douggw

Glad you had a great cruise . Getme sounds interesting we normally get a town car service, we sail her again in exactly 3 months, Agree on tender for Belize , most likely will stay on the ship again for that port, was the Monkey Sanctuary a RCCL tour? We normally do Dolphin encounter but did that last year.

No, none of our excursions are ship excursions. Did that only once in 12 cruises. Get more doing it on your own. We did Monkey with Rony's tours. Victor Bodden does it too.

Used Uber to get from Hobby Hotel to port -quick and easy. Tons of drivers available. Tried to use GetMe to go from ship to Hobby - no drivers available even though I pre-arranged with them to have a driver. You would think with two ships in port, they would have drivers. Took a taxi instead.

Do not count on GetMe to get you.

Took Uber from Houston hotel to port - fast and super easy. 4 people so less than a shuttle. On way back to Hobby, was planning on taking GetMe, but they had no drivers in the area even though they said they would. Took taxi instead. Same price as shuttle, but much quicker and easier.

Just off Liberty Jan 29. There are so many very detailed reviews, and I've loved reading them and loved all the pics. This review is just a quick overview - no pics and a quick read.

2nd cruise with Royal, 12th cruise overall. Arrived day before from Salt Lake City, and as many have suggested, stayed at Drury Inn Hobby. Had Marriott reserved, but changed to Drury based on reviews here - and I made the right choice. Unlike Marriott Concierge floor, Drury has hot evening "reception" every night, and soda/popcorn all day. The evening reception was great. Hot breakfast in morning very good. Staff all super nice and rooms roomy and adequate. Would definitely stay there again.

Sunday morning, took Uber to port - quick and easy pickup within 5 minutes of ordering. Had four adults - cost was around $80 - and no shuttle hassle. Got to port around 10:30 and walked on to ship. No lines anywhere.

Ship is beautiful - well maintained, and doesn't show it's almost 10 year age. Had oceanview up front, overlooking helipad on Deck 7.

Two days at sea allowed ample time to explore ship. Activities around ship were not as plentiful as we found on Carnival ships, but perhaps they were planned around the average age of the cruisers on Liberty. Average age was probably around 68-70.

Staff all around the ship were excellent, especially room steward and waiter/asst waiter. Food in dining room was good, but as others have mentioned, not very creative, but still was good and no complaints. Didn't do any specialty dining, felt no need to.

First port - Roatan. Took a tour with Rony and went to Monkey Sanctuary and it was better than expected. He's making bank though with the $10 admission fee, but we were glad we went. Delivered toys/candy to a school, stopped at cameo factory and went snorkeling in West Bay. Great day - loved every minute of it.

Second port - Belize. Tendering not very organized. No updates. Of course, those booking excursions through the ship get priority, which isn't really that fair. Others have to get up early and wait in a very long line to get your "tender assignment" and then wait and wait and wait. The tender assignment meant nothing. It was never checked - just a way to help control the crowd. From the time we were tied up and stopped, it was two hours before the first "non-Royal excursion" tender was called. Waste a time. Booked a tour with Lamanai Belize Tours to go to Lamanai, but because of the time we finally reached port, we opted to go to Altun Ha ruins instead which we thoroughly enjoyed. Our driver was knowledgeable and friendly.

Third port - Cozumel. Not much to do here except go to the beach. We went to Paradise Beach and it was ..well..paradise! Great beach, great beach toys, and no vendors. Enjoyed it immensely.

Shows - Saturday Night Fever, Ice Show and In the Air shows were fantastic and not to be missed and made up for the other so-so shows.

Debarkation - very unorganized - staff didn't know what to do with us, had us lining up in multiple lines in halls, and didn't know where and when to send us. Times were earlier than posted however, which was good. We did carry off own luggage, since we had an 11:30 flight from Hobby.

Pre-arranged with GetMe (Uber alternative in Galveston since Uber can't pick up) and they told me they would have a car in the area the morning of our departure. Well, there was no car even close to the area. Waiting for 20 mins for the app to "locate a driver" and there were none. You would think they would have drivers in the area with two ships coming in at once. Took a taxi instead and arrived at airport at 9:30 with plenty of time to spare.

Royal doesn't have many no-charge food options, Carnival beats them hands down for this. Overall - great cruise. Had a great time, and a cruise is what you make of it.

