jaynak

Many thanks for your excellent review.  I know a review is a lot of work and you've done an excellent one.  

Regal is our favourite ship - I always find it interesting what 'bothers' other people.  In this case I agreed with you 100 %. 

Happy new Year - perhaps I'll run into you sometime in Edmonton.  

I took Uber from The Sleep Inn Seatac TO THE Port last week. It cost $38.66 plus tip and could not have been easier! Drop off was very close to the Port Entrance Door.

Stopping in to sing the praises of this fantastic service. I was on Alaskan Airlines back to Canada. Thank you Seattle.

Haha - well thanks for the step by step instructions! Can you just come with me please!

excellent start! Yes, yes I want to know more - LOTS more!

Thank you.

Could someone say if You can use this excellent service for a flight to Canada? I am on Alaskan which IS on their list.

That's what I was thinking ....

AND THANKS FOR ASKING - I THOUGHT I MUST BE AN IDIOT!

Turns out I probably am, but I'm also appreciating the helpful responses. Thanks every one for pitching in.

Searching HAWKSBILL, rather than Ville, will get you more info!

A little more info for those interested!

Bonaire Cruisers Golf Cart Rentals Nov 2017

Communication with Debbie (owner) was immediate and pleasant. Her tent at the pier was exactly where she said. Directions were then given to walk to the location where the golf carts actually are kept. As I am somewhat limited in mobility, this would have been good to know ahead of time. Undeterred, we managed the short walk. There is no further signage which was also a little disconcerting, however we soon saw two smiling faces behind an unmarked desk and MANY golf carts. Apparently we were at the right place! $90 fee for the golf cart was now collected as was the $100 fully refundable deposit. We were given a rather poor, but typical tourist map and off we went. You really don’t need a map, there is essentially One Way! You can’t go too wrong. The golf cart itself was spectacular, well cared for and much, much speedier than your typical golf cart - I know, I drive them daily!

The ocean vistas are truly spectacular. Pull off to take photos though because you’re sharing the road with regular traffic! I’m definitely not used to sharing the way with a D8 Cat!! There was very little traffic and there is a rear view mirror in the cart. The salt flats, and slave huts are interesting to see as well. I wish I’d have done a lot more research on the islands history ahead of time. The road mostly all winds along the ocean and there are many pull offs for snorkeling. Eventually we came to Lac Bay and the Sorbon Beach Club. This is a very lovely and welcoming resort. Mariska at the front desk invited us to walk thru the resort gardens to the beach where they offer for you to stay for the day for a nominal $5 fee, or $10 with a lounger! Good deal so another time, I would cab straight to the resort. Lac Bay itself is gorgeous. A little ways further down the road is a hot spot for windsurfing with a little shop and restaurant.

We passed about 15 flamingoes and 8 donkeys on our route. We could have stopped at a donkey sanctuary along the way had we been interested. As every time we’ve been in Bonaire, it was scorching HOT! After three hours we were ready to return the jaunty cart. Debbie and Tamara were surprised to see us back and offered to let us use the cart further after we’d had a refreshment. We asked if there’d be a nice little restaurant nearby or if we should just get back on the ship. Tamara, ever so kindly and helpfully took us in a cart to Karel’s Beach Bar. Karels is the place right on the water that you can plainly see from the ship. Parched as can be, we welcomed the breeze, the spectacular view and the shade! Thank you and good suggestion Tamara. I gobbled up THE most delicious frozen mocha. Seriously, they called it World Famous, and for sure I’ll not forget it!! We also shared a dish of nachos which is probably not their most stellar dish. Nachos smothered in fake cheese product and A LOT of beef. The restaurant does have slow wifi depending on where you sit! There is about a one block walk back to the ship, thru the shops and market stalls. Careful on the sidewalks though.

All in all, it was a great day. I’m going home to learn about the salt mounds and the slave huts!

