I enjoy cruising. It’s a great way to experience multiple destinations with a minimum of fuss — if you like the itineraries offered and don’t mind days at sea, plus an obligatory stop at the cruise line’s private resort island. The casino and unlimited drinks packages are a further draw for some. For me, it’s the spa. Entertainment? A mixed bag. Sometimes the comedy is good, sometimes not. The shows? At least as good as your high school or college musical, sometimes excellent. I don’t drink, and often think that inebriation must improve the experience, judging by the enthusiastic reactions of the spectators around me.
I went on my first cruise more than 25 years ago when I was pregnant. My (then) husband and I normally took a ski trip every winter but that was off the table at 6 months pregnant. We visited San Juan (departure port), St. Thomas and Saint Martin, but the thing I remember most clearly was that we were delayed three hours into St. Thomas for a man overboard. Otherwise, I don’t have terrible strong memories of the ship (Royal Caribbean Nordic Empress) or the food other than I faintly remember a Greek or maybe seafood restaurant in Philipsburg in Sint Maarten (the Dutch side) where we ate lunch.
Hawaii Cruise with NCL
We cruised again five years later on the Pride of America (NCL) to see the Hawaiian Islands because it was a great way to see multiple islands with a small child. The room moved with us instead of having to schlepp through the airport again and again. Norwegian’s Family Cabin also made it a breeze to travel with a 5-year old, my mom and my husband. Plenty of room for all and we only paid full price for 2 adults. They’ve reclassified the rooms since we cruised; the room-type we had is now called a 2-Bedroom Aft-Facing Family Suite with Balcony. I highly recommend this itinerary to anyone who wants to get a taste of Hawaii. We also bracketed the cruise with a few days on Oahu before and after.
Bahamas Cruise with NCL
For whatever reason, it was nearly 15 years later — well after my divorce — that my kid and I cruised again. Initially because I wanted to go to Havana and a cruise ship seemed a low maintenance way to get to Cuba. But it was 2019 — the year that the US government instituted a ban on cruise ships calling at Havana from US ports. The ban went into effect in early June. I’d already booked our flights and a few days in Orlando prior so our cruise on the Norwegian Sun out of Port Canaveral in late June 2019 went to Key West and the Bahamas, not Key West and Havana. Instead of digging in deep into culture and history, we swam with dolphins, kissed a sea lion, and visited Hemingway’s six-toed cats in Key West.
We didn’t see the swimming pigs though, which I have always sort of regretted. NCL still does a version of this itinerary but on different ships. The Sun now operates out of Europe. Our pre-cruise days were at Universal Studios in Orlando to enjoy the Harry Potter worlds (before we knew JK Rowling was a TERF) We stayed at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort. Quick review: the room was fine, the shuttle very convenient and the Lazy River was outstanding.
The Caribbean with Carnival
Our next cruise was intended to be Bermuda out of New York … in June 2020. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. We didn’t cruise again until July 2023, on the Carnival Venezia out of Manhattan, to the Dominican Republic, Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay, Carnival’s private island. It was less about the itinerary and more about the dates and departing port; I wanted to be cruising on my birthday in early July and I didn’t want to deal with airports after a travel nightmare returning from Ireland the previous summer. I was also curious about the Venezia, a European-style ship that had just re-positioned to NYC from the Mediterranean.
Overall, I liked the ship very much. But we did not like our cabin. I had upgraded our balcony to the Terraza level for access to the private deck and other amenities like morning breakfast, but the room they gave us was most definitely not an upgrade. It was on a different level than all the other, more lovely, rooms, and very cramped. Felt more like a money grab than an upgrade. That said, I do think the Terraza level would be worth it if you got a truly upgraded room.
Ports of call on this itinerary —
Dominican Republic — We did not love the DR — or at least what we saw of it — and this itinerary seems to have dropped it in favor of Carnival’s new private resort in the Bahamas, Celebration Key.
Grand Turk — On Grand Turk we did an ATV excursion. Other than how badly my eyes watered from a combination of dust, sweat and sunscreen, it was great fun. My only criticism is that they hustled us across the island to the lighthouse and back, so there was very little opportunity for photos. Wear a sweatband and don’t put the sunscreen near your eyes.
Half Moon Cay — Pristine. The beach was top notch, and the service on the beach — rentals , cabanas etc was excellent. The food was meh. We also did a boat ride which was okay but were I to go again, I’d stick to the beach.
Food – While the included beach barbecue at Half Moon Cay was meh, overall the food on the ship was very good. We also did the Chef’s Table, a private dining experience actually in the kitchen that includes a tour of the galley. It’s worth doing once, not sure I’d repeat it if I were to cruise on Carnival again.
