Customer Reviews

Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry

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1 star:		(7)

 

 

In Cruise Ship Blues by Ross A. Klein, you are given the gritty underside of the cruise industry world. Klein says he chooses to no longer cruise, but you have to wonder if cruise lines would let him back on!

First, let me say that I respect greatly what Klein is doing here. There are trillions of dollars being spent on convincing people to take cruises, to "live the life of luxury". Hardly any money is spent on telling people what a cruise is REALLY about, what to REALLY expect, what is not included, what the problems are. You can dig through forums, but there is no coordinated Consumer Reports of the cruise industry. Klein uses his 300 days of cruise ship experience plus research to draw together the state of cruising.

That being said, I think that exposing the cruise ship industry as one that is doomed to fail because it is socially and environmentally irresponsible is alarmist. These things have been going on for CENTURIES. If you look back through resort life and travel, it has always been the wealthy that go, and the extremely poor that serve. That is hardly the "fault" of modern cruise ships! I've been on trips through europe, Costa Rica, Cancun. You have mega-hotels with gorgeous foods - and you have incredibly poor waiters and housekeepers who grind day and night to scrape out a living and survive in a one-room shack.

I'm not saying that is good! But I'm saying to blame the cruise industry for it makes no sense. It's a matter of supply and demand. Resort travellers - be they on land or at sea - whine if the price is too high. So the resort supplier tries to find the cheapest employees that they can. Those employees tend to come from third world nations where there is little hope for money in any other situation. Those people WANT to work at the resorts, because the peanuts they make is still better than the starvation they face otherwise. The resort then makes money because they pay little to the employees, but get good money from the visitors.

On lines where they employ waiters that demand higher salaries, the fare is therefore higher, and people pay more. Those expensive lines certainly exist. But as long as people demand bargain-basement prices and push for those low fares, the lowest wage individuals are going to be hired.

I do think this at least makes it clear to cruisers why they MUST PAY GOOD TIPS. Those poor waiters and room cleaners are barely making $2/hr in many cases. They work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, for tiny amounts of money. You whine about your $10/day tip - but to those workers, that is their life's savings that is going back to support their entire family at home. In many cases they are away from that family for a year or more, working hard daily to support them.

Yes, cruise ships dump waste into the sea, that is what boats do. It's allowed by law. We can change the laws if we want - where will the waste go? Will local ports "accept" that waste for free, to process it? Can they even handle the waste if they were paid to do so? These are issues that can be debated, but again to yell at the cruise ships for doing something legal and normal makes little sense to me.

Certainly, small towns have a love-hate relationship with cruise boats. The cruises bring in money, but bring in large volumes of tourists. This is hardly unique with cruises, though. I see this *exact* same thing at small skiing towns, at local islands, at Cape Cod. Just about anywhere that there is natural beauty, you have the locals and the hordes that come in on vacation. It's always been something I've pondered, but what can you do? Lock the tourists out? Insist only locals can enjoy the natural beauties?

This is a good book to rent from the library, to feel that you've gotten the whole story about cruising. But I really don't see this as an indictment of the cruise industry as much as a commentary - ongoing for centuries - about how the middle-class and wealthy are so tight fisted that they whine about tipping the staff even as they spend hundreds of dollars on "leisure activity" - while around them people starve. A cruise is never necessary. If you're going to cruise, at least consider the people who make it possible and reward them as liberally as you can for their part in your experience.

At the end of this diatribe, the author admits that they don't want him back cruising. And I don't blame them. He is just one of those passengers that you can't please no matter what. Is he fussy? Let facts be submitted to a candid world: Quote: "On the ultra luxury Radisson Diamond, the same waiters that served my partner and me were also serving a table of senior officers and VIPs. Their mineral water was poured from a bottle wrapped in a white napkin; our mineral water - the same brand (how did he know if theirs was wrapped?) -- was poured without the napkin." Holy cow! Mineral water without a napkin - How dare they! At the same sitting, the author complains of a fish head that has fish eyes staring out at him and, guess what, the fish smells fishy! That's an earthquake! More complaints: The food isn't any better than a three star hotel! (Ever stay at a three star hotel in France? The food is super.) More whines: The VIPs get special treatments and special parties (Shocking!), the music around the pool is too loud, too rap and hard rock, the free wine on board only costs the cruise line only $2, he cracked a tooth and the cruise line wouldn't pay his dental bill until he got a lawyer friend who obtained the money plus "a meager compensation." But the thing that bothered me the most was his inconsistency. He berates the industry for alleged mistreatment of their employees and yet he himself seems to cause those employees more trouble that 99% of the other passengers and he can't figure out why those employees, like the bartender on page 157, whom he nagged for several days, hate him so much. He berates the passengers and ships for causing pollution, yet he himself has taken (and presumably will try to take) multiple cruises. The massive improvements in waste management and sanitation and pollution control and fuel efficiency are dismissed as not enough. He nitpicks about occasional oil spills but fails to mention that according to the US Coast Guard 99% of the oil pollution of the seas comes from natural sources, mainly undersea vents. But what's this? The author's website which is billed as a "noncommercial site regularly updated with links to reports, investigations, and new developments regarding labor, ship safety, and security" is not functioning. The website isn't function just the way this book isn't functioning. The best treatment for the likes of him is to throw him overboard or make him walk the plank. If you want to know about cruising, instead of reading this piece of junk, get a hold of any book by John Maxtone-Graham. His "The Only Way to Cross" is a classic.

