scrappydoo

Good to know! Thanks, cruisinsusin! 😀

Has anyone been affected by jellyfish in CocoCay or Blue Lagoon?? I've read a number of folks who said that they got stung by jellyfish... Any areas I should avoid where they are more prevalent? Or is this a seasonal thing? I'll be there in just about 2 weeks! 😃

Thank you for all your info and insight, AlexMar and cruisinsusin !! So very helpful... I think I am going to go ahead and book the excursion through the ship for us. 😃

Thanks so much for sharing, cruisinsusin!! What did you think of Blue Lagoon? I'm thinking either way, it would be a nice morning on land. Were you on a ship excursion or did you go on your own?

Thanks so much for the great information, MrTibbs!! I am getting so excited! I think I'm gonna try the Up Up and Away Helium Balloon....eeek!

MrTibbs,

Thank you so much for your input and insight... it helps immensely!! I appreciate it so. So both Blue Lagoon and CocoCay have the same clear, blue water...no difference there?

Out of curiosity, was the CocoCay pier operational yet or did you have to tender?

What did you think of the Mariner? I haven't been on RCL in 15yrs when I took my very first cruise! I've mostly done Princess and concentrated on the itineraries/ports...so this is sort of my first cruise where I'm going more for the boat (but the Bahamas don't hurt either). And I'm really excited about all the things to do on the Mariner, which is why I thought it wouldn't be too shabby to stay onboard with less passengers at Nassau.

Thanks again!

My friend and I will be on the Mariner of the Seas for 4nts the end of the month... We've both been to Nassau, and didn't really feel the need to have to go back. However, we were thinking about doing the Blue Lagoon Deluxe Beach Day through RCL because it does look quite nice in pictures. My question is this... Because we would already be going to CocoCay the next day, which is essentially a Beach Day -- is Blue Lagoon really worth it? Or would it be better to just stay onboard the Mariner and enjoy less crowds for the day?? Are Blue Lagoon and CocoCay really different experiences in any particular ways?? Any thoughts and insights would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!!

The tour was itinerary was good, but we wished we had booked a shorter tour. Bar Harbor is beautiful, we wanted more time to explore on our own. I would book the 3 hour tour if I could do it over again.

Thanks jdaa, for the update! I'm leaving this Friday and also booked at 5hr tour with At Your Service in Bar Harbor... now I am reconsidering. We were also thinking 4hrs initially. Was Beal's Lobster worth it? Or should we try a place in town instead after a shorter tour?

Were there any areas that you would have rather skipped and moved on to make it a shorter tour?

Granted, but the time the tour ends, we do still have several hours before we leave town to explore...but I'm concerned if 5hrs might be too long for a 76yr old and two kids age 6 &9.

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much for your help in advance! =)

I just got off the Crown Princess this morning... I don't know about wi-fi specifically, but this is my experience with internet connection:

I had a tour booked for Puerto Vallarta, and unbeknownst to me, Princess arrives at PVR at 10am --- "SHIP" time, which is their own made up time that is an hour earlier than the actual time in PVR. So I don't find out until 10pm the night before that the ship will actually arrive at 11am PVR time and I will be one hour late for my tour!

So I tried calling them through the courtesy line at the passenger services desk, but no answer, leave a message....this was on a sea day.

Then I decide to try to email them (this was about 10:30pm or later now) and go to the internet cafe and log in to one of the Crown's computers... SO FRUSTRATING... I spent 15min waiting for my email account to load and it never did. I finally gave up and didn't even get to my inbox after nearly 18min of waiting. I paid just under $20 for that very frustrating and unfruitful wait... :rolleyes:

Thankfully the day ended up working out, due to a very understanding tour company... but still, that internet stinks. IMHO :)

Aloha,

I am trying to find a Day Room as well, prior to our leaving Oahu. Except, this would be the actual day we get off the POA. I am looking for a day room from about 10a-6pm on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki, as we want to go to the Zoo for my niece's 4th birthday that day. But also want a place to crash, shower and just relax before heading back home...

We will be staying pre-cruise 1nt at the Hyatt Place Waikiki and they have said that a day rate room is not guaranteed and is based on availability, and that I would have to book the previous night's rate to be guaranteed to get the room by 10am, but I would still have to request late-checkout! I'm not sure that made much sense to me to pay a full night's rate for a guaranteed 2hrs and then hope that I can get a late check-out for the rest of the time! :confused:

I supposed I can book the Saturday night and might have an easier time getting early check-in?? I'm not sure...

Does anyone have any suggestions?? I'm not sure how I feel about just winging it as this would be at the end of June, on a Saturday. The Hyatt Place is a decently sized hotel, so I'm hoping they will have availability?? Is there another property on that side that have Day Rooms?

What would you do??

TIA!! :)

Thanks so much for your responses, everyone! :)

I just didn't know if I was missing something... like I said, I've never cruised to Mexico and since I'll be on the Crown Princess (somewhat plagued by Noro for a bit there) and even had someone I know personally on that exact same cruise/ship get sick 3wks ago about 3days into the cruise... well, I just wanted to make sure I covered all my bases. :o

His thoughts were that their cabin was one of the ones that had some Noro on the previous cruise and was not cleaned well enough... his family thinks it's cuz he was the only one to have a drink with ice in it at port, while everyone else in his family brought their own water bottles to drink.

