First of the two new cruises to be blogged about will once again be Dad and I sailing together this April and we're returning to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Our first time sailing out of Port Canaveral. This time, while we love sailing the suite life and enjoyed our time on the Grandeur, we wanted to go all out and booked a 2 bedroom aquatheater suite on the ginormous ship pictured below (not my photo), Oasis of the Seas! Pictured here as the cabins looking out the open back of the ship. The Oasis and Quantum class RCL ships take the suite life to a whole new level, 3 levels in fact known as the Sea, Sky, and Star Class. The more grand the suite so to speak, the higher the level it falls under and the more perks you get. Ours falls under the highest level of Star Class, the only level where not only do you get the routine perks like priority boarding and use of a more private suite lounge space and restaurant, but you also get 90% of anything onboard that would cost extra included! (Only exclusions are pastries at Starbucks (though they accept any Starbucks gift cards), full bottles of wine (though discounted), professional photos, merchandise in the onboard shops, and shore excursions) And the only class of cabins that gets the use of a Royal Genie to handle reservations and schedule everything for you among other creature comforts. Not a bad way to travel on a ship with over 6,000 passengers all waiting in line to do just that at the same time!
We picked the best date among the limited itineraries that still had this cabin class available and as a result ended up with a sailing scheduled to visit St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Labadee. St. Maarten and Puerto Rico (along with St. Kitts) was our itinerary for the Celebrity Solstice cruise so we're looking at it as even more opportunity to enjoy what the ship has to offer. I've found only a handful of really detailed well written reviews about the Star Class experience in my efforts to learn as much as I can prior to sailing. I hope my upcoming review will help future cruisers like those reviews have helped me. If anyone has any questions they'd like me to find out about while on the cruise, please comment here. If our included internet perk is working, I'll try to answer them while on board. Otherwise as always I'll take notes and include the answers in my review when I return home.
Just like an infomercial - but wait there's more! I did say two new cruises coming up. The second one, as it turns out will be only 2 weeks later on the Carnival Pride. (Pictured below, again not my photo)
I had this Carnival cruise booked a year in advance, long before Oasis was even a thought. We've done cruises a few months apart as of late when deals or certain itineraries prompted us to take advantage of opportunities but never only weeks apart. This is probably the closest to doing a back to back cruise I'll ever get. When we were presented with the Oasis date, Dad asks "Are you okay with it being so close to your next cruise?" "Umm, let me think, a week in between to do laundry, work off the first cruise's great food, and get over jet lag and sea legs? Challenge accepted!"
While Dad may believe that there has to be something special or unique in order to cause him to repeat a port or itinerary on a future cruise, (like trying Star Class on Oasis) I don't much care where or what cruise line I'm going on. I'd happily go on another cruise just for the sake of being on another cruise! I do have my favorite preferences but if you said to me today "Hey want to go on a cruise next week?" My answer would be "Just tell me when and where to show up!"
Case in point is this Carnival cruise's itinerary. The Carnival Pride is the only Carnival ship I've ever been on and that's only because it leaves 20-30 minutes away from my house. Same reason as why the Grandeur was my currently only RCL ship I've ever been on.
This will be my 4th time sailing on the Carnival Pride and every time has been almost the exact same itinerary. First time went to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. The rest, including this one, have been to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Freeport. The main difference between each sailing however was the other person sharing my cabin. 1st time was Dad and I back when the Pride didn't yet have the Funship 2.0 upgrades and only one suite category. 2nd time I sailed with a dear friend Teri and we shared a balcony cabin. 3rd time I was once again with my Dad but we booked it because they offered a rare single supplement fee waiving so we each got neighboring balcony cabins to ourselves! This 4th round will be with another dear friend Joni and we have another balcony cabin booked. One of my favorite activities on a cruise is to unwind by going out on our balcony. I love watching the water thinking about how it appears never ending and hides a whole world of beauty underneath the waves.
While Teri was a cruise newbie in general, Joni has an RCL and a Disney cruise under her belt already. This will be her first introduction to Carnival and I definitely intend to make sure she gets to bring home her first 24 karat gold plated piece of shiiiiiiiiiiipah on a stick!
I most likely won't have much internet use while on Carnival but if you have any questions you want answered onboard, please comment below and I'll report when I've returned and get my land legs back. :) And of course if you have any suggestions of things to check out in any of the aforementioned ports, I welcome those as well. Thank you for indulging my cruise taking and blogging addictions!
