But hey, at least you tried. You said it was 4 days. At least it wasnt one of those 2 weeks cruises.

You gave it a genuine try and genuinely didnt like it. Tag it as another experience in life you learn from. And thats about it. Next time they invite you just say you tried and you prefer doing something else.

You can also try to invite them for some activity you like for the next vacation.

I live in a cruise tourist city and there’s no fuckin way I’m ever stepping foot on one of those boats. People who go on cruises are not humanity’s finest examples to say the least. When a cruise ship is docked here I simply avoid going downtown.

Honestly every person I’ve met who does the cruise thing has always been kind of off. I think it appeals to a particular personality type which I almost always seem to clash with. It’s people who want the most sterilized form of adventure possible. They want to “see” places, but not feel obligated to explore them or even interact with them. They are so locked into their cultural bubble they go through enormous lengths to bring it with them.

Someday in the future, someone will try to pressure you into another cruise, saying that you didn’t have fun because you didn’t go with the “right” people, didn’t do the “right” things or go to the “right” locations, etc. It’ll be up to you to decide what to say to them.

This fits into the larger umbrella of parents giving their children things the parents believe their children should want, rather than things that are actually wanted or needed.

My sister is gay and prefers pants and “men’s” shirts. For years my mom would by my sister dresses and then lay down a guilt trip when my sister didn’t wear the dresses.

OP, you have every right to resent this. It sounds like your parents “invited” you because they already planned to have your brother along. They may have even been going for a bulk deal.

I had to learn a few years ago how to say no. It came after spending years trying to please everyone and always having to come up with excuses for coming up short while feeling like all I did was disappoint people.

When I met my wife, she was the same. She’d work horrible hours, like closing down a restaurant at 3am and then being there at 9am with about 4 hours of sleep. She’d wake up late, apologize profusely to her boss and drive insanely fast to work. She also had a hard time being at important events like birthdays because “they wouldn’t let me have the day off”

I taught her, most things in life require little explanation. Instead of saying “can I please have x day off, I need to yadayada”… Say “I’m letting you know ahead of time, I won’t be unavailable on x date.” Nothing further. And if they ask why, simply rephrase “like I said, I won’t be available.” Or “I have something to take care of.” It’s incredibly uncomfortable for them to press on further but if for some reason they do you can refuse to answer by changing the topic or by ignoring them.

Same with things like being tardy. If you’re already late, then be late. Have your breakfast, get dressed, drive safely. No need to make a bad day worse. When you call to let your boss know you’ll be late, same thing. Maybe offer a small apology, but no excuses. “Hey, my apologies, I’m running late. I’ll be there in 30 minutes or so.” If they say “omg no you can’t be late today how could you do this to me” keep your cool, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

There’s a book called the power of no which I partially read. Highly recommend it. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18595404

Here’s the description

… a well-placed ‘no’ will not only save you time and trouble—it will save your life.

“Takes a fresh approach to becoming masterful at using ‘no’ to say ‘yes’ to life.” —Cheryl Richardson, author of The Art of Extreme Self-Care

“No” is sometimes the hardest word to say. It’s also the most necessary.

How many times have you heard yourself saying yes to the wrong things—overwhelming requests, bad relationships, time-consuming obligations? How often have you wished you could summon the power to turn them down?

Drawing on their own stories, as well as feedback from their readers and students, authors James Altucher and Claudia Azula Altucher clearly show that you have the right to say

• To anything that is hurting you. • To standards that no longer serve you. • To people who drain you of your creativity and expression. • To beliefs that are not true to the real you.

It’s one thing to say “No,” the authors explain. It’s another thing to have the Power of No. When you do, you will have a stronger sense of what is good for you and the people around you, and you will have a deeper understanding of who you are. Ultimately, you’ll be freed to say a truly powerful “Yes” in your life—one that opens the door to opportunities, abundance, and love.

I’m in a similar boat and the most fun I had was hanging around the ship’s bars playing games while everyone else was ashore. That was pretty great; I’d do that again.

That sounds frustrating. At least you two can say you tried.

Some people in the comments are missing the point. You didn’t want something. You told your parents you and your partner didn’t want it. You were given and pressured into it regardless.

