NRB Cruise 2026

Before We get started, let's address the elephant in the room, this post is about a month behind schedule. "Why?" I hear you asking. Well, it's because this cruise was unlike anything Randi or I had ever done before. Neither one of us knew what to expect and we didn't really want to get our hopes up for something we weren't sure we would fully enjoy. Spoiler alert; we loved it. This feeling of uncertainty was because this would be the first time Randi or I had ever planned to meet youtube creators, and it was also the first time that we had planned to embark on a "themed" cruise. All we knew was that we would be onboard the Oasis of the seas (a new ship for both of us) and that we would be able to play board games as often as we wanted to for seven days straight, what could go wrong?

A little bit of context. No Rolls Bared, commonly referred to as NRB, is a youtube channel pretty much dedicated to board games and other gaming content. We had fallen in love with them in 2020 while the world was in lockdown, and in the nearly six years since, we became avid fans. Recently, as their popularity has continued to grow, they've hosted in-person game shows around the UK, but we had never been able to see them live. A quick shout out to our last Edinburgh post where we nearly had the opportunity to see them play games in person during the Fringe, but we decided to see the Royal Tattoo. So naturally, when they announced that the gang of Laurie, Sullivan, Dom and Blair would be hosting an NRB Cruise, we were one of the first couples to place a deposit for the voyage. There will be a ship breakdown on the way, and both Randi and I are very excited to compare this massive Royal Caribbean ship to the Disney Cruise Line, but for the sake of continuity, I'll try to stay focused on the NRB portion of our sailing.

Packing for this cruise was a little different than the usual routine we have tried so hard to master. We packed the cameras, charging cords, swimsuits and sunscreen as usual; but traded our Mickey ears for Board games, and our door decorations for dice trays. As we tried to imagine what the week ahead of us would look like. After a few moments of last minute panic, and shoving a book or two in my backpack, we loaded up the car and headed down from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale. After a fairly uneventful drive, we saw the signs for our port come into view. Going through the luggage drop off area, parking and embarking the ship was relatively painless as we walked on the ship and found our way to the dining room for a welcome lunch. This was not a part of the NRB package, but Randi and I decided to buy into the One Key package for included wifi, priority seating at shows and entertainment, as well as a few extra benefits around the ship. Looking back I will say that we did not take advantage of this package nearly as much as we should have. Once we had finished a simple enough lunch, we found our way down to the Third deck in search of the Conference Center; There we checked in, received our lanyards and signed up for a Cast hosted game of our choice. For the rest of this first day, we could not sit still. From running around a ship that we've never been on, browsing the board game library, and trying to remember the names of our 200 new friends from around the world. Little did we know that it would only take one or two games, and a number of conversations/arguments about who had lied to whom before the majority of us started planning on when we would get together for the next marathon session of Twilight Imperium, Blood on the Clocktower, or Nemesis. Thankfully, Randi and I were able to feel pretty comfortable with many of our fellow board game enthusiasts and we played well past dinner and into the night, before we realized that we would need to get back to our room for the big day we had ahead of us.

As the second day started, we checked into our pool side casita on the 16th deck (the highest deck that we've ever been on) and coated on the sunscreen so that we could stay outside for as long as possible. We met up with Kevin who would be taking care of us throughout the day and we would settle in to one of the most relaxing days that we have had in a very, very long time. After waking up from a wonderful sun soaked nap, we had decided to get back to the room for a shower and a change of clothes. We then ventured into the conference centre onboard, which had been turned into a floating oasis of games. From much loved classics, to unreleased indie games, Social deduction to card building; we were able to play games that we loved as well as new games we had never even heard of. After roughly six or seven hours of competition, strategy and social deception; we were both fully wiped and needed a large pizza, a few glasses of water and then got as much sleep as we could get so that we may do it all again.

The following day, our first at sea, we were able to wonder around the ship for a few hours before we signed in to play yet another game of Blood on the Clocktower, this time accompanied by Laurie, Dom, Sully and Blair. The four of them split up and accompanied two different games, Randi and I were joined by Sullivan and Blair. This is were I will admit that I had a small and rather insignificant complaint, signing up to "play with the cast of NRB" didn't really feel like playing with them at all. Understanding that a good game of Clocktower will take roughly two hours, it wasn't much of a surprise that we launched into the game as soon as the two groups were established. The game ran as designed, with Sullivan and Blair watching over us as the "Story Tellers", but unfortunately for myself and a few others that had no mechanical need to talk to them, I went the entire two hour game without talking to them once. After the game wrapped up and the evil team had won, we shared a quick round of pleasantries, and then they were off to dinner. Did that ruin my vacation? No. Did it ruin my night? Honestly not really, like I said it was kind of an insignificant issue that I had. I do, however, want to be upfront and honest with my review. The rest of the night wrapped up earlier than Randi would have liked, however I knew hat we would have a bright and early morning as we pulled into Puerto Rico the next day.

