rockbock

What is the purpose of the red strings then? Odd. Thanks for the review!

I wasn't clear...they are for emergencies. They are there because these are modified staterooms and they want a handicapped person to have the ability to quickly reach Guest Services without having to walk to a phone.

Ok, so it looks like my husband and I are all dressed up in our spa attire and ready to show you the Cloud 9 Spa area!

On the last sea day, I brought my camera up to the Cloud 9 Spa area as soon as it opened at 8am. I wanted to videotape the entire floor before people started using the area. My videos are FAR from perfect, but I think the videos will give you a better perpective of how the area is set up than just looking at photos alone. I did forget to say or do a lot of things in the videos, however, so I'll make a point to comment on these items once I get to the photo walkthrough.

I split the video up into four short clips of about 5 minutes or less each. I'd recommend viewing them in order, but it's not necessary.

A few notes about these videos:

(1) The Spa area is not loud. Some of the videos have a lot of background noise or the background music seems obnoxiously loud. I'm not sure why it recorded that way. The sounds in the Cloud 9 Spa area were always soft and soothing. You can even manually adjust the volume of the music (or level of heat/steam) in each room.

(2) The "beeping" sound that you hear in the locker room is ALWAYS there and it is VERY annoying. For some reason, the safes beep nonstop.

(3) I forgot to turn on the "open" showers in the spa area for this video (not the ones in the locker room). They are NOT TO BE MISSED! The controls are amazing. You can add water jets from the side, misting jets, etc. You can even add mood lighting. These are the best showers I've ever used IN MY LIFE. Well worth showering in a bathing suit to be able to experience these showers!

VIDEO #1

This video leads you from my cabin on the 11th deck (Panorama) up the private staircase to Spa Deck 12. I also explain the process for getting access to the spa areas.

VIDEO #2

This video tours the Thalassotherapy Pool and the first steam room.

VIDEO #3

This video tours the other three steam rooms/saunas, as well as the relaxation lounge.

VIDEO #4

This video tours the Cloud 9 Spa private locker room.

NEXT UP: Photo tour of the Cloud 9 Spa area

SUMMARY OF SPA OCEANVIEW CABINS:

I give them a 10/10. I'm convinced that these are among the best cabins on the entire ship.

If I were traveling with only 2-3 passengers, my first choice cabin would be 11204 (since this side of the ship has a better view when docked at most ports), followed closely by 11203, which I didn't see, but I'm presuming is a mirror-image of 11204. My next choices would be 11202 and then 11201. But pleeeeeeeeeease don't think that because I listed my cabin as third choice that I wasn't happy with it. It was an AMAZING room and truly spoiled me!

Oh yeah...I just thought of something else, so I'll just add it here. Be careful of the little red strings on both sides of the bed in these cabins. If you pull them, Guest Services will call you immediately to see what the problem is. My husband and I figured this out right away. However, my 16-year old daughter tugged on it thinking it was a light switch. At least I know the service is VERY fast if we needed help lol. And the string in the bathroom is even more confusing, because I think people could easily confuse it with the string that you pull to hang your wet clothing over.

NEXT UP: Video walkthrough of the Cloud 9 Spa area!

I know you're all ready for me to start talking about the Cloud 9 Spa itself, but first I need to give you a sneak peek at another Spa cabin. This time it's 11204. Some ladies from my roll call were in this cabin next door to me, so I snapped a few quick photos. For some reason, cabin 11204 only accommodates 3 passengers, but it's even bigger than the one I had! This cabin was truly amazing! Here are a few photos:

So next, let's talk about the "obstructed oceanview with semi-private walkway balcony." Let's just say, I'd take this setup over a typical balcony every day! Sure, it would be nice to have a private balcony, but they're so small that I'd likely never really use it much. There's barely enough room to sit on them. This arrangement, on the other hand, was SPECTACULAR. On embarkation day, a handful of people walked out onto the Panorama deck, presumably because they were touring/inspecting the entire ship. After the first day, we probably only saw somebody out on that deck once or twice a day. Nobody really used it at all. It was so nice and spacious...within just a few short steps, you had your choice of a front view, port view, or starboard view. There are a couple of wooden benches on the deck...not exactly comfortable lounge chairs, but they were ok. I spent a lot of time out on this deck. I used it every morning before most people on the ship were awake (5am). I also used it to watch for pier runners at each port. And it was so convenient to get great shots of every port from right outside my cabin. Ok, enough chatting about the deck...here are some photos:

First, this is the obstructed view if you look directly outside the cabin window:

Now, to access the "secret" deck. All I needed to do was exit my cabin, turn to the right, then immediately turn to the right again. The door to the deck was right at the end of that short hallway. It was literally about 15 steps to get from inside my cabin to the outside deck.

