mentor1000

Just off b2b on Independence. Extremely friendly dining room waiter who went out of his way to serve us for both cruises. He explained that it is, in fact, a new rule on RCCL. I like to have streak and shrimp on the tiger shrimp night and I still had to choose which one to get first and which one to follow. (Then, he’d bring another whole plate of shrimp after those 2 entrees were gone 😂). So yes, you can order unlimited apps, entrees, and desserts. All usually served with great attitude by very hard working people. I, frankly, do not see a need to complain just because I’m not served 2 dinners at the same time. There is usually not enough room on the table for that anyway, lol. Just my 2c worth.

Thank you for recommendation. That does look amazing! I'll check that tour place out.

Thank you for such a detailed reply. You brought up so many great points! Yes, we'd love 2 days at CocoCay as my group is all about beach days. But I'm with you about Nassau. The last 4-5 times we docked there, I didn't even get off the ship. Funny regarding the parking. Our last cruise on Indy, we were frantically looking for the parking ticket in the car as we were trying to leave. We thought we lost it and then driving out, we saw that the gate was open and no parking attendant to even ask for help. So we thought it was broken and they just let people out for free. Only when we came home and looked at credit card receipt did we remember that we prepay for a certain number of nights. 😆 Yea, that's a huge negative. DH & I are Royal all the way but fell for a 3-day NCL cruise with drinks included once. That was the worst experience ever!! I felt like I was at an ever-ending frat party for 3 days. Drunk college kids EVERYWHERE. It was horrible. I know this wouldn't be the same since Royal's drinks are too expensive to get drunk on for college kids on, lol. But the idea of a more "party" crowd is still a big turn off. Yea.... These are summertime cruises so we're looking at a $1000/pp in a balcony for 7 days - on either cruise ship. With all those points in mind, it would be too much to pay to put up with all that.

We went to Cozumel several times and really liked it. Right now, with all the news about Mexico, our friends are just scared of going anywhere near Mexico. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just trying to figure out how to please the group. We've always done excursions on our own but maybe I could look into ship excursions. They are more money but my group may feel safer going that route. Snorkeling and ziplines are our 2 favorite activities so I need to look into Roatan more as I have not been there before. Thank you for the suggestion!

This is very helpful!! The turnaround day was one of my latest added cons as I just thought of it yesterday. Now, I think it would be the most bothersome thing for our group (that consists of half adults and half kids of various ages). I'm imagining, after a few days, finally fully relaxing... Kids want to go to the pool...parents to a spa... nope, got to get off the ship. If it was just 1 family, it would be easier.

All great points! The party cruise is what I was thinking too and it would be a negative for us. I agree that with the price of drink packages, it would be beneficial to be able to buy it for just half of the cruise. So hard to decide!

Quick facts: I organize a cruise for a group of our friends (30is people - families with kids) About 6-7 previous cruises for this group - all 7 day Caribbean on RCCL We like Freedom class or above ships A mix of cruising for the ship amenities & activities AND ports Here are 2 options for summer 2024: A 7-day cruise on Oasis to Caribbean with ports none of us care about (1 Honduras and 2 in Mexico). Love the ship A B2B on Independence (3+4 days) that would stop at Coco-cay twice (we all love it). Like the ship I was leaning towards a B2B because of Coco Cay but then started thinking of the cons. Can any seasoned B2B pros share some opinions on these CONS: Turnaround day - do you feel like you lose a day of vacation? You have to go through customs, may have to change rooms (meaning pack and unpack again), second muster drill, 1st day crowds on the ship (until they open cabins) are painful. Can you even get in your cabin during that time? Dining menu - would they repeat for the 3 and 4 day cruises? We always do the dining room and like the food there. But would this mean we'd repeat the same 3 menus twice? No lobster - I don't think they do lobster on shorter cruises, right? Our group is all about lobsters Formal nights - we're those rare people that love to dress up nicely and take photos. Shorter cruises do have "dress to impress" nights but I think the attitude is a lot more lax (shorts and flipflops) than on longer cruises. Shows and game shows - would the headliner and guest shows repeat? Also, I guess, there would also be 2 of each main activity - love & marriage, belly flop, sexiest man, and the likes… We do like ship shows and activities. Service - maybe it's me but I always felt that service was better on longer cruises where the staff (cabin steward, bartenders, dining room) felt like getting more involved (probably more tips in mind). On 3 & 4 days, I felt like they were just churning over batches of passengers. PROs 2 days at Coco Cay! We'd spend a week there if we could. We probably wouldn't even disembark on the longer cruise (which gets really boring). Twice the Diamond benefits - internet days, wine coupons, photos… (we have a few Diamonds in the group) The B2B is slightly more expensive (about $150/pp) due to addl. set of port fees but it's not the biggest factor. Any advice would be greatly welcomed!!