erby2283

Sean - can you please share your experience with when the karoake noise quieted down and was it much of a distraction? I actually had an L-shaped aft on deck 6 on the Victory a few years ago and remember hearing some bass but it wasn't that bad. However, I have a room close to yours booked on the Liberty in Aug and kind of nervous about it keeping me up again.

Thanks - enjoying your review! I know how much time they take and appreciate your effort!

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From my research and everyone's helpful advice we will be renting a car when we get to Port Canaveral. It is so much cheaper plus having the freedom to come and go is a huge plus.

If you or anyone in your party has a warehouse membership, book through their travel online. I got dirt cheap one-way car rentals from MCO to Tampa booking through my warehouse membership and I kept watching the price and canceling/rebooking when the price dropped. I think one way was under $25! Just a tip. :)

I'm a little worried about being in 6444 towards the rear b/c of some reviews I read about the disco/karaoke keeping them awake but hope it'll be okay. I had an L-shape in deck ^ on the Valor and it did keep me awake some nights but wasn't that bad.

I have a review I never finished in my signature from November :D:D:D:D

Loved the Serenity area but it did fill up very quickly if you weren't there by 10 - very nice have the showers there but the water was so cold! Staff was very friendly.....but my bed was horrible! Someone mentioned on John Heald's page that I could have asked for an egg carton-something to put on the mattress to help soften it some so don't forget to ask if your bed is as rock hard as ours was. Loved the ship! Easy to navigate!

Darn it, guess I will have to finish my review now.......

I haven't ever been on the Legend and am just starting to research it as a possibility for a cruise so thanks for this review.

 

Better hurry, it's heading to Australia - permanently - after this Western Caribbean run ends.....:mad:

Loved mine on the Valor - close to the "secret" door and just a short walk to the food. Elevators were close by and it was still as quiet as can be. Like someone else mentioned, the hallways are not very long so really the only people you encounter are others who have rooms in that area. Would book it again in a heartbeat.

Awesome, thank you for the info. Think I'll just self debark to get off first.

Sorry, for the the last post. Hit post too quickly.

You don't always get zone 1 with FTTF. It depends on how many platinum and excursions, etc are ahead of you. First FTTF, we were zone 1, second time we were zone 5! I was worried about missing our flight since we had to drive to Orlando and thought about self assist bc guest services did not want to give me zone 1. But we decided against it. Then we were late disembarking. But still ended up making it in plenty of time. :)

Just wanted to let you know you don't always get zone 1.

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Awesome, thank you for the info. Think I'll just self debark to get off first.

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Well I received some kind of coupon in the mail - don't have it in front of me so I can't remember the exact details but it was for $100 off and a one-time upgrade(can't remember exactly what kind but I think it mentioned platinum) and a $150 OBC. I wonder if you could use this on an early saver? I do know I had to use it before 3/31....I'm tempted to use this on my friends 8/30 cruise on the early saver and then just be out the $50 if I end up not being able to go and need to cancel before final payment.

Is it me, or are the prices of fall cruises (Oct, Nov, Dec) higher than they usually are? I love to cruise that time of year and usually can find a great price on a 7 day cruise (by great price I mean a balcony for around $550 excluding taxes and fees). Those seem to be few and far between this year. I was just curious if others had noticed this to be the case.

I have friends cruising on the Liberty on 8/30 and am hoping to join them but even an inside on that is running around $569 right now...and...well you know how us balcony people are...you must have one :) But I know August cruises are going to be more expensive than Fall cruises.

Prior to my last cruise, I had been on one Carnival cruises without FTTF and one with. This last time out of Tampa, I was so happy I did. Embarkation was delayed by hours and I was personally escorted to the front of the line (not sure if the woman just liked me and took it upon herself to bring us there bc usually there's just a separate line for FTTF but nonetheless, she took us straight to the front).

