jacobtsf

It is still working when I just checked it earlier today.

@John&LaLa does that Wcfriends code expire at some point? And can it be used at NextCruise? We are next on a ship in July, and my wife is hoping to convince some of the friends we are cruising with to join us on one of the mini legs.

As can Royal if you call.

My wife said the same thing during our March cruise!

Last summer we were on Oasis in Canada, and at at least one of the Canadian ports they were only making drinks at the bars by the pool. We were in Schooner and whenever anyone wanted a drink the servers rushed up to the pool deck, no “schooner specialty” drinks could be made.

Please don’t feel like you shouldn’t be posting the pre and post land tour bits, what you’ve posted so far is wonderful!

They are the rooms just one floor above where pedestrians walk through Central Park. As mentioned above they are slightly larger than the balcony rooms, and they feature a little nook by a window that looks out at the park.

My wife and I stayed in one on Oasis and really enjoyed it, especially the little nook/seating area by the window. It was nice to have a little bit of natural light during the day.

On the off chance that we do decide to book one of the summer legs, is there a way to know which 3 person interior or ocean view rooms have a sofa bed instead of a pullman bed (other than trying to google each room individually)?

I’m assuming you’re talking about ItalyTours.EU We used them for Pisa/Florence and Rome in 2017 and they were absolutely incredible. In order for the tours to happen 6 people needed to be signed up, but we had an active roll call for that cruise and were able to find 2 other couples easily. Both tours ran with JUST the 6 of us, a guide and a driver, a true small group. The biggest advantage with them (or any really small group tour) is that you get all the perks of being with a guide (skip the line tickets being one of the best perks) AND individualized attention, the guide talks to each of you like a person and not one of 40+ they are trying to move quickly from place to place. We also were in a small van that could drop us off right near entrances instead of crazy far away (this was especially true in Pisa). If you have any specific questions please ask, and I will do my best to remember from almost 6 years ago.

These are some awesome choices, and at pretty decent prices. Unfortunately I don’t think the dates will work for us this time, but I really hope they repeat this (or at least some of these itineraries) in the future. And I will be keeping an eye on the calendar in case things change.

Dynamic Pricing The fewer of a certain category the more expensive it is. For our cruise this upcoming July we had friends who just decided to join us, and an Interior Room that would fit 4 was almost $500 more per person than an OceanView Balcony.

Here is the promised video of the whale breaching. 335971081_906550187215103_2871671932041596326_n.mp4

Thanks to a fellow cruiser, here are scans of the Cruise Compasses cruisecompass day 1.pdf cruisecompass day 2.pdf cruisecompass day 3.pdf cruisecompass day 4.pdf cruisecompass day 5.pdf cruisecompass day 6.pdf cruisecompass day 7.pdf cruisecompass day 8.pdf

The biggest piece of advice is to have a lot of patience, things are going to be different and they will react to that. For the three year old, get them super excited about the trip. About 10 days before we flew we started telling our daughter all about Barbados and what we planned to do, and then every day after we talked about the next port. By the time we flew she could list every stop we were making and what she was most excited for at each stop. I really prefer private or small group tours (who know a toddler will be along) with a toddler, or if it is somewhere where you can go about on your own even better. We make sure to have lots of water (juice when she was younger) and snacks (goldfish, peanut butter crackers, apple sauce pouches) in our bag when off the ship. And if she feels like she needs to nap that is ok too. You need to be ok with this trip mostly being about the kids. You won’t be out late partying, you probably can’t go to the shows. I don’t know what class ship you will be on, but your 2 year old will not be allowed in Adventure Ocean (some of the ships have the nursery, but that costs money), and your 3 year old has to be COMPLETELY potty trained. Our daughter loves music, and loves to watch the bands all around the ship and dance. Our daughter is pretty used to restaurants on land but we did get her an Amazon kids fire tablet that only comes out at dinner time on cruises, and can only be used after ordering and while waiting for food. We put on games that help her work on drawing letters and numbers, work on matching skills, etc. We bring our umbrella stroller, but we only use it at the airport, when first boarding the ship, and when disembarking on the final day. It just makes our experience a little easier.

Twice a day. Herri knew our schedule pretty well and was usually in our room minutes after we would head to breakfast, and minutes after we would head to dinner (I had to run back to the room a few times for forgotten items during both meals and he was there).

