Cruise: I was wrong.

Tim

Tim

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Wife booked us and the boys (14, 16) on a Bahamas cruise. I’ve spent the last several months dreading the trip…buffet, bars and casinos aren’t my thing. With an introverted, HFA, 16 yo tagging along on top of that.

I was wrong. Had a GREAT time. Highly recommend Royal Caribbean. 4 day cruise out of Canaveral to Bahamas. Only hit the buffet once and had great food all weekend long. Boys had a blast!

Didn’t take a ton of pics, which was intentional. I didn’t want to spend the weekend with a phone in hand.
 
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I haven’t been on one of those for the same reasons. I don’t like crowds. The thought has always intrigued me, I’ve just shied away.
 
Last cruise i took to the Bahamas i spent $350 on the ticket, $700 on alcohol, and lost $300 at the casino. The boat lost one engine so we got a $100 rebate since our time on the island went from 2 days to 1. We were so hungover we woke up with about 4 hours left on the island. My group went snorkeling while i stayed on the boat with the captain and drank red stripe. It was a good time for 25yo me. Nowadays, i think id be more like you. Relax and enjoy time with my family. Congrats on the successful voyage.
 
Takes a big sorcerer to admit he's wrong! Glad you had a great trip.

I, too, thought I was not a "cruise" guy, but several trips on Norwegian CL straightened me out on that score. It's still not my 1st choice for travel, but I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at another one.
 
I avoided cruise ships for a really long time. 2 years ago, the better half finally wore me down and I gave in. Must say that I was pleasantly surprised and it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. While I had a good time, and will do it again, it’s still not my favorite way to travel on vacation.
 
Burt Gummer said:
I haven’t been on one of those for the same reasons. I don’t like crowds. The thought has always intrigued me, I’ve just shied away.
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We found all sorts of quiet spaces to chill. I was really impressed. I think the cruise line makes a huge difference. For example, I’m pretty sure the Carnival line is all about “free” booze and party all night.
 
Tim said:
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Wife booked us and the boys (14, 16) on a Bahamas cruise. I’ve spent the last several months dreading the trip…buffet, bars and casinos aren’t my thing. With an introverted, HFA, 16 yo tagging along on top of that.

I was wrong. Had a GREAT time. Highly recommend Royal Caribbean. 4 day cruise out of Canaveral to Bahamas. Only hit the buffet once and had great food all weekend long. Boys had a blast!

Didn’t take a ton of pics, which was intentional. I didn’t want to spend the weekend with a phone in hand.
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We did a Disney four day three night recently. Were on the Blue Lagoon ferry two days before the one capsized and killed some lady. Fun times. It was a safety nightmare and I made sure to sit on the top level. The public life jackets were basically locked away

Cruise ship was the Disney Wish and it was phenomenal
 
11B CIB said:
We did a Disney four day three night recently. Were on the Blue Lagoon ferry two days before the one capsized and killed some lady. Fun times. It was a safety nightmare and I made sure to sit on the top level. The public life jackets were basically locked away

Cruise ship was the Disney Wish and it was phenomenal
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We were on “Allure of the Seas” and docked next to “Wish” in Nassau. Impressive ships!

Our excursion in Nassau got cancelled because of that ferry incident. We chose to stay on board and didn’t even venture into Nassau. Spent the following day on Royal Caribbean’s “private” island.
 
We were on the Carnival Liberty from Nov 11-16. It was our first one in about 5 years. Went with friends and left the kids at home. Had a great time. Grand Turk was awesome. Our stop in Bimini was cancelled due to rough seas. Ship couldn't safely dock. So we had another sea day and drank the bars down.
 
Tim said:
We found all sorts of quiet spaces to chill. I was really impressed. I think the cruise line makes a huge difference. For example, I’m pretty sure the Carnival line is all about “free” booze and party all night.
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Carnival is more of a party atmosphere imo, not my scene.
Tim said:
We were on “Allure of the Seas” and docked next to “Wish” in Nassau. Impressive ships!