Beware of wind when you exit the door to this deck. Most of the time, there was no problem at all. However, one morning when I went outside it was rainy and windy. The wind is more powerful on this deck than anyplace else I experienced on the ship.

The next photo is kind of important. It's an example of the view from the outside deck into my cabin window. Carnival will try to tell you that the windows with walkway views are tinted. They are. However, they aren't tinted enough to give you privacy. This didn't bother my family at all. We just made sure we pulled the shades closed when we were getting dressed.

This next photo is the access door to the outside Panorama deck. The window right next to the access door is the window to my cabin. That should give you an idea of how conveniently located this cabin was.

So when we walked through the door of Cabin 11202 for the first time, the sofa was already made up into a bed, but the upper bunk was not pulled down yet. On the main bed, we had a pair of Cloud 9 Spa Slippers and a "storage pouch" for them. Two large, heavyweight robes were hung in the closet. The beach towels in our cabin were the yellow Serenity towels, instead of the standard blue Carnival towels. The Elemis items are a big nothing...they are normal hotel-sized sample products. Nothing special and the steward didn't refill them at all during the trip. The bathroom was extremely large, since this is a handicap accessible cabin.

It should be noted that there is always a slight risk of getting "bumped" when booking one of these cabins, since it is a handicapped room. The good news is that you have to be "bumped" to an equivalent or better cabin, which means you would still have spa access and you'd likely be "bumped" to a balcony or suite. Personally, I like this cabin better than any balcony on the ship, but it's not like it would be horrible to get bumped to a balcony instead.

Here are a lot of pics of the cabin taken from different angles, at different times during the trip. Some have the upper bunk down, so you can see how the cabin looks with all four beds made up. I can't show you any photos of how the cabin looked with the sofa, because there was never a time during the entire week that the sofa was made up like a sofa. The steward kept it as a bed all the time.

Ok, so let's start out with a diagram of the Panorama Deck, so you can see exactly how enormous the four Spa Oceanview cabins are. If you look at the diagram below, the standard-size spa cabins (inside and balcony) are shaded in dark blue and green. The larger teal-blue cabins (e.g. #11206) are the Spa Suites. The four largest cabins, shaded in light blue, are the Oceanview cabins. My CC Roll Call had a GREAT cabin crawl, which included two Spa OV cabins, one Ocean Suite, and one Grand Suite. Although the OS and GS were "fancier" looking cabins, the Spa Oceanviews were the two LARGEST cabins.

Also note in the diagram below that the red-colored cabins are NOT spa cabins.

So now let's explain how these cabins look once you're on the ship. Assume you are getting off of one of the elevators in the diagram. It looks like there might be "space" where you can walk in between the green (inside) cabins. You can't. You need to choose one of the narrow hallways (even cabins or odd cabins).

So let's assume that you choose to walk up the hallway with the even cabins. You reach the end of that hallway, so 11206 is on your left and 11208 is on your right. This is your view:

Notice how you can either turn right or you can "sort of" continue straight ahead. If you continue straight ahead, you will pass cabin 11204 on your left and the hall will dead-end into a door which leads outside to the semi-private walkway balcony. Here's a view of that hallway:

If you had made a 90-degree right turn from the first photo, you would be in a different hallway, with cabin 11202 on your left, cabin 11208 on your right, and an access door to the Cloud 9 Spa straight ahead. Here's a view of that hallway:

You might have originally thought from looking at the deck plan that all four of the Spa OV cabins are in the same hallway. They are, but only sort of. You have to walk through two sets of doors separating out the Cloud 9 staircase in order to get from the even cabins to the odd ones.

And one last photo...a close-up of the door to my cabin:

NEXT UP: TOUR OF THE INSIDE OF CABIN 11202

I had a lot of trouble finding a comprehensive review of the Cloud 9 Spa package on the Dream. For that reason, I'm going to take the time to post a VERY comprehensive review for those of you who might be interested. My review will include LOTS of photos, links to four videos which provide a guided tour of the entire spa area, and a photo tour of my Oceanview Spa Cabin (#11202). I forgot to take video of my cabin and I wish I had, because it was quite impressive! Hopefully the photos will suffice. I also have some photos of Cabin #11204. This cabin is also a Spa Oceanview, but it has a very different layout than the one I was in.

Please be patient with me in terms of getting this review posted. Like a good cruise review, it's going to take MANY posts and I'll likely have to take some breaks in between.

Let's start off with my personal story of how I ended up in a Spa cabin. I initially booked our cruise (9-29-12 Dream) back in April. I booked a Deluxe Oceanview Cabin for my family of 5. In June, my parents decided to join us on this cruise. The Early Saver option was no longer available for them and they are not past guests of Carnival, so I moved my daughter into their cabin so that they could qualify for the past guest rate (I'm a TA, so Carnival waived the $50 fee for changing my daughter's reservation). My daughter would still be sleeping in the cabin with my family...her "move" was simply a "paper" move so that my parents could get the better rate.

