hey everybody its Bruce here welcome to my channel
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doing it's Bruce here with traveling with Bruce today's video is going to be
about the first time my wife and I went on a cruise together and we did
something that a lot of people actually do when they go on a first-time cruise
they go with someone else they know that's already done and taken a cruise
in this case I had a friends of ours husband wife that we joined on a cruise
together it was out of San Diego down to Mexico for seven days we went to Cabo we
went to Mazatlan and we went to port away artists so we had three stops in
the seven-day cruise and then back to San Diego all in America the ship was
called the oyster dam fantastic thumbs up across the board we loved it
now here's the thing my buddy had been pestering me for years pestering meeting
you gotta take a cruise you just gotta take a cruise you really like it
I'm telling an eye he said I'd be saying tell III don't know those cabins they
look so tiny and and what if we get caught in the storm and what if I got
seasick oh you know I had all these excuses so I kept coming up with just to
kind of hold him off and you know get him off my back but um he kept
persisting and he was saying to me you know I've been on 10 cruises now with my
wife and I've been through the Panama Canal I've been to Hawaii and back I've
gone through the Caribbean I don't know why you don't want to do it I I'm
telling you as a friend of yours why would I steer you wrong I think you'd
really enjoy it so what I did was I started investigating cruises by
watching YouTube videos how about that and I
people take cruises on the Easter damn and I I felt you know these are not
staged videos these are videos of real people who are telling you you know what
they think and they were pretty happy about it that I thought this is pretty
cool so I investigated the you stirred am ship I went to the Holland America
website I looked up the all the pictures of the hughster Dam I looked at the deck
plans by the time I got on board the Easter damn for the first time I pretty
well knew that ship it was that's pretty obsessive about it
but I say I loved it my wife and I we had a wonderful time it was great to
have another couple with us the way we arranged it was they booked their cabin
and they ended up conserving the front third of the ship on the one side and we
booked our cabin both by the way were balcony cabins and we run the back
towards the back third of the ship on the other side and so we never felt
obligated to have to see each other all the time and be with each other all the
time and crowd each other all the time that was not the intent of either party
so we knew they were on board they knew we were on board they knew our room
number we knew their room number and we could always be in touch that way but we
did make a pact we made an agreement that when the ship got to port San Cabo
or in Mazatlan or in Porto Varna we go off the ship together as a
foursome and we'd go and explore the the sites and that way we could share a cab
if we went somewhere and split it two ways you know that type of thing
and because they were the seasoned cruisers they knew some of these ports
they've done this cruise before they knew what to see and where to go so that
gave me a lot of comfort to the other pact we made was that dinner supper time
would be held in the main ballroom and we'd meet for dinner at a set time on
our usual table and so the day we got on the ship in San Diego my buddy and I we
made a beeline to the dining room went to the the lobby with the main dining
room as we caught up with the maitre d there
and my buddy said to me watch this and he goes up to him and he tells him that
we want a table for four every night at the same time for the four of us and
make sure you said yeah I will no problem whatsoever and then my buddy
says can we go into the dining room with you and choose the table we want I
thought you've got to be kidding me but no yeah no problem whatsoever the guy
takes us in there he shows us around this wonderful dining room I think it
was two stories tall and my buddies looking around and we're sitting out the
very serious and then he picked the table he said to me what about this one
do you think you'll like this Humber's and it was a beautiful table in the
middle of the whole restaurant but not beside where the dishes get stored with
the Busboys and this kind of stuff like a low traffic area where we can talk and
yet you know see what's going around the room that type of thing it was fantastic
yeah we'll take this table so for the for the next six seven nights we news
including that night we're where we were sitting in the restaurant every night
fantastic so that was that was the first thing he did then he said to me okay I'm
gonna take you to an area I know you're gonna want to see I'm gonna take you to
the sauna you got to take the sauna to her the spa I said oh okay so here we go
to the spire yeah it was beautiful oh man that the spawn board the Easter day
fantastic so we we took the tour there they they showed us all the work out
there anywhere they where the workout room is where all the machines are and
they took us to where the changing facilities are and the men's shower they
showed the wives the women's side then we saw the rooms where the massages are
