Wolfhunt

Looking at excursions for our May 2018 cruise. When we visit Cozumel I would like to visit the ruins but don’t know which one.

Which ruins would everyone recommend, Tulum or San Gervasio?

Looking at excursions for our May 2018 cruise. When we visit Cozumel I would like to visit the ruins but don’t know which one.

Which ruins would everyone recommend, Tulum or San Gervasio?

Mine I call Grape Coolade from the Alchemy Bar where they are creating vodka infusion drinks from scratch. Mine started with pineapple infused vodka and she added muddle blackberries, pineapple juice, lychee, and lime juice. Strained and poured over ice. Really good and looks like grape koolade.

Thanks everyone. I will keep an eye out for any as we leave the bay but won't worry about the ones farther down the coast.

He looks a lot less scary with the lights on......

Next morning Flat Stanley had made friends with him

 

:o Ok, that would totally freak me out if the lights were out (and maybe with the lights on). Your cabin stewart is awesome to create that.

Going on the Pride out of Baltimore this weekend. This is the first cruise we have taken that leaves from a north-east port.

Was wondering, when the ship heads up or down the east coast, is the coast within view? I have a good long range zoom lens and was thinking about trying to get some pics of some of the lighthouses as we go by (if they can be seen).

Thanks, will have to keep an eye out towards the end of the cruise. Hope it isn't our last port day as we get to port at 7am. Not sure how much of the ship will be up and about getting ready to debark for excursions. If it's our last sea day I might have a chance to see it and get pics before most everyone else gets up.

We will be on the Pride soon and as I am looking at reviews and pics to pass the time I came across one of the towel animal "invasion".

Does anyone know when they do this during the cruise? We saw part of one on a previous cruise (the staff was cleaning up when we saw it) and I would love to catch it earlier this trip and get some pics.

Following along, looking forward to the rest of your report. Going on the Pride in a week and a half. It will be our first time on this ship. Looking forward to it.

Also, staying at the Lord Baltimore the night before the cruise. Will have to check out that bar on the roof.

Does anyone know if they drinks at Alchemy have gone up? I think they were $10.50 on our last trip.

We use the plastic tags that others have mentioned. They work great. On our last cruise we forgot them and just stapled them. They held but it was raining on embarkation day and the ink ran making them hard to read. The poor staff that had to sort luggage that trip had a devil of a time as there were many tags that had the ink run or just came off due to getting pretty wet.

Next trip we won't forget the plastic tags or if we do, at least will slap some packing tape on them.

Also note: when you go to price Disney they will give you the full price instead of a per person price like other lines. I have seen this confuse some friends of mine that thought that was a per person price.

I think part of the reason Disney can command a higher rate is because they only have four ships. If you can wait a few years some of the Disney cruises on their current ships might come down in price as Disney will be adding three new ships to their fleet starting in 2021 through 2023.

Disney does provide that customer service that they are know for. The shows are "Broadway" caliber. The rotational dining and theming of the dining rooms is unique among cruise lines (each dining venue has a story and/or show that plays out while you eat). There are no casinos (although the thought of a Disney designed casino does intrigue me. Disney villians as dealers anyone :cool:). The kids clubs are incredible.

That being said, besides Disney we have also cruised on Carnival, Royal, and Princess. We love the Disney experience overall but will normally go to Carnival and Royal due to price, especially if we want to do more than one cruise a year. Lately we typically choose Carnival because of the Alchemy Bar. (Yes, that bar can make that big of a difference for us :o)

One of the biggest differences I noticed is the after dinner crowds. On Disney the ship gets pretty quiet in the bars and clubs after dinner unless it's a fireworks night. This makes sense as it is more of a family atmosphere and many of the little ones are pretty tired by that time. On Carnival and Royal we can find plenty to do late night and there seems to be more people out and about on the ship.

Disney got us hooked on cruises but Carnival and Royal have the rates that will allow us to cruise more often. For a family I think a Disney cruise is worth it once in a awhile. Also if you decide to do a parks/cruise trip, do the cruise second. We found that the cruise is more relaxing and a nice break after the parks.

I'll add my vote for almost anything at Alchemy, I love that bar.

I always start with the Cucumber Sunrise each night and go from there. The Alchemists on the cruises we have been on have been great. We have happily been their test subjects for trying off menu concoctions.

On our next cruise I have to remember to get the recipes for some of the off menu concoctions I like. They made me one a few cruises back I dubbed the Grape Koolade. It had the color and sorta the aroma of grape koolade and was really tasty.

