Hey Y’all. If you were noticing my absence due to the lack of responses in the comments section of my posts, I didn’t disappear. I was just taking a long overdue cruise vacation the last two weeks. As I mentioned in my last net worth review, I spent the vacation fund and took my family on a Caribbean cruise vacation for a week.
Was my cruise vacation fun? Honestly, it wasn’t that much fun (for me). To start off, I was supposed to leave Toronto, Ontario at around 5:45 pm and arrive in Orlando, Floria at around 9 pm and reach my hotel by 10 pm on April 05, 2018. My flight was delayed by about three hours and I didn’t reach my hotel until 2:30 am the next morning. What an exhausting start to my long awaited cruise vacation.
Flights, Hotels, Car Rental Were Not Included
The cruise vacation package did not include hotel, flights and car rental, we had to pay extra for those. With that in mind, my family decided to go to Orlando, Floria early and spent a couple of days there before we board the cruise. We ended up making day trips to Legoland and Sea Life in Orlando before we board the cruise. For more than $100 USD per person to get into Legoland, I definitely think it’s a bit too pricey.
Long Line Ups For Check-ins
Boarding time started at about 11 am on Sunday, April 08, 2018. We reached the port at around 12:15 pm and it took us almost two hours to board the ship and check in. If you are booking multiple rooms, make sure that you book on the same deck and on the same side of the ship. We had to line up to register twice at different lines as we booked two rooms on different decks. My three-year-old son was definitely giving me grief during those two hours of waiting.
Small Cabins
Some of my friends that had been on a cruise before warned me that the cabins will be pretty small. I was aware, but I didn’t know that it’s really that small until two adults and two kids need to fit in a room that’s less than approximately 150 square feet. It was a struggle to bathe my kids as there’s only a standing room shower inside our small cabin.
Everything Costs Money
I am pretty frugal, but I am willing to pony up a few dollars to buy what I enjoy. However, when I feel that I am being ripped off, I am not going to even consider any purchases. Here’s a list of things that cost you an arm and a leg on the cruise.
- Non-alcoholic drinks cost $12 per day per person
- Alcoholic drinks are $9 per drink, $35 for five drinks and $60 for unlimited drinnks per day. You’ll have to buy it for all adults in the cabin if you want unlimited
- There are photographers everywhere to take pictures for you. The cost is $120 for six digital prints if you want to purchase them. Yes, that’s right, just six and it’s not a typo. For $300 you get all the digital prints
- Half the restaurants on the ship, you’ll have to pay and pay a lot to dine there
- It costs $9 for a coconut/pineapple drink if you want a little extra alcohol, it’s $12
- You have to pay for laundry by the pieces. Starting at $3 per piece. That’s right, per piece not per load
- All prices are in USD and there is also an additional 18% gratitude fees on top of every purchase. The worst part, not all of the gratitude goes to the crew members that serve you
Long Wait For The Elevator and Dinning
I am not the most patience of all people and I am not a big fan of waiting in line when I am on vacation. When there are about 6000 vacationers packed in a very small area, the wait to move around the ship could be quite frustrating. It’s even worse during the peak breakfast and lunch rush hours. The line up at the restaurants is quite crazy too during the peak hours.
Things I Did Like On A Cruise
This post is not a ranting post where I will go on and on about my terrible first cruising experience. I am just trying to share and provide an honest opinion so that people can decide if cruising is a suitable experience for them. There are some positives and I did enjoy some of the amenities on the ship. Here are the top five things that I actually enjoyed:
- The live shows on a nightly basis. I watched most of the shows and they were definitely great
- There was live music with either a DJ or a band
- I get to visit multiple ports and get to tour different islands
- The views from the ship were breathtaking
- I get to meet people from all over the world
Tips For Cruising Virgins
If you had never cruised before, here are a few tips to help you get the best out of your cruise vacation:
- Cruise on the bigger ship if you have motion sickness. Bring some medication to control your seasickness just in case. Book your cabin in the middle of the ship and in the middle to lower decks
- Brings sunscreens, apply them and apply them often if you’re in the sun. I had seen dozens of people looking like cooked lobsters after a couple of hours in the sun
- If you can, go cruising before you have kids. It’s much more fun and entertaining as you get to do any activities whenever you want
- Research the amenities and activities on the ship to ensure that you enjoy them
- Pace yourself and don’t eat too much. Be selective about what you eat
The April Ice Storm
To cap off my cruising vacation, I was supposed to depart from Orland, Florida at around 9:30 pm on Sunday, April 15, 2018, and reach Toronto by 12:30 am the next morning. Guess what happened? There was the mother of all ice storms in the middle of April and my flight was delayed by four hours. When the plane was landing in Toronto, I seriously thought that I may die in a plane crash.