had and where you where the women can get their hair done and where you can
get a manicure and all that sort of stuff and then they showed us the area
where the the steam room is the sauna is where the heated ceramic loungers are
located and also the big whirlpool the big one that can hold up there like 20
people at a time and made some inquiries and found out they had a spa package
that you could take which gave you access to the private spa area for the
entire length of the cruise you can visit it as often as you like once a day
twice a day three times a day it doesn't matter and you can have use of the
facilities so you can use the the shower area you can take showers in the in the
in that or you can use the steam room the saunas use the ceramic loungers
towels are provided you can shave there everything and it was a flat fee it was
like maybe a hundred bucks for the week it was such a bargain no children
allowed under 16 perfect I grabbed that deal and so for my wife and I we had
access to the spa for the whole week on this ship and it was an absolute joy a
treat and I'll tell you something for the entire seven-day cruise we were in a
balcony suite I never showered once in the balcony suite all my showers onboard
the oyster dam I took in the spa area why you ask the shower inside our suite
is a one-person type shower my wife loved it
she's much smaller than I am I eat more ice cream than she does and she found
the shower to be perfect for her knees in in our suite plus after she got out
of the shower she would would dry her hair do her hair and then put on her
makeup and that was perfect for her but for me I would go to the spa I would
have my shower there because the showers in the spa were huge they were double
the size of the showers in our suite so I had elbow room to you know get in
there and no problem and this this shampoo is provided conditioner is
provided fantastic I could've brought my own but I loved it so that worked for
both of us I had my room to take my shower every day or two showers a day
whatever and she had hers in the and we weren't in each other's weight
fantastic what else can I tell you about the ship the ship was great for walking
around the decks we had the promenade deck where you could walk around all the
way around the outside of the ship through the back end of the ship to the
front end of the ship I love that then of course you can go to the top deck and
walk around up there and see the pool decks below you what a great what a
great vessel we loved that cruise and with our friends there every night at
dinner time we got to tell stories what did you do today what did you do today
and of course we could compare notes about our on shore excursions of the day
fantastic at the end of the seven days we were still friends no hard feelings
we loved that we still talked to this day about how much fun we've had on that
cruise and I would highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to go on a
cruise for the first time and you can go with a couple that have gone before or
two other couples or whatever I would recommend you do it it is fantastic
you'll get so many pointers tips and ideas and you've got someone there too
to ask questions to where you won't feel embarrassed about well what do you do
about that or how do we do this right fantastic
now the crew on the ship the same thing they're great if you've got questions
about on shore excursions or what to do for for you know a spa pass or dinner
ideas the crew is great that's what they're there for they'll be there to
help you with any questions you have but our experience on this cruise the hall
in America ooh stirred am going down the seven days
down the Mexican Riviera as they call it we loved it and I've taken my wife and I
have taken three cruises now to on our own on the same itinerary we've loved it
get out of Los Angeles and the second date or like the second day when you're
on this on the sea it's already warm and even in January you're in the 80s it's
fantastic we love it it's a great cruise it's relaxing is it action-packed for
like a 25-year old couple probably not is it perfect for someone
who's so 35 40 old and older and needs a bit of a break
and relaxed yeah yeah that's exactly what it is you
need to chill relax and get away from the stress of work family and the kids
if you can offload the kids for a week with grandma grandpa do it
enjoy is it a kids cruise not really you can take the children depending on the
cruise line you're on the princess operates the cruise the region has been
operating it and of course halt in America you know you can you can take
the kids and they'll have a good time there'll be activities form but is it a
Disney type cruise no way it's not what it is
so more at all oriented yes and and that's what my wife and I really enjoy
is is a getaway like that anyway there's a brief recap of the first-ever cruise
we had on the Holland America booster damn ship held about 2,500 passengers
1200 crew fantastic five-star service great food great cabin wonderful linens
just spotless really nice I think you'd enjoyed thanks for joining me today
that's my video we'll talk to you next time bye bye I hope you enjoyed my video
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thanks for joining me today on traveling with Bruce