NateUpNorth

Day 7 was Labadee. And this part of my review….. should anyone be reading it…. Will likely divide opinions. I know it did between the two travelling families in our group. So allow me to play King Solomon and cut the baby in half. Labadee My family – they’ve ruined it. Our travelling companions – WOW THIS PLACE IS AWESOME We got off the ship and took the train to Columbus Cove for a nice serene relaxing day in the water with beautiful mountains in the background. Just like 4 years ago. WTH????? Columbus cove is now about 50ft of usable beach front and then nothing but SeaDoo’s, Watersports and activities. Clearly this should be the side labelled Adrenaline Beach!!! So we carted ourselves over to Adrenaline Beach. This is now the “quiet” side. There’s a floating bar, the zip line goes overhead and there is a basketball court, Bocce Court etc over here. Snorkelling – 0 out of 10. I snorkelled the breakwall, the rocks, and everything in between. Total sightings – 50 acres of seagrass, a plastic bag and a few flip flops stuck in the breakwall. I think the proximity to the breakwall keeps the sand stirred up too which results in 0 visibility in spots. HOWEVER – the breakwall is really nice. THIS is the sound of the Ocean you’re looking for with crashing waves. Take a short walk past the loungers and you’ll HEAR THE DRAGON BREATHE!! It’s very cool…. The breaking waves push air through the rocks.. the kids would have stood there for hours thinking a beast was breathing if they were younger. Now our friends – they did the Zip Line, The Coaster and The Waterslide. The breakdown – Zip Line a 10……. The Coaster an 8 and The Waterslide an 8. So I guess maybe it depends on what you want in a beach day, and how much of the ole greenbacks you wanna throw at the corporate coffers as to what you’ll think of Labadee. Which I suppose is the RCL goal with private beaches, so mission accomplished? Like I said, two sets of opinions, each is correct in its own right. Food review – just know if you search these forums it’s called the “Fly Buffet” with reason. Food on Labadee is included but it’s a buffet and the flies have been know to set up shop. However I wandered over at lunch to see if there were any prepackaged items and lucked out. They were bringing out fresh trays of hot dogs and jerk chicken. I plated both before the flies had a chance. Hot dog was good. The jerk chicken was amazing. Now this is a big variable. I found it had a bit of zing, just perfect for me. If you’re “I want Satan stabbing my tongue with a trident of fire” heat and spice preference for your meal…. This ain’t it. Water and fruit punch also available from machines. Bar service review – it was SLOW, like sloth slow, and bad. I don’t wanna dwell on it too much cause I’m sure this is a huge “varies by day” or even “by the hour” situation but the bar service was a 2/10 for us. Back on the ship we went to the Hideaway Resort Water Show at the Aquatheatre. LOVED it. Fun, light hearted, easy to follow. Fantastic. No more spoilers – go see it. I’m now going to take a shot at RCL. Prepare yourselves. n the boardwalk for this show was popcorn! Hooray! Great idea. “That’ll be $3 for a half filled box sir” What in the bloody…… of all that’s good and holy….. this is a joke, right? Popcorn? Like the stuff you get 5 pounds of for $5 at Costco? And given it weighs nothing 5 pounds of it is a massive amount. You’re gonna charge me for this? You throw out Lobster tails and Prime Rib left and right in the MDR… but popcorn is where you draw the line? Gong show. Before I paint my face blue and yell “You can charge for popcorn but you’ll nevere take my FRREEEEDOOM” at the top of my lungs I’m just gonna move on….. but skip the yellow card, this is a straight red, 3 game ban kind of offense. (Yeah, the World Cup was on all week)