1) No drink card that we saw, but we spent very little time at any bar on this trip. I agree that with 7 Port days a drink package of any kind is really not worth it, in fact, my wife and I didn’t even order our customary glass of wine each at dinner every night. 2) We were warned about the security issues at Trinidad, which is why we did a ship excursion. To be honest we noticed more security at the Tobago port, but we didn’t hang out in the Trinidad port except to walk to and from our bus. We did not have a Bake N Shark 3) As I said we got to skip the line a bit thanks to the stroller, but it really wasn’t that long, and busses seemed to arrive often enough that it moved. 4) The craft booths outside the main building were open on departure day, but I didn’t see the duty free shops until we were being walked to our excursion bus on departure day. They definitely existed. When we walked from the check in line to the bus we did so outside the building so we missed them completely. As for wine, if you’re arriving/departing on a Sunday you might be out of luck, the wine stores on the island are closed on Sunday, we picked up our two bottles on Saturday morning after breakfast. 5) we did not leave the ship once we boarded, but we heard the same thing, after checking in you were welcome to go back out (just please do your muster check in first). All aboard time was at 8.

We have. We sailed on Freedom out of Barcelona in 2017, and went to Provence, Nice, Florence/Pisa, Rome and Naples/Pompeii. My biggest piece of advice is avoid the ship tours at all costs. Provence/Marseille and Nice are super easy to just do on your on, their are some great self-guided walking tours you can find online. If you are interested in Pompeii that is also super easy to do on your own, but you do need to catch public transportation (or take a taxi there). For Florence/Pisa and Rome I really recommend finding a small group tour. In 2017 we used ItalyTours.EU for both stops, and we toured with about 4 other couples that we found here on Cruise Critic. It was cheaper than a ship tour, we got more time at all of the best locations, and we had a guide focused on just our group.

It was hard with our daughter, by the time dinner was over it was basically bedtime. But we did watch about 10 minutes of Piano Man, I thought it was well done, but our daughter was getting restless. One night my wife wanted to get to sleep early, and instead of hanging out on the balcony by myself I went to the headliner show, Frankie and the Dreamers, a Frankie Valli tribute band led by a star of Jersey Boys. I don't know if he was sick or just not happy with the 3-quarter empty audience that wasn't giving much energy, but he didn't have the power for the high notes, sounded very strained, and was too focused on banter. I'm hoping it was just an off night, but I left after about 15 minutes.

Please ask any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.

DINNERS I know everyone wants to know our feelings on the new MDR menu. We ate dinner in the main dining room every night except for night 3, when we ate in Windjammer. As mentioned above, there is no free lobster on this sailing, but that didn’t stop my wife from ordering the premium one one night. ALSO, I hadn’t seen this mentioned before, but in italics under the chicken dish of the day is a note saying you can also order a plain grilled chicken, and under the Indian meal there is a note saying that there is also a vegetarian Indian Meal available. The weirdest thing we noted, and maybe it was just this kitchen, but the soups, sauces and even the Caesar salad dressing were very thin. The flavor was still good, but they were thin. For dinners we had the following (not including items from the children’s menu). I’ve put notes next to some. Feel free to ask questions: APPETIZERS Escargot- my wife said this is the best the escargot has been in years. Roasted Tomato Soup- thin French Onion Soup- thin Butternut Squash Bisque- thin Caesar Salad- dressing was yummy but almost watery Arancini- these were delicious. Polenta fries- not great. We didn’t love them when we ordered them last august, and still don’t. Shrimp Cocktail- perfectly fine Leek & Potato Soup- thin Goat Cheese Tart- fine Vidalia Onion Tart- very good Melon & Avocado Salad- the avocado could have been a little more ripe. Flavor was good. Mediterranean Tapas Medley Pan Seared Asparagus- this was the weirdest one. We ordered this in August and got HUGE pieces of asparagus, this came out with 5 pieces of super thin asparagus (even though the menu said jumbo). I’m assuming it is a supply issue. Flavor was still good. ENTREES Spaghetti Bolognese- always a safe, but good, choice Chicken and Leek pie- when I got this in August it had a thick rich sauce. This had the same exact flavor, but it was very thin. Chicken Cordon Bleu- good flavor, wish there was a Dijon cream or something Asparagus Spring Pea Risotto- this was the one item that was better than the last time we had it. Chicken Parm- the chicken was good, pasta was almost on the verge of too Al Dente, wish there was more sauce Pan Seared Fillet of Sole- absolutely delicious Fish & Chips- good Chicken Tika Masala- the flavor was great, but there was NO SAUCE. If any dish should be swimming in sauce it is this one, and what are you supposed to do with the rice without any sauce. The head waiter (who was Indian) came to ask how it was and I told him I was disappointed in the lack of sauce, he offered to bring a bowl of sauce but I said it wasn’t needed. Grilled Jumbo Shrimp- very good Stuffed Red Bell Pepper- good flavor but needs a ton more sauce. Cous Cous doesn’t work when it is bone dry. When I tasted the little sauce there was with the cous cous it was a delicious bite. This was also the thickest and richest sauce. Chicken Chettinad- the headwater must have spoken to somebody, because there was a good amount of sauce on this, and it was awesome! *PREMIUM* Maine Lobster Tail- tasted great DESSERTS Key lime pie- good Caramel peanut bar- odd texture, good flavor Apple Tart- I wouldn’t call this a tart, definitely more of a cobbler or something, but good Chocolate Chip Cookie with Raspeberry- eh Lemon Curd Tartlet- good Tirimisu- lady fingers needed to soak more, some parts were still a touch crunchy, but flavor was good Sticky Toffee Pudding- where’s the sticky??? This had great flavor, but needed sauce Warm Chocolate Cake- good Red Velvet Cake- fine, cream cheese icing could use more cream cheese Baked Alaska- always a good choice Crema Catalina- a good twist on the classic crème brûlée Dark Chocolate Brownie- extremely rich, couldn’t eat the whole thing, but great flavor

