Decisions Decisions

It's that time again.  Time to book another cruise vacation.  We usually shoot for the end of August because we have a son still in school and it's the cheapest time of the summer to go.  By the time we go this year, if we go, it will be 4 years since our last cruise which was on Freedom of the Seas.  How time flies.

There is a problem however.  My focus for this year's cruise has always been to book a trip on the Oasis of the Seas.  I've been following this ship from early design through construction and completion.  Over that time my excitement and anticipation have continued to grow and I fully expected to be taking a cruise on this magnificent ship this summer.  Problem is, I've apparently waited too long.  Usually we do book early, especially for a new ship like this but I never expected that the week we were looking at would be completely booked already.  Unfortunately that is the position we are in now.  I guess I underestimated how popular this ship would be.  What to do?

Now we're left with a big decision.  I'd still love to go on Oasis but I can accept waiting another year if I have to.  Regardless, we are going on a cruise this year.  The question then becomes, if not on Oasis, what ship do we go on?  It's no secret if you've read any of my blog that I'm a bit biased toward Royal Caribbean.  They are by far my favorite cruise line and I am very loyal.  Because of that, my first choices for an alternative to Oasis would be another cruise within the RCI fleet.  Plus, the wife and I have the Royal Caribbean Visa card with lots of points waiting to be cashed in.  However, I also have a love of the newest, biggest, most innovative ships regardless of line, so that has influenced my choices as well.  Based on all that, I've managed to narrow it down to a few options during that same time frame of late August.

With all my criteria in mind, I immediately started my search, first within Royal Caribbean.  A couple of options are looking promising at this time.  There is the option to go on another Freedom Class ship with Liberty of the Seas available and affordable during my vacation window.  Kind of a been there, done that with regard to the ship as we've already been on Freedom, but we did enjoy it a lot.  A major case of been there, done that with regard to the itinerary but that will be the same for most of our options if we insist on staying with a Caribbean cruise.  Nonetheless a viable option.  The second and most interesting option within RCI is Serenade of the Seas.  We've never been on a Radiance Class ship but we've always wanted to give it a try.  Not the newest ship, launched in 2003, but still nice and a bit more intimate than the larger Voyager and Freedom Classes.  The itinerary is also different.  There are two Southern Caribbean routes to choose from in our date range which feature some new stops we've never been to, so that's also a plus.  So, new ship and new stops, win win.  The major drawback to this option is that we will need to fly to Puerto Rico which is where the ship departs from.  Not only does that add big time to the total cost of the vacation, but it also adds the frustration and hassle of flying.  Those are both negatives in my book.

Time to look elsewhere.  For the next option, I didn't have to look far.  Still within the RCI family, Celebrity is another option.  I've been very interested in the new Solstice Class of ships they are building so I took a look at what they had to offer.  Found a couple of nicely priced options on Celebrity Solstice from Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean.  Nothing new on the itineraries but a very new and innovative ship.  No real downside to this choice as we can use our status as Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor Paltinum members to get the same level of benefits in Celebrity's Captain's Club which we are also members of.  We can't, however, use our Royal Caribbean Visa points toward the Celebrity cruise which is a minus.

The only other option that really caught my attention is the Norwegian Epic.  I found a reasonably price cruise that would work for us leaving from Miami to the Caribbean.  This is a very interesting ship which has some really innovative design elements to it.  I've also always been tempted to check out NCL's "Freestyle" way of doing things.  To me this ship is second only to Oasis of the Seas in level of innovation and excitement.  The only real downside to this option aside from the fact that it's outside of the RCI family is that it is simply the ugliest ship I have ever seen.  Yes, even uglier than their other abomination, Pride of America (same designer?).  I imagine they felt that the exterior wasn't as important as what they can pack inside but wow.  It's obviously a form follows function type of deal but I really think it will hurt their bookings.  I for one am really struggling with the decision simply because of the fact that the ship is not asthetically pleasing on the outside and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  I absolutely love all the stuff they can pack into a modern cruise ship but they should still look good on the outside even if the focus is on what's inside.  Royal Caribbean has been packing their ships with lots of innovative stuff but the ships themselves have never looked odd or ugly in my opinion.

So there it is.  Sometime in the next month we will hopefully be making our decision on what cruise to take.  It's not going to be an easy one.