Sorry, Steelerfan - I have been meaning to respond and answer your question on how our cruise went, but just haven't had the chance.
Overall, it went well. I wouldn't say it was the greatest trip ever and sealed the deal on us becoming regular cruisers, but it did not go so horribly wrong that we will never step foot on a boat again. The main issue was that the weather was pretty crummy the whole time. It was light rain leaving Canaveral, and then there was a tropical storm out in the atlantic that was making the seas choppy all the way where we were. We were able to visit Nassau, but the private island stop was scrapped as the seas were too rough to tender. Very disappointing, but obviously the right call. The good thing is that my wife was able to figure out that she can develop sea legs and handle a little choppiness. I think next time we will stay away from booking during hurricane season as we do not want a repeat. I think rain and bad weather is perfectly fine for a Disney World trip, but it can completely mess up a cruise. In fact, we did a Disney World trip in August 2013 and a tropical storm came through Florida. It turned out great! People stayed away, everything stayed open and there were no lines. And it didn't even end up raining that much.
We did learn that, for my wife, mixing Dramamine, alcohol and being on the sea was not always a good idea, so take caution there. We heeded the advice and got a room that was in the middle of the ship and on the lowest deck, so that was a good idea. I was glad we had an oceanview room as I think not being able to see the water would have made the choppiness harder to handle. And the middle of the ship is good guidance for sure - one night we went to the show in the main theater, which is at the front of the ship and the water was very choppy that night - and we could definitely feel it even when sitting down.
We did a shore excursion to Atlantic in Nassau - the one where you get grounds access and can go to the beach. It was fine but again, it rained. So we had about a 45-minute window of sunshine (which turned out to be pretty much the only sunshine we had on the entire trip). But the excursion was otherwise fine. I would not have paid to do the waterpark there.
Everything else was great - food, entertainment, logistics. I think we realized that we may have more in common with the typical
Disney Cruise clientele, versus the Royal Caribbean clientele. I think since this was a 3-day, Friday to Monday cruise, there are a lot of Florida residents who take a nice long weekend and get the drink package and just have a great time. But a little more of a 'booze cruise' vibe than I expected. Probably not typical of Royal Caribbean in general, but perhaps for these short sailings out of Canaveral and Miami. Either way, a good way to dip our toe in the waters, so to speak, but not sure we would take the kids on one of these. Maybe the longer Royal Caribbean cruises on the new ships, but probably not this one.
So the upshot is, my wife has agreed to another cruise. We are targeting a Disney Cruise in summer 2016 with the kids for 7 nights. Should be fun! Happy to answer any other questions anyone may have, as I left alot out.
P.S. One thing that we noticed was that it was inconvenient not having a way to communicate across the ship with each other. We are so used to being able to text each other on land. So if we were ever doing something separately, it was difficult to manage (it's a wonder people ever used to be able to get by without it!) Anyway, we are looking forward to the fact that Disney Cruises seem to have this solved.
I'm assuming Coco Cay and Nassau?
so try some of the new activities on the ship I've heard the R - Bar is fantastic!
