houstoncruisers2001

^^^^^^

 

 

Mahogany Bay is a joke! Is a crowded, overpriced, man made profit center for Carnival.

I just love how people bash a "man made profit center for Carnival" when they're spending a week cruising the caribbean on a "man made profit center for Carnival".

I prefer Sapphire Beach to Magen's Bay myself. The way the taxis take you back to the ship after being at Sapphire make both beaches doable.

My tip would be…….chill out, don't let the madhouse ruin your day and have a stiff drink when you get home.

Galveston is my home cruise port and even if it is getting better, it's the minor leagues compared to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami.

Good luck!

Just curious about the coffee. I mean, I'll get the DW a specialty coffee whenever she wants, I just need a quick jolt of black coffee in the morning.

Is it better than before? The same? Or have they some how managed to make it worse?

I'm always shocked when someone bashes the Oasis. My mouth literally falls open. Been on her twice and it was my two favorite cruises out of 14.

We prefer RCL hands dow.

I have cruised out of Galveston in March twice and in late February once and ALL three times we got fogged out of port as we returned to Galveston. We finally docked mid-afternoon in all three cases. Luckily, my embarkations have not been delayed. I am cruising out of Houston this March too. I'm expecting fog, but it goes with the territory around here.

Yes you can, but if you take a small bag/carry on with a change of clothes for the afternoon of embarkation, your cabin is usually ready by 2!

We got in our cabin at 1pm! We had our bags delivered to our cabin by 4pm!

We carried on a change of clothes for dinner. Good thing too, because our bags

were not in our cabin by the time we left for the show(6:30pm).

No, I missed that, but was one of the many who missed the last step in the theater. About 19 steps the same size and distance apart, then that last one that is spaced farther apart and not as deep.

I saw people having trouble with the steps too. They said the lights along the steps actually made it harder to see.

Thats a life saving hook - used to pull someone who is drowning out of the water. thats an awful place to have it positioned. it should be on a wall close by. not on the ground where it can be tripped over!

Thanks for the info. I had no idea was it was.

Saw a lot of people hit this thing near the Le Sirene Pool. I did it twice which was stupid because I KNEW it was there and I still did it a second time. A couple of people really got tangled up and almost went down.

Great to hear you were able to enjoy your cruise after your wife's accident, hope she is feeling better!:)

Also, hope you'll recover from Texan's loss to Cowboys!:D

Thanks to you all, she's doing better.

Um, AmericanBear, geez thanks for reminding me about the Cowboys. Glad I missed it since i was on the ship.

So to get to Jack's you get off the ship, go down the dock go through shops and then go left? Or am I walking down the beach??

Sorry trying to visualize something I have never seen is not easy!! Is Grand Turk one of those ports that you have to go through shops to get off the dock?

You go through one store, port area is little. Find the beach on the left and start walking.

Margaritaville is harmless. The pool is so big you don't have to be any where near the DJ booth. Swim-up bar is nice and there's a flowrider too.

I also hate MSC class system, and their MSC Yatch club concept.

Just off the Divina and I never gave those Yacht Club cruisers a second thought.

If i was a lower class passenger you could have fooled me, i had a blast.

Well we had a FANTASTIC time onboard the Divina. I will post a full review in the coming days but I am happy to say this was one of the best cruises I have ever taken. We had a fantastic room steward and wonderful servers in the MDR. We found the staff to be very friendly and attentive. This cruise line is on par with RC. Enjoyed the international flavor of the other passengers and the food in the buffet and MDR was very good. Would not hesitant to sail again with MSC!

Amen, Grandmaflower. We just got off and couldn't agree more.

First off, my wife hurt her knee in Miami and we thought about returning to Texas. A late night run to Walmart to purchase a walker saved the day.

Boarding the ship was very easy as we got through check in just as they announced it was time to board. Needing assistance we were one of the first ones on the ship. The cabin was not ready so we headed straight up to the buffet. While waiting for the cabin, I went down to the Black Crab to check our seating assignment which was a table for six. With my wife being in pain and not really wanted to socialize I switched it to a table for two. I then ran off to the casino bar to pick up my drink coupons. After a while we went to our cabin in the aft.

Our cabin was beautiful with a large aft balcony located right over the wake. It was hard to maneuver the walker in the cabin and I know we banged the wall a few times. i know our neighbors must have thought a herd of loud elephants were in our cabin. Sorry for that, neighbors. We thought the shower set-up was strange and we liked the shower doors on Royal Caribbean better. Our room guy kept the room clean, but we hardly ever saw him. Bed was fine, pillows were underwhelming, but we slept well every night.

