Russ Lomas

Heard great things about Mr. Sanchos, but every time I ask the family what they want to do in Cozumel, the answer is always go back to Nachi Cocom.  So many great memories from there and we are back there again next month. Much more laid back than Mr. Sanchos, less kids, quieter, one row of chairs and palapas opposed to 3 or 4 rows deep on the beach.  Food and drinks at Nachi are always good, so it is hard to try anywhere different.

On 2/8/2023 at 6:32 PM, Denversail said:

I live in the US and I don’t recall flying direct there. I think we have usually connected in Florida. You can’t beat the SJ itineraries in the rest of the Caribbean. We have done the route multiple times. The south Caribbean in my opinion has the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. It is worth the flight!

We had direct flights from Toronto (until they changed it to a layover in Chicago)

10 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We like the idea of an adults only beach, not because we don’t like children but hopefully it will have better lunch selections.

If the adult area is an area you have to pay to access, then you may see a different lunch selection.  If it is just a zone of the island with no charge to access it (like the Solarium on the ship), then expect the same food there as at the other non-pay areas.

31 minutes ago, twangster said:

Cruise planner purchase refunds are processed much faster than cruise deposit refunds.  You may see them come in a variety of weird small amounts.  

No kidding.  Funny how charges show up immediately but returns and refunds take several days (or even months in some cases).  Guess when you keep someone else's money for a month or so and you are a big company like RCCL, you can earn a nice bit of interest before returning the money.

9 hours ago, Ret MP said:

All good points.  And if it wasn't for flying to Puerto Rico (I really prefer not to fly), that's exactly what I'd do.  

If we could get direct flights to Puerto Rico from a city close to us, I would almost exclusively do my Caribbean sailings from PR.  We love it there.  Unfortunately, most flights include long layovers for us.  We even paid double for a direct flight, only to have Air Canada cancel it and bump us to a long layover out of our way.

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I think Coco Cay gets tired after you've been there a couple times, but the frequent cruiser isn't who they're marketing it to.

We have been there twice and look forward to returning there on 2 upcoming cruises we have booked.  I would gladly go to Coco Cay anytime over Nassau and Falmouth personally, but everyone is different.

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Cozumel is one of those that I try to avoid.  Why?  Because I've been there toooooooo many times.  But, it is a lot easier to avoid today, it's no longer THE THING.

Glad there are lots of choices out there.  I have been to Cozumel about 30 times and love it every time I go back there.  Cannot say the same about other ports I have had enough of (Grand Cayman, for example, for myself).  To each their own.

As a followup, my NEXUS renewal arrived in the mail today.  I applied for my renewal and paid the fee on October 30, 2022.  I received the replacement card on February 7, 2023, approximately 3 months and one week after applying for it.  My daughters (whom I also completed the renewal applications on the same date) still have not received their new cards yet.  Hopefully, this info will assist those who are planning to renew then NEXUS cards as well.

3 hours ago, Sk8trgrl said:

I think the best way to get a status update is to check your online account.  Renewals shouldn’t take that long. 

The problem was that I was unable to log into my account.  I ended up finally having to delete my account and creating a new one.  I then had to register my Nexus application with the new account.  After a few days, it was still reading "pending".  I finally got an email a week ago (about 3 months after applying for renewal) that it had been renewed.

21 hours ago, maggieq said:

Looking for easiest way to enroll and what each status means?  Thanks!

Not exactly what you were asking, but my wife is a Diamond member.  She just called the 1-800 number we found online and enrolled her immediately as a Gold status with MGM.  They just asked for her C&A number.  The status match lasts for one year, and at that time you just call back and do the same thing over again to keep the same status level (or higher if you earned it through RCCL) - Gold is the highest status match with MGM though.

She used it 2 weeks later on her trip to Vegas.  Got the resort fees covered for 2 rooms for 3 or 4 nights during her stay.  Saved a lot of money that way.  They also got dining credit to use in the restaurants on site and got to bypass the line to check in and when going to restaurants.  They are supposed to offer room upgrades if available as well, though they said none were available.  Still, great perks for just a phone call and being a loyal to Royal cruiser.