DISEMBARKATION- Sunday, March 12 This morning we disembarked from our cruise ship and, with 8 hours until our flight, decided the best thing to do was take a ship sponsored tour all around the island. I hate large bus tours, but our driver was also an excellent narrator, and very entertaining. First, we stopped at the Mount Gay Rum Visitors Center, where we got to learn the history of the oldest continuously operating rum distillery in the world, and got to drink more than enough rum for 9:30 in the morning. We next stopped at Bathsheba Beach, where surfers go for crazy waves. Finally we stopped at St John Parrish Anglican Church, which dates back to the 1600s. All along the way our driver pointed out the sights, (including the small house where Rihanna grew up, and the fancy condo she now owns). We were dropped off at the airport right next to the Royal Caribbean representatives who had our luggage. After packing our new run purchases in our suitcases we made our way to check in, then the food court, before finally sitting near our gate.

SAINT LUCIA- Saturday, March 11 Today we had an awesome 6 hour trip all around the island with Cosol Tours! I heard about Cosol on the St Lucia boards here at Cruise Critic where they have rave review after rave review. We first stopped at the Morne Fortune viewing point, where we had an incredible view of the island. We then visited a banana plantation where we learned growing bananas and also had a chance to sample them (as well as banana ketchup and banana barbecue sauce). Then we drove through two fishing villages Anse La Raye and Canaries. Then we stopped at the home of a local chef to sample fish cakes, veggie cakes, johnny cakes (a fried bread), daal pastries, and chicken wings. We then descended towards the town of Soufriere where we had incredible views of the Twin Pitons. From Soufriere we took a boat to Sugar Beach, which is located between the Pitons for swimming and snorkeling. We then made our way uphill to the only drive-in volcano in the world, where we got to experience a mineral mud bath. Our final stop was the Toraille Waterfall where we had one final chance to get wet before heading back to the ship. When we got back to the room I took our daughter to the family activity (bingo) while my wife worked on packing. After dinner we knew there were a few things we needed to do that would be easier without a child hanging off of us (like picking out photos), so we took our daughter to Adventure Ocean one final time. About an hour later I picked her up while my wife continued to work on packing. By 9:30 our 4 big bags were in the hall and our carry on bags were mostly packed.

DOMINICA- Friday, March 10 While the majority of the tours we did with our daughter’s interests in mind today was all about my wife and I. This morning we dropped our daughter off in Adventure Ocean around 9am stayed in the Kids Club while we went out on a small little 8 passenger boat with some other cruisers to go looking for whales on a tour by PH Whale Watch. It took about 40 minutes of searching before we saw our first, but after that we had sighting after sighting, including 2 incredible moments where a whale jumped out of the water like Free Willy. *I have a video of the breach that I will try to post when I am on a computer and not my phone* This was a truly incredible experience, we highly recommend it to everyone! After completing some souvenir shopping on the walk back to the ship we picked up our daughter from Adventure Ocean around 1, had a quick lunch at Windjammer, and then to the pool deck for a relaxing afternoon of swimming (with some frozen drinks and ice cream for good measure).

ST VINCENT - Thursday, March 9 Today we had an incredible tour with Sammy from Detention Tours. We were joined by 2 couples and another family of 3 with a 4 year old girl from Barbados that our daughter had become friends with at Adventure Ocean. The two kids spent the entire 7 hours having fun together, and that was wonderful. This tour took us all over the island up and down crazy hills and around insane turns, but Sammy made us all feel safe and kept us supplied with rum punch (and juice boxes for the kids) to keep a smile on our face. He also fed us a delicious light lunch with sandwiches, chicken wings, and sweet breads, and he stopped at a roadside shack to pick up fresh steamed sweet potato pudding for all of us. We visited Fort Charlotte, Heritage Park, Dark View Waterfall (with the chance to go under the waterfall) which you access by a bamboo bridge, one of the filming locations from Pirates of the Carribean, and then a beach stop at Buccament Bay. Just a heads up about Buccament Bay, there were a handful of Jellyfish in the water, and with the seaweed they weren’t super easy to spot. One of the ladies on our tour got a little sting, and someone else who was there got stung pretty bad.