First Cruise

[luv]

Looks like I won't be going to Baltimore. Something came up. Instead, I am going on my first cruise in September!

Tips? Already hearing about how to get liquor on board...lol.

[R8RFAN]

Any Hot Romance to speak of Luv?

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by luv

Sweet. We walked by the Royal Caribbean Oasis when we were at port in Cozumel. Heard that one had a zip line down through the middle of it and a trolley that would take you from one end to the other. I'm not sure about something that big. I really enjoyed the Carnival Elation. It's one of their smaller cruise ships now, but it just seemed really intimate.

Yea, I'm not sure about it either. I think it will be fine though. The Oasis is literally a few feet shorter than her sister, the Allure.

[WV]

We love Cruising. Planning on taking the kids on their first in two years, already can't wait!

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by WV

We love Cruising. Planning on taking the kids on their first in two years, already can't wait!

Down the Kanawa river?

[CoMoChief]

Float trips > cruises

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by luv

Absolutely loved it! The entire vacation was pure heaven, but I absolutely fell in love with cruising. Can't wait to do it again next year.

The family I went went has several people who can sing, so we went to karaoke after dinner the first night. That's where the guy running it suggested that two people with us try out for the Legends show on the last night of the cruise. They had 10 people dress up as different legends and perform. My best friend was Bruce Springsteen singing Born in the USA (which he hated singing), and his aunt was Cher singing If I Could Turn Back Time. It was a blast to watch.

I didn't frequent the casino other than when I was looking for people in our party. I'm not much of a gambler. I ended up spending too much money on some professional pictures. Also, I ended up buying dad two 1L bottles of Captain Morgan's Preferred Stock for $35 (total). Got him a bottle of tequila at one of the port stores in Progreso.

We rented a couple of Jeeps in Cozumel, and found an awesome spot on a public beach. The reef there was dead, but there were still a ton of fish living in it. It was also my first time snorkeling. So much fun!

The food was amazing. I tried so many different things I'd never had before. Also, it was kind of nice being rocked to sleep by the slight sway of the boat. I think I might miss that the most.

Cool, I was wondering about the excursions... any others you went on? Everything I had ever heard about the quantity of food is absolutely true... all you can eat breakfast, all you can eat lunch, and if you didn't do the all you can eat dinner, you could still choose more than one app/dinner/dessert in the dining room.

As far as a larger ship, I was on the Navigator of the Seas, which is in the same family as the one pictured... I felt a bit uneasy about being on a ship with 3000+ other tourists (and their kids), but now I have no complaints. There were 12 elevators and they were always busy, but we were on the 8th deck of 12 and were only a few decks away from all the food and most of the entertainment. We had our own balcony, which was nice when I didn't want to be around the crowds, but at times I was actually surprised it wasn't more crowded in certain areas or for certain shows.

[HemiEd]

Glad you had a good time Luv! We are going to start doing cruises when we get old.

[Gracie Dean]

we are hoping to go in March. Depends on my health situation.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by luv

Absolutely loved it! The entire vacation was pure heaven, but I absolutely fell in love with cruising. Can't wait to do it again next year.

The family I went went has several people who can sing, so we went to karaoke after dinner the first night. That's where the guy running it suggested that two people with us try out for the Legends show on the last night of the cruise. They had 10 people dress up as different legends and perform. My best friend was Bruce Springsteen singing Born in the USA (which he hated singing), and his aunt was Cher singing If I Could Turn Back Time. It was a blast to watch.

I didn't frequent the casino other than when I was looking for people in our party. I'm not much of a gambler. I ended up spending too much money on some professional pictures. Also, I ended up buying dad two 1L bottles of Captain Morgan's Preferred Stock for $35 (total). Got him a bottle of tequila at one of the port stores in Progreso.

We rented a couple of Jeeps in Cozumel, and found an awesome spot on a public beach. The reef there was dead, but there were still a ton of fish living in it. It was also my first time snorkeling. So much fun!

The food was amazing. I tried so many different things I'd never had before. Also, it was kind of nice being rocked to sleep by the slight sway of the boat. I think I might miss that the most.

I did that.....I was Garth Brooks though. I was on the Carnival Splendor, the same ship that caught fire a few years back and they were stranded in the ocean...it was all over the national news outlets. I wasn't on it then, but I was a few months prior to it happening....the show is somewhere on youtube shot by another passenger, though I just tried to find it and can't. I was hammered the night i "tried out" because it was the night of the captains cocktail party....which was basically drink anything/however much you wanted for free...so being the party animal I was at the time, I was slammin' long islands left and right. Had about 15 of them suckers in a span of 3 hours.

