I've never been on a cruise before...

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have done Sandals in St Lucia, and have Margaritaville in the Rivera Maya coming up this summer.
I've always wanted to St Lucia before...It looks so wonderful and beautiful there. We were just in Pigeon Forge. There was snow on the Great Smoky Mountains in April. so crazy. I was jokingly telling the people up there that I needed to get my Christmas tree up soon because it was so cold there. We had to get some things from Margaritaville of course. I had brought up the wonderful story of Buffett wanting to land his sea plane at Margarataville at City Walk on the water. They said no, but that would've been pretty awesome! The very nice person in the store told me soon afternoon that when Jimmy Buffett was alive he would come in that he would lock the doors and play for them sometimes They said he was such a great guy. I absolutely loved the train at Dollywood, and wanted to take it home with me. Like Walt Disney did in his back yard. So wonderful! The train was a steam engine/coal train that uses 5 million pounds of coal a year. They also had 10 roller coasters in Dollywood. Pretty awesome! A wonderful waiter told me that Dolly Parton donates a lot of books to families with kids in Severville. So wonderful. And, that Pigeon Forge had the wildfires a few years back and Dolly had helped a lot of the families out personally. I swooshed a basket in the basketball games section and won a basketball. The teenager called me Steph Curry, but I didn't even realize that he shot one handed like I did. Haven't shot baskets since recently at the arcade at the Beach Club. It had been quite awhile since I had won anything in the carnival games. The very nice and wonderful gentleman who was taking our luggage to the car told me that he was on that Carnival cruise ship that caught fire, and they paid him handsomely and he is about to go on another cruise with them sometime soon. Our azaleas are in bloom also. So awesome!!!


 
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Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
It looks amazing! Is it a direct flight from major cities?
From Orlando it was a direct flight into Cancun. About a 90 min. flight.

The hotel and beach are stunningly beautiful. The food is amazing. And the liquor is included, no "drink package" nonsense like a cruise.

All the steak, lobster, and booze you want 24 hours a day. And since it's an adults only resort, it is quite peaceful.

It is part of a 5 resort complex of all inclusive resorts. The Grand is their top shelf resort. It is their only adults only and has actual gourmet food. It is connected to 2 mid tier (4 star) resorts, and 2 budget resorts. They are all all-inclusive and if you stay at the Grand you can go to all of them and eat at their restaurants and drink at their bars. The Grand is pretty laid back without much of a "party" atmosphere. But the adjacent resorts are more lively. You can use their pool complexes and the mid-tier resort has a lazy river and some water slides.
 
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Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
From Orlando it was a direct flight into Cancun. About a 90 min. flight.

The hotel and beach are stunningly beautiful. The food is amazing. And the liquor is included, no "drink package" nonsense like a cruise.

All the steak, lobster, and booze you want 24 hours a day. And since it's an adults only resort, it is quite peaceful.

It is part of a 5 resort complex of all inclusive resorts. The Grand is their top shelf resort. It is their only adults only and has actual gourmet food. It is connected to 2 mid tier (4 star) resorts, and 2 budget resorts. They are all all-inclusive and if you stay at the Grand you can go to all of them and eat at their restaurants and drink at their bars. The Grand is pretty laid back without much of a "party" atmosphere. But the adjacent resorts are more lively. You can use their pool complexes and the mid-tier resort has a lazy river and some water slides.
That sounds very amazing! Thank you so much for further feedback on that. The lobster and steak sound so very tasty, and the beaches sound very wonderful. My wife and I do love a lazy river! Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback!
 

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So very happy! I'm getting stronger and have started swimming again recently. Where would be a good start for your first cruise. My wonderful neighbors up the street with 3 dogs suggested maybe a few day Caribbean cruise for a start for us. What do y'all suggest?
 

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So very happy that I started swimming again during my trip. I'm getting my strength back up. I was so nervous about getting into the water again after having food poisoning right after I swam and etc. By the way, could y'all please suggest a first cruise to me for my wife and I. My wonderful neighbors up the street suggest a 3 or 4 day cruise to the Carribean. What do y'all suggest for a first cruise?
 

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My wife and I have cruised as a couple on Royal Caribbean to Alaska, and on Carnival to Cozumel/Yucatan. We also took one cruise with a grown daughter to the Bahamas. Excursions were the fun part.

