🛳 The Lido Deck ⛱

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Does anyone else here enjoy cruising? :ship:

I’ve only been on one cruise in early 2024, but quickly fell in love with it and have two more planned, one of which we booked onboard.

We went on the Celebrity Silhouette and visited Nassau and Key West. Nassau was very busy the day we went, so we quickly retreated back to the ship. Key West was wonderful! We walked all over town, saw the southernmost point, the butterfly garden, the Hemingway home, and had a nice lunch and mojitos at an open air restaurant called Conch Republic, located at the marina. :sailboat:

What I liked most about Celebrity is the lack of children. There were very few kids on our cruise, allowing for a more relaxed environment. I neglected to do any research beforehand and showed up with mostly tropical pool attire. That was the wrong choice, as Celebrity encourages passengers to dress up, especially at night. We didn’t see anyone in tuxedos and ballgowns, but lots of cocktail dresses, sportcoats, and the like. Those who made the same fashion faux pas mostly stuck to the buffet for meals, which wasn’t an issue as the food was fantastic! We did feel out of place at the nicer bars and in the casino, so next time I’ll pack appropriately.

I played slots onboard, ending the trip with an extra $500. Since then, the casinos on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have been sending offers for “free” cruises. The reason I use quotes is because they charge taxes and port fees, so the cheapest “free” cruise for two people is about $300. That’s actually how I booked our upcoming Christmas cruise on Royal Caribbean. Celebrity was phenomenal, but this worked better for our schedules. I don’t relish the idea of a bunch of screaming kids running around, but “free” is “free.” :palm_tree:

Our next cruise goes to Nassau and Royal’s private island, Coco Cay. While some offers include drinks in the casino, this one did not, so I purchased the drink package as well as internet for all our devices and dinner at the steakhouse on formal night. All in all, the “free” cruise is costing us about $1,500, but that seems reasonable for an all inclusive vacation around Christmas. :tropical_drink:

Does anyone else sail on these casino offers? I received one for an 11 night ABC cruise on Royal, but an interior stateroom. If I can make the dates work, I’d love to go solo on a long cruise and wouldn’t mind an interior room. Speaking of going solo, I didn’t have any safety concerns onboard the Silhouette. I played slots every night until the casino closed around 2:30am and then walked around the ship afterwards just enjoying the ocean breeze. My DH goes to bed quite early, but I’ve always been a night owl! :mirror_ball: :crescent_moon:

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Fellow cruise lover here! Mr. Booney and I have been on several European cruises - three river cruises (Rhine, Douro, Danube) and three ocean (Western Mediterranean, Adriatic, Baltic). We absolutely love cruising as a way to travel. We’ve traveled on Ama Waterways and Uniworld for river cruises, and Viking Ocean for ocean cruises. My favorite so far was the Baltic cruise which went to all the Scandinavian countries, Germany and St. Petersburg, Russia (this was in 2019 before Russia invaded Ukraine). A close second is the Douro River cruise which is in Portugal (and we visited Spain pre-cruise). But we also loved the Danube River cruise we did in June this year, and all the others!

We are booked on Ama’s Paris to Normandy river cruise on the Seine next year, and Viking’s Italian Sojourn ocean cruise in 2026 which will take us to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Venice and points in between, and we’ll do a post-cruise extension in Verona and Lake Como. It really is a wonderful way to travel!

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:ferry: :ferry: :ferry: I have been on two river cruises, one sailing from Toronto to Montreal, ending with a four day stay in Montreal, and then returning to Toronto by train. It was referred to as “calm water cruising” as we were never traveling on the ocean. The second was a Riverboat Cruise on an old fashioned steamboat style ship, from Cincinnati to a three day stop New Orleans, returning again by boat.

I’m a bit phobic about being in the middle of the ocean with nothing in sight. I was comfortable with these cruises because no matter where the location, there was always land in sight.

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That sounds heavenly! :heart_eyes: I had no idea Viking did ocean cruises too!

I’ve been to quite a few European countries, but have yet to see the Mediterranean.

We were hesitant to try cruising because of the horror stories, most of which involve Carnival, but now I get it! I didn’t realize people still dressed up, and that’s really what sold me. It was fun, but not the out of control party I assumed it would be. Still kicking myself for bringing such casual outfits though… :frowning_face:

Do you notice a difference in dress code for river cruises vs ocean cruises?

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I was nervous about this at first, but learned to appreciate the nothingness! Some nights it was so dark you couldn’t see anything but the ship, but I actually enjoyed sitting alone on the empty decks or our balcony. It really cleared my mind!

On the Key West and Bahamas cruise, you can see land and other cruise ships much of the time, so it doesn’t feel that lonely. We went back to Miami one morning for a medical emergency, and then spent most of the sea day just far enough to see the skyline. That was quite the view! I associate Miami with traffic induced headaches and Advil, so it was nice from a relaxed perspective.

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@UglyBetty - There are no formal nights on Viking cruises, which Mr. Booney and I love. Plus, there is a variety of restaurants to choose from, so you can go casual every night at dinner if so desired in the World Cafe, which is their buffet. Ama and Uniworld have a Captain’s dinner near the end of the cruise, but no one dresses really formally. Mr. Booney will wear a sport coat, and I’ll put on a dress or a nice pair of slacks and blouse and we fit right in. Many years ago I took an Alaskan cruise on Holland America and had to bring an evening gown, which was a pain.

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Good to know about Holland America! We were thinking of Alaska at some point, but I’m not bringing an evening gown on vacation! :dizzy_face:

I understand about the formal nights. We stuck to more casual areas of the ship, and I felt too under dressed to try the martini bar or go dancing, but luckily there were more relaxed bars at the buffet and around the pool deck. The dressier casino patrons usually left around 10pm, so that’s when I ventured down there to play with the other degenerates. :joy:

Celebrity’s casino is non-smoking, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way with the open design. There was an outdoor smoking area nearby, and we met some real characters out there!

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Booney, I remember you telling us about one of your cruises, on one of the other boards. Your next cruises sound great. My husband would like to do a Scandinavian one.

We have only done one cruise, a river cruise down the Rhine, on Viking. We went with a group and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the small size of the ship and fewer people. I would not like to have to dress up!

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