Three weeks before sail date, somebody cancelled a reservation for two Oceanview Spa Cabins (#11202 and #11204) and they were placed back into inventory at an AMAZING rate. Cabin #11204 only accommodates 3 passengers, but #11202 is a quad. Since my daughter was no longer listed on the same reservation with the rest of my family, we were able to upgrade to quad cabin #11202. The upgrade cost me a grand total of $3.60 more than the original cost for our Deluxe Oceanview on the Riviera Deck. The grand total for this cruise for my entire family of 5, including taxes and fees (but before tips), was $2,300. The net cost was right around $2,000 after my TA commission and a statement credit from my Carnival Mastercard.

The only "complication" would be that we'd have to bring a small airbed from home for the 5th person. It seemed like a great trade-off, considering we'd be getting an oversized spa cabin on the Panorama Deck, with a semi-private balcony. It ended up being MORE than a great trade-off. Details to follow:

COMING UP NEXT - Photos and review of the Spa Oceanview cabin!

In Roatan, that walk to get to the nonship tour providers is not worth it for us.

Waaaay toooo long & far & those hills !!

Bill in FL

There are cabs that take you to the top of the hill for $2.00 and then the tour providers are allowed to drop you off right at the port, so you don't have to pay for the cab on the way home.

In Roatan, we snorkel at Tayabana Beach thru the ship which is a walk in snorkel experience with a short swim to the reef. This tour runs about $35 PP & includes an included bus ride to & from this beach.

We booked a $25pp private tour through Victor Bodden and had 8 hours of a private tour. We saw the entire island and snorkeled at Tabyana. I would never pay $35pp for a short cruise ship excursion, when I can get a full-day guided tour including the snorkeling and anything else I want to do, for cheaper than the ship excursion. JMO

Please take lots of pictures of the cabin. We are in 11203 in October (not because of the Spa but because my mother is in a wheelchair) and would love to see more pictures!

 

thank you. :D

I'll do you one better than that...

We're in 11202, which is an oversized cabin, but it's a different shape than yours. However, there's a lady on our roll call and Facebook page who is in the cabin right beside me (11204). Her cabin is identical to yours in shape, just the reverse layout. We're both showing our cabins during the Cabin Crawl, so I'll make sure I take some good photos of her cabin too. That way you can see exactly what your shape cabin will look like. :)

From what I have read on their website a upgrade to to Spa cabin thru a guarantee does include any of those cabin privledges. Don't know how they enforce it or know how you got your cabin. :confused:

If you are automatically placed into a spa cabin via a guarantee rate, you don't receive the spa benefits. If you pay for an upgrade, you do receive the benefits. (I paid $3.60 to move from Deluxe OV to Spa OV and I placed two calls to verify that I will receive the benefits. I will.)

The grey area is if you receive a free upgrade via an Early Saver rate. Technically, this isn't an "upgrade" since you paid for price protection. Some people claim that you do receive the spa benefits with this and some claim you don't. It seems to me that you should, but I don't have personal experience.

Thanks to all of you with guide recommendations, I just requested Tex last night and heard today he was available! His van holds only six.

 

Greatly looking forward to this tour!

 

Kathy

They can make accommodations to fit larger parties. My family will be there in two weeks. We have Tex reserved and there are 7 of us.

I'll be in a spa cabin on the Dream in less than two weeks. We upgraded from a Deluxe OV to a Spa OV for $3.60. We're in one of the gigantic handicapped cabins on the 11th floor, with the semi-private balcony. I'm extremely excited about the T-pool and the oversized cabin. This forum lacks detailed Cloud 9 Spa reviews, so I plan to take lots of photos and write a comprehensive review when I get back.

I, too, have to ask "how can you RENT something for free ? "

 

I'm not sure, we snorkel without vests (we are both certified divers) but there's not too much "free" in Roatan. Things are very reasonable cost-wise - but free - mmmm don't count on it. These people are quite poor and are trying to make a living with the tourist trade. I would probably say if you can't afford a couple of bucks to rent a vest, bring your own.

 

BTW: we found the people there to be some of the friendliest and easy going around. And we have traveled the world.

I wouldn't have expected free either, but apparently it is at Chankanaab in Cozumel, so I thought it was worth asking.

I guess you pay admission to Chankanaab though, so they're sort of collecting money for it.

We bought our own gear except for vests.

 

I read in a thread that you can rent just vests at no charge near Tabyana but I cannot find the thread.

I actually asked this same question yesterday. I'm also interested in knowing if there is a place we can rent vests at no cost.

