skittl1321

My worst experience with room service was when I got a 5AM wakeup knocking and phone ringing, for an order I didn't place that had a generic Mr. Smith's name on it. I later asked Guest services and room service if they cross reference the names on the order with the cabin manifest, and got silence. I told them they and I got probably got pranked by someone's idea of a joke.

I do wish there was a way to deal with room service pranks- surely the ordering could be on the TV instead of from a hang tag?

We once got a room service delivery with nearly 1 of everything on the menu, rather than the maybe 3 things we ordered. I was mortified, as half asleep I really only had a tip for what I ordered.

Our dinner mates (people we didn't otherwise know) later admitted to having checked everything on the tag when they saw it hanging up.

I just got a quote of $120 for round trip for 6 people, including 1 wheelchair to Mr. Sancho's from Carnival Triumph port for next Saturday. Is that normal?

That sounds either very high (if in dollars) or very low (if in pesos).

Is this a private shuttle charging per person instead of a taxi?

Consider yourself lucky!

Now find an op that puts you on a fast boat out to the dive site (no hour long slog), only has 8-10 divers in the group (no cattle call on the reef), and let's you dive your own tank (no limited bottom times).

I personally had great experiences with Scuba with Alison (she will wait for cruisers who arrive a later than normal) and Tres Pelicanos (they do an afternoon dive if you miss the morning one). But there are TONS of amazing ops in Cozumel.

Looking forward to reading more! Sounds a bit ominous...

For snorkeling and food, much prefer Money Bar.

Beach and stand up paddle boarding, Mr. Sanchos.

I don't drink, but from my friends ice been told the drinks are "better" at Money Bar, but possibly more expensive, as you order per drink, and at least one of them was a drink your money's worth type at Mr. Sancho's.

Highly recommend Tres Pelicans or Scuba with Alison, though there are so many brilliant ops and everyone had their favorites.

I know Alison will wait for cruisers to arrive to the marina, we've done both land based and ship based diving with her. Can't say for Pelicanos, in the week with them, I don't ever remember having cruisers.

Both let you dive your tank, if you don't have your own SMB they shoot one for you when you are ready to go up, and as soon as they see you aren't an idiot will generally leave you alone.

This was our experience last December as well in Galveston. The guy was opening up every single carton and taking out the cans. We had them in a rolling bag so no big deal. I was just glad I had not decided to replace the coke zero with beer, etc.

They open them because people abused the privilege and DID replace cans with beer. It used to be they just peaked in at the top 2 cans.

We would frequently make the bottom layer a different type of soda, and seal the sides so it looked unopened (mostly so we could carry it)- doing this with beer would have been so easy.

So now they rip them all open. It's always fun when they see we have 3 types of soda in each of our 12-packs. Sometimes they start to say something, then realize it is allowed.

Some of the nicer ports will then tape it back shut for you.

We found the charges in the ship medical clinic to be very reasonable.

Our travel insurance was secondary so we had to submit to regular insurance first. Because it is a HDHP, all of the allowable charges went towards the deductible.

The travel insurance considers anything that goes to the deductible as "covered" so that wasn't reimbursed. But all the charges that were not considered allowable charges were immediately reimbursed.

I was also surprised they would take a cruise without travel and medical insurance. As I've heard, $200 to see a doctor on a ship is actually a bargain.

 

Since this is OPs first post, she might not be aware of insurance or the high cost of using the medical facilities on board.

We have only used medical facilities on Carnival, but we found that the cost of an "office visit" and prescription that resulted to be very low compared to the exact same services on land. My husband had the same issue on the cruise that he had later in the year on land. The cruise doctor was just as thorough and charged half as much. The prescription was the same and cost a quarter the charge that we paid at the local pharmacy.

We also didn't submit to travel insurance, our medical insurance "covered" the visit (applied it to our deductible, we didn't get any sort of reimbursement, and travel insurance wouldn't reimburse since it was "covered" by the primary insurance; but that's how deductibles work.)

Royal Caribbean will apply for a fee waiver.

And if they don't get one (unlikely) they'll pay the fine associated with the violation. It's not like they had much of a choice.

You might be able to see on my Live thread about the topic. My boyfriend and I were selected to be on ABC's Good Morning America last night. They put us in a hotel and everything. This morning we got a call saying they weren't running the piece, something else came up. We're waiting in the lobby for our ride to the airport when the other groups that came with us last night came to the hotel and said they were just on TV.

 

Our positive light was extinguished.

Wow- that is crazy.

And I think this is the case every single time there are events like this on any cruise line. The people who get on the news are not representative of the passengers.

I think it's due more personal choice as to one's diet.

 

Some people love eating such high-calorie, low-nutrition items, I don't.

I personally LOVE high-calorie low nutrition items. Mmm- sugar and fat! Yum. Those two things most often accompany excellent taste, and the lack of them often means lack of excellent taste (though not always).

