purple room vents: AN HONEST REVIEW (SORT OF) NOT A COMPLAINT (HONESTLY!)

Really, I mean it. I think this will probably be my last cruise (Cookie I will talk to you about this. Maybe, if you are okay with it, a road trip instead? I have an exciting idea!). The negative side of cruising is raising its ugly head. There is a main reason that doesn't involve pain! So I have decided to write honestly about cruising. I have always been a big fan but now that the end is near I can let 'honesty' surface in my brain and stop hiding the truth just to keep it positive.

There is a huge amount of positive about cruising. Obviously, or it wouldn't be such a popular form of travel. I have found that those that love it most are the ones that take shore excursions on every stop, do most of their dining in the formal dining rooms and are very very patient people. Plus, another thing I have been noticing, cruising was always an older generational form of travel. In fact one cruise line was referred to as a floating senior home. Not anymore.

The average age of the average cruiser is getting younger and younger. I believe that is partly due to the fact that cruise ships have become dauntingly massive and full of crazy activities like kilometre long water slides, endless blocks of shopping, shows you have to buy tickets in advance to attend or miss out, huge skating rinks, roller coaster rides etc...not any activity you see us elders partaking in. No, my main reason for not cruising anymore isn't about the pain incurred by endless walking, but because there is nowhere to sit.

We seniors tend to gravitate towards the older smaller ships. They are still huge enough that it can be hard for us old arthritic peeps to get around easily. What we do is go on the 'lots of at sea days' cruises and even plan to not get off at every port. Physically our bodies set limits our heads might not like, but thats life.

The drawback to this is those smaller older ships present certain problems. For example my number one reason to not cruise any longer is the lack of anywhere to sit. Lounges, the buffet and the plaza, which is the heart of the ship and the main hub of entertaining activities and the only coffee shop on board, are all over crowded. People get into these areas early (6:00 am), grab a table and don't move til bedtime. Yes they use the nearby loo but their table mate, spouse or sweater reserves the table whilst they are gone. And there is one thing I will not do...I will not eat my lunch or whatever without a table. There is never anywhere to just sit and eat or drink or watch entertainment or whatever.

On this trip, sick or not, I spent 90% of the trip in my room. The thought of going up to the lido or down to the one dining room we could use so daunting I just wouldn't go. Even the last resort lounge up top became too crowded to use. So as much pain did limit some of my activity, not finding a seat limited me more.

I am pretty sure I am going to get some push back from people that have no problems physically. They can walk around endlessly til they find seating. They have no idea what it's like if you hurt and or have to use wheels.

I much prefer these older smaller ships, as I have already pointed out. But they do have one problem that happens every single time I am on one. The turrlet system. Heaven's to Betsy!!! This might sound like whining here but I tell ya....I have yet to cruise a complete trip where I can use our toilet the whole time. Every trip, at some point, we discover that the toilets are not flushing, supposedly only on our floor. Keep in mind even if it is only one floor that involves hundreds of toilets.

Also keep in mind our general age group on these old tubs. The majority of us have type two diabetes and we are all on a drug called metformin. And that drug is a massive cause of...well to put it delicately, explosive you know whats. And given our age certain muscle groups weaken. Couple this with turrlets that don't work and you have a big big problem. I am not talking about being out of commission for an hour or two. I am talking about them being out of commission for a couple of days or more. We are now on our third day! Monte, bless his young body and willingness, does make the huge trek upstairs to the working johns. I don't. I can't. Sigh. (this is where I need a bucket list...I could use a bucket...old school...dump it over the side of the boat)

My last complaint, and this may only be a Princess complaint...I haven't used room service on any other cruise line, Princess room service absolutely sucks. I had to really use it this time due to being sick for endless freaking days and nowhere to sit up there.

To begin with it is very limited, and expensive. There was complimentary stuff and then there was very expensive stuff from the specialty restaurants. I stuck to the complimentary stuff. It was awful. I tried three of their sandwiches they offer and every one of them the bread was like cardboard. I could scrape a fork across the untoasted bread and hear it scratch. The sandwiches were inedible, even the peanut butter and jam one off the kid menu. The chilli was so chokingly dry beans would roll off my fork. The quesadilla edges were curled up and cracked like crackers.

I did get one thing I liked. A chef's salad. It was a good size and covered with ham, turkey, bacon and egg. I got it with thousand islands dressing. I quite enjoyed it. I ordered it again last night. It was a bowl of iceberg lettuce, a tablespoon of some white tasteless cheese, one quarter of an egg and that was it. No ham. No bacon. No turkey. No other part of the egg. Half the cheese or more was missing. That was the last straw. Plus I had ordered the fruit plate...and it didn't come.

I know I sound like an ungrateful whiner. And I guess I am. And possibly the fact that I was horribly sick and couldn't taste or smell (maybe both those were a blessing) has coloured my opinion somewhat. But I am also remembering our trip last September to Alaska and the exact same thing happened. Nowhere to sit and busted turrlets. And only one visit to a glacier that was miles away. So I am calling it quits and I am totally okay with that.

There is still one way to travel that is actually more hands on and enough of the unknown to make it exciting...road trips. And the first person I am going to talk to about it is Cookie. She is the most fun person to road trip with!

Well it is now 8:45 am. I just may try to go upstairs at 11 for breakfast. It goes to 11:30. This will be the most chance I have to get a table. Two hours...I can do it!!! If there isn't a table I will try again at supper, but there will be no more room service!!!! TFL...TTYL