Chicken_Lips

Can I still use Air2Sea if I have a Royal Caribbean confirmation number (Booking ID) from another travel website? Or do I have to purchase both my cruise and airfare from RCI only? I'd like to take advantage of the OBC offers and discounts from other websites with the benefits of booking airfare from RCI (being able to re-book my flight at a cheaper price if the price drops).

Thanks!

Are there any touristy things you want to see in particular? After I get off my cruise at San Pedro, I plan to Uber it to Santa Monica Pier or Venice Beach to walk around and gawk at the weirdos before my late flight. Ha! You can store your bags at local merchants near the beach using an app like Bounce. I use it to store my bag at cafes, stores, etc. while hanging out in NYC. One time I used the app to store my bag at a photography studio in Manhattan. When I got there, there were tons of beautiful models coming in for an audition. It was worth it!

The app will charge you like $1-$2/hr to store your bag at the business, or a flat fee of $6 for the day. Something like that. The merchant will put a number tag on your bag. Take a picture of the tag & bag with your phone (good for proof for your travel insurance), or write it down. When you come back for your bags later, the merchant will ask you for your tag number and to finish the final check out on the app. The app will charge you the appropriate fee, and off you go! Take a final Uber or taxi to the airport. I've never had problems with it. That way you can enjoy your day and not have to deal with your bags!

Meeting gays on cruises is a mixed bag. It's the same as in a gay bar. Some guys will be cool and friendly, while some guys will be shallow and rude AF!

I think a lot of extroverted people get frustrated when cruisers travelling with others, don't respond to their greetings as expected. Just be aware that a lot of people, gay and straight, who go on cruises as couples or with friends, just aren't interested in socializing outside their immediate group. This is how people behave, don't let it ruin your day. If you click, you click. If not, move on and enjoy the rest of your cruise.

I think they're pushing prices higher to deter people from accumulating more FCC. FCC seems like a good idea to retain customers, but it's going to backfire on the cruise lines. That's another 25% in business expense they need to eat in the future. They will never be profitable if they're always having to play catch up. Deals are a thing of the past. Expect higher prices for everything in the near future. Cruising will be only for rich people again.

From your past experience, which location and time worked best for your favorite FOD meetups? The champagne bar? Martini bar? Piano bar? The disco? Craft beer bar? Main lobby bar? Pool bar? Etc.

Did it matter to you if there was no music playing? If there was music playing, did it make your introductions awkward and your conversations difficult?

I'm just curious. In case I don't like the location of my next FOD meeting, I would like suggestions for future request changes.

Thanks!!

Thanks for posting this. It's problems like these that made me recently request a refund too, instead of taking FCC.

I don't trust Royal Caribbean to do the right thing.

Just heard that my cruise next year already got cancelled. I booked and paid for my friend Chris and myself. Before I call and get placed on forever hold by my TA, I thought I'd run it by CC first.

If I ask for FCC, can I get all of the FCC under my name only? Or does his portion of the fare come with FCC in his name. He can't make the cruises I want to rebook, so I was wondering if I can use all the FCC for myself on future bookings.

If not, no big deal. I originally paid extra for a refundable fare. I assume I can just get it all back as a refund if I can't get it all as FCC under my name only.

Here's my experience as a 42 y/o guy. Last year, I did a cruise to Bermuda in a NCL Escape solo cabin. I loved the lounge, it was nice to have a big space to relax in after a busy day on the ship. I used it to stop and grab some water/juice with cookies/fruit before heading back to my room. Hardly any people used the lounge on a long-term basis. It was more of a place to meet others to go out and have dinner together, excursions, etc.

My only gripe with the solo cabin is that the walls are paper thin compared to a regular cabin. It felt like I was staying in a glorified cubicle. I could hear everything my neighbors were saying and doing. I'm never able to hear my neighbors in a traditional cabin.

Apparently one of my next door neighbors made a love connection with another solo cruiser right away on our trip. I could hear them playing mattress Olympics all night long, every single night! I didn't get much rest on that cruise. For that reason, I don't think I'll ever book a solo cabin again. In the future, I will book a traditional cabin if I travel solo.

