CherryG

I agree their website is very annoying. Did my check in the other day, and when I got to the screen that asked about where I was flying to and back to, it was almost impossible to choose my city. Finally got it but after much swearing and frustration.

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How far is it by taxi to Sapphire Beach? We're going in November and last year we went to Meagan's Bay. Thought we'd just take a taxi this time to Sapphire unless it's a long drive.

We will be on basically the same cruise this Nov. I think it’s even the same week as last year. Deal we couldn’t pass up. Congrats on the grand baby. Cheers!

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Hey blizzardboy - I remember you from last November on the NA! You were in the pool talking, and I asked if you were blizzardboy from Cruise Critic bulletin boards. (I am remembering you correctly, right?).

It will be a mixed bag of dress. Last November, my hubby took his tux. This November, he's not going to take it, just a suit. With the extra cost of bags on planes, and wanting a relaxing vacation, people aren't getting fancied up the way they did years ago. That said, you will find people dressed in their finest, but I think you'll find that's in the minority. Enjoy your cruise.

My hips begs to differ! On our first HA cruise, there was a couple who got to the table way before everyone else, and he would empty the bread basket. My favourite part of any meal is the bread, and it ticked me off. I was the one who always asked for another basket for the table of 6 people (which he would dig into as well). One night I said to my husband, I am going to get there before they do, and take two rolls right away. That's what I did, and when they got there, he said to me, "oh, you got here before us". YEP!

No, I didn’t get an email. Just have the flyer they sent me and that’s the promo code I gave when I called to book. The rate was a special casino rate for the cabins, and it says it includes $100 casino cr. I’m going to keep the flyer and take on cruise, just in case.

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Just booked for November, after receiving a special rate and it included a $100 casino credit. Do they just load it to your account? Just haven't got this before and wondered.

The BBQ lunch has ice cream for dessert and it's included with you lunch. No charge for lunch as it's put on by the cruise ship.

We did this last November and had no problem at all with the service. We also found the food very good and my Mojito was to die for. We may do again this November.

I just got the private specials on Friday and booked a Signature Suite for November, super cheap. It wasn't a planned vacation, but had to take this rate.

Our cruise wasn't able to tender into Grand Cayman, as it was too rough to transfer passengers. Would love to have visited this island.

Correct. We've vacationed in Aruba a dozen times and love it. We knew where to get the bus and went to Palm Beach. There's no trouble finding a place to rent a chair and umbrella. If I remember correctly, in front of the Hyatt is where we rented our loungers from and they even work with the hotel to bring you food if you want. Much cheaper way to get to one of Aruba's best beaches.

No, but if you exit the ship and go to the taxi area (can't miss it), ask them to take you to Blue Bay. It's fairly close and there are facilities to change, eat and for about $10 each, you get admission as well as a lounger and an umbrella. If you book through the ship to take you there, it is much more. We did this last year and it worked out perfectly. If you scuba dive, they do dives from there. Curacao doesn't have the long, beautiful beaches of say Aruba, but Blue Bay was very nice and great swimming. Enjoy.

We've had a Signature Suite once, Neptune twice, and just yesterday booked a Signature Suite for November We LOVE the Neptune Suite, but the Signature Suite is just fine. It's the extra room we love, and the two sinks! Depends what is important to you. For us, comfort makes the vacation. Hoping to get an up sell to a Neptune, but the Signature was a deal we couldn't pass up.

This is great news! We’ve been on this ship twice and just booked it again for November. Smoking was bad before, so looking forward to a smoke free time in the casino.

Too pricey for me. We have been in a Neptune twice, but not on this ship. In November of this year, we grabbed a cruise in a Neptune for $799. Would have been $599, but we're in Canada, so the dollar makes the difference. That was a bargain. People we met on the ship apparently told someone that was in a Neptune as well what we paid, and they said they didn't believe it. 100% true, that was what we paid each.

When we were on the NA in November, I was sure our Sal de Mer dinner was for Thursday at 7 pm. Wednesday evening (late dinner sitting), we ordered our wine and dinner and a hostess came to our table trying to drum up customers for the Tammirind for Thursday night. I said we're going to Sal de Mer, and she got a funny look on her face and said "I think that's tonight". Oh, oh! Silly me. She went and checked and of course I was wrong, but she said if we still wanted to go, we could. Our food hadn't arrived yet, so we did go and dinner was very good. She escorted us and they were very polite over my mistake of the day. Someone had commented before we cruised that they missed their night there, and were charged. I noticed when we got the final invoice, that I had been credited back the cost (we'd booked before boarding), and then was charged again when we went. There was a card in our room upon boarding that had the proper date, but it didn't say Wednesday, just the exact date.

It was the week of the 11th of November. Can't remember exact date. The other ship arrived almost the same time as we did on the NAmsterdam, which was around 8am. Water was calm and no problems tendering in for us, so I don't think that was the problem. We wondered if it had something to do with Customs not clearing them. It was odd. The ship was there, then it was gone.

We've been to HMC 4 times, the last being a month ago. We've never been there when there's been more than one ship, and therefore never found it crowded. This last time, there was to be another ship with us that day, and we saw it stop, but we wondered what happened, as it left before anyone came on to the island. If anyone knows, I'd be interested in hearing. I forget which HA ship it was, but my understanding is it had just come across from Europe somewhere. We've always found the BBQ to be adequate, but this time, we found it to be quite good and enjoyed it. For us it's a lovely beach day and I look forward to visiting it again.

We tried it in November, mainly for my husband, as I don't eat seafood. He had the lobster as his entrée and said it was very good. My steak was very good and my soufflé was excellent.

Been on the NA 3 times, so interested in knowing. When we were on it a few weeks ago, I heard that the casino was being made smaller.

The person who was the rep for the excursion we were on, said that Royal Caribbean paid to have Meagan's Bay cleaned up and bought the new loungers and umbrellas. Assuming this is accurate.

We were there the week of Nov. 11 (forget exact date), and I don't know where we docked, but the little town was a five minute walk away from the ship. We did the Meagan's Bay beach excursion, with HA, and it was very nice. You do see a lot of devastation on the island. At that time, most of the island was still without electricity. At the beach we went to, there were all new loungers and umbrellas (rent $), and the area around it was obviously cleaned up. New trees had been planted and there were a lot waiting to be planted. There were hydro trucks and repair trucks everywhere and you could see a lot of the homes and buildings had blue tarps for roofs. When the ship pulled out of port it was getting dark and you could see hardly any lights on the island. This island still needs a lot of work to get back to normal. I think it's important to support them by visiting and purchasing items.

Been to both both. Amber Cove is set up for the tourist with a swimming pool and stores. You'll need to do an excursion here unless you want to lie by the pool (loungers free). Grand Turk is a beautiful beach, free loungers as well, but they also have a huge free form pool. Again, it's more of a beach day. Check what excursions are listed for each port. I don't remember seeing anything on either for fishing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'd vote for Grand Turk over Amber Cove.