Placid Waters Greet Us In Bermuda

We’re back! As a graduation gift, G’s parents treated us to a cruise–we arrived back in Baltimore yesterday after a wonderful and restful week aboard the Grandeur of the Seas. The seas were calm during our trip—it was quite like cruising in a swimming pool and we had beautiful, sunny, warm (not hot) weather. Not bad for our first cruise experience.
We shoved off in Baltimore last Sunday (13th) at around 5PM and enjoyed a day and a half at sea before arriving in Bermuda (The Dockyard Port) mid-morning Tuesday. After a couple days ashore, our ship headed back to sea Wednesday evening. And we were back at port in Baltimore by 8AM Friday morning.

As we traveled about, some who know us well asked if we would be content on a cruise since we’d have so little time ashore, etc. As we see it, here are the positives of cruising:

• You just buy your ticket and go. No planning!
• No scavaging for acceptable restaurants necessary
• Your bags can stay put on board as you travel about
• Beautiful sunsets
• The cruise director’s staff provides input on what to enjoy at the Port (travel books aren’t as necessary)
• Nightime entertainment is provided (it’s “free” so you don’t stress about it’s quality like you would ashore)
• If traveling with others, the cruise ship offers you lots of activities to do together and apart. You don’t have to stay together as a group.
• Having a fruity drink on the ship on the way to Bermuda was definitely more fun than a day of airline stress and drama
• The Grandeur has a casino onboard. It’s not generally a positive for us (we don’t play the games at all), but we did enjoy the reduced drink prices that having a casino on board affords (the ship using the gambling as more of a profit center and keeps the drink prices at a reasonable level)
• On vacation, it’s often difficult to find a meticulous photographer-type to take your photo. Aboard the ship, photographers roam to take your family/group photos at meals, etc.

And the negatives:

• So much food! We sometimes lose weight on vacation…you don’t on a cruise because there’s so much available. Meals are available from dawn to midnight daily.
• Less interaction with the natives (because you’re not staying in local accomodations)
• Time constraints pressure you to stay close to shore..
• Everything’s for sale. The cruise ships make their money buy selling you things on board…we were good, but you could definetly rack up room charges easily.
• Cruise ships blocking the beautiful shore views at your destination…you know us. Good photography’s a priority.
• Ships have varying activities and facilities for daily activities. The largest ships today have ice rinks, multiple pools, surfing simulators, etc. Our small/medium ship had a couple pools, and a few activities and workshops each day.
• While the cruise ship offers lots of food (quantity) and many options (variety), you don’t experience the native cuisine of your destination.

From our perspective, vacations have different focuses. Our priorities for this trip were relaxation and family time. Both were enjoyed effortlessly aboard the Grandeur of the Seas–making it the perfect stormless respite before we venture to more stressful territory.
We fly out for London tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

Learn more about our trip…see additional photos.
Have you all been on cruises? How did your experience compare?