Two Questions

[buglver066]

Hello :)

 

I have two different questions. I will be traveling with a group of 12 and we are suppose to have Any Time Dinning. I am wondering if this would be a mistake. I can just picture formal night (or whatever it's called now :p) us having to wait like an hour....with three small children. Can anybody give me some insight who has done this? The only other time available now is late seating and one of the children is 1 1/2. I'm thinking we won't do the MDR much but would like to on formal night.

 

Second, I have been most of the places we are going except Ocho Rios. I'm not doing an excursion anywhere else and there we are thinking we want to go to Bamboo Beach and the Falls (but not everyone is going to be climbing them). Would it be easy to catch a taxi to and from the beach or should we shell out the money to pay Carnival to take us to and from? I know in Grand Cayman it is soooo easy to catch a cab and I am just trying to figure out the easiest and safest solution.

 

Thanks! :D

[ckdmom]

We were on the Elation last week and had any-time dining. There were 7 of us. We were advised that if we wanted to eat "earlier" that we would have no problem getting a table. We usually went to the MDR around 6 for dinner and never waited more than a couple minutes to be seated. There was only 1 night of the 5 that I noticed people waiting with buzzers to be seated.

 

Hope that helps!

[saw1953]

Do NOT just rent a cab in Jamaica. If you don't want to use the ship excursion go to the Jamaica boards. There are very good independent excursion folks in Jamaica but you only want to use someone that is recommended on these boards. Jamaica can be very dangerous so find a reputable guide or do a ship excursion.

[*Mach*]

Hello :)

 

I have two different questions. I will be traveling with a group of 12 and we are suppose to have Any Time Dinning. I am wondering if this would be a mistake. I can just picture formal night (or whatever it's called now :p) us having to wait like an hour....with three small children. Can anybody give me some insight who has done this? The only other time available now is late seating and one of the children is 1 1/2. I'm thinking we won't do the MDR much but would like to on formal night.

 

Second, I have been most of the places we are going except Ocho Rios. I'm not doing an excursion anywhere else and there we are thinking we want to go to Bamboo Beach and the Falls (but not everyone is going to be climbing them). Would it be easy to catch a taxi to and from the beach or should we shell out the money to pay Carnival to take us to and from? I know in Grand Cayman it is soooo easy to catch a cab and I am just trying to figure out the easiest and safest solution.

 

Thanks! :D

 

 

Carnival cautions against large groups booking Your Time Dining and expecting to be able to dine together:

Since most tables are configured for parties up to 6 guests and many cannot be moved together to make larger tables, parties greater than 8 guests may need to be accommodated at several tables and the wait can sometimes be more than one hour. It is important to advise accordingly as to manage expectations and avoid disappointment once on board. We highly suggest that parties of 8 or more guests choose the traditional assigned seating (6:00pm or 8:15pm) to assure sitting together at one table or several tables close together.

https://www.goccl.com/irman/bookccl/sections/shipboard/DiningOnboard_master.html

Regarding Ocho, yes, it's easy to catch a cab to go where you want but it's also easy to hang out near the pier and have a great time! There's an excellent Margaritaville right there.

Should you elect to go to the falls via cab make sure that you negotiate a firm price before you get in the vehicle and make sure it has RED JUTA plates on it. Others are not licensed cabs.

:)

[kymmc3]

We rented a cab a port to take us to the Falls. We did set the price before we left. We actually took a cab that was Dunn River Specific and a large group ending up going in one cab (more like large van/small bus type of thing) It did work well for us