sdmike

On 7/19/2023 at 10:40 AM, Protecttheturtles said:

A few ideas, depending on your interests and tolerance for heat: (1) Drive out to Key Biscayne, about a 20 minute drive from Miami airport.  Enjoy the views from the causeway, and have lunch at the Boaters Grill in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.  If it’s not too hot, rent bikes or 4-wheeled surreys for a pedal around the park and visit to the lighthouse.  The park does close when it reaches capacity, so if you do go I suggest going on the early side.  There are shower facilities if you decide you want to bring swimsuits and enjoy the beautiful beach. Crandon Park is also on Key Biscayne — you can watch cruise ships sail away from the beach if you are there in the late afternoon.   (2) Zoo Miami is terrific — count on about an hour drive from the airport but you’ll have plenty of time to get there and back.  (3) If you prefer to avoid the heat, Miami has some great museums (such as the Perez Art Museum) and you can walk around Bayfront Park. (4) Lots of fun places to stroll and shop and dine on Miami Beach.  Not sure what’s on the program that day (if anything) but the New World Concert Hall is a smallish venue with great performances if you like classical music.  (5) If you want to enjoy authentic Cuban food, head to Cafe Versailles on Calle Ocho.  
 

Enjoy your visit to Miami! 

Great suggestions! Thank you very much! 

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

9 hours ago, JohninDC said:

resortpass.com will connect you to hotels/resorts offering day passes to their beach/pool/spa facilities.  Skip the rental car and let the hotel watch your bags while you swim. relax, get pampered and dine before heading to the airport.

Thanks John

We'll be returning to Miami on 8/13 following a week long cruise, and our flight out of MIA isn't until 9pm. We'll be shuttling to the airport from the port to drop off our luggage and pick up a rental car, but looking for suggestions on what to do. We are 5 active adults from 22 to 62. Miami Beach or the Everglades come to mind (or both?), but looking for other suggestions (zoo?). We'll be dressed for a flight, not really for a beach day.

Thanks

I hate to be that guy, but the 1L bottle of Los Cinco Sols vanilla I have in my kitchen is not technically pure vanilla extract. Actually, they don't claim that it is. From their website:

Our vanilla is composed of : Purified water, cane alcohol 8%, vegetable glycerin, natural vanillin, vanilla extract and natural caramel.

99% of vanillin is synthetic and made from petrolium, so if true it's great that they use "natural" vanillin. However, pure vanilla extract is over 35% alcohol and doesn't included sweeteners or coloring agents. Vegetable glycerin and caramel are sweeteners, and the caramel helps with the coloring. 

Not saying there's anything wrong with LCS Vanilla (we like it), but if you find a real pure vanilla extract expect to pay 6 or 7 times what LCS charges for theirs. 

31 minutes ago, blue_water said:

That’s like saying “clear” tequila is always “blanco”…

Not really, unless I was saying clear vanilla was the purest form of vanilla. I'm saying the opposite. Clear vanilla is never a real vanilla extract. 

On 1/22/2023 at 8:34 AM, blue_water said:

We’ve been getting both the natural and the “clear” version from the Plaza Playacar store for friends for years. However since that store closed we haven’t seen the clear version at the Five Suns or at the airport, and it isn’t an option when ordering online. I didn’t think to ask why…

Clear vanilla is always imitation vanilla. It’s pretty much pure vanillin (or related compounds) plus a carrier (alcohol, water, glycerin, etc.)

Natural vanilla is always dark, because of stuff that comes from the vanilla bean in addition to the vanillin.

On 6/22/2023 at 9:15 AM, Guest 2000 said:

You seem to have the lay of the land. 

 

If you want boat-free reef snorkeling steps from your lounger, so your 75-year-old can track your snorkeling, Infinity is the answer. I understand the construction is farther back from the beach.. it may not impact you. 

 

Paradise Beach Club does not share a property line with Infinity; both Coral Sands and West Bay Village are between them. But it is the close resort to Infinity that offers a pool and day pass. Bananarama is just on the other side of the access road from Paradise; unless something has changed, there is no pool. Mayan is the one furthest from the reef snorkeling on your list. Mind you, the whole of West By Beach can be walked in a matter of 20 mins; nothing is all that far from anything. 

 

With your older family member, I would choose to pre-book Infinity. But you could take your chances and purchase after you have looked at all of your options. A word of warning, Infinity passes have always been limited. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks. I appreciate your feedback on this

I see another option might be the Paradise Beach Hotel/Club next to Infinity Bay. 

I'd like to hear opinions on day pass resorts on West Bay in Roatan. We will be a group of 10 in early August, ranging from 22 to 75 years old. We plan to book a Victor Bodden private van and visit the monkey/sloth farm, but then spend the rest of the day at the beach. While the rest of us are active, the 75yo will need a comfortable chair in the shade somewhere to relax and read. We've been considering a couple of places

Infinity Bay - They want $30 for a day pass that includes use of the beach, pool, wifi and bathrooms. I understand there's some major construction going on so I'm not sure how that impacts things

Mayan Princess - Not sure of the cost, but seems that people love this place as well. However, I also heard it's up the beach a bit and it would be a bit of a walk to the snorkeling reef. 

Bananarama - I read a review that said that Victor Bodden had a relationship with these guys and will include it in a package for cheap, but I don't see any confirmation anywhere else. 

Any other suggestions, or good/bad experience with any of the ones above? Also, any more information on what VBT uses as their "partner" resorts would be helpful. I'm having a heck of a time figuring this out. 

Thanks! 

