sft429

On 1/18/2020 at 2:40 PM, hal2008 said:

Yes, all of these facilities are good.

(after all the main draw is the Carlisle Beach)

 

When there are only 2-3 ships in port, even Boatyard should be fine.

When there more pax,  clever marketting of Boatyard backfires for pax when it is oversold.

 

They charge fee upfront and then may not be able to deliver on services promised.

 

Others charge based on what you use (these other facilities actually turn out to be much more cost effective for larger group if different members wants to do different things)

 

Harbor Lights can take reservations which ensures availibility of chair/umbrella (and a spot on turtle snorkling trip if interested)

 

Amex/Citibank had to get involved to ding Boatyard for their unethical practice of charging money upfront and then not able to deliver what was sold. (and then refuse the refunds).

Every time I read this story I think the other side of it might be quite interesting.

For a little adventure and low cost you could spend two bucks apiece (unless the price has gone up) and walk a ways South towards Carlisle and as soon as you get out of town and are on the road that hugs the water hop on a ZR van.  There are some bus stops but if you are walking and hear a goofy horn honking behind you flag the van down and hop on.  Tell the drive you want to go to Oistens and give him or the collector $1 US or $2 BBD.  The van may be really crowded and the ride a bit on the exciting side.  Could be harder getting back to the ship the same way but you could always get a taxi too.

21 hours ago, DNRsailaway said:

We still drink alcohol almost daily (I tried to do Dry January but failed) so perhaps we are in training for all the free booze onboard!  LOL!

Well, you ARE from Wisconsin 🙂

They can all be checked out in less than 1/2 hour.  Just walk or taxi to the area and walk the beach and then make up your mind.  Some days Pirate's Cove is virtually empty.  Lobster Alive has fewer beds farther apart than Boatyard.  Harbor Lights is set up pretty much like the Boatyard and maybe as big.  Copacabana is also right there and I think there is one more beach bar to the North of Pirates Cove.  I drew myself a map listing all the beach bars on Carlisle and now I can't find it 😞  I always check the Boatyard first.

Maybe. 

And that is the best answer you'll get because no one can tell you for certain.

It's a fine question though 🙂

I've seen beach massage tables set up on Isla Verde beach.  Not sure if it fits in your "near the port" requirement.

10 minutes ago, Dorh said:

We will be arriving in Antigua next week.  We are a party of 7-9 very interested in Beach Limerz, but we prefer to pay when we arrive at the beach rather than pre pay.  Can we just take a taxi over in the morning and pay when we arrive at the location? 

TIA

I'm guessing that would be ok.  You may run the risk of them being at full when you get there.

On 1/9/2020 at 4:43 PM, existentialtraveler said:

You will not regret it. Gail and her husband, Barry, are  such  lovely people...you could probably sense her smile through the emails!

You sure you're not getting a cut? 😎

(we're booked there too in Feb)

Once in ketosis I lose weight rapidly, maybe 5 pounds a week or more.  Getting to ketosis is the tricky part.  It can take me a month because every time I cheat it sets me back.  Once in ketosis I can cheat once a week or so.  And one thing I've heard about exercise...?  it just makes you hungrier and you eat more. 😀

On 1/1/2020 at 11:28 AM, hal2008 said:

AVOID boatyard.

 

 

I get it.  You had a bad experience.  I'd still like to hear the other side to the story.  Boatyard is the most popular club on the beach.  There must be a reason.

47 minutes ago, RealBatman said:

The old TA vs Direct thread! 🙂

 

We have always booked directly with Celebrity and usually book a year or two ahead while on a cruise. Then we watch the prices fluctuate wildly for the next year! When it goes down (and it will) we call directly ....

It will go down except when it doesn't...  My cruises booked for this Feb have more than doubled in cost since I booked well over a year ago.

We don't do much taxi touring but Isla Verde has a pretty good beach and it's close.  It's an urban beach and the sand and water aren't quite as nice as Carlisle Bay on Barbados, for instance.  It's wide and long though with food and booze along the way.  Weekends can be busy but during the week it is pretty empty.

I thought Dickensons was very gradual.  At least it was where we were on the beach and it was about 3 years ago.

On 12/10/2019 at 8:18 PM, sft429 said:

 

I filled out their form a few days ago for a one day rental in Feb and haven't had any response whatsoever..

 

 

I decided to give the contact form another try and this time had a response in 1 day.  The standard size SUV I wanted is not available for a one day rental but there are mid size auto and mid and small SUV options that are.

This makes no sense so I'm guessing there is an easy explanation.

Ignoring honesty, I often wonder why anyone pays for anything at all on their onboard account. It seems like all you need to do is complain and the charge is removed.

We won a cruise from the Powerball Lottery.  A chartered bus furnished by Powerball picked us up from our hotel and delivered us to the pier.  The bus driver unloaded all the luggage from the baggage bins before they let us off.  When we were finally told to get off the bus there was a single luggage handler (who hadn't lifted a finger yet) standing in a sea of luggage yelling at all of us remember to tip him.  He had no idea whose luggage was whose and I don't think a single one of us made our way over to him to hand him a tip.  Wish I'd have taken a little video of that because it was comical.  

On 12/8/2019 at 1:30 AM, Stinger-pr said:

After reading this post I went and asked for a quote from Advance and got the response you'll see before. In short, no Jeep (unless a Jeep Compass is what other posters were referring to as "a Jeep"). The price is double the advertised price online because they're doing cruise passengers a favor. Go figure...

 

I filled out their form a few days ago for a one day rental in Feb and haven't had any response whatsoever..

3 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

It depends on the way way you look at things. I wouldn’t say paying over $1000pp more for a cabin when prices are released is very good value e.g. Equinox Christmas sailing in a balcony started at $2000pp for 7 nights, it’s now down to $899pp.

...and the 2 Summit cruises in Aqua I booked well over a year ago for this coming Feb were $7,176 when I booked.  Now, after final payment, they would cost you $12,647 with less obc.  

1 minute ago, Caribbean Chris said:

 

<snip>..... AND that before the cruise was over, an officer presented you with two $1,000 certificates to sail again! Wow!

Certificates were probably for a different ship...

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

We have done the Barcelo Aruba day pass and absolutely loved it. In fact we are going back next year. Here is a link to our Carnival Pride Journeys cruise and our day in Aruba, including many pictures at the Barcelo Aruba.

 

Our day in Aruba at the Barcelo Aruba

Shoreexcursioneer or Caribbeandaypass?  Maybe neither one?  

1 hour ago, jdechter said:

I found this:

https://www.franksplacearuba.com/rentals/beach-chair-umbrella-rental-holiday-inn-location/

$10 for beach chairs and $40 for an umbrella.  Sun must be intense... :)

8 hours ago, sft429 said:

I've been trying to check in for a cruise in Feb since Sunday both on my laptop and using the app.  No luck...  App says check-in paused and website just gives me a blank page.

Problem solved.  I was trying to check-in for the second half of a B2B.  No need to do that and the software won't let you anyway.

I've been trying to check in for a cruise in Feb since Sunday both on my laptop and using the app.  No luck...  App says check-in paused and website just gives me a blank page.