I'll be snorkeling here in early October with my family of 5 (kids are all teenagers). I have a pretty significant fear of currents, due to a very scary encounter with a bad undertow in Hawaii when I was 15. I don't want to run into any problems here.

My question is whether we should only snorkel near the kidney, or if the water will still be calm over near Iguana Wall and the 3? I know we should avoid getting too close to the Black Rock area, since there's a possibility for strong currents there.

88.00 is more than we budgeted but we would do the 38.00 trip if it had been offered to us. Sadly, the cheapest now is 65.00 without transportation so add that in and we are back to about 90. I had seen the 65.00 package with transportation and we were very ready to book, then I got a quote that was different than the one I saw from June.

We are going off ship excursions to get something affordable. We do have a budget. This place looks awesome but not sure if we can go now. I usually don't eat much on excursions to beach so I could have done it without the food but it was not offered in my quote.

Honestly, it's very clear that this business is trying to figure out what works best for it. The only way they will figure it out is to see how many people are choosing to book at each price point that they offer.

Personally, if I were considering this this location, I'd send the business another email. I would tell them flat out that posts on Cruise Critic suggest that there seems to be very little consistency with the quoted rates and packages. Let them know that other cruisers have recently reported being quoted $38pp for ??? (insert exact details of the $38 package). Then ask them if they would be willing to honor that price for your family.

There's no harm in trying.

Just about everybody here is going to tell you to get Los Cinco Soles. It's one of those things where one person recommends it, so five people get it...then they each recommend it, so another 25 people buy it, etc..

I don't doubt that Los Cinco Soles vanilla is very good. However, right at the pier there are numerous vendors selling excellent vanilla (with no cumarin) for $8 per 33.2oz. bottle. The Los Cinco Soles brand is close to $20 for a smaller bottle.

There is NO WAY the Los Cinco Soles vanilla can possibly be so much better than the other brands that it's worth paying close to 3 times the price.

FYI, the brand I have now is Totonac's. It was purchased in one of the port shops last October. As I stated above, I paid $8 for it.

Here is a link to the product on Amazon.com. I don't recommend ordering from Amazon, however. Apparently the bottles they are selling in the U.S. are NOT the same quality vanilla you will get if you purchase the same brand in Cozumel.

http://www.amazon.com/Mexican-Vanilla-Totonacs-vanilla-extract/dp/B003RM9SA6

I didnt really know either but I tipped 60.00 total for the two of us. Tex uses his own van, his own gas, does his own cleaning and maintenance. I figured since it was a private tour, more was appropriate. I am really interested to see what others say.

Tipping $60 on a $50 excursion seems ridiculously high. Even if the two of you were alone and had to paid $80 instead of $50, the tip amount still seems exceptionally high.

We don't cruise on the Conquest until January, but I booked with Victor Bodden a couple of weeks ago after hearing others on our roll call already had booked with him. I didn't want to wait and find out later that he was all booked up. I'm not sure who our driver will be, he didn't say. But we are planning on doing the Carambola Gardens tour and the monkeys, and a drive around the island to see some of the highlights/photo opportunities.

 

Thanks to everyone on this thread who posted reviews and photos. :) I also read many good reviews on Trip Advisor too.

I would recommend emailing them back and requesting Tex if he is available. I've read wonderful things about most of the Bodden guides, but apparently Tex is much better than the rest. I was lucky enough to snag him for our cruise this October. Looking forward to it...

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the elegant night food, but I HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE having to get dressed up in monkey suits.

To me, the perfect "elegant" night would be a "cruise casual" dress code with the "elegant night" menu and servers walking around with dessert carts containing the "Chocolate Extravaganza" type desserts.

Ok, after reading this entire thread, I was convinced I needed to book with this company. My family of five is now officially booked for the "Best of Roatan" tour with Tex when we're there at the beginning of October. I was happy to learn that Tex was still available on the date we'll be there, since he seems to come highly recommended.

We'll be in port from 10am until 7pm, so I can reasonably expect to have 6 - 7 hours on the island (since I'll lose up to an hour with tendering each direction)

Our itinerary will consist of (in no particular order) snorkeling for a couple of hours at a rocky beach with good snorkeling, an hour or two at a soft-sand beach, the monkeys, lunch, and sightseeing.

I have a few questions which maybe some of you who have been to Roatan can answer.

(1) We're planning to just let Tex decide where to take us sightseeing, but is there anyplace specific (free or VERY cheap) that we should make sure we don't miss?

(2) I'd like some recommendations on where we can go for lunch. We are NOT seafood eaters. We'd like to go someplace that has INEXPENSIVE local cuisine.

(3) My research suggests that Tabyana will be the best place to snorkel. Is there someplace Tex will be able to drop us off which offers free access to this beach?