LisaT91403

Thanks for the great pictures!

I would love to see Barefoot too. If we have the option, I'm not sure which would be better. I know Barefoot has the upgraded buffet, but that's not a big deal to me. Barefoot seems less crowded, but I'm not sure if it's too sleepy for an active 8 year old.

I know this is a really old thread, but I was wondering if there was a way to get the pictures back. We are trying to plan our cabana day, and would love to see the pictures and map(s)! Thank you very much.

We had a cabana on nellies last spring. We went to the desk on the ship right away when we got onboard to request a specific cabana. I wanted a specific one if possible. We got it. Then we got off at labadee and took the tram to Nellies. At that time we were told to "pick one" and I explained we had reserved a specific one and my ticket showed this. So we went to the one we had chosen (I wanted one on the end, and we were in an over the water one) it worked perfectly!

We have an over the water cabana reserved for our cruise in a couple of weeks. May I ask how you decided which one you wanted? Grandma is not good with stairs, and we also have DS(8) with us...so I'm trying to make it "family friendly" if possible. Thanks!

I think most people stay closer to the port. We stayed there after a cruise that started in San Juan and ended in Miami. The airfare was so much higher on Sunday so we decided to stay in Fort Lauderdale until Monday. We saved over $170pp on the airfare that way. We also used points to stay at the Hilton Beach Resort. Since we are Gold they upgraded our room and we got free continental breakfast.

 

You know the area if you have stayed at the W since they are next to each other.

I would like to stay closer to the port, but I am really picky about hotels. Most people seem to want close to the port, breakfast included, "nothing fancy, just clean". I prefer no breakfast included, and something more upscale. If there were something close to the port in this category, I'd love to know about it!

We (2 of us) took a taxi to and from the airport to the Hilton Beach Resort a couple of years ago and the cost was $25-$28 depending on if you were coming from or going to the airport. It was higher coming from the airport due to a airport surcharge. I don't see that it could be that much higher now. And the port is a little closer than the airport to the hotel.

 

By the way we loved the hotel. We had a 2 two room suite with 1 1/2 bathrooms overlooking the ocean. There were plenty of restaurants and stores around that we walked to.

Thanks for the info! It's nice to hear from someone who has stayed there. It doesn't seem to be a popular choice around here...I see almost nothing about it. Not sure why.

We have stayed at The W the last couple of times, but it was pricey this time so we decided to use some Hilton points. I am hoping we didn't make a mistake :-)

https://www.travelocity.com/things-to-do/shared-shuttle-ft-lauderdale-hollywood-airport-fll.a205782.activity-details

 

The link is a list of airport transfers to the different hotel zones. Looks like you can just book a transfer from there. Just reverse the search from airport to hotel. I booked our flights and hotel through them so that may have lowered the price in a bundle. $20 still isn't so bad.

I missed the "per person" in your original post. $80+ for 4 people in a shared van actually sounds like a lot to me. The Uber estimator says $27-$35 for an XL. For your hotel, it's only $13-$16 for an UberX. That's for the whole ride, not per person...and it includes tip.

We are staying at the Hilton Marina this Saturday for the 12/4 cruise. Booked a ride from FLL to the Hilton via Travelocity for $15 pp. We will be taking a taxi to the port Sunday morning since that port gets a bit tricky and I don't yet trust a random uber driver to deliver us efficiently. You would also have a difficult time finding an uber that would seat 4.

Thanks for the info. How did you book a car on Travelocity?

I think you can do Uber XL to make sure it's a bigger car. That's what we'd have to do.

I tried posting regarding my specific hotel (Hilton Beach Resort), but haven't gotten any replies...so I will try here.

Is Uber the way to go from FLL to the Hilton, and then from the Hilton to the port? Or should we be using a taxi? We are 4 people plus luggage.

We are planning to stay here for one night, pre-cruise. On our previous cruises, we stayed at the W Hotel, and they provided transportation to the port for us. So my questions about the Hilton are:

- Is there any difference between taking a taxi vs. Uber from FLL to the hotel?

- What about from the hotel to the port?

We are a party of 4, if that makes a difference.

If you have any other comments about the hotel, that would be great too.

Thanks!

Also on new Royal Suite program their is a suite checkin section at my time dinning . This was also honored for jr. suites. Just behind the reservations on left , and non on right. no standing in line.

