Worn out mailman

26 minutes ago, KKB said:

Use the chat feature on P.com or call--they can add it for you.

With daily grats at $18 & wifi $25, P. Plus is pretty much a no brainer even if one doesn't drink much.

Since my post, the offerings came back. The upgrades are certainly tempting. I wish Emerald had a pizza/pasta casual dining place like the newest ships. I also wish they'd throw in one more night of casual dining for a 10 nighter compared to a 7 nighter. 

Still, one or maybe two drinks a day plus enjoying speciality coffee drinks, water for the islands and free delivery service.....those incidentals pile up. 

I need to get a girlfriend so I don't have to keep doing these cruises solo. 

Thanks for your input. 😊

Hi everybody.

I'm toying around with the idea of booking a solo sailing on Emerald this May 20th. When going thru the booking process, P.com is not offering me the Plus or Premium packages which would cover my wifi. 

Can any of you tell me the ala carte price for one device? The website says starting at $24.99. If that's per day, then obviously that's a no. RCCL was outrageous for the per day cost of wifi so, nothing will surprise me. 

Thanks anyone in advance for your insights. 

Rob. 

1 hour ago, cruzinisgood said:

How did you like The Courtyard? We are debating between the The COurtyard or Embassy Suites?

It was one of the highlights of my vacation. The grounds were so lovely. Beware, tho...at least for me, the setting actually made me WANT to go fancy on my meals, and such. I sat there (mind you, I was traveling solo), eating an expensive filet mignon dinner, watching a young couple's destination wedding a hundred yards in the distance, on the property. Perfect way to end my vacation. Just the one night, just me, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the property, plus local tax, resort fee and tax on the resort fee....the single night stay cost me $495.00. Even with that, I'll most assuredly choose this property next time I travel through San Juan. I liked it that much. 

The only thing, I couldn't get their Wi-Fi to work on my phone so I couldn't use it to send texts. It did work on my tablet, though. 

I highly recommend this property. 

On 2/14/2023 at 5:03 PM, Daycare Provider said:

We will be staying at the Courtyard by Mariott in Isle Verde.  This will be our 4th stay.  The taxi ride from the airport is less than 10 minutes away.  The hotel sits on the beach.  The taxi ride to port 15 minutes pending on traffic.

Thanks. I did cancel my reservation at Water Club, and reserved a room at Courtyard. Reading that you reserved here for the 4th time was all the confirmation I need that the place must be okay, so, thank you. 

The only reason I booked a hotel is that I presume they'll watch my suitcase for me until check in time. I'll hang at the beach or pool until then (provided it's a pleasant day). 

Happy cruising. 

Hi folks. 

Now that my sailing is approaching, I've read a number of horrid reviews for my post cruise hotel (Water Club on Isla Verde Beach). Can anyone recommend a hotel at Condado or Isla Verde Beach that is clean and reasonably priced? 

Thanks. 

7 minutes ago, CruiseKeeper said:

Years later I still have awful thoughts about the people in cabin next door that played their taste in music loud enough to detract from our glacier watching on the Ovation.  If it was you, I’m still thinking bad thoughts about you.  Nature and calving sounds are not as important as you or your tinny background noise.  To the rest of you, I apologize for the whine. 

No, your bitterness is warranted. It's similar to how I feel while snorkeling, when the fish swarm around me expecting to be fed because so many nimrod snorkels were there before me, feeding the fish. 

It's amazing how self involved humanity has become. Why not just enjoy the sound of the cruise? If I opted to listen to my music from home while on my cruise, something would seem wrong to me. 

Boy, I hope I have respectful people around me in my sailing. Same goes for all of you. 

Hi. I'll be with you out there. Are you on our roll call? 

I waited way too long to check in and due to something I didn't know about, a wellness check, my boarding time is like 2. That really throws me off because I'm supposed to be out of my air bnb at 11. So, I guess I'll be checking my bag with the porters at 11:30, whether or not they let me in to the terminal. If they don't, you might see a guy sitting with his back against a pole, watching a movie on his tablet, hungry for lunch. 

My lady is not content to lazily roast on the beach like I'm looking forward to doing. Has anyone been to a beach on the island where she can roam to and fro collecting shells? 

Thanks! 

Hi folks. 

Our Epic sailing in March stops in St. Thomas on the final day. Can anyone tell me what port we'll be using? 

Booked it! 😁

Thank you, everybody, for answering my question. Seems the tumblers are falling into place for booking the sailing I mentioned. It'll be my first cruise on NCL, my first 10 nighter, and most urgently, my first cruise in over 5 years!! 😁

Hi everybody. 

This is my first ever post on the Norwegian boards. 🙂

I am thinking about booking a cruise for next March, and if I do, it'll be a solo studio. I will want to spend as little time in the stateroom as I can. I saw a video review on YouTube that stated that the deck personnel stack 100% of the deck loungers in the evening, making them of course unavailable to use. Does anyone know, is this actually the case? I'd hoped to chill on the deck in the evening after dinner, at least a couple times. Thanks cruisers. 😁

Of course they miss the boat, you are supposed to call them ships.

And while we're talking semantics, RCI is a time share seller. Royal Carribean's acronym is RCCL. ;p

Was the Beach nice there Mailman?

Hi. It was fine... I think if the sun had peeked out through the clouds even for a minute, it would have been great. Smooth sand, unlike Sandcastle which is the opposite direction from the port. There's a protected beach...a turtle sanctuary where the closing scene of Shawshank Redemption was supposedly filmed at one end of the island. Can't use umbrellas there tho.

