ABQrobin

We loved this excursion! Tons of fish and SQUID. Both reefs are shallow, 10-20' deep max so easy to see stuff from surface but hubby was free diving down to get close ups of everything with the GoPro10. Check it out.

Hopefully the Naturalist issues will be resolved this season. I think they had some issues booking them last year. In 2016 we had a great one on the Legend, but this last summer on Splendor we had some kooky lady who was trying to sell her book about her life who spent more time rambling about herself than talking about wildlife. She was horrible. If we hadn't had a great one the first Alaska trip, I would think that was the norm.... obviously, it is not.

Bonaire is the PERFECT place to do scuba, especially a "Discover Scuba" as the water is very calm and clear, and full of fish. I know this because hubby and I are 20+ year certified scuba divers (he's actually an instructor) and we have dived all over the world, including 2 weeklong vacations to Bonaire. It is like diving in a aquarium at most dive sites. Diving is the main industry for Bonaire, dozens of great dive ops and I wouldn't hesitate to use any of them.

I guess it depends on the ship! We just got off the DREAM on Sunday and security was everywhere. And guess what? No kids running the halls banging on doors all night, no kids running at all. no speakers, no arguments, nada. No bad behavior that we saw though we did hear that a man punched another man in the casino one night, and was arrested and put in the ship jail for the remainder of cruise. It was the most pleasant cruise we have been on in years.

I did Altun Ha tour solo a few years ago while hubby went diving. Here's my video if it helps. Its a nice half day tour, great guides, great food.

We did the excursion.... it was walking over a mile, but definitely less than 2 miles. It is a dirt trail, there are roots and uneven to say the least, it is jungle. But 7 miles ... not even close.

the point was that he tried to get $60 per person for a 30 minute drive around the neighborhood, that's $120 he tried to con them out of using the excuse he "knew a guy" who might take them out. The other dive op on the island apparently went out, too, so not really sure it was "rough seas" as the dive op said in the e-mail.

We just got back from our cruise and wanted to warn everyone about this dive op. They told my husband by e-mail and over the phone MULTIPLE times, that they would be going out diving and would send their driver to pick him up, as well as other divers on our ship. He was there, with all his dive gear along with another diver, and met by the driver, Timmy. Well, Timmy said "oops, didn't you get the e-mail, diving cancelled... but I can take you to another dive op that will take you out". They agreed, big mistake, got in the taxi and the driver went around in circles as he called "friends" who might take them diving. Then he returned to port after 30 minutes and stuck out his hand and demanded $60 per person. He was adamant that they owed him money for his time and gas, they each gave him $30 and got out of taxi. SCAM alert. They should have never gotten in the taxi, and yes it turns out the dive op did send out an e-mail but it wasn't received until after ship docked and they were out in port waiting for driver. We met another guy on our ship later on who said he got the e-mail and was equally mad, though he hadn't wasted $30 on a taxi ride to nowhere. Just a warning.... what happened to us.

I also think they did it to keep people who are NOT watching the movies, from stopping buy and grabbing a bag and walking away. It seemed like they never had any if we came up after the movie had already started but we wouldn't see anyone eating it.

I think there is supposed to be station set up on the ship where you go to register your diet issues to pre-order meals each day.

ALL the cave tubing tours go to the same area of Belize, they have slightly different put in points on the same river thru the same caves. So yes.... they all require a 90+ minute bus ride.

There are dozens of great excursions at both ports! Both are jungles, lots of amazing wildlife. Belize has beaches out on the outer islands, Mayan ruins, cave tubing, lots of adventures. Roatan has beaches, and snorkeling or diving at incredible reef system close to shore, as well as monkeys and sloths and all types of jungle activities. And lots of great private tours you can do at Roatan... Boddentours.com, etc. Highly recommend them.

Not really. Taxis are plentiful and cheap, take a taxi south to Money Bar or pay for a day pass at a beach club down that way. The northern area near town is all ironshore which is dead coral reef, rocks and not beach, plus a lot of boat traffic.

Thanks everybody! I think we may pass on the Chef's Table this time. We are both very adventurous eaters but I just don't like to sit there for 90 minutes chit chatting with strangers. Yes, we have had that MDR shared table awkward dinner quite a few times. It can really ruin the experience when the couple next to you keep complaining about everything. Just this past cruise we had a couple at the next table, 6" way, so much for a private table... LOL The wife hated all food except about 3 things so she picked at her food and complained on each course, then her husband would grab her plate and scrape it all onto his and gobble it all down. It was not appetizing.

Ditto.... we are not casino people at all but you can smell it all over decks 4 and 5, especially in the lobby. Food... yeah, my biggest complaint. It was not good in MDR and the staff is so short (probably due to crew with covid). We only ate the MDR twice and skipped it the rest of cruise. Not worth 90 minutes or more sitting and waiting. JiJis and Bonsai sushi and even the Lido buffet at night were better than the MDR. Amazing. Elevators... yup, wait and wait and then when door opened it had 15 people on it, like sardines. We took the stairs a LOT. Shows were good, cruise director great, Fun Squad good... We have been on the Vista 3 times now (our of our last 5 cruises) and won't do that class of ship again for awhile. Lines lines lines everywhere you go... and so little staff to handle it.

you don't mention what time you dock, that will be important. I would send an e-mail to the companies to see if they have spots. as far as being beginners, you just need to tell them that, and have fun. Me and hubby did 2-tank dives there a few years ago and it was fantastic. Just be aware, Grand Turk is on a 7000' wall, so your dives will be right there going along the edge of the wall. I am thinking we went down deeper than 60' both times. There was a non-certified diver on the boat and her boyfriend was her buddy and she did fine. The DM was there watching to make sure everything was fine. We walked to the dive shop from the pier, just down the sand beach with the guide.. they were right by Jack's Shack. here's one of my videos:

our cruise on the Vista in Nov had "Showtime" every single night, in both MDR. That was part of the problem for us. We ordered appetizers, took 30 minutes for them to come, then we sat and sat and sat...then they announced "Showtime" and you could hear every person in the dining room sigh. It wasn't just us... no food until after the song.

We are going on the Dream in Feb and thinking of booking either the Steakhouse or Chef's Table. We have done the steakhouse twice before and enjoyed it. Does anyone have the latest Chef's table menu? I have seen it years ago and thought it sounded interesting but... for $99 I want to be blown away. thanks

No diving at all offered on our cruise for either destinations. That sucks.

In NOVEMBER, on the Vista.... the debark was a nightmare, for everyone but especially for "Priority" guests. We are Platinum so we went to the staging area with our luggage. Guess what, people on the ship had been told to just sneak in there, no biggie. And they did... tons of Blue and Gold cards standing around in the Priority room. It was packed with at least 1000 people. So much for PRIORITY. What a joke. We finally got off ship, and we heard that crew told people it was no big deal and to just turn their cards around so nobody noticed. Yeah. thanks.

Looking for DIVERS for Freeport on Feb 28th. We may be able to dive at Sunn Odyssey divers but it would be great to have a few more people to guarantee. Anybody????

its a scuba excursion and the boats leave for that at a certain time. It has nothing to do with getting back on time, it has to do with arriving in time.

Update.... we just realized that our port times may not work with any of them as our ship, Carnival Dream, is departing from Galveston so Central time zone. I don't think they change to eastern zone so we may be arriving an hour late for every dive op. This STINKS.

We just booked the Dream for 8-day cruise and then realized the excursions would be affected by us leaving port in Central time zone, and all ports being Eastern time zone. I know the ship excursions won't be affect but my hubby was planning to dive and needs to book locally. Really frustrated right now as it seems it won't be possible. Grr.