Three Weeks, Three Different Experiences: The Cruise vs. The All-Inclusive Resort

Three weeks, three different experiences

Cruises and theme parks have been a huge part of my life. Grew up taking trips to the theme parks and cruises. I moved to Orlando due to the theme parks. Took four cruises in a year a couple of years ago, and even became a travel agent last year. I have been on more than ten cruises in the last three years and I am coming up on three vacations in a row. One weekend cruise on the Utopia of the Seas, one trip to Sandals Nassau, and one trip on the Disney Magic. With these three different experiences being so close together, I figured they would be fresh enough on my mind to compare and contrast them.

First trip was on the Utopia of the Seas. This will be my third time aboard Utopia on the weekend cruise. With it being my third time, I knew what to expect. Decent food, great activities, amazing shows, and a great private island. That is exactly what I got. We ate enough to easily gain a few pounds, breakfasts at Park Café, lunches all over the ship, dinner in the dining room, and several snacks per day from differing locations. A mainstay was pizza at night. This is always the classic end of day snack, and this cruise was no different. I only ate two ice cream cones, and didn’t go overboard on the sweets, which is a newer thing for me. Usually, I eat two desserts a night in the dining room, I settled for one on a couple of nights. The crème Brule was a standout. The pecan crusted salmon was a standout. The herb crusted salmon, and the New York Strip were decent. So much better than anything that MSC has on offer. The dining room service was incredible as always. Ni at table 639 is the best server I think I have ever had in the last three years, and she reminded me of cruising of old. Unfortunately, I never got to meet my room steward. All team members I ran into were great. Maybe a few working the water slide could have been nicer… I played laser tag, I swung in a hammock, had a couple of beers, watched the world’s sexiest man competition, had a couple pina coladas, and swam in a pool on their private island. I also finally got on all of the water slides they have on offer. I also rode the “Ultimate Abyss” which is the largest dry slide on the ocean. One huge omission is the Windjammer. The buffet is the typical go-to for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner for most passengers, but I didn’t go there once. I didn’t even walk in. This area is typically the most crowded dining venue and just doesn’t scream vacation. It just screams frantically. Got some good naps, some good sleep, all in my comfort of my interior room. I have never needed a balcony, Oceanview, or anything better. I use my room to sleep on cruises. Nap times and bed times. Other than that, I am doing activities on the ship. The first day of this cruise had a high energy party atmosphere on the pool decks. This will be interesting to compare to the Disney Magic. The shows were incredible as always. We enjoyed the comedy show on the last night. We enjoyed the diving show twice. We enjoyed the ice show once. The diving and the ice show are incredible shows. We even got a chance to watch the dive team practice on the second evening. A few of the diver’s dove from the highest dive board which was awesome to watch. Just watching them flip with ease is incredible to me. I couldn’t imagine doing any of the stuff they do. I tried ice skating before on this ship but unfortunately times are very limited for ice skating. Overall, this cruise will be HARD to beat. I loved every second I was on board, and it was just a smooth weekend. Great cruise as always.

Sandals Nassau

I have never been to an all-inclusive resort. I don’t like planes. I was lucky enough to go on a travel agent educational experience to Sandals Nassau and since it was only an hour and a half direct flight, I decided to go through with it. I was a bit nervous. I feel like a pro when it comes to cruising but for an all-inclusive? I have no experience.

