The Blue Lagoon excursion at Nassau was alright.  My daughter got to hug Dolphin which was an incredibly big deal for her.  Other than that there's a beach and a grill and some other water activity stuff.  

Coco Cay is pretty cool all things considered and that's your other stop.  It's just a big private island with a bunch of beaches and a few restaurants.  So if you like being on the beach then there's no reason you wouldn't like it.

That's the only cruise I've ever done.  It wasn't the best vacation ever but it was decent enough.  I was thoroughly impressed with Royal Caribbean's ability to minimize all the pain points that I would have normally expected.  Getting on was easy, getting off was easy, the room was in good shape, the boat was clean.  

Honestly, my only dig is that the food is mediocre.  If you get pumped for Applebees or T.G.I. Friday's then you won't be disappointed but there is absolutely nothing special about it.  People who go on about the food don't know shit about good food.  They are just excited that they can eat as much of it as they want.

Hmmm. Obviously you weren't in the Navy.

And their fat kids who scream a lot.

or e coli

Expect to make cruise ship buddies who you will exchange contact info with and never talk to again.

Can't speak to Nassau, but we went on a Celebrity cruise last year and loved it. They had amazing food and things to do all the time. Def not people of walmart. They should have an app with a daily calender of on-board things to do that you can select to help you remember. There were shows almost every evening, movies and even guest speakers. For us, it was a great experience.

jd1

The aquarium at Atlantis is the only reason I would get off the boat in Nassau (unless you’ve already been there).
If you do self-assist debarkation, you can be in your vehicle and driving home by 0715.

Newlyweds, nearly deads & overfeds.

Are the Alaskan cruises better?

Lines to get in line for other lines. Pools closed because poop. High School cafateria food.Noise.

Bring Imodium tablets. Don’t tell the crew if you get the Hershey squirts- they may try to make you stay in your cabin.

A large plastic bottle of mouthwash filled with vodka and blue food coloring works as well

In Minecraft

Walmart at sea.

Well it depends on the cruise line.  Some cater to more mature clients.  Other are family oriented, amusement parks at sea.  Others are high rise ghettos at sea.

Royal Caribbean out of Tampa?

Extreme boredom while on the ship

What happened to the chicks claiming they were raped?

None of these happened on the cruise I took last year except noise, and the noise was in areas that are supposed to be noisy.

Floating Walmart full of the people of Walmart. Fuck that

The ARF hatred of Cruises is strong, so here is a counterpoint:

Depending on the cruise line and length of cruise, the experience can vary. My wife and I do 7 days minimum and don’t do Carnival, aka, the floating ghetto of the sea.

If you want to get off the ship and see the port, do that. Just be on the ship before sail time, they WILL leave you behind. The only exception is if you go on a Cruise Line sponsored tour, which they will wait for.

Wash/Sanitize your hands often, especially before you eat and drink. Despite what the haters say here, I have been on many cruises have seen staff on all of them cleaning/sanitizing constantly as things like illness outbreaks are bad for business.


A cruise is what you make of it. My wife loves to sit on the balcony and read, watch the world go by and never have to worry about getting food or drinks if she wants. I am similar but roam around the ship more, talking to people while drinking a nice dram. Even if you never talk to a person again, it is interesting to meet people from around the US/World.

We select cruises that go to ports where there are things we want to see or have never been in. Last cruise, we went to Barbados and loved it there. I went to a Mount Gay Rum tasting and Harrison’s Cave(flat out amazing!), it was an excellent tour.

Cruise Ships are not for everyone though. Some will not like it or find it boring. Different people like different things, so see if you like it.

Don't be this guy: https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Michigan-man-who-had-seizure-on-Royal-Caribbean-cruise-forced-to-pay-2500-bill-before-evacuating/5-2726825/&page=1&anc=109187697#i109187697

Make sure you have good insurance coverage.

We always pick a late boarding time. The crowds are gone and you basically walk right on.

Another reason is that the rooms aren't ever ready until almost 1:45-2:00pm. This way we can go straight there and drop our shit off then go eat.

Nice.

Are you a scuba diver?
Divers’ Alert Network is worth EVERY penny

https://dan.org/membership-insurance/membership/

They started a GoFundMe and are enjoying their internet fame.

