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Old 08-02-2019, 08:32 AM
 
1,361 posts, read 549,245 times
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This will be our first cruise experiences. I'm 45... wife is 51 with a 13 year old and we just decided to go for it. We booked with Royal Caribbean taking advantage (hopefully) of their recent sale pricing.

December 8 2019 - 7 night Western Caribbean onboard Harmony of the Seas

Orlando
CocoCay, Bahamas
At Sea
Cozumel, Mexico
Roatan, Honduras
Peurto Costa Maya, Mexico
At Sea
Orlando


September 17th, 2020 - 10 night Hawaii onboard Ovation of the Seas

Vancouver, B.C.
Seattle, WA
At Sea
At Sea
At Sea
At Sea
At Sea
Kailua Kona
Lahaina, Maui
Lahaina, Maui
Honolulu


The ship continues to Australia for the relocation and we are gonna spend a couple days in Honolulu before flying back to Seattle.

I paid $3465 for 3 for the Caribbean with prepaid gratuities for an oceanview balcony cabin. The Hawaii cruise for the same was $3790. I think I got an amazing deal on both.

So... thoughts on the itineraries? For those that have done both... which one did you prefer? Any opinions on Royal Caribbean? These ships are fairly new and I believe the Oasis class Harmony is 2nd biggest cruise ship in the world after her sister Symphony. The Ovation is a smaller Quantum class ship but has solid reviews.

I lived in Hawaii on Oahu a couple years when I was a teenager... never visited any other islands though. Will be nice to go back after nearly 30 years. Family has never been. The closest we've been to Caribbean is Florida.


Please share your opinions good or bad! We are stoked for these cruises!
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Old 08-02-2019, 05:33 PM
 
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I think you got some great deals. Google Cruise Critic and look at their community boards. Caution though, don't believe every negative thing you read.

Your teenager should love all the ship activities. Make sure to look into the teen club.

While there will be full days of scheduled activities, please be ready to keep yourself entertained or occupied on sea days. Also, for port days, look at the excursions and book a few. Since this is your first time cruising, you may want to stick with excursions booked through Royal. However, if you are adventurous, you can look into booking excursions independently.

Lastly, start going over to YouTube to find cruise vlogs from people on the same ship or same itinerary.

Have fun!
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Old 08-02-2019, 08:45 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,939 posts, read 3,911,392 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zach911 View Post
September 17th, 2020 - 10 night Hawaii onboard Ovation of the Seas

There are a lot of sea days on the Ovation trip and that would normally be a deterrent. I went with a friend and did a tour of the ship last month in Seattle. It is an amazing ship. There is so much to do onboard and it’s new. A teen would have a ball. I normally avoid those large ships but this one was incredible.
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Old 08-03-2019, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Bella Vista, Ark
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As this is your first cruise experience I would opt for the Western Caribbean. The sea days work well for some and others get bored. It doesn't give you a really good overall view of cruising. Plus seeing so many different ports which will be a bigger variety of scenery and culture, for us, is one of the positive parts of cruising.
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Old 08-03-2019, 12:34 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,399 posts, read 27,703,839 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita View Post
As this is your first cruise experience I would opt for the Western Caribbean. The sea days work well for some and others get bored. It doesn't give you a really good overall view of cruising. Plus seeing so many different ports which will be a bigger variety of scenery and culture, for us, is one of the positive parts of cruising.
Totally agree. I'd be seriously concerned about all those sea days for a first time cruiser. Even more so for a teenager.

I can't comment in the ships - RCCL is a cruise line that we don't sail on. VERY family oriented, tons if kids, perfect for you. Enjoy!
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Old 08-04-2019, 07:55 AM
 
4,039 posts, read 4,933,632 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkgourmet View Post
Totally agree. I'd be seriously concerned about all those sea days for a first time cruiser. Even more so for a teenager.

I can't comment in the ships - RCCL is a cruise line that we don't sail on. VERY family oriented, tons if kids, perfect for you. Enjoy!

I'm not sure how many kids will be on either cruise because of the dates of departure on both. Most older kids will be in school.

I agree they got a deal but it's because of the dates. My in laws frequently cruise in Sept, Oct and November (not to the Caribbean) and they find awesome deals. The September cruise is in hurricane season and the rates start to drop the last week of August.

Royal Caribbean is a good line. The big ships have tons to do for the whole family. We're going on the Oasis in Dec 2020 and we paid around 3600 for 4 people. We're also getting about $200 in OBC.
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Old 08-05-2019, 12:22 PM
 
1,361 posts, read 549,245 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charlygal View Post
I think you got some great deals. Google Cruise Critic and look at their community boards. Caution though, don't believe every negative thing you read.

