We are booking on the Cruise, the Good and Bad
On the good side it's in February. In 2015 it was -30 below wind chill at home when we were laying naked on the deck in 80+ degree beautiful weather. To many wonderful experiences to list
On the bad side, this time Carnival is not offering a drink package. A drink package worked out so well for us. You knew what the bill was going to be and never had to have a thought or concern about over spending. I had one particular bar that I favored on the pool deck. The 1st time I went there I tipped the Bar Tender very generously. I believe in extra tipping of the service staff. 2nd time tipped him again and we talked a bit. The entire cruise after that if he was on duty I never even had to hand him my sea pass. He knew my pass number and what I drank. When the bar was stacked full of people he would spot me in the back, give me a head nod and poof be handing me my beverage and off I'd go. I always made sure to keep him tipped throughout the cruise.
I'm not sure but I think one will have to sign for each purchase? Also I wonder how many bottles per stateroom is allowed since Celebrity changed their alcohol policy.
Carnival's website still shows one 750mL bottle/passenger allowed
on in carry-on luggage:
https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2633/~/liquor-and-beverage-policy
We aren't big enough drinkers to make the drink packages worth it.
On a sea day we might spend $30-40 on drinks... Far less than the
$49.95/day (each... including days we spend on shore). Even when we
discovered the martini flights at the martini bar in 2015 we never
came close to what would be needed to break even on the drink
package. Some lines have a discounted drink package for
non-alcoholic drinks, but I'm not seeing one on the Carnival
website. We are going on a textile cruise in September on RCCL and
can't see spending $22.42/day each on non-alcoholic drinks or
$57.82/day each to include alcohol. This will be our first non-BN
cruise since we started nude cruising in 2013. I still don't see
why Carnival doesn't want the drink packages on any charters,
though. I guess they didn't want to call out which charters were a
problem, so they killed it for all of them.
Carnival's website still shows one 750mL bottle/passenger allowedon in carry-on luggage:https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2633/~/liquor-and-beverage-policyWe aren't big enough drinkers to make the drink packages worth it.On a sea day we might spend $30-40 on drinks... Far less than the$49.95/day (each... including days we spend on shore). Even when wediscovered the martini flights at the martini bar in 2015 we nevercame close to what would be needed to break even on the drinkpackage. Some lines have a discounted drink package fornon-alcoholic drinks, but I'm not seeing one on the Carnivalwebsite. We are going on a textile cruise in September on RCCL andcan't see spending $22.42/day each on non-alcoholic drinks or$57.82/day each to include alcohol. This will be our first non-BNcruise since we started nude cruising in 2013. I still don't seewhy Carnival doesn't want the drink packages on any charters,though. I guess they didn't want to call out which charters were aproblem, so they killed it for all of them.
I would be interested in hearing your review when you get back from your RCCL trip between Nude and textile cruises. We heard a couple opinions when on board the 2015 Nude cruise. It's always good to get other and different perspectives.
We had very good club friends take their very 1st cruise right after we got back from ours however theirs was a textile cruise. One thing for sure theirs was a lot cheaper.
It's definitely cheaper. Just under $1000/pp for a balcony (7
nights, but includes port fees). Our 2017 bill is close at $1199/pp
(9 nights, but an additional $137 for port fees) but our French
Doors open to a view of a lifeboat instead of a balcony. Even our
pre-paid gratuities come out ~$25 cheaper (although for 2 less
nights I would have thought even cheaper). Our outside cabin for
2018 was $1399/pp (10 nights, but an additional $142 for port
fees). And the gratuities were more, with the extra night.
Maybe someone at the dinner table will try to be funny and ask if
anyone has ever heard of nude cruises. We can tell them we are
scoping out Aruba and Curacao for our 2018 nude cruise!
I am a little worried that the crowd won't be as carefree as the nude cruisers. Don't worry, be happy isn't always the mantra on textile cruises.
I was cleaning up our office last night and found our sign & sail cards from the last time we were on Adventure of the Seas... September 3, 2006... exactly 10 years before our September 3, 2016 cruise! It did the other itinerary of it's flip-flop itineraries that time.
That other itinerary, which we could have gotten by going a week earlier or later, includes a stop in St. Maarten. Too bad we hadn't tried going to nude beaches yet then! That was our third cruise that stopped in St. Maarten, though, and we were starting to get curious about Orient Beach. That probably helped get us on the road to where we are now. We finally flew to St. Maarten and stayed at Club Orient for our first nude experience. And of course, our only cruise that's stopped in St. Maarten since, we skipped Orient Beach as you know!