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We will be cruising in January on the Jewel of the Seas and looking for a great beach on St.Croix. Has anyone been to Rhythms at Rainbow Beach???

We were there in 2014. There was a narrow line of gray clouds that stretched from the beach out over the water about a mile that didn't clear all day. We could see the sun blazing on the ship, which was docked close by. It dawned on me afterward...a rainbow is preceded by rain or moisture. Could it be called rainbow Beach because it tends to be cloudy, rainy there?

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Thank you. Someone had to say it.

No, sometimes the smell comes from the system itself. If you don't spray something in the water, the smell can be powerful (and it's other people's waste you're smelling).

Thanks for the triple bag idea.

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Royal Caribbean signed a contract with Crown Bay so Princess is mostly now at Havensight.

I did read that. It's a huge let down for a RCCL cruiser. Havensight is more convenient for most of what we like to do. Crown Bay is prettier for sail away tho.

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Hi. Just a note, all my princess sailings that stopped at St. Thomas used Crown Bay, not Havensight.

Also, approaching our scheduled March 2012 sailing on Caribbean Princess I read lots of posts about propulsion problems. In the final week before the cruise, the posts got more and more bleak. 2 days before our embarkation, Princess canceled our sailing.

We scrambled and still ended up on a cruise (Allure of the Seas, at twice the price). Princess compensated is with a full refund and 50% off a future sailing, but that was the year they left San Juan so the sailing we ultimately took wasn't as good.

Point is, have a back up plan. Good luck ☺️

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It's a lose/ lose situation. You either have an enormous amount of time to kill, or you pay substantially more to fly. I'm gonna end up paying $100 extra to leave SJU at 1:30 pm as opposed to 3:30.

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On our one and only sailing from Port Canaveral I arranged for a private shuttle from mco. Our flight was late out of Philly, was late getting to mco, and took nearly 25 minutes just to taxi to it's gate. I was having a panic attack thinking we'd miss our shuttle. While running through the airport to baggage claim, the shuttle service called me to let me know they were fully aware of the flight not being on time. My panicking was for nothing. I was so relieved.

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On our 2011 cruise on Serenade, we had a table for two right along the edge of the second level, looking down at the first level. If the table arrangement is still the same, these tables are back to back, not side by side, and there are not many of them. If you're assigned my time, find the maitre d ASAP after you board and maybe you'll get lucky.

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Don't forget, unless your a carb avoider, you may end up eating two (or 3)tasty pieces of bread while waiting for your one or two appetizers. You'll be adequately full.

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Thank you for your comparison. I always wondered about Enchantment's non - expanded sister ships.

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Tomorrow is a day at sea. DH has strict instructions to head up to the pool deck at the crack of humanity and save me a chair [emoji41]He will be sitting in it until I get there so it's not chair hogging if he's only saving one chair right??

 

It's time to turn in for the night... it's been a fabulous first day onboard. Thanks for joining me! See you in the morning! [emoji4]

 

 

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Bless your husband. I thought I was the only person on Earth who did this. Actually, I think it's necessary on Oasis class ships, right? They actually have deck police who confiscate unattended belongings after a half hour or so.

Welcome to LIVE from the Allure of the Seas!

 

I am excited to finally try an Oasis Class ship - I need to see exactly what I've been missing and decide for myself if bigger really IS better?! ;)

 

As many of you already know, I really enjoy reporting live from the ship. I try and respond to every question, and hope to bring a little bit of the Caribbean to you wherever you are. I'm a little nuts in the sense that I update a lot, so be sure to check this thread often! I won't be posting the Cruise Compass (unless someone asks a very specific question), and I won't be posting the MDR menus as we have pre-purchased the 3 night dining package, and will probably add a 4th specialty restaurant once onboard. I did register for My Time Dining, so it is possible we may visit the MDR once or twice during the week.

 

I post primarily from my iPhone 6, and upload pictures often in "real time". I will be bringing my Samsung tablet along as well. I like the picture quality on my iPhone, and I just dumped 3645 pictures on to my PC, so I have a lot of space to fill with pictures of just about everything :cool:

 

We are booked in a Superior Ocean View balcony on deck 11 (I already know the bed is near the closet, thanks to our amazing expert Clarea!). I guess this is a good time to mention who I am cruising with! Accompanying me on this trip are my DH, and my 20 year old DD who has just completed her 3rd year of university :)

 

We are flying from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow on Air Canada, and expect to arrive at our pre-cruise hotel at about 6PM. I sailed on the Freedom in February and stayed at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North, it is a great hotel that has been renovated from top to bottom and that's where we are staying this time as well. I got a super deal with breakfast included, and because I am a Gold Elite rewards member, they have upgraded us to the Concierge Level. We have reserved a car that we will pick up, and then return to the airport on Sunday morning. The Marriott North is about a $45 cab ride from the airport and then $45 again to the port, so we were able to rent a mid size SUV for $109 total and it just made perfect sense. My DH and DD have never been to Fort Lauderdale, so we will definitely head down to the Las Olas beach area, and do a little sight seeing on Saturday.

 

My suitcase is half packed, and I just printed out our boarding passes. Time to grab a bite of dinner and finish all the last minute preparations before we leave for the airport tomorrow.

 

I can't wait to start this vacation and bring you all along with me! :D

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