luv2cruise2thebeach

3 hours ago, Lee2385 said:

Hi guys, 

anyone do the New Years Cruise? Are the ships still decorated for Christmas? Anything special done for NYE? How cold is it? We usually Cruise Spring-Summer. 

Thanks 

We were on NYE cruise last year.  We loved it.  Christmas decorations were still up and they had a deck party after the atrium balloon drop.  They also changed the first formal night from night two to night three to match up with NYE.

We are on the Carnival Inspiration and dock in St. Kitts on September 25.  My wife and I are big beach people and can't decide which beach is best for us.  We like soft sand, clear water and a drink in our hand.  We have narrowed it down to Cockleshell (Reggae Beach Bar), the Mariott, or Pinneys Beach on Nevis.  One of the biggest issues I am having is deciding on whether a water taxi, plus a land taxi to get us to Pinneys Beach is worth it.  Is the beach there that much better than the beaches on St. Kitts?

1 hour ago, BENHANDEL said:

I know this is not necessarily carnival-specific, but we will be on the Breeze and this forum gets so much more activity than the port boards!

 

Has anyone done the private transportation and tour through buttsup? We will have a group of 9 and the price for our own tour is about what carnival would charge per person. I have communicated with the company, but I wonder if people felt like they got a "good" tour guide and if it was worth the extra money. Thanks in advance!

My wife and daughter used Cavetubing.bz in December.  They combined the trip with a zipline adventure, where they got to zipline 5 stations and then cave tube after that.  They enjoyed everything except they were not a fan of the Belizean lunch that they provide.  Other than that, they said the rest of the trip was smooth.

13 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Warning to others... charging your S&S on the slots and then cashing out to your player bank without having gambled any of it will get your S&S systematically blocked from future S&S charges on the slots on that cruise.  hopelea may be successful doing it once a cruise, but the casino has controls in place to automatically block future charges after you've done it more than once or twice in a short timeframe (and definitely on a much smaller scale than twodaywonder's $7,000).

We were planning to load $200 onto a slot on certain days, playing about $20 of it and then cashing it out for use at the tables.  I am not talking about thousands of dollars like some of the other posts.  I assume that is permissible as long as I give them some action before cashing out.

My wife and I are sailing on the Fascination in September.  I know that it is possible to transfer funds from S&S to a slot machine and then cash out to use that for table games in the casino.  We were considering doing this on that cruise, and then using AARP gift cards at the end to pay for the cruise.  I am wondering if anyone is aware of a limit of how much the casino cage will give you each day?

I had a book of them when we went on our cruise in January.  I had read online that they would not accept them onboard any longer.  I reached out to customer service and after going up the chain of command was able to get onboard credit for the amount of vouchers that I had.

18 hours ago, JohninDC said:

Several Carlilse Bay beach clubs are within a 20+ minute walk from the port - Boatyard, Harbor Lights and Lobster Alive are all popular. Check reviews on this board and Trip Advisor. For about $15+ per person you can rent lounges with a shared umbrella and they usually include a "free" drink. Taxi will be about $5 per person if you choose not to walk.

John,

Thank you for the help.  I didn't realize all of those places were so close.  It appears that all of them are the places where most people go.  Which of the three would you recommend given we are the only ship in port that day and we only have 2600 passengers and we are there from 8 am to 9 pm?

This is the first time we have ever stopped in Barbados.  My wife and I love to try out the beach at every new port that we visit.  What are some good beaches in Barbados, and are there any near the port that we can walk to?  We just like a nice soft, sand beach that doesn't have coral in the water like some of the Cozumel beaches.  We just need a chair and a drink, really don't need an all inclusive since we have the drink package back on the ship after our beach time.

21 hours ago, GaTravelingMom said:

I think you need to carry some cash to rent chairs and umbrella at Orient beach. I do not think the fee covered any of those little extras.