Thought my amazing travel agent booked me on a free cruise and forgot to tell me about it.  Seems we are all getting the muster drill warning.

I second the recommendation for diving without an instructor at Coki Beach in St. Thomas from the Coki Dive Center.  Very simple and shallow dive.  Took my daughters to Roger's Scuba Shack in Barbados (have dove with him a few times) to do two of their open water dives a couple of years back.  They are located right on the beach on Carlisle Bay (gorgeous).  They have 5 or 6 wrecks right in the bay with very calm water that they frequently dive.  When I return to Barbados, Roger is who I will be contacting.

On 1/27/2023 at 7:13 PM, Kamloops50 said:

I've never had problems getting texts to my Canadian number from US Government site. That includes the DHS site.

Thanks for the input.  Turns out the page reads it cannot CALL Canadian numbers for verification.  It can text.  Problem was we used a landline number since I did not have a cellphone number when I originally created the account years ago. You cannot update your phone number in the DHS site, so it kept trying to text our landline.  Had to delete the DHS account totally and create a new profile and link the data. 

VIP will have much more name recognition than "the key".

Everyone knows that VIP stands for "Very Impatient Person" who cannot bother to cruise often and earn their benefits and wants to pay to cut the lines.

On 1/21/2023 at 5:59 PM, Julierees said:

We are on Oasis of theSeas  March 5th and the following week. We booked 14526 and the second week we have a balcony overlooking Central Park.  I would love to see photos. 

Dang.  Would have loved to see that cabin.  Had it booked pre-pandemic, but it was cancelled on us due to the pandemic.  We are booked on the 2nd week of your upcoming B2B on the Oasis as well.  Too bad you did not have that panoramic cabin for the 2nd leg of the B2B.  We have 8 CP balcony cabins for that March cruise.

1 hour ago, LilBlackDress said:

I am an oddball... I prefer Roatan and Cozumel over CocoCay. 
I also think the activities for your family might be better with the Western Caribbean Itinerary.
I have not been on Wonder but I can't imagin it is worth $2800 more than Harmony. 

I, too, prefer the Western ports over many of the over-visited Eastern ports (there are some great Eastern ports, but RCCL rarely visits them).

For that price difference, I would definitely choose the western route.  Also, as an avid scuba diver, you will love the three ports on the western itinerary for diving.  We are booked to dive in Roatan and Costa Maya again this coming March.  Unless you are going to Bonaire, the diving in the western ports is far superior to eastern ports.  Nachi Cocom gets our nod as well for a great beach day in Cozumel every visit.

On 1/10/2023 at 1:59 PM, CaptainBazz said:

Did you login and check the status on your account? It will usually say conditional approved. If you need an interview it will also show up there.

I was unable to log in and check the status.  It told me the 10-digit code had been used and was now invalid.  I did not receive a text from them with a code either (says on the page they do not text to Canada, which I found strange).

On 1/10/2023 at 2:12 PM, lx200gps said:

Thinking out loud here, and it probably isn't your issue, but exactly what phone number did you use (and that it wants to send an SMS text message to)? If you used a non-SMS capable phone, such as your home phone, then their system may recognize that you can't receive a test message. Our home phone can't receive texts.

Thinking back, this could very well be the issue.  I only got a cell about 3 1/2 years ago and I have had Nexus now for 4 1/2 years.  It likely is trying to text our landline.  Thanks for the wakeup call - never considered that.

On 1/10/2023 at 2:58 PM, Travelexpert35 said:

This happened to me when I set up my husbands Nexus. I only had a phone number, not text. They used to call phone numbers in Canada but changed this recently. You can’t add your cell phone number or change it to your profile so you will have to delete your login.gov account and start over. I was hesitate to do this but I had to in order to access my renewal and to activate the account. Once you delete your account, it will take 24 hrs for them to email you and then you can start over. You won’t lose anything in your Nexus account. Once deleted, you can then go into your profile and show your cell phone for texts and also as a back up get back up codes as well. The back up codes can only be used once. I got 10 codes now then I printed off to use if I lose anything.  This whole deletion was stressful as I thought I would lose everything but I didn’t so it does work. Deleting your account is the only way to change your profile as I had asked login.gov this question via email. Good luck!!!

