mefinephotoman

What is Crusing Power? I have never heard of it.

It is Royals site for TAs

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Thank you for that great review. Part of my issue is we are doing a few days at Disney before the cruise, so that means flying from BUF to MCO then MCO to San Juan.. unless we just forget about that disney part but it is our 25th and we did honeymoon there so it would be nice to go back without kids again. Price will be the deciding factor because of the extra flight if we do Disney.

Last Sept. was our 25th. If you have the time to do both Disney and the Southern I was suprised at how reasonable fares are from MCO to SJU. Air is too far out... but checking in Oct from MCO to SJU is $250RT on Spirit and $270RT on Jet Blue. Oasis will be going out of Port Canaveral during your scheduled time.

I hope they get posted soon. I would love to know some prices. Stuck between 2 - 8 day eastern and 7 day southern.

If you have not done a southern out of San Juan I highly recommend it. In fact Old San Juan has become my favorite place to visit. You will find that the rates are slightly lower than eastern and western because they know you have to get there. Been on Radiance class Jewel and Serenade. Itinerary is packed on most (nearly a port a day) except to deep southern route and the stops have had something of interest at each that made them worth the stop. My next cruise is with friends that don't want to fly so looking at Port Canaveral, Port Everglades or Tampa. Otherwise we would be heading back to OSJ for another from there. :D

Subscribing to get a jump on Jan/Mar 2017 out of PC or PE

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Nice review! I am having the same reservations about the big ship and everyone running for the pool deck on at sea days. Subscribing so I can read over the next couple of days. Thanks

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They did on Indy a couple of years ago.

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Cafe Promenade will make iced coffees, Frappacinos, etc. as well as hot espresso drinks. Maybe not exactly the same but she will be able to her her fix.:D

Just don't forget to put in airplane mode or off for the cruise.

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Returning from the dive in St Kitts with Crystal (Mobius107) and Adam they mentioned that they were diving in Aruba with the cruise line sponsored excursion so I went and signed up. Patti and I are creatures of habit. She slept in while I got coffee and brought it back to the room. I then headed up to the Windjammer for a light breakfast. After breakfast grabbed my scuba gear and headed off the ship. We dove the Antilla and Pendernales Wrecks. Here is the YouTube link:

Hope you enjoy.

I have made mention several times about the great time we had this cruise with our table mates not only at dinner but throughout the days and after dinner. It was like we became family. Here are some shots of our table mates and CC roll call members.

Our good friends for 20 years and table mates Scott and Stephany from Chicago..

"The Girls" the lovely ladies from Dublin, Ireland. Table mates Lyn, Ann and Christine

From London, England CC roll cally and table mate Paul (mygracey) and his mother Myra.

From Seattle, Washington our table mates Mike and Cheryl.

Captain Mike? Sailing away with all the girls!

Then while walking around we ran into Glenn and Maggie (erin cruiser). I would like to give special thanks to Glenn for making the nearly 18 months from booking til embarking fly by on the roll call, by always posting the weeks to go notices each Saturday and for all the great assistance he and many on the thread were able to share from there experiences. Glenn and Maggie it has been a pleasure and I look forward to sailing with you in the future.

Some final shots and thought to come soon.

Your scuba info has been very helpful! St Kitts is now a maybe and we have decided on a private operator in Grenada. Also, if we end up having to go to St Thomas instead of Tortola we will defiantly go to Coke beach. Thank you so much. Again, your pictures and videos are fantastic.

I'm glad it was helpful.:)

Also thanks for reminding me to finish this thread. I got a head cold 2 days after returning and it is still taking it's toll on me.:eek:

Next up a link for my dives in Aruba and some fun shot of our table mates on the Jewel.

I was great meeting you last week and we also had a great time! I am looking froward to your review.:)

Nope, different Mike and Cheryl! Ah well, we have discovered CC and the cruise world to be smaller than one would think! Thanks for posting that :p

Yes it can be a small world! I think you have the same itinerary as we just had. You are going to love the ports of call.:D

I am enjoying your review! We are also from SC, taking a SJ route in May.

