irisheileen

Thanks, that is really helpful!

I'm assuming that you just showed up without making a reservation.....

I wonder if they ever turn anyone away if the resort is too busy.

I think we will give it a try.

Do your remember what the cab fare was??

Be careful about just showing up because I hear that the Marriott is closed to daytrippers around Christmas, if that is your time frame. We will be in St Kitt's the week before Christmas and I contacted them to find out if they were available. They will be on our day.

St. Kitts Marriott® Resort & The Royal Beach Casino

Phone: 1 869 466 1200

Thanks for the answers!

So, it sounds like the MDR wasn't open either. The WJ was packed by noon when you boarded?

Also, was the Matre'd available at boarding? I believe I have read that he is located right near the boarding area on the first day, correct?

Thanks.

Glad you had a nice vacation! Now back to reality! LOL!

We sail her on Dec 14th for a 10 day. A bad mattress and bad nights sleep for 10 nights would get to us! I think I've read here that we can ask for an egg crate. Has anybody here done that on Grandeur? We have an inside on deck 3 front, I'm hoping that the smell isn't in that area. It's been suggested to bring a glade gel nightlight to kill two birds with one stone.

What time did you arrive to Baltimore for embarkation? We hope to get there by 11:30.

How was the Solarium? Did you spend time there? Was it crowded the first couple of days until the ship got to warmer weather? I'm hoping for plenty of areas of shade there. Was the Park Cafe open for lunch the first day?

Thanks.

Hi, we are on the same sailing! Second time on RCI, but 1st tome on Grandeur. I am also looking for hints!

Just went through all these posts and got a feeling I'm out of luck, but I will try to give them a call. I had booked a Nellie's cabana in Sept for a March 2014 cruise. Two weeks ago when prices dropped I changed my cruise reservation and they cancelled my cabana. (booked same room, just new ressie #) So I rebooked a cabana, but now that's booked after Oct 4th. Hmmm . . . not only that, but I've noticed they charged me for the new cabana and haven't refunded me for the old one! Shouldn't my refund have come-it's been two weeks? argh.

I don't think you will be out of luck to get the upgraded cabana. Take a look at my post explaining a "similar" date problem and the favorable resolution. I didn't change ressies, but they honored/grandfathered the upgraded buffet even though a new OTW beach cabana didn't show a correct purchase date.

(they had made a mistake) Take note of an email address to resolve your issue.

Let us know if you were able to get it! Print out any emails!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1934594

Also, is there special pricing for two people on the first night sailaway at specialty restaurants? I see that you need 4 or more. Correct?

We are thinking of reserving for Chops Grill and will choose which night based on which nights are formal nights and which meals we will miss in MDR :D

One reason we are considering a specialty night is due to the fact that I dropped the ball and didn't think to pre-reserve for My Time Dining. We only used anytime dining once before on Celebrity and we never had a problem getting a reservation at the time we desired while on board

I am now realizing that all of the nights are already reserved at the popular times! Only choices are 5:30 and then not again until 7:45 or after. Bummer!

We chose MTD because we didn't want to come back early on port days for early seating or have dinner too late. Well, it seems that is what we will have any way LOL!

Thanks!

Thanks for posting!

I am thoroughly enjoying reading your review and sailing along with you in my mind:D. Great pictures by the way. I was wondering when the ship would arrive in Bermuda so I can watch it on the webcam. Thanks for taking the time to post your live report for all of us to enjoy.

Off topic, but I love your signature quote! So true.

Ditto on the "you haven't packed?" Wowzers, I'd be a wreck if I hadn't packed! I am a new follower of your reviews, so I have to trust, from your rep, that you know what you are doin'. :eek:

We sail her on Dec 14th.

Bon Voyage.

Eileen

I am also looking forward to your next review. We will be sailing her 10 day Eastern Caribbean in December for the first time.

