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Absolutely agree with you there when available. The obstructed view Interior cabins are only on deck 4. It's $20 over standard Interior and $114 less than any other class. Selling points are the floor-ceiling windows rather than the ususal OV window. Cabins are larger than a standard Interior and have a couch with storage. 😀 Will bring earplugs just in case noise is a problem.

Thanks for the recommendations! Assigned to 4106 (MAS doesn't let you choose the cabin online) for the now, which is right over the Tween Club and Sports Bar. Will look into changing cabins later on.

Question about the cabins on Spirit class ships. In particular, the Deck 4 'Interior with window- Obstructed view'. No concerns over the view - can go topside for that. Wondering about the noise level coming from below in the midships/forward areas? Most of those cabins are above the premendae and shopping areas, The aft cabins are over a couple bars which, depending on format, may or may not be noisy to those one deck above. Thanks!

Took the plunge today as well. 😀 Booked the 5 night Cozumel/Progreso itinerary for July 16-21. Went for the Obstructed View Interior on Deck 4. Room number was assigned. Based on prevous MAS experience, this can change without warning. That said - Booking the repositioning cruise when Islander leaves Italy would be a fun shakedown trip!

Call and ask. Because of the 'Cruise and Stay' programs, booking MAS can be 'interesting'. Semi-useful information: While priced the same, there are differences in cabin size. Check the various online deckplans and look for rooms that are equipped with a fold-out/Murphy bed if you want more space.

Looking forward to sailing on MAS Islander. Larger and newer than MAS Paradise but not a mega-ship. The economy priced obstructed view interior cabins on Deck 4 (Have not sailed on a Spirit class ship) look interesting. Do these cabins get much noise from activity on Deck 3? Thinking the aft cabins may get some with two bar venues being directly below. Or not. Aaanndd..... It's already set up for 'Cheeseburger in Pardise' dining. . 😁

Charge for full pies. Individual slices are complimentary.

The top page was from the 12 Volt bar I beleive. Kalik was available from most of the bars onboard during our cruise.

