Our Anniversary Cruise

by jeepfever

Ever been on a nude cruise?  I haven’t been on any cruise much less a nude cruise – until just recently.

I promised my wife a cruise for our 20^th anniversary, and two years later I finally delivered.  I encountered the Bare Necessities ‘Big Nude Boat’ while looking for a special cruise and was immediately intrigued.  I figured that cruising through the Eastern Caribbean during a Minnesota winter was just the ticket.

I shared ‘most’ of the information with my wife and she was ‘all-in’ for a warm vacation.  I told her it was a nude cruise and after a moment of awkward silence, she indicated she would consider it.  Once I showed her the exotic itinerary she was on board; so I booked the cruise.

After talking with the friendly people at Bare Necessities, I reserved a stateroom and paid my deposit.   I’m going on my first cruise – in the nude!

Being a cruise-newbie, I still had a lot of questions.  I read through the itinerary, I re-read the cruise details, and I researched everything I could find.   I can’t give enough praise to Bare Necessities for helping me through my pre-cruise worries as they answered all my cruise (and nude) questions.

Our 9 day itinerary departed Tampa and consisted of sailing days and stops at Key West (Florida), Half Moon Cay (Bahamas), Grand Turk (Caicos) , and Amber Cove (Dominican Republic)

We had the opportunity to purchase optional shore excursions prior to the cruise.   Bare Necessities provided a list of selected shore excursions that they negotiated to be clothing-optional. We selected a paddle board ecology tour in Key West, a clothing optional kayak tour in Grand Turk, and a Terracross ATV adventure at Amber Cove.  The excursions were designed to consume most of the time on shore without feeling rushed.

After arriving in my stateroom, I began to realize how much I over packed for a nude cruise.  We needed to be clothed while in port, so I walked around the ship and became familiar with the vast assortment of shops, bars, dining areas, bars, entertainment venues, theaters, and bars.  I realized that there would be plenty to do while on board.

We watched the boat operations as we pushed off from Tampa and headed out to sea.  Once the all clear was given, we headed to the stateroom and removed what ‘little’ swimwear we had on while in port.  This was my first public nudist event, and I was a bit nervous.  I quickly undressed and stepped into the hallway without thinking about it.  I did it!   Now on to watch the Super Bowl wearing only my Vikings t-shirt!

The sunrise and sunset on a cruise are spectacular.  Each morning we wandered up to the Lido deck for coffee and breakfast, watched the sunrise, and walked a few laps around the deck.  It was exhilarating.

During the sea days, we enjoyed theater shows, the comedy club, lounging by the pool, laying on the sundeck, learning the Rumba, and lots of other offerings on the ship.

Food is abundant throughout the week.  There are too many choices to list here, but some of our favorites include the 24hr Pizza Pirate, Guys Burger Bar, David’s Steak House, and the nonstop soft serve ice cream dispenser at the Dive-In Movie theater.

Our after-dinner events included relaxing at the Dive-In Movie theater and catching the shows at the Punchliner Comedy Club. We went to the late-night ‘18+’ shows and couldn’t stop laughing. The ‘PG’ rated shows were scheduled earlier in the evening for the refined audience.

We made a point to purchase souvenirs at each of our cruise ports and enjoyed all of our shore excursions, but were really impressed by the Paddleboard tour in Key West and the Terracross ATV adventure at Amber Cove.

We saw plenty of marine life during the Key West paddleboard tour. The awesome tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly.  At the end of the tour, we were awestruck as two manatees swam underneath us.

The stop at Half Moon Cay was perfect.  We elected to stay at the beach for the day.  The water was a crystal clear blue and the sand was pristine.  We spent the entire day on the beach and have no tan lines to prove it.

Amber Cove was beautiful and had plenty of shops to browse around prior to our Terracross ATV adventure.  It rained the prior week and our tour guide said it would be muddy – perfect!  We stopped at the halfway point of our adventure for a break.  The weather decided to change and we experienced a downpour of rain for the next 20 minutes.  This made it more exciting.  At the end of the adventure, we were wet and muddy as they fed us fried chicken, pineapple wine, and a Dominican Rum drink called Mama Juana.   It was a perfect experience!

During our final sea days, we relaxed with an hour long morning massage, lounged poolside with umbrella drinks in hand, and enjoyed the evening hot tub conversations with new friends.

Now that my first cruise and my first nude experience is behind me (pun intended), I must admit that this experience exceeded all of my expectations.   Hope to see you on the Big Nude Boat in 2018.