Bring extra ammo.

You can expect a few days of everything being taken care of for you. You can also expect your days to be centered around food. Specifically, when, where and what to eat.

Yep, eating is a big deal. My advice is to go to the buffet only when it's the only (or best option). Don't assume that you have to eat at the trough. So, while everyone else is lining up at the breakfast buffet, you and the Mrs. might consider heading to the main dining hall. It's the same food, but you'll have a waiter bringing it to you and your meal will be more relaxed. Consider doing at least one meal at one of the on-board specialty restaurants. The steakhouses have always been good on every cruise we've taken. Also, the sushi/Japanese places are usually quite good. Even at the buffet, there's always a strong international vibe. Try new things.

You can also expect to get lost on the ship. My advice is to spend your first afternoon/evening on the ship exploring. Walk every deck (other than the lodging only decks) and see what's there. It sucks to get to the end of the cruise and discover some really cool out-of the-way spot you didn't know existed. Most of the people are going to flock to the main pool areas and the big bars. You be a contrarian and see if you can find the quieter, less-well-traveled places (assuming you're looking for solitude). One of the best places to find (IMO) is the promenade deck. Hopefully, there's a lower deck that allows you to walk all the way around the ship. Taking a stroll while the ship is motion is really enjoyable. Often this deck will have wide areas with lounge chairs where you can be left alone to read a book, enjoy the view of the water and simply relax.

You can expect to have more activity options than you know what to do with. Read the day's schedule that your cabin steward will leave in your stateroom. Try to take in some of the scheduled activities. There will be big production shows in the theaters, but there will also be smaller music offerings (a jazz combo or a rock and roll band, for example). Check these out. Also, try to attend some of the more cultural talks and presentations. Usually, they'll do a talk about the various ports of call. Go to these so you have a better idea of what to do and see on your port days. Lots of other stuff like karaoke, comedy shows, trivia contests, etc. Think of it like summer camp. Try to get into the spirit.

On that note, you can expect to be tempted with ways to spend additional money on board. A lot of the activities you see on the daily schedule will be attempts to sell you shit. If it's some sort of scheduled activity at the spa, gift shop or art gallery, it's probably a sales pitch. You can safely skip all that shit.

Also, don't believe what they tell you about shopping. There are no deals on cruise ships or in port. Just be a good consumer and compare prices to what you'd pay back home. The booze in the duty-free shop isn't any cheaper than your local liquor store. That fancy watch in the ship shop can be bought for the same price or less any day of the year. That said, usually the ships gift shop offers sale prices on the last night of the cruise so if you want ship souvenirs, wait until the end to buy.

You can expect to have sort of artificial, perhaps disappointing experiences during shore excursions. The best excursions will be fun and enjoyable. Others will leave you feeling just a little bit used. You are a tourist which means you are raw meat for the locals. Their lives revolve around separating you from your money.  Go into with eyes wide open. Read the reviews before booking excursions and heed what previous guests have to say. Don't get me wrong, I've had some great excursions (whale watching in Alaska, a cultural tour of Merida, guided tours of Havana Cuba in historic American auto taxis, various beach days, etc). But some of the others have been kind of cheesy and not really worth the cost. Choose wisely (again, read the reviews). All that said, I do recommend booking excursions. We tried freelancing on our own once and didn't enjoy it. The problem is that the crusie ports are huge tourist traps so unless you can get away from the ship you won't see anything but rip-offs and come ons.

You can expect to get to know certain members of the staff and certain guests you run into repeatedly. That's part of the fun.

You can expect an extremely small stateroom. Don't worry, you won't spend much time there. Hopefully, you got a balcony, because it's nice to have a quiet place to sit and enjoy coffee or to chill before dinner. Oh, there will be like two outlets in the entire cabin so bring a gang plug (surge protectors are not usually allowed).

You can expect to not need as much clothes as you might think. You can get by with less. That said, you can expect to want some nicer clothes with you. If you're going to a specialty restaurant you'll want a collared shirt and nicer pants at least. Be aware, some people get dressed up in fancy suits/dresses for formal nights (and pay the ship to take their picture). You don't have to do that, but you don't necessarily want to look like a slob either.

