davemy

Haven't been recently, but in 2020, 2021 and 2022 customs was at your arrival airport in the USA. We transited ATL with no problems each time.

Depending on traffic, it takes about 45 to 90 minutes to circumnavigate the island.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I have added several to my list and removed some of the original spots.

@TxTeach79 and Helloitsmeb

Thanks for a great report and so many wonderful pictures.

I appreciate Paul's apparent love of bourbon. If you ever come to Kentucky for some distillery tours, reach out and I should be able to help.

If you look at the last picture I posted, there is a strap hanging over the side of the boat. To get back into the boat, you grab that strap and swing/kick your leg up onto the tube of the boat. Neither the wife or I was able to complete that successfully, so the guide would grab a leg and help pull you up.

Kim Sha is a good beach, there are several places for food and drinks as well as renting water equipment. Buccaneer Beach bar is one of my favorite spots! 

At Divi you will need to go through one of the hotels to rent beach chairs, get food and drinks.

I have done this excursion, The guide will assist anyone needing help back aboard their "boat". The only time we docked was the original boarding and final unload. Make sure to apply plenty of sunscreen to the tops of your legs!

Yes, I realize that it's totally a tourist thing to do, but I have a day pre-cruise to see Bourbon St. and some of New Orleans. So here's my plan:

We will sample food at several different stops in the French Quarter and definitely be taking a cab back to the hotel. For those with more experience, are there any places I should add?  
 

For our last several cruises, we have taken a sealed package of Chex mix and a sealed can of peanuts onboard, plus half a dozen sandwich bags. When we're sitting in a lounge or bar after dinner, we just ask for an empty rocks glass or coffee cup and pour from the sandwich bag into the glass. We always have multiple people asking where we got snacks, and we usually share with the polite ones. Even with the vast amount of food available, nothing beats a salty crunchy snack with drinks.

Glad everything worked out for you. I had a similar experience, cancelled an excursion for our upcoming cruise and wanted to book another excursion at the same time. The Carnival website won't allow that. I had to refund the first excursion which I had paid for mostly by gift card. I received the CC refund in less than a week (under $5) but never received the gift card refund. After 4 weeks, I called Carnival and was told it had been sent to my TA. Contacted them and they were able to get me the information in less than 48 hours. Then I was finally able to book the excursion I wanted. Would have saved everyone work if Carnival would allow you to use the cancelled funds during the same transaction.

Taking our first Carnival cruise this summer. I plan to use the discounted gift cards from AARP to pay the final payment, cheers, & tips.

Wondering about funding casino play for DW and myself with the left over balance. Can you share your wisdom and experience, please?

Is it a better option to load the gift card on our S&S account before departure or use the kiosk onboard?

I understand that anything we don't spend (or cash out) will be returned as a gift card post cruise, is that correct?

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Sailing on Glory in August for our first Carnival cruise. Thrilled that there is Buffalo Trace available. 

