A lotta people on here will poo-poo the cruises, but my wife and I love them and have been on I think 10 or 11. Been on most of the big ships, and the stereotypes are very overblown. It's not a parade of fat people, there's not a greatly increased risk of getting sick, the food is pretty good, and they don't "herd" you on and off the ship. In fact, the time on the ship is a lot of the fun for us. You've got a half dozen restaurants, 10 or so bars, "free" food at the buffet 24 hours a day, a casino, 3-4 pools, a spa, movie theater, a gym, 2-3 night clubs, and a theater that actually puts on pretty good shows, a full-court basketball court, all within a 5 minute walk. Plus something cool about being out on the open water and seeing nothing but the horizon in every direction, is really a cool feeling. We've made tons of friends on ships that we've stayed friends with afterwards. Not that you can't do that on a resort, but I think there's a certain cameraderie amongst cruisers all on a ship together that isn't replicated on land where people tend to keep to themselves.
That being said, we also love traveling and staying in one place. And cruising is definitely not for everyone. If someone went on a cruise and hated it, I wouldn't think that was weird or anything. It's a different kind of vacation. Certainly something to be said for having the flexibility to change your plans up and do what you want on a given day and not have to be at the mercy of the cruise line's itinerary and the weather on that particular day.
I would say if you plan on returning to the area multiple times, maybe take a long cruise that hits a bunch of different stops to get a feel for a number of places. But if you're going to go sporadically, much better to really immerse yourself in one particular place.
I like cruises