Cruising isn't for everybody but my wife and I enjoy it. We've been on four cruises together and have another planned for early next year. It's different type of vacation but certainly a viable approach to getting away and usually a pretty good value.

Hopefully not looking for your next wife

There's good advice in here.

I will say that Nassau is one of the places we decline to get off the ship. It truly isn't worth the effort of disembarking and getting back on.

Cozumel and Costa Maya however, we explore on our own since I speak Spanish. It's easy to chat up a friendly cabbie and find something worthwhile.

If you are going to do that, spend some time looking at google maps of the cruise port. They are like casinos in that they are designed to be deliberately confusing & super difficult to find the exit. I look and see where the taxis are, then when I get there I use a compass app on my phone to head in the right direction.

Also watch lots of YT vidyas about the ports and excursions. There's plenty of GREAT info out there, just gotta consume it.

Don't do it.

If you want to get away from downtown Nassau, hop in a #10 bus line. Get off at the stop for Orange Hill ( it’s a small hotel) you will most likely have the beach to yourself. A short walk from there is a shack that serves awesome conch salad. There’s also a nice coffee shop/diner called Louis and Steens. There’s a small plaza nearby called the Caves Village, also some small cliff side caves you can explore. In Nassau( or nearby) there’s a zoo, botanical garden, fort, Watlings Rum distillery, Greycliff cigar factory, Pirates Museum. There’s a loop of restaurants called the fish fry that’s on the waterfront.

Getting stiffed for $2500 because you have a medical issue.

Don’t have a seizure

A bunch of static from GD, where we never go anywhere or take any sort of chances.

Too dangerous.

Hope you have fun, I can't see how I would enjoy that experience at all.

lol

Be sure to take enough to pay for any medical treatment you may receive or they will not let you disembark.

Now that i think about it, Nassau was the one place where we DIDN'T initially book an excursion and decided to just explore. We got off the ship and discovered we were stuck in a tourist trap of T-shirt shops, cheap jewelry retailers, etc. . . . We wandered around an bit before checking out the guys hawking tours near the dock. We paid about $40 per person for an island van tour. We joined 13 other passengers in a 15-passenger van with A/C that barely worked. First stop was a shitty rocky beach. Next stop was some fancy hotel resort. We couldn't bear the thought of getting back in that cramped hot van so we pulled the driver aside and told him we were bailing. We ate lunch at the resort and then hopped a cab back to the ship.

Lesson learned. Do your research. Know what you're doing BEFORE you get off the ship. You don't have to book through the ship, but you do have to have something arranged unless your plan is simply to go drink (nothing wrong with that). We usually book through the ship but we've made arrangements on our own (through Viator, etc) a couple of times. Those worked out fine. You just have to make sure you're back on the ship in time because they won't wait for you. They will wait for tardy groups that were booked through the ship, though.

One thing I appreciate about many Royal Caribbean ships is that they have handwashing stations that everyone must pass through before you enter the dining area. Wash your hands before you go in. Wash them again before you actually eat since you likely touched the serving utensils and other surfaces.

Depends on the line and location. Never been to those locations.

Wash your hands, stay safe and have fun. And ignore the cellar-dwellers.

We've been on 10+ cruises and never had a bad one.

If you've never been on one how do you know if they're your "thing" or not?

FWIW, I had to be talked into my first one. I'm looking forward to my fifth.

We did watch them shut down the kiddy pool area because some kids diaper over flowed. RC ship.  My God, they could have performed surgery in the pool after they were done.  Looked like the pool cleanup scene in Caddy Shack but they were wearing yellow protective outfits.  Seriously, they spent a minimum of two hours and scrubbed everything. 3 guys doing the work.  

Dining halls are very subdued, except when they do the parade of chefs and wait staff.

Are you crossing the line?

If so bring evidence that you're a trusty shellback.

Slimy pollywogs need to be punished.

Don't listen to the naysayers.

Good for you. It's a good time, lots of food, lots of drinks, and plain/ average looking people.

Go live a little. Gonna die sometime, I'd bet you are going to meet your maker on this particular excursion.