This is probably what I will have to do then.  The stress of deleting the account is what worries me.  I already put forth the renewal application back in late October and paid and submitted it because I had one 10-digit code.  Now that will no longer work and I likely have the system set up to a landline, which will not provide a code to me for verification.  I just do not know if it will interfere with my renewal request that I already completed if I delete and start a new account.

2 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I looked back in my notes & saw that after applying for the renewal on line when I logged in 6 weeks later it said “approved”.   So you may get lucky.  No interviews for us either.  

It has been 9 weeks for us thus far since completing the application online.  Did you receive your replacement cards yet, or did you just see your status online said approved?

1 hour ago, canadianbear said:

Did you log into your account to see the status?  
 

We both got an email informing us we could renew ours on line which we did.  Mine I renewed in September and have received the new one already thankfully.   I know they said it could take a very long time when we renewed ours so hopefully you’ll be surprised and get yours sooner rather than later.  We both were pleasantly surprised when it arrived in the mail. 
 

Oh, and we got the renewal email exactly 6 months before the expiry date and filled it in right away. 

I tried logging in online to check the status, but it wants to sent a text code and then says it cannot send to Canadian phone numbers.  It also says I can enter the 16 digit code they previously provided, but when I do that, it says that code has already been used and I require a new code each time I check.  I have no idea where I would get this new code they ask for.

Our Nexus cards (which we have had for about 4 1/2 years) are set to expire in about 6 months.  You are permitted to renew them up to one year prior to them expiring.  We submitted our renewal applications and have been waiting about 2 1/2 months, and have not yet received any emails or communication in regard to the status of our renewals.  I reached out to the US government for an update.  Below is the info I just received.  This will be very important to those of you who are submitting for renewals.

We are currently experiencing high demand and processing volumes.  Processing times vary by applicant, but on average you can expect your application to be processed as follows:
•       GE: up to 9 months
•       NEXUS: 18-20 months
•       SENTRI: 16-18 months
These are average times. Unfortunately, we cannot anticipate a date of completion for your specific application at this time.

All applicants should check the Trusted Traveler Program website (https://ttp.dhs.gov/) periodically for updates or status of their application.

Additionally, if you submitted your NEXUS renewal before your membership expired, then you may continue using your benefits until the renewal is finalized (up to 60 months/5 years after your expiration date). We recommend that you print out a copy of your pending renewal to show the Customs and Border Protection Officer, if requested.

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Most recent news is the possibility of booking as little as a few weeks of it. Royal told us the actual cruise is broken into 17 actual trips.

 

They will be available to book sometime next year

If so, we would love to join you for the Northern Europe segment.  Fingers crossed.

5 hours ago, karena1 said:

We got there at 10 ship time and stayed until 6 ship time.  Hour different than Roatan time

Thanks.  What time were you expected to be in Roatan according to your cruise documents?  10 am - 6pm?  By the time we go in March, there would be a 2-hour difference (I think it is currently only one hour) between ship time and island time, potentially. Just wondering because our documents say 8am - 5pm.  I was hoping to do a scuba dive at 1:30 pm, but if that is 1:30 local time and ship time is 2 hours different, that means 3:30 ship time with the dive over at 5pm and we miss the ship.

20 hours ago, pjack61 said:

Some observations after a week on Oasis of the Seas:

Ship is in good shape. Embarkation out of Terminal A in Miami was confusing, lacking simple signage, and the acoustics made it almost impossible to hear instructions from the RCI reps. Sea pass cards are now left in an envelope outside your cabin. Muster is done as you board ( very efficient and quick).

disembarkation literally took us 7 minutes to get from our cabin to ground transportation. Facial recognition used at customs with no declaration forms!

All crew and service was great! 
MDR food was very good. No corkage fee for bringing our own wine. Lobster night, as many as you could eat. 
150 specialty restaurant the scallop appetizer was almost inedible, the Caesar salad was not as good as the MDR version,but the filet and the desserts were very good. Just not worth the $150 for two!

