Kellie in Texas

I'm a '60's kid so I loved the Love Boat; it seemed so glamorous at the time. We did not watch Dr. Odyssey and it sounds like we didn't miss anything. 😄 We recently watched an Acorn TV show called Good Ship Murder, set in the Mediterranean on the NCL Virtuosa. Despite the lovely settings and the humongous and beautiful but unrealistically empty cruise ship, we didn't even make it through one episode. So incredibly stupid -- there's a murder in a cabin but the police don't block off the cabin??? The ship's cabaret singer and first officer are on shore doing detective work?? I know it's TV and TV is not necessarily realistic, but this show was dumb. 

If you go to the Ports of Call forum, specifically to the Caribbean thread, you'll find lots of info on various ports. 

@ceilidh1 you left out your son's update. Are his bites all gone by now?

It's still possible that all the ship excursions for a January cruise are not uploaded to the app or the website yet. We're cruising in January too from Galveston and there are not many excursions listed yet. I think you can get to Chichen Itza from Progress or Cancun/Cozumel, but I would definitely ONLY take a ship excrusions, especially if it's offered from Cozumel because you have to ferry over to the mainland. Many years ago, we did an excursion to Chicken Itza from Cancun and it was a long day on the bus. It was so many years ago that we actually were able to climb the pyramid. It's definitely a marvel. 

@ceilidh1 this thread is very entertaining but perhaps not for the reason you think: my first thought (I live in central Texas where it was 109 just a couple of days ago) was "these people from Vancouver are going to absolutely melt!" 🙂  We cruise from Galveston mostly in January; we leave Galveston and it's in the 50's or low 60's and then by the second day, it's mid to upper 80's. In 2022, we were lucky to sail from Vancouver on Serenade of the Seas to Alaska for my younger son's high school graduation cruise, which thanks to Covid, ended up being his "completed second year of college" cruise!  😄 DH and I cruised on Harmony this past January; for the most part, it's way too big for us, but the shows were all great. I'll be watching along with you. 

We also do what @home-mom does. Last January, we parked literally on the second row from the front door of the terminal. Could have parked on the front row but I didn't want to be by the walkways. Super-close and easy. It was also covered. You can also drop your disabled folks off and then circle back around to enter the parking lot. 

We've been to Roatan once and did the monkey/sloth/iguana tour. Considering one of the beach excursions for January 2025 -- Maya Key, Tabyana, or Sol y Mar. We are looking to sit in the shade (mostly), get in the water, but generally just relax. Food and drink would be good but we don't necessarily want a lot of loud music, etc. Also we only want a ship excursion that will pick up right where we get off the ship; no taxis, etc. The descriptions of these three seem to indicate that you'll disembark the ship and meet the excursion there at the dock or perhaps just on the other side of the shopping area which is where we met the sloth tour last year. I saw a video on the tube of you with some folks going to Maya Key, which looked nice but it seemed like they walked a lonnnnggg way once they got to MK to find a beach spot, but maybe that's because they wanted to get farther away from the entrance.  

I feel like I'm rambling -- HA!! - but the list is: ship excursion only, no taxis, no crazy party atmosphere, lunch and drinks welcome but not required, and not a half-mile walk to actually get to the beach/water.  

Related question: Can you order something to be delivered to someone on a ship when you are not a passenger? And can it be anonymous until delivered? My parents will be on a cruise next week and it's my mother's birthday. I'd like to send some flowers to their cabin (I know the cabin number) but I want it to be a surprise. 

I don't get emails from RCCL re: excursions etc. but usually once a week, I'll get a message in the app about something being "on sale". Drinks, dining, excursions, etc.  

We were on Adventure from Galveston a couple of years ago and we departed on New Year's Eve. They made that the first formal night in the dining room because lots of people were going to be dressed up anyway. Lots of photographers around to take family/group photos. 

@shiner6 we've been on several RCCL cruises, including Harmony, and have never bought a drink package (alcoholic or otherwise) or spent a dime on the specialty restaurants. If you want the occasional beer or mixed drink, you can get that at any bar and it's charged to your Seapass card (with something like an 18% gratuity). We do that a couple of times during a cruise. 

