MrsKC08

I'm ready to get on a ship tomorrow...even if it just goes out to see and doesn't visit any ports. Give me some great food, a drink in my hand, some entertainment/music, and spa treatment or three.... 🙂 and I'm good. I need a cruise, BAD!

I've sailed Royal, Princess, Carnival and took my first NCL cruise in March (before everything shut down). I went in with an open mind (we cruise a lot), and I have to say it was probably in the top 5 of our cruises ever. Best food out of any cruise we've been on. The spa was phenomenal. The entertainment was great and the atmosphere was just what we like. We sailed on the Getaway, which I know wasn't what you mentioned, but I think the Encore would be my choice over the Joy, just from the overall ship experience and from the reviews I've read. I think you will have a fantastic time.

It seems right now that they are showing current sailings as "sold out" or not even open on their website for bookings because of what they already have booked on them. For example, we are booked on Mardi Gras for February, and they don't have anything showing until March for that ship. According to those in the TA world and Carnival themselves, it's because they don't want to overbook anything.

On 6/5/2020 at 9:40 AM, morganboys said:

It sure would suck to book a cruise and it end up being a LONG cruise to nowhere since islands are closed.  This could be the reason more cruises for 2020 will eventually get canceled.  

Personally I would jump on a cruise ship right now even it if went to no where. For us, most of our cruises are about the ship as the destination than the islands, especially since we've been to most of them more than once! We enjoy what a ship has to offer more than what many islands can offer.

I'll also add that we LOVE Grand Turk and think it's one of our favorite islands to visit.

57 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

If you look at the data, there was a spike 2 weeks after Mother's Day and another one is happening now, two weeks after Memorial Day. Your dislike of social distancing doesn't negate the fact it is useful in decreasing the spread of disease. Not only are the current groups not social distancing, they are not wearing masks, and their yelling will be effective in spreading virus.

I do quite a bit of research, and the fact remains that is is pretty flat. There are always peaks after the weekend because of when the data is published/posted. There have also been many reports about backlogs of tests being cleared (someone else on this board mentioned it too, so there are others doing their true research as well). The numbers of those hospitalized as well as the deaths are down. To me, that's a positive sign. 

Businesses are opening up. Amusement parks are opening up. Sporting events are opening up (little leagues, junior and pee wee sports) as well as cheer leading camps are starting to open up. There is quite a lot of research out there for anyone interested instead of what they see on mainstream media outlets. Everyone is going to have an opinion about it. We've seen this all over these boards, as well as other social media outlets. It seems as though the majority of folks are ready to get back to some sort of normal, or a new sort of normal.

This is direct from CDC. FYI, week 21 is week ending 5/23/20.

This data was updated on 5/29/20 and new data will be posted later today that will include the Memorial Day holiday. It's also important to note that the numbers above for mortality include pneumonia and influenza and not just Covid.

Just as I was finishing this, I went back to check and here is the updated data...definite decrease.

6 hours ago, Bailey & Sophie said:

 

I don't want to turn this into a political discussion but have any of you been watching the news for the past 10 days?

Thousands of people have been shoulder-to-shoulder and so many have not been wearing masks.

We'll be lucky if there's any cruises in 2021 unless there's a vaccine.

 

 

That's the thing. People were tired of hearing the "social distancing" crap and ready to move on with their lives. So now they have all these riots to keep people on lockdown again with curfews. We shall see in 2 weeks if there are spikes from all these gatherings. I'm betting not.

15 hours ago, Lbicklel said:

I also noticed that email didn’t say a word about masks. I thought that was odd.

 

As far as the temperature checks I do have a concern that a lot of people who are simply overheated are going to be turned away or quarantined. My mom had a hair appointment the other day and sat in the car until they texted her that she could go in and she read 100.3 just from sitting in the warm car for a few minutes.  100.4 seems to be going number for being denied access.

I think that masks are not going to be a necessity. People can wear them if they choose, but not required.

8 hours ago, deliver42 said:

You are in the Caribbean, and the temp is 95 degrees. After a tour or the beach, don't you think you would show hi temp?

So...from experience at our office this week. The Temperature guns that will be used are the same we have here. We've tested them with "hot flashes" and with people who have sun burns, and even after being in front of a heater (I have one at my desk) and it doesn't make the temp go over the 100.3 thresh hold that is the turn away point.

