🛳 The Lido Deck 🏖

Off Topic
1

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:

3 Likes
2

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!

5 Likes
3

: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.

5 Likes
4

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?

3 Likes
5

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.

2 Likes
6

@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.

2 Likes
7

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!

1 Like
8

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!

2 Likes
9

Back from our cruise on Royal Caribbean.

It was HORRIBLE. The ship was at 100% capacity, there were lines for EVERYTHING. 20+ minutes for the buffet, hours for the main dining room, and everything else was an upcharge. I made reservations for everything, but so did everyone else, hence the lines and waits.

The food was atrocious except in the PAID steakhouse. The menus elsewhere were like that of a daycare. Everything was bland and the selection was poor, with most items being “kid friendly” chicken nuggets, fries, hot dogs, hamburgers. I love Indian and that was plan B if nothing else was appealing… unfortunately, even the Indian was lackluster due to low quality ingredients. At least it had some much needed flavor.

We had the drink package, and several bartenders said they’ve been told by Royal to measure liquor exactly for drink package customers (probably some liability reason) so all our drinks were served in glasses but could have fit in a Dixie cup.

They have these soda cups with RFID sensors and the soda machines have a timer, so if you try one and it’s flat, you can’t just get another right away. There were only 4 Coke Freestyle machines for this huge ship, and at any time 3 weren’t working. Out of syrup, out of CO2. I’m going to call Royal and ask for a refund on the soda portion of our drink plan, because it was impossible to get one! Yes, you can ask for a soda at any bar, but they were pouring Coca Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite from 2 liter bottles sitting out, so the ice would melt and your soda would be watered down and warm. No cans, and any soda beyond those 3 required the Coke Freestyle machine. If I’m splurging on sugar soda, I like Dr. Pepper, so the bars weren’t an option.

Even with a full ship, I wasn’t bothered by the kids as the whole aft of the ship is basically an amusement park. I just stayed away from those areas. They had everything a kid could want, including several kids clubs and actual daycare for the youngest cruisers. Even so, we did see many unattended kids at the buffet, screaming at the top of their lungs. They were also in the casino, which I thought was odd and uncomfortable. One of two adult areas of the ship always had kids except after their mandated curfew of 1am. The ship was so huge, you could have walked through on another level instead of cutting through the casino, so I don’t understand why they didn’t just close it off to anyone not of gambling age (I think 18 on a cruise ship?)

The other adult area was a solarium like most ships have, but again, lots of kids because of the paid restaurant the geniuses at Royal stupidly placed there. The bar on the second level got pretty rowdy at night with football, and you could hear these drunk guys yelling in the “relaxing” adults only pool area. It was just a mess, and I felt like there was nowhere to relax without screaming kids or drunk adults.

Our stateroom was okay. It was pretty outdated and needs a refresh, which they’re doing in a few months. Big issue was the AC. It barely worked even after maintenance came. There was very little storage compared to the Celebrity Silhouette. We just kept our bags packed and would push them under the bed after pulling out clothes. By the last day, every cubby and drawer was stuffed with laundry. I just couldn’t believe the lack of storage, especially since the room could accommodate four adults!

9 Likes
10

that sounds horrible
stuck on a boat with screaming kids

1 Like
11

It was a “free” cruise through the casino on Celebrity which is owned by Royal. I lost $4 if that tells you how little I played. The whole thing was just awful, but if you’re a family from the Midwest with no taste buds and ill behaved kids, it’s the cruise line for you!

I can’t believe how poorly behaved children are today. This “gentle parenting” crap is creating a generation of monsters, most of whom are glued to iPads. Say what you want, but the fear of a slap across the face never hurt me. I knew my parents meant business and to behave in their presence, and thanks to that, I got to go places other children didn’t. And guess what? Those other kids grew into adults who still don’t know how to conduct themselves in public. I’m not advocating for the belt, but SOME form of punishment would be beneficial to both the kid and the general public.

6 Likes
12

I feel like I’ve just been offended.

3 Likes
13

I may or may not have been indirectly referring to certain family members. No further comment. :joy: :rofl:

1 Like
14

So Hollywood is wrong again:

image
image1920Ă—1251 165 KB

2 Likes