A little more info on Ship Wreck for anyone interested:

SHIPWRECK BAR AND GRILL REVIEW OCT 2017

Thanks to previous reviews, we gave this a try! Got off the ship 9:00’ish, intending to get a cab. There is a taxi stand right there - you can’t miss it. It is $16 per cab minimum but naturally they would much rather cram as many cruisers as possible in a minivan and charge you $4.00 each. No problem mon. So loaded to the hilt, off we went. It was a pleasant 10-15 min drive on very good St Kitt’s roadways. Our first stop, Carambola Beach Club looked like a beautiful resort. A lovely lady in the van with us said they charge you per lounger and per umbrella and the food is very very pricey. So we stuck with our original plan and she stayed with us!

Heads up, SHIPWRECK beach is actually Friars Bay Beach and it is totally underwhelming at first glance. The bar and grill has been reconstructed after the recent hurricanes with various pieces of lumber. There are several rows of well used loungers, the sand is black sand and there is a little but steep drop into the ocean. I fear I’m making it sound unappealing, however we had a FABULOUS DAY! The unobstructed endless ocean view makes up for lack of man made aesthetics. A pleasant breeze gently blew all the while. Drinks were cold, delicious and fairly priced. We didn’t eat, but a cheeseburger and fries were $8.00 and a hot dog $3.00. There is a fairly extensive printed menu which includes fresh fish daily. The friend we met in the van was glad she came with us!

The million dollar question - how were the washrooms? There is one shanty and it looked pretty sketchy from the outside, but I’ve been in FAR worse. Of course when you gotta go, you gotta go!

This beach is well-known for its drunk monkeys...legend says they used to steal patrons drinks. Signs say not to feed the monkeys. All we saw were lots of mongooses (mongeese ?) which are entertaining too. The grill folk put out platters of what they call “leftovers” for them as well as sugar cane. Perhaps if we’d have stayed longer the monkeys may have appeared but after 1/2 a day I was needing my creature comforts of the ship which took presidence over monkey sightings!

Wonderful employees Simone and Janesia called us a cab which arrived in less than five minutes. We were happy to pay and tip totalling $20 and be dropped of at the shops right at the pier. Wonderful, budget friendly day, highly recommended as long as you don’t demand fancy. There were all ages with us, no reports of anemones and many went swimming.

Interesting thread. I never thought to contact Princess, customs, customer service desk, the captain or the president!! My husband and I walked off the ship in Cartagena, Columbia carrying a hockey bag so full of stuff, it took both of us to carry it. No one gave us a sideways glance and I had never given it a second thought before or since!

I have nothing but praise for Shore Excursioneers OTHER THAN - they are actually AMIGO TOURS - or at least that's who they use. Would have been good to know ahead, what signs we should look for. The driver was fantastic and the time spent on Orient and Maho was perfect. Next time, I'll call our driver directly and arrange it with him.

We walked to The Plaza EARLY - like 9:00. They said they were fully booked and couldn't admit us. SO walked back to the ship, stopping at Divi Flamingo for a few hours. $10 for the use of a lovely "deck" with shade, nice loungers, and a terrific view. Cold water was available at the check in desk. Oh yes, clean washrooms! This is not a great place for the beach though - very very rocky. For $10, we were happy.

Any soufflé- from goat to grand mariner!!!!! Are you getting the idea that their soufflés are fabulous?

Excellent advice MKing. The UBER APP tells you the model and colour of the car coming for you and even the licence number and name of the driver. Quite an incredible system, and very user friendly, even for a dim bulb like me!

Antigua is a lovely island. How sad to waste time in an Internet cafe and not see the island.

How right you are London Towner - Antigua is a lovely island. I believe this was at least our 5th time there. Perhaps my suggestion was out of line.

We certainly didn't consider our day "a waste". As I said, we enjoyed the shops and the cafe very much. Perhaps another time, we'll go to a beach again, but for this time, what we did worked perfectly!

