GORDONCHICK

I was in Belize for a month several years ago and would hate to miss a change on this island! It is so beautiful. The Mayan Ruins are amazing- and really great for kids too. The tours really bring out the mysteries and intrigue of the Mayan Ruins. Also- world class snorkeling- the reef is stunning. If you really just wanted a beach day you could take a local water taxi to Ambergris Caye and not far from the drop off is Ramon's- a beach resort that will allow people to hang on their beach if you buy food and drink from them. Everyone we met while we were there was really wonderful- loved it there. Have a great time!!

FYI - Belize isn't an island. Roatan and Cozumel are islands.

Thank you...........the video shows how shallow the water really is. Here in land locked AB Canada our rivers are quite deep and more like white water rafting thus why they were thinking nope, dont wanna try tubing down a river :)

 

No i was looking at the NCL excursion that combines the zip lining with the cave tubing and they require kids to be 12 years old and have a weight limit of 95-250 lbs................my daughter is 12 but barely 60lbs. Does anyone know why they have this weight restriction?

My son is 11, barely 80lbs, and had a blast on both cave tubing and zip lining (again - you don't walk across any bridges, you just walk up stairs to towers). We went through http://www.cave-tubing.com

You certainly can stay on the ship, but I'm with the others - I certainly wouldn't in Belize!

We did cave tubing and zip lining while in Belize in January with cave-tubing.com and loved it. The water isn't very deep and not only are life jackets provided, it's mandatory for you to wear them. Our 11yo DS did this excursion with us and his favorite part was the zip lining. No long bridges to walk over. The stairs are a little much if you're out of shape, but not horrible. We also had amazing Belizean spicy chicken tamales (and I'm not typically a fan of tamales) included. Belize is a beautiful country - I hope you will go check it out.

Too far ahead of time to know but currently Sean is the Resident Hotel Director on the Star.

I am doing the Panama Canal on Star on October 13 2014

 

And b2b on Star 3/17/13 and 3/24/13 for my birthday

 

 

Suzanne

Suzanne - what's the difference between hotel director and resident hotel director?

Great collective review, ladies!

Talking about Costa Maya' date=' we spoke to our taxi driver about what we were seeing: trees stubs sticking up from the vegetation which was 6-10' tall, total. He said the hurricaine 6 years ago hit them hard, and therefore all the dead tree "stumps". I call them stumps for lack of another term. They were the main, large branches that were totally stripped of greenery, therefore the trees had died but left these remains. The greenery that was there was what had grown up in the 6 years since. It is very eerie looking. So from the port, when you look out, this is what you see, which is maybe some people think there's not much more out there. But only if yo leave the port area, which must be done by bus or taxi, as there's nothing much near the port, you don't know what's available.[/quote']

 

That would be Hurricane Dean from 2007 There used to be photos here on CC that showed of the fresh damage back then. The port was closed for quite a while for rebuilding.

 

Here's a link I found with some photos: http://blogsofwar.com/2007/08/23/damage-photos-costa-maya-mahahual-wiped-out-by-hurricane-dean/

It was our fault for not questioning the prices before we ordered. The food was ok, but not any better than the market cafe items available from 3-5 and the margarita was just a bit better than the $4.95 margaritas near the pool on board.

 

There is nothing else there at the Costa Maya port and locals would never go there so I guess that is why they price gouge unsuspecting cruise passengers. Just thought I'd post since I hadn't read about this in any other reviews and am not sure when I'll get to my review.

 

I'm enjoying your review and am glad to see you had nice weather in Cozumel finally. That was the only day we had cloudy skies all day.

 

Beverly

I compare it to convenience store pricing. And there are many people who never leave the port area. I don't know if they think that's all there is or the like the convenience of it. I read about people hating Costa Maya, and inevitably they never left the port area.

If I'm reading the stripes on the officer's uniform right, I think he would have been the staff captain.

Love your reviews and style of reviews! We were on the Star just a few weeks before you.

There is a sticky thread at the top of this board on how to set up a Meet and Greet.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1300907

 

As you can see, you are very close time-wise.

Which is exactly what I said.... We started working on ours 2 months out, and we had asked for a morning meeting. We were told it couldn't be accommodated.

