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pnorth

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    What to do in Costa Maya for free (or cheap)....

    in Costa Maya

    Posted

    50 minutes ago, amurray88 said:

    Hi All,

    What's the best activities in Costa Maya that are cheap and cheerful? Have excursions booked for Cozumel and Roatan, just looking for something simple (that isn't just the normal port based shops).

     

    Beaches within walking distance of the port? Shops that are local and a wee bit different?

     

    Ta!

     

    following

    CCL Cabin Info Compilation - No Cabin Questions posted here please!

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Ship - Dream

    Deck - 9 Vista

    Stateroom # - 9228

    Stateroom Category – 8D

    Starboard or Port Side - Port

     

    Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Yes Very

     

    Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - Yes

     

     

    Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Great views especially when in Port!

     

    Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal kings bed and couch but only room for 2

     

    Was wind a problem? - No

     

    If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

     

    Any specific problems with this cabin? - drain plugged but was fixed

     

    Any other comments? -

    I would book this cabin again, only issue was the long walk to dinner, but we needed it after eating so much. I loved this room. Little movement and just one deck from lido, which was really nice.

    Best beach in Freeport

    in Bahamas

    Posted

    I went to Paradise Cove last February and the day we went was windy so it was a little challenging to get out to the reef, but we saw turtles and sting rays closer to the shore without having to swim to the reef. They give you a flotation device to wear while you are snorkeling.

    Did you take a taxi to Paradise Cove?

    Just back from the Dream

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hello! My wife, myself and 2 othercouples just got back from the Jan. 14th sailing on the Carnival Dream. Given how much I enjoy reading the reviews from others, I figured I'd take ashot at doing one myself. I'll try to cover everything that I usually findvaluable, but please don't hesitate to let me know if there are specificquestions you'd like answered. Before I say anything else, this was awonderful trip, no vacation is perfect, and I'll detail the few hiccups, butoverall it was awesome and all 6 of us agreed we'd love to do it again. Here we go:

     

    Embarkation:

    The port took about 15 minutes byUber to get to from our Airbnb in the French Quarter. We had the 11-1130check-in time. No one even looked at our check-in time until the veryend, after we had our Sail and Sign cards. At that point, if you were 'ontime' they put you in the next available open zone. If you were early,you were seated a few zones back. We were on the ship with our firstdrink in hand just after noon. So under 90 minutes from curb to a bar onthe lido deck. It seemed even faster, no complaints at all.

     

    The Ship:

    Spotless, or as close as one can reasonably hope for. Seriously our entire group noted throughout the week how well kept the shipwas. There were crewmembers constantly cleaning, polishing, scrubbing,etc. Every crewmember we encountered was polite andfriendly. The bar staff from poolside to lobby and everywhere else washelpful and worked hard. Some bars, suchas Red Frog’s Rum Bar and the Lobby Bar always seemed well staffed but others,such as the aft pool bar and the Alchemy Bar always seemed a bitunderstaffed.

     

     

    Food:

    We did the Sea day Brunch, BlueIguana's breakfast burritos and the buffet for breakfast. The brunch wasgreat, although I was a bit too hungover to enjoy the banter of ourtablemates . The breakfast burritos wereoutstanding! We waited until our next to last full day to try them andthat's one of my few regrets of the cruise. The buffet breakfast wasenjoyable, nothing too memorable but I was neverdisappointed.

    For lunch I tried, in order of what I liked; theMongolian Wok (3 times), Guys burgers (once), Tandoori (twice), Pig and AnchorBBQ. We also ate off the ship in two of our ports (I know that's morethan 7 lunches but we're on vacation, why not have multiple lunches somedays?). The rest of our group tried Pasta Bella and they said it wasfine, but just fine. That's what I thought about Pig and Anchor, thesides were good, the meats were meh and being outside on the Lanai, everythingwas cool if not cold by the time you started eating. The line for theMongolian Wok was silly, it usually took 15-20 minutes, but it was worth thewait. Plus it was cool seeing those guys work. It's reallyimpressive to watch. For dinner, we ate in the main dining room all butone night.

    We had YTD and after the first night we requested the serverwe had that first night every single evening. Big shout out to Arfirst,she's an awesome server! For those wondering, our group of 6, was rarelythere for over 90 minutes, and we were in no rush at all. We ordered tonsof food, usually 3 or 4 courses plus dessert and some items for the table toshare. Our only gripe about the MDR service was that instead of bringingthe food one course at a time, each person got 2 or 3 items all at once, thenentrees. It's a minor thing and we attributed it to 2 things; 1- tryingto be efficient and accommodate the general expectation that people want to getin and out, 2 - the team serving us had 4 tables of 6-10 people. 25-35people is a lot of people for one team of servers to wait on so that was oneway to make it more manageable.

    The one night we didn't eat in the diningroom we ate in the Steakhouse. Our group was divided on the experience,some saying it was a highlight but I found it disappointing. The fooditself was better than the MDR, but not significantly. Most of mydisappointment came from the service. It says clearly on the menu thatadditional entrees will require an additional charge, what it doesn't say butour server curtly told us, you are limited to one app and one salad (he waswilling to allow us to skip a salad and get a second app). We were tryingto order one of everything, but an app, a soup and a salad was our originalplan, and this was unexpected as I've never been to a specialty restaurant thatwas so strict. Also, when they sent someone in our party the wrong app,they argued with her before replacing it. Finally, they made a big dealabout how many bottles of water they were opening, which was particularlystrange since they asked at the beginning if all 6 of us had the Cheers package(we did). Overall, not a bad experience but just not the outstanding onewe've come to expect from the specialty restaurants.