After doing some research on prices, including the "surcharge", I'm going to do the following: There are four of us so the cheapest shuttle would be $20 pp each way=$80 + surcharge = $100 or 25 pp.

I'm going to use Uber to get us there from Houston which should be around $90, and much easier/quicker than a shuttle.

Going back to the airport, I'm going to use GetMe - their pricing came out to about $100. Yes, about same price as shuttle, but so much easier/quicker. I can leave when I want and don't have to wait for the shuttle.

I've been reading this board for over 8 months and also have never heard of the additional $20 port charge for drop offs of taxis, shuttles, etc. I emailed a few of the shuttle companies yesterday and got back replies that yes, in fact that charge is additional. Yet none of them tell you that upfront!

One told me we could ask to be dropped off at the Starbucks across the streen and just walk over.

Anyone know--is it really just "across the street" - and easy with all our luggage?

Don't believe the SCAM that is called 110% guarantee! There is no way anyone will ever get this. Carnival comes up with ways to say the excursion you are wanting to price match is different.

In Cozumel, we booked an excursion on our own because it was $20 cheaper per person. Carnival offered the excursion and used the exact same company we booked with, but they wouldn't honor the price, saying our tour was "different" than the one they offered....even though they were exact same tour, from the same company.

To go even further, we then a few days later, got an email from the company saying they cancelled our tour because they received word from Carnival we were sailing on Carnival and that Carnival wouldn't let them sell to us direct.

SCAM SCAM SCAM

I had a reservation all set up and was just waiting for information on how to pay deposit and where/when to meet. I've been unable to get a response from them for the past three days and we leave for our trip in 1 day.

I guess I won't be going with them..now I have to find someone else in one day.

Group of 8 coming off cruise in Miami and flying out of Ft Lauderdale. We were all going to take the shuttle @ $15 pp which is $120.

We have time, and don't mind taking the Tri-Rail, it's just getting to Tri-Rail that is the hold up.

Uber gives a first ride booked with the app for free (up to $30), so here is my thinking:

Take Uber from the port to the closest Tri-Rail station which would either be the airport or the stop after that. From there, it's $5 pp to the airport.

Any thoughts on this?

Some of my group wants to Snuba. I see there are only two places in Cozumel and one or to in Grand Cayman. Anyone have any advice on the best places to do this?

Some of my group wants to Snuba. I see there are only two places in Cozumel and one or to in Grand Cayman. Anyone have any advice on the best places to do this?

Thanks!

I see there are two places to Snuba in Cozumel - one in Chankanaab, which is farther and harder to get to, and another offered by CozWaterSports website near the pier. But, if you are arriving on Carnival, (which we are) they won't let you book saying you must book with the ship (at a higher price of course).

My question is, how do they know, if I just show up and say I want to Snuba? As long as I don't show them my Carnival ID or my Carnival towel, they are not going to question me, right?

Or, if I get off the ship, are there tour companies right there that I can just sign up with for Snuba?

We are also going to Grand Cayman and there is one place there to Snuba as well...so I'm not sure which is best - Cozumel or GC.

Any thoughts?

Rio Bueno does look fun! Thanks for the info!

Port got switched to Montego Bay. From what I've researched, this is the least favorite of all three ports....Thanks Carnival!

Anyhow, we were going to do the Blue Hole..now it's too far.. Maybe river tubing? We don't want just lazy floating...BORING! Anything a little more exciting near Montego Bay?

Thanks to any advice from those that have been there!

There will be four of us (2 adults, 2 children), but we will only be bringing two pieces of checked luggage. So for the luggage express program, would we pay $20 per bag ($40 total) or $20 per person?

If they also issue boarding passes, then it may have to be per person? Or could I just sign up two people on the luggage express program?

Thanks for any responses!

Ok...so what I am learning from all your posts, is NO!

Loud and clear! ha ha.....It's actually a Saturday, so staying over to Sunday might not be so bad.

Thanks for all your replies! It's been a help!

Booked on Nov 1 Breeze. Getting ready to book airfare and the best price has me leaving Miami at 9am. Would I be able to make that flight? Anyone recently sailed who can tell me when you were able to get off the ship?

I have an option of getting FTTF, but we are travelling with 3 different couples, and they would all be wanting the same flight - they don't have the FTTF option. But if I remember right, someone said if you go to the customer service desk and show them you have an early flight, you will be one of the first to get off.