To me, the cruise ship was mostly a floating hotel. The ports of call were the real vacation. We did a lot of excursions on our Alaska cruise, and stayed extra time at a B&B in Alaska. For our Cozumel cruise we did one excursion (dolphin swim) and then went out on our own on the mainland. We spent an wonderful day snorkeling and enjoying the food. There are extra perks on the ship - shows, good food, etc. But, that is not why we cruise.

Our next cruise is a change in our approach. We are taking the grandkids on a Disney cruise. We are not getting off the ship in Nassau, except maybe to get some souvenirs. We definitely will get off at Castaway Cay and enjoy a beach day. For this cruise we want to experience Disney and all of what Disney offers on board the ship. Lots of memories to make with the grandkids.

But, after this, we are backing to cruising as a couple, exploring ports of call. We are hoping to use the NCL Pride of America cruise to visit several of the Hawaiian Islands. The ship is definitely just a floating hotel, and overnight transport between the islands.

So, if you like to visit different locations and not worry about transportation or hotels, cruising can be a fun way to have that experience.

OTOH, we have good friends who love to cruise a lot and almost never get off the ship. They see it as an inexpensive way to relax and get away.

So, it all depends on how you want to define fun.
We just have nephews and nieces, but it must be great fun to take the grandkids with you on cruises. My wife was looking a Disney cruise also. Nassau sounds like it's very relaxing. I've only been to the Grand Bahama Island a time ago. We would like to see many different locations. It's been some time since I've really traveled extensively, and my wife has not traveled hardly at all. I eat at this Greek restaurant for lunch sometimes near me and they have this wonderful picture of Greece on the wall, and the people are so very nice who own the restaurant. They are from Greece, Athens actually. And I literally drool over the picture when I have lunch there. Looks so inviting and amazing.
 

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I remember having a lot of fun exploring the ships and signing up for excursions before kids. Are you and your wife the adventurous kind or more for relaxing?
Ill bet having kids can be a lot of fun! My nephews and nieces can be great fun! One of my nieces wants to go into forestry and biology. And a year from now she is going to Madagascar in Africa as a study abroad trip. How fun! I meant to ask her if she was going to see the King Of Versailles. Sorry Madagascar 3 reference Lol! Actuallly, we're actually more for relaxing. Sometimes my wife can be a lot more adventurous than me. At Dollywood, she rode the Drop Line Drop Tower that is 230 feet high. It suspends you in the air at the top and then drops you. I asked her jokingly if she could increase her life insurance policy to me before she rode the ride. 🤣 It's a lot like the Tower Of Terror, which I only rode once actually. That was enough for me. I don't think I could actually take the random drops that it has now. This was before they changed the ride at Disney.
 
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Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Off to bed, we're having 30 mph winds here tomorrow. So fun! And it's been sad bc I cannot pick up sweet sweet Belle (my partner in crime) until Saturday. Two more days! And, there is a mockingbird in a bush near my house that keeps waking my wife up in the morning. Apparently, they like holly bushes for some reason. Reminds me of Steel Magnolias or Failure to Launch. I actually called the Department Of Natural Resources and literally asked what I can do to make it fly away. All birds are protected species. It's wonderful, we have butterfly bushes in our backyard and hummingbirds are attracted to them. So wonderful! Didn't know how territorial they can be until I moved here. They will literally fight off other birds that are in there areas. And, hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards!
 

dmw

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
We just have nephews and nieces, but it must be great fun to take the grandkids with you on cruises. My wife was looking a Disney cruise also. Nassau sounds like it's very relaxing. I've only been to the Grand Bahama Island a time ago. We would like to see many different locations. It's been some time since I've really traveled extensively, and my wife has not traveled hardly at all. I eat at this Greek restaurant for lunch sometimes near me and they have this wonderful picture of Greece on the wall, and the people are so very nice who own the restaurant. They are from Greece, Athens actually. And I literally drool over the picture when I have lunch there. Looks so inviting and amazing.
I hope so! We've cruised before but this will be our first cruise with the grands. We've taken them on other vacations - dollywood, great wolf lodge...
We've cruised with our grown daughter to the Bahamas... our grands are a bit too young so we won't be doing any excursions with them, just getting off to shop a bit. For adults there is a lot to see. We only had one day on our Carnival cruise to the Bahamas and chose to do a snorkeling excursion, and then shopping. We would like to go back to explore the pirate history of Nassau.
We have a favorite Greek restaurant, also with pictures of Greece. It's called Yeero Village. Greece is another bucket list trip we'd like to take, but without the grands.
 

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