JUST BACK from Wilma affected 10/15 NOS

[megr1125]

Just back...in Miami actually from the Navigator. Missed Cozumel and Cayman due to Wilma, got San Juan instead (ick) plus Ocho Rios (not impressed) and Labadee (ick!)

 

If anyone has questions, I will try and answer. Will do a review when and if i get home later in the week.

 

Yes, I know if you cruise in Hurricane season you may get one! BUT anyplace besides san juan......

 

Ship gorgeous, food excellent for the most part and the crew, well.....uh, guess I need to open the suitecases and let them out!!!

 

 

Bye

[syndyj]

I would like to know why the "ick" for Labadee? I thought that it is a nice beach day

[cruisin' scrapper]

What's wrong with Ocho Rios? I thought it was beautiful.

[michelle45]

It's funny isn't it how one woman's paradise can be someone else's horror story. Guess it's a good thing though or we'd all be squashed within a few square miles of each other!

[OliverTheCat]

Labadee IS very nice, but the locals ARE agressive. Maybe that is what the poster meant.

 

As for Jamaica...I liked it a lot, but I also wouldnt venture off on my own there...

[bplazo]

I loved Ocho Rios and Labadee. A couple of my favorite spots. I like it better than Grand Cayman.

[KreiderCarter]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions! I agree about Labadee....ICK!

[harrodsfan]

And I liked SAn Juan...great shopping...:)

[fire46149]

How were the seas? Did you notice the ship move more? How was the weather? I am going this weekend on the NOS and see their is ALPHA looming in the caribbean.

[Merion_Mom]

It's funny isn't it how one woman's paradise can be someone else's horror story. Guess it's a good thing though or we'd all be squashed within a few square miles of each other!

michelle, I SO agree with you!

 

I, too, LOVE Labadee. I LIKE San Juan. Haven't gotten to Jamaica yet (thanks to USAir). I'm in the crowd that says "put me on the ship and I'm happy." (PARTICULARLY a Voyager class ship!)

 

Carol

[TrentS]

I love San Juan, but wouldn't have bothered getting off the ship in Labadee, or Jamaica... The REAL destination is the Navigator though! I don't book cruises for the ports, I book them for the SHIP, and IMO the Navigator is the best destination in the Caribbean! :)

[Love2cruisegirl]

My DH & I returned on 9/24/05 from the NOS...did the Western (Labadee, Ocho, GCayman, Cozumel) route and loved it. If you really check these boards, research your port and plan, plan, plan - every port can be fun and stress-free. We planned each of our stops accordingly and had a fantastic time! Labadee was a beach day (105 degrees HOT!), Ocho was great as we did The Original Canopy Tour (FUN!!) and then headed to Jimmy's place for a free margarita (I found the Lost Shaker of Salt on his website!) and some shopping, GCayman was Captn Bryan's Buccaneer to see the Stingrays & then some shopping, Cozumel was shopping and scuba! It was a great week and I got to meet some the great people from our Roll Call here on CC!

[syndyj]

for me the destination is the ship AND the ports!

[megr1125]

I wasn't impressed with Labadee. Could be the cloudy weather. Was harassed by locals the minute I stepped on the beach. Wasn't as nice as the pix in the brochure.

 

Ocho rios.....again, bugged by l;ocals in all the shops and on the streets. VERY poor country. Dunns falls is a LOT of walking...NO WAY y mom could have even made it to look at them........I got very sick..probably the heat!! Had to cut the tour short. The hilight was the pottery factory.

 

San Juan....better this year than last cause we were only there a day. Again, imigration was a NIGHTMARE-it willbe in my review when i get home this week...i hope. We are staying in miami a few days.

 

The ship WAS the highlight! Great crew, the food was womderful. Again, I know if you cruise in hurricane season, you may get a hurricane! The shopping coupon book wound up being a MAJOR waste of money due to cancelled ports!

 

If anyone else has questions, let me know. Again, I know some love labadee and jamaice...just not my cups of tea. I prefer Aruba and St Maarten. Even

St. Thomas would have been better.