Thanks for any advice and help!

Do you have their web address? I am not finding a website.

Yes, but it will get deleted in here. Do a google search for blue safari st maartin, or you can put all those words together and add a .com to the end :)

What is the price? Is it per person? What happens if your ship doesn't make it in will they refund your money?

If you go to the website, they have the prices there, but it's $99.

They will refund if your ship doesn't make it> I had the same question

We visited Antigua last month while on a cruise. We knew we wanted to go to the Beach in Antigua, but went back and forth on which beach to choose.

Finally, after reading and reading, we choose Valley Church. We don't mind going on tours on our own, and find that often that is part of the fun. We had a group of 6.

After finding the directions in multiple threads on this board, I printed them out and we were off. Who wants to take a taxi for $15 each when you can ride the bus for $1.50 - that's quite a difference!

The walk to the bus station was literally 10 minutes...and quite the experience. You get to walk through downtown where all the locals do their shopping. We loved it! Super super easy to find the bus station. There is also a multi story "mall" across the street from the bus station that has "normal" prices and not the tourist prices you find right off the ship.

There was a guy right at the entrance to the bus station and he directed us to the bus. It left right away as it was full. Funny, about 75% of the bus were NOT locals - they were tourists going to the different beaches! I guess a lot of people read these boards! ha ha...

We told the driver we wanted to get off at Valley Church. We meandered through town and country for about 15-20 minutes. Let some girls off to go to school. I saw the sign for the Nest Bar and knew our stop was coming up. The bus driver pulled off to the side and announced we were at Valley Church. When it was time to go back, he said just come out to the road and flag down any bus - they are all going back to the station.

The beach was beautiful, but surprisingly busy. The "walk" down the road was like 5 minutes or less. As you walk in, the beach in that area is not as busy, and there are trees to provide shade. But if you want to rent chairs and umbrellas, you have to go further in, near the Nest restaurant..and it's crowded there too. We wanted chairs/umbrella so we went further in.

Chairs/umbrella were $20 for two. Seems to be the going price at all the islands. We spent a few hours there and enjoyed the beach.

We were leaving to walk back to the main road to catch the bus, and a lady asked us if we were going to catch the bus. We said we were, and she directed us to a bus that was parked right there - it had come down the sandy road where the taxis go. She told us the price was $6 per person. I told her we were going to the "city" bus that was only $1.50 and continued walking. She then said, yes, that is this bus. I asked again the price, and she now said it was $3. And I said for both of us? $1.50 each? and she said yes. She went and told the driver standing by the door taking money, and he took our $1.50 each and we were on.

The bus wasn't full, and the lady was recruiting other people to get on the bus. This was an enterprising driver who thought he would just make his own bus route from the beach back to town. It was the city bus, he just decided to start his route from the beach.

The lady was recruiting others, and I saw others get on the bus and paid the driver $8 each! A group of 6 French tourists got on and also paid $8 each. One of the guys in their group was arguing with the driver stating they were told the bus trip would be $8 round trip, not $8 each way. The driver told him that was another bus and another driver and if he wanted to wait for that other bus and driver, go right ahead. The guy kept arguing and arguing with the driver and the driver finally told the guy to get off the bus. My group was just sitting there thinking we paid $1.50 and were good. Finally, the guy ponied up the $8 per person for the ride back and we left. He held up the bus for about 10 mins arguing.

I thought I could just mention to the guy how much we paid.......I think we'd still be there trying to get back! It was a little funny, and just proves if you do your homework before hand (reading Cruise Critic forums), you will have the upper hand.... And an additional $6.50 in your pocket!

We had a group of 12 that stopped at St Martin during our cruise last month. I was "in charge" of finding excursions for our group at the 5 stops we made on the cruise. I always book "off the ship" and do extensive research on here and Trip Advisor when trying to find something to do.

It came time for St. Martin and didn't find much on here, but did find Blue Safari on Trip Advisor. They have over 130 reviews, and 128 of them are 5 stars. The other two are 4 stars.

It was so highly rated, I decided to give them a try. My multiple emails with many questions were responded too quickly. I was able to pay my deposit (and full amount if I wanted to) with my credit card via PayPal.

We were excited about this tour and it was finally time. We arrived in St Martin, made the 10 min walk to our pick up location and met our "Captin" Sander.