Day 6 was a Sea Day so I’m gonna leave a few more “Ship Stuff” reviews in here. Arcade – two arcades – deck 6 next to Carousel and deck 15(?) by the teens club. Both arcades are small, games looked to be about $2.50 or $2.00… and some of them even work. My son tried the Basketball game and it wouldn’t fire up. My daughter tried the Piano Key game and you guessed it…… it wouldn’t start up…… so $10 down and no games actually played they “nope’d” outta there. We were able to get refunds at guest services but our experience crossed any further arcade efforts off the list. This must not be a large revenue generator for RCL given maintenance and/or operation of the games seems a non-starter. Ice Cream Machines – two – back of ship near mini-bites and the mini-putt. Both worked magnificently all week. Lineups moved quickly and never became too long. Both are staffed so you cannot self serve. (I think this is new? I recall self serve on Oasis a few years back??) If I recall correctly they’re open from 11-8? I do remember thinking the hours were ridiculous….. but I’m sure the pennies saved by not dispensing outside those hours add up eh beancounters? LOL Day 6 also heralded the “Women’s Cannonball Competition”. This was actually very family friendly and a fun event. Much less gyrating, thrusting, and/or bits flying about. I can save the Q-tip short term memory brain jabbing through the ear canal for later when we get to the Men’s Bellyflop event……. Coming soon. That evening we went to Boot and Bonnet for drinks. Great service and a guitar player was present playing all your favorite hits. Enjoyable for sure. We also attended the production of Columbus……………. WTH? LOL……. This was…….. interesting. I THINK it’s a comedy, there’s definitely a story. Think Dr. Seuss meets serious theatrical production with a side of Saturday Night Live? I don’t know…… maybe someone else can explain/define/describe this better than me? Worth a viewing? Sure! The boy also forced us to buy some shark pajama’s when we got home. Grabbed a google pic below. If you’ve seen the show…… you’re laughing right now. He’s also been singing “Columbus, Columbus…. Marvin Columbus” all week. Sooooo…. It’s a very memorable show.

Day 5 was Curacao. Our second visit to Curacao. First time was Blue Bay Resort for a beach day and snorkel. This time round we booked a Turtle snorkel with the Company Curacao Dreams. 100% would recommend them. When we got off the ship around 8:30 all clear time it was pouring. Like torrential downpour. But I mean we booked a trip to jump in the ocean so as long as they showed up…… who cares if we got wet…… right? About 16 people in a large tourist van. And yes, there was that ONE GUY who took his time getting to the bus…… 10:15ish for the 10AM start time. LOL. To Curacao Dreams credit they phoned and texted this person at 10 mins to 10…. And then went walking on along the gates outside the pier to find him and hurry him along. Anyway, they took us on a tour of the Island with an extremely informative historical dialogue the whole way. Stopped at the Flamingo spot – meh. Then off to the snorkel with the Turtles for over 1hr. This is a LIFE highlight. Just incredible. Our guides were Patrick and Eddie. For major reviews check that other (Advisor) for (Trip) website, read the 5 star ones, and that was our experience. Then over to a beach spot for an hour. They provided soft drinks (sorry – for you Murica’s that’s Soda) and water. Amazingly Patrick also GoPro’d the event in the water with us and Apple AirDrop’d, Facebook’d or Whatsapp’d the photo’s to each person on the tour FOR FREE. I think we got 3 vids and 180 photo’s in total!!! I’ll answer any questions about it if you have them, that’s the least they deserve in advertising for such a great trip. 2 adults, 2 kids. $235 USD. Next up we toured downtown Curacao. Over Queen Emma’s bridge and into the world heritage areas. I’m not gonna lie……. It didn’t seem the same as 4 years ago. I think Covid has had an effect on the Island (how could it not) along with losing the Oil income due to Venezuelan sanctions. There were a few boarded up shops and it just FELT less than thriving. I mean there’s still the same amazing historical structures and wonderful street art etc etc….. but some of the independent shops/restaurants we remembered are no longer there. I hope it turns around, I really do, It was one of the reasons we did an ABC…… well AC itinerary again. And yes, we’d go a 3rd time for sure. That evening we saw the Skate Show. So disclaimer – Canadians……. Southern Ontario…. so the family has grown up in rinks and spent more that our fair share of time both as kids and adults on a sheet of frozen water with the steel blades attached. So personally – I can live without the Skate show. However I’m gonna try to be objective here. I’ll give it an 8 outta 10. The music was great. The skating was above average and there were one or two lifts/jumps that can be impressive to view. Go see it, you’ll have a good time. I went in with "do we have to?" and came out with "hey, that wasn't half bad".

