cruising bears

Hi Ya'll.

My husband and mainly dive in Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We use an independent dive shop in Cozumel and shore dive near the pier in Grand Cayman.

We will be on the Celebrity Eclipse Christmas cruise and wonder if any one has found a local dive shop for Aruba. We will take the ship's excursion at Bonaire.

I have a hole punched in a corner and wear is around my neck on a cord. Formal nights it goes into my purse.

Laura

Cruising Bears

We have received upgrades by e-mail when we were on a b2b2b2b. I had the Diamond concierge confirm the e-mail. We got a GS for one week.

Another time the upgrade was on the set sail pass that I printed out 3 days before we left for the cruise. It was for outside bow cabin on Allure. The cabin was larger that most but a 1/4 mile to our dinning room table.

Hi everyone,

 

We booked a fairly last minute cruise deal, which we are very excited about! However, it leaves next Saturday, and we've yet to book our excursions. We're having a bit of trouble deciding on which excursions to do where, what companies to book through, etc. I'm aware that many excursions might already be filled up at this point.

 

First, here's a summary of the activities we would be open to doing (none of them are absolute must-dos, so we'd do any combination of these):

- Exploring Mayan ruins.

- Relaxing beach day. (we're thinking of doing this in Roatan because the beach is directly off the cruise ship--aka no taxi/transportation needed to get to the beach).

- Snorkeling.

- Speed Boat.

- Exploring wildlife.

 

For the excursions we book, we'd like to them to be:

1. From a very reliable and safe company

2. As affordable as possible. The cheaper the better, as we're really on a tight budget since we haven't had much time to plan and save.

 

Any insight, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!:)

I would recommend visiting Chankanaab Lagoon Park in Cozumel for beach/snorkeling. You take a taxi from the pier and schedule the return trip for 1 hour before the ship leaves ports. Taxi is $10 per cab each way and $20 or $25 per person entry fee. Check the Lagoon's website for current fares. There is a snorkel trip about 50 feet off shore and has US style restrooms and showers. Also the water and food are safe to consume.

For Roatan, take the ship's excursion to Tabyana Beach for snorkeling. The reef is just off shore and is about 6 inches to 10 feet from the surface. If you can bring your own gear, it would save some money. If the tour runs late, the ship will wait and the tours to this Beach run late about 15% of the time due to limited roads between the port and the beach.

Belize - You have a 20 minute tender ride to the pier from the ship. If you don't mind the heat and bugs, this is the port to take the Mayan ruins excursion. Please note the port is in the tropics with temps in the 90s and 90% humidity. It will rain sometime during the day so take an umbrella or poncho.

Laura

Cruising Bears

601 night RCCL; 35 nights others

We have gone on 33 day cruise and 26 day cruise. I pack for 10 days and do laundry weekly. By using mix n match tops/bottoms I am able to make several different outfits. Hubby takes three solid color slacks and walking shorts and his shirts match any of those so he also makes different outfits from them.

We have been on 40 day and 35 day cruises. I take 2 or 3 formal dresses which fit into 1/4 of a carry on suitcase and I can wear the same pair of heels with each dress. I stick with same color shorts/skirts/pants so I can rotate tops. I wear a pair of black jeans on the plane/car that I can dress up/down by changing tops/accessories.

Hubby and I each have a limit of 3 pairs of non-formal shoes including exercise shoes.

We load up our Kindles with travel guides as well as books from the local library or Amazon.

We stuff various first aid bottles in our shoes and odd corners of the suitcases so fill up wasted space. Other items such as sunscreen and prescriptions go into a carry-on back that doubles as my purse while traveling. (We had to fly to embarkation port each time) I have a small Kindle size bag that I use in port that fits into my carry on bag

I read somewhere that the fantastic red velvet cake is no longer on the menu.

Boo!!

Red velvet is still on the menu but it is smaller than before.

We were on the Navigator for the entire month of March. We have a tradition of eating at Chops the first night to ease into the vacation vibe. We weren't too concerned about the new menu since we assumed passenger favorites would still be kept.

The first sign of trouble was the bread tray. The sourdough loaf with butter and cheese spread was replaced with pretzel rolls. My husband went to the WJ several times to get rolls to eat before our waitress made the trip for him. I did with out bread. As we left Chops, most tables had not touched the pretzel rolls.

As we read the menu, we were disappointed but were willing to stay because of our diamond+ coupon. No crab cakes as an appetizer and the replacements did not appeal to us. My husband tried the bacon dish but it was too fatty for his taste. I settled for the onion soup which was okay but not as good as the onion soup served in the MDR. The cheese was a bit to stringy for formal dinning.

On that first night, there were only 4 beef dishesonthe menu: Kobe beef burgers, 8 oz fillet, 8 oz sirloin and beef ribs. The remaining 8 choices were fish, chicken and scallops.

The sides were not changed for the best. The passengers' favorite, roasted potatoes with Parmesan and ham had been replaced with truffled fries, Gruyere tater tots or mashed potatoes. I tried the fries without truffle oil but the MDR steak fries were better. My husband had the tater tots. Sonic's tasted better. The cream spinach and asparagus did not appeal to us.

My husband went into WJ to get the sauces. He brought back a bowl of Bearnaise sauce and my A1. The manager was not happy but couldn't stop him from bringing back more bread and sauce. His steak was cooked to medium well but the chef could not prepare a medium steak on the first try. I do not understand how a steak can be black on the exterior and raw in the middle.

At least we could still get the mud pie or red velvet cake but the other choices would not be found in a Nashville steak house especially the coconut ice cream.

We disliked the new menu so much the hotel director removed the charge the next day after we listed why we disliked the new menu on an item by time basis during lunch . He removed the charges that day and also treated us to dinner at Sabors. We enjoyed the food so much we ate at Sabors every Sunday we were onboard.

We were not the only dinners complaining about the new Chops menu. By end of the month, the menu had been changed. Some of the sauces had been restored, baked potato was added to the sides and 3 more steak choices were added to the menu but the porterhouse and Kansas strip were still extra. The hotel director forwarded our complaints and some were addressed but not all.

Now when hubby and I try a new menu or dish, we will send our comments to the hotel director either in writing or in person if we see him at a C&A event.

Laura & John

Cruising Bears

Is anyone else having problems getting Onboard credit for being a stockholder?

I faxed a copy of my stock ownership statement two weeks before each cruise to the fax number provided by RCCL customer service. When I checked my onboard account on the second day of my last four cruises, I had not received my stockholders' credit on my last four cruises. It took the onboard guest services staff 3 days to get an answer about my stockholder's credit.

After sending in my statement, Royal Caribbean never contacted me to tell me there is a problem applying the credit to my onboard account. I mean RCCL did not call or send an email. Even the US customer service staff could not contact someone to verify if the statement has reached the right person.

I'm Diamond Plus now and based on the cruises I have booked I'll hit Pinnacle status in October of 2014.

John Norris

cruising bears