Cruise ships not bicycle friendly

[elcolombiano]

I want to take a Caribbean cruise to 5 islands from Puerto Rico with Carnival Cruise lines. They will not permit bicycles on board. Not even folding bicycles packed in a regulation suit case. I spoke to 6 people including a supervisor and they would not budge. Last year I took a cruise in the mediterranean on Celebrity and took my bicycle with me and had a blast. If enough people complain they may be forced to change their policy.

[Kirk007]

take it anyway. Do they search your luggage? Can you keep it stowed except when you get it port? What are they going to do once its on board?

[elcolombiano]

All luggage is x-rayed before it enters the ship. When you return to the ship after being at a port anything you have goes through an x-ray machine.

[mikki]

Just wondering...what would happen if they x-rayed your luggage and found a bike? Ship it? Keep it? Tell you to throw it overboard (kidding). Did they tell you that?

[elcolombiano]

When they x-ray the luggage and they find something that is not allowed like a bicycle they will not let you bring it on board.

[Ray]

I've taken two cruises in my life. Hated 'em both. Took a folding bike on one of 'em. If I couldn't take a bike, it'd be just one more reason to choose a different mode of travel. No sacrifice there, imho. But if you like cruises, you just have to find a different line.

-Ray

[Dave B]

take a cycling vacation tour and you will not gain any weight!

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by elcolombiano

I want to take a Caribbean cruise to 5 islands from Puerto Rico with Carnival Cruise lines. They will not permit bicycles on board. Not even folding bicycles packed in a regulation suit case. I spoke to 6 people including a supervisor and they would not budge. Last year I took a cruise in the mediterranean on Celebrity and took my bicycle with me and had a blast. If enough people complain they may be forced to change their policy.

Of course not; the top deck is NOT a velodrome. With all the passengers aboard, it'd be like riding in a New York City crosswalk. Besides, have you ever tried to ride rollers in heavy seas? Not pretty.

[OldDog]

I'm not fond of cruises either but have done 3 to please my wife. Riding on board is not an option for obvious reasons but also due to the high number of people in the corridors. Just rolling a bike through the hallways to get in line to get off the boat and then back on would not be pretty. Think of the low cost cruise ships as an anthill, endless people squeeezing out an opening. If money is no object, high end cruises might be different due to the low volume of passengers.

[benb]

If you have to go NCL has spinning classes on some of their ships.. (they had them on the Norwegian Gem when I went this spring)

But I kept getting seasick every time I tried to ride the spin bikes, and I had no trouble at any other time. We ran laps around the track on the deck without getting seasick.. so that was superior.

There was also a rent-a-bike tour thing on one of the islands in the Bahamas.. again very inferior to riding your own bike on a tour but better then nothing. We actually didn't do that bike tour though.. we thought there were better options for actually seeing the local sights then riding a bike.

If it's just the occasional thing it's only one week without riding.. not going to kill you.

We both lost a pound or so.. there is plenty of non-eating stuff to do and plenty of chances to work out or get some exercise hiking around the various places the boats stop.

Overall it was just barely enough fun that I'd go back again, particularly in the winter as I'm usually not managing to cycle a ton in the dead of winter anyway.. I'd still rather just fly somewhere and stay for a week though.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Originally Posted by elcolombiano

I want to take a Caribbean cruise to 5 islands from Puerto Rico with Carnival Cruise lines. They will not permit bicycles on board. Not even folding bicycles packed in a regulation suit case. I spoke to 6 people including a supervisor and they would not budge. Last year I took a cruise in the mediterranean on Celebrity and took my bicycle with me and had a blast. If enough people complain they may be forced to change their policy.

does this guy want to actually ride his bike around on the ship, as some others seem to think? Or does he just want to take it and take it ashore at ports-of-call to ride it?

If I owned the ship I wouldn't let people bring bikes on either. Sooner or later, someone WOULD try to ride it around on board and someone WOULD get run into and someone WOULD get sued.

BBD

[benb]

Or fall overboard.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by BumbleBeeDave

does this guy want to actually ride his bike around on the ship, as some others seem to think? Or does he just want to take it and take it ashore at ports-of-call to ride it?

If I owned the ship I wouldn't let people bring bikes on either. Sooner or later, someone WOULD try to ride it around on board and someone WOULD get run into and someone WOULD get sued.

BBD

The one that I took a folding bike on was obviously, I thought, just for riding in various ports. At every stop when I was getting off, my bike was a great novelty where the passengers got on and off but a large number of crew members were taking bikes (mostly folding, but not all) on and off through their entrance at every port. I ended up riding with a crew guy a couple of times in Norway. Riding around the deck would be insane.

-Ray

[Kevan]

child's stroller should accept a bike. Use on the ship is an entirely different matter.

[Blue Jays]

Rent bikes individually at each port. No muss, no fuss, no x-rays, no maintenance, and no damp salty air attacking your finish.
Overall costs would likely be lower given what airlines charge to transport bicycles to the departure port these days. Have a good vacation.