Day 4 Aruba!!! Now we’ve been to Aruba before and done the Black Pearl snorkel/sail… so this time round we did a beach day. Thanks to reviews over in the Ports of Call section we decided to head to Amsterdam Manor via City Bus 10. I can hear my mother now……. “What? Foreign Country??? CITY BUS???? You could miss the ship! You could be shanked! I saw this on the news!!!! You could be MUUURRDDDERED” Let me now assure everyone this was completely safe, easy, and there are ZERO concerns about doing this, even with an 8yr old, a 9yr old an 11 & 12 yr old in tow. Off the ship head to the bus terminal. Buy the RT (“Retour” IIRC) cards for $5 at the little white hut. Hop on bus 10 to the Hotel section. Bus stops at every stop, and I believe every 20 mins there is another bus. Our driver called out the stop names. Amsterdam Manor is the first stop past Eagle Beach. Approx 10 minute trip one way. We rented two chairs and a shade Palapa for $30. A bucket of “local” beer was about $35 – NOTE: 330ml bottles, so they’re gone quick. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. The Palapa had an electrical outlet for charging devices and you could get access to the wifi from “Passions” restaurant that is right behind the chairs. As mentioned bar service and food is available. There was no need to purchase a day pass or anything of that sort from Amsterdam manor. If you’re so inclined - a fellow Cruise Critic member ( @wdblake ) has a youtube video posted in the Ports of Call section showing exactly how to get there……… and you can see the facilities on a live Beachcam on the Amsterdam Manor website. 100% would do this again! One more beach commentary. I don’t know if people assume this space requires an aforementioned day pass but it was significantly less packed than the rest of the beach. Like a noticeable difference. I walked the beach a good ways and saw all the usual parasail/SeaDoo/Snorkel trip sales pavilions, but this spot was perfect.

Thanks John....... TBH...... writing this up and posting it is WAAAY outta my comfort zone!!!

Day 3 was a Sea Day. A day to relax, enjoy the sun, the pool tunes and jab Q-tips so far into my brain it removed the memories of yesterdays “Sexiest Man” pool dance competition. Not much happened so this is where I’ll throw in a review of the Waterslides. 2 tunnel slides – Blue and Yellow. Both are about equal speeds and great fun for being in the middle of the ocean. I’m giving them an 9/10. I deducted a point because sliding down the tubes you felt some of the joints/connections in the slide and it gave a bit of a bounce jolt on the shoulder blades. Also any flailing elbows/arms risked getting friction burns. I suppose those are hazards at any waterpark though. 1 further slide that somehow garnered the name “The toilet bowl”. This is the slide that sends you halfway down then into a circular section that you slide around as much as you can and then shuffle to the middle “drain” to complete the fun. An 8/10. I don’t know anyone that smoothly navigated the “bowl” portion without having to scoot themselves over to the “drain” to complete the slide. And let me assure you there are some swimsuits and bodies that are not amenable to doing a “wet rugburn scoot” whilst possibly dragging sunburned regions over the slide. (I sense I may be jamming Q-tips in my ears to reach the short term memory part of my brain again) That night we ventured out to see Grease. Great show. I’ve never (gasp, what?, Olivia Newton John in spandex?) seen the movie so I’m coming into it 100% fresh. The show was GREAT! Now I get the feeling the movie was longer/connected scenes a little better, but I found I could piece together the events and get the overall storyline. Fortunately anything………. Innuendo-ish (new word, submitting to Webster’s)…. Went over the kids heads so their mother didn’t have to do any explaining post event. (you don’t think Dad is gonna have those discussions do you?!?!?!?!!?!?) That night we sat in Central Park and enjoyed a couple Whiskey Sour’s…… expensive (which is to say normal cruise pricing)…. Bottom shelf whiskey…… but no complaints, it’s a cruise and we enjoyed them.