I'm not sure how they can really do the staggered embarkation either. We all know how people are excited for that first cruise day and show up to the port. Once people arrive to the terminal, where exactly do they think they can "hold them" before allowing them to go through security and check in. The reality is that people are over this Covid-19. If people can gather and "protest"...or more like riot (they did here in Nashville)...then people can choose to vacation how they please with little to no social distancing. 

54 minutes ago, linolive said:

The most troubling thing that I learned from the article was that there are financial goals for the cruise ship physicians, with a bonus paid if they are met.

yeah, I picked up on that too.

Apparently NCL is going to be making an announcement today, but I haven't seen anything yet.

5 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

A spokesperson for the CDC said the agency has not consulted with any cruise lines yet about resuming operations.

This is kind of a confusing statement. They say they haven't consulted with cruise lines, however Mr. Fain with RCCL just did an interview a couple weeks ago and mentioned that they have been in communications with CDC. 

On 4/22/2020 at 2:45 PM, Elbozi said:

Oh gad!  Your post makes me think about how my Mardi Gras cruise in November might be.   No Buffet,  No Pools, No Shows,  No Spa, No Kids Club, only 6ft social distancing.  Mandatory masks.  All restaurants closed with walk-up service or room delivery only.  It's going to be sooooo much fun.   My Nov cruise was already sold out,  are they going to start cancelling half the cabins?

If you truly think that your cruise is going to be miserable then it's probably best you just go ahead and cancel because you'll step on board and make yourself and those around you miserable too. No one is saying there will be no pools (which were already a petri dish long before Covid), no shows, no spa, etc. November is still a very long time away and things are ever changing with this thing. Anything being thrown out now is simply speculation at this point. There are plenty of cruisers ready to get back on the ships the minute the travel ban is lifted. Heck, here in TN they opened up restaurants and there were some where people were lined up and ready to go on in.

On 3/19/2020 at 12:17 AM, cksv said:

I ran a search on the website and November, December, January, February sailings are all missing. The first sailing that appears is in March. Looks like the ship may be further delayed.

So far there is not true report that the ship will be delayed further, just speculation due to the current crisis and the fact that bookings aren't showing up anywhere prior to late March. 

On 3/19/2020 at 4:50 PM, cksv said:

Carnival just posted this 8K and one interesting bit:

"The Corporation also believes the effects of COVID-19 on the shipyards where its ships are under construction, will result in a delay in ship deliveries."

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/node/60916/html

 

I'd bet that the delivery date has been pushed out and will be communicated to those that have bookings prior to March 2021 shortly.

Again, speculation. Not that it isn't warranted, but it isn't confirmed either.

On 3/25/2020 at 11:35 AM, elphin said:

According to the Carnival website the ship cannot be booked before March 2021.  I am wondering if its delivery is being delayed again?  Work in Finland has ground to a halt as a result of the virus so this seems very possible.  If delivery is being delayed why doesn't Carnival tell us straight rather than leaving cruisers to find out by deduction?

 

It is entirely possible there is a plausible reason for not allowing bookings before March next year perhaps all sailings are sold out?  Therefore treat this post as mere speculation.

On 3/26/2020 at 12:03 PM, Elbozi said:

While it may not hold, the Meyer Turku shipyard still had workers in action as of yesterday.   Hopefully, things move smoothly, but it's a battle between Covid19 lockdowns and supply chain problems.

Yes, shipyard workers are STILL working and there is still progress happening on Mardi Gras. They are, however at lower employee count according to reports I've seen.

3 hours ago, NightOne said:

 

Link to article this is from:

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/coronavirus-causes-new-ship-delays/

 

Also, I will note that this is speculation and not fact on the part of the article

1 hour ago, MCC retired said:

The spokesperson told TPG the sailings have disappeared from Carnival’s booking engine because the line is capping capacity on them, resulting in them showing as “sold out.”

 

That sounds to me to be a good reason that so many sailings went to Sold Out overnight .

THIS is the key right here.

Like most of you, I too have a booking on Mardi Gras for late February 2021. I often time check rates and noticed a few weeks ago that I couldn't do a mock booking for my dates, not only on Carnival but on several other 3rd party sites and with our TA's. I actually had my TA that we have our booking with reach out to Carnival, because my booking was still showing in the cruise planner and I was able to add things like excursions, drink package, dining, etc. Carnival confirmed that the sailing was at their sailing limit and the category that we are booked in was actualy truly sold out. 