We were curious about that.  I didn't see where that was listed on the inclusions on the website.  I figure we will take something for chairs and maybe a few drinks.

On 5/27/2019 at 9:39 AM, GaTravelingMom said:

We did this back in December 2016. The price was reasonable, our driver/guide was informative and it provided a decent tour of the island. They first took us to a place on pretty Orient beach that had beach loungers, a nice little restaurant/bar for refreshments, some little shopping places for beach essentials and clean nice bathrooms.

 

Orient beach is actually four beaches, and the fourth one is clothing optional. The tour dropped us at the 3rd beach, and some of the folks strolling along were topless. However, you have to walk around a point to get to the nude beach part. The water/waves were too vigorous for us to snorkel or really get into the water the day we were there. And there are a plethora of women wandering the beach selling hats, clothing, massages, and more. So you don't get to really nap, or read in peace, since someone is always approaching you.

 

The second stop was Maho beach, which is a must see for the planes landing. And it was PACKED. Finding a place to sit on the beach was impossible, but the water was calm enough to stroll through. There is a bar/restaurant on the beach that makes for some great people watching. And you can wind your way through the crowd to get some nice shots of the planes coming in over your head.

 

I think for the cost it is a good way to enjoy a lot of the island.

That was kind of our thought too was that we could see a good deal of the island and it looks like it isn't much more expensive than taking a taxi to each beach.  My hope is that Maho is not too crowded since we are the only ship in port that day.

On 5/10/2019 at 10:39 AM, WisconsinFan said:

We just did a half day tour on a cat to the Pitons. We did not include snorkeling, but had a stop at a beach to swim for a bit. We booked it through the cruise line (RC). We wanted to see the Pitons, but didn't want to spend the entire day as well. We sailed into Marigot Bay which has no roads to it. If you are old enough, this is the location of the original Dr. Doolittle movie with Rex Harrison from the 1960's, it also was called the worlds most beautiful bay by James A. Michener. Our day was one of a mix of sun, rain and clouds so my pictures reflect that.

This sounds like the same excursion that Carnival offers.  We get a short time at the beach with no snorkeling, which is fine we just want to see the Pitons and get a little bit of beach time

I saw a Maho and Orient Beach combo for $33 pp where you get 2 hours at each beach and they transport you between the two.  That seems like a pretty good price compared to what a taxi would run.  Has anyone ever done this through shoreexcusioneer and what were your thoughts of it?

I found two five hour beach excursions through Shoreexcursioneer that go to either Carambola Bay or Cockleshell.  Both pick you up at the port and stop at Timothy Hill on the way.  Once is $20 pp (doesn't include $10 chair), the other $30 (includes chair).  Either way, I can't imagine we can go to either beach using a taxi and renting a chair for cheaper than this prices.  What preferences do you have between these two beaches, and am I wrong a taxi would be cheaper?

We only want to do the half day catamaran because we want to see the Pitons and spend a little bit of time at the beach.  We also want to spend some time in port and be back on the ship in the middle of the afternoon.  Most of the tours seem to be 7+ hours.  We are planning a full trip to the island next year for my wife's birthday, so for now just wanted to do something, then next year we can see all of the other attractions when we have a lot of time to do so.

On 4/17/2019 at 3:49 PM, jordanaire said:

Check out shoreexcursioneers.com

 

We did their "Orient & Maho Beach" tour. Spent 2-hours at each beach with an island tour in between. They also provide all the rum punch, beer, sodas and water you want. Done this tour 4 times now and highly recommend it.

My wife and I are looking to do this excursion in September.  Do you have to pay for chairs at each beach or does Shoreexcursioneer take care of that?

Has anyone ever done a half day catamaran cruise to the Pitons?  Carnival offers this as an excursion and I hate booking cruise ship excursions, but can't seem to find any other vendors that offer this same trip.  Has anyone ever had experience with this excursion?

20 hours ago, helensobol said:

 

Elegant nights were the sea day and the port of St Lucia. 