The cruise that wasn’t, or travel attempts in 2020. Back in March, when the world was shutting down for 4 to 6 weeks to “flatten the curve”; Norwegian Cruise Line was offering reasonable fares and all their perks to encourage booking. Since my wife and I were looking at cruising with Norwegian for an Alaska cruise in 2022, we decided to book a 5-night cruise in December. (We have booked the Alaska cruise, along with 5 other couples) This would allow us an opportunity to see how Norwegian differed from other lines with which we have cruised and provide a vacation to look forward to, since we had nothing else planned for the year. Certainly, in 10 months’ time this whole pandemic would be over, and the world will be back to normal. I reached out to my friends and family and we booked three cabins for three couples. I spent the next 4 months following the prices, getting the best deal possible; planning excursions for our port stops and selecting in which specialty restaurants we wanted to book dinners. About the middle of June, it became apparent that a backup plan might be needed. Since we already had airfare to Miami, we planned for several nights in Key Largo and a final night on South Beach in Miami before we came home. This would still give us a week in the warmth and sunshine; diving, fishing and sitting on the beach. Another 3 months of excursion planning and finding restaurants ensued. One of the other couples found a deal to fly to Sint Maarten from Miami; roundtrip with 2 nights hotel for $750 per couple; and suggested we add this to our plan. Quickly the plan became a full week in Sint Maarten; the beach resort there was half the price of the Holiday Inn in Key Largo which more than covered the increase in airfare. Hotels, rental cars and flights were cancelled and booked anew. We also admitted defeat and cancelled the cruise. Our deposits were promptly returned. While researching our stay in St. Maarten and talking with friends we added two new couples but lost one of the original couples. I continued to monitor the cruise cancellations and various refund/credits being given and felt slight vindication when December cruising was actually (finally) cancelled. Having only been to St. Maarten as a one-day cruise stop, there was lots of research into activities, restaurants, night life and shopping. I found several SXM forums and websites, started watching the weather forecasts (Hurricane season!) and plans formed. All the bookings had a 24-hour full refund policy which allowed anyone who couldn’t get to SXM not to suffer added financial loss, in addition to the disappointment of not traveling. I helped one of the couples reschedule their flights when they were cancelled with no notice, changed routing for the other three couples when Silver canceled our flight off the island, so Delta had us traveling for 36 hours. With just a couple of weeks until departure Covid hit our group hard. Every couple had either a member of their household test positive or the couple tested positive. There was a death of one parent as well as hospitalization of the other partners parent, so the couple who originally suggested SXM had to cancel. In the final week before departure another couple cancelled due to Covid. There was great concern over getting tested, getting results in a timely manner, and getting pre-approval from the government of St. Maarten. Five days prior to departure, we began to get tested, two of the four of us used CVS (different cities). We had three of the four results back within 55 hours. The St. Maarten application process was easy, though I did have to submit three times because my original test results didn’t have the laboratory address. Response time for the preapproval was three hours or less. Now there is a flurry of packing and final preparations as we count down for Saturday departure.

Since our December cruise is all but cancelled, we are looking at spending a few days in the Keys, diving and fishing. Providing that Florida gets a handle on their current outbreak.

My son will be with us on your cruise, he completed basic at Lackland in September. I'm sure he'll be happy to share his experience if you want. We would also be able to share our experiences at graduation.

Thanks for posting these.

Cacao colada, only available at Boleros I think. Chocolate infused rum.

Where is 13. Plaza Bar That is the name of the bar in the Windjammer (according to RCI's deck plan)

And I presume deck 12 bar is the one near the wave rider? I would consider it the upper pool bar, but it is labeled as "Bar" in the deck plans. The only bar like space I can see near the wave rider is the teen disco.

My adult daughter has challenged me to "drink around the ship" with her on our upcoming cruise. I am trying to determine how many places on board there really are that serve drinks. Not including the Diamond or Suite lounges, I have come up with this list:

1. The Raven

2. Schooner Bar

3. Casino Bar

4. Boleros Lounge

5. Pyramid Lounge

6. Connoisseur Club

7. Sorrento’s (Beer & Wine only?)

8. Dog & Badger

9. Vintages (Wine only?)

10. ChampagneBar

11. SolariumBar

12. Pool Bar

13. Plaza Bar

14. Deck 12 Bar

15. Olive orTwist

16. VikingCrown Lounge

17. AlhambraTheatre

18. Studio B

19. MainDining Room

Did I miss any????:whiskey-glass::tropical-drink::cocktail::wine-glass::beer-mug::champagne-toast:

1. Can we each redeem credits for $250 OBC if we are sharing a room? No, 1 per stateroom

2. We use a particular travel agent because we get additional perks through her agency, can we still use her? Yes

3. When, after booking, do we need to do our redemption? within 14 days

4. What is the process for redemption? cash in loyalty points, email RCI, credit applied, confirmation email received.

5. Is there anything you cannot use the OBC for once it's applied to your account? Not that I'm aware of, always spend mine pre-cruise on drinks package/excursions.

Thanks! I am finding the terms and conditions to be quite vague and guess I am not "getting it"...lol