https://www.youtube.com/c/BugVapes
My YouTube channel is listed above, currently it has a lot of vaping stuff on there, but give it a follow we will be going live and making content about other things from this point forward
Cruising!!! One of our favorite things to do, and honestly one of the best “bangs for your buck” vacations.
I was first introduced to cruising back in like 2006 when my Mom and Dad took me on my first cruise with Carnival cruise line. As a 16 year old who did not have the luxury of fine vacations growing up, this vacation was just that to me, luxury! What an eye opener to be on that ship, Carnival Sensation. I remember the double stair case lined in “gold” with the piano at the bottom with live music being played. The slide on the lido deck going straight into the pool. The deck parties, the teen club, the casino, there were just so many things that I had never experienced and from that moment on I WAS HOOKED.
Fast forward through all my rough times where money was tight and we were barely able to make it to the beaches in Florida, my next cruise wasn’t until 2016, TEN YEARS LATER! This time though I got to take my wife! My brother and his Fiancé actually went on this one too and it was her first cruise as well.
Over the years I had explained to my wife that going on a cruise was just eye opening and there wasn’t another experience like it. I went through every detail with her from what I could remember of my first cruise ten years prior. All the while she just couldn’t grasp the idea, she has told me countless times that in HER mind it was just a bunch of people on a tiny boat. Let me tell you, when I FINALLY talked her into going and trying it, it changed her life!!
When she saw that boat for the first time, she was shocked! The first boat she went on was the Carnival, Valor. (Not my favorite) She was in amazement of how huge the ship was and just the beauty of the ship inside and out. She realized that there was always something to do and always something to eat, to the point it was almost overwhelming. Had I not already been on a cruise and had my parent’s not been with us, it does get overwhelming with all the things you have to do and how to navigate from embarking to debarking and navigating the ports. We have talked about it a lot, how we feel bad for a lot of first time cruisers because it really does get confusing and can make the entire experience bad. There really is no one there walking you through how to do everything, almost like an airport, signs posted everywhere and people pointing.
Now if your new to cruising let me let you in on a secret. Used to, there was “faster to the fun” which is a program you can purchase, which is limited availability so if your going to get it, go ahead when you book if it is available. This program allows you access to your room just like the diamond, platinum, and suite guests, but in the Covid times this program is not available. Now the rooms are not available until 1:30 ish. We normally do not check our bags or send them with the porters, this is just personal preference really but I find that normally, and I say NORMALLY, I can get on board with our luggage, go to our room even though it is not clean and meet one of the crew members that are cleaning and tell them I’m dropping my big suitcase and luggage in the closet. NORMALLY they don’t mind and will allow you to do so. I have heard to many horror stories about luggage being lost and delayed that I just don’t want to have to deal with it. If this doesn’t work NORMALLY I am on the same ship as my parent’s who are platinum members and their room is already ready anyway so I go drop luggage in their room. I have once had to keep my luggage with me but really it’s not that bad. Me and the wife go find a table on the Lido deck, park our luggage there and go grab something to eat and drink while we wait on our room to be ready. We make the best of it and honestly there are a lot of people that do it just like we do.
So, 2016 was her first cruise and my second. We decided on this trip to not take our son because for one he was like 4 at the time and two because I wanted my wife to experience everything she could without having to worry about the baby. Luckily she loved the entire experience and wanted to go back. Well we finally got ahead with jobs and careers and booked a cruise to take our son on in 2019. Our son was 7 then and had an absolute blast! His first ship was the Carnival, Fantasy which was an awesome ship. Sadly though its no longer around, and was sent to the scrap yard about a year ago. We LOVED that ship! It was small and everything was laid out perfectly. Our son had a BLAST!
Once she seen how much our son enjoyed it she was hooked from that point forward and she really doesn’t like taking “beach trips” anymore where we have to pay for hotels and fuel and food. Let me put it into perspective for you, when we go on a week long vacation, lets say to Panama City Beach. We rent a room, or a condo for one week and that alone costs us anywhere from $650-$1000 Just for the room. Now lets calculate gas, one tank to get there, one tank while your there, and one tank to get back, that costs us about $300. Now lets calculate food, well we all know when we go to the beach we eat at ALL the seafood restaurants, each dinner meal is going to cost about $150, sometimes more and sometimes less. But don’t forget about breakfast lunch and snacks. I estimate that food runs somewhere close to $600. Put all of that together and you have roughly $2000.00…. Now let me tell you how much I paid for my cruise with my family of 3, you ready…??? $700.00!!! And that’s room, food, fuel, all included. The only thing I had to pay extra for was alcohol and souvenirs. How about that??? IF YOUR NOT CRUISING YOU ARE MISSING OUT. You get to travel to another country and get the experience of the ship, and you don’t have to worry about driving…. Come on people, I say try it at least once. I know that it’s just not for some people, but how do you know unless you try it.
The next cruise we went on was the Carnival, Magic in 2021 (just after cruising opened back up from Covid) and there was 8 of us on that cruise. My mom and dad, my cousin and her husband (their first cruise) my wife, son and me as well as my Mother in Law ( her first cruise). We love being able to show people around and how to navigate their way through embarkation and the little tips and tricks we have learned along the way. During that cruise we started a tradition when we cruise in big groups and that is a themed “elegant night” or “formal night”, on this cruise we chose the 20s. Everyone on the ship that was in the dining room or as we passed by absolutely loved our look when we walked by in the group. I really do recommend if you have a group going, make the best of it and take the costumes, tbh no one knows you there so why not HAHA.
My wife and I took one more cruise before the new baby arrived and that was this year, 2022. She was just under the 23 weeks, Carnival doesn’t allow pregnant women to travel with them past this time due to medical reasons. We had a nice relaxing cruise, walked at her pace, watched the show, slept when we wanted, did as little or as much as we wanted to. We decided to take this cruise, one because we got a really good deal on it and two because we needed that last little bit of US time before the new baby came. It was an amazing time and we knew we wouldn’t be cruising for just over a year because if I am not mistaken a baby has to be over 6 month’s old before they will allow them to travel. So, what did I do? I booked one for May of 2023! I knew the new baby would be between 9 and 11 months old then and would be able to cruise!
The May 2023 Cruise is booked on the Mardi Gras, which will be all of ours first time on the Mardi Gras, including my parents. There will be, as of right now, 17 of us (family) going on this cruise! We are all very excited! If you have any questions about cruising shoot me an email and I will do my very best to answer them and if I can’t answer them I know plenty of people who can. And if you are looking to book a cruise, reach out to me as well, I am partnered with a travel agency and will be happy to provide that service to you.
With all of this being said here is a list of items that we recommend for cruising. Please keep in mind that with the purchase of any of these products I may receive commission. Which is kind of the point right, lol, but I have to mention it. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the content.
~MaBug
MaBug Family, Travel & Money 
Leave a comment