Taiters91

When you check in to the hotel, even if you have pre-paid they will ask for a credit card and place a hold on a certain amount of money as security against charges you "might make". Hotels do not accept Debit cards though if you have no other option you may be able to make arrangements but get those arrangements in writing!

 

Most places you are going you can use CC, US cash or Debit card with a Visa symbol in it.

Thank you - exactly why I asked!

So if I take;

1 credit card for emergency

1 debit card

Some US Dollars

I should be fine?

Are you leaving from a US port and staying in hotels before or after your cruise?? If you are less mysterious we can help. Debit cards and US hotels are a problem....

Sorry, not trying to be mysterious!! I will give you all details...

We fly from London to Miami and stay in a Miami hotel - all transfers from airport to hotel then hotel to cruise ship are paid for - so is hotel.

12 day cruise - 6 ports - straight from cruise to airport (paid) at the end.

thanks,

Sophie

Are you leaving from a US port and staying in hotels before or after your cruise?? If you are less mysterious we can help. Debit cards and US hotels are a problem....

Sorry, not trying to be mysterious!! I will give you all details...

We fly from London to Miami and stay in a Miami hotel - all transfers from airport to hotel then hotel to cruise ship are paid for - so is hotel.

12 day cruise - 6 ports - straight from cruise to airport (paid) at the end.

thanks,

Sophie

Thank you.

It's Serenade of the seas - Royal Caribbean.

I don't really understand how it works in America (assuming you are all from USA?) but we want to avoid credit cards as they have such high interest rates and get you into more debt.

Is cash accepted everywhere, to pay off the card also, if we brought that, some cards as a back up and locked it all away? Xx

When you all say credit card - could this be a debit card too? Xx

Oh we will definitely be researching. If we do an excursion, we will book on the ship. If not, we will have an idea of where we are going in taxi xx

Thank you everyone!! We have pre paid our gratuities so that's all done. Xx

Hello everyone,

As it's our first cruise (11 night southern Caribbean)... I have no idea how much money to take.

We are from England so it will need to be transferred to Dollars.

If I explain what we plan on doing, I am hoping you regular cruisers could advise!

We aren't pre-booking any excursions as we want to decide as we go, or when we are on the ship...

We will mainly be relaxing on the ship, beaches, walking but will want to have a few meals in either island restaurants or speciality ones on the ship (Serenade).

We may also want a spa treatment.

Ultimately, we will have whatever we can save, but if someone can give a rough guide to how much they spend, maybe doing 1-2 excursions, that'd be great.

Thank you :)

Antigua, hands down. Perfect swimming, unsurpassed beauty, and our pick for a fav.

Hiya!

I am going to Antigua in March on a cruise - where would you recommend?

We've generally do our own thing in port. In the Caribbean we varied between wandering from the ship, taxi tours, hiring our own car and doing our own thing. We really aren't ship tour people as I generally find it too restrictive for me and I don't like to be told what to do and when!!

 

Having said that the only place we did a ship tour was in St Lucia, when we did the Land & Sea to Souffriere full day tour (not sure about spelling!!).

We thoroughly enjoyed it and it really couldn't have been any better if we'd done it ourselves. But of course, do your own research as I full appreciate ships tours are not for everyone.

 

We have been told previously that they usually sell a proportion (50%) of the available tour places in advance of sailing and the remainder are available on board.

 

Hope you have a great time, which I'm sure will, whatever you decide to do!

Thanks very much!

My best friend who has cruised the Caribbean said that there are lots of excursions to find either on board or when you come off the ship!

Cant wait!

I don't remember the name of the beach club I visited in Bonaire but it was just a couple of miles from the port......to the left as you are looking at the island. In the was they had a natural shelf about 20 ft out from shore with small fish swimming out from under it. All of this can be seen without snorkeling. It was a beautiful small beach with free wifi, great drinks, and beautiful water. It was supposed to be $10 for a chair and I went to the guy walking around to pay but he said he would come to my chair to collect payment. He never came so it was free! :)

That sounds perfect - thank you!!

So when we walk off the ship, where do we go?