All I remember is showing up to the karaoke lounge, but the next morning I get this vanilla folder pkg thing sent to my room and it's the entry form with a small cheapo mp3 player with the song programmed into it (Friends In Low Places). Of course it was a drunk song which is why I probably sang it. Yes...unfortunately that night I was one of "those people".

Didn't think it would be anything big so I said wtf I'll do it, family would like to see me up there anyways. The auditorium of this ship is ****ing huge and held close to a few thousand people. Wasn't expecting that to be honest but I ****ing rocked it because I'm awesome, standing O...people chanting The Rock's name in unison. Looking back it was a lot of fun doing that. I had the cowboy hat, the white/black checkered button down shirt, black jeans n boots.


They mailed a production DVD copy to my parents a couple weeks after we got back home. I never saw it because I didn't bother to ask at the time neither did I expect them to send anything...I guess maybe that's what the form I filled out was for who knows. I need to ask them sometime If I can watch it or if they still have it.

[luv]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

I did that.....I was Garth Brooks though. I was on the Carnival Splendor, the same ship that caught fire a few years back and they were stranded in the ocean...it was all over the national news outlets. I wasn't on it then, but I was a few months prior to it happening....the show is somewhere on youtube shot by another passenger, though I just tried to find it and can't. I was hammered the night i "tried out" because it was the night of the captains cocktail party....which was basically drink anything/however much you wanted for free...so being the party animal I was at the time, I was slammin' long islands left and right. Had about 15 of them suckers in a span of 3 hours.

All I remember is showing up to the karaoke lounge, but the next morning I get this vanilla folder pkg thing sent to my room and it's the entry form with a small cheapo mp3 player with the song programmed into it (Friends In Low Places). Of course it was a drunk song which is why I probably sang it. Yes...unfortunately that night I was one of "those people".

Didn't think it would be anything big so I said wtf I'll do it, family would like to see me up there anyways. The auditorium of this ship is ****ing huge and held close to a few thousand people. Wasn't expecting that to be honest but I ****ing rocked it because I'm awesome, standing O...people chanting The Rock's name in unison. Looking back it was a lot of fun doing that. I had the cowboy hat, the white/black checkered button down shirt, black jeans n boots.


They mailed a production DVD copy to my parents a couple weeks after we got back home. I never saw it because I didn't bother to ask at the time neither did I expect them to send anything...I guess maybe that's what the form I filled out was for who knows. I need to ask them sometime If I can watch it or if they still have it.

We had a guy do the same song wearing the same thing, only I think he wore his own cowboy hat. Dude was hot, but definitely country through and through.

[luv]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Cool, I was wondering about the excursions... any others you went on? Everything I had ever heard about the quantity of food is absolutely true... all you can eat breakfast, all you can eat lunch, and if you didn't do the all you can eat dinner, you could still choose more than one app/dinner/dessert in the dining room.

As far as a larger ship, I was on the Navigator of the Seas, which is in the same family as the one pictured... I felt a bit uneasy about being on a ship with 3000+ other tourists (and their kids), but now I have no complaints. There were 12 elevators and they were always busy, but we were on the 8th deck of 12 and were only a few decks away from all the food and most of the entertainment. We had our own balcony, which was nice when I didn't want to be around the crowds, but at times I was actually surprised it wasn't more crowded in certain areas or for certain shows.

We didn't pay for the cruise line's excursions. People I went with had gone before. We simply hoofed it in Progreso rented Jeeps from Alamo at the port in Cozumel. The excursions probably had better quality reefs and such, but we did nearly the same thing for less than half the cost.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Float trips > cruises

Uh, yeah....no.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

I'm gonna take the wife on our first cruise sometime in January or February.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by luv

We didn't pay for the cruise line's excursions. People I went with had gone before. We simply hoofed it in Progreso rented Jeeps from Alamo at the port in Cozumel. The excursions probably had better quality reefs and such, but we did nearly the same thing for less than half the cost.

Not necessarily. However, there are other benefits to the cruise line sponsored excursions:

1.) They're run through officially-sanctioned companies. Less likelihood that you wake up in a tub of ice missing a kidney...

2.) ...or, a more probable scenario, less likely that the ship leaves without you. If you're on one of "their" excursions, they tend to wait longer (or, at least, know you're missing, and may help get you to the next port).

3.) The cruise line excursions are also much easier to refund/change due to unforeseen circumstances (change in port, bad weather, someone in the party feeling ill, just simply too tired, etc.,.).

In a place like Cozumel (i.e. small, relatively safe island) it's not that big of a deal to go your own way. Other places, probably not.