MIcruiser99

We went to Vigie beach and were the only ones there. I had read earlier about how the taxi drivers and other try to get you to take a tour and that is what we found when we got off the ship. It really was kind of sad that there is this beautiful beach within walking distance and in sight of the ship, and there were only two of us on the beach - great for us but gotta hurt the local economy when they don't get the visitors ($$). When we took the taxi back to the ship, the driver tried to tell us that we should try the beaches by the resorts as there were better restaurants, better beaches, etc....probably better for the drivers as they are farther and they get more money.

We also didn't realize that there was a specific place to find the taxis and it was not right through the main building, it was off by Diamonds International. It was crazy with people all over and hard to find someone to answer your questions. There also doesn't seem to be a set price for a taxi, DH thinks we were ripped off as they gave a price "just for us" that seemed higher than what others mentioned.

There was only one negative that I should mention - the taxi driver delivered us into the hands of the guy who rents the chairs and the umbrella. This man told us that we could walk over to the restaurant and there was also a bathroom that we could use but make sure that we tip the lady for using the bathroom. BUT, when we walked over to clean up before getting a taxi back to the ship, there were two women standing by the bathrooms and they said we could not use the bathrooms and go across the street to the airport to use theirs.

After a great day of enjoying the beach to ourselves that kind of puts a damper on your fun!

Our last cruise out of Tampa, we had a long, long line waiting to walk off. I have never seen so many people walking off!!

My DH and I will be sailing on the Jewel of the Seas this summer out of San Juan. We will be doing many beach days (St. Croix, St. Marten and St. Johns Antigua) so we thought we might golf one day. RCCL offers a golf excursion to the Barbados Golf Course. I was wondering if anyone has golfed there and what they thought about the course? I see that the course rents clubs. Do we need to contact the course separately to tell them we are doing the cruise ship excursion and that we will need to rent clubs?

 

Thanks in advance for any input that you might be able to offer.

We golfed at the Rockley golf course several years ago. We did it on our own -I am not sure if that is what the ship offers?? We did rent clubs and brought our own shoes. I really don't remember much but if you have more questions, I am sure that DH could remember!

Funny why would you think your teacher look would have an effect on anyone,except your own ego. Smoking is allowed in the casino. :D :rolleyes:

I thought she was giving the teacher look because the woman chose to sit right next to her and chain smoke when there were plenty of other spots available........but that is just my interpretation......could be wrong!

Never again.

 

Noisy as the bed is against the outside wall. Sometimes people banged on the wall or knocked into the wall.

The only place for the chair is between the closet and the bathroom

Felt crowded..

We also had a cabin that was on an outside wall, and it was very noisy. That was the worst cruise for trying to get a good night's sleep.

The second formal night might depend on your itinerary as there are several different itineraries for Jewel S. Carb. I have not done that itinerary so I am not sure, but we usually ask the day we board.

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every night we showed up as two, we sat at a table for two

Don't you previously make a reservation for a specific time and number of people? My concern is that we make a specific reservation for 4 then the other party may or may not show.

We did exactly this, cruised with another couple, some nights all four of us dined together, some nights, we dined separately and they just put 2 of us at the 4 top...no one gave us the stink eye ;)

Thanks, I was told that the other couple would "try" to dine with us but I worry that they may not feel up to dinner and not bother to warn us. I don't want to get the stink eye!!

It's not a matter of being afraid of others, being ackward at small talk, not wanting to make friends, or anything like that. For us we choose cruising to unwind, relax and spend quality time with each other. We are both in the people business, meaning that we deal with people at meetings, seminars, etc all the time as part of our business. We are experts at small talk. So for us to just be able to go to dinner, just the two of us, and sit at a private table for two...priceless.

Great explanation - I will have to remember that when asked! It is just so nice to unwind by yourselves and not have to answer a lot of unwanted questions!

One question on MTD dining - this is our first time trying it and we are joined by two other family members who may/may not choose to join us.

If we are seated at a table for 4, and they decide not to show up, does that make us look bad? One person in particular does not like to be "nailed" down to a specific time but wants to join us in the evening for dinner. I am just not sure how this will work out!

 

Martinique – We did a taxi tour of the island, found an English speaking taxi driver right at the port. The cost was around $40pp.We went to a Rum factory, stopped at the church everyone goes to, traveled through the rainforest and saw Mt Pele.

We have not been to Martinique but this is what we were planning on doing, also!

 

Tortola - a trip to the Baths, we did it on our own with Speedy's Ferry.

We did this, and loved it.

 

St Martin -Bernard's Tour comes highly recommended

We used Bernard, and enjoyed sightseeing all over the island.

 

St Kitts - We did the zipline here. We didn't feel like we wanted to spend the time in a train on such a beautiful island.

 

Barbados - Beautiful beaches, so we usually spend out time there. I did see some good reviews of the chocolate factory so we might try that this trip.

We don't usually do the ship's excursions, either.

We usually have not had problem getting a table for two in a nice location but our last cruise was different. (We have loved getting a table for 2 right next to a window so we could look out as we cruise.)

There were not as many 2-tops in the main dining room, and they were not in very nice locations. Ours was as far back in the dining room as you could get, right next to a service area - so noisy. And not very close to a window.