Cruise and Stay (C/S) basics. One night onboard, 2/4/6 nights at a 'resort' of your choice. Then and another night on the way home. Hotel transportation vouchers are delivered to your cabin in the evening. You depart the ship around 1000 or so, check-in with Bahamian authorities, then board a Taxi (Most likely a full passenger van) to the hotel. You check in, they drop a hold on your credit card, get you room keys, wristbands (For your grade of 'All Inclusive'.) and towel cards. Lunch is already being served when you arrive. Rooms are not ready until 1300 or later, plan accordingly. Resort and shipboard gratuities are included with your C/S fare. Taxi Driver/Bag Handling gratuities are not included. On the day of check out, another van returns you to the ship around 1100 or so. Back through Bahamian customs, security and check-in. There is no luggage service when returning to the ship. I would not consider the Grand Lucayan a 'resort'. It is a hotel with a beach, bars and dining. The Grand Lucayan Hotel consists of the only two operational buildings in what was once a large scale resort. The resort was hit hard in 2016 and 2019 by Hurricanes Dorian and Matthew. Knowing this going in, we still feel that we greatly overpaid for what was offered. Rooms are located in Building 8 at the North end of the property. You can walk South on the beach and see how badly the hurricanes damaged the resort. There is a beach access path at that end of the property that takes you out by the marketplace. 'All Inclusive' does not include 'top shelf' brands at the bars. Their definition of 'top shelf' oddly includes Smirnoff Vodka and Kahlua brand liqueur. I'm not making this up - We ordered Black Russians and watched them made with rail Vodka (no surprise) and generic coffee liqueur. Even though your stay is all inclusive, you sign receipts for meals and drink service. You may enter tips on the receipt, although your gratuities are prepaid using C/S. Please initial the tip amount or it will not be paid. Apparently a former employee’s actions triggered this requirement. Cash is always welcome. US dollars are accepted anywhere and are on par with Bahamian currency. Every staff member encountered always had a smile for the guests. The Grand bills itself as having four dining options. Portofino’s, Wave's Beach Bar & Grill, Pizzaria Capri and Aroma Cafe coffee bar. This is not exactly an accurate self assessment. · Portofino’s: During our stay ALL meals here were buffet style with limited selection and variety. No menu orders or table service at dinner. Expected to see more offerings of Bahamian or other island cuisine. A lunchtime walkthrough on the first day prompted us to head to Daddy Brown’s for various forms of Conch with some Kalik beer. Kalik not being served at the hotel. Breakfast was rather generic with little variety – no eggs to order/omelet station in place. No bars are open during breakfast for a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Buffet only was not what was advertised or expected. · Wave’s Beach Bar and Grill: offers the usual lunchtime outdoor buffet menu of burgers, fries, dogs, chicken strips and so on. No complaints here. Service here was efficient and served with a smile – THANKS! Many of the Boat Drinks are pre-mixed for speed of service. Bar closes at 1800. · Pizzeria Capri - We eat pretty much anything that can call itself pizza. That said, what was offered here was disappointing as it resembled house-brand frozen pizza. The Capri had very recently opened before our stay. I’m hoping things have improved since. · Aroma Café – The property coffee bar opens at 0900. Huh, what? That said, they made pretty good coffee. Property: Pool and beach are closed at 1800. The beach area isn’t particularly large but it’s nice enough with plenty of shade options. Pool is large with loungers over the water. The hot tub was plenty warm. The ‘No Kids’ sign is thoroughly ignored by day-pass guests. A few local vendors come by with crafts from the markets or selling seashells by the seashore. If you aren’t interested, they leave you be after a simple ‘No thank you’. While there is a poolside DJ during the day, the property offers no other entertainment options beyond the TV in your room. Pretty much eat, drink, beach, sleep and repeat. If that is what suits you, this may be the perfect place. We prefer to be active and not have the sidewalks rolled up at dusk. No water sports or other activities are available. A lending library and selection of board games would be a great addition. Cool weather and strong wind kept us inside most of our second day. I take part of that back. There is one shuffleboard lane. There is no access to the basketball or tennis courts on site. Room: Absolutely loved our room. The room was very large as was the bathroom. Nice amenities and great water pressure. Room was as clean as could be given location and age. Large screen TV with a wide variety of programming. The Housekeeping staff takes pride in their work. With C/S Ocean View rooms price at additional $50 per person, per night. Garden view room balconies and patios overlook the lawn and harbor.

Muster drill is inside the skin of the ship. All three stations are located on Deck 9 (Casino, Retail Area and Theater). You show up and the crew checks you in. Once all passengers are accounted for, the drill is over and you are released.

Not that I saw.

MAS Day 1 Planner.pdf MAS Day 2 Planner.pdf MAS Day 3 Planner.pdf

Save your time, money and sanity. Get to the port at 1300, be checked in and onboard by 1330. No need sitting around in a crowded, stuffy waiting area if you don't have to.

Don't have worry about taxi's and all that associate fun. Staying at the Lucayan for a couple nights on a Cruise&Stay package. Hotel is walking distance to three of the shops. This is my first opportunity for bottom time in two years. I'll take what I can get. 😁 Thanks for bringing up the feeding issue - Strike 1 for them. Thanks for the information. Appreciate the advice.

Another reason for choosing the Lighthouse. There is not much close to Viva. RT transfers and all gratuities are included. Mentioning check in/out times bring me to the next commentary, Dear MAS, Your website SUCKS!! Trying to get information and details about the Cruise&Stay is maddening. Actual, trying to get details about ANY of your excursions is maddening. Put some effort into information and not just marketing. Pretty pictures are worth a thousand words. None of those thousand words providing detailed information about what you are selling. What I am hoping for is shuttle to Lighthouse at a reasonable time in the morning, check in to receive AI passes and play on the beach until the room is ready. Check out of room by 11 and play on the beach until the shuttle takes me back to the ship. Presuming the shuttle doesn't depart for the pier at 1130 or such. See above rant to MAS. 😀 Thanks for the info. Had not even thought about check-in time for the return sail. I too am a 'King Bob'. Pleasure to meet you. 🙂

Thought this was going to be another 'nickle and diming' plaint. Ooops. 🤣 Rothco is dead right. You can't expect the Westin at Best Western prices. .