I just got back for my first all-inclusive experience, and it was quite a time. It started earlier in the week; there were two tropical storms/depressions in the Atlantic that looked like they would swing close to the Bahamas. I didn’t think anything of it. I have been through countless hurricanes living in Florida. Another note was I was going by myself to this all-inclusive. Now that the stage is set, the first one and a half days were great. The airport was as painless as possible, and the flight was under an hour long. I got to the resort with the sun shining, I was the last one to get on the transfer bus and they welcomed me with a guava mimosa in the club level lounge. They took us on a small tour and walked me straight to my room, and it was very nice. I enjoyed room service, which was included in the club level room, and enjoyed the complementary spirits that they restock daily, along with a fridge full of mixers. I enjoyed this touch, no need to go to the bars to deal with lines, no need to leave my room almost the entire first day. The food was okay, even the flagship restuaruant was just okay. The truffle parmesan fries were horrific. The one standout was the Willy Wonka brulee which was tasty and better than most cruise ships. The weather on the second night was a little windy and rainy but nothing too bad. Unfortunately, there was some entertainment that got canceled due to the weather. Which brings me to a huge gripe with all-inclusives. If the weather is less than favorable, there aren’t too many indoor venues to enjoy. Of course, I went during a tropical depression, so the weather got really bad. I couldn’t enjoy snorkeling, go to their private island, go to the outdoor dining venue, couldn’t do the sailing lessons, and couldn’t sit on the beach every day. The weather would begin to pick up on the last night. It was pouring and even though there were complementary umbrellas in your room, it broke almost immediately by the wind. Everywhere you walked there were the broken carcasses of these complementary umbrellas. At dinner the Italian restaurant converted into a buffet to get people in and out which had some decent items. It was my second chicken parm on the trip. The roof was leaking, there was water all over the floor, I was happy that I wore my crocs for dinner. After dinner, there was not much going on at the resort. I just watched a football game in my room and slept early for my flight in the morning. I woke up at 1230 to no power… The wind was really zipping around on my balcony, and it was a warm night of sleep… All I could do was pray my flight would still go out on time, I was ready to get home. Airport was packed, six-hour delay later, and I finally boarded my flight. I got home seven hours later than I was supposed to. The beginning of this trip was good, but by the end I was missing the interior of a cruise ship and the hour drive back to my house from the terminal. One of the largest knocks I give on this place is there were just not enough activities for you to do if weather is an issue. There just aren’t enough indoor places to hang out or enough indoor activities. This made me miss cruising bad. I went to this place for a change of pace vacation. I left this place EXCITED about my cruise next weekend.

Disney Magic 5 night

The three-week three different experience month continues with a trip on the Disney Magic. I have been on this ship before when I was younger than 10 years old so I am excited to see how my experience will be. I went on my first Disney cruise as an adult in June on the Disney Wish and I had a really good time. One thing that I am a bit hesitant of is the age of the ship. It is 27 years old and small. The last ship I went on around the same age was the Carnival Liberty and that age was showing from the time we boarded all the way till we disembarked three days later. The five-night cruise is also the most expensive cruise we have ever been on. Having just gotten off a mega ship two weeks ago on the Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas, I think the difference in experience might be just slightly different. I haven’t gotten on the ship yet, but I almost know for a fact that it will be better than the all-inclusive I went to a week ago. Right now, it is a two-horse race to be my favorite vacation of the month. This cruise was more relaxing than the Utopia of the Seas. The adult sections were a lot more available during this cruise. We were able to get a really nice chair on the second day of the cruise, the pool was not tourist soup, and the hot tub was completely empty. This was one of the first days on a cruise where I could get in the pool and hot tub on the same day and not be overcrowded by people. We got into this adult area pool twice during the cruise due to how empty it was. I absolutely loved it. I love the Funnelvision movies in the main pool but it was very relaxing to have more of a lowkey experience. I got my use of the Funnelvision during my chicken tender runs. One of the issues I have with this cruise ship is the heavy reliance on the buffet. There aren’t very many supplementary options, and for breakfast it really shrivels up. Going to the buffet for breakfast is something I never do. It is always busy, and there are usually supplemental quick service, and even a full-service restaurant to go to. I was able to eat breakfast at the restaurant two days but the rest of the days I hit the buffet which was mediocre food, with just too much fuss for it. This buffet was very small, and the gaps between the tables were small and typically full of children bouncing with excitement. My nephew was one of the kids that got in people’s walkway a few too many times…. Sometimes on my watch…. Ooops. Kids will be kids.

Overall, I really enjoyed my three different trips, they were all great in their own different ways. For me personally, I would like to say that my favorite trip was my Disney Cruise with my niece and nephew. They made the trip completely. The crew onboard really knew how to take care of kids, with some of them holding squeakers in their hands as they talk with the kids. It was a good experience seeing Disney through the eyes of a kid again. I loved the adult area, and the dining wasn’t bad. The service is top notch, even though it was a little bit more expensive than my typical cruise it was my favorite one of the year I think. My nephew singing LET IT GO in a quiet theater after the Let it Go sequence finished which made the theater erupt in laughter. The theater entertainment on these cruises are top notch, and just a very fun time.

In second place, the answer is very easy. Utopia of the Seas is always a good time, and it was a wonderful time spending time with friends and having a more adult vacation. It was relaxing, it was laid back, we enjoyed some shows, took some naps, and got some sun. This was a very laid back cruise compared to the Utopia with the full family six months earlier.

Unfortunately, Sandals Nassau is in last. It is being compared to top tier entertainment that this place lacked. There was also a tropical depression that also hit during my time here which cut the power during the night and wasn’t ideal.

Three weekends. Three different experiences. A very busy month, but a very fun month as well with many memories to look back on. One of the main ones will be messing with my nephew about his singing when he gets older.