ANTIGUA was a real stumper for my planning. We decided to take the day as it came! SO..... went thru the shops right at the pier and found a very nice outdoor deck above one of the shops. You can see their Free Wifi sign from the port. They advertised free wifi for up to an hour. For $35 we had two drinks, two waffles with syrup and the best cup of fresh coffee - maybe ever, and an hour wifi each. Wifi was excellent, view second to none, and service friendly. Although we have "free" internet minutes on the ship, we manage to blow thru it pretty quickly between "work" and slow internet.

ST MAARTEN - I prebooked a tour with Shore Excursioneer. Very simple to do online. We took the "Orient and Maho beach"tour which we've taken thru Princess in the past. Shore Excursioneers was NO WHERE TO BE SEEN when we got off the ship, down the looooong walkway etc. Oddly enough our paperwork never said where to meet either - so I was hoping for a sign! Like Lightening, or even a cardboard sign! Finally we found a tourism lady who said "oh that's Amigo Tours". All's well that ends well but we weren't very happy for a time! Our tour driver was absolutely fantastic. Otis talked just the right amount, was a perfect driver, stayed with us the whole time - letting us decide how long we wanted to spend at each beach. Kontiki beach and restaurant at Orient Beach was perfectly splendid. The loungers are plush, the wifi excellent and the fantastic weather didn't hurt either. Three drinks and two loungers and an umbrella were $30. Next stop, Maho beach where the airplanes come in, was a bit of a bust due to a sudden downpour. The restaurant right there, "Sunset Something or another" had lots of view seating, clean restrooms and very helpful staff. It was $40 for 2 drinks and 2 smallish fish tacos. Our food and drinks came very quickly which was a real good thing being the skies let loose with a HUGE downpour. Again, our driver waited right there for us so we made the snap decision to head for the ship! Virtually everyone boarding was DRENCHED ... but who cares when it's so beautiful and warm? Next time, we'll call Otis for sure 1-721-559-3858.

Without getting into any UBER controversy, let me say, I am a convert. Our experience LGA to Manhattan, and Manhattan to Red Hook was nothing short of phenomenal. Approx $40 per trip, waited less than 5 min, clean cars, professional drivers and what an amazing APP. We couldn't have been happier.

I suggest you search the Regal and Royal reviews for "Marina Deck". Perhaps there will be a review on a close by room. I for one would not stay on Marina deck again even if you paid me! Cheers, Jaynak

I totally agree with both of you! Let's see how fast the US gets on board now that Colorado, Washington and Alaska are finding how good it is for their tax base.

Further to that, let's see how fast the pharmacists and the big drug companies get on board. It's all about big money. Who cares if no one has ever yet died of marijuana overdose. Who cares if the devastating side effects are "a rather pleasant feeling".

Whether it's worth it depends on what you drink. For me, the Soda & More is not worth it as I don't drink mocktails or any of the beverages other than soda. I was able to buy just the Soda card on my Royal cruise in April for just over $5/day including tip. It's about a $3/day difference for drinks I won't order or drink and if Princess does away with just the Soda card, I'll be upset and have to reconsider.

Like you Pam, the Soda n More isn't worth it to me as I ONLY drink soda water - no hot choc, juice etc. HOWEVER, I'm not seeing the "Soda only" as an option on the personalizer and it wasn't an option on our last three cruises. Can you please chime in here and let me know where I should be looking?

Incidentally, on our last cruises I did buy the soda and more packages for the sake of convenience - but obviously I'd prefer not to have to pay for the "and more" part!

Thanks, caribill. I hope that's the case. I tried searching the forum & googling the cabin number but wasn't coming up with anything. I guess I can always take earplugs just in case.

Sure! Bring your earplugs but even sound cancelling headphones didn't help. Even earplugs AND sound cancelling headphones didn't work! Pam mentioned the word THUNDER. I agree! The whole room would shake from the thumping crashing and banging. A deaf person couldn't stay on Marina deck. They would feel the noise.

We were very very impressed with all the in room music, tv and movie options. A huge improvement!

We were on Regal in Marina 414 and then Marina 423. You couldn't PAY me to take a stateroom on Marina deck after our experience. If you want "the rest of the story, read my review!