I welcome any and all recommendations, warnings and suggestions for Dive Shops in Freeport? Open Water Certified. From what I can tell, the four operators all have similar diver prices and schedules. Any advice is greatly appreciated. THANKS!!

We had the same idea and booked a cruise/stay there instead. Hope this is useful. "Day Passes Day passes for guests and travel agents can be purchased at the Lighthouse Pointe lobby. They will allow access to our property, beach and pools as well as daily resort activities, but does not include towels. Towels can be rented for an additional charge. Please note that day passes are based on availability. For more information please send an email to guestservices@grandlucayan.com or call 954-914-9470" There are a few booking sites that sell day passes for around $90. Same sites also say towel rental is $3 with $10 deposit. There are shuttles for $5. Rumor has it that these are often crowded. 😀 Taxis seem to be about $15. Agree on price first.

An issue came up and we had to change our reservation by a week. After several minutes of hold music (Can you guess what song? 😄) we reached a representative who was very helpful and made the changes. This took a while as technology has not improved in the last 24 hours 🤣. There was no difference in the fare, but a clearly posted $25.00 Admin fee was charged - no big deal. Since we had the CSR on the phone, we asked for a (Lighthouse) Grand Lucaya price quote. For the new dates an Oceanview room at Lighthouse was $400 above Viva Wyndham. ($200 lower than earlier dates quote. It gets better!) Mrs P caught the word 'Oceanview' and asked about other rooms. (This is the better part 🤑) Island view rooms were $200 lower than Oceanview. So, for $200 total we upgraded to the Grand Lucayan which seems to have consistently higher reviews and ratings across several travel sites. Some of the recent ones for the Viva have been savage - usually addressing the same issues. Not thrilled that the cabin door faces directly into the aft elevator lobby. CSR told us the upper decks were already booked. May ask for a change at hotel services. Or not. I'm used to picking my own cabin. But, I also understand the complexity of managing both one-way and round-trips based on MAS 2,4,6 night package plan. Which may explain why booking a C&S takes so long. In Summary: Booking is a tedious process. Pack your patience before calling. Oceanview rooms at both C&S (Cruise&Stay) resorts are an upsell. Upper deck (Deck 6 and 7) cabins are an upsell. Oceanview cabins are inclusive with C&S Cabins are assigned, not selected with C&Splan. C&S (MAS site) includes "Express Pass". The only place mentioning this is the "Faster Chill" package description. Guessing it's only for priority boarding and debarkation to accommodate shuttle and resort schedules. Heroes Sail Free program is not applied to Cruise&Stay. The MAS website while big on pictures is a little short on information, particularly where Cruise&Stay is concerned. I realize that JB isn't a fan of being over organized (Points if you get the reference 🙂), but it would be nice to know when the shuttle leaves. Well, that is enough wasted electrons for now. Hope to take some good pictures and report back in about 4 weeks.

Taking a chance in two weeks on a 4 night Cruise & Stay package. Price point worked out to around $125 per night PP for an Oceanview cabin and ocean view hotel room at the Viva Wyndham all gratuities prepaid. Considered the Grand Lucayan until quoted a fare that was $300 per night more than the Viva Wyndham. I get it that the Lucayan is a better property, but $150 PP/PN ($600 total) over the Viva seems disproportionate. Package perks: ALL Gratuities, beverages and transfers are included. Package does not include onboard WiFi, Specialty Dining, priority boarding or seating which are included with the special 'Chill " packages. Pretty much they open the beverage spigot and turn you loose. I see both good and bad things with this. 😄 There is NO automation with the reservation process whatsoever for the Cruise & Stay. Everything is done over the phone in a painfully slow manner. This seems to more about the technology used than the CSR. The representatives are professional, courteous and dealing with a slow system.

6 months later. . . Answer to that one is No. I tried when I was booking a trip for next month.