aldaffodil

Thank you! I’m doing this itinerary in June so this is fantastic!

 

I am a little concerned that Amber Cove was missed due to wind. Does anyone know if that’s common? (Example: I know Grand Cayman has a higher chance to get skipped due to weather and water conditions)

 

 

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Sorry It took me forever to respond. I was kind of surprised that we weren't able to dock in Amber Cove. It's somewhat protected. I guess it just depends on the direction of the wind. They tried a couple times and kept turning the ship around, but I guess they just couldn't keep it straight. Out of my 9 cruises, we've missed ports due to wind on 3 of them. I used to get pretty darn upset, but now I've managed to accept it's just part of cruising. It was disappointing though because we really love that port.

Well, it's taken me a month, but I finally scanned our Fun Times. Hopefully someone will find it to be useful information.

Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day were both during our cruise - so there are things in our Fun Times that are specific to the dates we sailed. I apparently lost the Fun Times from the first day - oops! If I come across them, I'll come back and add them.

Day 2 - Fun Day at Sea:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1C903PvUbMJCwqeDkNqBhXbXnyBYoPrO8

Day 3 - Amber Cove

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1f8rLO72zQ58_d4Afl8LjS0_6bqDlqLja

Day 3 - Missed Amber Cover due to Wind - Extra Sea Day

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1f8rLO72zQ58_d4Afl8LjS0_6bqDlqLja

Day 4 - St. Thomas & Mardi Gras

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RC5qoV-8f9xgq68ExN2zDjXLovO_1WBP

Day 5 - San Juan & Valentine's Day

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nfovtV48nXlLJsHFAeoh_aFahkT-6F_j

Day 6 - Grand Turk

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Kk1eUHGOxCnsTKne_GyR8Q_wrsyJfgr

Day 7 - Fun Day at Sea

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FG3QOEwzdjU1nM5Q0gGCu-Nv21L-JXsg

I'm afraid my hubby and I frustrated our (Haven) butler. Our usual category is balcony and we are unused to that kind of service. Plus, we're usually so self-sufficient that we felt funny asking for too much. He, on the other hand, wanted to do much more for us. At that time, the Gem-class Haven suites received soda and water (bummer that they don't now) and he made sure our mini-fridge was stocked with our preferred ones. He remembered what treats we liked and brought more of those. He checked in with us a few times every day when he knew we "at home" to see what else we needed. He took care of any issues we had, such as the night we were ignored at a busy Cagney's for 20 minutes and left the restaurant. He immediately phoned to the concierge, who phoned the restaurant. Then he brought us a bottle of wine (compliments of the concierge), took our order, and served us course by course in our suite. And he was really fun to chat with about life, travel, cruising, etc. We always got the feeling that he enjoyed his job and not that he wanted to do more for us to earn higher tips.

 

I have told my hubby more than once that the next time we are blessed with a suite (fingers crossed), we will not be so self-sufficient and will take full advantage of the perk--with the appropriate attitude ("please" and "thank you" are really big in our vocabulary) and tips to match. One thing we would never do, even though it's been listed as a perk, is ask the butler to unpack for us. Aside from the fact that we prefer to put our things away ourselves, we think that is a bit much to expect and just seems a bit too "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downton Abbey," if you prefer.

 

beachchick

Huh. I've been wondering if I could tip extra to call our butler Carson all week. :D

How many in your group? :confused:

 

I regularly see large passenger vans in the cab line that can carry 8-10 passengers and the fare in one of those to Mr. Sanchos should be about $3-4 per person. Unless you have 50 plus you might just grab a couple of cab-vans; a 20-30 minute heads up in the afternoon to the staff and they can have the required number of cab vans waiting ot take you back.

I'm still trying to get a count - at least 25 people I'd guess. We very well may just grab cabs if there's no significant cost savings to pre-arranging one.

Our group needs to charter a small bus to take us to Mr. Sanchos. Has anyone done this before? Is there a tour/charter company you can recommend to us?

Thanks!

Here is a link to the time-lapse camera that we zip-tied to our balcony on the Freedom. You can see what the view is like.

 

 

More still pictures can be found on my review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1673525

Cool video! We're there passing lights in the night?

Is there usually at least one lounger on the extended aft balconies on Carnival Conquest class ships? And if not, any problem requesting one from your room steward?

There was already a lounger on our aft extended balcony on Conquest. I'm pretty sure they all had them.

We did not have any trouble with cigarettes from floors above.

Here's a link to a video of our aft balcony - Conquest 7453: