HUNTER’S TOP TEN CRUISE INSIGHTS

THE GOOD.. .

1 The best thing is seeing different countries without having to drag your case around with you.

2 The food, which is almost always good, and plenty of it, is mostly included. You just pay for your drinks, though you can pay for drinks packages.

3 On board there is a massive choice of restaurants, bars and cafes – and entertainment, of some sort, nearly all the time.

4 When you dock, there are lots of organised excursions, some quite expensive, so take care not to book too many.

5 Cruises are good value. Considering what you get, on either the superb cruises, or the more mass-market types, they are mostly worth it. You would be hard-pressed to eat and enjoy yourself and see so much if you stayed at home and went out every night.

. . . AND THE BAD

1 You do eat too much – and can come back fat and bloated. Even more than when you went.

2 And lumpen. Being stuck on board, sealed off from real life, not being able to have a proper walk, does turn you into a bit of a zombie, dependent on being looked after.

3 You do get herded around, always being lined up and counted, especially while disembarking. You become a number, not a person.

4 Your fellow passengers will tend to be on the senior citizen side. Nothing wrong with that, being one myself, but it does limit the company and variety and dictates the sort of old-style entertainment that is provided.

5 You can feel trapped. Your life has been taken over, your individuality gone, your freedom taken away, you have been captured – though it is the sort of luxurious, cosseted captivity most humans dream about.