Advice Needed. Can you take your bike on a cruise ship?

[xerxes]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

[Mick F]

Just a little Sea Story or two.

I spent many a year in the RN, and often took a bike with me - latterly my Mercian with HMS Sirius and HMS Argyll.
There are many places to stow a bike on board, especially if you remove the wheels and turn the 'bars.
I've cycled in more countries than many other people and never had an issue with storage.

We've been on cruises and wheels could go under a bed or in a wardrobe. The frame and luggage likewise.
It's only a matter of getting the bike bits up by the gangway and assembling it.

Countries and places in my history:
(In no particular order)
Gibraltar, including to the Top of the Rock, and into Spain.
Naples, including up Vesuvius to the Seismic Observatory.
Corfu
Haifa, Israel
Bahrain
Mombassa, Kenya
Karachi, Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Malaysia
Thailand
Bermuda
Singapore
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Jakarta, Indonesia
Nassau, Bahamas
Bunbury, Western Australia
Adelaide
Sydney, including into the Blue Mountains
Hobart to Port Arthur, Tasmania
Caen, and the Normandy Coast
Bremen, Germany
Bremerhaven, Germany
Antwerp
Amsterdam
Copenhagen

USA:
500 miles from Niagara Falls, Canada to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Taking in New York State, Vermont and Massachusetts.
Florida, Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville.
Wilmington, North Carolina
Manhattan

[Jdsk]

...
We've been on cruises and wheels could go under a bed or in a wardrobe. The frame and luggage likewise.
It's only a matter of getting the bike bits up by the gangway and assembling it.
...

As upthread it also involves other ways of getting off and on the boat. And out and in of the port area.

Jonathan

[ossie]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

Best keep clear of the thread then.

Having done quite a few cruises I'd probably arrange cycle hire in each port of choice. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone embark or disembark a cruise ship with a bicycle but I actually like the idea.

[Mike Sales]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

I think he pinched it from Dr. Johnson.

Samuel Johnson — 'Being in a ship is like being in jail, with the chance of being drowned.'

[wirral_cyclist]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

Best keep clear of the thread then.

Having done quite a few cruises I'd probably arrange cycle hire in each port of choice. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone embark or disembark a cruise ship with a bicycle but I actually like the idea.

Thompson boats (Marella branded now?) all had cycle hire onboard - actually we had guided rides with bikes thrown in but bikes might be available separately? Naples from the dock into city traffic was terrific fun! Going to see the Pope's gaff was no problem either as they bunged the bikes under the coach for the 70+ km journey into town - cyclists came back happier having seen everything, the rest of coach tour as miserable as usual (miserable might be compulsory, as it's every coach you see coming back to the boat).

[RJS]

There was a couple in the tandem club a few years back, who took there tandem on a cruise; rode it where they wanted when in port, not where the organisers wanted them to go. Ended up giving other passengers rides up and down the deck between ports.
Cheers, Roob.

[albal1]

I ,d be interested in sailing out of Southampton to anywhere really ? and riding back from there. Not flown since 2021, and i,m in no hurry to do it again.

These cruise companies to get on Board with the whole non flying thing? No?

[richardfm]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

I think he pinched it from Dr. Johnson.

Samuel Johnson — 'Being in a ship is like being in jail, with the chance of being drowned.'

When I was in the merchant navy we said "what's the difference between being at sea and being in prison - you don't get sea sick in prison"

[axel_knutt]

I am in agreement with Billy Connolly about cruises - "Like being in prison with the option of drowning".

Not just me then.

The nearest I've been to feeling tempted was this, but I never found an insurance company that would cover both sailing and heart arrhythmia. I didn't know they'd gone bust until today.

[rareposter]

These cruise companies to get on Board with the whole non flying thing? No?

Cruise companies absolutely rely on flying. Very common to offer cruise out / fly back or fly out / cruise back packages. If a ship is doing a 3-week cruise, you'll often find that many people will do a week on board then fly back only to be replaced by people who've flown out to meet the ship at an intermediate destination.

Cruise ships are about the worst possible way of travelling, the environmental impact is far higher than just flying.

[TrevA]

I ,d be interested in sailing out of Southampton to anywhere really ? and riding back from there. Not flown since 2021, and i,m in no hurry to do it again.

These cruise companies to get on Board with the whole non flying thing? No?

There are quite a few cruises that leave from Southampton. We did a week long cruise around the Bay of Biscay, calling at La Rochelle, Bilbao, La Corunna and Guernsey. Here’s a selection of P&O cruises

https://www.pocruises.com/find-a-cruise ... mous%20asc

[simonhill]

I ,d be interested in sailing out of Southampton to anywhere really ? and riding back from there. Not flown since 2021, and i,m in no hurry to do it again.

These cruise companies to get on Board with the whole non flying thing? No?

I'm touring at the moment so not doing a search, but I read recently that cruise companies have a worse Co2 per passenger than easyJet.

Carnival, the biggest company has horrendous figures.