I am wondering about shade in the Solarium. Would you take a look and comment on the availability of shade there? Looking for loungers not just the table and chairs that are usually plentiful on ships. Thanks. I can't soak in the sun!

Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the info, I'm sailing in December and NOBODY is posting anything about the Grandeur. I'm planning on doing a live review, so, that should be fun and I like to post plenty of pics so I can pay it forward for all the info I have gotten over the years.

 

What itinerary were you on? Did you notice what kinds of parties/ events they had at night. I know the Quest, Love and Marriage, but, what else did they do? Battle of the Sexes? Glow Party? Majority Rules?

I'll look forward to your review! We are sailing on dec 14. Are you maybe sailing then, or before us?

Glad you had a great cruise! We are sail her in December and I'm hoping that our mattress is good. We always awoke to sore backs and necks prior to getting our current mattress at home. The morning aches suddenly went away! We certainly don't want to ache during our cruise that we are taking "to relax and unwind"! :eek:

Anybody have mattress info on inside cabins on deck three?

We were on Freedom which I think pretty much always docks alone. The beach was never crowded. It just depends on the group, I guess.

 

If you get there early you will probably find some shady spots, but I doubt your will regret getting the cabana!

Thanks!

Is there a place where you can see which ships are at Labadee for the day?

http://ports.cruisett.com/schedule/Haiti/369-Labadee/December_2013/

Go to this site. I have opened up dec 2013 Labadee, but you can go to top of page and select any ship, port or date.

Grandeur of the Seas, our ship[, will be the only ship in port our day. So, 2000 is alot better than 5000! LOL good luck for us.

Yes, if you get there is there is only one lounge, just ask your cabana boy for another one. He will be glad to get one for you. There were two on #9 when we had #10 rented. Probably the last user removed one. Surprised that it was not put back on the deck. It is interesting to watch the "clean up" that happens as the visitors start going back to the ship All of the cushions are picked up and there is a lot of work that goes on to close down Labadee when the ship leaves.

Thanks!

Here's a picture of Nellies as looking from the ship... Barefoot is just out of the shot to the left.

 

OTW cabanas 5-10 are on the rocks right of center. Beach cabanas are just to the left of them, but "behind" the beach area.

 

ETA: Here are some beach cabanas...

 

 

Here is the view from the beach cabanas (I'm actually standing in front of the wall in the above picture)...

Is this a pretty good representation of how crowded Nellies would be on a one ship day? Wondering how "popular" the shaded areas would be. We have reserved a cabana just to be sure of shade, but to save that $$$ and be sure of plenty of free shade would be nice:cool:

I don't think there were any steps getting into cabana's 7 and 8 from land which was behind the cabana. The golf carts drop you off very close to your cabana so that will not be a problem. The walkway is behind the cabanas in the area you are talking about so the cart will not be able to go exactly behind your cabana but pretty close. The drop off/pick up area seemed to be behind cabana 9 and 10.

 

The food area was pretty close, but you can get the golf cart to bring you there if necessary, just give plenty of notice when you want to leave to go there. The lunch area line gets very looong fast and there is not a lot of shade or tables and chairs in that area. We were not very impressed with the food area, but this wasn't a big deal for us, we were just expecting it to be nicer.

 

 

 

We were there all day and our cabana (9) has one outside lounger that was shady all day. My children and I are all very fair and take medicine which makes us more sensitive to the sun and we were very happy with the shade. Cabana 10 definitely had less shade than ours. 9 (in our opinion) was much nicer and a little more private. We did not like where cabanas 1 - 4 were. The only positive thing I can say was that cabanas 1- 4 were closer to the food area. IMO, cabana 1 seemed a lot less shady then where we ended up. We were supposed to get 1 but immediately knew we didn't want it when we were brought there and were a lot happier with cabana 9. We would choose cabana 9 again. :)

 

I do want to point out to you and others that the choice of cabanas you get are done on a first come basis, so if you want to have a choice in what cabana you get you should plan to get off the ship early which is what we did.

