Jenny in TX

I have always enjoyed reading your reviews.  Looking forward to this one!  We were booked on the Panorama out of Long Beach for this cruise in October 2020 and we all know how that ended.  We haven't rebooked it yet, but I have been thinking about it.  After seeing this I need to take the plunge and just book it!

Just got off the Regal Princess on 2/25/24 and there was an 80's deck party one night.  It was either Thursday or Friday night.

We just got off of Regal Princess on 2/25/24.  We went to the Crab Shack and it was 100% worth the money.  It was $39 plus tax and gratuity.  It think it was a total of almost $95 for two of us after all the charges.

It was on Monday at noon at the Crown Grill.  There as a gentleman at the buffet on the first day and we signed up through him.  That is the only thing we paid for all week since we had the premier package.

21 hours ago, marci4tony said:

Just avoid the Havanah area - They are a deal breaker for "looking straight down" 🙂

Thank you!  We sailed in a Havana Cabana on the Vista and loved it, but they have changed it on the newer ships and it is not a draw for me anymore.  If we were on one of the ships where it is in the back like the Vista and there is a big pool and hot tubs we would do it again in a heartbeat!

7 minutes ago, ObstructedView2 said:

 

 

Hi @Jenny in TX🙂

 

Oh, I'm so happy that information was able to help you a great deal.

 

I'd like to offer one more piece of advice to assist you, that being: Try to get a stateroom with cabins (above & below) you. A cabin sandwich, so to speak, a noise buffer.

 

You don't want to end up with a cabin with a kitchen above you, or a lounge, a theater, and so on.. Avoid possible banging, thumping,  loud music, crashing kitchen sound areas, at all costs. Look at the deck plans extremely carefully.

 

 

💃🍹💃

That is always great advice!  We always cruise with nothing but cabins above and below us.  The crew start working way too early and I don't want to be woken up by music, chairs scraping on the floor or kitchen sounds!!

There are several really good extended view balconies still available and we are going to book one of those.  I appreciate your help and the video.  Normally we book a balcony on the Lido, as that is our preference for easy access to bars, pool and food, but we do love to relax on the balcony occasionally and since we will be at sea for 7 full days I want to have a good shot of the water and not the decks below me.  We also want shade!

1 hour ago, ObstructedView2 said:

Hi @Jenny in TX🙂

 

I'm going to drop a couple links below that might offer you some assistance. Hopefully soon you'll hear from Cruise Critic members that have sailed Mardi Gras that can offer you a wide range of balconies that are covered, look straight down, and that can explain the hump balconies. Click below. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

💃🍹💃

Thank you so much!  This helps a ton.

We are looking at booking the Mardi Gras in 2025 from Barcelona to Port Canaveral after its dry dock.  We want a balcony room that looks straight down to the water and has cover from the rooms overhead.  Many of the balcony rooms look like they look down on the decks below them.  I saw someone said something about the "hump balconies" will look straight down to the water, but I'm not sure what that means.  We are going to be on board for 14 days so I would like to get a room where we can relax on the balcony and look straight out to the water without seeing the decks below us "jutting" out.  Thank you!

We love the Havana cabanas on deck 5 on the Vista!  We will never book Vista without being in the Havana area.

30 minutes ago, Anieto89 said:

I want to do this excursion, but their website is very vague. Where did they pick you guys up at? Did you use mammagal.com or TripAdvisor to book. It’s just myself and two teen daughters going will they put us with another group ? 

We booked it straight through Mamma Gals website that I posted above.  They picked us up at the port at 9am Nassau time in front of the Harley Davidson store.  I am assuming they will put you with another group, but you will need to ask that question.  I emailed them before we booked and they got back to me very quickly.  We had a party of 10, so we booked up the entire van.

39 minutes ago, jty1220 said:

How long did it take to walk from the ship to the beach?  Are there alot of restaurants on the way?

We did not make it to the beach.  We did Fort Fincastle, Queen's staircase, Graycliff Cigars and chocolate and John Watling's Distillery.  We had 10 family members in our group and they didn't want to walk anymore so we headed back to the ship and didn't make the beach.  If we go back we will just head straight to a beach and hang out for the day.

9 hours ago, KroozNut said:

You had me until the part about having a 'little walk for drinks'... ummmm, no! 🤣

Too funny and I understand!! My husband drinks beer and they sold us a little soft side cooler that fit 6 beers and they put ice in it.  I was drinking a mixed drink but I ordered 3 and they fit in to my Yeti that I brought off the ship so it worked perfect.