Windjammer breakfast was average, scrambled eggs(or whatever that was) were inedible for me but plenty of fried eggs, etc. 

Windjammer lunch offerings above average. 
Locofresh (complimentary) was very good with fresh made flour tortillas and salsa all of the meats and other were great. 
BBQ joint, I got the 3 meat and 2 sides platter and it was almost enough food for 4. All smoked meats and the brisket was some of the best I’ve had ( I was shocked by how good it was).

Music venues all below average. Ventriloquist headliner was very good. Aqua show a must see amazing. Ice show worn out. Comedy shows booked up. 
We were on this ship 11 years ago and it’s still doing ok. 

We are on the same itinerary in March. Just wondering if you could help me with your arrival time in Roatan. I’ve noticed that there can be a one or two hour time difference between ship time and local time and that all depends on the captain and what they do. Can you provide some information regarding to your arrival into Roatan. I believe you were supposed to be in from 8 AM till 5 PM. Is that local time or ship time. If it is shipped time you would’ve arrived at 6 AM and left at 3 PM local time if there was a two hour time difference or 7 AM till 4 PM if there was one or one hour time difference. Just trying to figure this out for making plans for the day.

On 12/7/2022 at 8:03 PM, Starry Eyes said:

When they are offering a downgrade to an inside cabin on the same cruise, it really does not matter where one lives.  People need to take the same flights or the same drive whether they sail in a balcony or an inside cabin.  Floridians are good targets for move over offers, but I meet lots of people who drive (rather than fly) to cruises from other states.  Furthermore, there are plenty of snowbirds with permanent addresses in other states who are in Florida for months.  As it is just an email offer, the cruiselines can cast a wider net than just Floridians.   I suspect they will get sufficient volunteers to switch to inside cabin in exchange for refund of cruise fare. The last time Wonder was oversold, they made offers to move people off the ship.  Then days before sailing, there were enough cancellations they had a few cabins to sell on that cruise.

I hope for all those involved in the offer, they get enough people to accept.  For those like myself who would have to drive 20+ hours to the port, we will always fly.  Just the threat by RCCL saying that they will start to cancel reservations if enough people do not accept the offer, would be enough to cause a boatload of stress and start the vacation off on the wrong foot.  Good luck to all those who may be affected.

On 12/6/2022 at 5:00 PM, bavrail18 said:

Booked an Oceanview gty. Still do not have a stateroom assigned. Definitely not going to an inside cabin. They said in the email that if they do not get enough people to move they may have to cancel some bookings.

At this point hoping that we will be lucky enough to have our booking cancelled.

Likely that is because you live in Florida.  For those who purchased non-refundable airline tickets already to Florida, that is not a realistic option unless they wanted to eat the cost of their airline tickets.

18 hours ago, CanHardlyWait4NextYear said:

You would pass up a free trip over an inside cabin? I can't even imagine being that lucky. 

You and I feel the same.  If RCCL told me that they would let me cruise for free on our upcoming March cruise in an inside cabin and they just wanted my CP balcony for that switch, I would be all over that offer.

On 11/17/2022 at 10:35 AM, maxsales said:

I admit too being pretty much a Royal rookie, as my Diamond status comes by way of celebrity.  So that being said I am not in the know about how the current voucher system works.  What I do know is that we receive four vouchers per day (24 hours).  Now for the questions

1. Do we receive vouchers on the fist day?
2. With the current drink prices being $14.00 and the voucher being for $13.00 do we pay the deference ($1.00) or pay the entire price?
3. Can be vouchers be used in main dining or specialty restaurants for a drink or glass of wine?

Appreciate the responses and clarification.

Something else that I have learned is that you not only do you get 4 drinks per day including the embarkation day, you also get 4 more loaded on for your disembarkation day.  We used them for specialty coffees and fresh squeezed OJ in the Windjammer (I was driving home, so I did not want alcohol in the morning) before disembarking, but I guess if I had been up at midnight the day before disembarking and 4 were loaded on at midnight, I could have had 4 more alcoholic drinks that evening.