The funny part is that on this particular cruise, booking a solo cabin wasn't much cheaper than booking a traditional interior cabin by myself. I just did it to experience the mini solo cabin out of curiosity. Boy, did that one backfire on me. Bermuda was awesome, by the way.

I did notice the that in each of the bear cruises, there's usually a group of dedicated repeat regulars who form their own clique and dominate the social scene of the bear cruise. Sometimes it turns into a "Mean Girls" type of environment, but you'll find that at any gay bar/club too. That's just how gays are.

Often, the bears get offended if you don't hang out with them 24/7 on the cruise. Sometimes I like to venture out on my own and dine elsewhere for variety. Then when I return to the group, the bears noticed that I was gone and will make comments that I don't like them, or some other dumb crap like that. I paid for the cruise, I would like to enjoy the ship at the fullest extent. I find that in order to maintain some peaceful balance, I usually purchase my own shore excursions that aren't included in the bear itinerary. It allows me to take some time away from the gay drama, while giving me time to relax.

On one of my bear cruises, one of the hosts hit on me in front of the other bears at dinner and it make for an awkward situation. On the first night of the cruise, I was hitting it off pretty well with a bunch of guys at the dinner table. One of the hosts (cruise organizers) came over and asked me in front of the guys if I brought my sexy underwear with me. I chuckled. He then handed me a home made business card with him topless on the front of the card with his cruise cabin in the background, his cabin phone number was on the back. It was so goofy looking that I almost laughed, but I just said thank you and put the card down on the table as he walked away. Then the other guys at the table got angry and told me, "Oh, I guess we're just too ugly to get invited to your little sex party!" and they walked away. They were never friendly with me again for the rest of the cruise. That was a dumb move by the host, and I didn't ask for it to happen. See what I mean about the Mean Girl drama?

Lately I have been taking regular cruises away from the gay groups and have enjoyed them immensely. Even with all the drama, I have met some awesome bears along the way and will venture back into bear cruise territory once again.

I wanted to check out Elbow Beach so badly, but I didn't have time on my 1st trip to Bermuda 2 weeks ago. I'll go next time. I did manage to check out Church Bay (best snorkeling, lots of colorful and varied fish just a few meters from the beach), Tobacco Bay (has a bar with bathrooms, snorkeling wasn't as good as Church Bay on the day I went) and I went to Clearwater Beach (has a bar with bathrooms, but no snorkeling reef available).

All of the beaches in Bermuda were stunning. I drove by a lot of the other beaches too. No such thing as a bad beach over there. I was pleasantly surprised. All of the tourists head to Horseshoe Bay and Tobacco Bay. At Church Bay and Clearwater Beach, there were maybe 5 other people on the beach, while I was the only one swimming! It was awesome. Tobacco Bay had a very  light crowd before noon, but they started showing up after noon when I was leaving. Horseshoe Bay is crowded all of the time, I'm sure you already know that.

The best beaches for hanging out on beautiful sand beaches and snorkeling are located along the south shore, that's where the reef is closest to the shore. The north shore is not as popular since the reef is located miles away from the shore.

Just my 2 cents!

Here are the notes I collected from Cruise Critic before I went to Bermuda, hope they help! I was also looking for great beaches with snorkeling. 

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Bermuda beach snorkeling tips

Church Bay for less crowded to snorkel and Somerset Long Bay to snorkel and see turtles.

Elbow has a good reef. No turtles. In mid-August there were a total of maybe 10 people on the beach, more in front of the hotel-but still not crowded. less than 5 snorkeling the reef in a 3 hour time period. only porta potty. but you can buy a drink at the hotel beach bar and use their restroom. you can take the same bus that goes to horseshoe. it's a few more stops.