Our excursion in Nassau got cancelled because of that ferry incident. We chose to stay on board and didn’t even venture into Nassau. Spent the following day on Royal Caribbean’s “private” island.
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Was actually gonna suggest you trying an Oasis class (Allure is one of them) ship for your next cruise, typically they do 7 night cruises. I’ve been on the Voyager class, Freedom Class and Oasis Class ships, all three are immense, the Oasis is the biggest of the three I’ve been on and imo it feels the least crowded. The only time it feels like a lot of people onboard are the muster drill, and the disembarkation on the final morning, the rest of the time there’s so much to do on the ship that they (both the ship and crew imo) do a very good job of making it feel like much smaller more intimate spaces.

Cruising is our favorite form of vacation, haven’t been on one since Covid, hoping to get one in either this or next summer.
 
If there is more than 1 or 2 other people on a boat I ain’t going. No matter the food and booze. But glad it worked out for you and yours. Different strokes for different folks and all.

Did you at least take a good long piss over a rail? That’s the only thing I think I’d shoot for on a cruise.
 
We did a Disney cruise in 2019. Glad we fit it in before Covid shut down cruises.
It is the most memorable thing my kids ever did. Swimming with dolphins, sting ray city, climbing a waterfall, helmet diving. Wife and I took a cocktail making class, did a champagne tasting, and won some trivia contests when we weren’t with the kids.
I’d do it again, but the best parts were off-ship.
 
Ferrisfan said:
We did a Disney cruise in 2019. Glad we fit it in before Covid shut down cruises.
It is the most memorable thing my kids ever did. Swimming with dolphins, sting ray city, climbing a waterfall, helmet diving. Wife and I took a cocktail making class, did a champagne tasting, and won some trivia contests when we weren’t with the kids.
I’d do it again, but the best parts were off-ship.
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After seeing the other incidents with ships losing power and people camping out on the decks, I made sure we had a balcony room. I wasn’t going to get trapped with no access to the outside lol

We did a dolphin swimming thing in Nassau and it was really awesome. The dolphins would come up behind you on a boogie board, push their nose into your foot and just rocket you across this cove at top speed
 
Shari and I took our first cruise together last February. It was an alcohol and gambling free cruise that we booked through Templeton Tours. It was the “Singing at Sea” cruise, and there was gospel/christian music EVERYWHERE!!! It was AWESOME!!! My pastor is kind of a celebrity in the gospel world (he’s done a LOT of work with the Gaithers singing and playing bass), and he was pushing us last summer to book it. SOOOOO glad we did!!
 
Tim said:
Our excursion in Nassau got cancelled because of that ferry incident. We chose to stay on board and didn’t even venture into Nassau. Spent the following day on Royal Caribbean’s “private” island
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My experience was that Nassau is a dump, and not worth leaving the ship for.

I loved both the cruises we went on and would love to go on another one. A number of other things stand in our way, unfortunately.
 
1911gobang said:
Shari and I took our first cruise together last February. It was an alcohol and gambling free cruise that we booked through Templeton Tours. It was the “Singing at Sea” cruise, and there was gospel/christian music EVERYWHERE!!! It was AWESOME!!! My pastor is kind of a celebrity in the gospel world (he’s done a LOT of work with the Gaithers singing and playing bass), and he was pushing us last summer to book it. SOOOOO glad we did!!
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My parents went on a Gaither cruise. Stupid expensive because the bars and casinos aren't making any money for them. I think their trip cost twice what my honeymoon cruise did even though we stayed in a nicer room.
 
My wife wanted to do a cruise for our honeymoon (anniversary Dec 11). I was reluctant, you know, in the navy and all. We also were not booze cruise folks. Eating and beer and cocktails? Hell yeah, but not full-on alcoholic ragers with a bunch of young 20-somethings. A friend of my mom's was a travel agent, suggested Holland America...smaller ships, a bit of an older clientele, not a party barge but more subdued and a bit stuffier.

