OhhWell

28 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I suspect the "sleeping with the ocean noise" balcony crowd, who keep their balcony doors open all night long, are to blame for this.  Their opening of the balcony door robs your block of cabins of fresh air make-up, so more of your cabin air is merely recirculated, or comes from the passageway under the door, which is the exhaust air from other cabins, so the humidity will build up overnight.

It probably is something like that. I know there is no way our room is a closed system. I had a fart slip in the other day and I was the only one in the room. Sometimes we get a food smell too which is obviously preferable to the phantom fart. 

37 minutes ago, beachbum53 said:

 

Have you talked to anyone at Guest Services? Someone from ship's maintenance should, at the very least, be able to diagnose the problem and fix it, assuming they have the necessary replacement parts on board. Maybe it's as simple as replacing your cabin's thermostat. Or maybe a neighbor on either side of you is keeping their balcony door blocked open at night, which does affect the A/C in neighboring cabins.

Yes, it is apparently functioning properly and I got a nice patronizing instruction on how to use a thermostat with a single dial... I talked to our neighbor and they had the same problem. I imagine it is likely someone (or a few people) propping their door open with a chair to get that "fresh air". 

I was on a boat once that had a sensor that would immediately shut the air handler off whenever you opened your balcony door. That should be more common in my opinion. 

We are in a balcony room on the 8th deck on the Miracle as I write this. The oddest thing happens. Every night around midnight / 1 am we wake up sweating. It doesn't even feel like the temperature has risen as much as the humidity. It is extremely uncomfortable even sleeping with no sheets. 

It's almost like they turn off the chillers and pump more outside air in. Or maybe we are at the very end of the water lines from the chillers and people are all Turning their Temps down after returning to their rooms for the night. I have the temp constantly set to its lowest setting on the "thermostat". 

It sure doesn't make for a good night's sleep. 

One thing I will caution with royal swim is to be very mind full of their cancellation policy and specifically in the case of inclimate weather, not making port or other things out of your control; even including issues in their end: You do not get a refund. You get a certificate for another encounter at any of their facilities good for a year.

It sounds like a good experience but since we are cruising in early August, the awful refund policy turned us off.

Tiki Beach's website can be found here:

http://www.tikibeachcayman.net/

 

There are a number of similar beach clubs along Seven Mile Beach. All are easily accessible by bus or taxi, and most are free (Royal Palms - http://royalpalmscayman.com/ - is the exception at $2pp) so as others have said, there's no need for an excursion to visit the beach in Cayman. Royal Palms and Tiki Beach are my two favourite beach clubs, but if you have kids you might prefer Public Beach (Calico Jacks) since there is a playground there.

I have a related question. Are there any other all-inclusive type of packages other than the Tiki one offered by the cruise line?

Carnival offers BBQ food and unlimited beer, rum punch and soft drinks when you take their Tiki beach excursion.

Hi I was just double checking if you could walk to this beach from the port that Carnival Magic will dock? Also I read that there are no lifeguards. I am taking a 6 & 9 year old. Both on local swim teams, but neither have ever swam in an ocean. Are the waters pretty calm? Did you feel safe?

Also, what time of day do you recommend going. We are supposed to be at the port from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thanks for any help

We were just there May 12th. We walked to the beach and got there about 1:30 pm. The water was rather calm and very clear. There are several concrete pier like structures which help to keep the water near the beach calm. There were a few small children playing in the water.

It was a rather easy walk from the cruise terminal. I've heard some describe the walk as a hike but they must eaither be thinking of Freeport or don't walk much. You just walk down along the water line towards Senior Frogs and follow that road around senior Frogs and past the hilton and you are there.

Bring towels. Rent chairs if you desire. Keep an eye on your kids and you should be fine.

You will have to do some research on the topic, the cab fares are not regulated so it is all about the haggling. With five people you will need a van. I recommend you have a chat with several of the tour companies, they will either toss you in with other people wanting to do the same things or you can have a private tour. This way there is no haggling with the independent taxi.

 

Bodden, Ronys and Christopher tours come to mind.

 

 

If you want to take your chances with the independents and are happy haggling, I have seen reports of $15pp from Coxen Hole to West Bay Beach and $20pp from Mahogany Bay.

We got a rate of $20 per adult and $15 per child from Mahogany bay to the public access next to Bananarama when we went last fall. That was with only a small amount of haggle. I think it's a pretty standard fare if you don't take the first price automaticaly. We had a large party so it was a "Private tour" instead of a taxi ride. You just have to tell the guide to take you direct to the public acess point or they will want to stop all over the place.

I absolutely hate haggling. The best way I found is rather passive though. I just state what I am willing to pay and when the taxi coordinator predictably looks astonished or offended and counters, I say ok but sorry, that's not what we are willing to pay and take the whole group about 15 feet away and mill about. Every time, they have met my price after 5 min or so. Obviously you have to be somewhat reasonable in your price.

And yes, that spot marked on the overhead photo posted near the begining of this thread is great snorkleing. No need to hire a boat.