Several of you have been asking for cruise details so I decided to dedicate this post to what I know about the cruise.
I'm sure I will add things as we get closer, but here goes.
We are sailing on the Monarch of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship, out of Port Canaveral, Florida. Here's a picture of the ship..so pretty!
The Monarch is one of the older and smaller ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet. We booked an oceanview cabin on Deck 3. The cabins are small (only about 122 sq feet.) and ours will have a porthole instead of a window. Here is an example of the layout of our cabin.
As I tend to get seasick, our cabin location was a concern. After some research, I found out that the lower I was on the ship (closer to sealevel) and the more centrally the cabin was located (front to back) the less motion I would feel. So here is the deck plan of Deck 3....we are in cabin 3106. I think we did pretty well.
This is the section of the ship you are looking at.
The itinerary of the cruise is as follows:
We leave Port Canaveral at 4:30 pm on Monday May 3rd. We sail all night and arrive at CoCo Cay, a Royal Caribbean owned island, around 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 4 The ship will be anchored out a bit from the island here and we will take small tender boats to get to shore.
In CoCo Cay, Jeff and I plan to do a snorkeling excursion. It is shallow water snorkeling so I think I will be able to handle it. (on my 2006 mission trip to Jamaica I got VERY sick on a snorkeling trip, but we took a boat out to a reef ) Here I will be able to swim to shallow water and stand if I begin to feel nauseous from the wave motion. For the excursion fee, we get the use of the snorkeling equipment for the entire day. Not bad.
We also plan to just relax and enjoy the beautiful beach.
The ship is scheduled to leave CoCo Cay at 5 pm.
We will again travel through the night and arrive in Nassau, Bahamas around 7 a.m. on Wednesday , May 5. The ship will be docked in Nassau and we will have the entire day here. Our plan right now is to take a self-guided walking tour of the city and it's historical sites. Jeff is very interested in doing some pirate related activities as Nassau was the home of Blackbeard and a mecca for pirates back in the day!
Aargh!
There is a pirate museum in town that we may visit and several of the stops on the walking tour have historical ties to piracy. Jeff is also looking forward to browsing the Straw Market, Nassau's biggest shopping market. He has never been to a place where haggling for a good price was not only acceptable, but expected! It's definitely an experience! :yes:
The ship is scheduled to leave Nassau at midnight. The entire next day, Thursday May 6, will be spent at sea. We have no plans at all except to lounge by the pool and soak up all the ship has to offer.
We arrive back in Port Canaveral around 7 a.m. on Friday May 7.
Sounds great, huh?? So that's the itinerary. I am so excited.
A few other things worth mentioning:
All of the meals on the ship are included in the cruise price. There is a main dining room where a formal dinner is served each night. Jeff and I will probably do that at least one night, just for the experience. There are also other buffet options for dinner which are less formal and more laid back. More our speed! Water, iced tea, and lemonade are included with all meals and throughout the cruise. There is the option to buy a soda card for $24 which would give us unlimited access to fountain drinks. I think we are just going to stick with the water, lemonade, iced tea option. I'd rather spend my OOP money on adult umbrella drinks...if you know what I mean!
I am still researching entertainment options onboard, but so far I know that there is a comedian, a variety type show, a newlywed-type game, and a scavenger hunt of sorts. Of course there is an onboard casino, a spa, and the all important POOL DECK!
There is also a rock climbing wall....I think I'll pass on that one!
Of course, no trip is complete without a hiccup and luckily we've had ours! In order to travel to the Bahamas you need a birth certificate. Obviously a Passport is recommended, but since we are leaving and returning to the same US port ( a closed-loop cruise), not necessary. I have a passport because I needed one to go to Jamaica in 2006. Jeff, however, does not. Upon looking for his birth certificate, we discovered that he does not have one!
YIKES! We called his mom, who insists that she gave it to him. Well, now what?? Not only does he have no passport, now he has no birth certificate! We researched our options and found that you can get a certified copy of your birth certificate (raised seal and all) at the Office of Vital Statistics in the county in which you were born. Lucky for us...Jeff was born right here in Monroe County where we live. Crisis averted.
With only 55 days till we leave, it would be pushing it to try and get a passport, but at least now we have all the necessary documents to travel.
Last but not least, the planning binder! Yes..I am a binder girl and proud of it!
I couldn't wait to make a new binder for this trip! Here is a picture of the front.
Inside are the following sections:
*Planning Infothis is for budget sheets, packing lists, etc
*Airline Info
*Cruise Infoall our cruise documents, printout of deck plan, etc
*Onboard Activities
*CoCo Cay
*Nassau
*Rental Car Info
*Orlando
Next up.....my first To-Do List of this trip!!
After reading your pros and cons both parks seem evenly matched.
) and we didn't find the parks too bad and Spectro was even showing that night. We didn't find it any more crowded than our trip in August. We actually thought the following Tuesday was worse crowd-wise.
I've read that a lot of people either are arriving or leaving on Saturday so maybe it wouldn't be too bad, especially since it's in early May and not on a school vacation/ or during summer break??
That way you still see the castle and you can see Tink fly from there too (she's just a green speck, but it's kind of cute)! You can get a drink from the Tambu Lounge and/or a Dole Whip from Capt Cooks afterwards too! I only mention this in case you pick Epcot - you can still get a "little" bit of the MK this way! Sitting on the beach with your sweetie is really nice!
Just a thought.
As you said, you're getting your adult time on the cruise so MK is the perfect choice!!!
for the binder!! Love it!