Long story short, the day in Puerto Rico was not what we had hoped for. I felt guilty as we pulled into port that morning, knowing that we didn't book an excursion or tour of the area. Randi and I talked for a few minutes as the ship was being docked and we decided that trying to explore Puerto Rico in a few hours would be impossible. We got off of the ship in old San Juan, picked up a few pastelillos and a mango piragua from a street cart about a mile away from the port and just wandered around the city. As we walked, this beautiful city unfolded around us. The delicious bites we had, the sights and sounds that surrounded us and the research that we had done before getting on this ship all surmounted to one conclusion, that this island deserved a dedicated trip in the near future (perhaps with a few friends who have already mentioned that we should go again). Giving ourselves some grace and not trying to take on more than we could handle in such a short stay in port, allowed us to simply enjoy the time that we did have. After we boarded our massive ship once more, we made our way up to our veranda, and watched as we set sail from old San Juan to the Dominican Republic.

We awoke the next morning to a bit of confusion when we realized that our phones had a different time as the ship. Having not checked to see if our phones changed time zones when we crossed into the Atlantic time zone, we received our room service breakfast an hour earlier than we "scheduled". we soon realized something rather odd; we were truly living on board game time. After talking to a few of the close friends we made while on the cruise, it became clear that the board game portion of the cruise created this weird little bubble where time didn't feel real. I promise, as strange as it sounds, some people even measured time in units of board games. It was not uncommon to hear:

"When is Dinner?"

"Oh we can probably get in two more games of (insert whatever they were playing here)."

"If we don't go to dinner, we could squeeze in 3 or 4 and then just order room service, or pick up pizza on the way to the room!"

As the cruise was coming to an end, the last day at sea consisted largely of collecting phone numbers and social media accounts like it was a ship wide game of capture the flag. Finding these new friends had been a blessing, and now we needed to make sure that we could stay in touch with them after the cruise. We then banded together like a bunch of honorable gaming nerds to inspect the various games in the conference room, made sure that all of them had their respective components and begrudgingly cleared out of the room one final time. After a quick shower we got ready to head up to the farewell party. This is where my perception of this whole cruise shifted. Before the party, the cruise felt as though we had just been playing board games on a boat with our new found friends. After getting together for the farewell party however, it felt much more "No Rolls Bared" focused. It started out as any social outing does; many different pockets of friends, with only a handful of social butterflies that would bounce from pod to pod. Our hosts; Laurie, Sullivan, Dom and Blair, along with Alex and the entire crew of Vactioneers, gathered everyone as best as they could and began their farewell address. They thanked us for our participation throughout the entire cruise and admitted that they were blown away at the amount of people that not only wanted to go on this vacation, but also how well everyone got to know each other. They shared that this would happen again in 2027, thanked us once more and then with a toast, concluded their speech. Afterwards, when I assumed that they would leave to take care of their own business, they started to mingle and spread throughout the crowd. Genuinely taking an interest in whatever people wanted to talk about. Being able to talk with the hosts and the cast of NRB was fantastic. Understanding that Laurie had come from a sister channel of WrestleTalk, it did not take long before he asked if I was a professional wrestler. Then being able to talk about the independent wrestling scenes in the United States versus the UK was an absolute treat. The conversation ebbed and flowed between hosts, other gamers and even a few impromptu card games that popped up around the room. Randi and I decided to call it a night earlier than most, as the sounds of laughter and rounds of stories were still swirling around the air, because we knew that the drive back to Orlando would be better if we had as much sleep as we could get the night before.

So, after all is said and done, How was it? In one word, Unforgettable. The nonstop gaming, making new friends from around the world, and days worth of conversations were undoubtedly the highlight of the trip, but I will say that nearly everyone that we spoke to shared an odd talking point. For many people, it seemed that we had built a friendship with Laurie, Sullivan, Blair, Dom and many other members of No Rolls Bared, over the many years of watching their videos. I'm not sure if it's the act of virtually sitting at their table and feeling as though you are a part of their game, simply hanging out with friends. Whatever the case may be, I do believe that there is a type of magic that exists inside of board games. That feeling when you have the right board game, card game, social deduction or role playing game, there is a wonderful ability to bring people together and enjoy whatever time you have together.