Day 2 – Dec 11 - Sea Day Today we rode THE ABYSS!! *said in Monster Truck Commercial Announcer Loud Voice. This bad boy looks very impressive walking under it on the royal promenade. It starts up at/by the Flowriders on deck 15 and ends down by the carousel on deck 6. This is a “carpet slide” where they have you sit on these pieces of glorified carpet, hang on to a strap and throw you down a 10 storey tube. On a scale of 10….. initial trips were around a 9, fun, kinda fast, and a total blast. By the end of the week and many rides later it drops to a 7 1/2 or an 8. Once you’re used to it, well it seems slower and less impressive. As far as lineups, longest we waited was less than 5 minutes. Again, your sailing may be different, but that was ours. There were a good number of kids on our sailing so I’m not sure how we were so fortunate with the lack of waiting. One other “fun fact”. They WOULD NOT allow a GoPro down the slide. No idea how those Youtubers have managed to get their footage……I suspect perhaps RCL made some concessions depending on how many social media followers a person has… but that would be cynical of me… right? A highlight of the day – my daughter snagged a Cruise Duck!!! So if this was you – THANKS! You made her day. And she spent the rest of the trip eyes peeled to try to find more. Sadly no success but she loved the thrill of the chase! Whilst up the tail end of the ship I’ll drop a couple mentions in here. Mini Bites – free food – keeps you out of the Windjammer – had breakfast here once and a couple snacks. Not bad, but I’m reliably told it’s no comparison to poolside Guy’s Burgers over at that other joint. Is this a fair comparison? I don’t know, I haven’t sailed that other conglomerate…. But the reviewer that advised me of this compared them to each other. So grain of salt and all that. Lunch was Burgers/Hot Dogs/Nachos…. That type of fare. This is also where I’ll drop commentary about freestyle soda machines. There are 3. That. Is. Correct. 6000 passengers……… 3……… three……. Trois…… soda machines SHIPWIDE. I don’t know if this is a cost/benefit analysis, cutbacks, maybe the leasing costs for these things are prohibitive…… but C’mon Man……. 3? Lineups galore to fill a cup…… and on some days they ran out of some options. Buyers of the Soda package – past performance may not be indicative of future results, but this was the case. (I will now step off my soapbox) Sports Court/Ping Pong/Pickleball – this area was busy every single time I walked by. Here’s a comment – to all the Michael Jordan’s in that 18-25 year old category……… perhaps try to be self aware and allow some of the younger kids to play too. Many a time I walked past -and yes, self serving comment given the boys age in our group- and there was no chance younger kids were getting a sniff of the sports court. Just being honest. I don’t know what an actual solution is here? Perhaps divide the schedule by age group too? Regardless, it’s a great facility and if that’s your jam then you’ll love it. The kids did however play multiple rounds of mini golf. Great little activity for the 8-11 age range. Above that and it likely did not impress. But I mean it’s mini golf in the middle of the ocean….. adjust expectations accordingly. Today was also “World’s Sexiest Man” Competition at the pool. Now I know there were instructions to the contestants that it was a family show……. But……. Well……. Some of the ladies were wishing they had brought small unmarked bills in non-sequential order to stuff into swim suits… and these guys will be headed to the Chiropractor at the Spa toute de suite based on thrusts and gyrations……. but I’m just gonna wash my brain and move on from ever thinking about those dance moves again. During the evening we went to the Family Comedy Show, (not a revised title for the World’s Sexiest Man competition just mentioned) Two comedians did their sets. Comedian #1 – meh, take it or leave it. Comedian #2 – Louis Ramy (sp?) Laughed so hard I cried. Yeah, he likely crossed the line from family to adult….. but not in a way a younger kid would notice… and he was dead on hilarious. Post Comedian we were up to Deck 5 for a little something at Sorrento’s. So this is the spot for the Sorrento’s review. You know how Amazon ships everything in cardboard boxes? I know where that cardboard goes when you recycle it. It’s under the cheese and pepperoni at Sorrento’s. Now I realize I’m being a bit harsh, and they’re spitting out pizza every 3 minutes for 6000 people…….. but given it’s one of two food options available during the late evenings….. they could do better. Nevertheless I will be balanced and also admit to eating said Pizza every day as an after dinner/ after show snack. So it couldn’t have been THAT terrible could it……. And that concludes Day 2.

