seashinesunshine

They are very hard to get on because they are full. But if you can get on one, they are a great way to see everything. I wish they had more of them.

Thanks for your help seashinesunshine. That sounds the sort of thing we're looking for. We're not into snorkelling so what are the amenities like sunbeds, toilets, showers beach bar etc?

Not a whole lot. We were able to rent chairs, but the beach is a narrow strip. There is a bathhouse with toilets and a shower. I might recommend bringing some paper for the toilet. There was a snack stand where you could buy a flying fish sandwich. It's not really a beach to lay out and sun soak. If you don't want to snorkel you will enjoy the beach a bit, but the park and church and being able to walk down the beach is the main attraction. Plus the bus ride. :eek: I don't know how people survive riding them every day!

I have to smile at this because while it may be cold for a Floridian, we think St Thomas in early Jan, is warm! Of course our perspective is coming from North Dakota. We have only had one day too cold for us, our first cruise in 2002 we flew into San Juan and it was 60 degrees. That year ND had a January heat wave and it was 60 degrees in Fargo.

My family is traveling on the Freedom of the Seas in April and one of our stops is St. Martin. Our family includes my hubby and I (mid 40s) my 2 daughters (11 and 13) and my parents (70s and able bodied to walk and do things). What beach is the best choice for our group? Do any of them have any water activities? Can you take a quick taxi ride to either one of them? Or do you need to plan? We went to this port a couple of years ago and just stayed in the shopping area. This time we want to branch out and hit the beach but aren't sure which one. Help! :)

Maho is my favorite, but I love the planes. Sounds like Orient would be better for you. We have done both. We went to Maho first then took a taxi to Orient. If we did both again, we would go to Orient first then Maho since the bigger planes are in the afternoon. Neither is a quick taxi ride since traffic is horrible on that island.

Hi

 

Just wondering if anyone has recently visited Cokleshell beach and can confirm whether there is still horse rides on the beach...and even better what the price is.

 

Thanks

I have a video of our ride on Cockelshell on Youtube and someone just commented on it as an FYI that they are no longer in business. I don't know this for a fact because I haven't been there, but hopefully that info helps you. :)

Folkstone Marine Park was pretty good. Easy access to the reef, not much beach but if I remember correctly there were chairs to rent in a shaded area. No pushy vendors like Paynes bay.

I second this! We have snorkeled here a few times and it never disappoints. Like stated there are no pushy vendors and there is a changing area and an outdoor shower to rinse off. One time I saw a sea snake like thing, ( I have been told there are no sea snakes in the Caribbean) and another time, my son and I saw a huge school of Blue Tangs. The church there is interesting to tour and they have guides to tell you about it.

Side note, we had one of our most fun family moments in that graveyard. We saw a very cute caterpillar walking along the stones. All four of us standing around videoing and talking to the cute little guy. When we watch the videos, we all say "hey I remember him" Funny how a small thing can be somewhat of a bonding family time for a few teenagers and their parents. :)

We love to use the local buses in the Caribbean and they always seem plentiful in Barbados. Can anybody suggest a bus we could use from the terminal near the port just to get away from Bridgetown for a while. We'd like to see some pretty scenery on the way and maybe arrive at a beach or interesting village to walk around.

We have taken the bus in Barbados several times. I really can't remember bus numbers or anything, we just went to the terminal and told them we wanted to take the bus to Folkestone. They told us which bus to get on and then we told the driver we wanted to get off at Folkestone and he was kind enough to let us know when to get off. After the first time, we could find the stop on our own. :) Folkestone is a park with a beach with some great snorkeling, but if you don't want to snorkel the park is nice and the church there is open for tours, they have an old graveyard there too. I think it is called St James Parrish. We have also gone from that beach and walked down the shore a ways when we are done we walk back to the road and catch the next bus headed back to town. Very interesting bus ride. One time instead of taking the bus back, we got on the bus and took it farther up the shore. We went way up the coast and saw some quaint towns and sugar cane fields. It was a great day and for a dollar bus ride, it was a pretty cheap day.

Not trying to talk about anyone in my family. ;) But a few in our last group fit those same dimensions and had a great time! No one was uncomfortable or stood out in anyway.

Hi all,

 

DW and I want to have some time to see San Juan either before or after our RCI cruise in March 2015. Do we fly in a day early and stay a night in a hotel or plan on a late flight out after the cruise? Seems to me seeing San Juan a bit after the cruise would entail hauling our luggage around -- unless there is some place to stash it for a few hours.

 

TIA,

Ed

___

Staying over one night after allows you to fly out earlier in the morning. The advantage to this, is the earlier flights are cheaper. We generally do this and the money we save on the cheaper flights pays for our hotels etc. But I agree that coming in early is more relaxing. The stress of missed flights and stuff is gone.

Hi,

Staying in Isla Verde Hotel Sat. nite. Thinking of taking a bus from there to bus terminal in Old San Juan for our cruise on Sunday. Will bus allow a carry on bag & maybe a bag (or two) over my shoulder? Would not bring a large duffle bag.