Well, the trip lasted all day. We went to three different locations, had some beach time, went snorkeling in two places, saw turtles, had a great lunch, stopped at the airport to watch planes fly over us, and sped across the ocean in a speed boat. What more could you ask for?

The company was 100% professional and by far, hands down, everyone in our group said this was the best excursion during the entire cruise.

They have two tours to choose from, (one requires you to bring your passport) and we would go back to St Martin just to take the other tour we didn't do.

You will not be disappointed by Blue Safari. You can find them easily by goggling them...and read the reviews on Trip Advisor.

Two thumbs up!

Not sure if you want to spend the day there or make it one of a few spots for the day. If so, I would "highly" recommend Blue Safaris and request Fab. He is the owner and does things top notch. We've done his island tour with three snorkel stops including Pinel Island along with a delicious lunch. We're going to do his Anguilla tour in June. Never had an issue making it back to the ship. When they say they guarantee or promise it's true. You won't be sorry if you take his tour. No more than 12/13 most on his boats. Tell him John, Karen, Romano, and Julie said hello :)

We were in St. Martin late January and for some reason, didn't find much about Blue Safari here on Cruise Critic, but plenty of reviews on TripAdviser. They have 100% 5 and 4 star reviews (Only 2 are 4 stars, the rest are all 5).

There were AWESOME! We had Sander as our "captain" and we had a group of 12. That's all they take on their boat. Everyone said it was the best tour of the cruise. You can google them and find them easy. VERY responsive via email and you can pay your deposit or amount in full with credit card via PayPal.

Our musical headliners were Tracey Shield and Scott Record, both excellent singer/impersonators. Tracey does Celine Dion and Scott does many people. Cannot remember the names of the comedians, but we had two per week.

You must have been on the same cruise as us! We also had Tracey and Scott. I don't really care for Celine, but her show was excellent. Great talent! Scott was good, when he didn't stoop down to the potty humor.

Can't Stop the Rock was .... ummm....mostly 70's music? The show couldn't decide if it was movies, songs, or something else. It didn't really seem to have much of a theme and was all over the place. Then they tried to do some somewhat recent movie themes but it didn't really work. The ice show was FANTASTIC! They don't require tickets anymore..and we went to see it on the first sea day. Then later on in the week, that was the only night show entertainment. If we would have known it was going to be the nightly entertainment, we wouldn't have seen it during the day. We were under the impression that was our only chance. The Quest game show was hilarious.. Do not miss that! And so was the Silent Dancing...it was twice during the cruise. People listen to headphones and sing/dance to the music, but it's silent otherwise. Super fun to watch!

As for staying at the Miramar before, we did that..had a group of 12. Nice little quaint hotel. Several restaurants a few blocks up. Turn right when you exit the hotel.

Thanks for your report! So of course Im going to ask what could have been "better"? I think a lot of times we save up money and vacation time and most people make the best of a cruise versus being at home working and paying the bills but if something wasn't quite right, I am interested in what that was!

What could have been better?

Ice Cream (soft serve) available more than just noon-6. We are used to 24/7 on Carnival. More pizza flavors that just pepperoni and cheese at the 24/7 snack area on Promenade Deck. Again, used to 6+ and even made to order pizzas from Carnival. More places to get a snack than just the one on Promenade Deck. Fresh burgers and fries and hot dogs off the grill by the pool area (Thanks Carnival again for that idea) instead of just burgers on the buffet. One area on each cabin deck with an iron to iron clothes for formal night. We were told they took them out a few years ago. The same movies played at the same times each day..so if you ate at dining room, you always missed the movie that only played at that time. I wanted the movies to be at different times each day. Places to get water/lemonade other than just at lunch. The buffet area closed around 9 and there were no other places to get drinks of water.

Loved that there weren't very many shops. Most other lines have shop after shop after shop. Very surprised with just the few. Food in dining room was good. Ship fantastic shape. Crew friendly and willing to help out.

After reading so many posts about how bad the ship was, and showing her age, I was somewhat hesitant to go, thinking I made a mistake booking on this "old" ship.

Let me tell you, it was no mistake. The ship is beautiful and you would never know it was 12+ years old. Very stylish and very functional. We enjoyed the cruise and glad we picked the Adventure.

Sure there are a few things that could be better...but really, how can a cruise be bad? Would you have just rather stayed home?

Don't worry about the age of the ship.....it's aging well!