Cruises

Yes

 

Not sure how I missed this thread. Wife and I have been on 50 or so cruises. Just got back on the 2nd. I think we went on 5 this year. We have 3 booked next year; one on Carnival and 2 on Princess. The majority of ours are on Royal Caribbean but we've been on Carnival, Princess, and Norwegian as well. Been all over the Caribbean, Central and South America. Probably been to Cozumel 40 times.

 

Yowza.

 

On the cruise right now, and have been rewarded with:
* a completely booked cruise with very few kids!
* Incredible weather- all sun and mid to high 80's every day, no rain
* Probably the best food we've had on a Carnival line, ever. Great bands on the ship.
* Exceptional crowd. Made a few friends. No, we are not swingers, and thats not any weird code for anything. lol. One of them is like a 80 year old woman who's cool as shit.
* I wore my new 4Runner shirt with not a SINGLE comment from anyone! I can only assume this ship is completely void of any other 4R owners

Also, if you've never cruised before, just know that Aruba is amazing (Eagle Beach is where you want to go - $5 taxi ride). Amber Cove we've been to 3x before, but just noticed they have a huge (free) water park attached to the port. It was amazing. La Romana was also very nice, extra clean port. Very organized.

Tomorrow we travel to our final port, Curacao, prior to returning to Miami Sunday, so that leaves us at Sea for 2 days. God help my waistline. LOL.

 

Are you porting in Miami at night? Might want to stay up for that one. A guy will board the ship about two klicks out. He is the one who docks the ship. If your lucky they do a 180' inside the canal.

 

We just came back from a celebrity cruise. It was geeat and we got a free one to Alaska for 7 days. Heading out again in July

 

Stare at the breaking waves off the bow and you might see Flying Fish?

 

Haha thats hilarious because someone told me this, and I was like... uhhhh... how many rum runners have you had?? Then I looked and saw them. Very cool!!

 

We head out again in 31 days. Just to Mexico. Then back for a week and out again, this time Honduras and Belize too. After this winter hell we’ve been in I’m ready for some sun and sand.

 

Never been on a cruise. I would probably enjoy it. But if I were given the choice and a specific sum of money to do either, I think I would make another land-bound trip to the Rockies.

 

My sister is doing a cruise from Argentina around the Cape and up to Peru to do Machu Pichu. Got to admit I'm jealous but I hate being away from home for more than a week.

 

I like to watch the bioluminescence at night. However, once I was peering down into the water from one of the lower grated decks that's often awash, and an orca popped straight out of the water and stared me in the eye. It was so close I could taste its breath (not good).

 

My first time riding a horse, on the beach, and in the water at Jamaica! They asked me "tell us something about Va?" I says "we have a 155MM Howitzer!"
Then they said I look like Jim Carey, and called me "Shakaka" white devil!

 

I was handing out $20 dollar bills like 69's rap video!

 

I must have bee a sailor in a previous life cuz I can look at that all day.

 

The Coast Guard had to clean/clear the ship because a gay group chartered it and someone died.

 

Back in Miami!

 

You should stay in Miami for the week and go to the Caribbean Series baseball games. I really wish I was there.

 

I have to get to my Yorky! Or I would run around the swamp with my biologist freind.

 

I've done 3 ocean cruises, and 2 Viking river cruises in Europe. Hands down, a river cruise is far superior. A lot more to see, way smaller ships (and crowds), and you can't even tell you're moving. The attention and service you get is amazing.

My wife and I are doing a Great Lakes cruise for a week in July for our 50th. Will be interesting to compare.

 

Viking expedition ship, through 3 of the Great Lakes. Starts in Milwaukee and ends in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with quite a few stops in Canada. Pricey, but 50th anniversary, so...really looking forward to this one.

 

I know, right?

 

So its been a few weeks since getting back from the 8-day cruise upon the Carnival Magic (my 4th time on that ship) in a Lido Balcony room. Last year I had a Suite, but got such a great deal on the balcony, I couldn't pass it up!
Take aways: Aruba was fantastic! Got of the ship, rented a chair and umbrella ($80 yikes), and stayed there all day. There was a bar right behind us that we'd go get drinks and snacks from. We were there from 1pm - 11pm that day. Curacao was nice, lots of shopping. The other two ports were Dominican Republic (Amber Cove, La Romana) which bums me out, we've been to them several times and originally when I booked the cruise were supposed to go to Grand Turks & Half Moon Cay (both AMAZING) instead but for some reason a couple months before the cruise, Carnival switched it to Dominican.

The food on this cruise was the best on any cruise I've been on, and I've sailed on Royal Caribbean (Symphony - 2019, Adventure of the Seas - 2016).

We had excellent weather every single day! 85 and sunny. One day it was 85, sunny, and windy. Either way, freaking amazing!!

Brings me to: I won ANOTHER free cruise (that makes 2 that I need to use up now) I know, I know "what a problem to have" but I dont really care for the intineraries of the free cruise, yes I am a pain in the ass. lol I'd rather PAY and go to places I want to go, on the ship I want, in the room I prefer (suite or balcony). Free cruises usually try to get you in a cheapy interior room to ports that I dont really like (Mexico, etc).

The other day I booked 2025's January cruise on the - you guessed it!- Carnival Magic again. I just love the ship. It will be my 5th or 6th time on it. Then, methinks its time to switch it up.
For anyone interested, Carnival is having a pretty good sale right now with $500 onboard credit for each stateroom to spend!! So basically its like getting $500 off your cruise (You can use the $500 for your drink package, tips, any extra food, casino, etc). Here is the 2025 cruise info: https://www.carnival.com/booking/re...e=629&qbMetaCode=OB&qbRateCode=OCS&country=US

Also thinking of booking a cruise for this September.... still trying to find someone to go with me. Its such a struggle living the life of a jetsetter sometimes

 

Nice stories on here, and some nice pics(!). However, no cruises in my past, or future.

 

It is nice to get away, and Im only using my birth certificate dont have a passport. We just got a brief snow storm here. Im just on the edge of it.

 

Cruising offers so may different itineraries that lots of folks can find exactly what they're looking for. Personally, we never book anything but interior cabins. We now have 4 booked this year and my wife (retired) will likely go on 4 or 5 more without me. It's nice that we can drive to Galveston in a little over an hour. Leaving on Saturday for a quick 5 night trip to Mexico. Then home for a week and heading out on Princess for 7 nights with some friends. We use a private driver in Roatan to take us wherever we want to go. We've been there so many times that we know several places we love to snorkel and eat local food. Some of which not many people know about so not so crowded. Looking forward to some warm weather.

 

Going to Alaska in July, anyone have experience with an Alaska cruise?