Day 1 – Dec 10 Set Sail Day!!! We had our names down for a shuttle from Hotel, provided by the Hotel. They seem to have an arrangement with a service, they ask if you need transport when you check in and add you to a list. - $15pp and all very easy. Our boarding assigned time was 11:30 – so knowing that everything vacation related ALWAYS runs like a well oiled machine we asked for the 9:30-10 pick up time slot. You guessed it, our van was delayed in traffic and arrived at 11ish. Translated from American to Canadian English I suspect this actually meant “went to another hotel and did their pick up/drop off first”. But hey, it’s vacation, we aren’t gonna gather our pitchforks and burning torches to burn the place down over a shuttle delay. This time. Once at the pier we walked right through the boarding process in about 5 minutes – literally. It was astonishing the timing. So fast in fact that we carried on extra water. Say what? Here’s how it went. We got off the shuttle, with a dock porter guy literally at the stairs to the shuttle grabbing our bags. Awesome! Slapped the luggage tags on the handles, appropriately tipped and then he walked us to the door. Now my wife and I had thought ahead. Yes, seasoned travellers that we are, prepping for Ft Lauderdale heat and sun, and a 2hr wait standing in the security line up, had brought our Costco Thermoflasks™ of water. Well that and dreading the kids first “it’s too hot” of the trip. I mean seriously, 12 hours ago it was -5 degrees, snowing and you walked to school complaining it was too cold. Anyway, the Thermoflask™ big boys. About 1.5L each. The plan was whatever we didn’t drink in line we’d just “pour on the curb for our homies in Brooklyn” and go through security. Nope. From bus to metal detector scanners it was about 2 minutes. There we were trying to explain to security that we had to dump water out…… he could care less. Waved it through. Why oh why didn’t we bring 3L of Gin in those things???? (RCL employee reading this – I’m kidding, we wouldn’t try that, ever, nor would anyone reading this now) The scanners we were ushered through picked up the Perrier and the wine in our carry on backpack– and the friendly security guy did say “Two total for stateroom?” referring of course to the wine. To be honest he didn’t even look at us when he said it, and didn’t actually hear a reply because we just nodded our head “yes”. Whatever…. Those of you thinking “we’ll smuggle on 6 bottles then”… I’ve now jinxed you and you’ll be straight to the naughty room upon boarding. My bad. Blame Canada. Upstairs to the official check in. Walked right up to the scanners, no line whatsoever, and on we went!!! WE HAVE ARRIVED!! Now what? LOL Rooms – the doors to the hallways are closed and marked “come back at 1” and it’s enforced. Someone tried to go through and was promptly and politely asked to go back to the stairwell and wait. Seeing this, and not wanting to anger the deck 9 Harmony of the Seas Gods, we went straight up to kids club to register the kids. Read this next part with a heavy dosage of “YMMV” or “your experience may be different” but I can only tell you ours. Kids club – the boy, 8 years old, was allowed to bump UP to join 2 of the other kids in our group, aged 9 and 11, in that Voyagers age group. Our friends daughter, age 12, was allowed to bump DOWN into that group. So all 4 kids registered for Voyagers Kids Club Category even though 2 of them were outside the age range. We vacation as a family, the kids are expected to vacation WITH us, so to be honest they didn’t actually spend much time AT the kids club. This is the extent of the Kids Club review section for this week other than to say for the small amounts of time they went, they seemed to enjoy it. If you have questions let me know, I may be able to answer them. Onward we go. We had packed a backpack with swim suits so from Kids Club registration we hit the pool to wait for our rooms. I believe there was an announcement when the doors opened but we weren’t in a hurry and wandered down to our room around 4(?). My wife may have walked over to grab the Seapass cards sometime that afternoon but by 4 our bags were there when got to the room. However – No Paper Cruise Compass and no C&A benefits sheet – we had to ask for those at guest services. (I have them for Day 2 through the rest of the week and will attempt to scan them in. Sorry guys, it’ll be next week when I’m back at work with access to a scanner.) The Room – inside cabin – 4 people. It’s a twin(?) bed and then a small sofa with a lower pull out bed from under the sofa. Those with such knowledge or measuring tapes can correct me if it’s a Queen sized bed. Anyway – for the kids, think those Ikea things. It was not Pullman beds like on the Oasis. It was TIGHT for space. This is not a complaint. We knew this going in. Whatever gets you on a Cruise Ship after 2 years of Covid lockdown, amiright? Now I mentioned the C&A benefits sheet, so this seems like a good time to say this. Mere mortals under the Diamond level….. don’t get too excited. This cruise we turned Platinum which means we were still in the Goldmember (Austin Powers™) category. Which is to say the “the reason we didn’t leave a benefits sheet in the room is because we’re embarrassed at what we’re offering” sheet. Each adult Seapass had two half off a beer coupons and 10% off drinks pre-loaded on it. That’s about it. I’ll try to scan in the offer sheet for those that care. Anyway moving on – That night we did the Fine Line Aqua Show at the Aquatheatre. AMAZING. Totally impressed. No spoilers from me, but DO NOT MISS. I’m gonna say that again. DO NOT MISS. We booked early in the trip as we have heard sometimes it gets cancelled for high winds or other related weather issues. By booking first thing in the trip, if this happens, you have another few shots at seeing the event. First night ended on the Royal promenade we did the Balloon Drop. This was quite fun for the kids. And you haven’t lived until you’ve had an inside cabin for 8 days and shared it with 8 “saved” balloons from the balloon drop. Did I mention the cabin space was TIGHT to begin with? Now a balloon ballet in there for 8 days? Spoiler – names were made up and some balloons WERE harmed during the filming of this voyage.

