Canadian Cruiser98

For our day in Falmouth, we're looking to just keep it simple and go to a beach for the day. There's a ship transfer to Blue Water Beach for 32$ per person, and I'm tempted to just go with that, but I know ship transfers are often over-inflated prices, and you're usually stuck returning to the ship when everyone else goes back. Are taxis a good option in Falmouth, and are there any beaches people would recommend beyond Blue Water Beach?

14 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

Carnival (and maybe NCL) has been doing this for quite a while since the restart from COVID. They're cutting port hours to just long enough for the longest excursions to get back.

 

It's almost all upside for the cruise lines... they still sell the same excursions; they save money with lower port fees and by sailing slower; and they make more money with onboard purchases and the casino being open.

 

About the only downside is they're giving out more drinks under the drink packages.

Wow, disappointing to hear this is widespread. I get that we sign contracts consenting to any and all port changes, but it's hard not to feel like they're abusing the policy when they advertise port times as one thing, when they have every intention of changing it to another after final payment. Guess we'll have to take that into account on our next cruise and reconsider going with Royal...

59 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

What are your dates for Odyssey.

I have an eight day odyssey scheduled for March 2nd and have not received anything about port times changing

We're on the March 10th 6 night sailing. We'll now be arriving 2 hours later in Grand Cayman, and leaving 2 hours earlier in Falmouth.

Just got an email from RCCL notifying us that our hours in port for our Odyssey cruise in March will be slashed down by 4 hours. We've been through this stuff before so we know that unfortunately there's not a whole lot we can do in terms of compensation, but it's a real bummer.  Anyone else gotten similar notifications about their itineraries recently?  This far out, they can't exactly claim the change is due to weather or prior delays, so my thought is this is just another corner-cutting measure to save money on fuel.

Hey there, apologies in advance if this is a stupid question or has been asked in the past.

We will be on the Harmony Western Caribbean sailing out of Port Canaveral on March 1st, and spring forward (DST) is set to happen on March 8th, the morning of disembarkation. In the past, has RCCL set the clocks forward earlier in the cruise in order to avoid confusion on the last day, or do they just remind everyone the night before to set their clocks forward? 

Apologies if this is an obvious question, but are there free-to-use lounge chairs on South Beach / Chill Island in addition to the pricy day bed and cabana rentals? You mentioned that you can still enter these areas without a rental - are there beach chairs to use here or is it meant to be a pay-only beach?

While I wasn't the biggest fan of Carnival, I also wouldn't shy away from cruising with them again if the price was right. You do have to adjust your expectations, since the MDR food was not the same level of quality as RCCL, and I found the activities to be somewhat lacking. However, there were things my group enjoyed more with Carnival - they've got some great casual dining options on the newer ships (we thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy's Burger Joint) and our cabin felt very spacious and well appointed (though this was on the newest ship at the time, so not sure about older ships). At the end of the day, Carnival's lower pricepoint remains its biggest plus for me.

And for the other cruise lines, we really enjoyed Celebrity and Princess - I found both their food, service and ship upkeep were very much in line with RCCL. Wouldn't cruise with Norwegian again, though, since we really didn't enjoy the MDR food or service there. Might've just been an unlucky experience, but it seemed to us like to get a good dining experience with NCL, you have to pay more for the specialty restaurants.

I can't speak to the Quantum class ships, as I haven't been on one either, but speaking just for myself, I'll never do a cruise leaving from New York in the winter again. We were on the Explorer of the Seas for a 9 day cruise from Cape Liberty in March 2010, and the weather did not cooperate. We had a big snow storm in New York the day before that made us almost miss our cruise by minutes (even though we were flying in the day before), we had snow on the deck almost to the day we arrived in Florida, and the seas were the worst we've ever seen them. We're all seasoned cruisers, but even we were getting motion sick. The ship's staff did their best, and the 4 days we were actually in the Caribbean were nice, but for a 9-day cruise, we were extremely disappointed.

Now this isn't to say this is everyone's experience - we did get very unlucky - but just wanted to warn that the potential is there for weather to really muck up your plans with this kind of itinerary...

Hi there all,

We're going to be going on our first Oasis-class cruise this March, and on the app I noticed that there is a theme listed for each night in the windjammer. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since on the last RCL cruise we went on a few years back, I didn't notice any real themes in the windjammer when we passed through one night to the next. Can someone tell me if they actually adhere to this, or if it's just like one or two items that change? 

Additionally, I seem to remember a late-night chocolate buffet that RCCL used to do a few years ago (if i'm thinking of the right cruise line). Is this still a thing?

