, swimming pool, sun deck, hot tubs, bar, elevator to get on and off the ship. We were escorted on and off at each port with no waits. We were greeted with snacks and hot chocolate when we returned. Our room came with a butler, along with a very attentive room attendant. Haven also has it's own concierge service available. It was wonderful! We never felt crowded in the Haven. It was like a first-class resort, 5-star resort. But any time we went to the non-Haven part of ship, it was packed and not pleasant. I don't think we would have enjoyed our cruise as much if we were not in the Haven. Cruise ships are massive now. They most definitely do contribute to some of the problems in European ports. |
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Post by CarolinaGirl71 on Aug 10, 2024 21:36:29 GMT
I read an article recently that compared big cruise ships to being imprisoned inside of Applebees! 🤣🤣🤣 Is Applebee's crowded? My comment about the cruise ship was intended to talk about crowds. I like small scale adventures. I haven’t been to Applebees in years, but their parking lots here are overflowing on weekends. The article may have said inside a giant Applebees! I like small scale adventures too. We have only been on one large cruise ship (Royal Caribbean) and although the room, food, and amenities were nice, I won’t go on another large ship with several thousand people. I have been on a river cruise twice and I would do that again (less than 150 people). |
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,159
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Post by teddyw on Aug 10, 2024 22:05:16 GMT
I just returned from a family wedding in Italy.
My sister rented a villa for us. It was owned by a local woman who was also the wedding planner & coordinator. She also arranged tours and transportation and taught a pasta making class. All provided by local people.
She bought an abandoned farm and rehabbed it. She also did the same at 1 other location. Her employees were almost all women too. We were in the middle of nowhere. The nearest hotel was about an hour away.
We also stayed in an Vrbo in Siena. Also owned by a local woman. She provided all the same things by her or another local. She owns this apartment because there’s a famous horse race out the window and it’s convenient for their family. She took us to a woman owned winery too. She and her dh were in their 80s and still ran everything. They spoke no English but were delightful.
Neither of these locations were owned by corporations.
At both places no cleaning was required just trash sorting.
In the cities we avoided the tourist hot spots until the evening when the cruisers were gone.
In Venice we had the streets to ourselves.
Labor Day weekend I’m going to my sister’s area. We could not get a single hotel room. We were forced to get an Airbnb. There’s a long cleaning list provided here plus the cleaning fee.
In Italy both locations provided employment to locals-almost entirely female. The hotel we usually stay at in Siena is owned by a large corporation. So the income is going somewhere else.
We also did not experience animosity by the locals We did stick to small towns during the day. I bought plenty from locals. I also sought that out. My dh was set on purchasing from locals only.
We’ve lived in a tourist town for 4 years. We hated the crowds. So I can’t imagine living someplace like Rome.
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Post by ~summer~ on Aug 11, 2024 10:10:04 GMT
teddyw - would love any links for places to stay in Sienna - I went a long time ago and we’d love to go back next year
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Post by miominmio on Aug 11, 2024 15:33:48 GMT
Assholes indeed, but to be honest, it isn’t something new: a thousand years ago, people did the same thing. |
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