 

Thanks.

NJ :)

My guess is, if it looks like a suitcase, they will say no, but it's worth a try if it's a small one. The worst the will happen is they say no, you don't board and hail a taxi. :)

Looking at Carnival Liberty from San Juan for May 2015. Wondering what time ( aprox ) does boarding start and can you get on and then back off ship after boarding.

We have done three out of SJ on Carnival. We have always been able to board around noon, then we get lunch and are usually in our room by 1 to 130. Then we get off the ship and roam around OSJ until its time for supper. Its a great way to cruise, almost like having an extra port day. Carnival boards at the pier in OSJ, (walking distance to the old city) unlike RCCL which boards at the Pan Am Pier, which is a taxi ride to OSJ. I would recommend flying in the day before and staying in a hotel.

This sounds like a great option for our group (ages 6months to 65years)

 

Where do we catch a taxi (an open air bus-type thing?) to Coki/Coral world if we are arriving at the cruise port? How long a ride?

 

Are there chairs and umbrellas for rent at Coki? Anywhere to rent snorkel gear (or at least fins?) to use at the beach?

 

Are there restrooms at Coki?

 

TIA!

Very easy to catch a taxi right at the pier and there are always taxis waiting to take you back. I think it is about a 20 minute taxi ride.

Yes you can rent chairs etc at the beach, and there is a dive shop there to rent fins etc.

Last time we were there they were building a new restroom facility. That was in 2011, so even on island time, I'm sure it's done by now. :D

We are headed to St. Croix in November with our two children (3 and 5). I am having a hard time finding things for them to do here or where to go ( or that don't cost $100 per person). Any suggestions?

There is a great beach right at the end of the pier, free and easy to get to, you can also go back on the ship easily for lunch etc. Here are a few quick videos I posted of the beach.

We love to be at El Morrow at sunset. Very safe.

I posed this question previously, but since I relegated my request to a specific shuttle service, I guess no one could really respond to it. Let me re-word it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good shuttle service in SJ? Help is appreciated!

I should add that taxis are very easy to catch anywhere in San Juan. They have big and normal size taxis for larger groups if needed. I don't know any specific names of the companies though.

I posed this question previously, but since I relegated my request to a specific shuttle service, I guess no one could really respond to it. Let me re-word it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good shuttle service in SJ? Help is appreciated!

Shuttle from where to where? If you mean from the airport to the cruise port, you can hop on the cruise line shuttle. If you mean from the airport to the hotels, you won't find one. The taxi drivers have a lot of power and the hotels there do not have shuttles, although I have heard of people getting kind of an informal shuttle to their hotel. When you are touring around the town, the bus system is very easy to use. We stay in Condado and take the bus all the time to the OSJ area. But the busses do not run late at night. And you can't take luggage on the busses.

seashinesunshine

What I saw was a big barrel.

Crew "dipped" the snorkeling gear. :cool:

 

 

Specific Equipment Care:

 

Disinfecting snorkel mouthpieces and masks.

 

· Following advice from Red Cross the following procedure is recommended:

· scrub with a nail brush using cold soap and water.

· rinse in clean water and dry before disinfection procedure is carried out.

· immerse in either 70 per cent alcoholic chlorhexadine for 2 minutes or 5 per cent bleach solution for 10 minutes.

· rinse in cold water and allow to dry.

 

Bleach solution using household bleach (4 per cent hypochlorite) needs to be mixed in the proportion of 120 millilitres of bleach to 9 litres of water.

All disinfectant solutions should be discarded at the end of each session.

It is recommended that gloves' date=' glasses and apron are worn when mixing bleach solutions.

 

Alternative Method as advised by the Department of Human Services, Environment Health Services Division regarding an economical and effective method of sanitising snorkelling equipment

 

After each use the snorkels and masks are:

· Rinsed with reticulated water containing mild detergent and scrubbed (lightly using a nylon brush)

· Soaked for a least 10 minutes in a solution containing 500 ml of sodium hypochlorite in 40 litres of reticulated water.

· Rinsed in fresh reticulated water.

 

An alternative source of disinfectant is “liquid swimming pool chlorine" containing approximately 10 % (100g/1) sodium hypochlorite. To maintain the concentration, use 200ml to 40 ltrs, reticulated water.

 

All containers of water and the chlorinebased solution should be appropriately discarded at the end of each day.

 

 

All I can suggest, is bring your own gear if you plan on taking this tour. ;)[/quote']

 

Yep I do, any tour. The first cruise, I was not so smart.

I forgot to mention.

 

After everyone snorkeled' date=' I was sitting on the beach observing the tour guides.

They had a large pail filled with water, they "dipped" the snorkel/mask into it and then placed back in a huge bag.

 

If anyone does this excursion, I would suggest bringing your own. This way you can be sure you have well maintained and [i']well cleaned[/i] equipment.

