We Took A Trip To Bermuda And Came Back To Tell About It - Bermuda Cruise

Our Cruise To Bermuda

Cruise Carry-On Packing Cheat Sheet

We have not had a long vacation in almost a year. While we had many shorter trips, we have not been away for a full work week in a long time. We try to avoid this usually by taking at least two of such breaks during the year as it creates vacation-less monsters. :)
For this vacation, we ventured over to Bermuda and instead of flying there, which is quite expensive, we took a cruise on the Celebrity Summit ship. And don't call it a boat or Captain Kate will be on you. As she puts it "a boat is something you can put on the ship, but you cannot put a ship on a boat."
Captain Kate was also quite funny in her announcements:

During muster drill:

Only captain can make an announcement for abandoning ship. If the captain is not available, then the second officer. If the second officer is not capable of making the announcement then chief security officer would make the call. If he is not available, then know that you are having a much better day than we are

On the ship, for the first time in four cruises, we got a cabin with a balcony. It was well worth it. We got to hear the sounds of the ocean while napping, great views during sailing, and extra space to hang out and hang our stuff. This was especially great since the room we got was very small. Much smaller than expected and much smaller than in the pictures we saw online. The photos were deceptively taken with wide angle lens at an angle that made it seems wider than it was

Tip: make sure to check and figure out the measurements of the room before booking

Did You Know?: No irons on the ship



That's right. These apparel grooming devices cannot be brought aboard. I didn't know that until we were onboard. Any items that generate heat or produce an open flame are not allowed on a ship. This includes heating pads, clothing irons, hot plates, candles, incense and any other item that may create a fire hazard. Instead, you can use a wrinkle-releasing spray, such as Downy Wrinkle Releaser, or a hair dryer that is provided in the room. The heat and moisture in the air would create an environment that gets rid of some basic wrinkles. Just make sure to not hold the dryer too close to the garment.

Sailing Off To Bermuda

Day 1 - at sea

Slept in. Had late breakfast. Great start.

There were 3 "pools" on board. One is a tiny one for kids. Another a bit larger for adults. And one more for even older folks. The kid one was swarming with kids. So we wanted to try out the larger one. It was freezing cold, could not even get in. The one for older folks was hot. It is like one large bathtub. People come there to just lie. That is the one we ended up going into for the first couple of days. Once it got warmer, we went into the kiddie pool since that was the only one with decent temperature water. The kiddo had fun in all of them (except for the largest, she would have no part of it).

We found a panini station for lunch and it was great. Freshly made sandwiches put together and toasted on demand. The food overall was pretty good on the ship. The lunch selections were similar from day to day, though among that there were so many choices that you didn't have to eat the same thing every day.

Summit dining room

After going to all-inclusive on the last few trips I forgot about just how much you have to pay for everything on the ship. Bottled water, soda, any and all alcoholic drinks. That is unless you buy the drink packages that are extremely expensive in my view. We don't drink soda or juice. And while we had some cocktails and wine during the trip, it cost us significantly less than the packages, even with the automatic gratuity.

Tip: Bring a couple of light water bottles. You can fill those up at any cafe and have water for the day in between meals. We brought a metal container for us and the kids Thermos Funtainer. We also had two plastic collapsible water bottles. Our hydration system:

Our hydration pack

Walkie Talkies

Used them for the first time first day at sea during lunch. It worked out great. I and the little one went to get salads and find panini, while mom went to get drinks and other food. We were able to communicate back and forth to figure out what the other would like. Saving trips and having to find each other. The walkie talkies are small and light and very easy to use. We had the Uniden Two-Way Radios which have a 16-mile range and 22 channels that help make communications clearer.

Night light with USB plugs

Usually, we leave the light on in the bathroom on during the night as a night light as most hotel rooms do not offer one. This is not energy efficient nor is it great when making the trip at night as it blinds you and wakes you up. That is why we got the Dual USB Charger & Night Light.With this light, we had a soft night light that automatically turned on once it got dark in the room and also an additional place to plug in our USB gadgets to charge.
Belkin travel surge protector also came in very handy providing a better fit into the plug for the night light as well as additional outlets. We plugged our phone directly into it since it also provides power protection for mobile devices.

Day 2 - at sea

Late start due to late end the night before. The walkie talkies came in handy again during breakfast as we split up our efforts to get some fuel. Still got a lot of swimming in. So much so that for the first time in awhile we tried out our toddler that she fell asleep right after the shower.

Solarium pool was dirty today. Thankfully the large pull warmed up a bit in the sun and we got some good swimming in afternoon. We had lunch outside with some ice cream to top it off.

We had a few drinks on the trip. Though didn't opt for a drink package as we do not drink any soda or juice nor would have enough adult beverages to make paying $65 per day worth it.

Day 3

Horseshoe Bay

We spent 6 hours on the beach. A lot of swimming, went in 4-5 times, with some time drying and playing in the sand.

The water at Horseshoe Bay was a bit cool but not freezing. Once you get past the waves, it is not too choppy but there are cold currents. Though better waters that we had experienced in many other places including Mexico and Aruba. (Link)

To get to the beach, we took a shuttle, sharing it with 12 other people. This was a lot cheaper than taking a taxi and a lot more convenient than the public bus. Shuttle from Dockyard cost was $7 per person, lap children are free. You are packed like sardines but it's a good price. Taxi is around $30-$50 depending on how many people.

Bring shade for your child or rent the umbrella/chairs. The beach has not pre-build shade and gets quite hot. Chair/umbrella rental is $45 total and they will set it up for you which is nice.

Bathrooms are relatively clean there too. The little cove on the right-hand side is very nice to snorkel (TONS of fish) but also lots of rocks so be careful.

Tip: The fastest and easiest way to get the sand off is to use baby powder. It makes the sand come off with a slight wipe.

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To Be Continued...Part 2






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