I then reached out to Matt Mitcham, who is going to be the Cruise Director for Mardi Gras, and he mentioned the same...that the cruises have not been canceled.

So that that as you will. But as mentioned, with all of the initial cruisers that needed to reschedule because deployment was pushed back, along with thousands of others that had their other cruises canceled because of Covid, and the fact that they will most likely not be sailing at capacity for a while because of Covid, or at least until they know the best/sweet spot for passengers...so far the cruises are still a go. 

On 4/19/2020 at 10:54 AM, KateQ22003 said:

It's called Covid-19 because it was discovered in 2019, not because it had 18 strains before it.

You're right...in that I mis communciated my point. This strain, Covid-19 is called that because THIS strain was brought to light in 2019. But...we actually have had coronavirus in our country and around the world long before 2019. 

After our fun time with the birds, we ran into a few more as we walked the shops...

I mean seriously...who couldn't spend the day just hanging around this port area?

It really stinks that we had such a short visit at this port. So short in fact, that there were 8 people who were left at Costa Maya because they missed the "all aboard" time. 

Once back on the ship, we grabbed a quick lunch in the Garden Cafe and then made our way to the cabin to relax a bit before it was time for dinner and some evening fun. Dinner tonight was in Taste or Savor. To be honest, I don't quite remember. But this was the night of the Glow party in Spice H20 as well.

After dinner we spent some time in the Atrium watching the Perfect Couple Game Show. This is quite fun, but again...another event that should be held in the theater and not the atrium...in my opinion. Shows like this always draw a crowd and it would be so much better if it wasn't right in the middle of the atrium.

Once that was over, we made our way to the Glow Party up on deck in Spice H20. Lots of fun, lots of people in attendance, unlike our November cruise on Harmony for the White Out party. This was definitely fun for all.

But then it was bed time. One more day...a sea day and then it was back to reality.

Our last day was very relaxing, and sad...as they always are. Not much to report for that, other than we met some amazing people on this cruise who we feel will be friends for a very long time.

Daily_Day6.pdf

Daily_Day7.pdf

I was thoroughly impressed with just the port area of Costa Maya. Had I known what there was available right there when you get off the ship, I wouldn't have booked Tropicante. I would have reserved a lounger there by the pool/bar/restaurant area and stayed right there. I'm not sure the cost, but there was a dolphin experience right in the port area. We enjoyed just watching the dolphins do tricks and play. 

I kept seeing these suspended bridges above us, and I really wanted to find out how to get up there. I could tell that my husband was getting a little frustrated following me around like we were in a maze as I kept looking above me. But...boy, was is really worth the effort to find it. There is a beautiful aviary floating above all the buildings and shops. It was $12 per person and they give you a little cup of seed so you can feed the birds. It was truly the highlight of our entire day, and probably the entire cruise!

Toward the end of walking through the aviary, someone comes and snaps several photos. We had several digital photos emailed to us for $20! Best souvenir of the cruise, I think....oh, maybe the coffee in Honduras is a close second?!

I'm back guys, and I hope you forgive me for having such a delay in this review. Covid-19 has taken over everything around the world it seems, and life has been crazy in our little world. But...I'm back and hope to get the last two days wrapped up today and tomorrow.

Day 6 happened to be my favorite stop of the cruise. Costa Maya!

Our plans for today was to spend the morning/early afternoon at Tropicante. We contacted Steve through email to request two loungers in shade to be reserved for us and quickly got a response back from him. It took us a little bit to find the "exit" from the port area to get a yellow taxi, but it was a quick ride to Tropicante. I was impressed when they knew who we were upon our arrival. Of course, my hubby said they must have overheard me call my husband's name when we got out of the taxi. Either way, it was a nice touch to be addressed by name.

They took us to our loungers and gave us the WiFi password. I will say though, the WiFi didn't work at our loungers, and I had to go closer to the "restaurant" to get a decent signal. But that was ok. We were happy with our location...

There was plenty of shade and a nice breeze blowing. Since we were the only ship in port at the time we got there, it was not crowded at all! Nice and quiet and a great place to relax. The only negative about the whole thing was the constant locals coming around trying to sell different things from sun glasses, to jewelry, to hats and more! It seemed to be every 5 minutes or more. We kindly said "no thank you" and they moved on...but it was a repetitive thing and became a nuisance for sure.