 

Also, 9 and 10 are handicapped accessible and if a handicapped person requests a handicapped accessible cabana ahead of time (which can be done my sending an email to the special needs department) 9 and 10 may not be available. I could have requested one ahead of time since we had my mother in law with us, but the cabana was not a big deal for her if she was not able to use it and we took a chance and hoped for the best and got lucky. :)

 

Having the cabana made life a lot easier for us...we didn't have to worry about finding chairs or shade. We also each got a mat (6) which factored in to our decision to purchase the cabana. For once, having a big family paid off. ;)

Thanks! I'm surprised to hear that #9 only had 1 lounger and not 2. I thought they all had two. My husband I would both like a lounger and it looks like we are hoping for # 9. I'm assuming that we could ask for another lounger to be put in place?

That is Nellie's Beach.

 

Not sure the furniture inside is moveable. There is enough room to stretch out on the sofa.

Thanks, I'm surprised it's Nellies. Where are the cabanas in relation to that last pic, please? Does Nellies face N S E or W?

Thanks.

There is a lot of shade on Labadee. The area has lots of trees. All you have to do is pull a couple of loungers under the shade of the tree, sit back and relax. The beach areas close to the water are in full sun. Sitting in the shade of the trees, you can still get wonderful views of the water.

Oh, this is what I wanted to hear!! I need shade, shade, shade! ( like that TV commercial where the little girl wants more, more, more LOL)

Anybody able to post pics of shade areas?

Maybe I don't need to spend $$$ to rent a cabana? Maybe we can splurge on massages in the spa!

STAIRS TO THE WATER – RIGHT NEXT TO OUR CABANA

 

VIEWS FROM THE CABANA

 

 

 

Could you please tell me which beach the last pic is?

Also, had anybody asked the cabana boy to rearrange the sectional furniture inside the cabana? I've been looking to find ways to stay in the shade at Labadee and have just thought of asking to have the two loungers switched out with the inside furniture a bit. That way, I could lounge in the SHADE under roof! :cool:

I hate to admit it, but I never even noticed the beach cabanas. They must be fairly far back. Here is a pic I found that I THINK shows a beach cabana to the left of the red X (not the "umbrella" in the foreground, behind that). Hard to see.

 

Hopefully others out there will have some pics and info. Like I said, the beach wasn't super busy, so a beach cabana would probably be great. Not quite as private, of course.

 

Hi, I'm looking to find out the best area's for SHADE on Labadee. Due to a medical condition I need to stay out of the direct sun.

This pic shows these permanent "umbrellas". Are they plentiful or very sought after? Which beach are they on, Nellies?

I've reserved a cabana, but if I knew that I would have NO problem redily finding shade, I might cancel the cabana.

Thanks!

We just got back from our vacation and were lucky enough to get cabana #9. We were originally being brought to cabana # 1 which didn't seem as desirable as the other side where #9 was. My mother in law is not very good with stairs so #9 with the ramp worked well. There also seemed to be more shade where we were.

 

Labadee turned out to be one of our favorite days due to the cabana and well worth the cost for our family of 6. I will come back and post picture when I am done with the editing.

 

One thing I will point out, the food area line formed very quickly and there were not many tables and chairs where the food area was. To avoid the line we arrived as soon as the food area opened.

Hi, I'm glad that the 2nd cabana worked out better for your MIL.

I need to stay out of the direct sun due to a medical condition and need a cabana suggestion with the MOST SHADE. Are you saying that #9 was the one you had with shade? What time of day was the shade along that row of cabanas (#five thru ten)?? I'd like to stay on the outside lounger if possible, but stay in shade. Would #1 have even more shade most of the day? Morning/afternoon?

Anybody able to point out N S E and W perspective on Nellies beach?

Anybody know about the shade issue?

Thanks!

Thank you so much for your hard work! It's appreciated. I'll save this thread for my bucket list. :D

Your Dubrovnik video brought back nice memories.