On 4/25/2023 at 7:18 AM, BrotherCraig said:

We have used Bodden before and we just do the private tour for about $25 pp.  We stop and see the sloths, go to West Bay Beach (infinity bay resort day pass), and do some quick shopping in West End Village.  West Bay Beach has some of the best snorkeling from shore in the world.  The beach is beautiful.  Go down to the wall area.  We love doing this.

Great suggestion. Do you know what the day pass price is for Infinity Bay? We did a Bodden trip YEARS ago and ended up on that beach for the afternoon and it was wonderful. We have a group of 10 ranging from 22 to 75, so Infinity Bay looks like it might work out well for us

With this being a private NCL island I'm not sure what options we might have for excursions/activities not offered through the cruise line. Any advice on this is appreciated. I feel as though we are likely somewhat of a captive audience that day. 

We're actually just thinking of hanging out at the pool/beaches on the island, and maybe doing an hour on the wave runners. If those are like many of the ATV tours on cruise excursions (slow, single file) we're not interested, so I'd like to hear from anyone that has done that. Another option is the Monkey River Cruise or the river Float, but I really don't want to spend 4-6 hours on a tour.

Any feedback for those that have done any of these would be appreciated

Hey stranger! It's been YEARS! We'll be in visiting in August on the Escape and trying to figure out what to do in Belize. I think we're stuck with whatever NCL offers (as you know we usually go off the page in ports), but looking forward to hearing how this trip goes

While I have always thought that the lines should just increase fares to cover these fees, I'm not sure why folks are so upset. Is it the principle? This is a $36 increase for our party of 10 to AK that is costing us well over $25k. It's insignificant. If there was a $50 increase to port fees we'd all just gladly pay it. I don't get what the big deal is.

I'll have two teen girls with us on a short 3 day cruise, and this "social" level internet for $15 or so seems to be a great way for them to stay in touch with their friends and for one of them to stay in touch with home. My question is, does this service support iphones and ipads, or is it only available on ship computers?

Thanks in advance

Thanks for the additional input. I printed out a generic form that other user posted, and it includes both permission to take their daughter on the ship and permission for us to authorize any medical treatment. She will also be traveling with a passport and not a CDL.

Thanks again, and happy cruising

Thanks guys I appreciate it, especially the form links. I"m printing both and will give them the option of which to use.

Hi all. My daughter's 16yo friend will be joining us on a short LA/MX cruise on the Imagination next month. The Carnival agent said that we "normally don't need any extra paperwork" (what the heck does THAT mean?) to bring an unrelated minor, but we could "bring a note" if we wanted. Having sailed NCL and RCI numerous times I am familiar with parental consent forms required for doing this, but instead of me trusting an agent with vague information I thought I would check here.

Is there a parental consent form to do this with CCL? If not, do recommend a note from the parent? Notarized?

Thanks in advance

5 groups and all trying to dine same place at same time could be a problem? What did you attempt to reserve? It sounds like 2 could get a table?

We tried all kinds of things. We tried to get the large group in first, and when that didn't work we asked how man could they seat (thinking that we could split up). It was just locked tight, even though there were clearly tables available.

Mike

I am glad I ventured from the NCL board to find your mini review. Sorry to hear about the eating situation on this cruise. I hope you come back to do a full review. Your cruise reviews are some of the best ever.

Hi David! Hope things are well. I'll be back on the NCL board soon because my next trip will be back on NCL. :)

If you don't want the text/chat option can you still use Royal IQ to view what is going on ? Is there a charge for this ?

 

 

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No, but it's worthless. The schedules were never accurate and it was impossible to make reservations on it (we were on the 6/30 Anthem cruise).

I've seen this too. We avoided the jacket requirement by reserving Grande for the first and the last night.

 

We also saw people turned away from every restaurant for wearing shorts to dinner.

We never got turned away for wearing shorts (nice shorts, but shorts)

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article88970617.html

 

The child passed away. The story said he had a seizure disorder which may have contributed. The article also said the ship was on a caribbean itinerary, which I think is incorrect as I think it was just going to Bermuda.

 

Prayers for this family, how tragic.

I was on the ship. It was a 9 day trip from NYC to Bermuda and the Caribbean. The response from NYPD and FDNY to get the boy off the ship was amazing. Unfortunately, he didn't make it.

Be safe, friends.

One final note.

Many of you knew that an 8 year old boy was found unresponsive in the main pool the first evening and airlifted off the ship. Many of you saw my pictures in the press and on tv taken from my balcony of the NYPD and FDNY responding to the emergency.

I'm very sad to say that the boy didn't make it. He had been on life support, but he didn't survive. Such a horrible tragedy.

I want to update this thread on the Labadee situation.

I went to guest services to discuss the issue with my son on Labadee and submit a formal complaint so RCI corporate was aware of it. Two guest services representatives were at the station when I was assisted, and while one of them preferred to make excuses, the other was very understanding and recorded my information saying that he would inform the excursion staff. A few hours later I got a call from a very nice woman from the excursion staff about the issue, and she informed me that she had notified the "location manager" on Labadee about my complaint and offered to refund the cost of my son's wave runner excursion as an apology. I explained that I was just looking to get his $20 back, not the $100, and to "officially" complain about the practice to management, but she said it was the least she could do. She was apologetic on behalf of RCI, and I felt that I had my say on the manner. I walked to my son's room, gave him $20, and explained that RCI was sorry for what he experienced and wanted him to have his money...and the small box....as an apology. He was very happy about this.

The next day I looked at my account and they had refunded the price of the excursion for all 5 of us, not just my son. I have to say, while I still hope they change how they run Labadee, they stepped up to try to make things right for us. Thanks RCI.

Now go fix this permanently please.