 

Question for you, and totally random.. are Mike and Cheryl from Seattle on CC??? We met a Mike and Cheryl from Seattle on our 2011 Serenade cruise- not our table mates, but we sat with them at the pool on our first day and ended up on 2 additional excursions together. Would be such a small world if they were the same!!!:eek:

Funny you should ask because we discovered that we were on Serenade of the Seas in Feb. 2009. They were on their honeymoon and our first cruise. I think that was their first and only other cruise they have been on. We never met on the 09 cruise. I don't think they are on CC.

My next posts were going to show the table mates and some of the CC roll call members that we met. Here is Mike and Cheryl from Seattle.

:)

After our visit to town we headed back to the ship for some lunch. I then grabbed my camera to find some interesting perspectives on the ship and a few more of Curacao.

It was then time to get ready for dinner! It was formal night so I took my camera down to get some pics of the great people at our table.

I will post them soon.

 

We were not the only ship in port as anticipated. The former Majesty of the Seas now the Pullmantar Majesty was in port just on the other side of the floating bridge. Here is pic of her.

 

 

Correction.... Not Majesty of the Seas but the former Monarch of the Seas.

After leaving St. Kitts an hour or so late on day 3 because of a maintenance issue, they picked up the pace some through the duration of day 4 but as we woke and sat out on the balcony having our Starbucks the ship was moving much slower and was much calmer. Nearly every morning at 6:30 I would make my way down to get either a Cappuccino or Mocha. I seemed to be the first one at Latte tudes each morning. The barista (I could kick myself for not writing her name down but it began with a P and she was from Indonesia) always had a smile and was very welcoming. Plus she made great coffee. But today she commented on how she had made Patti a coffee every morning and had never met her. I told her that getting the coffee was my job in the morning and she chuckled.

We were not the only ship in port as anticipated. The former Majesty of the Seas now the Pullmantar Majesty was in port just on the other side of the floating bridge. Here is pic of her.

After breakfast in the Windjammer we were off to explore downtown Williamstadt. The walk was very nice and lots of things to see. Here are a few shots from the walk.

Patti and I with JOS in the background

This clock would chime on the half hour but play a tune with the bells and across the white stage below the bells the same amount of people as what time it was would walk across.

More of Day 5 to come soon.

Thanks so much for all of the dive info and research sites. I am second guessing our RCCL excursions now so I will do some more research. I do think the Tortola operator gets good reviews though. I'm concerned being new at this that we could be a drag on the experienced divers.

 

Your photos are fantastic and I'm loving your review.

 

Is that Max's Mom in your meet and mingle photo? I love her reviews and it looks like her from her reviews.

 

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Usually with some probing you can determine which operation is doing the RCCL excursion. Just read some reviews to make sure they aren't cattle boats that are all about the money and not about your comfort and safety.:eek:

The other reason for finding out who the operator is, is so you can contact them to get their recommendation based on your experience level. Don't worry about being new at this. We all were new at diving once. I can remember about 200 dives ago worried about holding up the group. As long as you pay attention, relax, respect the other diver's space and just relax you will be just fine. :cool:

Yes, that is her.

Today Patti and I celebrate 25 years of wedded bliss! We woke early again and after our first cup of Starbuck's from Latte-tudes we went to the main dining room for breakfast. This was a nice change of pace from the Windjammer and the Eggs Benedict was prepared to perfection. We then had a few minutes to spare so we walked around the ship some.

At 10:45 we had our Meet and Mingle! We had a great turn out and Dennis our Cruise Director kept us laughing and well informed during the event. He also took a picture of the group at the end.

Then cabin crawl.... We visited our Hump Cabin, a Junior Suite and a Grand Suite. It looks like JS could be in our future from now on. Patti love the extra space. I didn't take any pictures. I felt funny being inside someone else's home for the week.

Then it was off to the pool to find a place to park. It took some work but we grabbed chairs and made ourselves a spot. Crowded, crowded , crowded! It was 12:30. We then took turns going to the Windjammer for some lunch. It was fun watching the entertainment directors teach the Samba etc. at the pool side deck.

After a few hours of baking in the sun we headed back to the room and took a nap.

