Worn out mailman
-
Posts
1,319 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Worn out mailman
-
-
Hi folks.
I'm thinking of booking a tour with Spencer Ambrose. We did a tour with Cosol in 2008 which visited many of the land sights that Spencer's land and sea tour visits. For that reason, I'm contemplating just doing the Jalosie beach break.
My question is, being that with the Jalosie beach break we'll arrive at the beach relatively early, will it be warm enough when we arrive? Are the available beach chairs on a nice section of the beach (which would make it worth while to get there early)?
The full day land and sea tour only costs a little more, but we've seen a lot of this stuff as I've said, we don't really enjoy the stinky volcano, and enjoy time at the beach if it's nice enough that early in the day.
Did anyone who did the beach break regret doing this?
Thanks in advance for any advice. :)
-
We were on the Crown a few years back and enjoyed it,,great ship,,food very good and the service wonderful,,you won't be disappointed...
Ditto this.
Princess offers a fine product. There definitely are some space issues in the entertainment venues, but if you plan well, you'll get a seat. There are many more opportunities to eat tasty food at all times of day and at more points around the ship than on any RCCL ship I've been on.
As Caribbean Princess was the prototype for the expanded Grand Class ship, it has the "shopping cart handle" on the back of the ship which is the night club. This shades the rear pool. There also is no appreciable miniature golf course on this ship. For those reasons, I like her sisters, Ruby, Emerald, and Crown a little better, but CB is still nice. She definitely needs a good thorough dry dock to replace outer deck carpets and to clean up the balconies. These things are noticeable but forgettable.
If the itinerary and price are right, I wouldn't hesitate giving CB a shot. :)
-
I can't imagine 5000 people having to shuttle from MCO to Port Canaveral.
-
We're sailing in January, and without having to search through each RCI's ship calendars, I think they only allow one ship per day, but I wanted to ask (as it's a fairly small area for too many passengers if two ships stopped the same day).
I got the opposite impression.
We were there in June on Enchantment and it reminded me a lot of Princess Cay re. size, amenities, lousy beach, etc. Then I took a little walk down the beach and found the water slide area, which is a much wider expanse of beach. I thought to myself, this setup must be to accommodate multiple ships.
Sorry for chiming in since I don't really know the answer to your question.:o
-
Ship - Enchantment
Deck -4
Stateroom # -4590
Stateroom Category –Oceanview
Starboard or Port Side -Staboard
Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) –It was the first stateroom forward of the centrum on the starboard side. When the band was playing, you could hear it a little, but they stopped promptly at 11pm each night.
Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? -yes
Any specific problems with this cabin? - the toilet had a slight raw sewage smell, as did the public bathrooms around the ship. Our stateroom attendant did what he could to alleviate this, and it did help some, but didn't eliminate the problem entirely. Also, the mattress was horrible, and needed replacing badly.
Any other comments? - Very convenient location
-
Oh, I know you dined at a few different places, but do you recall lobster on the menus any of the nights in the mdr? Thanks. :)
-
Here are the compasses-
Wow, these are great. Thanks so much for taking the time to post them.
-
Disembarkation night was very noisy, sounded like gorillas throwing the Samsonites around in the cages (for those of you who remember that old commercial). It went on for hours, lots of electric motors (whirr, clunk, ahrreee, clunk, brzbrzbrbz, clunk) and clanging metal cages. Occasional voices and then we had the dance party bass thump nightly from 9:45-12:00. Love the ease of location, but not going to stay on that deck again, EVER.
On at least one of our two Plaza deck Princess cruises we heard this....it was on the last night, so like cherylandtk's post above I assumed it was people setting up the baggage for offload. We didn't hear it on all the other nights like so many posters above.
This wasn't nearly the problem as the raw sewage smell coming from our john all week on our Emerald cruise in '10 (P324).
As for enabling full enjoyment of the Piazza, a Plaza deck stateroom is great, esp. if you wake up earlier than your travelmate (iow, your wife or girlfriend :) ) and want to grab a quick coffee and donut while they sleep.
-
I went on the Oasis with no problem, but on Allure last March, I did feel very seasick. The wind was very strong and many people felt nauseated. The crew explained that when the wind is super strong, it blows into the Boardwalk and can rock the ship. This was nothing some zofran did not take care of (ask your family doctor for a script before you leave home). We were on the 12th deck and almost in the back. This was the location for seasickness. I would choose a lower deck and close to the middle for your friend. In those locations, you couldn't feel motion.
We were on the Allure in March as well, the 18th thru the 25th to be exact. My girlfriend actually felt her swaying a bit as soon as they removed the gangways before we embarked. I thought she was nuts, but, maybe.
Anyway, on the 4th or 5th night, we felt a lot of motion. I had to leave the Samba Grill, about 5 minutes after a young lady at the next table. The ship was swaying a lot.
I guess you just have to consider the odds. There are only 3 days in port, so that leaves 3 days plus embarkation evening to sail. More time at sea equals more opportunities to feel the ships motion. As someone else said, though, low decks midship is where you'll feel the motion the least.
Good luck.
-
Sue, I'm really jealous. My girlfriend and I were supposed to have sailed on CB on March 18, the first voyage that was cancelled. We did end up on a cruise which we enjoyed alot, but I planned for months for CB and the same itinerary that you're sailing. Anyway, keep having fun, and thanks for posting (and making me jealous :) )
-
We've taken 3 cruises on each, Royal Caribbean and Princess. We were on Ruby Princess recently the week after Thanksgiving. We found our experience this Princess cruise to be very similar to our experiences on Royal Caribbean. Great service, great food, lots of activities available. I would say that we have found the Princess MDR food to be consistently good or great, whereas on Royal Caribbean it's usually very good but not as consistently. I would also say that Princess production shows in the theater are consistently somewhat better, more professional productions, than Royal Caribbean's.
