happychippy

1. Do you know what the Harmony is doing November 8-12?

 

2. Karen, was that the behind the scenes tour or a special bridge tour for D+ or other selected group?

 

 

 

Roy

The Harmony is doing 2 mini two night cruises for public relations, agents, and contest winners.

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The trip is filled with excitement already. While packing I get a message from my sister that they're at the ER and her daughter broke her arm so no swimming only toes allowed in the water. Poor darling is heartbroken that she thinks she's ruined the trip. I'm confident that there will be so much more "dry" fun that we can find.

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Cannot wait to book my 15 year anniversary cruise on the Bliss for Sept. 2018. I'm cruising next week on RCI Harmony and then my cruise countdown will be blank :( which saddens me. Hope they open the Bliss bookings in early January.

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I was on the Fascination Oct. 2nd and dinner in the main dining room was my favorite time on the cruise.

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6 days!! Harmony of the seas from FLL

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Wondering if anyone has used Resorts for a Day recently going to Jewel Runaway Bay? Were there any issues getting back to ship on time? Can you take a taxi back if you want & what would cost be?

 

Thanks!

I've used them for Jewel Runaway Bay last August and the Jewel Runaway was right beside the Jewel Paradise. So the Runaway is also about 40 minutes from Falmouth port. Resort for a day was very well organized, and US based so no international charges on my credit card was a bonus. Printed out my Passes immediately after I booked. Also received an email a few minutes after booking online. Then a couple weeks before I cruised they sent another email with reminders. I liked that nice extra service, felt more personable. The driver was waiting at the pier with a Resort For A Day Sign. I met them on the right when I came out of the international building. The driver was funny and talked with us the whole way. Check in at the Runaway was fast with handing my printed pass and paid my balance with cash. We had about 4.5 hours there before heading back to the ship. I would do it again.

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Probably a silly question, but since Blue Lagoon was mentioned - can you do Blue Lagoon on your own or is it better to do as an excursion through the cruise line? Is it easy to navigate the necessary cabs and ferry to get there and back? We'll be traveling with two kids ages 10 and 7. Thanks!

If you want to blue lagoon on your own you would want to book it on the Blue Lagoon website as you would need to pre arrange to take their ferry to their island. Blue Lagoon can be fun for guest of all ages and they have a lot of Day Pass options.

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:DI'm Happy Chippy:D and I love cruise critic. I learn so much from everyone and I'm still learning, but I want to share my upcoming journey with you. I've been counting down for 240 days since I won a cabin on the 2 night preview Nov. 8th Harmony of the Seas cruise, I decided to book the 3 night cruise on Nov. 5th to make it a full 5 night cruise. I've cruised before, but this is my first MEGA ship, and my first time cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale. This is going to be a "Girls Getaway" Myself, My sister, Friend, and Niece who is 11. We're flying down from Ohio this Thursday, Nov. 3rd and we are going to stay 2 nights at the Hollywood Beach Marriott. We're going to explore every inch of that coast North and South. On this 5 night B2B cruise, we will have 2 days in Nassau. The first day we are spending the day at the Atlantis Resort and Waterpark, and the second day we will do just a Beach day at the Hilton. All our reservations are booked and ready. We've done our online check in, I've downloaded the Royal IQ, Cruise Critic, and Taptalk App to keep everyone informed as we go. Already purchased the VROOM, dinner and shows booked, and we booked Wonderland reservations. On the first 3 days we have an Inside cabin for the 4 of us, on the second mini cruise we have 2 separate inside cabins, so we will be able to review a total of 3 inside cabins on different decks. We are all very excited for this trip and looking forward to share our journey with you. Appreciate any advice from any of the more Novice Cruise Critic friends as I've probably been following and been inspired by many of you.

Hi, does anyone know whether the beach at Atlantis is still free and accessible?

I have a friend who went years ago and said it was great. Looking for a beach day in Nassau that is affordable with a nice beach if this is no longer an option. Any suggestions or advice?

 

Thanks in advance.

The Atlantis is under new management so I don't believe they offer the Free Beach Access anymore, but I saw that for 2017 they are offering Beach Day Pass options for $74.00 which gives you access to the Beach and Aquariums no food though. The British Colonial Hilton Beach Pass is only $60 and includes a $40 food/drink credit so it might be a better deal. There are public beaches such as Cable, Cabbage, and another public beach right near the pier, but I like the serenity of the Resorts Private beach areas.

We will be on a cruise which docks in Nassau from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. I was looking into going to the water park at Atlantis on our own but I don't know if we would really have enough time there to be worth it. They have day passes for $129 but we'd have to find our own transportation to and from the ship. The ship has their own excursion for this but it's $189 and does provide transportation. If anyone has done this excursion or have gone to the Atlantis water park on their own, please tell me if you think this is worth doing. Thanks.