The problems of mass-tourism and fast growing industries are widely known. Ross Klein points out the specific problems of the cruise industry, like the strong demand for onboard workforces or the constant pressure to reduce cost, and he does that with much accuracy and much emphasis on the sources.
Of course, any account of all the negative aspects must result in a somehow distorted picture of the cruise industry, but after reviewing all the sources available on the internet which Ross Klein mentions in his footnotes, I must say that there are several problems associated with the cruise industry which need to be solved if cruises should remain a popular form of travel.
Most aspects Ross Klein talks about, even the environmetal issues, have an impact on passenger's satisfaction. So any cruise line executive should read this book to be aware of the problems which - quite certainly - all cruise lines have to deal with - sooner or later. Even if only a few cruise lines do not pay attention to these negative aspects, all others may get into troubles too, especially if the passengers start to feel that they get less than they have paid for.
And to potential cruise passengers the book might show what they can really expect from a mass-market cruise line. It is not all gold that glitters.
It is an excellent book, despite the fact that it is in contrast with the glossy cruise brochures published by cruise lines. There is much going on behind the scenes - and that makes the book a most interesting reading.

I first heard of this book while on a recent vacation on the Hawaiian isle of Molokai. The locals were fighting to prevent some cruise ships from incorporating their island on a new tour package. They were trying to point out that only a few local merchants would benefit while leaving the town as a whole with increased litter, periodic crowding, massive overuse of port bathrooms & possible pollution from the ship while at anchor or when cruising nearby.
This book was surprisingly mild in its tone and always cautious in its conclusions. Overall though it is a long overdue and much needed antidote to the hundreds of millions spent by the cruise industry in promoting their blissful, 'love boat' -type vacations. The most stunning chapters concern the pollution & sewage these ships so often discharge, and the widespread abuse of workers and profiteering by management. Also of note are the hushed up incidence of sexual assault and frequent outbreaks of food poisoning. The author continues to chronicle the industry on his website , cruisejunkie.com. The book & website are a Must Read!

A bit self-serving, over simplfied, and in the genre of alarmist, "National Enquirer"-type of journalism. At least it was a very easy read....finished it cover to cover in a couple of hours. Good airplane or beach reading material.

This book is much needed in todays world. I worked onboard the ships for two years, going from ship to ship and working one of the more "plush" jobs onboard as an accountant. Everything Ross Klein talks about in his works is true. I have seen and experienced much of what he talks about, and have seen the behavior of the guests who don't want to see. Most of the guests we had were Americans and I can tell you that the cruise ship crew (mostly foreigners) can think only bad things about Americans... between being exploited by their employers and abused by their guests. Those who don't believe this book... take a moment next cruise... and really look around.

I was initially hesitant to read this book because I love to cruise. I am a cruiseline travel agent, my partner and I own our own Travel agencythat specializes in selling cruises. A friend gave the book to me so I decided, "What the Heck!". At first I felt the books Author, "Ross Klein" was doing too much complaining (maybe he didn't get enough comp upgrades?) and felt the information in the book was a bit dated. In the cruise industry, things change quickly! If you read this book, don't take everything you read as gospel, this is only one persons opinion of an entire industry. Happy reading

If this had been a two-page article in The Reader's Digest, I would have skimmed it. To have paid $11 for the book was a rip off.

I have learned that:

* People buy things on cruise ships on their own free will but perhaps they shouldn't
* That some purchases are not a good as they would like
* That some ships have mechanical breakdowns
* That tipping on some lines is mandatory even though service is not good
* That some employees do extra favors to receive better tips (for shame)
* That pictures in brochures show cabins as being more attractive than they are
* That some cruise lines use some prepared foods
* That there is some sex on cruise ships
* That there is a need for better industry and government policing of the industry
* That there are weather problems on the high seas
* That some cruise lines are better than others
* That small cabins are indeed small
* That employees work hard and that those from poor countries are willing to take jobs at pay levels higher than they could make at home and lower than in the US
* That it is good to write complaint letters if something goes wrong
* That some of the warm smiles are phony
* That a cruise ship's ambiance does not match the TV/movie version of cruising
* That sometimes it is better to tour ports without organized and expensive tours
* And that some people will do anything to write a book

If you are shocked or surprised by these issues, this is the book for you. If you are a bit more sophisticated, you might look elsewhere.

With the number of cruises the author (and his unnamed partner--this reference appears with every first person reference by the author) one would expect that not everything was perfect on every cruise. Moreover, one might expect that some cruise lines would consider the author (and his partner) a chronic complainer. I certainly do.

I have taken six cruises, and the seventh in 10 days. Sure things go wrong--and my legs hurt after a 10 K run too. My memories (and I do find faults) are superior--including going through a hurricane and being one of the only passengers with my stomach strong enough to eat.

So--will I take another cruise? Yes!! Did I find this book a rip off? YES!!!

Largely a collection of personal anecdotes culled from numerous cruises which disappointed the author. After awhile, you get the sense that he is a "professional griper" angling for freebies from the cruise line. Much of his complaining is petty. However, by disregarding the whines and pouts, you can still glean interesting details about the cruise industry which, of course, the industry prefers to keep under its collective hat. Not the best book out there for cruise info.

Mr Klein comes across as a spoiled sofisticate. He berates the cruise industry using little or no facts, just supposition and his own opinion. I have enjoyed cruising in the past and thought I would learn something damning about the industry, but only learned Mr Klein apparently had a bad experience while on a cruise and must now take out his frustrations on the entire cruise line industry. If you want to read complaints about cruising, look online for a cruise blog and save your money.

As an addendum, I would like to add a few comments concerning several other peoples reviews. I have noticed the majority of the positive reviews are from people that have an issue with the trash and waste discarded from the ships. This is a laudable crusade, I completely agree. However, this book is not about stopping the cruise industry from polluting. It is a professional complainers attempts to disparage a multi-million dollar industry that tens of thousands of people enjoy every year. It is poorly written and uses few if any pertinent facts, other than this individuals obviously slanted opinions. I just thank heaven this person is not my neighbor.