Itchy&Scratchy

This will be our second time in Belize, but the first time with both our kid (who didn't even exist during our first time in Belize) and my parents. I would love to go cave tubing again - it was a lot of fun, but my dad can barely walk, so a 40 minute walk would be impossible.... I'd leave him on the ship and take my mom with us (she is in better physical shape than I am), but I am sure she is not going to want to leave him on the ship alone. I probably wouldn't want to leave both of them on the ship alone either, although my mom tells me it's fine.... Which brings me to the next question - is there a nice beach not too far away (umbrellas or palapas are a must) that we could take a taxi to? How much would a taxi be for 5 people? Is it relatively safe to venture out on our own? I searched this board for any info on beaches and came up with pretty much nada.

and around here it's usually last week of March - first week of April. And my BFF's Chicago school's spring break was March 23-30. Interestingly enough, this year there were 500+ kids on Celebrity Reflection on the sailing during the last week of March, and only 200 or so during Easter week when we sailed during our spring break.

It would be fair to say that in November, the water at Playa Palancar beach was definitely as crystal clear and aquamarine colored as it is in your photos.

Princess keeps those cabins for 3 people. It's not a game.... Celebrity is even worse at it. They charge more than double for a solo passenger, and recently they insisted on moving me to an inferior cabin because I have 3 people instead of 4, even though their website allowed me to book a cabin for 4 with only 3 people on the reservation. It's not limited to Princess and it's not really a game.

why? It is my personal opinion. What's to hate about it? You may have a different opinion of Caribbean Princess after you sail, but it doesn't cancel out mine. I give praise when praise is due and I do mention the bad and the ugly alongside the praise. The crew on CB was the best, but the ship itself was underwhelming and dirty. All opinions are subjective, of course.

we sailed on Caribbean Princess once - in 2016. I know it was refurbed after that, but even back then it was old, tired and dirty. We will not sail on her again... I'd go Royal class and younger (Royal Princess, Regal Princess, Enchanted, Discovery, etc.) Also, March is the time for spring break in some states. There will be lots of kids, if that's something you want to avoid. so are we, but still.

here is my review of the airtag wrist bands I bought on amazon: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2897524-enchanted-thanksgiving-2022-southern-caribbean-review-with-patters-menus-and-pics-of-food/#comment-64399784 Basically, my DH and I had to have it on the last hole, but my DH hates anything tight on this body (socks, shoes, clothing, wrist band), so even though his wrists are smaller than my fluffy ones, I found the wrist band comfy, while he thought it was too tight. Also, read the reviews on amazon - they will tell you whether the wrist band is too tight.

Surprisingly, I do not like Princess' escargot's butter flavor. Too many spices. However, I couldn't get enough of it on Reflection - simple yet delicious. X Princess And you simply cannot go wrong with nutella crepes served during dinner buffet on Enchanted. ETA We love the Medallion system.

It appears, though, that OP thinks X doesn't have plastic glasses in the buffet...

we've just sailed on X with $300 of non-refundable OBC from X. All of it was applied to gratuities (total of $432) and a purchase of wifi for 1 day ($37). The rest of charged to my credit card.

Reflection has plastic glasses in the buffet. As far as I know it's normal.

yikes. We will never sail on CB again. 🙂 Sorry, not sorry! Not the best Princess has to offer. Maybe, not the worst, but definitely not the best. Disclaimer: I am talking about steerage class - it may be amazing in first class, but we'll never know. We've been on several Princess cruises and we love Royal class. We've just sailed on our first X cruise and loved it. However, while MDR food was very good, it wasn't quite the same level as Enchanted Princess' MDR, buffet or International cafe. Now, I do know that Enchanted and Reflection aren't the same class, but, subjectively, the food was better on Enchanted, with the exception of a creme brulee and escargot on Reflection, which were superior to Princess. Crew friendliness and enthusiasm were absolutely incomparable on Reflection. First class attitude even in steerage class.

I haven't seen anyone rake them on this beach, like we've seen on many other beaches in other ports of call. So, maybe, not much of it and it gets carried ashore naturally? that's pretty funny, sorry! on our previous visits it'd get busier closer to noon, but never like this.

I wanted to add this tidbit of info about taxis in Aruba: there was a long line for taxis inside the port area, so if you don't want to wait, either walk just to the outside of the gate (5 minutes) or take a free shuttle. You can cross the street to the spot where taxis stop. It has a taxi stop sign. The Divi Phoenix hotel staff called us a taxi upon request. The taxi driver lady touched our swimsuits to make sure they are not wet and made sure to ask several times if they are dry. She was driving a brand new and very pretty Kia Sorento. On the way back we got charged $17.

Curacao We like going to Blue Bay beach club. Taxi is $40 each way. If you get more people, it's will be less pp. The usual entrance fee which includes chaises and wifi is $12 per adult and $6 per child. This time we got there just in time to take the next to last available palapa. If you don't get a palapa, there is some natural shade, but very little of it. This time the beach club also got new first row day beds which were available for additional $$. However, their shade was inconsistent and stripy as you can see. We ended up under the last, very large palapa, sharing it with some people who were already there. This time the beach was as beautiful as ever, but right there at the end where we sat there was a very strong sewer smell all day. Lots of wildlife - lizards, iguanas, birds. You can click on my previous reviews in the signature to see more photos of the club and animals. We usually bring some bread from the ship and feed all the critters, including fish in the water. These were by our palapa: And this beautiful view could be enjoyed if you walked all the way to the left of the beach. Gorgeous, isn't it? We shared a taxi back with another family from Reflection. We may try something different next time - I really hated the smell. I'll have to do more research...