SNORKELLING FROM THE BEACH
Ask locals for guidance and they’ll be torn on which beach deserves top honours for snorkellers, but two places tend to stand out: Church Bay and Tobacco Bay. No matter which beach you choose, the water will be clear and warm (average 28 degrees Celsius in summer), the visibility excellent (up to 80 feet) and the marine life varied and colourful. Here are a few options:

Church Bay: Close to the The Reefs hotel, you’ll find high cliffs and a ribbon of spectacular reefs close to the shore. It's a gorgeous location with thriving marine life. Bring your own snorkel gear and exercise caution, as the South Shore can get a little choppy.

Tobacco Bay: If you’re staying at the East End of the island, this is your best bet. You'll find a sheltered bay with shallow water and lots of rocky coves to explore. Be ready to encounter a school of sky-blue parrotfish as you swim around huge rocks that jut out of the sea.

John Smith’s Bay: A small, pretty beach 15 minutes from Hamilton that is popular with locals. Bear right (as you look out to sea) for the best snorkelling; the fish tend to congregate by the rocks.

West Whale Bay: Close to the world-famous Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, tiny West Whale Bay Beach is secluded and never crowded. The snorkelling is great but check out the tide times in advance; the beach vanishes at high tide.

Snorkel Park: This is a great, well-organized beach facility with chairs, umbrellas and snorkel gear for rent. It's located in Royal Naval Dockyard and is ideal for families.
 

I just got off the Escape after a 10-year hiatus from NCL. The entertainment reservation system was new to me too. The reservation system was never available to me in my planner before the cruise. When I got on the ship, all of the shows were already booked solid! I was mad and angry on the first day of my cruise. I paid all that money and was not going to be able to see any shows. So I thought.

It turned out, that my anger was just a waste of emotion. All of the shows (big production, comedy, etc.) had a standby line available for people without reservations. We were let into the shows 10 minutes prior. It turns out that 25-50% of the people with reservations don't even bother to show up! It seemed that way, since everybody in the standby line was able to get into every show I went to. Once you make a reservation, there is no punishment fee for being a no-show. The TV in the cabins allows you to make show reservations too, but they don't allow you to cancel reservations either. So all the shows always appeared to be booked solid, even though half the people with reservations weren't even going to bother to show up. What's the point in having a reservation system if it does nothing but piss off the newbie customers? They need to go back to the first come, first serve route again.

If you must make a reservation, they will have touch TV screens and a table available on embarkation day, on the ship, to make show and dining reservations for the rest of the cruise.

I'm taking your advice and heading to St. George's right away on Wednesday. Tobacco Bay needs me. I'm sure everybody and their mother are planning to head to Tobacco Bay and Horseshoe Bay too. I just got to make sure I get there first!

I also looked up great snorkel beaches and I found Church Bay, Elbow Beach and John Smith's Bay are good for that too. I gotta squeeze them in somehow. 

I haven't been on a NCL cruise in 9 years, so it'll be fun for me to figure out all the new stuff going on. I can't wait for Sunday to get here already!

KMVigs, hello!

My first time to Bermuda, I'm getting pumped. Those beaches look amazing, I can't wait to hit them with my snorkel gear. Any must see sights for my first visit? Anything I should stay away from? I'm trying out those solo cabins on this trip, I was always curious about them. If you go to the FOD meeting, I'll be there drinking foo foo drinks and making a fool of myself. j/k.

I did the bar hop two years ago, but with a buddy. Whatever your fears are, ignore them and go! That part of the island is so beautiful and not very developed, and its nice to get away from the big resorts on the main side. Plus, you'll have the safety of being with a group. 

The bars are located next to beautiful beaches, some with sand and some with big boulders to step on, that are wonderful for exploring with your drinks. The first stop had these cool hammocks and the last stop had beach chairs to chill out on. You don't need a buddy to do that with. Grab something to eat at the second stop. I think its called Coconuts. The food was really good. It might be crowded here, so you might have to share a table with somebody. Just ask, I'm sure they won't mind. The tables with the sea views are located farthest from the bar, so grab one right away when you arrive, if that is what you want. We sat near the back of the bus, so by the time we arrived inside, all of the tables with sea views were taken and we had to sit near the bar. It was still good.

Cozumel has fantastic beaches and a wonderful reef full of beautiful fish to snorkel with. Please, don't waste your day wandering around the port looking at tacky tourist shops and restaurants.

