Those all-you-can-eat buffets, night and day and all hours in between... have a fairly large cost - paid by a person's waistline.

On average, a person gains a full pound/day on a cruise ship. That's a pound of retained fat, not waterweight that flushes out after a few days of detox.

So going on that 7-day cruise ship means that for the next few weeks (if you're disciplined) or the next few years (if your not), every car trip will be carrying another 7 pounds of flubber... every ride on a public transit system, every trip up and down in the elevator, etc... Sure for most people this works out to a rounding error, but if you retain that extra weight for a year - attributable to a 7 day binge - then the environmental costs add up. I've read that as much as 5% of our fuel usage would be saved if Americans were the same average size that they were in the 50's... so this additional environmental cost of the cruise ship is not nothing.

For our honeymoon, my wife and I flew to Costa Rica and went on many all-day hikes through the rainforests and beaches, whitewater rafting trips, rapelling/canyoning, snorkling, ocean kayaking, etc... for a total carbon footprint between the two of us of just over 1900 kg for 9 days. It cost us slightly less than a 7 day cruise (including all food, drink, tour costs, and incidentals), and we came back weighing 2 pounds less, not 9 pounds more.

:)

My ex and I took a cruise for our honeymoon. It was a good way to sample a lot of cool places in a week and it was a lot of fun. Neither of us gained weight, and it IS possible to eat healthy on a cruise ship. They have to account for people all kinds of dietary requirements, so there's quite a variety of food available. You just have to be willing to pick the right ones and NOT stuff your face every hour.
Of course, we had the good sense not to eat like pigs and picked shore excursions that consisted of more than sitting on a catamaran with drinks in hand or snapping pictures from the back of a taxi.

Environmental considerations aside, your Costa Rica trip sounds like a hell of a lot more fun than that cruise was.

I'd strongly suggest going if you can afford another big vacation sometime. We were on a honeymoon, so we were going all out with the best rooms at high-end resorts, and we still only spent ~150/night on the rooms. (we did spend the first two nights at Tabacon hot springs, which was 250/night, but that's a 5 star resort). Nice resorts had rooms going for 90/night, and if you go during the "green" season it's even cheaper (though that's also known as the rainy season).

Most of their economy depends on tourism from the U.S., so they've probably been hurting pretty bad... so if you have a few bucks then you can probably get some serious deals on rooms and adventure tours.

I haven't been on a cruise (I just got my passport to go on the honeymoon), I'm sure it's possible to maintain health on them. But I know from the stats that most people don't do so.

My wife and I are both dieting and we were both HUGE at our largest, so I'm quite certain that if you left us with an endless buffet it wouldn't be pretty. Sometimes it's just best to know your weaknesses and avoid them.

:)

And I went on a one-week cruise to Mexico, lost 3 kilos (6.6lbs) because I was actually eating regular meals in a low-stress environment and hitting the gym on a regular basis (as opposed to coming home at the end of the day, taking the easiest food option available, and falling asleep on the couch). I got off the boat just enough to remember why I left Latin America in the first place.

Why, I even spent some time feeling smug and self-satisfied in the ship's library!

I bet your self-righteousness alone saved you an additional 3 pounds and cut your carbon footprint by 600 kg.

My wife and I went on pretty much the example Western Caribbean cruise...ended up actually losing weight because we took advantage of the on-board track and weight room. Even did a few spinning classes. We did eat more than we normally would - and drank of course - but we made a point of exercising given our intake. Shore excursions were pretty active, too.

Had a really good time - someday I'd like to do it again!

I'm pretty sure that the physics, chemistry, and the math all work out the same either way.

I can, however, rest assured that I'm not a simpering dumbass that does nothing other than whine and cry and snark when someone else in an environmental blog puts forth an anectdotal example of a real world alternative to an environmentally damaging activity (one that is cheaper, healthier, more environmentally responsible, and in that person's opinion more fun), when discussing the environmental and social problems with that activity. I suppose we should simply trash every possibility and strictly avoid the discussion of alternatives - to ensure that we avoid offending you.

*shrug*

I'm terribly sorry that you have so many self esteem issues that you are somehow afraid of another person mentioning a choice that is different from one you have made... but I can't do anything for you other than suggest you seek help or medication.

Good luck with the crybaby schtick.

6.6 lbs weight loss in a week is what you'd expect in a serious all-out workout marathon!

I only managed 4 weeks of greater than 5 pounds/week loss during my entire transformation... and those were 20+hours in the gym weeks.

I wasn't stating that everyone who went on a cruise would blimp out, I stated that the average person that goes on a cruise does blimp out. There's a difference. For me, and many like me, there's no way I could trust myself in that environment.

:)

You worked out more because you knew you were eating more.

You beat the average, by a lot.

I think my point was misunderstood, I was stating that the average person had an average reaction to the environment of the cruise ship. I did not say that the cruise ship environment would by definition force that average reaction on each individual.

:)