However, I did not enjoy the strawberry cake pops. I'm not eating them just for the calories, as I'm not trying to sustain life on strawberry cake pops, so I stopped eating after one bite. Despite my love for high-calorie, low-nutrition items, Carnival's cake pops did not pass the test. Yuck.

Most of Carnival's desserts are like that for me- looks super pretty, isn't actually that good.

We've snorkeled in late December and early January in Cozumel with no issues at all.

If you are going out on a boat, you might want to bring a light coat. That can sometimes get quite chilly, especially if there is rain. But the water will be fine!

Don't hang out in mosquito infested areas, and use bug spray for sure. If your excursion involves hiking, wear pants and long sleeves.

Cozumel (for one) occasionally has bouts of dengue fever from the mosquitos too. Doesn't seem to stop the hordes of cruisers.

I'd take a cab to Money Bar and swim (or snorkel if you have equipment- you can rent it from them too). Buy a drink each, share a plate of nachos. Perfect inexpensive day.

When I did the manatee encounter they let me use my own snorkel mask, but a snorkel was not allowed. Cameras were not allowed. The lockers were no charge, though on a crowded day maybe they run out and you have to use the pay ones in the snorkel area.

My very long Cozumel report includes the part with the manatees (just ctrl-f for manatee to find it if you don't want to read the rest) http://skittles-skates.blogspot.com/2014/02/scuba-trip-report.html

To me Cozumel is without a doubt a must dive. I also recommend Scuba with Alison, but so many of their independent operators are fabulous. Just don't go with the ship; it is not a port where that is in any way necessary!

My favorite dives there are Columbia Deep and Shallows (you get such a LONG dive to look for little critters), Palancar Bricks and Gardens, and Santa Rosa Wall; but I've never been to a bad site; you really cannot go wrong. Most of the independent operators will try to suit the fancy of those on the boat, so tell them if you really want to see coral structures, fish life, turtles, sea horses, sharks- rather than a specific site,- obviously they can't guarantee any of those but the coral, but they usually know where the critters have been spotted most recently.

If you dock at Punta Langosta I recommend walking into town to Casa Cuzamil and get one of their comida del dias. So good, and like 70 pesos for the full meal! Then continue the walk to Zermatt's bakery for a little snack!

It would be a very long walk from Puerta Maya or the International Pier; but a cab is cheap.

I've stayed at Secrets. That price does not seem worth it for the day. The beach is okay. Go to Nachi or Mr Sanchos.

Which pier?

Dive With Martin is at the international pier.

Never heard of anyone who can pick up at Puerta Maya if you don't go with the ship (and in Cozumel there is no reason to do that!)

I think cabbing to the marina is well worth it to go with Scuba with Alison.

No idea what their pick up situation is, but I'd look into aldora (they can pick up downtown a short walk if you are at punta Langosta pier), Tres Pelicanos, and BlueXTSea as well. All excellently reviews ops, though I've only dove with Alison and TP.

The bar for elegant was is so low, that we were able to eat in the dining room without actually packing specific clothes.

But on our most recent cruise we skipped it entirely and ate in the Lido in shorts and a t-shirt. The only downside was the selection on the lido was really really small; but since the dining room hadn't been that great all week, and there was nothing of interest on the menu that night; it probably ended up being about the same.

Elegant night has never added much to our cruise experience.

Small portions of the American menu? I'm little confused. Was the buffets or the dining restaurants lacking of food?

 

 

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On the Magic, I felt like the dinner buffet lacked choice. The lunch buffet was overflowing.

I didn't think the American Table/Feast (dining room) portions were small. They were very good sized, many times I didn't finish. Since you can have as much as you want, it makes sense the portions would not be huge. They were not typical USA-eating out portions (which is well more than a single portion of food) but they were not absurdly small, especially for a multi-course meal. Order more if you are still hungry; but avoid the waste for everyone else.

If your wife is staying in your cabin and she is 21 or over, she would have to sign up for the Cheers program as well. If you have kids under 21 and the wife is assigned to stay in their room (one child stays with mom in a cabin and one stays with dad) then mom wouldn't have to purchase the program.

Even though this means she wouldn't have to buy the program, you still can't share. It's not a "split 15 drinks card". The 15 is a maximum, not an allowance.

I leave on Sunday and have been trying to figure out how to communicate with my kids who are not going with us. Was thinking of getting the $25 social package and using Facebook Messenger. When you say you talked to them through Facebook how did you do that? Are you talking about facetime on the iphone/ipad?

If you are okay with typed messages only- the $25 package was excellent on our cruise. Good signal. We were easily able to post photos, status updates, and send private messages on facebook.

They did make voicecalls; but said the quality wasn't good- so that apparently varies.

What a bummer! Ron loves the slides but they always give him sinus infections, too. We're leaving for our cruise on the Magic in a few days. Hope we're able to find food we like a little better than you were able to. (Of course, I'm not pregnant, so maybe that will help.)

Hope Kevin was able to bounce back quickly. It's good to know that the medical center is wonderful. Thanks so much for the great review.

He was able to get out of bed the next day and do a bit of the 'fun day' at sea; but it really hit him hard.