I enjoy getting one and being able to drop off my soda that I carry on and being able to immediately unpack b/c my bags are usually there before we get to the room! We also enjoy not having to wait at Guest Services.

To me, it's definitely worth the $50!

We leave all auto-tips in place and always tip our steward and dining staff extra - and we do any-time dining. We probably tip more than most but that's bc I get so ticked off watching people talk so rudely to the staff knowing they never tip them! Last time we tipped our room steward $50, our head waiter $35 and each of the asst waiters $25. We also gave a small tip to the drink waiter even though neither of us drink nor ordered anything from him. People on cruise ships, for the most part, work their butts off and I try to do what I can to make up for the fact that others treat them like crap.

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Excellent review!! I'm loving it. We are going in Feb and my sis is going in Jan doing the same itinerary. Thanks. Great pics!

So you're going twice?

I was hoping to have finished for those leaving tomorrow. I'll try and finish up tonight. :)

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I always steered away from Carnival b/c of their "party" reputation. But 2 years ago, their price couldn't be beat and I had the best Southern Caribbean cruise ever!

I have been on one Princess cruise and while I would say they are step up from Carnival in terms of food and entertainment, you get what you pay for and it certainly wouldn't keep me from cruising Carnival!

I just got back from cruising on Carnival last month and in the middle of posting my review now and did the same ports as you. If you'd like to read the start of my review, the link is: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1953119

Just enjoy - whichever cruise you decide!

Aha...now I know how much I owe you. ;)

I'm still not taking your money!

Hi OP!

 

Wow I love your Roatan photos! Its like I'm there again! One of our favorite ports, especially the west end dive hippy area. I also agree that Belize when we were there (2011) was the more depressed, compared to Roatan.

 

FYI, I know what you mean about eating dinner and falling asleep. I have since learned that I must keep walking around and going all over the ship after dinner. To this end, I have figured out that main or early seating is NOT for me. The reason is that you go eat all that rich food and then you sit down for a show. If I sit down, I'm asleep soon after and down to my room I go. Pretty much done by 10. On our last cruise, our party selected second seating. You sit down to the show first, walk around the ship or lounge on veranda (nice pics btw!) and then you go eat dinner around 8, and afterward you go to games or karaoke or deck dance parties or whatever. If I do that, I found some nights we stayed up past 2am!

 

So that's my suggestion. After you eat, don't sit down! And you may discover that you have all your energy to par-tay back! And as for drinking, believe me, that can put you to sleep faster than anything. After dinner coffee, and then stroll around the ship?

 

Try it! You'll thank me later.

 

I'll never do early dining again. I'd rather grab a slice or chicken tender at 5, watch a show after I'm pooped from swimming all day, then go eat a nice dinner, and then check out all the night life from here on out. Even if my friends beg me! No more early dining for me!

Thank you so much for you reply! We did ATD though so we eat when we're hungry, and my BF eats ALL THE TIME! Not sure he could do the structured time but I do hear what your saying. Going back to the cabin after dinner is pretty much a guarantee of not leaving the room!

When we have cruised with friends in the past, we found we stayed up later b/c we actually did things together with them. Even if it was just hanging out on the deck watching them drink and dance.

I think the thing that really bothered me about Roatan versus Belize was all the homeless dogs I saw! OMG!!!! Broke my heart seeing them on top of garbage cans scrounging for food. Our guide in Belize said that the majority of the dogs I saw there were not homeless; it was that so many people work long hours and it's so hot, that they leave the dogs loose so they are able to get food and water all day/night and stay in the shade.

After the monkey farm, we stopped and did a little shopping for about half an hour and picked up some more souvenirs and were able to pick up some drinks at a grocery store located below the shops.

Juan Carlos then drove us around Roatan and showed us some beautiful spots where more locals hang out.

More Monkeys:

And my favorite....he was sleeping so securely in the arms of his buddy!