Friday has photo's - hopefully - so please, if you're gonna quote to ask a question or make fun of my grammar/spelling..... please edit the quote box so we don't hit 400 pages on two replies! (I'm hopeful, this might not even get read by anyone eh?) Friday Here’s what we like about this place - The location is great. Broward County provides decent transportation. We showed ourselves outside and had Jeeves bring the car around. We took Bus 12 to the Beach - $5 (adult) $4 (child) per person for an all day pass which you buy on the bus. We had exact fare, not sure if they provide change should you not. The bus seems to run every 45 mins to each stop. Once on the bus, from the stop on Oakwood Ave, it’s about 10 mins to the Hollywood Beach North Park. What a great spot!!! The bus stops right at the lights at Sheridan and Ocean Dr. and from there it’s 50ft to glorious sand and salt water! Just pull the bus “Stop” cord as soon as you go over the draw bridge before hitting Ocean Dr. We walked the Broadwalk taking in sun and warm weather what I believe is it’s full length. Once there we had lunch at Hollywood Brewing Company. Both the wife and I had a flight of beer each. I had the standard IPA’s and Ale…. She ordered the “Infused with Fairy Dust, Pumpkins, Lemon/Lime” what have you varieties that I believe are an abomination dreamed up by Dr. Jekyll. Stop messing with beer people. As far as a restaurant review – beers excellent, food was “meh”, total cost reflected the ocean front real estate, as in fairly expensive based on what we ate. Full menu on google I believe? On the return trip to La Quinta we stopped at the Topps Market to snag 12/500ml bottles of Perrier – and ONLY 12, don’t worry RCL I wouldn’t dream of bringing more – and all the other stuff we forgot to pack was purchased at the CVS across the street. (Contact Lens Solution, a pair of sunglasses as my wife’s were watching the car back in the Buffalo airport parking, approx. $5658 in junk food for the kids as “we’re not allowed this at home”…….etc etc,etc) Once back at La Quinta it’s about a 10 minute walk to Oakwood plaza where you’ll find a Miller’s Ale House (excuse me – rebranded Hollywood Ale House), a Red Lobster, a Dave & Buster’s and all the other names you could google maps if you like. Out of the hotel turn right and go over the bridge. Not a bad stroll in the warm sunshine. Now if you leave the hotel and walk straight you’ll end up at Sheridan St and I’m not gonna lie….. I might not walk there to explore the subdivisions in a touristy fashion. After dinner at the Ale House (I mean yeah, I chose it cause of the name, I have kids you know, Ale helps me deal with all the joy) we settled in for the night anticipating our “All Aboard” day tomorrow.

I've spent a lot of time on Cruise Critic and learned a ton of tips and tricks for this type of vacation. This is my attempt to possibly give back and help out any other relative newbies and/or build anticipation to the frequent cruisers for their next B2B2B2BtransatlanticB2B itineraries. So here goes...... be kind. (I also believe @gometros and @lfox02 were looking for a Harmony review or two recently) Previous History: Oasis 2013 Bahamas/Cozumel/Labadee Freedom 2016 Grand Cayman/Jamaica Navigator 2018 ABC's/Labadee (I'd have to look up those stops to make sure they're correct and I think Freedom had one more port too, I'm getting old it would seem) The Gang Me, my wife, Daughter 11 and Son (the boy) 8 With family friends – Dad, Mom, Daughter 12 and son 9 Booked as a KSF – but as always disregard the sale banner and be happy with the final number. Not being a Rockefeller or a Vanderbilt and suffering from the Canadian dollar +/-40% haircut we booked an inside cave cabin. We flew out of Buffalo on a Thursday night – Southwest Airlines – with a stop in Baltimore. Due to this we had a “past midnight” arrival at FLL. Because of this late arrival the hotel shuttle was not available. No worries, we’ll grab a cab. Well lemme tell ya, there were no cabs in sight. Now picture this - the second my foot hit the pavement a friendly man called out “Do you guys need a ride?” Throwing caution to the wind we went with “Yes sir”. You are correct – looking like tourists, middle of the night, jumping into the car of a stranger who says “Sure, I can drive you”……………. What could possibly go wrong? Never, ever has a horror movie started that way has it? A very short discussion later it was $40 to our hotel. My spidey senses ceased tingling DANGER as he used his Iphone to locate the GPS directions and somehow magically used voodoo to teleport the map to the dashboard GPS screen in his Toyota Camry. At least we could see the dark alley we were being led down before Bruce Wayne loses his parents. Turns out our driver “is” an Engineer from Venezuela that is currently looking for work and does the airport driving as his “make ends meet” gig. (let the reader use discernment, I didn’t ask to see his Engineering diploma, nor did I check any references) This leads me to La Quinta. 2620 North 26th Ave. There are some who will now shake in their Manolo Blahnik deck shoes and shudder at the thought of a La Quinta whilst slowly removing their string of pearls and nonchalantly putting them in a zippered pocket, but let me attempt to sell it to you. It’s VERY BASIC but it is also affordable and clean. There is a breakfast provided of the typical juices, hot bean water (coffee), and bagels/toast/cereal. Depending on the day there MAY be Jam/Jelly for the toast. Pre-cruise it was not. Post cruise stay it had appeared. The staff was friendly and helpful. So very much alive and tired we were deposited at La Quinta on Thursday night.