Do not feel awful for not appreciating it. It doesn’t matter why you don’t. Your parents have ignored you completely. Not just you on the cruise, but your wishes in the first place. It doesn’t matter how nice Cozumel is. If you are stressed out from the cruise experience to start with, you won’t be in the mind space to enjoy something else you might have if you were visiting it normally.

OP, this is not your fault. You have every right to feel angry. You were left out in many ways and guilted into feeling bad about yourself for not enjoying something you upfront said you didn’t want.

I hope this gives you the ability to stand your ground in the future. Sure, it can be nice to experience new things and find out you like something you never thought you would. But that’s up to you to decide. Whether its about a cruise or something else, only you and your partner should make that decision for yourselves. I hope you call your parents out on this, but if you don’t, I hope you can always say “no” without buckling in the future.

I went on a free cruise and just felt guilty the whole time because I know how the staff are treated.

It might be a bit late for you now, but when everyone else is in port, that’s the best time to be on the ship.

Get yourself to one of the open decks with some food and a drink, and appreciate the lack of any queues. Get a chair next to the pool and chill out for a while. Take some photos of the views that you wouldn’t otherwise see.

In short, try to make the most of it while you’re stuck there, and enjoy the quiet time :)

Does the cruise ship have ice cream machines? I went on a cruise with my family as a kid down in the Caribbean and the thing I remember the most is all the free ice cream haha. There were three machines on the top deck, one in the middle and one on each end of the ship. But only one (at one end, I don’t remember which) that had strawberry.

On the last day of the cruise, my brothers and I all had an ice cream cone making competition. We all took turns trying to make our best creation with chocolate and vanilla, and then I had a brilliant idea. If I could get all THREE flavors, surely I’d win it. So I start huffin it to the machine on the other end of the ship, while trying to balance the already tall ice cream cone. I make it, and top it off with a good amount of strawberry. Now I’ve gotta make it back, time is running short for my now dripping stack of ice cream. I’m having to use my other hand to literally hold onto the foot tall tower of ice cream and I maneuver around people to make it back to my brothers.

Long story short, I fucking did it. I got all three flavors baby! No idea if that got me the win or not, but man, I’ll never forget that realization that, oh shit this might be too much ice cream and now I have to get back to the other side of the ship with it all.

Edit: but I feel you OP, the excursions onto land were pretty overwhelming. Getting onto land in Cozumel and the other places we stopped and immediately being hounded by locals trying to sell you stuff. That’s probably why I have more memories on the ship than I do from the countries we visited.

I’m also remembering the fun times playing bingo on the ship. The announcer was friggen awesome and we still quote a few lines from him to this day

It sounds like you don’t like crowds. If so, that’s understandable. They can be overwhelming and uncomfortable.

I absolutely relate. I’m a cold weather person, I get very angsty and depressed in warmer climates. I also hate traveling, I hate planes and hotels and the whole experience of it. My parents are the opposite. They’re strong warm weather people who enjoy frequently traveling, and when I was younger they would regularly drag me and my brothers on vacation to whatever tropical location they had their eyes on.

A couple years ago they moved to Florida, and having to travel to Florida every Christmas has been hell. I’m writing this as I’m still there, I can’t bear it. It’s not just the heat, it’s the whole element of traveling and being away from home.

It’s not that I don’t love my family, I just don’t like being dragged around to absurdly hot climates and sleeping in a bed that isn’t mine.

This sort of thing may be the ultimate fun time for them, and they may have just wanted to give you what they see as the ultimate fun time, but it’s not that for you. It’s okay that different people like different recreational things, and sometimes people with their hearts in the right place still need to be reminded of that fact. So, you can be gracious about the gift but keep this writeup.

When this is over, you can politely thank your parents for the gift and say no more if you want. But if they press the issue and genuinely want to know how you felt about it, if they really want you to be honest, you could tell them what you’ve just told us. If in the future they invite you to another cruise and give you any guff about taking no for an answer, tell them what you told us. You can still express gratitude that they gave you the chance to give this a fair shake, and politely decline repeating the experience. “I tried and it’s just not for me” is a valid takeaway from this, both for you and for them.