Congratulations

 

Not having a plan hasn't worked out well for us. We have traveled extensively but still make mistakes. One of the worse was picking a tour offered at the pier. It was inexpensive and went to places that interested us. Wish we had researched the company before leaving home. We ended up stranded alongside a remote country road with a herd of goats as our companions. It makes for a humorous story now but wasn't funny at the time. Other times, we ended up feeling like we missed doing fun things by not having a plan. Hearing about all the fun things other people did at dinner made us realize what we'd missed. If you want beach time, do research on how to get to the best beaches, check for places nearby that offer food and beverages, research how to get back to the ship, and make sure you are in a safe area.

 

If you want to wander around the port, research best restaurants, places of interest, free internet locations, and anything else that might appeal to you. You don't have to have a set plan but should have a general understanding of what is available, what it will cost, and how much time you need to head back to the ship. A short time in port followed by pool time on the ship can be lots of fun.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time.

Thank you!

Am definitely doing research - just don't want to book specific excursions before we go in case we don't fancy it or see something better. We may book on the ship when we will have a feel of what we want to do.

I will make sure we are organised in that sense, we just don't want to limit ourselves ahead of time and organise every stage before we are even there x

Hello!

Antigua is our 6th port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Barbados

St Lucia

Bonaire

Hello!

St Lucia is our 5th port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Barbados

Bonaire

Antigua

Hello!

Barbados (Bridgetown) is our 4th port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Bonaire

St Lucia

Antigua

Hello!

Grenada (St georges) is our 3rd port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Bonaire

Barbados

St Lucia

Antigua

Hello!

Bonaire is our 2nd port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Aruba

Grenada

Barbados

St Lucia

Antigua

Thank you!

Hello!

Aruba (Oranjsted) is our first port on our first ever cruise in March!

We have decided to DIY as we keep changing our minds, so we will play it by ear as to what we fancy doing and may book excursions on the ship!

Any recommendations for Aruba or No go's?

We are 24, newly married, and this is our Honeymoon. Our main aim of the holiday is to relax and enjoy some beautiful sites.

Our main interests would probably be beach resorts with restaurants, shops, maybe water activities or any other recommendations to make the most of the island!

We are also visiting;

Bonaire

Grenada

Barbados

St Lucia

Antigua

Thank you!

So you expect to actually leave your cabin on your honeymoon? :D

 

Congrats on the wedding!

 

While it might be possible to book something the morning of, most likely not as most excursions will probably be booked within the first couple of days on board. That doesn't mean you can't walk off the ship and hire a taxi to take you around but you just won't be on a ship excursion.

Ha Ha!

A lot of people have said that there will still be excursions on the piers - BUT, if we get on the ship and see any we know we will fancy, then we will book then.

The only thing I know I really would like to do is Snorkeling in Bonaire, however, I suffer with travel sickness and I am thinking I may just fancy being on land. But will book this on ship when I know how I feel.

Looking at the ports there seems to be lots available to DIY :)

Sorry I meant between 4-8pm!!! Xx

Thank you all!!

I am looking generally at the island so I can have a feel of what's recommended and will make sure 100% that we are back to ship on time.

Thankfully, with the exception of 2, the sail away time is 8pm anyway xx

The one exception for my group is this.

we usually do my time dining. as a placeholder we make reservations for the same time every night ( we are a little creature of habbit that way) of course we can cancel or change it.. but we know we have it.

 

Otherwise. we do what we feel like minute to minute

 

1 thing about pre booking shore excursions way ahead is that... if you dont feel good the night before, or worse the weather is horrible you may not want to do the excursion you have booked and paid for. I think you have to cancel 24 hours prior on the ship in order to get a refund.

That's great.

We have My Time Dining. How exactly does it work?

You will be fine. That is exactly what me and my friends do.

I REFUSE to spreadsheet every second of a vacation. Thats not a vacation to me. But some people are so OCD that they have to do it. It seems crazy to me, but if thats what they like. I am not going to tell them how to enjoy their vacation. My crew is a go with the flow group. With little exception you will have no trouble doing what you want...

That's great. Thank you.

I'm one who can't partially plan - I either need to know exactly what I'm doing or go with the flow!

Oh Perfect, thank you!