Fortunately, the pilot was great and made a great landing. Everyone was safe. However, I came home and couldn’t get in my driveway. I had to shovel a foot of ice out of my driveway at 4 am in the rain. It took me two days to recover from this exhausting return trip from Orlando to Toronto.
My Two Cents
Life is all about experience regardless if they were great or not. Overall, my cruising vacation experience wasn’t that great. At least, it’s something that I can cross off my bucket list to say that I’ve tried it. Hopefully, I will have a better experience on my next vacation and post a picture or two so that you can envy my vacation.
So readers, have you ever been on a cruise? How was your cruising vacation experience if you’ve been on one?
About Leo
Been on 3 cruises and ALL were great…2 with Celebrity and one with Holland America. Admittedly, the first 2 were far better…
The biggest gotcha to watch out for are the extra costs, especially on shore excursions, which can really add up. BUT some cruises include a lot free stuff, including on board credits towards drinks, special restaurants, etc. BUT do be prepared to pay for the extras.
And though most cruise lines make it seem mandatory to pay the daily gratuities PER PERSON, no cruise line seems to mention that you CAN opt out of that and pay what you want and feel is fair AND you can give those gratuities directly to those you want (though they will give you a hard time when you try–but we did it on ALL 3 cruises).
That said, some cruise lines are better than others. I know using Celebrity has been great, Holland America, was good but not as much. I also hear that it’s main competitor (the name escapes me right now but I think it is Royal Carribean?) is also quite good.
We went on mid to large size ships (all 4 stars+) and did not experience long waits etc. I have heard that the smaller and largest ships, things can get long. Just my experiences.
And I like the idea that we do not have to move to go to different places…though it may come at a cost.
If you travel with kids, be sure to check out the children’s programs (from babies to older teenagers, we had them all at different stages—the ages of our 3 kids ranges 8 years apart, oldest to youngest). The quality and availability of these can make a big difference in your experience.
Bottom line, I enjoyed them but do your research.
P.S. Admittedly, all were courtesy of grandma 😉
@Smayer97, One of the reasons that I chose a big ship was due to my motion sickness (or fear of seasickness). On the big ship, it was really stable and I barely felt any motion on the ship at all. I also got feedback from my friends that did cruise on smaller ships and they mentioned the experiences were much better than the larger ships. Well, lessons learnt.
We’ve been on multiple cruises. Royal Caribbean is our favorite. We found we prefer the smaller ships than the huge mega ones. We also personally found that we just enjoy the weather, time away from home, and wandering local ports… so we don’t spend extra money besides a few drinks.
I’ve looked at comparable options – like flying somewhere, staying in a hotel or resort, covering meals, travel, etc. and cruises continue to be the best value. It’s really hard to beat.
That said, I think we’re done cruising for a while. We did they a few years in a row and will take a break for a while. Now we’re doing a lot of short trips… places we can reach within a dozen hour drive from home.
I agree about the MEGA ships…a bit too much for my taste. On the other hand, my in-laws have opted for the TINY ships (only a few hundred), e.g. Alaska cruises, and though they lack the breadth of activities, they have loved the personal touch and intimate ambiance. Of course, they have done them childless and in their later years. It all depends what you are after.
@Brad, the weather on the ship was wonderful. I love the fresh air and the open ocean. It’s definitely a treat to look back on land when you are close to the port.
Dam sorry to hear Leo. Im a huge fan of cruises and think I have been on 9 total. Most of them have been carnival in the Caribbean but last year we did a cruise wirh Norwegian in the canary islands. We got alot of perks to go with them and got free booze and all the dinner upgrades. Still had to tip though which is annoying so we stopped going to the fancy dinners. I have been on 8 with carnival so we get a bunch of perks as a repeat customer.
Elevators are always bad but honestly I try not to use them. I eat so much its nice to do some stairs.
Norwegian had a circus show but you had to pay for that too… arg. I wasnt a huge fan of Norwegian alot of the times on the lido deck there wouldnt be any music…… come on.