Your teenager should love all the ship activities. Make sure to look into the teen club.

While there will be full days of scheduled activities, please be ready to keep yourself entertained or occupied on sea days. Also, for port days, look at the excursions and book a few. Since this is your first time cruising, you may want to stick with excursions booked through Royal. However, if you are adventurous, you can look into booking excursions independently.

Lastly, start going over to YouTube to find cruise vlogs from people on the same ship or same itinerary.

Have fun!
Excellent! Yes Royal has a lot of excursion options via the website and we spent the better portion of Fri/Sat night looking at Youtube videos. Lots of useful info there on not only excursions but cruising in general. Will check into 3rd party bookings... not afraid of it as long as it's a decent deal. But I also saw that if you book thru Royal the ship will not leave without you if you are delayed or what not... so there's that.

Will look at cruise critic and the teen club!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chilkoot View Post
There are a lot of sea days on the Ovation trip and that would normally be a deterrent. I went with a friend and did a tour of the ship last month in Seattle. It is an amazing ship. There is so much to do onboard and it’s new. A teen would have a ball. I normally avoid those large ships but this one was incredible.
Yes I've seen some great reviews on Ovation. It's docked in Seattle here for the first time this summer doing cruises to Alaska. We'll be catching the relocation cruise next year and may consider an Alaska cruise in 2021 assuming all goes well with the first two. If Ovation is here a 3rd year that would be a bonus for us... we'd know the ship.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita View Post
As this is your first cruise experience I would opt for the Western Caribbean. The sea days work well for some and others get bored. It doesn't give you a really good overall view of cruising. Plus seeing so many different ports which will be a bigger variety of scenery and culture, for us, is one of the positive parts of cruising.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkgourmet View Post
Totally agree. I'd be seriously concerned about all those sea days for a first time cruiser. Even more so for a teenager.

I can't comment in the ships - RCCL is a cruise line that we don't sail on. VERY family oriented, tons if kids, perfect for you. Enjoy!
We are booked for both already... I was just asking if those who had done both had a preference. Tough choice or are both Caribbean and Hawaii equally amazing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Riley09swb View Post
I'm not sure how many kids will be on either cruise because of the dates of departure on both. Most older kids will be in school.

I agree they got a deal but it's because of the dates. My in laws frequently cruise in Sept, Oct and November (not to the Caribbean) and they find awesome deals. The September cruise is in hurricane season and the rates start to drop the last week of August.

Royal Caribbean is a good line. The big ships have tons to do for the whole family. We're going on the Oasis in Dec 2020 and we paid around 3600 for 4 people. We're also getting about $200 in OBC.

Yeah I got similar OBC and applied it towards the alcohol packages. $403 with tips for Caribbean. Averages out to breaking even at 5 drinks per day. Pretty sure I'll have that much so I went for it vs buying individually. Haven't done anything yet for the Hawaii trip it's 13 months away.

Yes the pricing was great at the dates we selected. Later in December was nearly double obviously... and the Hawaii cruise was the only date for the year due to it being a relocation. The price for the 10 nights was significantly less a 7 night Alaska on the same ship.

As for the 5 days at sea... I think we'll be fine. If there's as much to do as people say I'm sure we'll keep busy. Lot worse things I could be doing than sipping on a margarita in a pool on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific...

Thanks for the responses everyone! Counting down 4 months till we are headed to Port Canaveral!
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Old 08-06-2019, 02:44 AM
 
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We took our first cruise on Royal Caribbean in March and what I learned was that I sleep better at sea than anywhere else!

The one downside was that there is soooooooooo much to do on those ships, that it felt like I was never allowed to take a nap or sleep in. The one time I insisted on being able to take a 20 minute nap, I forgot to change the sign on the door from "We're Out Exploring The Ship" (not sure if that's the correct wording) to do not disturb (or maybe it said I'm sleeping off too much vacation or something like that) and the cabin stewart walked in and accidentally woke me up. LOL!!!

We are doing almost the exact same cruise as your Western Caribbean, except it's on the Symphony, and leaving from Miami in October.
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Old 08-06-2019, 07:41 AM
 
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Multiple naps are allowed. Newbie mistake is trying to do all the activities. They are optional.
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Old 08-06-2019, 07:47 PM
 
Location: Florida -
10,213 posts, read 14,789,658 times
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We've done both (several Caribbean cruises and one Hawaiian). Since we are already in Florida, it seems like the beaches throughout the Caribbean are all pretty much the same. Thus, we found Hawaii more interesting and unusual ... and are largely tired of the Caribbean.

From Wa., you may find the Caribbean beaches far different from the West Coast and Hawaii -- and perhaps, more to your liking.

The issue is not so much the beaches, but, your own experience and desires.
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