Sailed on the Pride Memorial Day week. We took a cab to the port early -around 9:30 - and we were allowed in. We had to wait outside the building and there's only a couple benches, but they didn't check our papers at the gate. We saw them turn away regular cars.

Thanks. This is about what I was expecting but wasn't sure from what some of the other things I've seen. I think most of those were from people who needed to park.

We will be sailing on Pride in a few weeks and are a bit confused by some of what we have read about the Port of Baltimore.

We will be staying in Baltimore the night before the cruise and heading to port by taxi. Our check-in time on our docs is 12:30. Check out at the hotel is 11am and is about about a 10 minute drive (according to Google).

My question is: if we head out of the hotel at checkout and end up at port at around 11:30 will the taxi be able to drop us off? Other ports we have been to allow us to arrive early by taxi we just usually have to wait in a line until port is opened for incoming passengers.

I was just on the Pride a few weeks ago. The Alchemy Bar opens every day at 2pm, except the Half Moon Cay day when it opens at 4pm. Also, embarkation day, it opens at 2:30pm. For Freeport and Grand Turk, it opens at 2pm.

 

We loved the Alchemy Bar, especially the Martini Tasting. A definite if you haven't done that yet! It was fabulous.

 

Enjoy!

Thank you.

We have not done the tasting yet. First time we sailed Carnival we missed it, second time we had Cheers so we kinda did a full size tasting of most of the menu. Still deciding on if we want Cheers this trip but will definitely do the tasting if we don't get Cheers.

I hear ya! We enjoy stopping at Alchemy on the way to dinner for a drink or two...or three. I'm on Pride the week before you are...I'll let them know you're coming! :'):'):'):'):')

Just make sure they have plenty of ingredients for the Cucumber Sunrise available. I always start with that and then am typically trying whatever concoction they make up on the fly. I think half of the conversations at Alchemy go something like "What was that drink you just made? I'll take one too" ;p

Thanks. Alchemy is the one bar that can destroy my drink budget. With drinks being $10.50 + tip at Alchemy on our last cruise, Cheers looks pretty good.

With it opening much earlier than our last couple cruises, definitely gonna have to rethink my drink budget.

We are going to be sailing on Pride in about a month and have started the hunt for recent Fun Times to get an idea of what to expect.

While I haven't found recent ones, one I found from last summer showed the Alchemy Bar opening around 2-2:30pm each day. We love Alchemy and the last two ships we were on, Alchemy didn't open until around 5pm.

Does anyone know if Alchemy still opens around 2pm on Pride? If so, I might have to seriously rethink about getting Cheers.

We will be on this cruise. Enjoyed following the last several live reports from the Freedom. Might just have to follow along to make sure we don't miss anything. :p

You will get a Cruise Compass in your stateroom each night. This is the ships daily schedule of activities. I would suggest picking up a few extra copies at guest services each day so everyone has a copy.

Work out some sort of communication system on the ship. It can be something as simple as post-it notes put somewhere in the cabin that everyone in your party knows to look. This way if your group decides on splitting up you can leave a note letting everyone know where to find you or you to find them.

As hard as it will be, try not to do everything. The Allure is an incredible ship but can be overwhelming. Try to plan some down time each day. Veg out at the pool, listen to one of the piano/guitar/bands in a club at night, or even (my favorite) sit on your balcony with a drink and enjoy the view.

Have a great cruise

Cool, we will be boarding next Saturday for the 8-night itinerary. Look forward to following along, it will help the week go by. Have a great trip.

it will only be a 3 night cruise and they will be doing choir compitions

Had to read this thread when I saw the title :eek:

But, from what you said, I'm guessing that the competition is on the cruise? If so, I am guessing it is a specialty cruise and there will be multiple choir groups aboard. If that is the case, it would (I think) change the complextion of the whole cruise as I would guess there would be few regular passengers aboard.

Either way, have a great time. I think these kids are lucky to have the opportunity.

Going to be on Freedom for the first time in a week :D

I have gotten addicted to a drink called a cucumber sunrise at the Alchemy bar on Carnival. It became my pre-dinner cocktail. Does anyone know if there would be a bar on Freedom that could make it? Most of the ingredients can be easily found, just not sure if the watermelon syrup and cucumber can be found at any of the bars on Freedom. I listed the recipe below:

Cucumber Sunrise

2 0z ABSOLUTE VODKA

1 0z FRESH LIME JUICE

1 0z MONIN WATERMELON SYRUP

2 CUCUMBER WHEELS

0.75 0z ORANGE JUICE

Muddle cucumber wheels in a shaker, add all ingredients with ice then shake and strain into a glass with ice.