I've been on both RCCL and NCL and I'm going on both lines in the next two months. The meet and greet for RCCL has an official sign up process through CC, but I don't think there's one for NCL. RCCL put out a brunch spread and raffled off logo gifts. I didn't remember NCL doing that. I'm just deciding if I Gould undertake organizing one for my upcoming Epic adventure.....hmmmm..

You may have cut it too close for them to get one booked. Usually done at least a month out, and you're right at 2 weeks out. Are you sure no one on your roll call has already set one up? It's usually the person that started the roll call unless they drop out or let someone else do it.

I have only been to one M & G but wasn't invited either. However, our concierge Virginia comped us one (probably because we were in garden villa)...there were probably 5-10 other couples with us and a few kids(they seemed bored though after a few minutes). It was interesting.

If you are in a suite, you are usually invited - but not as part of the CC M&G. Different group.

That's why I wanted to make sure that people understand that it's not an automatic thing. It's very special when it is offered, and asking will not help you get one. In fact, it puts someone who cannot make that call in an uncomfortable situation.

At all of ours the Captain invited us to tour the Bridge!

 

And you get a personal invitation to call the HD if anything is not to your satisfaction. They will tell you they would rather hear about it on the ship so they can do something about it than read about it later on Cruise Critic!

However, the tour's not a given thing. Been to 3 M&Gs on NCL - only 1 bridge tour invite. Depends largely on who the captain is and a few other factors.

NCL's are much better! The one I went to on RCCL had the CD & a few others from his staff. On NCL, you usually get the hotel director, food & beverage director, director of housekeeping, director of customer service, and sometimes the captain and CD.

They don't draw for prizes but give a little talk about the ship and itinerary and will take questions.

On our latest cruise, the captain was talking about the stabilizers and said sometimes they just call them fins, as in "deployed the fins" but we can't say that when we have Finnish office on board because they get upset.

Take the photo of the 2nd configuration to show your cabin steward. That layout will give you the most room by far. We only travel with one DS (he's 11 now, so he's always in the bunk.

Does he have a regular ship he sails on?. He sounds better then some of the entertainment.

He's currently on the Spirit. Captains do 10 weeks on, 10 weeks off, and can get moved to other ships.

Captain Lars is hysterical! Especially when his wife is on board with him - he talks about her and her shopping all the time. But my favorite was the first sea day and he was talking about guys going to the buffet - he said, "Men! Put a shirt on! No one wants to see your underarm hair, especially IN the buffet!"

Excursions will depend on your ports so until you've booked, that's up in the air. How much time do you have? Do you only have a week? Then a RT out of either Seattle or Vancouver may be your best option. If you've got more time and can do a land tour (I'd always advise on your own but some people like the cruiselines to take care of everything), then you can do a one-way with time in the interior (the best option if time and budget allow). What time of year are you looking at? Early in the season? Have Glacier Bay as your glacier option. Late in the season? I'd go with Hubbard Glacier every single time.

This might help some:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1460

I received a fragrance sample in the mail today & it's light and really lovely. Not as sweet as I usually have to wear (fragrances turn horrid on me). It's Gucci Premiere. I'll have to pick some up!

Cruising is a great family vacation! We also do driving/land vacations, but usually cruise at least once each year as a family - wouldn't dream of leaving our son! He's 11 now, but we started when he was 3.5. At 3.5, he very vividly remembers the Panama Canal, how well he was treated in the MDR - including chocolate milk at dinner. He also remembers meeting the captain of the ship, and the captain just bent down and scooped up our son and they had a face to face conversation. He loves dressing for formal nights when we cruise lines that still adhere to that. He's experienced meeting children with much much less than he has - in Guatemala, Belize, and the Dominican Republic. He's well traveled, has learned much, knows there's much more out there to learn and is excited about it. When he's in school and they are studying a place he's been to, he drags the photos he took plus some of mine to school.

If someone doesn't want to bring their own children, that's their call - just like it's mine when I do bring my own.

We were offered an upsell through our cruise agent, but by the time she called us and then called NCL back, it was no longer available. Now, we have given our cruise agent criteria should this happen again - pricing and location on ship. We usually book inside cabins. We won't take an OV upsell. Our cruise agent knows to ask about a balcony upsell when they call. We don't expect it to happen often because there are 3 of us in the cabin.

I'm definitely not a Lady Gaga fan, but tried the scent Lady Gaga Fame & I really like it!