Royal Caribbean Cruise Vacation

What is it about cruising that has made this one of the most popular vacations for the last several years? The growth rate of this industry and the addition of new ships being added to the fleet each year show the value of this getaway. It seems more destinations are added, the cruise lines do a great job of changing or adding to their list of itineraries. It may be an Alaskan cruise or one to the several Caribbean locations that are the most popular. For those with plenty of time the longer crossings are available across the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. There are Mediterranean voyages that have ports of call to many wonderful places full of rich history and cultural experiences.

We booked our cruise this year with our friends Scott and Kim. We started planning almost a year ago which was a departure from the normal time of year we would normally vacation. Our normal time is during our winter months of either February or March. During those long dark winter nights of Alaska it is desirable for a change of pace and the chance to go someplace warm and sunny with ‘normal’ daylight hours.

September is the heart of hurricane season in the tropics but after some research for that time period we it was decided that historically there had been no major activity during that those few weeks each year. Looking at the weather maps on The Weather Channel we saw there was a quick forming Category One hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico which headed ashore two days before our Alaskan departure dumping rain into Texas and Louisiana.

There is another one wandering around the Lesser Antilles islands which should not be a factor to anything. It will be nice to see how this one stands up to other cruises we have been on in the past. We have cruised once with Carnival Cruise Line which was a nice trip but nothing really special stood out that year. It was a cruise down the Mexican Rivera to Acapulco much like the old “Love Boat” episodes but was lacking in many areas we found on other lines but was still a wonderful trip. After two previous Princess trips which were wonderful and the Carnival vacation we followed the next year with another Princess cruise to the Southern Caribbean route to St. Thomas and St. Marteen.

We decided to give Royal Caribbean cruise line a try as friends have said it was different but comparable to the Princess experience. We are excited to compare both in service of the staff and the value aboard ship.

This year we had picked our ship after seeing the Travel Channel’s program with Samantha Brown’s first look at the newest ship in the Royal Caribbean’s fleet, the “Freedom of the Seas”. The program was great and the itinerary went to places we wanted to see and also had many great fun things to do while aboard away from our normal lives.

Preparing for this trip found many choices to be sorted through. Figuring out the places we wanted to travel, the type of activities we wanted to participate and the possible age restrictions for the kids were all considered. The debate lasted almost a month in nailing down the date since the women were more in favor of the winter trip but the possibility of going another time seemed more and more like a reality. It was decided after seeing the television program that we would book this trip with Royal Caribbean.

The “Freedom of the Seas” is quite different in many ways from our past cruises but some things are still exactly what we want. It is one of the largest ships in Royal’s fleet with another recently added. We enjoy having a balcony to see the scenery slowly go by in an ever changing landscape and to eat breakfast or lunch to the gentle sounds of the waves breaking below us on the bow of the ship. Or, if we choose, having a place to lie in the sun without being upstairs on the main decks with several thousand people, just our quiet little hideaway a feature we really enjoy.

This ship has quite a few extras not found on other ships we have sailed with in the past. There is the ‘surf rider’ on the upper aft deck of the ship for fun and spills trying to ‘surf’ high above the seas. The climbing wall is almost 4 stories high and overlooks some spectacular ever changing scenery. This ship also has an ice skating rink and more food and retail shops than you would ever think could be on one ship. The shops run the length of the ‘amidships’ along an almost two football field’s length with an atrium above from which many ‘inside’ cabins now overlook. Watching the activities below these inside rooms might make them very desirable now giving a new and unique view of the ship’s interior décor.

The logistics of traveling for these trips from Alaska to almost anywhere other than traveling to Seattle is the one headache to deal with and not to be dwelled upon very long. It is commonplace to have almost 24 hours of travel time to reach any destination on the east coast and sometimes 14-16 hours travel to places in the American west. Having the attitude to just get through it on both ends of any trip and not get worked up is the best way to enjoy the time away. It is a common thing . . . like pumping gas in the middle of winter at thirty below zero. You just have to do it and move onto other things.

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2222222222222222222222222222222222222, lol, I’m falling asleep here in this airport chair so I will stop now before I drop this computer off my lap. There were 10 full lines of the number 2 going across the page but I shortened it up a bit. I’m not sure if I dozed off for a few seconds or minutes but it’s almost 3 am in the Seattle airport and I have not slept for more than a couple of hours these last few days so I will write more in a bit after some much needed sleep.

(It’s Saturday night now and we finally made it to Miami so I will write more of today’s events in another section and will finish the story of the days leading up to our departure.)

Scott and his family decided to leave a little earlier than us so he figured the best time to leave Anchorage was on September 11^th the sixth anniversary of that tragic day. Scott figured odds were it would be a slow airline day as people are still afraid to fly on that day. Travel is light and hopefully with the kids things would go smoothly. The departure from Anchorage originally scheduled for 4 o’clock pm was about 45 minutes late but not enough to cause any problems. They arrived in Miami around 6 am and rented a vehicle to head to one of my favorite places, Walt Disney World.

I talked with Scott about midday and he had arrived in Miami, rented a vehicle and had driven back up to Orlando for their adventure to Disney World. After flying all night and driving all morning the first stop in Kissimmee was to find a dentist for one of their girls who ended up needing a root canal. There is noting like flying over 10,000 miles and driving another 350 miles to find a good dentist. They finally checked into the hotel around 7 pm without doing much of anything other than the dental office visit. It was hit the hotel, eat a little dinner and let the kids swim the night away.

Everyone wanted to leave at the same time and travel together but there was no way to do that with my work schedule. The bids I was working on needed to be as complete as I possibly could have them. My goal was to have everything ready for the 3 bids that were going to bid while I was away and have the other three almost ready to fax out. Frank, my boss also had some smaller bids for me to complete and send out which added to my workload but was not a big deal. My problem was getting the suppliers to give me a number a week early. Some had not done the required takeoffs and others who were ready did not want their number out there floating around for several days. I was not going to share my number with anyone but by the time I left I only had one or two responses so I put everything together for Frank to assemble the final number to fax out to our various contractors.

All of the preparations were in place for a smooth exit as I was working on last minute details until noon when I headed home to pack and leave for the airport at two pm.

More to come . . . Let the adventure begin!

Ice