Discover a new adventure up North!

It’s certain that the cruise companies will be doing everything possible to follow COVID protocols, but that might not fill you with confidence if you’re in a closed space with a few thousand other people for a week or more. Even assuming high levels of cleanliness, how many people have touched that same door handle or rail before you? Let’s also remember that 284 people have fallen off cruise ships and another 41 from large ferries since 2000 – an average of about 1.5 people per month. There’s actually a website that keeps track of specific cases of overboard deaths (not including separate cases of suicide or murder).

Environmental concerns

The average cruise ship produces between 140,000 and 210,000 gallons of sewage per week, with a 3,000-person cruise ship pumping 150,000 gallons of that waste into the ocean. The ships do treat their wastewater, but satellite pictures clearly show the trails of contaminated water in their wakes. And let’s not forget their massive engines, which can produce sulfur dioxide fumes equivalent to 13.1 million cars a day!

A real experience?

Cruise ships tend to stop at the most touristy sites for a relatively short time so that you rarely get the chance to see the real island. You don’t know the best places to eat or the shops that sell the best quality gifts. You’ll probably miss the curious corners and secret nooks. Indeed, large cruise ships have been criticised for promoting the kind of mass tourism that has caused some places such as Venice to dramatically limit the number of visiting vessels.

An ethical choice?

The smiling personnel you see on a cruise ship seem happy enough in their jobs, but what about the people you don’t see belowdecks? The cleaners, the kitchen workers and the janitors are often employed from poorer nations and paid much less, spending months away from their homes and families. Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Pets unwelcome

The majority of cruise lines don’t allow pets onboard, so you’ll have to leave Rover or Mrs Pickles at a kennel or roaming wild until you return. They’ll be sad. You’ll be sad.

Choice of activities

Modern cruises do have many onboard activities. There are pools and gyms and places to play tennis or basketball. You can even do “rock climbing” or practice your golf swing. But at the end of the day, a ship is not an island – no matter how big. There’s no golf course. There are no actual hills to go walking or climbing in, nor is there a beach onboard, though you can probably see one through your porthole.

Food and drink

Let’s be honest: you’re not going to starve or be short of a cocktail on a cruise. But what about variety? Genuine BBQ ribs need to be cooked on a BBQ grill, not in a submarine kitchen. Your freshly made salad onboard may be made of ingredients that have been refrigerated for a week or more. And when cooks are making food for 3,000 people at a time, there’s just not as much love in the food as when a local is cooking just for you.

The coastal experience

There’s a big difference between looking at the beach from offshore and being on the beach looking out to sea. Even the most exclusive cabin onboard can’t replicate an oceanfront property with palms, the smell of flowers, the whisper of surf and the tranquil night (as opposed to the ceaseless rumble of diesel engines). Onshore, you can walk out of your property along the beach to eat with your feet in the sand and return home without fear of toppling over a rail into the sea ten metres below.

The Vacation Club difference

Don’t walk up the gangplank. Choose a fabulous property onshore and enjoy the genuine island experience. At Morritt’s, you’ll be close to dozens of fantastic places to eat and drink and a stone’s throw from many more fascinating things to do and see. Bring your pets. Be kinder to the environment. Have greater peace of mind about COVID measures. And best of all: return as often as you like to the experience that doesn’t need an anchor or a port.