Our first stop on the tour was a monkey farm. This was NOT Victor Bodden's monkey's. It was a different place; I want to say it was called Maya Eden or something like that. It was a $10 per person entrance fee and the second we jumped out of the van, a monkey named Jake jumped on our friend Matt's head, and from that second, the bromance was on. Jake and Matt were inseparable!

The monkey farm also had an enclosed butterfly farm.

Look at cute little Jake!

Jake refused to leave Matt's arms - even when his handler called him!

I had researched some private tours and almost booked with Victor Bodden but decided to book with a man name Juan Carlos instead. He used to work for Victor Bodden and I found some favorable reviews for him here on CC . I found some other roll call peeps interested in joining me for the tour and we ended up with a total of 7 people.

Most people prefer to just go to Carnival's beach which is within the port area. It has tons of shopping as well.

All private tours are not allowed within the port area so you have to walk outside and up a hill and then down the hill. A lot of people were on the right hand side of the street with signs and mopeds, etc but Juan Carlos was by himself on the left hand side with a sign, just like his instructions read. He walked us to his van, which he kept running so it was nice and cool when we got inside. A few on our tour were hesitant to book privately bc they had never done so before so I was glad they decided to join us for Juan Carlos' tour!

View from atop one of the scenic stops. Juan Carlos said if you cruised in on another ship, this is where you would have docked.

Wonderful review and great pics!

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do this... I leave on Sunday and always love to read recent reviews before I leave....

Adds to the excitement!! Great job Erby!! :)

Thanks Sheilb4. Hope you have a fantastic time!

Enjoying your review including the photos.

 

Keith

Thank you Keith.

We boarded the Legend as you were leaving! I like your review so far! I always struggle with mine!!

Did you have a good cruise? I heard the weather was not so good. :(

When we got pack to the port, we did some shopping and picked up a lot of souvenirs for people. Some coffee, chocolate, key chains, Christmas ornaments, coffee mugs, t-shirts. You know, the usual stuff. We took the tender back, tipping our usual $2, and went to drop everything off back in the cabin.

As usual, I sat on the balcony with a soda and my book and waited for sailaway and the sunset. It was on this day that I captured, in my opinion, my best picture of the whole cruise. What a gorgeous sunset!

After sunset, we headed down to see Fernando and his staff for a dinner for two. As usual, great service. This was night that I asked what night mac-n-cheese night was to which he replied, "It can be tonight Ms. Elisa!" I will never forget that line from this cruise. He brought a side dish of mac-n-cheese with my dinner even though I didn't ask for it.

I don't know what it is about cruising but I am just so wiped out by the time I finish dinner that I have no energy for enjoying the night life on board ships anymore. I used to live for the shows, and comedy and karaoke. But now, it's just back to the cabin and watch tv or sit on my balcony listening to the waves go by. And I'm only 39! Maybe it's because I don't drink. lol!

After a very long, slow and bumpy ride (about an hour), we finally reached Altun Ha. I had read on CC to be careful of the bugs and since it had rained non-stop the previous weeks, I was concerned about being eaten alive bc mosquitos love me. But I came prepared with 100% deet and wasn’t bothered in the least. However, I didn’t really notice anyone too bothered by any bugs so maybe it was the time of year and we got lucky? It was very hot and muggy!

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable in explaining about the different sites. Altun Ha was accidentally discovered during rock quarrying and they quickly realized these were not normal rocks. Since then, they have tried to excavate as much as they could. There really isn’t a whole lot to see, but the view from the largest ruin was beautiful. The one thing I took away was how off base the Mel Gibson movie "Apocalypto" was.

You really only get to spend about an hour there b/c the travel time to and from the ruins takes so long. Our guides told us about the shack that would be selling the local chicken and beans and rice (cooked in coconut water) that was located by the bus parking lot so me and my bf stopped in to get something to go. I just got the rice and beans and it was really good and he said the chicken was very good as well! Not to mention regular coke in a bottle!