Are cruise ships now becoming too popular? |From Southampton to Bruges

As many of you may have guessed, I love cruising. Yes, I’m talking about that feeling you get when you get on a boat and have a drink, like on Paul Gascoigne’s Stag Do. No, cruising on the 1980 William Friedkin movie where Al Pacino goes undercover to find a serial killer targeting the gay community. I’ve never seen it, and I’ll admit that’s largely because I don’t want to see how deep Al Pacino’s character goes undercover.

I will admit that this Princess cruise ship, which departs from Southampton, stops in Rotterdam and Bruges, and then returns to Southampton, is the most crowded and noisy cruise of the bunch. Is it because cruising has become too popular? Too accessible? Or because Brits can’t afford the Caribbean? Probably all of the above, but I was mostly expecting the latter.

When I wrote my first article on cruise travel in January 2022, ‘Is it finally safe to cruise again? 39; the world had just opened up after the New Crown epidemic and the ship was at half capacity. It was probably one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. A year on, it feels like the word is over. This particular cruise was packed and the bad weather didn’t help. You still meet the odd couple who sit in a hot tub on deck all day drinking martinis and eating hot dogs (real people, as the Americans say, choose a path! Either become James Bond and stick to martinis or just drink hot dogs and admit you’ll never see the inside of a gym again) but for the most part they’re below deck, filling the bar and buffet.

First let me tell you about the sites, and then I’ll discuss some of the raunchy behavior I’ve witnessed on karaoke nights.

Rotterdam.
We toured some tulips. The weather was very cold and gray. Some brave Brits would say the cold didn’t detract from the pleasure of traveling, but I have a feeling they’d be lying. Cold weather aside, the Keukenhof Gardens and Flower Fields day trip was truly spectacular. It was amazing to drive through the fields filled with colorful tulips. I think photos taken from the air would show that they were designed with some sort of LGBTQ flag, but luckily you can’t be sure of that from the ground.

The gardens were busy, but not crowded. We also bought some tulips to take home. Overall, I had a great walk and enjoyed a multi-sensory experience that I haven’t had since visiting the showroom at Sofas by Saxon on Chisick Street.

Bruges.
Finally found a place to sit down and drink a Belgian beer. Though admittedly, I have a bottle of Leffe at home every night, it’s interesting to note that Leffe is to the Belgians what Foster’s is to the Brits. Absolute piss. (their words).

We frequented a bar by the river, but unfortunately I don’t know the name. The walls were covered with beer mats signed by patrons, kind of like an alcoholic’s guestbook. There were also bras hanging from the ceiling, which told me that things could get a little heated here after hours. Sadly we never found out and after telling my mom to put her bra back on, we left to go hang out in Bruges. That’s the great thing about this city, it’s very walkable. We visited the cathedral, it was free so that was nice. We lit a candle and prayed, although I burnt my hand on a match and shouted curses which was regrettable. It did echo through the cathedral so any loud noises were carried around.

There are a number of souvenir stores on the main street and places to buy chocolates. The day cruises around the river looked attractive but we were cold and we were already on a cruise and these river boats don’t serve beer so we left.

You should know that you simply cannot walk into Bruges from a cruise ship. The tram takes an hour to get there and an hour to get back and the ticket machine was broken. Although we didn’t book a short trip, we took a shuttle bus from the port to the city for £25 per person.

Princess Cruise Do’s and Don’ts
This has happened on the last two Princess Cruises trips and even if you have a drinks package they will charge your account. Make sure you check your bank statement daily as we were charged for drinks even though we had a package. If you go to the customer service center, they will cancel the charge without question and claim it was a glitch.