As for the internet, you're on a cruise; put the devices away and enjoy the ship and the ports. We have only purchased internet once and that was a couple of years ago when one son was taking a summer class in college and needed some internet time. We purchased it for one device and would take turns logging in and out -- son would watch his class lectures, I'd check email, etc. 

I don't recall any pay-extra activities on Harmony, other than a cupcake decorating class or things like that.  (My thought is, if you can do it on land, why pay extra to do it on a ship? 😄 ) They have built some little shaded cabana things on the upper decks of Harmony that you can rent for some crazy amount of $$ a day, but there's plenty of shade available elsewhere. 

We've been to Costa Maya twice; the first time, some of us did the bird sanctuary that's right at the cruise pier; the second time, we didn't get off the ship. Hope this info helps. 

You both have passports, right?

Stunning photos! Looks like a great cruise. 

Underwhelmed ... 

21 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

We went to Solarium Bistro on Harmony on embarkation days.  We did a B2B in Dec and both embarkation days it was very uncrowded.  It was a much better experience than the Windjammer.

That's what we did too on Harmony this past January. We ate there for breakfast several times too. Not the huge selection like the Windjammer, but plenty for us. 

Check out the Alaska forum:

Alaska Cruises Q&A: Find Tips & Recommendations - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

Tons of information there. 

On the 10:30 vs. 11:00 am check-in times, I believe the larger ships may not have 10:30 check-in times -- or it depends on the port -- just because they have more people to get off and on. We were on Harmony from Galveston this past January and I'm almost certain that the earliest time was 11:00 (which I picked) but when we got to the port and parked and went into the terminal, it was probably around 10:30 and they were already boarding. 

I think you can use it in the shops onboard; a T-shirt or two might use up $50.

We're on Jewel next January and got $700 OBC from Royal's WOW sale when we booked. We also have a lesser amount of OBC from our TA. This is the most OBC we've ever had and I'm trying to figure out how to use it. The TA's OBC can go towards the daily gratuities but the WOW sale OBC doesn't mention that; it says excursions, specialty dining, drink package, internet, and stuff like that.

So, two questions: Can the WOW sale OBC also be used towards gratuities? And two, why don't the OBCs show up in the app? I know the OBC from the TA doesn't show up in the app; it will be on a card once we get in the cabin. But shouldn't the $700 WOW sale OBC show up on the app like it does when I log in on the computer??

Sorry for all the alphabet soup. 😄 

@#1TravelMom I googled Stingray Sailing and found a website; I don't see the name Chip on there, so I'm assuming it's the correct one. My question is, how do you get off the catamaran and into the water?  Is it a ladder? And then you have to haul yourself out afterwards?  We were in Grand Cayman a few years ago and did a stingray tour on a double-decker catamaran that had metal stairs, maybe 5 feet wide, that lowered into the water, so you could walk down and back up easily. (I don't remember the name of that company at the moment.) 

I may be in the minority here but I would absolutely hate it if somebody tried to surprise me in this way. I enjoy the planning and anticipation too much. Maybe she'd want to do some shopping ahead of time or get a manicure, etc. etc.  You can still surprise her -- just make it at a family dinner and tell her "Guess where you'll be on November 17th?"  

@twangster your pictures are just stunning! All of them -- ship, water, scenery, flowers, critters. Just beautiful. We're on Jewel next January when she's in Galveston so I love seeing the ship photos. We've been on Serenade twice and love the Radiance class. 

P.S. Shetland is one of our favorite TV shows (on Acorn or Britbox, I forget which). The Shetland residents may think it's unrealistic, I dunno, but the scenery in the TV show has put it on our bucket list. 

5 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Jus’ gon’ have one a day. Bloody Mary. 
 

 

I'm pretty sure that a Bloody Mary -- especially when you're on the water -- counts as vegetables.  😄 

We were on Harmony (first time) in January and he was onboard then. We didn't have any interactions with him other than listening to his announcements. Condolences to his family, friends and crew. 

Did you mean May 15? (not June?) Pics are gorgeous!