I just booked this cruise at the last minute. Checking for any LGBT party buddies...

On 3/29/2019 at 5:31 PM, Hanginabout said:

hello and thank you everyone for all the feedback.  we went ahead a left a deposit for BEARCRUISE.Com November 2019 western Carribbean cruise through Dan Howell Travel.  I have to say the response form the Travel Agent was incredibly fast, and friendly.  So far I've been very impressed. 

   The Price seemed right, and they announced an additional discount, Plus the Miss Conception show on the Ship which was a HUGE selling feature.  I go to her show every time she comes to town. She is Amazing! 

   thanks again...really looking forward to it. 

 

  

   

Hanginabout, please post a review of your Bearcruise.com cruise when you get back, I haven't tried them yet and I'm curious. I've been on nearly all the other bear cruises. They are all pretty much the same, the only difference is the preferred cruise line and the size of the group. Here is a quick rundown of my experiences:

1. AdventureBears. Small group, extremely nice. Especially one of the leaders, his name was Lazarus. He made a lot of effort to make sure everybody had a great time. Unfortunately, there was a bitchy twink passenger in our group who was very judgmental and rudely openly criticized all the bear guests, especially on their appearances. He made a lot of people upset, I wonder why he went on a bear cruise to begin with. Not AdventureBears fault.

2. Chumley's. Big group, it was hard to meet new people. The only problem I had was with the leader, Chumley. I complimented him on throwing a great party one night, and he rudely replied in a negative tone, "you think so?!?!" A simple thank you would have been sufficient.

3. Arno's. Medium sized group. I like his bear cruises the best. He really gets into it and is a great organizer that hosts varied themed events and parties on board. Everyone involved seems pretty chill and I always have a great time. He uses Royal Caribbean, and that's my favorite cruise line.

Who else am I missing? What other bear cruises are great (or bad!).

I've always done MTD and they always sit the two of us alone. If there's a particular set of wait staff you end up liking, you can always request them too. I've never done reservations. There's always a little line but they tend to sit everyone rather quickly. The longest I've had to wait is 10-15 minutes for the next available table. But I haven't been on the Allure yet, so it might be a whole different ball game.

I was paranoid at first that I wouldn't break even on my drink package, but I did it with no problem. The drink package was nice because you could easily grab bottles of water from any bar before heading back to the room. We stockpiled a few in the mini fridge and it was nice to always have bottled water available. We drank them, they didn't go to waste. It was also relaxing not to have to sign a receipt for every drink order. They just swipe your card and go. It was worth it for this convenience factor alone.

I got mine on a pre-cruise sale (Buy one drink package get one half off). I would buy it again if it was on sale, but at full price, probably not.

I know we have all have been on similar excursions. Do these buses have seat belts? I don't think I've ever worn one while on bus excursions from the cruise ships in the Caribbean. I can't remember if there were any.

I'm now a 40 y/o guy (yes, the years are flying by) and I've noticed that I don't meet new people when I travel with others. And I think that sucks! I love meeting new people from around the world. But when I travel with a party, I tend to focus all my attention on them and we usually only converse with each other.

It's bound to happen but usually on every solo trip I encounter a jerk that tells me that its so sad that I'm travelling alone. "Aren't you bored and alone?", and "You don't have anybody to share those travel experiences with!" I've been looked at with pity and heard them all. But in fact, its the opposite for me. I love to travel solo and hate travelling with others. I get to be on my schedule and do the things I want to do. No compromising with others!

I just got back from a cruise a couple of months ago with a very good friend. We had fun, but my preferences had to take a back seat to theirs a couple of times and I only met a few people this time instead of the many I usually meet when solo.

I see there's a few people out there still reluctant to go solo. Just remember, I've yet to meet anybody on their death bed who wished they stayed home and watched more television. Get out there and travel solo, and quit worrying about what everyone thinks!

I just did this tour last week and enjoyed it. You will have plenty of time to do the hop. My tour lasted from 9:30 until 2:30. We even had time to have a couple of drinks at Margaritaville and to do a little bit of pier shopping at the end of the tour.

