Travel Hombre

Thanks for your input. I for one am not going to cry if not all of my relatives don’t do anything or everything with me that day at Perfect Day. If some do some stuff, which I suspect some will because of the the volume of people attending, cool. If some don’t then that’s fine too. This will be one of the few trips I’ll take all of next year and if I do a cabana or beach bed will be one of the few mini splurges within said trip. Who knows when I’ll be back to perfect day or to the Haiti location which I won’t butcher and I’m typing this on my phone so I’m worried if I open a new browser it’ll erase everything I wrote so far. I want to be super comfortable there and live it up a bit since I don’t know when I’ll be back. I don’t make so much that I can drop those amounts RC is asking for and not miss it. But I as I will explain a bit in a moment coupled with I am seeking family who might want to split costs with me then it may not be too bad. Certain I like the lay flat option and price point of the beach bed more, but the service, locker and shade of the cabana most. Lots to consider. Not including myself and mom I believe there will be about 10 or so others joining. Of those 10 about 2 are children. So I’m my head I know already the struggles it’s going to be to get folks up on time, out on time or back on time. After multiple back-to-back cruises where that was an issue albeit with less people I’m just tired of it and want to plan around it as best as possible.

The beach bed does seem like it would be more comfy and cheaper since you can fully lay out (though you would need to get your own food and drinks which is a minor think) versus the couch and extra chairs and cooler in the cabana the cabana has the locker and attendant service. For someone who has done both can you chime in about what you thought of the two?

On a related note in general to this overall topic and to the purposes of this blog in general I am absolutely thrilled by the welcoming responses I have gotten from everyone thus far from everyone. My sincere thanks to all. Yes, I overthink things at times. I’m guilty of that. But after 2 back-to-back cruises of waiting on family to make up their minds for things and they not doing so until last minute, and by last minute I mean we are on the cruise itself I just lose patience and want to get stuff settled as far out in advance as possible. Old military habit. More often than not I hate leaving things to to chance or last minute X factors. I guess I get a little neurotic at times but I suppose we all have our respective quirks don’t we?

That sounds awesome. When we were in Barcelona it was completely dumb luck that we happened to be there when there was a game going on. I forget the name of the team FCB played, but it was the other Barcelona team. So that was reason why it was a near sold out game. I think the floor seats that look like race car style seats were either going for 700 euros or so or $700 USD or so for the ground seats. Still I was pretty content with nose bleeds which I will almost never say again in my life. It was quite the experience. I wish we had another day or so in the city to do the stadium tour as well. But Barcelona isn’t going anywhere and is any excuse to do another cruise from there or a stand alone trip to Barcelona. I sort of hate flying out of IAD since it’s like and hour one way from home but they tend to have plenty of direct long haul flights to destinations like Barcelona, Tokyo, etc. So you can’t beat that.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment. It’s a tough one for me. Been cruising fairly regularly since 2009 and it’s only now that I’m on a cruise that is visiting one of Royal’s, or any cruise line’s, private locations. Doubt I’ll do Thrill (don’t want to pay almost $200 for a water park when the water (ocean) is right there), I do think Chill Island will be my go to place and I won’t mind doing a walk around from there. Plus I’ll be traveling with a large family group this time. Larger than usual. But since it’s my first private island stop in 14 years of cruising (minus a couple due to the covid break) I suppose I want to splurge a bit. I do see your point too. Plus it would save quite a bit of money. I’m glad you had a great time too by the way.

It was. Even though they were nosebleed seats and were expensive (about $100 USD I think), the view was great. Was a near sold out game. I don’t follow soccer much but it made for a great trip and that my birthday fell on one of the Italian stops and made pizza in Italy with my mom on an excursion. That was probably my favorite cruise to date.

Since it’ll be my first time there I guess my I initial urge is to do something big like a beach bead or cabana. I don’t cruise every year or every year multiple times a year (2023 being the exception: Quantum to Alaska and a NCL ship around Mexico and the Caribbean). Most of my cruises are on Royal Caribbean and while I’m not the planner of the cruises out of all of the ones we’ve done since like 2009, this will be the first one with a Perfect Day stop. So knows when we will be back. Sometimes I think my relatives are only content with seeing the same ports each time. In between cruises I push for other types like the Panamá Canal, or one that stops in Dominican Republic or goes to South America. In 2017 we did a RC cruise out of Barcelona with 3 stops in Italy and 2 in France. I loved it and we got to Barcelona 2 or 3 days early and caught an FCB match. Since then Hawaii was the furthest cruise we’ve done (NCL Pride of America). I’m glad to be cruising period. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just sometimes if the cruise you take is going to all of or most of the same ports previously visited then you too may have the urge to do something extra too since it’s kind of a been there, done that scenario.

Chill Island at this moment seems like it’ll be my go to area. I wouldn’t mind popping in to check out the others as well. And it appears that Chill will be closest to the infamous snack shack with its mozzarella sticks and secret sandwich so more reason why that seems like a prime location. Easier said than done regarding getting off the ship early. Don’t get me wrong I do agree. If I have a reason to then I’m all for it. It’s just traveling with family can sometimes throw a wrench into that especially when some will want to wait for others even at the risk of getting off the ship on time or even to getting to a show early.

I live close enough to a 6 Flags location and a couple of hours from King’s Dominion so if myself or anyone I know had the urge to go to a water park we have options. However those options won’t cost me nearly $200 a person to get in unlike the price of Thrill Island day pass. That said of all of the prices for cabanas at this very moment Thrill Island appears to be the cheapest cabana by about $300 compared to most and more compared to the Beach Club and Hideaway. So in that regard it’s a good deal. Not cheap but a good deal since it also includes 8 day passes which are almost $200 per person. This is for the July 7-14, 2024 cruise. My guess was that since it’s right after the 4th of July maybe RC still expects people to be on vacation and hence the higher prices?

I appreciate the feedback. Part of the reason why I was struggling with it is because it’s my first time there and I’d like to do something different. Also, on my last cruise (NCL) I had asked my family going with me months in advance “What excursions are you interested in?”, etc. Crickets. Then once on the cruise at some of the ports we had to haggle and search for stuff and when we go to some of the stops it was less than stellar. So I just don’t want a repeat of that again. And I like to plan early since I get excited before any trip. The Coco Beach Club cabanas were crazy expensive. The other sections are crazy expensive too but cheap compared to the beach club. I’m sure it’ll be fun no matter what. I just don’t want to struggle looking for a beach chair like on my last cruise.

Next July on Wonder of the Seas will be my next cruise. Our first stop is at Perfect Day. I’ve never been there before. I’m going on a cruise with multiple family members with kids. I have 0 expectations that we all have to do the exact same things together. I’m sure my mom will want to, I won’t. So with that said I am tempted between getting a day bed or potentially a cabana (maybe in Chill Island?) but I wasn’t sure if I were to would it be worth it or a waste to also get a day pass for the Coco Beach Club or the new adults only area on top of a day bed or cabana. I haven’t purchased anything yet for Perfect Day, but I’d much rather purchase as early as possible instead of waiting last minute. Thanks for any and all feedback.