ISLABONITA

In my experience I pay everything if possible with a credit card when I travel.

I use Barclays World Arrival which gives you cash back.

Check your credit card for foreign exchange fees.

I use several of my cc for their many paybacks be it miles, points or cash.

We stayed in Cocoa Beach for 5 nights this past January, road trip to the Keys and explored Kennedy Space Center and it's adjunct museums for 2 days.

Had great meals at Roberto's Havana Restaurant and some microbrews too at cocoa beach brewing company

We enjoyed Cocoa Beach very much and it's easy to get around.

Enjoy your cruise.. it will be a great experience!

Very nice video... reminded me of this cruise in Aug 2012 taken on Princess and we had wonderful weather too.!

If you need more help go to Flyertalk dot come and post your ? there with all the specifics.. in the proper United thread

The experts have other sources and tools to find award flights.

It is my source for all my flight questions.

good luck

Has anyone found a way to use frequent flyer miles for cruises? I have a lot of AA miles, and prefer to cruise rather than go on long-haul flights.

 

Suggestions are welcome!

 

Thanks

aa dot cruises dot com

you might have to call them directly.. not sure this site may be just for earning miles and not redeeming

Wonderful video.. this will be a treat for our first night..on Dec. 11th

Anyone know the approximate time it takes to get from the port (Royal Caribbean) to the Royal Palms resort? How do you get from the ship to the palms? Taxi, bus, Do they pick you up at port?

Who is they?

do a google search.. many posts about this info.. I can only post what I found

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1492402

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147367-d1046173-r130233382-Royal_Palms_Beach_Club-Seven_Mile_Beach_Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

http://www.redsailcayman.com/upimages/commonpdf/1343254978Map_CAYMAN_Cruise.pdf

How late is the ship in GC? because Red sail offers a free catamaran cruise on certain days over to rum point.

http://www.redsailcayman.com/free-catamaran-ferry-to-rum-point/details

As others have said a very long day.. first you have a ferry boat ride of 45 minutes, then getting transportation to Chichen Itza will be more like 3 hours with stops at tourist traps.

Touring the ruins in the summer heat is not for the faint of heart.

Bottled water and time for the tour at least 1-1/2 to see the entire area.

Then heading back anything can happen like others have said.

Sign up through the ship if you are determined to see it.

There are other ruins right on Cozumel, El Cedral and San Gervasio and about 1 hour from Playa del Carmen after getting off the ferry is Tulum.

Just started to look for a possible 2015 Scandinavia cruise.

I think I saw one starting in Copenhagen and ending in NY.

Have to start printing out what I see.

Interested in Iceland, Norway and Denmark... any leads is appreciated.

So you have to fly to Vegas to get your certificate?

It's been years since we were there and were comped rooms for a weekend once after our first visit.

How much gambling/playing the slots etc on average does one have to get one of these certificates?

Oh, and as one person mentioned......... Book early - good discounts and greater selection of rooms. We used a large travel company (online & via phone) in Texas, who also passed along hefty discounts that I could not get by booking directly myself. (I tried) :)

 

Feel free to email me re: my personal thoughts about companies.

sent you a pm.

Alaska cruise on the Princess like someone else posted is VERY casual and I did not pack a dress.

We went in August and expected cool to very cold weather ( especially near the glaciers) and rain.

We had wonderful weather but still just wore layers for temperature changes.

Go with comfort and don't worry about the fashionistas which will be on other cruises! :-)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d4586498-Reviews-Royal_Palms_Beach_Club-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

Check the most recent April reviews as to how to do it cheaply.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147365-d1015501-r128906406-Calico_Jacks-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

take a look at the photos for an idea of the places.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d4586498-Reviews-Royal_Palms_Beach_Club-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

Do you need to reserve in advance for Royal Palms, or wing it and just show up!

 

Thanks...

 

---Paul in Southern NJ

If you go to the link it gives you option one which is to pay the $2 entry fee and then go about your day renting the chaise having lunch, etc.

We stayed in GC for days so only went there for swimming and having lunch.

Actually my avatar photo was taken there at the Royal Palms outdoor seating area during lunch.

We have gone on 3 Stingray city tours and Dexter's was the best for us.

Small group, very punctual, will not go out in bad or rough weather.

