No Longer a Cruise Virgin

As many of my family and friends know, I have been mostly a timeshare and road trip warrior vacationer. I have enjoyed several Amtrak adventures but had not ventured into the realm of cruising. With my sister Pam's husband passing away in 2022, she lost her #1 travel partner and one of their favorite things to do was to cruise. In the prime of his life, before cancer started robbing him of life's little joys, they cruised on average twice a year. So when she started jonsing to get back on a ship, I offered to join her. My hubby David was adamant about not going on a ship, being herded around on a mobile hotel (or worse, "a floating petri dish", so he blessed my joining her for a rather short 5 day itinerary out of Tampa to the Bahamas and back.

Prior to the trip, I had quipped "How bad can it be?" and "Even if it does suck, I can tough out just about anything for 5 days." Thankfully . . . for me (and my sister) it didn't suck and I had a great time! Everything folks say about the comforts and relaxation on a cruise ship were true. The one we were on was Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. An old ship for sure, its "smallness" was part of what I enjoyed. At capacity, it holds roughly 2,200 guests plus crew. I never felt things were crowded. Even on the two port day adventures (Nassau and CoCo Cay), there were not throngs of people making getting around a hassle or too busy.

The crew on the ship, as well as those in port (we did do an excursion in Nassau through R/C), were outstanding and obviously committed to their guests' enjoyment and comfort. The price for what we received was of a good value, overall. But you had to watch what you were doing and make some savvy decisions. My sister did great in advising on how "we" should handle the "drink package" offer, since neither of us are big drinkers (alcohol or soft drinks) and for our dining, we avoided the upscale restaurants with the add-on price tag(s). We did all of our dinners in the Great Gatsby (one of the two main dining rooms) with the "early seating" at 5:30pm with a specific table and the same table companions (2 other couples from the same family) . . . which allowed us to have nice dinner conversations as we established new friendships. The food was exceptionally good . . . high quality with outstanding service provided by our dining wait staff team.

For lunch (when we were aboard the ship) we ate at the Windjammer Buffet, which had plenty of options from healthy to decadent. For breakfast, we did the buffet a three mornings, and the other main dining room (I don't recall the name) the other two. We did do the CHOPS Steakhouse, which is one of the fine dining "add-on" restaurants, for lunch on the day we boarded and prior to sailing. The 1:30pm late lunch of an 8 oz filet mignon with all the accompaniments, served as a nice and early dinner . . . for just $28 pp when booked prior to the cruise. It was well worth it, especially to be able to sample the dining experience in one of their specialty restaurants.

Back to the drink package.  Given the daily rate of $80-$90 per day per person AND NO SHARING, there was no need to do that since Pam was a Diamond member in their Crown & Anchor loyalty program and she received 4 beverages of her choice (including beer, wine and boozy cocktails) each day.  Since those are sharable, she was gracious to provide the drinks throughout the cruise.  I only bought one Captains & Diet Coke (at a hefty $14+tip) during one of our dinners.

I mention CoCo Cay as one of our port days. This is a private island owned and operated by Royal Caribbean. The day we were there, one of their much larger ships was also in port with Grandeur. I was a bit concerned that with potentially 6,000-7,000 people "at the beach" it would be crowded and people would be annoying. WOW I couldn't have been more wrong. With several themed areas including some with additional charges (like the huge water park), we took up at their South Beach area which was well furnished with beach lounges, restrooms, dining and of course, a great beach with a swim up bar. As they like to say, it was a perfect day at CoCo Cay.

For my first cruise experience, this vacation cost me right about $2,600.  That includes transportation from Milwaukee to/from the port in Tampa and the expenses the day before the cruise. On the ship we were in a double occupancy shared oceanview stateroom,  This would be the most I'd spend on a cruise (on a daily basis), mainly because I learned about casino offers and "free cruises" provided through Royal Caribbean's Casino Royale reward program.

But more about that another time . . . because math is hard and quickly becomes convoluted when calculating gambling expenses against future (cruise) opportunities and comps.

I also plan on writing more (with lots of photos) about the total cruise experience . . . aboard the ship, as well as in port and the excursions.