     

    Stateroom:

    My wife and I had an Aft balcony ondeck 8 (8470), and we loved it. It seemed bigger than a standard balconyand the Aft view is one that I love. Our room steward, Ari, was verygood, but clearly overworked. He had every room on the port side of the shipfrom the aft elevators back to ours. We had twice a day service and henever complained and always got to our room but we could tell he stretched bythe number of rooms. Our room was clean from the moment we were on theship until we left and have no complaints other than it was a touch warmer thanwe like at night, even with the curtains shut.

     

    Shows:

    We went to a handful and I will sayFlick is one of the coolest main theater shows that I’ve ever seen. Interesting story and incredible specialeffects; really, really worth seeing. Wesaw multiple comedians and they were ok, except for Manny Olivera. You’re either going to love him or beappalled. I loved him, he’s raunchy andspends half of his set out in the crowd joking with (or at) people. He never gets too person or spends too muchtime on someone that it becomes uncomfortable but I could easily see someonebeing upset with his show. Not me, I sawall 3 of his 18+ plus shows.

     

    Ports:

    Roatan – We did the Carnival JungleATV and beach break tour. It rained thatmorning and everything was muddy, perfect for ATV-ing. We spent about 90 minutes on the ATVs andthen 2 hours at a nearby beach. Thebeach is at a resort that is clearly in the process of being redone but it wasa really fun excursion.

    Belize – We did the Carnival LamaniRuins and Scenic River Boat Tour. Veryglad we did this through Carnival as our tour ran over, along with a fewothers, so we were on the final tender which they held for us. The tour was fun but we spent about 2 hourstotal on buses and the river boat portion wasn’t a scenic tour. It was 20 minutes on a speed boat flying fromwhere the bus drops you off to the ruins. The ride there was fun and wild, the ride back our group had to splitbecause they had 2 smaller boats, that ride was terrifying. Our boat’s, ummm, “captain” stopped torebalance the boat after we hit a wave and shifted mid-air. Seriously, terrifying. Other than that, the Ruins were awesome andI’m glad we did that excursion, but I won’t do it again.

    Cozumel – Went to Mr. Sanchos. We had ordered tickets ahead of time and itwas a good thing, our taxi driver said there were 7 boats in port and they wereprobably sold out. Good drinks, partyatmosphere and the menu food was good. Didn’t eat the buffet because people were actually grabbing stuff withtheir bare hands, ew. Plenty of entertaining people watching everywhere.

     

    Smoke:

    I know even mentioning the word is the third rail of CruiseCritic but I’d be remiss if I didn’t address it. It was truly only an issue in 2 places. The first was in the stateroom of one of theother couples we traveled with. Thatroom smelled like it was a smoking room. It was the first thing you’d smell when you entered and when they triedto open the balcony door to air it out, smoke from nearby balconies made itworse. They immediately alerted guestservices and to Carnival’s credit, they gave them ship board credit, theyshampooed the carpet, they sent an HVAC worker to try to work some magic and onthe next to last day when people left the ship in Cozumel they offered to movethem, but by then the hassle of moving for a day and a half just wasn’t worthit. Carnival really did try to make thesituation better but at the end of the day, they had to spend a week breathingsmoke at night because people in the room before them and their neighborsrefused to respect the rule of no smoking in staterooms or on balconies. The other place smoke was an issue was Deck5. It was pretty bad for the majority ofthat deck. The casino was thick withsmoke, which also meant that the Ocean Plaza area was really smoky. The Alchemy bar, in the far corner of theOcean Plaza, wasn’t too bad, but for some reason there was a sewage-like smellin the back of the Alchemy bar. I don’twant to spend too much time on smoke but just be aware, if you’re sensitive,avoid Deck 5, mid-ship.

     

    Cheers:

    We all did Cheers and there are a few things I’ll note. First, at the end of every dinner in the MDR,our server brought each of us a big, 1.5L, bottle of water. And we saw plenty of other people gettingthem as well. It was a really nicetouch. Also, only a few times I went toa bar with both my card and my wife’s. Inever had a problem getting a drink for her. I saw bartenders ask to have a cardholder present, but in those casesthe person was ordering for a group of people with 3+cards in hand or orderinga beer with one card and a shot with the other. No one in our group was ever cut off or hit our limit but a few times,late night, a server or bartender would drop off a drink and mention, “you’vegot one left”. That’s a really niceheads-up.

     

    Debarkation:

    A bit of a cluster and Carnival put one of our bags in zone25 instead of 5. Other than that it wasjust a sea of people getting off at once. CBP looked at our passports and said welcome back, that’s it. We had a Carnival transfer and we have TSAprecheck so ship to gate took almost 2 hours exactly, not bad.

     

     

     

    I think that’s about everything, please feel free to let meknow if you have any questions. Otherwise, I’ll go back to wallowing in the post-cruise blues.

     

     

    Thank you for the review, we leave in 6 days! I wanted to know how many and which nights are the formal nights?

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