ragethjj23

My favorite itinerary but I am among those who won't sail it on the Fascination. That was the ship I took my second cruise on in 97. Give me a break.

 

That itinerary deserves a better ship.

With an itinerary this good, they don't need a newer ship there. The itinerary sells itself. Can't wait till my fascination cruise next June!

Stayed st la concha. It was one of those Hotwire deals and got a steal for it. We had a problem with the door lock though and were locked out of the room for an hour as they tried to get us back in but besides that it was great!

Oops,I meant the fun 2.0. Haha. With guys burgers and alchemy bar.

Ha that's what I thought you meant just making sure I didn't miss something. Was just on the sensation and they had those things so I assume that's what the upgrades will be. They even had a model of the fascination by the dining room and not the sensation!

Hi!

We will be visiting St Thomas next June and are looking for an island tour that offers beach and shopping time. We were looking at Brenda and Francos tours. Do they go to the mountaintop? We loved the view of the bay from up there and the banana daiquiris were pretty good as well. Did they get you back to the ship in a comfortable timeframe? Any and all recommendations on this tour as well as other offerings would be appreciated.

I prefer the ship that takes me where I want to go. Sure the big ships are. Ice, but I just booked the fascination that goes to 6 ports out of San Juan (another port). Do I wish it were a different ship, maybe, but I will have a blast regardless because I am going where I want to go.

Just a question for the smugglers....I don't think ignorance is an issue as it seems all smugglers here know it's against the rules. The penalty for getting caught smuggling can be removal off the ship....Question, if after you embarked and in your cabin, there is a knock on the door. You answer it and 2 officials from Carnival are there with your checked luggage. They verify the luggage is yours and you agree. They advise you are being removed from the ship due to smuggling. My question is, do you accept that maturely and without incident?

Asking a question for a situation that will never happen is silly. That's like asking, so you just landed on the moon how do you feel. Sure, I could become an astronaut and go to the moon but probably never will. Sure if they came to my door to take me away, i would accept consequences. Those are the risks you take when you smuggle.

I sailed the sensation last month and it was fine. Can't wait to sail this itinerary next year!

Fascination is going into dry dock in February. I hear for the 5.0 upgrades ,soooo that has me super excited for my cruise on this ship next year :hearteyes::cool:

What are the 5.0 upgrades?

I just got El Convento through Hotwire for my November cruise. It was pretty obvious, because it's the only 4 1/2 star in the OSJ area as far as I can tell.

What was the price per night?

We have Calabaza booked for our group of 14 in November, but I see on their booking page that they have 10 spots left for the day we booked. Do they have 2 catamarans? Would hate to have a problem with booking as we are really looking forward to sailing with them.

Yes they have two. One is operated by the owner and the other by her son, at least when we were in it last. Excellent time on this excursion.

Yes we were on that cruise! We want to do it again and we're curious what the changes were going to be. I'm guessing it'll be guys, blue iguana, rum bar and tequila bar but idk. Love the itinerary and will be doing it next June!

I'm curious too because we'd love to do this itinerary out of San Juan again and it will most likely be 2018 when we get a chance to cruise again. My hubby said he'd only do Fascination if there was a Guy's Burgers. I love Guy's, but for that itinerary I could definitely make due without. I recognize your CC name from our roll call a couple of years ago...weren't you on the Liberty 9/20/2015 sailing? If so, that was the last cruise we were on. Loved every minute of it!

any word on what will change come the dry dock in 2018?

I don't know the price of a Manhattnn offhand, but I know it's included in the Premium package. If you take a look at the brochure, you will see that Maker's is included:

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

They rated that they knew makers is, but it may not be in the drink form. So a Manhattan is x amount made with whatever they normally make it with. A Manhattan made with makers is x + an upcharge and that might put it over the allotted amount. One way around it is to get the shot on the rocks and then ask for bitters and sweet vermouth on a separate transaction.

I'm a bit loathed to go for the 'ultimate' package to be honest as its way too expensive!

 

So if the 'premium' package does include spirits, what about the 'select' package...are there spirits included with that one?

No. Just beer and wine and soda.

If you want the coffees included you need to get the ultimate. It would include spirits and frozen and non frozen cocktails.