We had dinner every evening in the Main Dining Room. We really enjoyed our table mate's company and we were content with the menu. After dinner the girls were tired from the sun all day so Scott and I went to the Schooner Bar and played a few games of pool on the floating pool tables. If the ship movement effects you, I would advise not to watch the tables. I was ok as long as I kept my eyes on the top of the table but was shocked at how much the table moves between the base and the table.

We had another linen visitor this evening. They all seem to like my sunglasses.

Next stop Curacao! More to come!

I now have the link to the underwater video in St. Kitts.:D

More to come soon!

356 Days until POA in Hawaii. Our first NCL cruise. Can't wait!!!:)

Wonderful video! Questions: we are new divers and our next cruise will be our first ocean dives. We have signed up for dives in St Croix and Tortola through the ship - comfort factor for our first ocean dives and 6 months after our last dive. What gear did you bring and what did you rent? Who were the dive operators and were they beach or boat dives? We will also be in St Thomas and St Kitts and then in Aruba in 2016 so very interested any any details.

 

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After a 12 year absence from diving I did buy new gear this year and had 6 dives locally before the trip. I took my mask, snorkel fins, snorkel, a lycra suit just for skin protection and my new regulator and dive computer. There were very few that brought their own regulators but I wanted the comfort and familiarity of my gear on the dives. I rented the BCD and used their weights. The BCD can be integrated weight style or you may need a belt. I prefer belt. I also brought my accessories for attaching the GoPro to the BCD and the dive computer to retract in to the BCD so it wouldn't be dragging across the reef. I booked Coki Beach and St Kitts through the shops themselves. In Aruba I booked on the ship and it had a different level of service to it. The best thing is to get on the internet and do lots of research before hand.

I would highly recommend at least one dive at Coki if it is your first destination to dive. Nice and easy entry, a very casual decent following the surface, some patch coral and some fish. If it would have been a later dive in the trip it would have been a let down from the other dives.

Coki Beach Dive Shop- St Thomas- Beach and Boat dives by appointment- I would use them again.

Dive St Kitts- St Kitts- Boat Dives- I highly recommend them. They were wonderful in the level of service they provided. Tony was fantastic and Captain Crabby is a very interesting guy.

Red Sail Divers- Aruba- Boat Dives- I booked this through the ship last minute to get two more dives in. It could be that I was spoiled from the previous dives in St Kitts but the seem to be going through the motion of kind of giving you a dive experience. The dive sites were actually pretty good but the service not so much. If I dive in Aruba again I will do my homework and book through a highly recommended shop.

Check the Scuba and Snorkel Board here on CC. Also, Scubaboard dot com has a dive destination area that can be used for good research. Also Trip Advisor.

I was awake this morning in time to see the sunrise so I took a couple of shots from the balcony.

The girls decided to sleep in this morning but Scott and I were up and out at 7:00am for breakfast and off to St Kitts Diving for a 2 tank boat. The diving was incredible!!!!! We did the MV Corinthian and MV Tug Boat and both dives were just teaming with fish. Adam and Crystal (mobius107), Scott and I were the only 4 divers. Captain Crabby got us there and back and Tony was an excellent guide taking us through the dives and pointing out many things. They also gave my gear a very thorough cleaning after the dives which was very much appreciated.

Tony Our Dive Guide. I highly recommend this operation for your diving in St. Kitts. I will post a link for the video of these dives soon.

The locations of the dives were also an interesting perspective of the ship.

We returned to the ship at about 1:00. Had some lunch in the Windjammer then went back out into the shops area just outside of the port.

A little side note...The entire cruise I planned on eating at Seaview Cafe, but the unusual schedule (2:30pm-6:30pm and 9:30pm-1:00am) means that we either had to eat a very late breakfast or add a 4th meal to the day. So, we never did get to eat at there. I now wish I had at least once went ahead and endulged.

It was nice catch up on today's events with everyone at the table in the Main Dining Room. That is why we like the same group every evening. After dinner we walked around the shops, played a couple of games of pool on the self leveling table and ended up at the Odyssey Lounge for Karaoke. The next day was at sea so we headed for the room later than the previous two days for some sleep. I will be back with Day 4 at sea soon.

