new to royal carribbean!!!!!

[laf500]

Hi everyone! i just booked my first royal carribbean cruise. I have cruises before on carnival. I live in bayonne, nj and felt i would be crazy not to try the cruise right out of my town. sooo I am planning on booking my boyfriend and me on the voyager of the seas to bermuda out of bayonne on aug 7th.

Just a few questions as a newbie. first how worth it is the balcony in your opinions? I was trying to decide between a balcony room or the inside room with the window that overlooks the promenade cause that was something different and sounded pretty cool. Any opinions? Second question anyone been to bermuda and know any must do activities or must go to beaches? and finally just in general all u veterans can u tell me any must know secrets for a great royal carribbean cruise? I know we will have an amazing time no matter what but I know someone out there has some good tips and secrets for me right? thank u so much in advance for any help u can offer me!

[Optifire]

We also will be new to Royal Caribbean this November on Voyager going to Bermuda out of Bayonne..We also live in Jersey and we are excited about being able to go out of port from so close to home. Just wish the cruise was a little longer then 5 days, but we are glad to take that.

 

As far as the balcony goes, sorry I can't help you on that one. We never wanted to pay the extra money for that type of room, since we were never in the room that much anyway. We would rather sit on one of the decks and watch was going on around us and save the extra money for something else on the trip. When booking, we also saw the promenade rooms and thought that would be really cool, however, we thought it might be too noisy and show too much light in. So we choose instead to go the cheap route with an inside cabin and save the money for the excursions or shopping.

 

We have been to Bermuda last May and we did the Helmet Diving with Peppercorns. We booked it through the ship. We tried to get Hartley's but they were completely booked by the time we tried to get it. They fill up fast, so if you are going to do that, book it as soon as they start taking reservations for shore excursions. From the comparison's of stories that I have read, it seems Hartleys was the better one to go with. But both will give you a nice adventure. We loved it.

 

Also went to Horseshoe Bay. That was beautfiul. Make sure you see the cove to the right of the entrance into Horseshoe Bay. It is called Jobson's Cove. We missed it on the way in, but saw it on the way out, it was so beautiful. We went to the Bermuda Aquarium, it was $10.00 to go in..and it was cool, and the zoo was really great. Their gift shop was very reasonable.

 

At the Dockyards we went into the glass blowing and rum cake shops there. Watching the glass being made was really interesting and we had a piece made for us while we waited of our cat and dog. They did a fantastic job.

 

St. George is nice for shopping. I liked St. George for shopping better then Hamilton. St. George had little shops and a little more reasonable prices then the higher class stores in Hamilton. We did the horse and buggy ride in Hamilton, it came to like $10.00 a person for a group of 4 of us. It took about 45 minutes. That was nice and you get to see Bermuda at a slower pace, rather then when you are traveling in a bus or taxi. In St. George also you can see the Deliverance, the Stockade, the Dunking bucket and a few other cool things.

 

The first time we went to Bermuda I really didnt search things out before going as to what was there and what we should really see. And we missed out on alot of things. This time I have really been reserching the net, the message boards and have a complete list of what we are going to do. We are going to rent a taxi tour once there since our time will be very limited.

This way we can see all the things we want rather then standing on lines waiting for the buses and ferries. The taxi tour quoted us a price of $50.00 an hour for 4 of us and that included his tip. So we are going to rent him for the day. This way we dont have to worry about what time the ferry is leaving, or the bus schedule. We can just concentrate on having a good time.

 

I wish you luck on having a GREAT TIME and here's to more good trips coming out of Bayonne. Happy Seas.

[jsemonik]

Small world...check out our Jersey Cruisers thread:D

 

My wife and I are also booked on the Voyager (Sept.18th) to Bermuda and this time we are going with the Promanade room. We had a balcony on the Mariner which was pretty cool but with 2 days at sea and 2 days in Kings Warf I figure we wouldn't be missing much.

 

 

Jim

[BURNS1]

Well we had our 1st RCCL cruise Jan 3rd on the Voyager. It was an awesome ship. As far as the cabins, you can get a balcony on any ship but not a promanade room. We had the PR cabin and it was great. If you choose to go that route, make sure that your cabin is towards the middle and not at the end. AThe view is not as good for parades and such frome the ends. One tip, DON'T MISS THE ICE SHOW!! Have a great time. We had so much fun we are taking the kids on the Mariner in Dec.

[joeyancho]

Get the balcony and live it up. The rooms are larger than an inside. There is no inside room that compares to a balcony. It is romantic. Champagne with the setting sun cannot be experienced from an inside. You can also enjoy breakfast out there in the morning. A Cuban cigar out on your own balcony is a treat. But beware: once you go balcony you can never go back..........Bon Voyage.