DW and I have finally done it. After years of talking about it, being put off by the pandemic, food poisoning events, illness spreads, fight videos, and boredom concerns, we have booked and paid for our first ever cruise vacation, now less than 60 days away. The recent news about cruise situations has not scared us off yet
.
We are taking a 7 day cruise on Royal Caribbean, on the Oasis of the Seas to the Bahamas. It may not be the “optimal” first cruise adventure one takes. However, early this year, friends of ours booked the cruise, and invited us to join them. Now, “them” encompasses a number (about 30) of their family members and other friends. Personally, I am a little wary to be traveling with that large a group of familiar people. But DW saw it as an asset, and she felt more comfortable having familiar faces around, so I gave in. These are good friends who have been very kind to us over the years, and not the type to "crowd" or insist that everyone do everything together. They are providing transportation to the cruise port (some hours away) for us, so we will save on port travel and parking expenses. I figure, on a ship that big, we likely will not be “forced” to running into them a lot.
Our preparation has mainly been watching various YouTube videos, which in general tend to be more upbeat about the experience. So I started this thread in this quiet, reserved community (HA!
) to get any "real" tips, encouragements, warnings, or observations that you think might help us.
In no particular order, here are some observations and questions.
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For the room, we selected the basic interior stateroom (and not close to the group we are going with, which is good from my perspective). From the videos they seem fine for the time we intend to spend in them (we have been in hotel rooms about the same size and survived).
Our room is in the middle decks, about a third of the way from the from of the ship, so that hopefully will mean no motion issues for our sleep.
In terms of potential seasickness, we should be fine, I been on smaller fishing boats and sail boats in fairly rough seas without a problem. DW, however, can get carsick, so we will bring medicine, though on that large boat I am hoping anything that might set off her motion sickness will be minimal.
The wireless cost, oh my! But, I cannot see myself totally detached for 7 days, so we bit the bullet and went BTD route. At least we can switch the 2 wireless slots we paid for among the 4 devices as needed. And we will keep our phones in “airplane” mode.
We are not “foodies”, so the free options are plenty for us. In fact, maybe too much. Neither of us normally eat 3 complete meals a day, and many times I just have one main meal, so we will have to resist the temptation.
I do not have a good sense of how "crowded" things will feel. Certainly it will be busy around the pools, but I am still trying to figure out how things will work for the rest of the ship and other activities.
The drink packages are not for us. We are fine with the free options and may bring some specific items that they allow. After seeing videos of folks having their 6th or 7th drink of the day by dinner time, I wonder how many “buzzed” people will be around – or are the drinks very watered down?
The exercise room and walking track seem fine
. I will likely be spending time every day here. It seems that few are up and about before 9AM, so I hope these places are fairly empty before 8AM.
We are not gamblers, and the arcade is more interesting to me than the casino. I just hope I do not look like an out of place old geezer there.
On port days, we are not planning any paid shore excursions, are find with getting exercise by walking around, and finding not-too-crowded beach spots to take a break in the Bahamas and Coco Cay. In the Bahamas the private beach options seem less crowded and safer, so we may spring for that.
On sea days I hope to do more than eat, hang out at the pool, and move from dining venue to dining venue eating on the hour (which is what I got from many of the YouTube videos
). I hope I can find quiet locations with a good ocean view, things to keep physically active, and people watch.
For packing, the things that stand out to us are:
(a) Bring a multi-port USB charger, the room will have limited outlets
(b) Any luggage brought better fit under the bed, to save room
(c) We will try to pack relatively light, and be prepared to BTD on laundry if necessary
(d) Magnetic stuff like hooks (I am looking at 80 lb or more rate ones) and containers will be helpful for hanging and holding things on the walls to save counter space.
I hope we have a variety of "date night" and/or dancing opportunities.
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So… any wisdom to impart on us (other than “RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!”, that ship has sailed
) is welcome.