As promised, here is the video link for our dive on Coki Beach. It makes for a very good warm up dive to knock the rust off. Max depth sloped off to 45 feet. About 50 minutes of bottom time. We opted to not do the second dive because of what time it was after the first dive. We ended up finished and back to the ship about 12:45 doing one dive.

This made a great warm up for St Kitts and Aruba which I will also post video of in future posts.

I hope you enjoy and I will post more soon!:)

We were up bright and early on day 2. The girls were going into town while Scott and I go scuba diving at Coki Beach. We had breakfast in the Windjammer and at 8:30 we were at the port catching a cab to Coki Beach. We were fascinated with them driving on the left side with a vehicle designed to be used on the right side.

The diving was easy and a great refresher for us. The visibility was great and we had a great time. The people at the dive shop our very friendly and helpful and made for a great experience. I will post a link to the underwater video I shot with my GoPro later today.

Patti and Stephany went into town to do some shopping. Fortunately for Scott and I the internet was down on the Island so shops didn't have access to their credit card resources. It was cash only and they didn't take a lot of cash. They knew that other islands would have the same things so they came back to the ship.

Once we got back we just hung out on the ship and went back to the pool. I walked around and photographed more of the ship. Here are a few from around the ship.

Taken from The Crown and Anchor Lounge on Deck 12

Pool Deck Stage

Solarium Pool

Patti went for a manicure and pedicure. It was formal night so we dressed up and went to dinner and then drinks. Then the Sunday Night Football game at the Sports Bar. Scott is a big Chicago Bears fan. After a couple of drinks Patti and I retired to the room for the evening.

We have discovered that cruising with friends is very different from cruising on your own. For example, we have never considered a drink package with alcohol before because as little as we normally drink it would be a waste. But, just like when you go out to dinner with friends you have a drink , this is like being on constant dinner! We changed our beverage plan to include alcohol on day two. Bottoms up!

I will have more soon. Next up, St. Kitts!

Our bags are again packed and we are ready to go to the ship! I think we may have overpacked.

We received word from our friends that the Coast Guard is on board doing inspections so they estimate 1:00 for boarding. We had breakfast and at 11:45 we shared a cab to the port with Mike and Chris. A lovely couple we met during our stay at the hotel.

Embarkation was very smooth. From the time we arrived we never stopped moving. Checked bags, checked in and then the applause rose from the gates to the ship being opened so we made our way onto the ship. We were on board and at the Windjammer with Scott and Stephany by 12:30. Rooms were available at 1:00 so after lunch we went to the rooms to check them out. Here are a couple of pics of the room and the balcony. I will post some pics of the view later.

A few notes about the cabin 9586. The stateroom was standard D1 size and the balcony was no larger than any other D1 cabin. The biggest advantage to this cabin has been the forward and aft view is incredible. You are out far enough that you are looking back at the ship from your balcony. Also, the location is great. the barrier wall sound proofs your room from all the Centrum activities. Being so close to the elevators makes everything so convenient.

We then changed into swim suits and headed to the pool. At 3:00 many of the CC roll call members met at the Sky Bar. It was great to meet Clint and Zandra, Max's Mom and so many others that I have been typing to for so long. Now I can put a face to the name. Then it was back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We chose the 6:00 seating for 10. Patti and I prefer early and have enjoyed the company of the same tablemates in the past. We have wonderful table mates this time. Three lovely ladies from Ireland Ann, Lyn and Christine together on their first cruise, Mike and Cheryl from Seattle and our friends Stephany and Scott. Paul and Myra (mom) from London are also at our table and it just occurred to me that they are "mygracey" from the roll call. While talking to Mike and Cheryl we discovered that we were on the same Serenade cruise in 2009 but just never met.

Muster drill was at 8:00 so we left the dining room and went right to our station which was in the Schooner Bar. Then we were off for drinks and the welcome aboard show. The comedian was excellent. I will post his name once I can find it.

Being exhausted we retired to our room for the evening.

I will post more soon! Tomorrow St. Thomas!