EntropySink

Entertainment & Artistry => Sports/Outdoors & Manpoon => Topic started by: Mike on May 27, 2018, 11:50:44 PM

Title: Cruises
Post by: Mike on May 27, 2018, 11:50:44 PM
So the wife and I just got back from a 7-day Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon.

Figured I'd give you all a write up since I don't have to worry about offending any of you :D

We were super excited for this trip as everyone we talked to who had been on it said they loved it.  We even contemplated doing a 10 day cruise out of San Francisco instead of the 7 day cruise out of Seattle.  For a combination of not knowing if we'd like the cruise and cost reasons we decided to do the 7 day.

I was going to do a blow by blow but that ended up being too long.  Instead I'll give some highlights:

Alaska is freaking gorgeous.  We want to go back.

The wife and I are NOT cruise people.  For the most part we were miserable on the ship.  There is a lot of people and all the elevators were packed during the key times.  We often got on an elevator even if it was going the wrong way just to be able to get on one.  The food wasn't bad but it isn't the world class dining they claim.  By the end we were craving good pizza instead of the weak ass New York style pizza they had.  The breakfast and lunch times for the actual dining halls we just at the wrong times for us.  The worst was that we are soda people and it was a giant pain in the ass every time we wanted one.  We had the drink package with unlimited drinks (both soft and hard).  Yet if you wanted it you had to go the bars to get it.  The wife is pretty sensitive to caffeine and their decaff option was Sprite.  They got Barqs root beer which had caffeine.  And every drink was small.  We ended up purchasing bottles of Sprite and Mug root beer during our shore excursions.

We got a balcony suite and I would highly recommend it.  It was really nice to sit out there or even just crack the door open and get the fresh air.  Plus, on the second night - when we were cruising all day at sea - we did a balcony dinner for two which was fantastic.  Great food and a lot of it.  Originally I wanted to see the movie under the stars but ended up just lying in bed digesting.

We did the glacier explorer excursion in Juneau and that was amazing.  We took small boats to fairly close to the two forks of a glacier.

All the stops were great.  We didn't enjoy Victoria that much but I think that was because we chose poorly on the excursion.  We did a 2 hour walking tour that just wasn't that good.  And the shuttle back to the ship was a disorganized mess.  Plus, the boat was only there for like 4 hours.


We want to go back to Alaska but we won't be cruising again.
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on May 28, 2018, 02:48:06 PM
Ship and line?
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: Mike on May 28, 2018, 03:03:00 PM
We went on the Emerald Princess but I expect that the experience would have been similar on all the lines.
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on May 29, 2018, 05:59:10 AM
Could be.  Might not be your thing really.  That said, if you ever do decide to try again check out Royal Caribbean and their two largest classes.  Anthem and Symphony were nice.  On Symphony in April we visited Spain x 2, France, and Italy x 3 and could not have been happier.  We were very destination based so ship time was realllly limited so that may have helped.  Anthem was a couple years back in the Caribbean.  Much more ship time and very enjoyable. 
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: Jake on May 29, 2018, 11:14:31 AM
thanks for the review, Mike. I have never been on a cruise, and will stay away from them as long as I can! But if I did it, it would also be Alaska also. Alaska is on the bucket list, for sure. Did you guys do any whale watching?
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: Mike on May 29, 2018, 01:25:42 PM
We didn't do a whale watching tour.  But on our way back from the glacier and fjord exploration we say some humpbacks which was cool.
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: charlie on May 29, 2018, 01:33:12 PM
We won't be going on a cruise. My wife is way too sensitive about motion sickness to really even consider it. Seeing multiple destinations that way seems pretty awesome though.
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: ober on May 29, 2018, 09:34:01 PM
I did a cruise with my college friends our senior year.  Carribean cruise.  We had a blast!  Tons of good food, the locations were pretty great.  The only real down side was that I was there with a bunch of dudes.  Would have been nice to have my wife there.  But she's not interested in cruises whatsoever.  Something about being stuck in the middle of the ocean... blah blah.
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: charlie on May 31, 2018, 06:20:04 PM
Oh yeah, not just the motion sickness but the claustrophobia of being on the ocean.
 
Title: Re: Cruises
Post by: ober on June 01, 2018, 12:09:04 AM
Wouldn't that be Agoraphobia?