Peachy59

Thanks for that review. I was looking at this but they don't really answer all my questions on their website. Do they provide loungers on the beach? Are there places to purchase water or any kind of beverages?

What hotel is that? I like the look of that pool!

19 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Save money?  Okay… Here’s one’s travel protocol.

 

 

One will not recommend it, but many on CC love it for the price.

Okay, let’s give facts about the $2/2.50alleged public bus (private minivan- aka Jintys)

Walk to Front Street, arrive at Midtown, opposite the Ferry pier, walk down main road (Front Street -Pier to left), turn 1st right, walk down side street, at main T junction you’ll meet Back Street, search up and down Back Street for a Jinty (mini vans) with a sign in windscreen for the required destination, board, wait until van is full before departing.  
 

Journey will encompass a meandering journey on/off main roads, stopping to drop people off and pick-up.  
 

On arrival at destination agree where the best Jinty pickup point is for passing Jintys for return destination.

 

Returning one has to stand at the pickup point, view from distance/search the windscreens of approaching Jintys for the destination sign required, flag down the Jinty, which may not stop if full.  
 

Repeat flagging down process until one finally stops, board.  Arrive at destination (Back Street), follow the reverse directions for outward journey.

 

Note the time taken to arrive at destination, from the time one left the ship to destination.  Then allow an extra 30 minutes minimum for the return journey for delayed flagging down and heavy port traffic.  
 

Good luck. At least one will save a few dollars, which was the sole basis of one’s journey.

 

 

First of all, saving a few dollars is not the "sole basis" of our journey. Walking to the bus depot will help us get in some steps for the day, and we rather enjoy getting to meet some of the locals. This is not our first rodeo. We've been to St Marteen a few times, but we've never used the buses there. The one time we went to Maho, we were with an excursion. We wouldn't even be going back, but the rest of the family has never been. 

The question was more about getting a taxi back. We have used public transportation on several of the islands, and it's always been fine and a bit of an adventure. It's also usually just my husband and me. This time there will be 7 of us. But, I'm wondering if we take the bus there, how difficult it would be to get a taxi back, since I've reading they give you a wristband when you take the taxi there. One person said they were charged for round trip, just for the one way taxi back.

So, back to the original question. How difficult is it to get a taxi back to the pier if you didn't already pay for the round trip? I'm also wondering if they even have a taxi that fits 7 people? I know the buses do, if we can be the first to catch it. We plan to head back pretty early, around 2:00, to walk around Philipsburg a little. We have a Star Wars nerd in the bunch, who must go see The Yoda Guy. 👽

I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get a taxi back from Maho if we took the public bus there? Has anybody done this? It seems like they want to charge round-trip fares. There will be 7 of us, so we thought we might save a bit of money by doing this. Anyone?

We just got ours today. Took 12 weeks from when they cashed the check.

Does anyone know what the current rates are?

13 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Shootings. Curfews. We are flying in the day before our cruise, but it doesn’t sound safe. 
 

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/19/us/miami-beach-shootings-spring-break/index.html

Probably safer than any school in the USA.

11 hours ago, Ashland said:

You're in a suite. Just call the room service number and order from the MDR menu. It shouldn't take that long to deliver it...just remember all items will come at the same time. You don't need to pre-arrange this. We order from the MDR menu often when staying in a suite. Just call during their open hours based on breakfast, lunch or dinner.

If you order breakfast do you have to specify you want it from the MDR? I ask because on our last cruise when we ordered breakfast we could tell it was just regular RS and didn't come from MDR. On previous cruises when we ordered breakfast we could tell it did come form MDR even though we didn't specify. It was very odd. Also, they sometimes wouldn't even answer the phone. This was last December in a Grand Suite on Harmony.

18 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

They do all that every day?  So they vacuum every day for example?  Or is some of that just for the between cruise cleanings?

I have never had a steward vacuum, unless we requested it, except on turn around day.

22 hours ago, brillohead said:

News flash:  unwanted food can be flushed.  

Absolutely not!

It's incredibly rude. We like to get away from the noise and relax on our QUIET balcony. I would report it. 

We were at Barefoot in December. Asolutely nothing special about the buffet there.

1 hour ago, retiredgram said:

  On 1/31/2023 at 1:17 PM, little britain said:

Here's the way to fix it... 

Login in to your cruise page. Then click on your Initials in the top right corner, then profile, my loyalty. Then take Your Crown & Anchor number out, type it back in and click save. Then go back to your upcoming cruises. This should fix it.

Thanks! Fixed mine too!

Tell them you are traveling with a carry-on and can't take any products home.

On 11/14/2022 at 2:00 AM, Ashland said:

Our extended family group of 6 used a taxi at the taxi stand and I believe it was $12.00pp round trip to Maho and back this was late April. We opted to be dropped off in town rather than back to the taxi stand. So easy to do this as we have done it many times.