We did look at the MTD area to see if it was any better - and there were many tables for 2 BUT right next to each other. So, not sure what we will do next cruise!

I enjoyed our cruise on the Serenade but that was several years ago. The food has always been good on our cruises, and there was no charge for the lobster tails on the regular menu.

Nice...I want her number!! ;)

 

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Me, too!!

That is nice! Enjoy your cruise.

I saved about 600 on my cruise so I dont have a problem at all!

I was happy that I saved $500 on a cruise that I had previously booked and they applied the BOGO deal.

We had already booked and thought we had a good fare before getting the savings. I think it depends on if you booked early in May when the sale started. I noticed that on all three of our bookings, the fares have gone up. If I had to book now, I would not feel like I was getting a deal.

We are from MD, and Host Faith, I read and LOVE all of your reviews!!

 

We have a stop in Martinique next Jan., and I have to admit I am having a difficult time finding much to do. There are very few ship excursions, and not a lot of info here on CC or on TA. Hoping you find something great to be able to share.

We are on the same cruise, and are having a hard time choosing between going to St. Pierre or taking the ferry across to Pointe du Bout. I did read that you can take an accompanied taxi to St. Pierre for a reasonable price so we may take that option.

Here is the link to the redemption site:

https://www.managerewardsonline.com/RMSapp/Ctl/entry?pid=grprwd&mc=RCCL

We have been on the Brilliance twice (both times in January) and each time was different. The Key West/Coz seemed to have an older crowd, and we felt like we were the youngest on board (we are 54), but the Grand Cayman/Coz was more of a mix with many children and younger families. Both cruises were enjoyable and the other passengers age didn't really affect our experience.

I did not set up this excursion but I did see that they used Kata Mambo for our group. I found this when I googled it but somehow can't get google to translate it to English. I do know that we had to prepay a deposit which we had to convert to Euros and payment needs to be made in full before the trip. I hope it works out for you. It looks like a great time. Good Luck.

 

http://www.kata-mambo.com/

I tried viewing the website on chrome and it does give you the option to translate the page.

By this time I was a little disappointed with the dining this cruise. I was 15 minutes late the first night, my fault, but we were on time every night after that. I actually like the 2nd seating and prefer it. However, consistently on this trip we were the last table served and it was nearly 11pm when we finished. The main waiter seemed to be hustling, but we rarely saw the assistant most times. Tables near us were getting bread and drinks for the 2nd and 3rd time before our first. In all my years of cruising RC and late dining, I've never seen them strip table cloths and reconfigure them for breakfast. This cruise every night we saw that and we were the last people served dessert every night. On nights were the waiters sing and dance it was very long for us. They actually did close the doors as soon as we left.

 

While minor the assistant waiter was very slow. He also didn't know which button dispensed coke or diet coke as he would set mine down and say COKE and set my wife's down and say Diet Coke. He was wrong every time, we just started swapping them without tasting. I was happy with the food quality. Bread was scare till someone at our table complained at Guest Services on day 3.

We were on the Jewel last year out of Tampa so not sure if it is the same crew but we were disappointed with our service. We had a table for 2, and always were waiting, as it seemed like the waiters pandered more to the larger tables. There were some times, we never saw the assistant waiter, and were lucky to get offered bread at all.

We are going to try MyTime and see if that is any better. At least, if we do not like the waiters, we can ask for a different table there.

Sorry, something smells fishy....why would they notify you that IN THREE WEEKS, your credit card will be deactivated because of a compromise in their system. NO, don't believe it....and would call, not reply to the email, BofA.

 

Handling a change in credit card for use on the ship, is easy -- as everyone else has said, when you board the ship. We never let them know in advance of arriving at port what credit card we will be using. No reason to.

You do need to be careful when you get emails like this but it was really from BOA. I received my new cards in the today.

We have requested a fan from the special needs dept. and had it in the cabin when we arrived. Then, we found a white noise machine that works well so we quit requesting the fan.

El Yunque Rainforest continued:

My sister was worried that her knee might not hold up to the hike so we chose to stay behind and hang out at our lunch stop. There were some trails there we could hike that were much easier. I would have loved to have seen the waterfall, but didn't want to hold back the rest of the group if we lagged behind.

We went down the trail looking for the waterfall and finally gave up after about a half hour of hiking. We are of average fitness, and did not have a problem with the hiking but it was hot, and sticky, and felt like a long, tiring hike.

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. We did not go to the buildings that you showed, and now, I wish we had!

I emailed RCI and asked for a map but they said there was no such thing!

This morning the reservations are back....with a small price drop :) Whew!

 

I wish I knew what happened and why......

I looked at Jan 10, 2016 on Liberty and there is nothing showing up right now. Wonder why it keeps appearing and disappearing???

From their web site:

 

Cruise Passengers: Kindly note that due to contractual agreement with the cruise liners listed below, passengers on any of these cruise liners must make their booking directly with the cruise lines office, on its online booking system or onboard the ship. Please note carefully that made directly with our company by such passengers will not be honored. Thank you for your cooperation

Must be new as we did not book thru the ship when we did this a couple of years ago.