We did a week in the central Caribbean... AVIs, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Johns.

This was our boat:

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I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I have wanted to go back since. Next year is our 25th anniversary and I would love to do another cruise.
 
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I loved our Alaska cruise. I loathe beaches, but my wife and friends insisted on a Caribbean cruise. Not only did I hate every minute of it, but junior threw up on the shuttle bus back to the car, and a few hours later I was hit with the worst case of norovirus I ever had. No more for me, thanks.
 
GoWolfpack said:
My experience was that Nassau is a dump, and not worth leaving the ship for.

I loved both the cruises we went on and would love to go on another one. A number of other things stand in our way, unfortunately.
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Nassau can be a little dodgy. It's very touristy with shops that sell higher end stuff mixed in with counterfeits of higher end stuff. And then there's the straw market. And then there are the thieves and ne'erdowells that will stalk you from street to street until you stop and stare them down. Ask me how I know.
 
RR said:
Nassau can be a little dodgy. It's very touristy with shops that sell higher end stuff mixed in with counterfeits of higher end stuff. And then there's the straw market. And then there are the thieves and ne'erdowells that will stalk you from street to street until you stop and stare them down. Ask me how I know.
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Same thing happened to me. A couple guys, one with the most yellow eyes I've ever seen was following us and yelling. Everytime i turned around he was trying to get me to cut into alleys between the buildings. It was off putting for sure.
 
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Mr. Bggs said:
Same thing happened to me. A couple guys, one with the most yellow eyes I've ever seen was following us and telling. Everytime i turned around he was trying to get me to cut into alleys between the buildings. It was off putting for sure.
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In our case, the first one was obvious. I had to cross the street three times to pick up on his accomplice. I sent my wife and kids into a store and took off at a dead run toward him with I'm sure the most murderous look he ever saw on my face. They both bolted. We headed back to the boat shortly after that.
 
Our foray into Nassau was actually rather pleasant, but we never left the cruise port.

Our cruise-sponsored excursion was cancelled last minute, so the wife booked an independent glass bottom boat & snorkeling deal. We were supposed to meet them "At the Cruise Port", but couldn't find them anywhere.

Asked 4-5 different people ranging from dudes hustling cab fares to a parking attendant - people that weren't affiliated with us in any way. Without exception everyone we asked for help went out of their way for us without any hesitation. I had a great impression of the people.

We ended up not connecting with the party boat and headed back to the ship. So...maybe you need to get more than a block away from the port to encounter the riff-raff.
 
RR said:
In our case, the first one was obvious. I had to cross the street three times to pick up on his accomplice. I sent my wife and kids into a store and took off at a dead run toward him with I'm sure the most murderous look he ever saw on my face. They both bolted. We headed back to the boat shortly after that.
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I have pretty the much the exact same story to tell...but mine was in Chicago at ~2am.
 
I think most major tourist ship port cities are like that. St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands is like that. Pretty city and amazing beaches but you spend half your time telling people 'no' or drilling holes with the death eyes.

The one Caribbean city I really liked was Basseterre in St. Kitts. It had none of that.
 
Tim said:
Our foray into Nassau was actually rather pleasant, but we never left the cruise port.

Our cruise-sponsored excursion was cancelled last minute, so the wife booked an independent glass bottom boat & snorkeling deal. We were supposed to meet them "At the Cruise Port", but couldn't find them anywhere.

Asked 4-5 different people ranging from dudes hustling cab fares to a parking attendant - people that weren't affiliated with us in any way. Without exception everyone we asked for help went out of their way for us without any hesitation. I had a great impression of the people.