Carnival has always been awesome and will be nice now that my son is over 3 and can go to daycare. I love the change of scenary daily. Turks and cacaicos is my favorite place but costs a fortune to stay there, cruises are the way to go to get there.
What islands did you see? And what cruise line? Did your kids like it? My son loved it and wants to go on another. Sounds like the weather really messed with your trip. Id shit myself flying through a ice storm. (I got traumatised as a kid in a 30 person plan)
Well welcome back supposed to be nice from now on! Haha, go leafs!
Cheers
@PassiveCanadianIncome, you seem like a cruise pro. If I had known, I’d definitely hit you up before I book my cruise. Our cruise was with Royal Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas. The itenary was on the East Caribbean route where we past by St. Martin, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Labadee, Haiti.
My kids definitely loved it. They got to eat all the ice cream and french fries that they rarely get to eat at home. They even know the drill by the third day and started to ask for ice cream before the appetizer arrived.
I’ve never been on a cruise. Thanks for blogging about your trip. Now I’m not so excited to get on one 🙂
@Menard, don’t let my experience deter you from enjoying something great. Cruise vacations can be enjoyable. If you don’t have any motion sickness, try the medium to smaller ships, they experience should be better than the larger ships.
@Menard, everyone’s experience will be different, depending on who you go on the trip with. Even though I think my experience is mediocre, I still recommend that everyone try at least once in your life. You never know, you might have a totally different experience than I do. Just make sure you take precautions if you have motion sickness.
My sister, cousin and I use the elevator lines as an excuse to race our parents via the stairs if the line is long. I usually figure I can stand to burn some calories!
Another few benefits to a cruise include: you unpack once, all meals provided, the buffet if the sit down menu isn’t your thing that night, or vice versa.
Our last cruise my sister and I ditched fancy for burgers and wings one night. I’m a foodie but the menu just wasn’t my thing that night. Other times traveling with the 6 of us it can be tough to stop at 1 restaurant that meets everyone’s needs. Having so many options works well for our group.
I’m glad you had some good experiences! Bummer about the flight issues, though!
@Jacq, you’re right, if you don’t like the food at the fine dining restaurant, you can always go to another restaurant. Some restaurants open till 1 AM or so. For our non-fine dining meals, we often choose the buffet as people can choose whatever they want to eat.
Thanks for sharing! That’s a lot of costs added up. One thing that I found REALLY expensive was Wifi!! It is like $20 a day or something like that.
I didn’t have a super great time on my cruise either.
I went on Holland America to an Alaskan cruise (my FIRST cruise)– been to 40+ countries but never cruised until 2015. I didn’t like it. First, I gained FIVE pounds even though I worked out every day. I also felt seasick the first day. Then when I came back I had a bit of vertigo for about a week. The food was delicious though (did you know you can have two entrees if you want?) and we didn’t have to pay extra or pay extra in gratuities.
I’m sure I’ll be going on another one in a few years as they are an easy ‘family travel’ vacation.
@GYM, yep you are right. $20 per day for Internet is highway robbery. I am willing to pay $5 or so, but not $20 for a day just to check a few emails.
I did discover the unlimited multiple entries. In fact, I was so good at it that I even customized order as I did not want to waste food. I ate too much on the ship, but surprisingly I barely gain any weight. I think the key for me was minimal carbs intake. Only meat and veggies.
AHHH Leo thank you so much for writing this post. We were toying with a 7 day cruise to Alaska since we live in Seattle where there’s ports – it seems fun. There so much food?!!! But now I’m thinking we should switch to the 2 day trip to try out.
Was the non-alcoholic drinks like anything besides water? (Soda and such?) Was water and ice free on the cruise at least? What was your cruise line so I could try to avoid it?
Sorry to hear about your dangerous flight back, that sounds scary!
@Lily, water was free and abundance on the ship. Some restaurants may have orange juice or ice tea. If you want more variety, then you’ll have to buy a non-alcohol drink package. The alcohol was fine and the service was great. It’s just quite expensive that’s all.
If you are going to try cruising, you should definitely do it before having kids as you are free to do all the fun activities and see the live shows. Honestly, the reason that I did not enjoy it because it’s just a babysitting my kids. Same as I would if I was at home. So do try and experience for yourself, you might like it more than I do. The ship that I was cruising on was Oasis of the Seas from Royal Caribbean.