If you want to try something different and avoid the seaweed, you could try taking an excursion to Bacalar lagoon. I haven't been yet myself, but we've booked an excursion there for when we go in March. It's a huge freshwater lagoon popular for swimming, with crystal-clear water, surrounded by cenotes of varying depths. I believe there is an old fort nearby as well.

Update: there may be hope yet. We've just heard back from Marella customer service after contacting them through their Facebook page. They were apologetic about our experience on the phone, and proposed doing an online booking but using the address of the TUI contact center, then amending the address with them after the booking has been confirmed.

Welp, we just tried calling Marella directly this morning to book, and were abruptly told there was no way we could book with them unless we had an account in the UK, before being hung up on. Wow, ok...

Not sure if a solution to OP's issue was found, but does anyone know if would be possible for a non-Brit to book a TUI cruise package *with* airfare? I'm Canadian, looking to book the Canary Islands cruise next March. We'd fly to London the day before, then go with TUI to Gran Canaria, ideally. Anybody tried this before?

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Oooh, ouch!

 

 

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I may be wrong on this though. All I remember is that we thought it was way too much and the figure ended with a 99. [emoji54]

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Thanks for your comments. Quick question… Do you remember the cost of the weekly pass to the Persian Gardens? That’s something I always enjoy and I have not been able to get a handle on the pricing for a one-week pass.

 

 

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I didn't pay much attention to it since we weren't really considering the option, so I may be wrong on this, but I think she said 200$ a person?

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Thanks for posting about your trip! Was wondering did you do any trips from Costa Maya or Cozumel? We will be doing this trip in January and I was hoping to get some information on Kohunlich Mayan Ruins and Tulum Ruins. I like to organise my own trips so anybody with any information I would be most grateful.

Thanks

Noreen

We didn't visit either of those ruins on this trip, but we did visit Tulum in the past while staying in Playa Del Carmen. It was lovely, though I do suggest getting a tour guide, either through an organized tour or onsite. We made the mistake of going on our own with a taxi, and though the ruins were interesting to look at, we found the experience lost something without having someone to explain what we were looking at. The beach there was nice too, very picturesque, but I seem to remember the water being somewhat rocky, so I'd bring water shoes just to be safe.

Hope that helps!

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This past June 30th we had the pleasure of sailing on the Equinox for its Western Caribbean itinerary (Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Costa Maya). It was our 11th cruise overall, and our second time on Celebrity. Below are my notes, critiques and comments from throughout the cruise.

Positives:

- Public Spaces:

First of all, I think the Equinox is the most visually stunning ship I've ever sailed on. The public spaces are so modern and clean that it feels like the ship is brand new. As has been noted, the spaces are also very well thought out. In particular, we really enjoyed hanging out in the adults only solarium, which maintained a serene feel at all hours of the day, despite crowds. It never felt too humid (a problem we've found with some of RCCL's solariums) and the area was lit with lovely colour changing lights at night.

- Oceanview Café:

The Oceanview Cafe deserves major props as well. The area never felt overcrowded, and the food served there was of very good quality -- unlike the overly cheap buffet fare we've sometimes found on other lines. I really enjoyed that there was always a curry option available as well!

- Entertainment:

I loved the musical shows put on by the Equinox's talented cast, and though the "story" was mostly lost, it didn't really matter. "Topper" in particular was really imaginative in its choreography and costumes. The 2 comedians that were aboard during our trip were also very good.

- Friendliness:

Celebrity's staff and officers have always been extremely friendly and talkative, and we really appreciate that about the line. Numerous times we struck up conversations with ships' officers -- a far cry from the fairly cold reception we received from officers on Norwegian.

Negatives:

- Main Dining Room:

Though our waitress was wonderful, I unfortunately cannot say the same of the main dining room food during our trip. The soups I ordered were watered down and often arrived cold, and family members who ordered cooked-to-order items reported they were very overcooked. I ordered the Veal Cordon-Bleu on the last night, and was shocked at how tough and over-salted it was. Frankly, it tasted like a microwave dinner.

Another thing we noticed was that the portions were absolutely tiny! It's painfully clear that Celebrity's been cutting back a lot here. When I ordered the beef tournedo, I was surprised by how small it was, accompanied by two lonely potato wedges and a sad little portion of broccoli. As a result, we frequently overheard people around us asking for double portions of different items.

- The App:

I love that Celebrity is trying to become more modern by integrating its app with the ship's activities, and I'd love to see this replace the daily letters sometime in the future, but it's clear that they aren't there yet. At least 5 times throughout the cruise, we arrived somewhere for an event only to be told that the app was wrong and the event was actually at the other end of the ship.