If you don't want to do any snorkelling, I highly recommend this tour. It was fun and varied. We liked the first stop the best, it was called Punta Morena. It was gorgeous. They had hammocks and and an awesome little pool to chill. They also had excellent bar service and fun little huts for tourist souvenirs. This is also your best bet for beach swimming and putting your feet into the ocean. We loved it. It had everything. They served food, but it seemed too early to eat. But not early to drink! We could have stayed here all day. The second stop was Coconuts. It has a pretty tropical setting overlooking the beach. Its a party bar. We ate here, the food and service were good and the drinks were too. The third stop was Playa Bonita. It was a super fun stop, it has a rugged appearance but the service was excellent, and I heard a lot of positive comments on the food. We loved it. The fourth stop was our least favorite, Rastas. When we arrived it was hard to find an available table and they only had one server for the beach! Since the service was poor here, we didn't even get any drinks here until I walked up to the bar and ordered them myself. The employees here were not so friendly, and the beach was very rocky. This place was a buzzkill to us, we got sober here and couldn't wait to leave it. This is just our opinion.

I would recommend this tour if you want to see something different. Have fun!!

Does anybody know if weather affects the snorkeling? Last week, I snorkeled in Roatan and the morning was cloudy with light rain sprinkles, the sun didn't come out until the afternoon. I hate to say it, but the snorkelling was very poor. We hardly saw any fish. It was kind of disappointing. 2 years ago, I snorkeled in Cozumel (the weather was sunny but the reef was deeper) and we saw tons of multi-colored fish. Go figure.

Hi Mageus,

I am also trying to figure out which Lamanai excursion to pick. I agree with you, RCI customer service is severely lacking. I have also called them up for info regarding other excursions and they know next to nothing. Better to come to Cruise Critic!

Here is the info I have dug up so far. The excursion that lists for 3 hrs is a typo. When I tried to buy the tickets, it gave me a time duration from 08:30AM to 2:30PM. If you read the description of the excursion, it states that it travels from Ayinha Eco Park, which is located south of the Lamanai site. If you Google Ayinha, the only tour company I come up with is AyinHa Adventures. It looks like a good outfit. But my only concern is with the boats. This company looks like it uses speedboats without sun shades. Does this mean that it travels super quickly to the Lamanai site, bypassing all of the wildlife? Is it less scenic? That's the question I want answered.

The other Lamanai excursion that RCI sells is one that departs from Tower Hill. Tower Hill is located north of the Lamanai site. This appears to be the more traditional way tourists see the site. If you Google Lamanai excursions from Tower Hill, they cruise leisurely along the river from 60 minutes each way. Giving you more than enough time to see local wildlife, or you might get bored, but I haven't heard any complaints. I chose this excursion since the people in my party are really interested in relaxing and seeing alligators, birds, monkeys, etc. By the way, on my specific cruise, this excursion already sold out on the Cruise Planner. The only way to get tickets is try and get them when you board the ship.

If anyone can correct my errors and provide us with more info, that would be awesome!

Thanks!

Make sure you ask your buddies for a good TA recommendation. A good TA can give you perks. In the past, I was lazy and booked a couple of cruises (not RCI) with a random TA and had an extremely negative experience. There was a massive price drop on my cruises and my horrible TA wouldn't help me obtain them. I missed out. It really sucked because all of the people on my roll call were bragging that they were able to get the price drops and pocketed huge bucks.

A lot of people in my roll call who booked directly with their cruise line received automatic refunds to their credit cards of the price difference, when there were price drops. They didn't even have to do anything! Does anybody know if booking directly with RCI also carries this benefit? If so, I believe this is a huge perk. I'm really busy and don't have time to deal with TA's and watching for price drops. This would be perfect for someone like me.

Most chain restaurants on land get their food from Sysco. Doesn't it occur to people that the cruise industry probably does too? I don't see how one cruise line's cuisine can be different from another. They all dock at the same ports and probably get their food from the same suppliers.

To all the bitter haters that like to rain on stranger's parades, you're on vacation chill out!