Just back from 12/29/05 Galaxy

[tawcat]

had a great time, will post some pic links in a few days.

 

ship is still as great as she ever was. if you have a particular question(s) i'll try to answer it.

 

a quick observation, seems everything has gone up by about 20%. T-pool was $120 for the entire cruise; beer came to $5.18 with the added 15% gratuity; a mixed drink (crown and water) a whopping $6.90 with 15%; and a glass of wine totaled out at around $8.00 - $9.00.

 

my suggestion, you can still send bon voyage gifts. a $55 charge for a liter of premium booze has now become very economical.

[tabasco]

Glad to hear you're back - is the t-pool worth the $$? what type of cabins did you have, do the interior rooms have jacks on the t.v.s for DVD/XBOX games? What excursions did you do - I'm especially interested in Costa Rica? What is the damage in cozumel?

[tawcat]

Glad to hear you're back - is the t-pool worth the $$? what type of cabins did you have, do the interior rooms have jacks on the t.v.s for DVD/XBOX games? What excursions did you do - I'm especially interested in Costa Rica? What is the damage in cozumel?

 

yes t-pool is worth it especially if you suffer from aches and pains!

 

TV did have front jacks. we had an interior cabin 8159. loved the setup except for the way the top bunks protruded. 8096, cabin we had in april had same layout, but no bunks.

 

we did the canal boat, banana plantation, restuarant at the beach, and a stop at a local supermarket for coffee etc. supermarket accepted all credit cards. we chose to book with an independant rather than ship, charlie soto was our choice and he gave one heck of a tour for the $$$. $49 per person. lunch cost us $20 including a tip. let me tell you what we had for lunch. dw had garlic butter shrimp, the protion included a dozen - dozen and a half shrimp, veggies and fries and a diet coke. i had red snapper, portion included a whole grilled snapper, probably pound - pound and a half, veggies, salad, fried potato like pancakes and two beers. the food was absolutely delicious. note here, charlie will also do a tour that includes zip-lining. basically i think he will tailor his tour(s) to accommodate.

 

cozumel still showed damaged, had to tender in. many stores are still rebuilding but very operational. many stores have rebuilt portions of original sturctures so they could become operational. many were limited in depth, where they may have had several department sections, they now only have one. did not hinder shopping at all. streets are clean and very trafficable. ate lunch at pancho's backyard and as always it was great.

 

prices seemed to be about the same, we did not notice any significant increase in prices.

 

grand cayman, lots of new construction. we hired a cab, george chollette, for $20 per person (3 of us) he took us to the butterfly farm, turtle farm and a rum cake outlet. good tour for sure.

 

hope this helped.

[Live_2_cruise05]

I am glad you had a great time! Yall got on when we got off!

[tawcat]

just noticed that on another thread, we had a fantastic time. hope you did as well.

[Live_2_cruise05]

Ohh yes! We had the time of our lives!! By the way did you guys see the funny guy Huzani? He was the highlight of our cruise! :D

[Glendakayself]

Tawcat,

Thanks for your willingness to share!

How was your debarkation? It seems that the sailing prior to yours had problems with immigration and were not off as early as usual. We are on the 1/21 sailing and hoping to board around 12:30.

Thanks again,

[Live_2_cruise05]

Tawcat,

Thanks for your willingness to share!

How was your debarkation? It seems that the sailing prior to yours had problems with immigration and were not off as early as usual. We are on the 1/21 sailing and hoping to board around 12:30.

Thanks again,

 

 

We where on that cruise. We got off at around 11:30! The process moved faster after we where called aways from our meeting area. But it was still a LONG wait!!:eek:

[Dudlette]

Thanks for sharing your trip info with us - we are boarding on Jan 21 and we can't wait.

My question: 2 years ago we cruised with RCI and we were able to purchase a wine package on the day we boarded. This gave us a bottle of wine every night for supper and was much cheaper than purchasing the bottle on the spot and much, much cheaper than by the glass. I believe we paid around $110 for 7 bottles. Being a sister cruise line I thought Celebrity might have something similar but I haven't been able to find any mention of it on the website. Do you recall anything of this nature?

[tawcat]

we had blue4 tags, reported to the savoy lounge at 9:30, probably called about 9:45 or so, we drove, were in the trucks and on our way home by 11:00.

 

as for wine packages, i believe they had a wine display setup by the pool and i know folks were buying. not sure about packages, but i am sure they have them.

[CAD]

We looked for a wine package and did not find one. I know that everyone raves about the waffles in the waffle station, but be sure to check out the french toast of the day. They had flavors like nutella and banana-pecan and it was the first time ever that I have had cruise french toast that wasn't horribly dried out. We did a similar tour in Costa Rica with Oscar Brown and were generally satisfied. We went to Paradise Beach in Cozumel, which we all enjoyed (ages 6-60) and it was a lot less crowded (and less expensive) than Playa Mia. Saw PB Tom from a distance, but he was busy so didn't get a chance to talk with him.

 

We had an early departure from Grand Cayman due to an approaching cold front and even though we were back an hour before the last tender, it still took 45 minutes to get an approach to the ship and get everyone off. If this happens to you, go back early. The young officer piloting the tender did an amazing job.

[tawcat]

heres the link to some of the panama cruise pics. will post more soon.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/541045623aOgZBL

[DonLou]

tawcat,

 

Thanks for the report. But can you please clarify your tour in Panama. Was it an independent excursion? I thought X did not allow them from Gatun Lake.

[tawcat]

we booked through the ship, you are correct, only folks let off are those booked on an excursion. we booked the canal by ferry tour, took air conditioned buses to gamboa, got on the ferry and ferried down to balboa. through the pedro miguel and miraflores locks. i would recommend this tour to anyone that hasn't transitted the entire canal. it was absolutely fantastic.

[swing24]

I agree with everything that TAWCAT said. The staff was wonderful and always willing to help. I had a massage package which was great.

 

Be sure to get a room without a bunk bed (unless you need one), because I kept banging my head or shoulder on the closed bed every time I got out of bed.

 

Also, if you have someone in a wheelchair or otherwise handicapped, be sure to ask about the disembarcation/embarcation arrangements and how easy/difficult it will be to get off and on the ship.

[Live_2_cruise05]

WoW! Great pictures! It brought back so many great memories! Looking forward to more!

[MuscleGrandma]

Glad you had a great time. We sail on 1/21 and are getting anxious.

 

How did you arrange your tour with Charlie Soto of Costa Rica? We think we'd like to do the canals there and wait and zipline on Jamaica, but haven't made any arrangements.

 

Also, did you hire your cab at the end of the pier on Grand Cayman? One of our group of 4 really wants to see the butterfly farm, but the ship's excursion seems over priced.

 

The only tour we currently have booked is of the ruins out of Cozumel--the Mayan ruins that is, not the hurricane ruins. The other couple was there many years ago and really wanted to go back. Thought we'd be best going through the ship since it is so far.

 

We did a complete Panama transit a couple years ago. Did you hear any talk of any tours that were great besides the complete transit?

 

One last question. Was there adequate clothes storage? Wondering where we'll put everything. We also have an inside cabin, but am not sure if there is a bunk. Hope not. Did you get the extra bed pad? Oops, sorry, that was two questions.

 

Thanks so much!:rolleyes:

[senior lady]

wow, with drink prices that high, no wonder everyone is smuggling their own booze. Wonder if the cruise lines ever thought about lowering prices and maybe people would purchase more:confused:

[tawcat]

Glad you had a great time. We sail on 1/21 and are getting anxious.

 

How did you arrange your tour with Charlie Soto of Costa Rica? We think we'd like to do the canals there and wait and zipline on Jamaica, but haven't made any arrangements.

 

Also, did you hire your cab at the end of the pier on Grand Cayman? One of our group of 4 really wants to see the butterfly farm, but the ship's excursion seems over priced.