The drinks were good, and the fish tacos were delicious!

After lunch, we requested a taxi to take us back to the port. I wanted to do some shopping and look around before we had to be back onboard...which was an early 1:30pm all aboard time! 😞 

On 3/26/2020 at 6:39 PM, luvcruzing said:

Why?  What was the hold up?

 

And Happy Birthday!!!  🎉🍾🥂

Well, they took us to a different part of the ship to get off, not to the stairs that we used when we got on. So, they filtered people off from the top (we were on the bottom) and with people who had mobility issues...it cause quite a snag. Not quite sure why they put us off at the other spot as opposed to the double stairs they use when we got on. There wasn't a tender at the stairs. 

And thanks for the birthday wishes.

On 3/27/2020 at 2:28 PM, jaxw17 said:

I am following and loving it some of the place that you have been were some of the ones that we should have been going to. I had to cancel because of a bust foot. The cruise went ahead but only did a week and not stopping anywhere then came home. Was not meant to be. Loving looking at some of those places  

So sorry that you had to cancel, but you probably wouldn't have been able to truly enjoy yourself with the foot. At least I know I wouldn't have. I did see some people with boots on their feet during our cruise and I couldn't help but wonder if they were really enjoying themselves. But, at the end of the day a cruise is much better than sitting at home or at the office.

On 3/27/2020 at 11:05 PM, IRMO12HD said:

Thanks for doing the review!  We are (most probably) not going to be able to experience the Norwegian Bliss (April 19 Panama Canal sailing NYC-Seattle), which would have been our first NCL experience, so I'm really enjoying your descriptions.  

Hi there. Sorry that there was a delay in my review. As you can imagine...the world is crazy right now and I've been dealing with work and home life issues. BUT...I'm back to finish! Thanks for coming by.

Sorry for the delay guys, as you can imagine, life has been a little out of the ordinary. I hope you all are staying safe and finding creative ways to pass the time while staying in.

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Now, back to the review.

Once back on board, and after having a light lunch in O'Sheehans, we got ready to have our spa treatments!

With our Priority Access, we each received a $50 credit for a "signature" spa service. This has to be used on a port day, so we chose this day to get our treatments done since we knew we wouldn't spend the full time on the island. We both selected to have a facial, which happened to be my husbands FIRST ever. Needless to say, he truly enjoyed it. We both enjoyed our treatments. Of course, like most spa treatments on a cruise, they tried to do some upselling, but we both told them at the onset that we were not interested in any products or other services. Keep in mind, that although they discount the price of services on port days, your $50 credit is taken off the regular price, NOT the discounted price. And, like everything else you purchase onboard, there is a service charge automatically added to your bill. When it was all said and done, the final cost of both was about $169 with the gratuity included. We did not tip extra, as the service charge was 18%.

Dinner tonight was at Cagney's. It was good, but quite frankly I feel like Chops on Royal Caribbean is better. 

Since I was celebrating my birthday on the cruise, even though today is my actual birthday, I had a card left for me in our cabin earlier in the cruise to take to any restaurant to have a cake celebration. We chose tonight to do that. Our server offered to have him and some of his fellow crew members sing for me, but I assured him that was no necessary. We could tell he was happy about that. 🙂 The cake was probably the only thing we had all week that wasn't that great. We ate a few bites, and decided it wasn't worth the calories, carbs, and miserable feeling I would have after eating it.

We went right from dinner to Syd Normans to see Back in the Day. They are quite good, if you like 80s rock music...which I do. You can find some videos of them on Facebook, but I did not take any because I didn't have my camera with me.

From there, we had 10:15 reservations for Million Dollar Quartet.  One word, FABULOUS! I could have seen this show over and over again. Being music lovers like we are, especially country music...HELLO, NASHVILLE...We knew we'd enjoy this, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the week. You could tell these guys really studied their roles, and the people they were portraying. This is definitely a show you should not miss!

Daily_Day5.pdf

We made our way back to the tender pick up point, and there was already a big line, mostly because it was lunch time and people didn't want to pay for lunch at Harvest Caye when they could get a free one onboard. It was hot, not much of a wind, and we were ready to go. Although it was a long line, it took no time at all to get on the tender to make our way back to the ship.