All I have is the beer menu:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46668454&postcount=12

Don't discount yourself one of the pics showed some liquors and the other showed mixed cocktails. Not sure if there is a more inclusive list but definitely a good start. Only jack on that list, no honey jack:(

I am wondering if there is a list somewhere that has a list of the different liquors and beer onboard. My wife and I really like Jack Honey and different ciders like crispin and Angry orchard.

Any info would be great!

Not available on cruises out of san juan.

If I am paying over $500 pp to get to San Juan, there is no way I am going to settle on the Facination.

 

In fact we just booked RCCL Adventure and I didn't even check the prices for Facination.

 

My 2nd choice would have been Celebrity Summit - but I really liked the Adventure itinerary - St Maarten, St Kitts, Aruba and Curaçao.

 

Jane

Same here for October.

you will make it just fine. I took a carnival cruise in september and wished i hadnt taken advice for a later flight than 11am. We did self assist. We were in the meeting area at the appointed time and were off the ship, past customs and in a taxi 15 minutes later. Got to the airport in maybe 20 minutes and it was a ghost town with no one at the ag screen or security. Gave us plenty of time to do some shopping at the duty free store though!

I do not understand why some of those who do not remove tips automatically assume that those of us who do are immediately terrible people. Picturing us like snickering like Muttley the dog as we take their tip money and light our cigars with it. Always posing the question of the behind the scenes folks toiling away with nothing in return. "What about them" you say every time they deserve your tip too. I am sure this has been brought up but do any of you "holy than thou" tip keeper onners when you go to a restraint do you go in back and tip the dishwasher? When you order a drink do you go to the bar and tip the bartender? Do you tip the manager as you leave? Don't bother answering, you know you do not. So here is my 2 cents. SHUT THE EFF UP! Let me and everyone else cruise how we want to cruise and you cruise the way we want to cruise. Oh and please do not ever, EVER assume that we do not tip. I am absolutely positive that we give our room steward, our waiter, and his assistant more than you at the end of the cruise with your glorious automatic tips. So go float around the Lido deck nose up, looking down on all of us losers because you are the only ones who care.

 

 

 

Oh this a thread about room cleaning why can’t we stick to it geez....

 

 

 

 

 

Mic dropped

 

 

 

wcr

Do I tip bussers, bartenders and the like? No. That is why they get tipped out by the server. The server does it for us. Much like the auto grats does it for us. Just proves that you have NEVER worked in the service industry. Continue skating around tipping those ensuring you have a great trip, and the rest of us will continue picking up your slack.

Alternate services that receive a full salary vs. how stewards are paid. Tipping is for service rendered. What type of service does someone in entertainment give me? If I don't need to go to Guest Services, why should I tip them? Tips are not for the kitchen people who get paid a salary.

 

 

 

And before you make a snarky comment, I leave my auto tips in place. However, I can't say that it thrills me that some of my auto tips go to people who are not giving me any type of service. For me, it's like a tip jar sitting on a counter where I go and place my own order and then take my own order. What are they doing to receive a tip? They get paid a reasonable hourly wage. Not a "service" position that would receive tips.

Most of the entertainers earn about 25000 a year which equates to about 500 a week. Not a whole lot considering all the time they put in.

They've already said they tip those who give them good service, not that they don't tip at all.

 

So what you're really trying to say is that if they don't tip like you, they shouldn't cruise.

 

 

 

That's funny.

Laugh away then. There are people whom I'm sure they don't tip. Of the $12 per day $6.10 goes to dining services. $3.90 goes to room services and $2 goes to alternative services including kitchen, entertainment, guest services, and other hotel staff. So if you remove the grats I think it's safe to say you don't go out of your way to tip those behind the scenes people. Again I will say it, those whom remove their grats are cheap. And if you are to cheap to tip ALL of those whom help you have a great time, then cruising isn't for you.

Right on. You're choosing who you reward for good service. And you're well within your rights to do so.

And then those behind the scenes people whom a portion of that, what, $15 goes towards get stiffed. If you are too cheap to cruise then don't cruise.

I am not stiffing anyone, I am tipping how I want to, not the way Carnival tells me too. I actually tip my room steward very well.

 

Now if correctly stated in a previous post, not all the auto tips go to the staff, a portion goes to Carnival. I am not tipping Carnival, I have already paid for the cruise.

It doesn't. Your just looking for a reason to be "one of those people".