 

Ports:

 

St Thomas - we rented a car from Paradise rentals (100 for a Jeep).   We started by going to Paradise Point then we went to Drakes Seat.   From there we took a scenic route to Sapphire beach.  Sapphire beach was almost empty.  We spent about 2 hours there in a cabana for FREE.   Then we had lunch near the port that brings you to St Johns.    On the way back we drove to 99 steps (not worth going to IMO) and Bluebeards.  

 

Barbados:   Went to Copacabana.   Got there early (10am) and got front row beach seats.   Water and sand was beautiful.  Best I have ever seen.    They have a great deal that you get 2 beach chairs and umbrella for 50 dollars and you get 40 dollars of food credit.     Taxi was 5 dollars a person each way.   

 

St Lucia:  Took spencer ambrose land and sea tour.  Great tour, great people.  The volcanic mud bath and waterfall were a lot fun esp for my daughter. The beach you go to at the end is very small which would be my only complaint.   Definitely worth the money. 

 

St Kitts:   Took Greyford island tour.   The tour was nice but not especially exciting for my daughter.  It was a lot car travel.  I would recommend going to Cockleshell beach instead.

 

St.  Maarten:  Our favorite day.  We rented kayaks from Caribbean paddling and went over to Pinel Island.  on the island there are beach chairs and a restaurant.   Great swimming,  ok snorkelling and a pier you jump off.    Everyone loved this day most. 

 

Puerto Rico:  If you have time, I highly recommend going to the rainforest and then hitting up the food kiosks in Luquillo.  The beach is beautiful there. 

 

In September our Sea Day is at the end preceded by St. Lucia, so that would be back to back nights for elegant nights.

Thank you for the review.  We are sailing on the Fascination in September.  We were curious which nights you had as your elegant nights.  We would also love to hear what you did in each port.  This is our first time to every one of these ports except St. Thomas, so the more I hear about what people do as excursions the more helpful that is.

My wife and I are stopping in St. Kitts on the Carnival Inspiration September 25 and are looking for a relatively inexpensive and nice beach to visit.  When I say nice we like something that has nice soft sand and clear water.  We do not need an all inclusive or even bar or restaurant, just a chair and a towel.  Are there any decent beaches close to port?

We did MDR last year on the Dream for NYE.  I would never even consider the steakhouse.  It is a formal night, and the menu is extra special.  People dress better than most formal nights too. 

My wife and I are on the Carnival Fascination in September.  It looks like there are only our ship and one other that day in port.  We love trying new beaches throughout the Caribbean and have never been to St. Maarten.  From my understanding, it looks like Orient is the best beach on the island.  However, we must at least spend an hour or so at Maho to experience the jet landings.  We are in port from 8-5.  Do you think we would have time to go to both beaches or should we do a Maho/Mullett combination, and is Orient that much better than Mullett?

I hate to hijack this topic, but we are booked on the Fascination in September because we wanted to see all of the ports.  With the ship leaving San Juan at 6 pm, what time does boarding begin?  Are you still able to have lunch on the Lido like you would with U.S. 4 pm departures?

We are trying to decide which beach to head to on our September stop in St. Thomas.  We are the only ship in port that day on the Carnival Fascination and will be there from 7-5.  The ship only holds 2,000 passengers so I can't imagine crowds being an issue.  Just need a nice soft sand beach and clear water.  We aren't really looking to snorkel.  Just looking to lay out on a lounger and soak up some sun.  Which beach would be better for this?

We are sailing on the Carnival Fascination September 22 out of San Juan.  We arrive in San Juan the day before and need recommendations for a hotel that night.  We would like to find a hotel that is beachfront and preferably within walking distance of a casino....Thanks

It looks like we dock in Havensight and are the only ship in port for the day.  I'm wondering how long a taxi ride would be to Sapphire from the port.  And also wondering if we could take our own cooler to the beach.  It looks like that is allowed at Magens Bay.