“WALL-E” is a brilliant work of art, direction and music. One need not dispute merit of the Oscar nominations for a feature that simply includes a beautiful cruise ship as a mode of escape from man’s centuries-old treatment of the earth. It is also about overriding convention (“Directives”) in favor of finding true love and connection with others. This opposes remaining nose-to-screen and moving hardly a muscle one’s entire life as the humans had for hundreds of years. The robots were more “human” than the people themselves.

The absence of dialogue in no way indicates the movie is somehow lacking. For nonstop action and speech, one might instead try “Rambo” or “Dude, Where’s My Car”.

The Axiom is a fine example of the effort and work it takes to run such a vessel. Pixar seems to point out the merit of cruise ships for vacation and leisure. It is the lazy human residents who orchestrated their own fate, their comfortable surroundings courtesy of “Buy N Large.”

All I am saying here is that dismissing this film as “silly” is short-sighted.

Thank you for your reply.

One need not look far to see the effects of said triggers on land-bound humans in the present day. Pixar happened to choose a completely tech-driven, functional vessel to transport humanity that happened to resemble a cruise ship.

i recommend watching the movie again without such a critical eye. The true message of the film was apparently lost the first time.

Best regards.

My main beef is with travel writers, such as the one from the Wash. Post telling people that waiting for the very last minute is the best way to get a cruise bargain.

As you pointed out some of those Alaska prices were something of “last minute” in that they were maybe only 30 days out, maybe even less, but my point is that those same prices STARTED earlier, in March and April. And as long as price is the same it is generally true that booking earlier gives you a better selection of cabins and usually better airfare.

My concern is to change the widely held idea that the best cruise bargains happen in the last few weeks before a ship sails. That may be true in very rare cases but it is a bad idea to take it as gospel.

As for the limitations of cruising, I can’t help noticing both cities you cited, Rome and Barcelona, are embarkation cities. When our Med cruise left from Rome two years ago we flew in early and stayed in a hotel for three days to really see the citiy. I agree, one day is not enough. But there are ways to cruise Europe and also concentrate on the places you like. We also ended in Venice and spent two extra nights there.

One the other hand – I think a lot of people underestimate the value of cruising in this sense – there are plenty of fantastic places in the world you want to see, but really DON”T need to spend more than a day there:

Ephesus, Santorini, Delos, Athens, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Cyprus, Petra… you get the idea.

They have one major world attraction that is a must-see, but you don’t need more than a day. Even Athens is boring after one full day of the Acropolis and the Plaka. And here is the important point – when it comes to such places there is no more convenient way to see them than a cruise. Can you imagine trying coordinate seeing Ephesus or Santorini in the middle of a car trip through Europe?

I have nothing against land vacations. I totally understand people who want o become immersed in a culture – but when I talk about ways to “see Europe” I don’t even consider renting a villa where you are not going to spread out as an option. You are only “seeing a little European countryside”- not the continent.

The only ways to “see Europe” are

1. car rental/hotels/
2. rail pass/hotels
3. Coach tours/hotels
4. cruise

For convenience and cost factor I will take the cruise, but I will also plan hotel stays at both ends of the cruise when I can.

Had Wendy’s villa been in Switzerland I would have “yes, you can use it as a base and see a lot of Europe from there.” But it was in Spain. I would like to know what other countries she saw from her villa.

And yes, I think it is an important point because most people only get to Europe once or twice in their lives. If I were Wendy Perrin, consumer writer for a major travel magazine I would not say “cruise lines are lying when they say cruise are good value way to see Europe.” Point out the good and bad points of a cruise, but why invoke negative criticism of an entire industry and imply it is not a good value vacation?

Then she says “comparing cruises to vacations with hotel stays is like apples to kumquats.”

I don’t see a big difference as long as the cruise ship docks near city, which they do in the vast majority of cases (or they provide transportation). I have had GREAT European vacations on cruise ships where I saw every site a person in a hotel would have seen. But you also have to do some planning.