We always bring our own gear, but this is not a pail of water, it is bleach water. Dipping it in bleach is all it needs to kill the germs. Still not good enough for me, I'm not about to put something in my mouth that has been in hundreds of other mouths, bleach or not. But it is not as bad as it seems from a germ standpoint.

I keep remembering little bits and pieces that I neglected to put in my CCL Conquest Review. A sweet little tidbit at the dessert station at the buffet - small squares of firm jello rolled in sugar. Yum. There were several nice selections at the dessert station.

Sounds yummy! Is that anything like Turkish Delight? That would be a very firm jell like treat with powdered sugar.

We are trying to decide if we want to bring our 2 year old and 4 year old on their first cruise next spring. It would be an Eastern Carribean Itinerary to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Freeport.

 

I think it would be fun but at the same time I worry they may be too young.

 

Have any parents done this with similar aged children?

 

What type of cabin would you suggest? I liked the idea of connecting cabins and keeping the door open. But I am worried they might sneak out in the middle of the night so I think that option was ruled out.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

I think it is a great idea to take your kids on a cruise and while they are young, lots of people do it and have a great time!

Our kids were older when we first took them, but if you are worried about them opening the door and wandering the ship, maybe bringing a jingle bell (a loud one) that you can hang on the door knob and it would wake you up. I can't remember, but I wonder if there is a dead bolt type of lock on the door that might be out of their reach. My experience even as my kids got into their teens, is that they were so tired out from being active all day that they sleep like babies at night.

We will be in San Juan in April for a cruise, but will be staying in Fajardo the night before the cruise to visit the Bio Bay and El Yunque. I am thinking of renting the car at the airport and return it somehwere near the port. I am looking at Enterprise at Condado Plaza, but would like other options if available.

 

The main thing is that I need to be taken to the port after dropping off the car...can anyone recommend companies with this service?

You won't find one that has a shuttle. The taxi drivers in SJ have a lot of power and in order to make sure their income is secure, they do not let anyone have free shuttles. Not even hotels. We got caught up in a big demonstration/strike at the airport several years ago when one of the beer companies tried to have a free shuttle during San Sabastion Festival. But if you return your car to the airport, you can easily catch a taxi to the port for about 18 to 20 $.

What do you like to do as soon as you board your Carnival ship? Tell me about the first couple of hours. :D

My stress just melts away, no more worries about flights, missing paperwork, or anything else. It's all good. So then we go get food and then check out our rooms. This cruise we are meeting up with my brother and his family so finding them will be a priority. I'm sure my daughter will be doing her last phone call to the BF left at home. :D

I would be travelling with my 5 year old nephew, and wondered if any one has successfully "fudged" their child to be slightly older? Looking to cruise mid-April, he'd be 6 the beginning of June. I just worry that he'd be bored in with the babies. He has an older brother (11, so not looking to have them together), and he is used to "older kid" activities. He's done preK, and is in K now. Everything I have read sounds like they can be pretty strict about keeping kids in the right age groups, but what if I just told them he was 6?

I wish the ships would be a bit more flexable. Rather than strict age groups, they could easily overlap. For Example

2-5

4-7

6-9

etc, so kids can go up and down a year depending on the kid and or the age of siblings. (yes, I just pulled the numbers out the air, I know that's not the age groups the ships have) Kids are all different, and while we don't want 15 year old kids with 9 year old kids, a bit of flexabilty would be nice. We are facing the issue when we go this Jan of having 2 17 year olds, 1 19 year old and one 23 year old in our 'younger' group. We won't try push the issue at all, but there isn't any group for these guys to hang with. They will still have a great time and won't be deprived at all.

Why do you only want to meet b2b people? Someone cruising only one leg isn't worthy of your company? This is all just very strange.

I don't think it's strange at all. It didn't sound like the OP wanted to meet ONLY people on the B2B, just others that may be doing it. We love to meet people on the ship and would love to meet a few that are doing b2b with us. We are doing a b2b on our next cruise and have not had anyone join the roll calls that is also doing a b2b, would be fun to know, like the OP wants to know, but I guess we will have to wait to see. :) If the other b2b'ers don't join CC or whatever we won't meet them on line before hand. But yeah, Carnival won't share that info. And I wouldn't want them sharing my info, only when I chose to share it.

There are other cruise forum web sites you can go to to join other roll calls, just do a search, I'm not sure it's within the rules for me to mention them here. I did check out the Carnival Connections for my particular cruise and the roll call there is pretty dead.

Yes, I think I remember your username from the roll call thread for that cruise around Valentine's Day! That cruise was my favorite itinerary of the three cruises I've done. ❤️

 

I go on land trips to the Bahamas every year and have gotten bitten, sometimes quite a bit, there before. (The CDC warning covers the Bahamas and many other Caribbean countries.) Mosquitoes love me for some reason, as many times I will be the only one/one of the only ones in the group who gets bitten! :mad:

Yeah, that was a great itinereary, we actually did it twice! This cruise we are doing a B2B out of Miami!