I actually signed up for a food tour in Puerto Vallarta, but I don't think it's a taco stand one. I'm looking forward to it! Just didn't know if I should bring my own water bottle or what. Last thing I want is to get sick on vacation!

Sailing in less than 3 weeks!! Yay! :D

Hi all,

I will be going on my first cruise to the Mexican Riviera, and I want to stay healthy for the duration of it. Between stories of Norovirus on the ship and people getting sick from drinking the water, or drinks with ice, etc in ports of Mexico... how do you all stay healthy in Mexico? Any tips, suggestions, advice would be great! :)

Thanks!

I can't tell you what route was taken, but just speak from experience.

We did the round-trip SF 10nt to Alaska on the Sea Princess the last week in June several years ago.

The first night as we went to sleep, you could feel the boat starting to move big time and the hangers were clanging in the closet. I started feeling the tiniest bit of uneasiness in my stomach, and immediately took my Bonine. I don't know if it was mental, but I literally felt better right away. (This was my first time taking Bonine, too) My mom who's never been on a cruise, loved the rocking and rolling. She didn't take anything but wore the sea bands on her wrist.

My sister and brother in law refused the Bonine and said they would be fine... Big mistake, my sister had terrible sea sickness for the next day and half. My brother in law, tried to keep it together, but ended up tossin' his cookies at the breakfast table the next morning. People were having such a hard time... I had to carry a cup of hot water to my sister who stayed in her cabin cuz she just couldn't make it through breakfast... both she and my BIL were out for a day and a half. I remember other people in the buffet area also getting sick, and having a difficult time. It was so sad, but yes we still make jokes about my brother in law at the breakfast table. (Too proud to take Bonine! jaja) I had to help a poor lady carry her food/drink because she was not going to make it, she was so sick from the movement.

I totally felt all the rocking and rolling, even had some fun trying to walk in a straight line (couldn't do it)... but after starting on my regimen of nightly Bonine before bed each night, I had no sickness whatsoever! I felt great!

Those first two days, my mom and I ended up taking care of their 18mo son, who like my mom, didn't mind all the motion... :)

I think those first two days were definitely the worst, after that, I think it was much better.

Hope that helps some...

Oh and btw, the initial rep who I got today before she transferred me to the higher up, tried to tell me that the free gratuities were only for like balcony or higher cabins.

I told her no, I read and re-read. I read all the fine print to these things. All cabins qualified for the free gratuities.

Only when she went to check again two times, did she say that I was right.

I tell ya... I wasn't lying when I said that the website advertised gratuities with my so called cheaper rate either!!

She was pleasant though... :rolleyes:

Exact same thing happened to me but it was for a 10 day cruise. Would have been nice to have free gratuities but was told I didn't book at the higher rate (which was not offered onlne) so do deal. Then transferred to a TA who also tried and was told the same thing. They even offered to rebook me at the higher rate which was higher than the credit for grats. DUH! I didn't take it. Now they deny any knowledge of a 50th OBC for anniversary or birthday.

Got off the line with the Princess "higher up" regarding my missing pre-paid gratuities a while ago. The same line of "your rate is a cheaper promotion and does not include free gratuities" was repeated over and over. The same, I can give you the free gratuities if you book your cabin for the increased rate of $100 more, which makes no sense at all...that price difference already costs more than the gratuities would.

Yes, I understand gratuities for my 7day cruise in the grand scheme of things is not that much. It's the principle that I should have gotten what was advertised. I did not "choose" the cheaper rate, I clicked on the only rate that the website gave me!! How can they expect someone to know it was a different rate than the free pre-paid gratuities rate, when it still showed the pre-paid gratuities promotion advertised under the sailing with the rate "the computer generated" for me? Makes no sense at all !! :mad:

It's not like the computer gave me a choice in the matter, nor did it state that this rate that "automatically" comes up for me does not include free gratuities.

So frustrating! So the higher up initially says, that's the only thing she can do... book it at the higher rate for pre-paid gratuities. No, I don't think so. I kept making my case that I had no "choice" of rates, and the website still advertised the free gratuities with this rate on the screen. I should get what was advertised. No bite...same stonewall...

Then she says, as a goodwill gesture, she can add $25pp OBC to my booking. Really?? I about had it... we were going around in circles. I could see we would not get anywhere with this. So I asked if she would at least be able to give me $50pp OBC instead. She begrudgingly agreed to that. I said fine, I'll take it. But I expressed it was still not right that this should happen and that the website - if it were to generate some uber special rate for me, unbeknownst to me (not that I didn't like a special rate, but still) that wasn't part of the free gratuities promotion, should then explicitly note when booking that this rate was a separate promotion and did not include them. There is no way that any consumer could know this! False advertising that the promotion still showed with the rate given on the website. She said that she would relay my concerns to the company...

