Cruise Ship Guilt

I was talking to a lovely passenger of mine the other day who’s just returned from a river cruise to Vietnam and Cambodia, (she had a great time by the way but that’s not the point of today’s post).

She’d been on plenty of cruises in the past around Europe and the Caribbean but this was the first time she’d done a river cruise, (for those that don’t know this is by far the best way to see Vietnam and Cambodia).  As I said she had a great time; river cruises are some of the most luxurious ships out there at the moment, almost all of them of a five or six star quality. 

For her though the best part of the trip by far was immersing herself in a completely foreign culture. The excursions were by far the best she’d ever done and she loved discovering the history of the places she’d visited as well as taking thousands of photos of the scenery. The only down side she found to the trip  she told me was some of the poverty she saw.

In a lot of the places they visited they were surrounded by children begging, (the guides suggested they actually hand out crayons and small toys instead of money).

She said she felt quite bad about seeing how they lived on a day to day basis and then heading back to her luxurious five star ship for a four course meal. It was these comments that got me thinking……………………..

Does anyone else suffer from cruise guilt?

Cruise ships travel all over the world but the one thing they all have in common is that they’re all luxury floating palaces, (some more so than others maybe). However with some of the destinations they travel to have you ever felt guilty about getting back on-board?

I’m not for a second suggesting that anyone stops cruising; I truly believe there’s no better way for exploring the world, but have any of the places you’ve visited ever given you pause for thought? South America maybe, the west coast of Africa, Vietnam and Cambodia obviously or even some of the Caribbean Islands?

We disembark our floating palaces, wander around taking some pictures, making some memories to take with us, then get back on-board to relax in comfort.

It’s never occurred to me before, (maybe because most of my cruising has been done in Europe), but I thought my client may well have a valid point.

What do you think? Have you ever felt anything like cruise guilt when visiting some of these destinations or am I just waffling on about nothing? I’d love to hear back about what some of you think so make sure you comment below with your thoughts.