BahamaMama1214

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The summer tour? What kind of injury? It is on somewhat rugged wet terrain. They should not have mobility issues. Hiking, snorkeling and cliff jumping. They would not have to Snorkel or cliff jump but hiking is necessary.  

Yes, the summer tour. By the time we're in Bermuda, they'll be about 7 months out of a surgery for a torn ACL. Swimming and snorkeling will be ok. Walking should be fine, but I wasn't sure how difficult the terrain would be and how long the hiking/walking was without breaks

Is there anyone who has done the Hidden Gems tour that can let me know how physically demanding it is? We have a member in our party that has recently had an injury. Were there times to rest or were you just going the whole time? How difficult is the terrain? What kind of activity level do you think is necessary for this to be enjoyable?

30 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

In many years here, I have not heard of any hotel at Canaveral that will shuttle you from the airport, because its an hour away. That is why some many here talk about shuttle services out of MCO, or possibly renting a car.

Thanks for your response. I figured there wouldn't be but I figured it never hurts to ask! 

I know it's a long shot since the port is about an hour away from MCO, but does anyone know of any hotels that have shuttles that will pick us up from the airport and has another shuttle that will take us to the cruise terminal? It doesn't matter where it's located as long as it has shuttles to both. We're hoping not to have to rent a car since the prices are crazy for the day of our sailing. 

33! First time sailing since COVID so we are beyond ready to go! 

Only 43 days!!

It's been almost exactly a year since our last cruise and we're beyond ready to go

Assuming your first leg of your B2B is 7 days, you would need an additional 8 sea days to be platinum for that sailing.

The travel advisory for Jamaica is only a level 2, which is practically nothing. This level of advisory exists in a lot of the countries that cruises visit, like Mexico, Aruba, The Bahamas, the DR, Belize, Turks and Caicos, and I'm sure there are more. This is not an advisory that should make someone avoid an area, it just shows that you need to be careful, as you should be everywhere you travel including cities in the US.

I doubt they'll reroute the ships and there's no reason for Carnival to address this until it becomes a serious threat to the safety of the passengers. They always put safety first, and if there is an issue they won't stop in those ports.

I did a dolphin excursion in Nassau and it was not my favorite excursion. The area where they kept the dolphins was dirty and you barely get to interact with the dolphins between the trainers putting on their little shows and the other people in your group taking their turn. Also we were not allowed our personal cameras and it was something like $75 for just one photo. I don't regret doing it, but it wasn't worth the money.

In HMC, I would just use it as a free beach day, save the money, and relax. It's a little slice of paradise and a great place to spend the day without an excursion. I've never snorkeled in the Bahamas, but beach at HMC has nothing in the water and I imagine the snorkeling would be pretty boring, so I might try snorkeling in Nassau instead.

We will be in Curacao for the first time in May and were hoping to do a sunset cruise! We're sailing Carnival and would prefer not to do the one they offer, but if anyone has done it please let me know how it was, as we're not completely closed off to the idea. Does anyone have a tour or company they would recommend? We'll be in port from 1:30 PM - 10:30 PM.

mdr_dinner_menus.html

 

Here is a link I picked up from my research. Hope it works.

I found Aruba but I still can't find Curacao or La Romana. :confused: Thanks!

Does anyone have pictures they would be willing to share of the port of call menus from Arbua, Curacao, and La Romana? Just curious to know what would be on them :)

157 days until we board the Vista for our first Southern Caribbean itinerary!

They've been completely fine snorkeling before, but I wasn't sure if the power snorkeling would be any different

Has anyone done this excursion that can tell me more about it? Where does the snorkeling and the power snorkeling take place? What beach does the tour end at? Would someone with asthma have a hard time with this?

Overall, any information you have would be greatly appreciated! Does anyone recommend this excursion?

I say keep it. "Elegant night" isn't very elegant anyway. You can easily go in something less dressy, and there's no need to take it away from the people who enjoy it.

We usually bring about $500 to spend, but we never take all of it into port with us at once. Most of the time it is left in the safe.

Excursion suggestion for Cozumel - check out Chankanaab Marine park (Google search). They have lots to do there including dolphin swims (expensive). If you do one of their programs, you get access to the park for the day. We did the manatee encounter/swim and it was amazing. You learned lots about these gentle animals and got to feed them and swim in the lagoon with them. Reasonable price too. They don't do tricks or anything.... You just feed them and get lettuce to take with you when swimming. They REALLY like lettuce.

 

When you enter the park they will try to sell you a lunch package. There are several places to grab a bite. Don't need to submit to the hard sell lunch. Also hard sell are the photos they take during your programs... Hard to resist these expensive pictures.

I second the Chankanaab excursion! We liked the snorkeling there as well as the sea lion show! There's a lot to do for both adults and kids!

In Grand Cayman you should definitely do the stingray sandbar! It's an experience like no other, and you don't have to be a strong swimmer -- your kids would be able to just stand in the water.

In Roatan we always just use the free beach. It's specifically for cruise passengers and it really is a nice beach. There are some restaurants and massage stands and such scattered about there.

In Cozumel we always do one of the beach clubs.

The best excursion we've ever done in Belize was a snorkeling excursion. Belize is on the second largest barrier reef in the world, and the reef was absolutely amazing.

A travel blogger I follow just went on a Cuba cruise with Carnival. It might've been sponsored though, and you might not really consider that a celebrity ;)

It's been awhile since we've been to Grand Turk, but does the Margaritaville by the port still have an AI package? If so, what does it include and how much is it? I couldn't find any recent threads on it

Grand Cayman is one of our favorite ports! I recommend a stingray excursion or a visit to Rum Point!

If you're a planner like me and the thought of "going with the flow" terrifies you, you could always look into some of the ports that have been substituted in eastern itineraries thus far and do a little bit of research into them. That way, you're not going in completely blind hopefully. We also book outside of Carnival for the most part, but the times we have booked with Carnival we have not been disappointed.

The fantasy class ships are nice, and besides can you really be disappointed on vacation? :D

Anyways I would choose the Ecstasy if I was in your position. She just recently went through dry dock too, so it should be nice and clean and has the 2.0 upgrades.

Plus I love Charleston and I would second the recommendation to spend a day or two before or after. It's one of our favorite weekend getaways

I agree it depends what you enjoy.

 

We do not snorkel so for us Curacao is much more interesting and we have done a few tours there.

 

Keith

What kind of tours? Any you would recommend?