2 minutes ago, lifes-a-beach said:

Thanks for your review.  If you don't mind, could you share the private excursion company information?  We'll be there in August and just want to go to a nice beach with food, drinks and a clean restroom.

 

Thanks

We used www.mammagal.com and requested Charlie as our tour guide.  He was wonderful!  We did the East End experience and it was $80 per person.

We were in HMC 2 weeks ago.  We always walk to the end of all the loungers and grab a couple of chairs and drag them further down away from everyone and put them under the trees.  You will have a little walk if you want drinks but we love being away from all the people packed in like sardines.

We were just in Freeport 2 weeks ago.  We booked a private excursion and it was wonderful!  The water in the Bahamas is beautiful.  If you like the beach get a cab to a beach and hang out for the day.  Our excursion took us to Lucaya National Park and then we spent the day at Banana Bay.  There was a restaurant for food and drinks right on the beach.  The food and drinks were so good.  If we go again I will just spend the entire day there.

We were just in both ports.  Nassau is still under construction and there is not much at the port.  We did a walking tour around Nassau but be careful as their aren't sidewalks everywhere and the cars are not super friendly to people walking.  We had no problems, but keep an eye out.

We booked a private excursion in Freeport through Mamma Gal and it was wonderful!

Thought I would give an update.  We did walk all over Nassau and had no problems.  There aren't sidewalks everywhere and the cars are definitely not friendly to people walking but we were fine.  I would probably not do it again, but mostly because there isn't much I would need to see a 2nd time.  We did not make it to the beach because some of our people were ready to head back to the ship.  If we go to Nassau again, we would just walk to the beach and hang out there for the day.

On 2/19/2023 at 5:58 PM, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

@Jenny in TX or others - what did you think of walking to the beach.  DH and I will be in Nassau in two weeks and we are thinking of just walking to Junkanoo.  We did so with our kids many years ago and it was very walkable, but wondering about the safety and if the beach had vendors at this time.  

We leave Saturday on our cruise and plan to walk to Junkanoo also.  We have never done it before, but from what I have heard it is very easy and safe.  I don't know about vendors on the beach, but I figure it can't be worse than Mexico and usually a polite "no thank you" works.

Thank you for all the information!  We leave on our cruise in 2 weeks and as of right now we plan to do a walking tour, but it we feel like there isn't room to walk (no safe sidewalks), we will rent a taxi.  We do plan on going to the beach and also to Arawak Cay to eat lunch.

We are going to Nassau in February for the 1st time and we plan on walking around and doing a self guided tour and then having lunch and heading to the beach.  From everything I have ready I feel safe walking around in the local tourist areas.  Looking forward to reading other comments though.

Yes, that is a good deal.  I would take it in a heartbeat, especially since it is Alaska.  We always cruise in a balcony, but for Alaska it is the only way I would cruise because I would want to see all the scenery.  It is so nice to be able to walk right out to your own balcony and see what is going on outside.

We love Grand Turk and would go there on every cruise if we could!  We have never been to Margaritaville, but we love going to Jack's Shack or renting a golf cart and running around the island and going to the Sand Bar for lunch, drinks and laying out on their quiet beach!

31 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

 

Agree the Cozumel Food Tour is good but I am not seeing any Food Tour listed for my upcoming sailing. Did either of you do it through the ship, I thought it was an independent tour?

 

It would be helpful if @sjmbruce would return with further details of the listed tour.

We did not book it through the ship.  I booked it directly through Cozumel Food Tour.  I very rarely book excursions through the ship. This tour can not hold the capacity that the ship tours have on them.  Most of the restaurants were very small which we loved!

We have done both and hands down prefer Nachi Cocum.  Mr. Sanchos was just too crowded.  We prefer Nachi as it isn't as crowded.  We have been numerous times and love all the waiters and that we aren't packed in like sardines.

We just did the Cozumel Food Tour this last week and loved it!  We went with our parents who are in their early 70's and everyone enjoyed it and the food was delicious!  Our guide was Gerry and he was wonderful!

We just did the Cozumel Food Tour this last week and it was wonderful!  We were with both sets of our parents who are in the early 80's and we all loved it.  You go to 4 different restaurants to sit down and eat, plus you walk through the market and the last stop is the bakery where you pick out something to take with you.  Everything is included and it is $80/pp.  We had Gerry as our guide and he was wonderful.  Their website is www.cozumelchef.com  I believe they have a FB page too.