Sometimes, I lurk on the messageboards on Cruise Critic. I don’t post much, mainly because Bill and I don’t cruise a lot and the one line we’ve cruised most, Hebridean Island Cruises, isn’t particularly well-known to most people. Oh, but I do enjoy reading what other people think about cruises and cruise lines. Sometimes, I run into some real “characters” on those boards. The biggest offenders seem to hang out on the luxury cruising boards.

There’s a poster on that board who rubs me the wrong way. She’s one of those people who has very set opinions and tries to impose them on everybody else. Every once in awhile, when someone really takes her to task, she’ll back down slightly. But she still insists that she KNOWS what luxury cruises should be and anyone else’s opinions regarding same are simply out of touch with reality. Recently, she justified her opinions by stating that she’s spent over 500 nights on luxury cruise ships and that means she KNOWS what luxury travelers are looking for.

I have had at least one dust up with this poster myself. It happened a couple of years ago when I left a comment lamenting that Hebridean hadn’t been considered “luxury” in a recent poll. Having been on Hebridean five times myself, I know it’s a superior product. It doesn’t have some of the amenities larger ships have. There’s no spa, pool, or piano bar, for instance. But the food is first rate. All beverages, save for very expensive wines, are included. All excursions and entrance fees are included. Toiletries and linens are top of the line. Tips and Internet are included. Transportation to and from the ship from the train station or airport is included. And there are only about 50 people on the ship. Moreover, if there is some experience you want, the concierge will work to make it happen for you as a matter of course. Once you’ve paid your fare, there is nothing else to worry about. That, to me, is luxury.

But this poster was hung up on the size of the staterooms and the age of the ship. She wrote about thread counts of the sheets. She was quite nasty as she dismissed my opinion, even confessing to laughing at it. This person has never even been on Hebridean Princess and, she claims, never would bother with it because she doesn’t like hanging around with British people. And she writes this even though her husband is British! She still feels quite free to offer her opinions, though, uninformed as they may be. She insists that she’s right, because she’s a luxury cruise consumer with over 500 nights on board and at least 33 Regent cruises under her belt. Yippee!

I’ve seen her spar with a lot of people on that board. Some people get pretty assertive with her. I don’t bother, because to me, it’s a clear waste of time. However, I will admit that I like it when someone gives her a good smackdown. Case in point…

…as much as I enjoyed your objective comments on the Crystal forum, on this thread you are really off base.   On this single thread, you have said more about yourself than I would ever want to know.  500 days….really?  Gross!

Bravo! In just a few sentences, a much less prolific, but otherwise astute poster, pretty much delivered a perfect smackdown of our resident luxury cruising diva. It will be interesting to see what her response will be. I know there will be one. There always is. It seems this type of person doesn’t know when to take her ball and go home. I shouldn’t be surprised, since this type of person also doesn’t seem to understand that tastes and opinions differ, and everyone should have the same right to be read/heard.

I don’t know when our next cruise will be. We have some important business to attend to and, of course, everything depends on what our future holds in terms of staying or going. But though I haven’t spent 500 nights on a luxury ship, I do know luxury when I see it. And really, most cruise ships are much more luxurious than your average day at home, right?