HappyTexan44

Oooh, good idea. I have one of those but since we aren't going to Europe I wouldn't have thought to take it.

I'm not sure I'd want to put forward my name if I'd been on a video like that. It seems like even more of a violation for someone to later view the images (which will happen) WHILE knowing that that particular image was me. At least Royal handled it better than Carnival. I used to do a hidden camera search of hotel rooms when I first got there. Then I started to do a bedbug search and I guess I forgot the hidden camera search. Need to remember to do both.

What do you think is different in the tap water? Genuine question, not snark.

hmmm, that website has been suspended "This account has been suspended. Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources." Never seen that before.

Sadly, I wouldn't even be shocked to find this in a hotel room. Haven't done my first cruise yet. In showers they told to look their eye level and down. I think a lot of us have slept on sheets that weren't changed since the last person. A large % of the time, your hotel room sheets look the same at checkout as they did when you checked in. They can just make the bed, and no one notices the difference. Occasionally you'll find short hairs or ... items between the sheets. Then you have proof. I assume they weren't changed and request new sheets. If they push back I say I spilled something on the sheets. I then make the bed myself.

I think we'll go diving at Chankanaab. I see that they have with certification and without certification options. I also see reviews mentioning the instructor. I can't tell if that is for the non-certifed version. If you are certified, do they let you go in by yourselves or do they require you to go with a guide? There are some in our group that aren't certified. After the non certified get their instruction, can the two groups dive together?

For our Feb 2024 cruise there is a stop in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Cozumel is decided. It will be Cabana Beach in a VIP Cabana spending lots of time in the water: diving, snorkeling, manatees. There are 8 of us all doing the same thing. We are two families who don't necessarily need to do the same thing. For Costa Maya I'm thinking of one of Royal's official excursions, because I'm thinking of Chacchoben and it has the long travel time. They have three options. The first two are just to the ruins and the exclusive one is 12 people in a van (Thanks cruisecritic) The third includes the Lagoon. There really isn't much info on that. I understand that Royal subcontracts so I looked for info on just the excursions. I can't figure out which matches. For example one mention Kayaks. But then this is in Royal's description: • Relax on the beach of the lagoon before heading back to the ship. So, on Royal's that includes the lagoon do you not get in the water? Is it bad idea to get in the water? One reason I'm leaning toward an inland day is the nasty seaweed.

@kittykat I was wondering the same thing. You would think that the cruise would mention that as a selling point on the exclusive one.

Assuming you have WiFi-calling on, how can you tell it is using WiFi and not the super expensive Cellular at Sea?

For other people who might read this later. I'm reading more reviews of Cabana Beach. Someone complained about the 1/2 mile walk from the Chank. entrance to the cabanas. The business responded with this, "Hello, Thank you for visiting us. We apologize for the long walk, it is a new park regulation. We are glad you enjoyed all we offer at the Cabanas. Hope to host you again in the future. Best," Of course, regulations change but I guess I won't be holding my breath.

It is 8 ships that will be there. That answers my next question on what the odds were of us having to tender. I had hoped that us being in the first three ships meant that we wouldn't have to. If 8 ships can dock, that is awesome! I'm not a phone of crowds, and that private area will be a nice retreat.

It had quoted $112 and then I tacked on the $17 it said for extra people. But, if I had that wrong, it isn't a worry. The other Mom and I decided on the VIP cabana. Our date was $266 for 8 people (no math on my part). Maybe because we are going in Feb? We deliberately tried to pick less popular dates to travel. So, maybe that is why the price is cheaper than you saw for dates that I assume are in the summer-ish time frame. You were a huge help with that link. I hadn't realized that you had to go to that website to book. We would have been waiting until 3-4 months beforehand to book like the Chankanaab website had. Just today I looked at what other ships will be in our ports at the same time. 8 ships total for Cozumel. Our ship is one of 3 arriving at 7am. I haven't looked at the capacity of the other ships, but I scrolled through the dates and 8 seemed to be the max. If I'd waiting until Oct - Nov to book, I bet those Cabanas would have been booked already. I saw this on a Tripadvisor page: "Each cabana can accommodate up to 6 (The price $ 500 includes 4 person, extra person fee is $ 65.00 USD), while you enjoy a personal concierge for food, beverages, recreational activities, reservations, and anything else you may need while you sit back and enjoy the stunning views of the Mexican Caribbean to the sound of the ocean." That price is into the *ouch* range. Yes, that would be a lot harder to handle the price for two people. As it is, each family will pay $133 for VIP access. That private area and that balinese bed will be nice. The other girls are siblings and can bicker.