That's interesting...I hadn't heard about that previously. We are in a JS for our upcoming HOTS voyage, and I will look for this line. All of the MTD reservations at the times we wanted were already full by the time I tried to book the first week of September, so this special line might be helpful.

We debated on whether or not to take our son to Grease. He is 7, so fairly close in age. I was not worried about the adult content, but the length of the musical. As it happened, our son wanted to go to club the first night, so my wife and I went alone. The adult content might raise some questions, but I think he would have loved the songs and dancing. It is fairly high energy show, but it is long. We did take him to see Columbus, and he seemed a bit bored. He liked the ship, which is amazing. We did take him to both water shows, and he seemed to like both. Last year on Freedom, we took him to the ice show and he loved that. So, my recommendations would be - try the ice and/or water shows first, and go see Grease the first night to see what you think. Honestly, there is SO much for kids to do on the ship, you will not be able to do everything. :D

Thanks for the info. My son is almost 9, and is an experienced theater-goer. I'm not worried about the length of the show -- Wicked was 2 1/2 hours, and it was no problem. I will continue to think about the content, though.

I am well aware that we won't get to everything! We have done Oasis and Allure...and still haven't done everything. Looking forward to trying some of the new stuff on Harmony!

In terms of the kids club, I think he just likes to hang with other kids and get a break from mom and dad. I will say that one huge hit with the kids - and our son, was the bionic bar. Our son met a little girl at the water show, and they decided they needed after the show, so her parents and us walked down to the bionic bar and bought the Shirley Temples. After that, our son wanted to "go to the bar and grab a drink" every night.

Sounds like something my son would like as well. He'd be figuring out how he could build the bionic arm with his Lego :-)

Thanks for the info!

To RSLeesburg...not sure if you saw my earlier post (below). Hoping to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Thanks for the great review.

 

We are doing the same itinerary on 12/17 with our 8 year old son. We have booked the zip line in Jamaica...sounds like we made a good choice!

 

I wanted to ask if you took your kiddo to Grease. I am on the fence because of the questionable theme/language. I'm not sure if that stuff will go over his head or not, as I know he'd enjoy the singing and dancing.

 

Were there any Adventure Ocean activities that your son especially enjoyed?

 

Thanks again!

Thank you for the review!

Thanks for the great review.

We are doing the same itinerary on 12/17 with our 8 year old son. We have booked the zip line in Jamaica...sounds like we made a good choice!

I wanted to ask if you took your kiddo to Grease. I am on the fence because of the questionable theme/language. I'm not sure if that stuff will go over his head or not, as I know he'd enjoy the singing and dancing.

Were there any Adventure Ocean activities that your son especially enjoyed?

Thanks again!

We were at Paradise Beach last week with our kids, whose ages range between 13 and 7. The taxi ride for 7 was $30 each way, and our van had functioning seatbelts. It was only about a 10 minute drive each way. There are tons of cabs at the port and at beach so it was very easy to find one, even for our larger family. The taxi fares are clearly posted at the port so you can look up your destination and know the price before you head out.

 

The inflatables price has increased to $21 per person. The whole day was incredibly reasonably priced to me - only $3 admission for a beautiful beach and/or pool, and you just had to spend $10 pp in food. Between my husband's buckets of beer and my frozen cocktails, it was no problem to hit our target, lol. We also ordered a bunch of food - tacos, nachos, fries, burritos, etc.

 

We brought our own life jackets for our 7 and 8 year olds as we weren't sure if we could rent them there. I never investigated further once we arrived since we had our own and didn't need to. The water was a bit deep so we were glad they had life jackets. Our older kids were fine swimming on their own. There's also a lifeguard on the beach.

 

The staff was fantastic - service was excellent. Food wasn't cheap but wasn't unreasonable either, and it was very tasty (even to our pickier kids). I had a fantastic massage in a curtained cabana on site (negotiated them down to $60 for 60 min) while my husband kept an eye on the kids at the beach.

 

Everything on site (including washrooms) was very clean. The pool was beautiful, and there are TONS of loungers available under palm trees or umbrellas at both the pool and beach. The day we were there it was busy but not crowded at all.