I think the Atlantis excursion depends on the person. I personally Love the Atlantis. To me it's like the Caribbean Magic Kingdom. I would recommend booking in advance with Bahamasdaypass dot com, for $150 they refund if your cruise ship does not dock in Nassau for any reason, which unfortunately happens more often than not. But, if you book independently you can easily grab a taxi for $4 per person and be there in 10 minutes, so I would recommend heading over and being at the Aquaventure Desk by 8:30a and being the first to check in. The past 2 times I've visited it didn't get too busy until the afternoon, so you could have from 9A to 1p in the waterpark. To me it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, if you've never experienced it before it's worth doing at least once. There will be taxis outside any of the main entrances, just don't lose track of time, ship will ask you to be back on board 30 minutes before scheduled departure.

I visited Elbow Beach back in June of 2016 and spent the Day at the Elbow Beach Resort. I made an advance reservation online at resort for a day for $49 and that reserved me a lounge chair, and umbrella. They only offer about 10 day passes per day and some dates are completely blacked out for weddings or other large groups. It was about a $40 taxi ride from the Kings Wharf pier, so the bus option sounds great. The Elbow Beach Resort I found perfectly gorgeous, they had nice restroom facilities, with many showers inside the restrooms and outside on the beach. I did see the Coco Beach Resort that is right beside the Elbow Beach Resort. I think that one was nice that they offered lunch and pool access with their pass, but I think the Elbow Beach Resort was a bit more upscale.

I've got one day in Nassau on a 4-night DCL, and I'm a bit nervous--

I don't want to skip it (I mean, what's the point of cruising to the Bahamas and NOT seeing the Bahamas?), but I've heard Dept. of State warnings for tourists, a few traveler-tips about the city, and I'm not comfortable about the idea of being one of thousands of Americans to besiege the natives every day.

 

I'm just thinking of getting a day-pass bus to the Atlantis resort and back (just for the resort, not the water park). I'm not really a beach-bum, and just want to take in that blue scenery.

Anyone else have these feelings on their first trip, and can talk another newbie through it?

It's always normal to be cautious for the unexpected. My first time to Nassau, I didn't know what to expect so I got off the ship and walked through the international building and was completely overwhelmed by all the locals asking to braid my hair, take me here, or sell me this.

That was 5 years ago, and now Nassau is one of the more comfortable ports I enjoy going to. As a single woman in her 30's traveling alone, I have never felt uncomfortable after that first time walking out. Now, I go, disembark walk through the International building, tell the first taxi driver I see that I want to go over to the Atlantis, they ask me to wait a couple seconds while they round up some others to make the trip worth it and then we're off. It's a short 10 minute ride and plenty to keep you busy over there, even without purchasing any passes. I would recommend the Discover Atlantis pass to access the Aquariums, they are beautiful! From the Atlantis area you can comfortably walk over the Marina Village shops, Margarittaville, and walk around the inside areas of the Atlantis beautiful artwork and plenty of shops to browse through. Also the casino can be fun to waste some cash and time.

When you're ready to head back to the ship, which I do recommend at least 1 hour before your cruise ship departure time. There will be taxi's waiting outside any of the main entrances at the Atlantis, just let the bellman know and he'll wave one over for you.

I find the locals very friendly and welcoming. They enjoy the cruise business as it brings money to the island, and many enjoy sharing their history of the island.

I'm headed back to Nassau in two weeks on the Harmony for two stops in Nassau. Day One I'm taking my sisters to Atlantis to spend the day, and Day two we will chill at the British Colonial Hilton private beach.

Good luck to you, safe travels, and I hope you have an amazing time in Nasasu. :)

My Cabin was front on deck 5 (Main Deck) I liked my room, it was perfectly quiet and dark. In the mornings when we docked I did hear the Anchor dropping but I was already up and heading out the door so no bother there. Thankfully I learned from the cruise critic forums about the Vent in the ceiling to adjust the room temperature, so I was able to keep it on cold. I thought this cabin had a lot more closet space than what I've seen on other cruise ships. There were 2 separate closets, one behind the door, and one larger one across from the door. The Bathroom was average size and suited just fine, other than I will mention to other ladies that it can be very difficult to shave in the shower. Also realized when I unpacked that I brought two Shampoo's and no conditioner. Very heartbreaking for a woman with very long hair. The showers in the cabin has shampoo/conditioner combo which just isn't the same.