ABC's hands down if you like the ocean. Aruba beaches are magnificent and can be reached taking a city bus.... can be very cost efficient. Bonaire is a world best snorkel site. Hop over to the Ports of Call section of cruise critic to read all about it....... then do yourself a massive favor and book an excursion with Woodwind tours. (or be adventurous and research how to do Klein Bonaire by yourself......) Caveat - Coco Cay could get very expensive depending on what you choose to do based on second hand anecdotal stories.

Just got off the 8 night Harmony to Aruba/Curacao/Labadee from last week. We fit every category you've mentioned there. Compiling notes and hoping to to post a full review in the next few days.

"See you" on board if I am at the flowrider the same time as what appears to be a mini cooper with a union jack on the roof. Hitting the Queenston/Lewiston bridge in an hour to head to Buffalo airport...... Fort Lauderdale here we come! I am also leery of some of the food reviews in the last week..... but whatever they're serving can't be worse that the regular fare at home!

Where are you flying from? FWIW - We drive over and fly from Buffalo. Standard issue question these days is "everyone up front in the car vaccinated?" meaning my wife and I..... they never even ask about the kids in the backseat as they aren't required to be vaxxed to drive over. (both in the same age category as your grandchild) (we cross frequently)

I'm just curious how this works? Is it linked to a Seapass? Haven't cruised since pre-covid and can't remember if it's tokens, or Seapass swipe......... We were going to do two of the Black Friday $25's, one for each kid, but if we go with them and use 1 card swiping up to $50 - much better deal. (mind you they're not teens yet, but I assume it's for the "under X age" category.....)

We have a morning trip to swim with turtles booked. In the afternoon we plan on making the short walk to town and over the bridge. We've been before and just wandered through town. This time would like to be more specific with our visit. Can anyone suggest the "must see" or "must tour" spots? (aside from Queen Emma's bridge that delighted the kids to get caught on when it opened... LOL)

Perfect and thanks!!! Question for you that is probably a little silly... nevertheless..... You were able to get the umbrella/chairs at the beach........ however Amsterdam Manor allowed you to use the restaurant/facilities without purchasing a day pass or something similar? Thanks again!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a thorough answer.

For the sake of a phone call......... dispute immediately...... lots can happen between dispute and resolution.

Same itinerary in December........ are they delivering a daily paper Cruise Compass to the rooms on Harmony... or is it guest services available? Edit - apologies, extra questions if i may.......the bus to the beach, does it require exact change ($USD?) and approx how long did it take one way? Thanks!

And on the other side you have RCL that actually schedules these events........ ever been to the "$10 sidewalk sale" they throw on the promenade? LOL *to be fair, this photo is an actual brawl........... not the $10 sale..... making that clear so as not to offend the sidewalk sale shoppers completely

Has anyone used Curacao Dreams for a tour lately? Booking something in Dec for a visit to Grote Knip

Bear in mind the other parties will ALSO have to link back to you as well. We did ours by phoning in and at that point also did our dining table request with the CSR over the phone.

Just pay attention to the price, not the headline "deal" banner. Mock book it and watch the bottom line. KSF banner means nothing. We sail with 2 kids under 12 and the variance in price depending on the day, time of year, prevailing wind direction and what the guy in I.T had for dinner last night is all over the place.

We've encountered this before. I usually go straight to the Port Schedule online provided by the Homeport. That'll tell you what time "locally" you'll be docking. In our experience this is also what a local tour provider schedules around. https://gls.portstmaarten.sx/sxm/MainMenu.aspx?ShipScheduleType=2