 

We absolutely loved Paradise Beach, and will be returning next year when we're back in Cozumel! 😊

Thank you so much for your detailed review! It is really helpful. I especially like knowing that I can use a credit card, that there is lots of shade, and that the bathrooms were clean! Sounds like a good way to spend the day in Cozumel, as we do not want an all-inclusive experience. Thanks again.

There is a Walgreens just before you get to the the port. After you turn left onto Eisenhower Blvd it will be on your right.

Perfect! Thanks for the info.

I hope you don't mind my adding on to your post...we are also staying at this hotel for one night in December.

For anyone who has stayed here, I have a few questions:

- We are a party of 4 with a decent amount of luggage. I'm assuming that the best way to get from FLL to the hotel is by taxi, correct?

- I am also assuming that we'd take a cab from the hotel to Port Everglades the next morning. Is there any advantage to Uber vs. just a cab?

- We'd like to pick up a case of water on the way to the port. Is there somewhere close by to do this?

Thanks for your help!

There has been a lot of discussion about no pool in the Solarium. It has increased the numbers in the nearer pools. It was a bit wavy today, so I thought I'd post some video from the beach pool.

 

[YOUTUBE]I2OaIXr8mGU[/YOUTUBE]

That's what the pool looked like (minus the waves) when I cruised on Disney!

Andrew posted the paper menu (page 24 of this thread). There is a burger on that one at least. :)

I see it now...not a free one! I will be sure to hide that menu as soon as we board.... :-)

As far as I know this is the normal room service menu. There is not a print menu in our cabin.

My 8 year old is pretty disappointed. He doesn't understand why they don't have hamburgers, hot dogs, or grilled cheese. Hrmph.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are on the 12/17 Western sailing, so very anxious to see the Shows at a Glance, Compasses, and menus.

I don't really have motion sickness problems, but that Harry Potter ride just about killed me. About half way through, I was thinking "This is so awesome!" and "OMG, when is it going to end...I might lose it!"...all at the same time.

Unless things have changed, you can also have in-cabin babysitting. We used this service on sailings when our son was 1, 3, and 5. There was no nursery available back then, and even if there had been, we preferred to have him sound asleep in the cabin than in one of the clubs. You would need to go to guest services to reserve babysitting, and it's on an "as available" basis. We never had trouble reserving when we wanted it, and were very pleased with the service.

The water toys are in water deep enough to keep you from hitting the bottom when youngsters (and those of us still young at heart :o) jump off - about 6 feet or so.

 

All of the popular beach clubs are lined up along the same side of the island, so the water quality will be about the same for all - if the currents stir things up or bring seaweed to one, all will have the same conditions.

 

Parts of the beach at PB are rocky, but most is soft sand - easy enough to figure out the difference.

 

When you get to the front of the cab line feel free to skip any cabs that have tied up/cut/non-functioning seatbelts. You can bring your own booster seat, but it is not required in Mexico. Cab fare will be posted - with 8 you'll need a van-taxi and expect to pay about $35+ each way; the ride takes 10-15 minutes.

 

Have a great cruise!. :)

Thank you! What do you think about the crowd/transportation part of the question?

Thank you for the pictures and info! You have me reconsidering. If my guy can't play on the ocean toys, and the beach is rocky and murky...I'm not sure what he'd do. I don't really want to go somewhere and just sit at a pool, as I can stay on the ship and do that (and he'd probably had the waterslides all to himself!)

We always do Eastern Caribbean, and I hope we didn't make a mistake...I am missing St. Martin's beautiful beach already! LOL

If anyone else has some other opinions about PB, or some other suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

We have never been to Cozumel before, but will be visiting for a day in mid-December. My son will be almost 9 years old, and Grandma (79) will be coming as well. After some research, I think Paradise Beach might be a good choice since we do *not* want all-inclusive.

I'm assuming we can just get a cab at the pier. However, there are 8 (yes, 8) ships in port that day. Almost 26,000 passengers! So I'm wondering how difficult it will be to get transportation to and from the beach, and also whether the beach would be impossibly crowded. We definitely need shade & chairs, or we'd just assume not go at all.

Also, here at home, my son still rides in a booster (he is small for his age), which is required up until age 8 anyway. I've heard that the cabs in Mexico do not have seatbelts, so it sounds like a booster is not an option. I'm assuming that there is no law that would require the booster, but if anyone happens to know, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!