My room steward was a younger gentleman that was very funny. I liked that he was always available in the mornings to wish me a good day, and always right there when I came back after dinner to talk about my day. Had towel animals every night. I wish I could remember his name, but he was a great room steward. He wanted to know why my cabin always smelled so nice. I showed him my Bath and Body Works Scentables that I always take with me and put in my room. Brings a little bit of scent from home with me.

https://happychippy.smugmug.com/Carnival-Fascination-M16/Carnival-Fascination-Cabin-M16/

We'll try to use an online photo album option and see if that works. Here's my 7 night Southern Caribbean FUNTIMES

https://happychippy.smugmug.com/Carnival-Fascination-FUNTIMES/

I found reading the forum reviews very helpful before my cruise, so I wanted to share my experience for others. I have about 2 free hours this morning so we'll see how much I can get done today. Just a little background, I'm a 36 year old farmers wife and mother to 3 teenagers from Ohio. I've cruised a few times but normally I take one of the kids, or the family. This time I really just wanted to get away for a week by myself. I enjoy traveling by myself as when I travel with the family I'm usually so worried about everyone else that I do not have time to relax. So this is my Mom's Week Off trip. I booked this cruise about a year in advance and had cabin M16 which is an inside, which I prefer because I like it cold and dark so I can nap during the day if I want. The great thing about Mom's Week Off trip is that it's all about what I wanted to do, and that was just go and relax. Just let everyone else wait on me for a week. I picked this cruise specifically for the itinerary as I've never been to any of those islands. When I cruised before my favorite excursion was just a relaxing day at the private resort, so this trip I booked a Resort Day Pass on each island so I could just go relax on the island away from the crowds.

I flew down the morning of the cruise which is a first for me, I do normally fly in a couple days before, but luckily no problems. Flew Southwest for about $350 roundtrip, leaving Columbus at 6A with a connection through Baltimore, arrived San Juan at around 12:30P. I only traveled with carry on luggage, a small rolling suitcase and a smaller handheld case. I was off the flight and taxi's were waiting right outside, it was $22 flat rate to the cruise pier. One thing I did find by traveling solo was how much these taxi drivers were going to make off of me, and I realized quickly that I did not bring enough cash. I also made the mistake of thinking that as long as I just used my Debit card on the ship then I didn't need to let the bank know I was traveling, Nope, had to call the bank from the ship to let them know my card wasn't stolen not a fun morning, but lesson learned. So I get to the San Juan Pier about 15 minutes later, and the pier was the strangest set up I ever saw. There was 3 check in points with the first one being outside, with a tent cover. It started down pouring as soon as I got out of the taxi and there was about a 15 minute wait outside under this tent that wasn't much of a shelter, but I'm on vacation so it's okay I'll dry. You can leave your bags here if you want the porters to take your bags, but after seeing those bags getting soaked and dropped, knocked over I was perfectly fine walking my own bag to my room. I get up to check point 1 and present my Photo ID and Confirmation, then proceeded to check poing 2 about 25 feet ahead, another 5 minute wait, this check point was for your health question forms, that was a fast check, then proceed inside, go inside and escalator is broken, but that's okay I can easily carry my bags up those 15 steps. Get up the steps expecting to go through a security to scan by bags, but nope they had you go straight to the check in counter to check in, once checked in, then they sent me through the security. Still all pretty quickly, and it always seems like such a long walk to get on the ship, but we're finally onboard. It was about 2:00P.M so I went and dropped my bags off at my room and freshen up from that wonderful rain shower. The ship is not leaving San Juan until 10P so I grabbed some lunch from the Mongolion Wok as I've never tried it on Carnival and there was no line today. You grab a bowl and put in the veggies you want, then take it to the chef and select the meat and sauce you want added and they fry it up for you. It was pretty good. After lunch I just explored the ship before it got too crowded.

One thing I failed to think about when booking this trip was that I was cruising out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and that they mainly speak spanish in San Juan. Not only that, but many of the guest getting on the ship would be from San Juan and they too would speak spanish. That made small talk to other cruisers a little difficult for me, so when it came time for dinner, I was happy to ask for a table for just myself. I still do not understand why it seems like a shock to cruise staff and other cruisers that people enjoy cruising alone, "You're all alone?" was asked by everyone. I didn't think it was that unusual. Anyway, the first night dining room is Open Seating, so you can just go in and they seat you at a table. I like the main dining room, as I find it nice to have someone waiting on me. Sunday nights dinner was quickly served and delicious. After dinner I was feeling exhausted from being up since 2:30A and I thought I would go back to my room and relax. I did purchase the Social Internet Plan so I could use messenger to keep in touch at home with my husband and kids. This worked well from my room, and faster when used in other areas of the ship. I couldn't get too comfortable as the Muster Drill was at about 9:30 since sail away was at 10:00P. This Muster drill was one of the longer drills I've ever sat, walked, then stand through. Headed back to bead after it was over because I wanted to be up bright and earlier when we arrive in St. Thomas. I was hoping to add photos for each specific date, but that's not working too well today, so hopefully I'll find out how to get photos added. Tomorrow we'll stop in St. Thomas and spend the day at the Marriott Morning Star Resort.