Round trip? Can you explain how this works? Do they give you tickets to use for the return or the same taxi comes back at a specified time, or what? Thanks for any info.

On 1/8/2023 at 7:23 AM, deliver42 said:

I don't need someone to turn down my bed at night.

Me either, but I do like to have ice refilled.

21 hours ago, helenb said:

So, I've been investigating a bit more... it runs out that we will have a lot of onboard credit (from TA and Diamond status). So I'm thinking that will cover a fair bit of gelato. What is the gelato cost now?

You got onboard credit for Diamond status? 

Also wondering if anyone knows if onboard credit from a TA is refundable on MSC?

On harmony a couple of weeks ago, the time on the phone was wrong. 

On 12/13/2022 at 8:08 PM, psmarkle said:

I haven't figured out how to DM yet (I'm "vintage"), but the TA we currently use gives 10% back of commissionable fare (not taxes and port fees) as OBC, no questions asked. Our Thanksgiving cruise in the YC, 2 cabins, $650 obc!

Can you give us a hint of who your TA is? 😁

On 12/10/2022 at 4:34 PM, HicksRA said:

I do enjoy returning to my cabin after dinner and seeing the curtains drawn, the lighting adjusted, the bedding neatened and the Compass and whatever letters/notices left on the bed. I would miss it if it was discontinued. 
 

By the way, recently off Harmony 8 day in a Grand Suite, and our room steward did NONE of this. He did replace dirty towels, empty the trash and refill the ice. He also had an attitude whenever we were still in the suite when he wanted to service it. First time in 20 years this wasn't done. We also keep our room very tidy.  No extra tip for him. In fact, we definitely noticed a decline in service all over the ship. We were planning to book onboard for next year, but will be looking at another line instead.

17 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Just to 'refine' some of the answers. Complimentary wifi is the basic level for 2 devices each. We could not upload a photo many times to Cruise Critic and could not view Youtube cruise news. Paid a nominal fee to upgrade to streaming and could view Youtube. Could only upload photos when in port and everyone off the ship or before 6am.

  Had gelato sundaes every lunch and dinner with whipped cream and chocolate sauce and pirouettes in the YC restaurant, so did not miss having at the Venchi kiosk. Complimentary chocolate ships are not milk chocolate and they would not substitute the chocolate ship for the new white chocolate ship ($25).

   Also of note is that on Ocean Cay day the YC restaurant is closed due to the entire restaurant staff at Ocean House. But one can get a full buffet at the YC One Pool deck and I got my gelato sundae there as well. It was like having our own private yacht with most everyone off the ship.

Just to clarify, when in port at Ocean Cay, the YC sundeck, including bar and buffet are open? I ask because when we were on Divina three years ago, and Ocean Cay was brand new, everything was closed. No bar or lunch buffet on the YC deck. We had gone to the YC area on Ocean Cay, but it was complete chaos so we went back to the ship. Also, does YC have complimentary access to the thermal suite whenever they want? Or, is it limited?

44 minutes ago, RJ257 said:

I heard it will be more people for your cruise and more children. Have a great trip!

Noooo! Ha! How did you hear that? Will be on that sailing.

On 11/16/2022 at 10:51 AM, Homosassa said:

It took less than a minute to find the information about vaccination and testing for transatlantic cruises on the Royal Caribbean website.

 

There is absolutely no excuse for a cruiser not to know this information before leaving on a transatlantic cruise.

 

Blame away, but it is still on the cruiser to do their homework and obtain the official written policy.

 

 

There is absolutely no excuse for the telephone agents not to know this VERY IMPORTANT information before giving an answer.

On 11/8/2022 at 8:14 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

You can still change ship and sail date for a $100pp fee. 

Are you sure about this? They used to have that in writing about cancellations, but I can't find it anywhere now. It just says non-refundable. We are thinking of booking a suite on Harmony next year, but don't want to risk the full $500. I don't see anywhere on the website that states there is a $100 pp fee and the rest gets transferred to a new booking. Also, wondering if you book a suite onboard, how much is the deposit?

On 8/24/2022 at 8:29 AM, mac_tlc said:

 Ok, so how about this. A third party description of the change to RCCL NRD program as of 6/1/22 that removes the FCC option. it’s not very easy to get a written description of an official policy that no longer exists. Even Royals IT department has successfully removed the old policy from their websites. 
 

https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-makes-a-policy-change-from-june-1st/73082

 

mac_tlc

Wow! Thank you for that link. I was just about to book a suite for a year out when I checked the cancellation policy and was confused there was no mention of charging $100 pp and applying the rest to another reservation. We decided not to book. I hope everyone takes note of this change.