Highly recommend him if you can get him.

http://dexters-fantaseatours.com/

We were there in November and took a cab (can't remember the price but it wasn't much because the ride was pretty short) to the Marriott on Seven Mile beach. It was very quiet and relaxing. $30 for 2 adults. We were treated very well. They came and set up umbrellas and said we could have as many towels/chairs/umbrellas as we wanted (we had our 3 kids with us which they didn't charge for, but they wanted us to know they could have their own chairs etc). There was a guy over to the side with some kayaks and jet skiis if you wanted to rent them (we didn't). And we could use their pools/hot tubs and bathrooms. It was a really relaxing day. Only downside is that the drinks were kind of expensive. $45 for 4 rum punches before tip and a tiny bag of chex mix was like $7 at the little snack stand. We did sneak in a couple bottles of water for the kids which I know is probably frowned upon but I didn't feel too bad after paying that much for food and drinks. haha ;)

 

Snorkeling was OK. Water was gorgeous and clear and there were fish swimming all around us from the minute we got in. My DH got some pics of some different fish and what he swears was a lobster. IDK if they are actually found in GC or not but he's 110% sure. :rolleyes:

If I remember correctly, we had someone charge their drinks on our "tab" and we had to have it removed.

Also the area in front of the beach is rocky and you have to go way to the right to enter the sandy area.

We were there overnight and there are nice pools and lounges but everything is very pricey.

I have been to GC 4 times and the first was on a cruise stop.

This is my all time favorite.. even has a webcam.. many lounge chairs for your use, reasonable pricing.

Royal Palms at Seven Mile beach http://royalpalmscayman.com/

right across is a place called Coconuts which has even cheaper meal prices.

There are day passes too for cruisers https://royalpalmscayman.com/all-inclusive-cruise-package

For excellent snorkeling right in town at Abanks Dive center http://www.abanksdivers.com.ky/

http://www.abanksdivers.com.ky/

http://www.caymanislandsdiscounts.com/AbanksEntrance.JPG

free lounges and a decent restaurant there too, right in Georgetown

Eden's Rock is like jumping into an aquarium!

In answer to the question of what I wanted to see that was not on the tours, was the chocolate factory. I had read about it in CC, and wanted to check it out. It is called Kow Kow, and a small factory, but very interesting to learn of how they make their chocolate candy. They have at least 12 different kinds, and we had "samples" of all of them, if we wanted.

 

On another tour, and you might be able to do this through a tour guide (I can't remember which port right now), we also took a tour of the rum factory, which was interesting too. When you see the rum cakes they are selling on the ship, that is where we went.

This would be San Juan ? or most likely Grand Cayman as they sell rum cakes.

I just got back from a land vacation where we stayed 5 nights in Cozumel.

Not our first time either but the longest in many years.

We were lucky to have found this taxi driver- Santiago through Tripadvisor thread .

santizapa69@outlook.es

He spoke good English and of course Spanish ( which I do too) has a nice big van with AC

Our hotel was on the southern end ( El Presidente) and very near the Money Bar.

At first he quoted me $40pp for an island tour, which included downtown, tequila tasting and over to the east side stopping at Coconuts & Mezcalitos.

I was only interested in the southern area which I was not familiar .

So for $35pp and about 3 hours he took us to where I wanted.

Visited the first settlement town of Cedral very near Playa Palancar (which is very nice and beautiful and free). The town had just finished having a festival and we had missed going ( next time we will).

Headed to Punta Sur eco park and had to pay a $12 admission fee pp for the park to see ruins, the small museum, climb the lighthouse and see the crocs.

There is a nice beach area too which we didn't stay at since that was not my plan.

Then off down the road to the very highly visited El Mirador the southernmost tip of Cozumel.

On our way back we were dropped off at Money bar as we had planned to have lunch and snorkel there then taxi back to our hotel for another $5.

How easy and expensive is it to get to St. John from St. Thomas without a cruise ship excursion? I'm worried the NCL excursions won't leave enough time to explore the island.

Thanks CC!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Look here for answers

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2017377&highlight=on+our+own

The Actief tour company I found in Curacao responds very quickly and I did not need to organize a group for the Tugboat & Snorkel Reef 1/2 day tour.

Already sent a cc for the booking .

The St. Kitts one I found too Thenford at grey dot com The Tour responded rather quickly too.

I am sure Herod will reply since we have a large group , he probably doesn't feel the urgency to do so since it is so long from now.

Another slow reply was Duncan & Sean for St. Thomas but once he replied and gave me the right contact email he apologized profusely.

ili

Thanks Isi. I sent an email to him using that one yesterday. How long has it taken him to get back to you?

 

If I don't hear anything soon perhaps we will have you try and set up the tour with him (Land and Sea Safarai)

 

I really don't understand why they have not responded yet, even though I have told them I have a group of 16 and growing.

 

We shall see what next week brings!

The first time I contacted him it took about 3 days to respond, it's been longer now , so every 3 days I send another email.