- Debarkation reminders:

I understand that it's important to be clear with guests about disembarkation details so as to avoid confusion on the last day, but debarkation tags in the room 3 days early? Not cool. We also noticed that as of the second-to-last day of the cruise, every single announcement and every single pre-show or pre-event monologue was accompanied by reminders that "today is your final port day of the cruise" "tomorrow is the final trivia of the cruise", etc. A small detail, but it was kind of grating to be reminded of this at every possible turn.

- Not using available spaces:

Less of a complaint and more of a remark. There were some spaces on the ship that we noticed were woefully underused. For example, there isn't a single event I can recall taking place in Celebrity Central. At one point there was a "majority rules" gameshow that took place in the hallway outside Celebrity Central, despite that space being completely empty and ready to host such an event.

Similarly, the Slush Bar was closed for all but about 4 hours of our cruise. I'm really not sure what's happening with this space -- maybe Celebrity has decided to abandon the concept and turn it into something else in the next dry dock?

Other Notes:

- We stayed at the Hampton Inn Brickell before the cruise, and for the most part it was a lovely hotel, and I would highly recommend it to anybody staying in Miami pre/post cruise. That being said, definitely avoid the shuttle there.

Upon arrival, we booked the cruise port shuttle for the following day, thinking this would be an easy stress-free way to get to the ship the next day. Boy were we wrong. When we got to the lobby for our shuttle the next morning (10 minutes early, might I add), we were practically yelled at by the shuttle organizer because apparently 2 other guests hadn't showed up and they were going to have empty space. (How is that my problem?) They huffed and puffed about it and seemed unwilling to take us, which I don't understand -- why would you turn away 4 customers because 2 others didn't show up? The hotel concierge was shocked by how rude they were being, and we ended up just taking an Uber (which was cheaper anyways).

- We had heard about Persian Gardens day passes, so we inquired about this on the first day, hoping to take advantage of it on the first sea day. Apparently, though, Celebrity is no longer offering these (the spa concierge told us they were only doing expensive week-long passes now). That's a shame, as we would've bought the one-day ones.

- In Key West, we were told by a crew member checking guests out that due to new US rules no food whatsoever (including prepackaged items) was allowed to be brought aboard from Key West. This seems bizarre to me, as it could only end up harming vendors in Key West. Anybody know if there's any truth to this?

We sail this same itinerary on June 30... so it is particularly helpful. I assume that the timing of our stops will likely be the same as yours... which is a bit different than what was published.

I'm on the June 30th sailing as well, and as far as I know we're still on the original (unmodified) Western itinerary that Visits Grand Cayman before Cozumel and Costa Maya. Did Celebrity contact you telling you otherwise? If so I need to replan our own shore activities... [emoji51]

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Thanks for the great live report! We'll be on the June 30 sailing, so really appreciate your notes. This is going to seem like a really specific question, but how is the fruit selection in the buffet in the mornings? I've always loved waking up to fresh tropical fruit in the morning on vacations.

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Not so much a matter of me forgetting and more a bout of bad luck, but on one return flight from a cruise, a disgruntled Westjet employee sent my checked luggage on a joyride to Winnipeg. (There was a big wage dispute going on within Westjet at the time.) It was a couple of days later until I saw all my belongings again.

This may also have to do with occupancy-locking. If you're a group of 2, for example, and Celebrity would rather have 3 or 4 people in a given cabin, they'll often block that cabin from showing as available for smaller groups until a date closer to the sailing. That was the case with our sailing, at least.

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This has happened to me a few times where the CSS doesn't load properly and the page is broken as a result, but usually refreshing the page does the trick.

We're on the June 30th cruise, would be interested in knowing this as well.

The equinox is similar to eclipse, so personal experience tells me it’s a good cabin, good location, great restaurant.

 

To recap: relaxation room just down the hall, secret staircase to Persian gardens right outside your door, not far from the elevators to the solarium and pools one deck up. Pool bar and mast grill are a one minute trip.

 

Close to theater for shows and sky lounge.

 

Your only walk is to the buffet and Blu, and a little walk is a good thing lol.

 

This is one of our favorite locations on the ship (second to aft view Aqua on M class) and we are booked in that same area next cruise.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

Do you remember if the balcony divider on this particular pair of cabins opens? I've noticed from pictures that the metal struts from deck 12's overhang sometimes block the balcony divider from being opened on deck 11 balconies.

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Sorry, as some have noticed, I forgot to mention -- we're going to be sailing on the Equinox.

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