We ended up not connecting with the party boat and headed back to the ship. So...maybe you need to get more than a block away from the port to encounter the riff-raff.
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Yeah we have done Nassau three times. The last time we got a bit bold and ventured away from the port area and went out into the streets a bit. Found some really cool small restaurants with great local food. Beautiful areas with some riffraff mixed in. I just got tired of being stalked by the riffraff and thought I'd make an impression.
 
Chuckman said:
I think most major tourist ship port cities are like that. St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands is like that. Pretty city and amazing beaches but you spend half your time telling people 'no' or drilling holes with the death eyes.

The one Caribbean city I really liked was Basseterre in St. Kitts. It had none of that.
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I don't even remember which islands we hit on our Caribbean cruise other than St. Kitts and Nassau, but some of the beaches were a total dump. The islands are just littered with unfinished money-laundering construction projects. The one beach we were on was not white sand by any stretch, and was full of a bunch of trash concrete embeds with rebar jutting out about 15 feet into the water's edge.
 
I will say that Grand Turk has by far been my favorite port of call so far. If you ever get a chance to go, get off the ship, go through the duty free shops and turn left. Walk down the beach to Jack's Shack. Rent a chair and umbrella, grab some drinks and some jerk chicken and enjoy life. It was an amazing trip for many reasons.
 
Supermatch said:
I don't even remember which islands we hit on our Caribbean cruise other than St. Kitts and Nassau, but some of the beaches were a total dump. The islands are just littered with unfinished money-laundering construction projects. The one beach we were on was not white sand by any stretch, and was full of a bunch of trash concrete embeds with rebar jutting out about 15 feet into the water's edge.
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That sounds like Junkano Beach at Freeport. and I agree.
 
Supermatch said:
I don't even remember which islands we hit on our Caribbean cruise other than St. Kitts and Nassau, but some of the beaches were a total dump. The islands are just littered with unfinished money-laundering construction projects. The one beach we were on was not white sand by any stretch, and was full of a bunch of trash concrete embeds with rebar jutting out about 15 feet into the water's edge.
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St. Thomas has Magen's Bay, it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful/best beaches in the world. It was stunning. There were some nice beaches on St. Kitts, on the Caribbean side. The Atlantic side, when we were there, had pounding waves dumping a bunch of seaweed.*

When I was in the navy and doing some stuff out of Roosevelt Roads we saw a lot of other beaches and islands, and I agree, there were a lot of awful, polluted, nasty beaches.

*This was December, 1999, so my info is dated.
 
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RR said:
That sounds like Junkano Beach at Freeport. and I agree.
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Looking at some photos, I'm about 99% sure it was St. Kitts, because the beach wasn't at the cruise terminal and we had to take a cab to get there.

The beach at Turks and Caicos was nice, until the local peddlers started walking their horses into the water where everyone was swimming and piles of horse crap start floating everywhere.
 
Supermatch said:
Looking at some photos, I'm about 99% sure it was St. Kitts, because the beach wasn't at the cruise terminal and we had to take a cab to get there.

The beach at Turks and Caicos was nice, until the local peddlers started walking their horses into the water where everyone was swimming and piles of horse crap start floating everywhere.
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That happens on Cape Lookout and the outer banks lol. My sons said he'd rather get bit by a shark than bump up against a big ol' horse turd.
 
They must feed them piles of sugar cane or something down there too, because those turds are real whoppers compared to what I see on the local greenway trails.
 
St. John next to St. Thomas is actually very nice and the beaches on the North side are the most beautiful I have seen. Like a postcard.
If I go back I’ll be bypassing St. Thomas.
 
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HOLY CRAP! They DEFINITEY hid this well....I had no idea until just now. Missed the blood donor ask on Saturday as well.

www.foxnews.com

Royal Caribbean cruise vacation from Florida turns deadly

A 16-year-old died at a hospital after he reportedly fell from a balcony on Saturday on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas cruise ship.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com

That area where the kid landed is on the "Central Park" section. Quiet cafe where I got coffee and breakfast each morning.
 
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