So, were the reps I encountered rude? No... were they particularly helpful or listening to what I was saying --- that would be a Negative No.

So she said she'd send me an email confirmation in a few minutes... I still haven't gotten it. That was half an hour ago. :( Crossing my fingers at least that will come up without a hitch!

scrappydoo

I got off the phone with a rep several hours ago. I had booked my cruise during the national cruise sale in October, directly through Princess' website, where it said that my particular cruise sailing had free pre-paid gratuities included. So I went ahead and booked the cruise, assuming I would get said free pre-paid gratuities. Well, I noticed there was nothing noted on the booking, it just said Special E-mail Offer, but thought nothing of it and that this must've meant the free gratuities were indeed on my booking.

Life got in the way, holidays came and went, and I just happen to have a moment today and thought I better make sure and give them a call. And lo and behold, the rep says that it's not on my account because the rate I got did not include the free gratuities. I can't get that promotion because it's expired. Uh, Hello?? It wasn't expired when I booked it in October!!

She said that my rate was a cheaper rate from a different promotion, and that if I had booked the free gratuities promotion, the cabin rate would have been $100 more.

How does that make sense!??? I logged into Princess, and booked it directly online, the website doesn't give you a choice of rates and promotions. The price was $419 and it said that gratuities were included. How could I have chosen a "cheaper rate without gratuities included" -- I just clicked on the cabin and followed the steps, assuming I'd get the promotion that was advertised on the website at time of booking!

Of course, she said there was nothing she could do and was to be fair, overall pretty pleasant. I hate being one of those people, but I stand firm that I should get what was advertised at the time of booking -- my free gratuities.

I asked for a supervisor, and she quickly obliged and put me on hold... I was ready to make my case (I'm a very quiet and non-confrontational person on most any given day, so it's not something I like to do) Only to have the rep come back and say, oh, everyone that could help me is gone for the day. That whole department is gone...call back on Monday morning.

Really? I would think any call center would have some supervisor on the floor at all times....I used to work in a travel call center, and some supervisor was always there to take care of the problems. But who knows...

Is it wrong for me to think I should be given my pre-paid gratuities?? I didn't think I'd have to take a screen shot to prove that the website claimed as such. Besides, all the literature for the National Cruise Week sale advertised free pre-paid gratuities online. How could me booking direct on Princess, not have gotten me the gratuities and then how could they claim that I got some cheaper rate that didn't include the gratuities?? I just went online and booked it...the website said $419 for my cabin (not the $519 rate like the rep claimed, which would have supposedly gotten me the free gratuities) and I just clicked through the whole process! :mad:

Anywho... the point is, I don't blame the rep - she was nice enough... just upset at Princess and hate that I couldn't speak to a so-called supervisor and have this resolved immediately!!

Any thoughts???

scrappydoo

This summer, we will be disembarking on our last day from the POA and flying home that same afternoon. This day will also be my niece's 4th birthday!! :)

Any thoughts what we might be able to do to make it a little special for her, despite having to only a few hours before heading off to the airport and going back home that day??

Perhaps something close to the pier? Something on the boat before we leave?? I'm not sure what we can do... to make it a memorable birthday morning.

Any thoughts or ideas would be great!

Thanks!

scrappydoo

Thanks for posting a reply! I am looking forward to being there this summer!

scrappydoo

Hi all,

Has anyone been to Hilo port recently and have seen or know if the Hoppa-On Hoppa-Off bus is still in business?? I'm going in late June and it sounds very helpful for our family to use to see some sights without having to rent a car... But only if it's still around, that is?? :confused:

Otherwise, we will have to look into renting a car or doing a private tour...

Thanks for any help you can give me! :)

scrappydoo

The new cruise terminal is indeed at Pier 27, as I work about 2mins away! :)

Once outside the cruise terminal, walking to Pier 39 should take about 10min, give or take... depending on how leisurely a pace you'd like to go.

Lahaina Chicken Company is fast, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Tasty too!! =)

Thank you so much for all your input, it's really so helpful in trying to sort this all out. :) Please keep any advice or suggestions coming!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

scrappydoo

Thank you all for taking time out to reply! :)

Keep any suggestions and thoughts coming... traveling with the kiddos (my niece and nephew) in Hawaii is new territory for me, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Mahalo!

scrappydoo

Thank you for your help so far!! I appreciate it. :)

Does anyone else have any first hand experience with young children and taking tours or renting cars in Hawaii??

Calling all families who have traveled to Hawaii with young kids! :) We have a small sized 3yr old and an average/slender sized 7yr...

My sister's family and I will be sailing on the POA in June, and we are trying to figure out car rentals and excursions. As I've never traveled with young children outside of our California road trips in a minivan, so I'm not familiar on how these things work.

Does anyone have any experience renting cars/minivans or going on shore excursions with young children in Hawaii -- namely do we have to bring their car seats on the plane for any days we may rent a car... or do we have to bring them on any tours of any kind... do car rental places rent them at all??? How does this all work? :confused:

I know it may seem like a dumb question, but we really have no clue what people do in these situations, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!

scrappydoo