Not our typical style of vacation. Going on a cruise has never been on any of our travel to-do lists and it’s never been something we’ve even thought about doing! But, of course, we’re always up for trying anything and new experiences. So when my mom and her husband Dave asked to take us on a Princess Cruise for a “whole family vacation” we said absolutely! About a year went into planning the trip and there were 19 people total on the vacation. It was a different kind of experience than we’re used to, but we enjoyed it and had a great time with family!
Getting on the ship was pretty hectic, but was pretty painless overall. You give them your large bags and they’re taken onto the ship and left outside your room. Of course, they seem to have lost ours and everyone else on the boat had their bags except for us. A bit stressful for a couple of hours, but it did eventually turn up and all was well.
Sailing
We spent the first two and a half days of the trip sailing to Roatan, Honduras. What did we do for two and a half days of being on a cruise ship? We hit the gym, napped, spent time with family at the pool and dinner, walked around and explored the ship, and ate… And ate and ate, and hit the gym again to try not to turn into a fat ass overnight! No shortage of food options and the food is surprisingly good!
The Horizon Court always has something to eat for everyone. For buffet-style food on a boat, we were surprised by how good the food was. Here’s a look at some of the food we ate for a week.
Roatan
First Stop: Honduras. This was by far our favorite stop of the trip and we wish we had a little more time here. The ship docked at Roatan, an island off of mainland Honduras. We didn’t book any excursions. Instead, we wanted to do some exploring on our own. So we got off the ship and got a cab for the day. We told our driver/tour guide we wanted to see the local scene, culture, and food.
Costa Maya
Costa Maya was the worst stop for us. There is nothing here. Nothing. We got off the ship, walked around this tiny place for 20-30 minutes and realized it just a tourist trap. There’s nothing here besides the port and it’s full of junk shops, sweet shops, and way overpriced food and drinks. We wanted to at least have a margarita and stopped at a tequila bar and the margaritas were $22 each. Ha! No thank you. We headed back to reboard the ship where we could have margaritas and a bite to eat for nothing. It didn’t sound like anyone in our group of 19 liked Costa Maya.
Cozumel
Cozumel was better than Costa Maya, but still felt far too touristy for our liking. We got a driver for the day here like we did in Honduras and checked out a few spots around this tiny little island. Our driver told us the only industry here is tourism, there is nothing else. They depend on tourism and nothing is produced on the island, it’s all transported from mainland Mexico. We went to a rum cake shop, a tequila factory, and a beachside restaurant and bar on the east side of the island called Chen Rio. It was all pretty touristy and we don’t recommend Chen Rio – nice vibe on the beach, but chips & guacamole and club soda were $37. Just a little overpriced!
More photos from our trip!
Our hosts enjoying a nice glass of wine on the ship deck at sunset and the whole crew here for a photo! Challenging to get 19 people together in one place at the same time, even when they’re all on a boat lol.
A photo package was also included in our Princess Premier Package so we got all of the digital photos they took of us on and off the ship + 3 prints each. Fun to get some good photos with the fam. Just look how happy we all look!
Good to know before cruising:
Some good-to-know tips from our perspective. We sailed on the Regal Princess of Princess Cruise Lines to Honduras and Mexico and here are a few things we learned.
My Top Tips for Going on a Cruise
- Know about connectivity – WiFi and Cellular
- Stateroom choices? Get an upgrade
- Drink package or no drink package?
- What your cruise stops are – excursions?
WiFi & Cellular Connectivity
I think most people look forward to completely disconnecting from the world and being unplugged, not worrying about anything back home while they travel. For us, we need to stay connected to manage our businesses from wherever we might be. Information on staying connected on a cruise wasn’t very easy to find, but once I found some info on Reddit it was really easy to set things up so that we’d be able to be connected.
We purchased the Princess Cruise Princess Premier Drink package which includes up to four connected devices for each of us. All we needed to do was turn on WiFi Calling on our iPhones (13 Pro Max & 15 Pro Max) and voila! We were able to connect our phones to the WiFi network, put them in Airplane Mode to ensure the cellular network was off, and still receive and make voice calls and text messages. Super simple and you don’t need a SIM card to make your phone work.
Stateroom Options
Originally, we were booked in an inside stateroom meaning there was no window to the outside and no balcony. Immediately, that was a problem for me lol. We need to have sunlight and fresh air without having to leave our room, so the easy solution was to use the Princess Cruise Stateroom Upgrade Bid system and bid on an upgraded room, which we got for $400. It nearly doubled the inside space of our room with a couch and desk space and a decent-sized balcony… worth it. If you need the balcony, I’d say this is the way to do it as the bid system got us the room for about $800 less than the room was originally.
Drink package or no drink package?
Considering I don’t drink much anymore and it’s been pretty rare that I drink at all, I wasn’t sure if we needed a “drink package.” I went back and forth on this question for a few months. I figured we’d probably have a few drinks per day if any while on this trip and they seemed to be $12-$15. After I started looking into getting WiFi for the trip though, the drink package started making sense. A standalone WiFi package for one device was $179.95. Click here to see the packages.
A single WiFi connection was included in the Princess Plus Drink package and four devices were included in the Premier package. Also included in the Premier package were two fine dining dinners, unlimited soda, water, and coffee… and dessert! We went with the Premier package which worked out great as I could share my extra device connections with family so we could all stay connected on the ship. The Princess Cruise Premier package was $600 each and everyone in a room has to get it if one does, so $1200 total. We made use of it and I feel like we got the value out of it so I’d recommend it if you’re thinking about it.
The included food at the Horizon Court and the dinners were fantastic. So I wouldn’t say you’re missing out on anything if you didn’t get an upgraded package with the extra meals. The biggest reason we upgraded was the value in the WiFi packages + the handful of drinks we might have daily. Oh yeah, unlimited bottled water, club soda, and coffee items too.
Excursions?
We didn’t book a single excursion at any of the three destinations we were stopping at and after the trip, I’m happy we didn’t. They’re overpriced through the cruise line and forces you to be on a schedule more than you already are which I hate doing. We heard from others who did book excursions they felt like they overpaid for what they got. Instead, we did our own thing and tried to stay away from the main tourist attractions – which is tough to do when you’re stopping at cruise ports! Princess Cruise really pushes their excursions and we heard from other cruisegoers that they were disappointed. Not all of them, but some of them didn’t get what they paid for and some excursions were canceled on them at the last minute.
What we did instead of Excursions
In Roatan, Honduras, we booked a private driver for the day for $140. We had him for 5-6 hours and he was fantastic. A local who knew a ton about Roatan and Honduras. People knew him everywhere we went just about. He showed us some of the off-the-beaten-path things to see, the local scene, we looked at real estate for sale, went to some local spots for food, and even went to a local grocery store to see how shopping on Honduras is. It was great and Honduras was our favorite stop!
In Costa Maya, Mexico, we essentially did nothing. This is nothing but a tourist trap stop. We got off the boat for all of about 30 minutes and we were presented with nothing but junk shops, sugar shops and way overpriced food and drinks. After walking around for 30 minutes or so we were thirsty and were presented with margaritas for $22 – we just laughed and headed back to the ship. We could eat good food and drink great drinks there that we trust.
In Cozumel, Mexico, we again booked a private driver for about 5 hours at a cost of $225. Cozumel is quite touristy, but it was ok to get around the little island and see a few sights for the day. It was much better than Costa Maya but we wouldn’t want to come back here either.
If we were to ever go on a cruise again, we would probably consider a Princess Cruise I guess. Seemed ok and better than we expected. But, we’re not likely going on another cruise lol.