As I stated, we had a table for two in the Black Crab, table 489 with Adiana & Marcella as our servers. They did a good job and the food was great. From the prime rib to the lobster to the grilled chicken off the alternative menu, all were good in my book. Even had the lamb the first night. All the veggies were cooked well too. The 2nd formal night was switched to the last night because of our port change. We got dressed up as did many of our fellow cruisers. That was nice to see considering it was the last night. We had late dining that started at 8:45pm and on most nights we were out of the MDR by 10pm. The buffet was sometimes crowded, but as stated before on Cruise Critic, way less crowded towards the aft. Some of the drink stations were not set up well and tended to bottleneck. Decent selection of food and we never left the buffet hungry.

The ship itself was beautiful. The lounges were some of the nicest we've seen on any cruise ship. The theater was stunning. We saw almost all the shows and I'd recommend them. Went to see an opera at 4pm on a sea day. The public areas had a nice decor and the only place that got real crowded was the photo gallery. You had to go through the photo gallery to go from the aft area to the atrium area on deck 7. Outside on deck 7 the view is mainly blocked by lifeboats. Of course, the crystal staircases in the atrium were something to see. The ship's flow could be a little better, but it reminded us of the Princess ship we cruised on. It was funny to see bingo being played outside in the heat. The lounges had good entertainment, but the couple in the Golden Lounge liked to talk as much as they liked to sing. La Luna had a nice husband & wife team too. The Galaxy Disco was hit & miss as far as music went and we spent time in there as well as the Black & White Lounge on most evenings. The Galaxy is a nice quiet place to relax during the day too. The atrium was a great place to listen to classical music with a nice coffee bar overlooking the atrium.

We used various hot tubs and went in two of the three pools. Loved the aft pool though it could get crowded at times. The indoor/outdoor pool was nice too and less crowded. Most days the pools felt warm and not freezing cold like on some ships. We could always find a chair to put our stuff on too. The ladder steps were steep entering/exiting the pools and we wished there were walk in steps instead, but that's just an age thing on our part.

The crew was very friendly. I might have seen one person in a bar area that seemed unfriendly. The entertainment staff did a great job interacting with cruisers especially in the lounges. Even on the last night at 1am in the Black & White Lounge the staff was still working to please the guests. On most cruises the ship is dead by that point.

We didn't get off in St. Maarten because of my wife's injury. Been there twice before. We enjoyed the empty pools and hot tubs. In San Juan we did leave the ship, but only to hire a cab to drive us around the old & new city. No way we could have walked around as planned. We were going to stay on the ship in Great Stirrup Cay because a walker with wheels and sand do not mix, so we were very happy about being diverted to Grand Turk. We walked in a couple of shops, but then made a beeline to Margaritaville. This was the nicest Margaritaville i have ever seen. It had a resort style pool and a swim up bar. We had a great time there.

They wanted us out of the cabin by 7am. We were running a little late considering we went to bed near 2am. Getting off the ship was a breeze. Nice and quiet and very orderly. Yellow 3 was scheduled to get off at 9:15am and we got off at 9:15am. Customs was painless, unlike Galveston, Texas which is our home port. Galveston could learn a few things, both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale do great jobs in their terminals.

Overall, we'd do Divina again in a heartbeat. I had read all the bad reviews about the service and the food. We have no complaints with either. Heard a lot of different languages and it felt different being an American, but it was a good kind of different. It was our 14th cruise and I'd rate this cruise near the top of all our cruises with only Oasis of the Seas edging out Divina based on all the bells & whistles onboard Oasis. That's with my wife using a walker and being in pain all week. For the value of the money we spent, since Oasis is way more expensive, you can't beat the Divina.

We got off yesterday and I concur with the OP....the Divina was AWESOME!!!

How could she have gotten any bad reviews? My wife and I loved this cruise and the ship is so beautiful.

Full review later, but to all of you worried about your Divina cruise you can

put your mind at ease. Great ship, great crew, great food. Plus we got diverted to Grand Turk!

Border town? What does Progresso / Merida border?

I am guessing you have never even been to a border town...

That was a bad guess. I have crossed the border.

Beautiful cabin, funky balcony.

I want clocks in the cabin...with numbers large enough for us to read when not wearing our glasses (like when you wake up in the middle of the night).

 

Sorry, no clocks for me.

Oasis by a mile. Been on her twice and she's a great ship.

Bob,

 

No trays, but the plates are large platters

Personally, I don't think I've ever been on a ship that had trays.

Our AT&T phone and hot spot work in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John) with no roaming fees.

Awesome….I'll be in San Juan on a wednesday and I'll need to change my fantasy football teams and do my work pick em league before the thursday games. No roaming means I can take my time while the wife snoozes a little longer.

 

Yeah..if we take a cruise going to Progreso again, I don't think I'll be getting off the boat!

I'm with you. Worse port ever. If i want to see a "border town" I'll just drive down to South Texas and cross over. If I want to see murky brownish-blueish water I just drive 50 miles to Galveston.

The best thing about Progresso was leaving.