South Florida is the home port to thousands of luxury cruise ships. Anybody who has been to Miami, Fort Lauderdale or other seafront cities has seen these behemoths waiting in port for their next batch of passengers to embark.

Cruise ships are known for elaborate gourmet meals, breathtaking views, star-studded entertainment, and glamorous swimming pools.

But are cruise ship swimming pools better than your backyard swimming pool? Let’s consider …

Cruise Ship Pools – Advantages

Perhaps the biggest advantage of cruise ship swimming pools is that the cruise lines seem to have unlimited budgets when it comes to designing, building, decorating and maintaining their pools on their luxury liners.

Most ships have multiple pools, each one more elaborate than the next. On some cruises, you can spend a day or two at a different pool each day and still not see them all.

Plus, there’s the poolside service to consider. On a cruise ship, you’re never very far from a fully stocked bar, as well as a helpful attendant who is happy to bring you all the fruity, tropical drinks you want.

Cruise Ship Pools – Disadvantages

On cruises in the Caribbean and elsewhere, the dirty little secret is that cruise ships spend only a small portion of their time in tropical ports. The rest of the time is getting to and from your destinations.

While the ship is on the open seas, there’s usually not much for the hundreds of passengers to do except hang out around the pools. That means competition for the best seats can be fierce.

If you want to spend the day poolside next to the best pools on your cruise ship, you have to either arrive very early, or make friends with other guests and have them save beach chairs for you.

Home Pools – Advantages

The biggest advantage of having your own home swimming pool is that you don’t have to share it with anybody else unless you want to. Unlike cruise ship pools, you never have to worry about getting the best poolside seats … because they are all yo