 

The only tour we currently have booked is of the ruins out of Cozumel--the Mayan ruins that is, not the hurricane ruins. The other couple was there many years ago and really wanted to go back. Thought we'd be best going through the ship since it is so far.

 

We did a complete Panama transit a couple years ago. Did you hear any talk of any tours that were great besides the complete transit?

 

One last question. Was there adequate clothes storage? Wondering where we'll put everything. We also have an inside cabin, but am not sure if there is a bunk. Hope not. Did you get the extra bed pad? Oops, sorry, that was two questions.

 

Thanks so much!:rolleyes:

 

you can do a search on cc for charlie's email address, he is very quick to answer.

 

we just walked to the other side of "the hard rock cafe" in grand caymen and hired the cab there. yes the ships price is rather steep.

 

we had plenty of storage in the closets. we nested two of our bags and placed one one the closet floor, moved the life vests to under the bed and had plenty of room for our other piece of luggage above. we requested a mattress pad and an extra queen size blanket.

 

hope this info helped, happy sailing.

[heyjude27]

MuscleGrandma

We thoroughly enjoyed our day with Charlie Soto - the ziplining was well-done so do consider it. The canal boat trip was enjoyable also.

 

Grand Cayman - one of the oodles of cab drivers will provide a tour to different places - but they prefer more passengers. They are fairly reasonable compared to ship excursions - you can always offer them more money, I guess.

 

Coz - mainland excursions were ferried on larger boats straight to playa del carmen and then bussed to various locations (never laid eyes on Cozumel). The ferries brought us back just at 6pm and a bit later - well past the sailing hour. My point is, stick with the ship sponsored excursion (though I never recommend them) because of the distance.

 

I've never had a cabin with so much storage -- and I always overpack; you'll be fine.

 

Enjoy,

J

[MuscleGrandma]

Thanks, heyjude27

We have Charlie Soto booked for our time in CostaMaya later this month. So far it is just the 4 of us. Think we will try ziplining, but he says we can decide when we're there. He sure replies on a timley basis.

We will also find a cab in Grand Cayman for our own tour. Had already booked a ships excursion in Cozumel (mayan ruins), due to travel distance; but it's nice to hear we made the right decision. Haven't made any firm decisions for Panama stop or Jamaica--we've pretty well done Jamaica--but can decide later. We leave home in less than 5 days!

Thanks again. These boards have been so helpful.:D

MuscleGrandma

We thoroughly enjoyed our day with Charlie Soto - the ziplining was well-done so do consider it. The canal boat trip was enjoyable also.

 

Grand Cayman - one of the oodles of cab drivers will provide a tour to different places - but they prefer more passengers. They are fairly reasonable compared to ship excursions - you can always offer them more money, I guess.

 

Coz - mainland excursions were ferried on larger boats straight to playa del carmen and then bussed to various locations (never laid eyes on Cozumel). The ferries brought us back just at 6pm and a bit later - well past the sailing hour. My point is, stick with the ship sponsored excursion (though I never recommend them) because of the distance.

 

I've never had a cabin with so much storage -- and I always overpack; you'll be fine.

 

Enjoy,

J

[tawcat]

if you have never done a full transit of the canal the "canal by ferry" excursion was well worth the money. a bit pricey at $149 per person, but absolutely a fantastic tour. enjoy!

[MuscleGrandma]

Thanks for the suggestion, but we did a full transit of the canal a couple years ago and spent every moment on deck watching. So I think we'll save our money the way they have it priced.

[Dudlette]

For those of you that were on the Galaxy, can you tell me if there is an iron in the cabin? Some clothes don't do well in suitcases for any length of time.

[DonLou]

For those of you that were on the Galaxy, can you tell me if there is an iron in the cabin? Some clothes don't do well in suitcases for any length of time.

There is no iron in the room and there is no public room where an iron is available. You have to send it out to the ship's laundry service for ironing. I don't remember the price but it is not cheap.