Nadine Gourkow Shares Her Thoughts on Cruise Ships

Embarking

When Nadine Gourkow was younger she used to travel quite a bit with her mother, grandmother, and sister. The first adventure she can remember was when they went through the Panama Canal. One of the main reasons she can remember it, still to this day, is because she got the worst sunburn she ever had in her life. Her back was lobster red, and they had to place cold rags on her back to pull the heat out of her skin. Other than that, the trip was very neat. She got to see how ships would go up through the locks and then back down on the other side. Thinking back, she is still in awe with the amount of force it took to raise and lower a huge cruise ship. Which brings us to the point of the article. What has happened to cruising?

Setting Sail

Not twenty years ago, people longed to go on a cruise. Now it seems everyone under the age of 65 is not interested in going on a cruise. There are more and more people opting for either all-inclusive resorts or stay-cations. If you don’t know, a stay-cation is where you simply just stay home and save your money. You may go to the odd night out or theme park if you live near one, but the majority of the time, you just sleep in and go to bed late. So, what happened? Certainly, it has nothing to do with the Titanic, because that happened way back in 1912 and people still wanted to go on cruises. Could it be that all you seem to hear anymore is bad news about virtually every cruise line? Perhaps, but Nadine Gourkow thinks it could be more than that. Quite possibly it could be due to the fact that so many people have been on cruises in their life, they simply have checked that off their bucket list. Sure, once you get older, you want to be pampered a little more, but there seems to be more fun in going to all-inclusive island resorts. They provide the same luxury of a cruise without the added stress of worrying about sinking, the boat catching on fire, or engines breaking down in the middle of the ocean. Another possible reason is per capita, more violent crimes and robberies go unreported on cruise ships than any other venue. This sure would detract from the appeal of cruising. At any rate, cruising seems to be out, and other vacations seem to be in.

Disembarking

While cruising may be on the way out, Nadine Gourkow still fondly remembers her days of cruising the Panama Canal, Australia, and the Western Caribbean. She hopes that you can look past some of the recent news articles showing the bad side of the cruising industry and see that they are still a viable form of entertainment on your hard-earned vacation. Get out there and enjoy a few days on the open ocean. Anchors away!