The people who take a cruise and complain that they didn;t get to see a place probably skimped on tours or else didn’t plan to find train stations and the like.

I agree that there is a cruise and cruiser stereotype out there and it is often hard to change people’s prejudices and stereotypes about cruising.

The most common misconception I’ve come across is that all you do on a cruise is eat. While there is an abundant amount of food I try to dispel that misconception by pointing out the other things that cruises offer. These are the ports, activities, nightlife, casino, romance and the opportunity to do what you want and are not regimented unless you want to be.

I also point out that there is an abundance of food but you don’t have to eat it and for the most part the quality is much better than you will find almost anywhere.

My son-in-law and I recently cruised the Carnival Pride. He thought that he would need to buy a new “cruise” wardrobe. I quickly corrected him and told him that what he currently had in the way of shorts, t-shirts and casual clothes would be more than adequate. He just needed a sport jacket and tie for formal night. He thought he would need a tuxedo “Hawaiian shirts”, boat shoes and a Panama hat to fit in. {:-)

I do have a “slight” disagreement on “Last Minute Cruises”. I think the myth is more of a “myth-understanding”. I strongly believe that if you closely watch cruise pricing you can pick up a good deal, just after the final payment period, if you are not overly choosy about the ship.

I do closely watch cruise pricing and the majority of cruises I do are booked three months or less before sailing. I booked the Baltic’s on the Norwegian Jewel, for 12 days, in a balcony cabin for $799. I also booked the Norwegian Jade for 12 days, AC Suite, for $1450. My last two Carnival cruises were $699 for an 8G aft balcony and $899 for a Cat 11 suite. I also did the same for my 14 day South America cruise on Azamara Journey. 14 days for $1299. (BTW: I was able to find reasonable pricing on flights or I would have never done the cruises) There are a number of other cruises I have booked 90 days out or less but these are ones in the last two years. Also, I have yet to have a cruise, other than a CM cruise, where the price did not drop sometime after booking. If I did not closely watch the prices I would not have received a lower price and there were some that dropped after final payment where I was SOL on receiving a price adjustment. The bad part about this is that I would guess that the majority of people who booked the cruise did not know about the price reduction and did not and could not take advantage of it. Contrary to “board lore”, most travel agents do not closely monitor pricing and do not get the lower price for their clients.

The Alaska prices you mentioned were fantastic and yes the prices are now higher. However, the ultra-low prices we saw in April and May were for cruises in May, June and July. All those fantastic $299 (mostly on Princess) were “after” final payment time and the cruise lines were filling the ships. Because of this people booked Alaska cruises and the ships filled up. This also sparked booking for the remaining August and September cruises. These too have now increased and sold out.

The stories about people now walking up to the pier and getting a cabin for $200 are basically stories from 10 years ago or just outright lies. However, if you closely monitor pricing you can get a good deal after final payment.

I can somewhat understand Wendy’s statements. Although I feel that cruising is the best, all around, vacation that you can do there are weak points about cruising. Especially in terms of destinations. There are many times that I wished I could have spent one, two or seven more days in a port but I had to get back to the ship. The only way I was going to be able to do that, in the cruise world, was to book another cruise and spend one or, if I was lucky, two days in that port. Not really an economical alternative.

I agree that you cannot “visit” as many places for the money on a land vacation as you can on a cruise but the weak point with cruising is that often you cannot spend “enough” time in a port to truly appreciate it. One day in Rome isn’t enough to do more than a “drive by” of many sites. How can you really enjoy the ambiance of Las Ramblas and Gaudi architecture and the food of Barcelona in one day? You can taste but you can’t indulge. In all my years of cruising I have coined a phrase that “Cruising is the Poo-Poo platter of travel.” You get a small taste but not a full meal.

While many people may have a distorted view of cruising I do believe that many cruisers have a somewhat distorted view of non-cruise travel.

Take care,
Mike