[megr1125]

Oh the seas were not bad. A little bupy here and there, but really OK...not so bad to make them hand out motion sickness pills like candy!

 

BUT, I am currently so solid (for now) ground, and I am rocking like crazy! So is my mom!

[bobert]

I also was on the 10/15/05 Navigator sailing and have many thoughts. First Labadee is a port that has limited options and therefor you have to look at it as a beach day. Some like the beach, I do, and some do not, my DW does not. It happened that our day in Labadee was cloudy and not really beach weather. After a half dozen previous visits that all included snorkeling and swimming, I did not bother to get wet this time. However knowing what the weather was like I just took my time and enjoyed a stroll though the more interesting parts, climbed up to where the old ruins are and then back down towards Dragon Rocks and along the beach. Not exciting stuff but a fun relaxing day anyway and an early return to the ship and a fun lunch in the main dinning room.

 

I must say that I was very disappointed that we did not get to either Grand Cayman or Cozumel since I love to dive and had dragged my SCUBA gear with me to dive in these ports. My DW does not care for Jamaica either but I had a wonderful time on the Canopy Tour. I always advise first timers in Jamaica that the street vendors are very aggressive and therefore if this bothers you better to go on a ship tour in Jamaica to minimize this problem by minimizing the contact with the locals.

 

I have never really cared for San Juan but I picked a tour that I liked, the Rain forest tour. It's funny that I heard a number of fellow cruisers complain about the change and especially about San Juan. But if you understand that Captain Bang had no choice in order to protect the passengers he had to change the ports and San Juan was the only place that had room for us last minute. By the way the seas were really verry mild considering the Hurricane out there. While the weather was a but cloudy and rainy the first half of the cruise we finally saw the sun in San Juan and from there on it was about half and half as far as the weather went. I could complain about other small problems, like the broken espresso machine in the Concierge Lounge, but I would rather focus on the positive aspects.

 

This was my first trip with access to the Concierge lounge and boy was it great, while I am not a big drinker it was verrrrry nice to be able to go to a private lounge and have FREE drinks and hot and cold appetizers every night before dinner. It was also the place that I first met the Captain and got to have a conversation with him for almost a half hour one to one. I learned that he lives in Orlando and his daughter was on this trip with him. When I raved about how much I love the cruising vacation lifestyle especially when my daughter is with me he told me that this past summer vacation he PAID to cruise on another ship with his family and that is how I got to meet his daughter and got to sit next to her at the Captain's table on lobster night.

 

I have always said that I cruise for the ship not the ports and this trip but that to the test. In fact despite the problems we went ahead and booked two more cruises while on board with the Loyalty Officer, Cindy, she was great and it was the most fun I have ever had booking a cruise. Again returning to Concierge Lounge subject, it added more fun by way of the people you met in that Lounge. We got friendly with several couples from the Lounge and even got to tour the Royal Suite because we met the couple from the RS at the Captains table and saw them in the Concierge Lounge.

 

In conclusion this was a great trip with many surprises, did I mention that I had a birthday while on board and boy if you do not want a fuss made do NOT tell them. It was great and I can't wait to get back on board on 2/4/6.

[screenname2004]

This was my first trip with access to the Concierge lounge and boy was it great, while I am not a big drinker it was verrrrry nice to be able to go to a private lounge and have FREE drinks and hot and cold appetizers every night before dinner.

 

Do you have to be a Diamond C&A member to gain access to the concierge lounge?

[Cruising89143]

michelle, I SO agree with you!

 

I, too, LOVE Labadee. I LIKE San Juan. Haven't gotten to Jamaica yet (thanks to USAir). I'm in the crowd that says "put me on the ship and I'm happy." (PARTICULARLY a Voyager class ship!)

 

Carol

 

Carol, I think that you would like Jamaica. Many people give it a bad name. It is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean IMHO. It is true that the locals can be aggressive but a simple "no thanks" and keep moving takes care of that.

[bobert]

Do you have to be a Diamond C&A member to gain access to the concierge lounge?

 

Yes or book a Suite above the Junior Suite category. We had never booked a Suite so Diamond status was the only way, more cruises for the $$$.