Our anniversary will fall during this cruise, otherwise I would have voted for pushing back a week and getting a day at Club Orient on our cruise! We will let you know what it is like being on a textile cruise again. It will be different just due to the size of the ship. We know RCCL has even bigger ships now, but the first time we went on this class ship we were struck by how big the ship is. We can't imagine what those 6500+ passenger ships are like.
I would be interested in hearing your review when you get back from your RCCL trip between Nude and textile cruises. We heard a couple opinions when on board the 2015 Nude cruise. It's always good to get other and different perspectives. We had very good club friends take their very 1st cruise right after we got back from ours however theirs was a textile cruise. One thing for sure theirs was a lot cheaper.
We ended up getting upgraded to a Junior Suite for $9 each, so we had a great cabin for $960/pp! It had a walk-in closet and a bigger bathroom with a tub. Also the room was wider, so our balcony was bigger. And that was a good thing, since we went to nude-unfriendly ports. There was a group from Cruise Critic that we did a couple of things with, but otherwise no real interaction with any other passengers. It was good enough to book a Greek Islands cruise next September. Maybe we will have a chance to spend some time on a nude beach in Greece.
Did you find a difference with people's friendliness between the nude and textile cruise? We have nothing to compare it to only being on one nude cruise, easily made some great friends and many nice acquaintances. We were invited to visit several couples homes in various places around the country. The invite to Southern Cali sure was awfully tempting!
Have to agree with Marc-Susan......we have been on 7 Nude Cruises and 2 Textile cruises and the difference in friendliness was apparent. On the textile cruises, we never had lunch or dinner with other guests or met up with folks in ports for a a quick drink...all of which we have done with guests on the nude cruises. Just being on a nude cruise puts you into a group of folks that we feel more comfortable around and already have one thing in common that most other cruisers don't. I have to also agree one nude cruise is not enough and we have started to look at the lifestyle cruises (not swingers either but not prudes) for more clothing optional cruise opportunities. JJ
Did you find a difference with people's friendliness between the nude and textile cruise? We have nothing to compare it to only being on one nude cruise, easily made some great friends and many nice acquaintances. We were invited to visit several couples homes in various places around the country. The invite to Southern Cali sure was awfully tempting!
Other than the Cruise Critic meet & greet and bar-hopping tour, we didn't really talk with anyone the whole cruise. It didn't help that we got assigned a table for two in the dining room. We talked with others at breakfast, that was about it. On our first nude cruise in 2013 we ran into people we met at Club Orient and also met up with others from this site. In 2015, people came up to us that remembered us from the first cruise and we met with more people from this site. Also, Suzanne Schell (owner of Laguna Del Sol) came up to us. She remembered us from the 2012 and 2013 Nudestock events, even though those were the only times we've been to LDS. The True Nudists and Bare Necessities meetups, even though much less formal than the Cruise Critic ones, end up with more friends. Can't wait to see who we recognize on this cruise.
This will be our 2nd nude cruise (I've personally be on one textile cruise before these)...Feb 2014, and now this one. We were a little upset that there is no drink package on this upcoming cruise. However, we are getting a much needed break from work, kids, and our lovely Canadian winter...so I guess I can't complain too much.
Chiming in on the textile vs nude cruise, I'll obviously have to agree with the posts before me...I find the nude cruises, or any nudist/naturist environment, to be a much friendlier one compared to textile. The reason that we're even going on this cruise is because we are going to meet up with some friends of ours from the UK. We met them at a resort in Jamaica that has a nude-only island, on our honeymoon nearly 5 years ago. I truly believe that our friendship probably would never have started without the friendly, open atmosphere that a nude environment provided for us. Like I said to them, at least you know that on that kind of vacation, you KNOW you have at least one thing in common with the person next to you. Nudity seems to be the perfect ice breaker! Anyway, we now have a great friendship that keeps us booking these kinds of trips together, so we can see each other. This trip is also to celebrate our 5th and their 10th anniversary.
Sorry, I kind of rambled there, but I really love the friends that we've met during our nude vacations, and we keep in touch with all of them. Hoping to meet more on this cruise, and I'm sure it won't be difficult with my wife being there. She seems to make friends very easily wherever we go! See you all there!
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