There are a few places to shop in Nassau. Atlantis has great designer shops, not knock offs so with the high price tag. Might be fun to let her go over and walk the shops. There is also the Marina Village right across from The Coral Towers Atlantis. Cashless, so Credit Card only.

Bay Street is just a block from the Cruise Ship, and there are many gift shops, jewelry shops, and boutiques that you can find a good deal at. Most of these stores will accept US Cash or Credit Card

The Flea Market is the best bargain shopping area with the locals, cash only and I recommend smaller bills as the seller may not have the ability to make change.

I have visited both Hilton Rose Hall, and Jewel Paradise. While I enjoyed the Hilton Rose Hall, it seemed to be a very popular choice as there was more people there. The Jewel Paradise I found to be more quiet, and relaxing. Felt like there was less than 10 people at the resort with me. Loved the slide, and the Grotto pool area. It was very relaxing at the Jewel Paradise. The food and hospitality at both were outstanding. The Jewel Day Pass with resort for a day allowed me to get a 30 minute massage too, that was my deciding factor to spend my last day in Falmouth at the Jewel Paradise.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy and hectic days to write that review. I was following along while at work to help the work day go faster. I too will be flying from Columbus to San Juan to sail on the Oct. 2nd fascination cruise. Was nice to see all your photos and tips on each of the islands. Just wanted to say thanks :)

I used resort for a Day, this past July to the Hilton Rose Hall and didn't have any trouble with the transfers from Falmouth. We had a group of about 20 ages ranging from 3 up to 65. The pass had clear instructions on when and where we should meet the driver at the pier, and they were there waiting with a sign under the Independent tour tent. When we met the driver, he asked us what time the ship was scheduled to leave and we told him 6:00P.M and he made a note, then before getting out at the Hilton, he made the announcement that we were Leaving at 4:00P.m and everyone needed to be checked back in and ready to go. I loved the transfer company drivers and the hotel staff's hospitality. I was ready to move to Jamaica after spending the day there. It was beautiful and exactly as we were all hoping to spend our day in port! We had so much fun playing on the waterslides and trying out the watersports unsuccessfully. lol It was a fun day, that I would recommend both the Hilton Rose Hall, and resort for a day.

Here's a few photos from the Beach Bar/Grill at the Hilton. I was able to order a Turkey Club plate with a Diet coke for about $23 total with tip and tax so you could get lunch and then a couple of drinks. That resort is a smaller resort and they only offer a few Day Passes each day so you might want to book in advance.

I've never been to the Melia, but I have been to the Hilton 3 times from a cruise, and found it to be perfect for the kids. It's just a short walk from the pier, they have private pool, private beach, and usually includes a food/drink credit. They also have sand toys, snorkel equipment, and kayaks you can use. They are a smaller hotel so they only offer a few Day Passes each day, so I usually book online in advance at resort for a day.

I have spent the Day at the Jewel Dunns River through resort for a day. They included the transfers and it's an All Inclusive Adults Only. Beautiful property and wonderful hospitality. Just 10-12 minutes from the pier.

The Baha Mar is not yet completed. They were were in a stop construction for about a year, but they are now back in the works to get it completed. They will most likely be open in the spring of 2017.

That's what I was afraid of. If you can't get outside to the stingray area, I don't think it's even worth it.

With the Discover Atlantis Pass you have access to (I)The Dig, (B)Estuary Lagoon, © Reef Lagoon, (D)Hibiscus Lagoon, (E)Seagrapes Lagoon, (F)Stingray Lagoon, (G)Water's Edge Lagoon, and (H) Predator Lagoon.

Aquaventure Pass needed to visit the below lagoons

(J)Royal Stingray Lagoon, (K)Mayan Temple Shark Lagoon, (A) Cenote, and (L) Dolphin Cay is only accessible.

I put the alphabet letters beside the attraction and attached photo of the Atlantis Grounds Map with Letter location. Hope this helps you better plan your day.

Without purchasing any type of pass, you can go to the Shops, Marina Village, and Casino. That's pretty much it. They now have a high security to go to any of the outdoor areas checking for wristbands. You can get the "Discover Atlantis Pass" for about $45-$46 which gives you additional access to The Dig Aquarium and some of the other Lagoons, but no beach and no pool access.