[Aldeya]

I wasn't impressed with Labadee. Could be the cloudy weather. Was harassed by locals the minute I stepped on the beach. .

 

I just have to reply because this part surprised me to no end. We visited Labadee three times and we NEVER EVER were even approached by the locals. I'm not even talking about 'being harassed"!

 

You deal with the locals only if you go to the market and even then I was NEVER pushed by the sellers to buy anything.

:rolleyes:

[AFT_LOVER]

so a mall isn't a great offering. Ochos Rios isn't a snorkel port, so we learned, so we just stay on the ship & enjoy the empty pool. St Maarten is anothe port like that for us. We have done Carib cruises so many times it is getting a bit boring. So we enjoy the ship without all the people. We still have lunch with the best service in the dining room, the pool is vacant, rockwall isn't open some days and others even the staff was doing it. I love to inline skate as far as getting my feeling going, then I am set for the week, since I don''t at home. I used to til I wiped out breaking my tailbone.

 

Grand Caymen is a favorite since you can walk from the ship to a beach & jump in!

[claven]

What is the canaopy tour in Ocho Rios? We we to an all inclusive a few years ago and loved it. I do think the locals are very aggresive with sales.

[dobiusa]

I too was on that cruise and I found it to be interesting to say the least. Yes due to Wilma we were redirected to San J. and because we went to Labadee first we had to renter US waters to go to San Juan , therefore an almost 3 hour wait for imagration to be done (Yikes!!) we didnt get off the boat until almost 3 in the afternoon. By then we were so tired of waiting to get off the aweful dock we had to dock at because the regular cruise ships got first dibbs on the better ones we really didnt want to venture out to old san j. but we did then returned fustrated and tired. As far as Jamacia went, I always enjoy going there and I did venture out and enjoy talking with the locals very much.. Yes then can be pushy but its only because we are thier bread and butter. I got into a very lengthy discussion with one of the locals as he gave me a beautiful tour of Ocho Rios for only 30.00. He explained how its disturbing to the Jamacian people that we have this impression that we are unsafe there. And that they have nothing but respect for us because of the money we bring to thier country. There are a few haglers who look scary but if you just politly decline what they are selling and smile or shake thier hand they move on. I had seen many people who wont even look at them when they just say hello... I think the cruise had its ups as well as downs due to the storm, and yes I did have grips too, but its all what you make of it that dictates the out come.

 

thats just my opinion...

[marcmedic]

I was also on the 10/15 NOS cruise. Immigration only took us 45 minutes to go through because we got in line early. Getting in line 45 minutes early saved us almost 4 hours of waiting. In my opinion the cruise line did everything in their power to make this a nice vacation. Yes, San Juan isn't the most fun place to go to. The only other option would have been another sea day. We still got to go to 3 islands insterad of the original 4. The gave us an hour of free drinks at several of the bars due to the changed islands. Patricia the new concierge is amazing. Far better than the previous concierge on the NOS. The food was great. Chops was amazing. The seas were a little rough at times. Labadee was no different than it was the last time I was there. I'm not sure what people expect from it...it's a beach day. I was tryly impressed with Royal Caribbean on this cruise. They kept everyone well informed with daily updates and did everything in their power to make it the best cruise possible. I think with their customer service on this cruise, they've earned my business from here on out. I guess some people would have rather had them cruise into Wilma just to follow the original cruise.

[cruiseky]

I agree with serveral of the other posters. It was unforntunate that the storm caused our itinerary to change, but I was VERY inpressed with the way thet RCCL and the crew handled the situation. I always felt like they had the passengers best interest at heart. Captain Bang kept us well informed of changes in our itinereary and always took the time to explain why he made the decisions that he made.

 

Overall this was a great cruise. Yes, we were disappointed not to be going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel and Yes, it took FOREVER to get through imigration in San Juan. But the ship is fabulous, the food was great, the crew was friendly, there was enough sun for me to get burnt, despite the weather I thought that the ship was very smooth, we met a lot of nice people, I could go on and on. There were definately more positives than negatives on this trip!

 

Two thumbs up for RCCL and Captain Bang!!!!