@c-leg5 That was so helpful! I was on the Chankanaab website and it had merely had what I pasted earlier. There, when I went to Book Now, it was only for the general admission and only included up to August 2023. For anyone else reading this, that cabana beach website has this for our dates. Regular Cabana for $146 for 8 people. (after the added two people price) o Includes a fruit platter, guacamole, snorkel gear and towels. VIP Cabana $266 for 8 people o Same as regular but this is added. o The VIP Cabanas additionally include a private area, hammocks, a picnic table, extra chairs, a balinese bed and a shower. Since it would be two families splitting the cost, regular would be $73/family and VIP $133/family.

Only when you plugging directly into some random USB outlet. Like how people put skimmers onto a legit credit card reader. People can attach something on the hidden side of the USB outlet to add malware and/or pull data. Think of it as charging your device by plugging into a stranger's computer. If your cable doesn't do data or there is something in the middle that doesn't do data, then you are fine.

Well, I might not be entirely sure of what I'm talking about. This was the cabanas that attracted me. It doesn't actually explain the difference between VIP and regular. $140 for 8 people in that cabana would be reasonable. Unless it doesn't mention a bunch of mandatory extras. I assume that price is total and not per person. VIP Hammocks? I haven't seen mention of that on the website. What do those have?

Group: Two families with four parents and four teen girls (13 to 18). Me: Experienced scuba diver gleefully introducing DD to diving now that she is old enough to be certified. I love any water activities and can't stand lounging on the beach. DD: She is enjoying Scuba so far, but I want to stick to easy stuff for now. She can panic and that would be bad. So I like the shore diving idea. Other Mom: Doesn't like being IN the water but loves looking AT the water and also loves Hammocks. Both Dads: Happily go along with whatever their families want to do. Other three girls. Not interesting in diving, but average swimmers and some interest in Manatee diving and snorkeling. None of us are big drinkers. DH might buy some beers. We were looking at getting one cabana. The $100-ish price sounds really good. On the other hand, the person most likely to stay put (Other Mom) will probably spend most of the time in a hammock. Are there hammocks in or near some of the cabanas? Is there a place in the cabana to secure your stuff like cash and seapass card? Any other advice for a group like ours? Cruise is Feb 2024.

Good tidbit on the Do Not Disturb sign.

That is nice that they have that. It makes more sense to have that then have everyone who has a CPAP to send an email. I'd read that often when you requested Separate Beds, they'd be together anyway. Also should make it easier for there to be a printout with those requests for each room.

I do think that the cutbacks on the menu is related to the cold food coming out of the kitchen. I think the real reason for the limited menu is for Royal to be better at predicting how much of each thing will be ordered. That allows them to start earlier to plate the food. Still not acceptable though. I do plan on bringing a food thermometer and sending back any food not in the safe temp. range. for that food. Last thing I want is food poisoning while on our cruise.

That is a good idea. I remember when I was young drinking age I was really poor. Well, not super-poor, but poor enough that drinks were precious. I kept a close watch on my drinks just because I didn't want them tossed. When I was just past that age, news started to come out about guys drugging girl's drinks. My mom asked me about that. I thought about it and realized I'd accidentally kept myself safe. At the moment, I have soda packages for the girls. DD will be 13 and we are bringing her friend who will be 14. DD only really drinks by choice water and milk. But she is interested in what other people are drinking and wants some and then it is too sweet so only has a couple of sips, so I got it for her too so she didn't feel left out or that she was on a budget. I just made a note on my cruise document to remind them to do what you said about drinks. We are also bringing her friend so that DD won't be solo.

But, don't you have to buy the refreshment package for the kids? One level down from the alcohol one.

From what I saw at Disney, this is totally believable. There are turds in the world. There are people that use a scooter. When there is an overlap, it is bad. It is why we walk single-file in crowds with scooters with DD in the middle. I also don't go in front of scooters or wheelchairs for views or elevators. I got some good karma from that once. At the Epcot taco light show, we didn't arrive early enough to get fence position. DH found one though and I looked around and we would have been blocking a wheelchair. So, I pointed her out to the family and we found another place. Right before the show started the family in front of us looked at their watches and left, so we got their primo spot. Wheelchairs have to sit several feet back because they can't get on the grass.

We have these and love them! They even worked on the swamp water in Florida. Bonus is less waste.

I wonder about that though. Reports of un-tossed salads with the dressing sitting on the bottom. That is what you do to plate a salad hours in advance. In this case though, I wonder if they were served food that had been plated for early dining?

Thinking about this, even though the review is damning, there is a bright side. The food itself seemed mostly good. They didn't complain about the quality of the base ingredients or the taste (mostly). The problem was in the execution. Part of that is their plan of plating everything hours early, but part of that has to be the employees.