I do have to say that getting off the tender was probably the worst experience we have ever had. I bet it took over 45 minutes for us to get off and back on the ship, not counting the ride time.

Back on board we decided to have lunch at O'sheehans.

Once we were done lounging, we walked through the "wildlife experience".

I love flowers and plants. There were some beautiful foliage around.

Day Five: Harvest Caye.

This was a port I was really looking forward to. I had never been to Belize and heard so many great things about it, not only from my husband who had been several years ago...you know, before me. I knew we were going to tender here because of the damage to the pier a few months ago. This was where the Priority Access was a plus. We were instructed to meet at the Illusionarium at 8:00. We were ushered onto the very first tender and were able to get a nice shaded lounge spot near the pool and restaurant/bar.

One thing that is ultra frustrating for me is that you cannot use your cruise sea pass card at this stop. Almost every "private island" stop is tied to your shipboard account, this one...is not. You must pay with card or cash and expect to be taxed here and gratuity auto added to anything and everything. Two small mediocre drinks at the bar cost us $25! Needless to say, those were the only drinks we got all day there.

We spent some time at the loungers until we got overrun by a group of 15 or so that were congregating around 3 chairs by us. 

Before we left we noticed there was a new visitor to the bar...do you see him?

Take a little closer look

My crazy mind kept hoping he would take a jump onto the unsuspecting folks below. Ha...

Come to think of it, we did spend some time in Headliners for the Comedy. I think I had forgotten about that because the comedians weren't all that great and very easily to forget, IMHO.

After lunch in the Garden Cafe, we headed back to the cabin to rest for the afternoon.

Dinner tonight was Teppanyaki and boy was it delicious. A ton of food, and we definitely over ate for sure.

Honestly, I don't remember much of what we did the remainder of the evening after dinner. I know we were both so stuffed there was no dancing.

Daily_Day4.pdf

When we left the monkey and sloths, we made a few other little stops at a local shop and a local Chocolate maker. Both were quite interesting, and the chocolate covered banana was delicious.

Once back to the port, we did a little window shopping and some tequila tasting. My only souvenirs from this port were two bags of coffee. Funny, two years ago I wasn't drinking coffee, now...I am a coffee snob and coffee from Roatan was on my list of things I wanted to get!

The water was so pristine and blue as we walked back to the ship to have a late lunch.

Day four was our day in Roatan. To be honest, this is one port that we normally avoid for personal reasons. I had never been here, but Hubby has and had some pretty bad experiences here. We've also had friends who have had bad experiences (safety) here as well. BUT, since I had never been I wanted to at least experience it for myself. I knew this was one island that I didn't want to just go off "on our own" and explore, but I wasn't too terribly impressed with the excursion offerings from NCL and the prices for the few I was slightly interested in. 

Through many recommendations here, we chose Daniel Johnson and a back up plan with Explore Roatan. 

I cannot say enough good things about Daniel Johnson and the tour guide we had...who bless her heart, was having voice issues from all the tours they have been doing lately. But, she was such a trooper and did a fabulous job. I also liked how personal it was. It was just us and another couple with her, so we were able to get all our questions answers and have a more personal touch than if it had been a bus or shuttle load of people. 

We had the perfect weather. Not a cloud in the sky and the humidity was no unbearable at all. Nice breeze blowing all day.

We got a good tour of the island as we made our way to what I knew would be a wonderful experience. As an animal lover, I couldn't stop talking about being able to hold a sloth and a monkey. Although our monkey's didn't cooperate very much, they sure were fun to watch.

Let me give a PSA about these monkey's. They are little sneaky thieves. You are instructed to take everything out of your pockets, your hair, your earrings, etc because they will take it. They aren't lying folks. I witnessed these little boogers taking hair scrunchies out of women's hair, paper out of pockets, and even one that was exploring and digging through a woman's bun. They definitely inquisitive.

The birds were absolutely beautiful too, which was a nice treat because I didn't know that we would get time with birds at the monkey/sloth zoo.

Honestly, it was a great day and a wonderful experience. If there was any negative at all, it was that the free wifi was non existent. I could not connect, and I was truly hoping to so that I could check in and see how everything was back at home from the tornado aftermath. But...it just wasn't happening.