To me the biggest difference between Royal Caribbean and Princess is the layout of the ships. Princess ships are more compartmentalized so that the large public areas are not as big and grand as Royal Caribbean's. RC ships also tend to have more big windows to see the ocean, which I like. My understanding is that the intention of the sectioned layout on Princess is to help alleviate the feeling of being on a ship with so many other people. However, in some cases it leads to more congestion (particularly in the buffet and the theater). For instance, there will be one MDR on a RC ship that is 2 or 3 stories high with views of the ocean. On Princess ships, there will be 2, 3, or 4 smaller one story dining rooms where the ceiling seems low (and the decor bland) after being on a RC ship. Princess theaters are one level with no balconies and are sometimes not large enough to accommodate all who want to see a show. If you want a good seat for a big Princess show, be there 20+ minutes early. One night on Ruby we decided a bit late to catch a production show and couldn't find 2 seats together, so we went to the lounge to see the comedian, and it was already packed also. So we sat outside the lounge and just listened to the comedian and saw the production show when it was offered again the next night. We have not had that happen on RC. The early/late dinner and show times are better coordinated and the multi-level theater (so no seats are too far from the stage) holds half of the ship capacity, so we've never had problems getting a show seat.
Those differences aside, the experiences on Royal Caribbean and Princess are more similar than different. We enjoy both and will go on both again, depending on price and itinerary (and possibly whether it is a newer vs. older ship if everything else is the same).
These are very good comparisons. I would re-emphasize the need to show up at any entertainment venue close to 1/2 hour early (presuming your cruise will be on one of the newer Grand Class ships with the Riviera deck). I do remember thinking the musicians were better on Princess, and that entertainment was more readily available around the ship, as was food, especially late in the evening. I do enjoy the dining room experience better on RCCL, and especially the menu choices.
-
Chrystal, I'm glad you and Wes found the Seaview Cafe. From what I've read, it'll be gone sometime soon, replaced with some sort of Brazilian eatery. And, if it follows the trend that RCCL has been setting, maybe it'll be another pay for place.
We're scheduled to do your precise itinerary on Adventure next March, though I might jump over to the dreaded Caribbean Princess, because their 5 island itineraries have gone on sale. :) Your reviews are great. As another poster said, thanks for taking the time, and we hope you're feeling better.
-
I'm really looking forward to your Aruba and Curacao shots...we'll be there on Adventure in March '12. :)
-
Oh, and congrats on your 'promotion' to CC Host. :) How did that happen?
-
I'd simply like to comment that the noise you folks keep calling a "ding" is more aptly characterized as...."dooonk" :)
-
Hey mailman! It's so great to see another South Jersey person here!
You will really enjoy that stateroom. The balcony is larger than most others and the view is great. We're sailing the Serenade again in May, going to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, and Curacao. Any suggestions for St. Thomas? We're thinking of doing a daysail with Kathleen of Highpockets.
Our airfare ran about $430 pp. It's tough finding flights from the Philly area to San Juan, those flights tend to sell out often. I've been to SJU about 3 times in the past year and a half, each time out of PHL. The lowest we ever paid for direct flights, RT, was about $375. Maybe you could push your sail date back and fly when it's more economical?
On a side note, I miss South Jersey. It's sooo hard to find a good cheesesteak here in the Princeton area. People have no idea what a really good hoagie or cheesesteak is unless they've been to South Jersey or Philly! :D At least we have a Wawa close by. :cool:
Hi again Chrystal.
I remember reading that you like to sit on the beach and relax. Well, in St. Thomas, it may be worth your while to take a taxi to Red Hook and catch the ferry to St. John, then another taxi to Trunk Bay. It's tied for my favorite beach that I've been to in the Caribbean (the other is Darkwood Beach in Antigua)..extremely beautiful with calm water, and great snorkeling....there's actually a snorkeling 'trail' established...it's a US National Park. Getting there takes about two thirds the time it would take you to get to the Jersey shore from Lumberton, so you probably want to get up early if you do this. I went to Magen's Bay this year which is on St. Thomas itself (so it's much closer) and though it's considered by many magnificent, I didn't enjoy it as much as Trunk Bay on St. John. That could be due to the weather that day being partly cloudy. So, if you've got a partly cloudy day, you may want to consider staying closer to the ship.
If we get to Aruba on a cruise, I'll want my girlfriend to see Baby Beach. It's not much of a beach experience (more like a lake) but it's perhaps the best snorkeling experience I've had.
Really? As close as Princeton and you can't get a good cheese steak? Pretty soon, you'll be rooting for the Yankees and NY Giants. LOL. :)
-
Another South Jersey person checking in here (Maple Shade). I'm really enjoying your review and the photos. You know, it's funny....yesterday I posted to someone who had stayed in 9580, which was our stateroom in '08. One day later, I'm posting to you, who stayed in 9576, our stateroom next March. Weird and wild. :) I'm looking forward to seeing Antigua and St. Thomas again. St. Croix, Dominica, and Grenada will be new for us.
Oh, how did you make out on your airfare? We're almost considering bailing on our cruise next March because the airfare to SJ is outrageous.
Table for Two-Traditional or MTD
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
On Serenade there were two layouts for the tables for two. Some were set up perpendicular to a partition and were indeed quite close together. Not very nice. We were lucky to be stationed at the other tables, which were alongside the railing that looked down to the other level. Instead of sitting alongside the person at the next table, we sat back to back with them. This is a much more intimate setup. If you're on a ship that has this table layout and you choose MTD, talk to the maître-d as soon as you can to try to get one of these. I'll attach a thumbnail photo.