{"id":503,"date":"2012-02-27T22:52:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T22:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hotel-lobbyists.com\/blog\/?p=503"},"modified":"2012-02-27T22:52:44","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T22:52:44","slug":"bretts-first-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotel-lobbyists.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/27\/bretts-first-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett&#8217;s First Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-504\" title=\"DSCN6707\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/hotel-lobbyists.com\/hl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/DSCN6707-300x225.jpg\" \/>While I\u2019ve spent nearly seven hundred nights of my life in hotels to date, prior to last week, I\u2019d never spent a single night of my life at sea.\u00a0 That would change when I\u2019d embark on my first ever cruise with my fianc\u00e9e and another couple about the Western Caribbean.\u00a0 This is quite a thing to behold, the ocean liner.\u00a0 A floating hotel larger than most that each morning wakes up in a different port.\u00a0 It seems like there couldn\u2019t be a more ingenious travel resource.\u00a0<!--more-->For me, it took some time not to get used to the motion of the ocean, but rather the concept of the vacation itself.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to orient yourself such that you don\u2019t think of the cruise as your means of transportation to and from each island port of call, but rather that it\u2019s the vacation itself.\u00a0 The days at sea are some of the best times of the cruise.\u00a0 And the ports are a mere fraction of the entire experience.\u00a0 We were in Key West for about five hours, on Grand Cayman for about four, and in Jamaica another five.\u00a0 Once you embrace the idea that the ship is not just your island taxi, you have a greater appreciation of the overall experience.<\/p>\n<p>The other aspect that takes some getting used to is the idea of an all inclusive vacation.\u00a0 And indeed there is value to be had here, particularly for folks like myself, who do not consume a great deal of alcoholic beverages.\u00a0 The food is paid for.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that if you don\u2019t drink at all, don\u2019t care much for soda, and are content with the banquet style dinner that\u2019s served in their dining rooms, there may not be a need to reach into your pocket even one time for additional funds.\u00a0 We opted for one night in the steak house on board because the food quality does improve rather substantially.\u00a0 But it\u2019s surely not a mandate to do so.\u00a0 The dining room food is generally sufficient and what they lack in quality, they assuredly make up for in quantity.\u00a0 I was enamored, dare I say overwhelmed, with the abundance of food on board.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to watch a documentary to see how this food is ordered, stored, and prepared in such mammoth scales.\u00a0 I did pay attention to how long we were on ship and based my cuisine on that.\u00a0 For example, I was keen on eating the sushi on the second night on board, but by our sixth night it seemed to me that unless I missed the big net that the ship was dragging behind us, or the helicopter delivery, the sushi couldn\u2019t have been all that fresh by our final night.<\/p>\n<p>Service was excellent as was cleanliness.\u00a0 I would absolutely choose to do another cruise but I will say this \u2013 I think the Caribbean and around the continent is the only place I would do a cruise.\u00a0 I hear rave reviews about European cruises, whether in the Mediterranean or the Baltics, and I\u2019m afraid they have no appeal for me.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that I wouldn\u2019t want to visit those countries.\u00a0 On the contrary, I wouldn\u2019t be able to overcome my frustration at how little time I would spend there.\u00a0 For me, each Caribbean Island is worth a visit, but in many instances, I find them to be very similar.\u00a0 Five hours in Jamaica, for example, seemed more than enough time.\u00a0 On the other hand, if my ship pulled up to Venice and told me I had but five hours to explore, I\u2019d go nuts.\u00a0 I\u2019d want five weeks, forget hours!<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, I\u2019m sold on cruising and can\u2019t wait for our next embarkation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While I\u2019ve spent nearly seven hundred nights of my life in hotels to date, prior to last week, I\u2019d never spent a single night of my life at sea.\u00a0 That would change when I\u2019d embark on my first ever cruise with my fianc\u00e9e and another couple about the Western Caribbean.\u00a0 This is quite a thing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - 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