Deeders40

I think this is the tour company we plan on using but only doing the 3 hour tour. Any other suggestions or comments about this company? Did you just reserve it online? Also, did you do anything in the evening that you were there? And also, did you just concert USD to CUC when you got to port? Thanks!!!

We are just off the Sky. We were in port from 8 am Tuesday, October 17 until noon on the 18th. We booked an independent 6-hour car tour through oldcartours.com for our full-day in Havana. Our guide and driver were fantastic! There was much more than a drive throughout Havana. We walked along cobblestone streets and up and down stairs. We saw much of the city from the forts to Old Havana, to the more modern city, drove through residential areas, saw many embassies, enjoyed a mojito in a park, and racked up 10,000 steps easily. The cost for the 6-hour tour in a car of our choice was $240 for the car, driver, and guide. So much better than booking through NCL. I believe the cost of a similar tour with NCL was closer to $600!

 

On the second day, we wandered throughout the old city, bought a few souvenirs and explored an old train car - a hidden gem. We could've gotten a taxi for another drive around Havana, but wanted to see more of the old buildings and interact with the people.

 

Be prepared for it to be hot and humid.

As there appears to be only one sailing in November on the Sky that stops in Havana, I think we are on the same cruise! We are going to be with a group, but I think my husband and I are going to book a tour outside of NCL. Husband really wants to do the vintage/classic cars, so I think we will be doing that during the 2nd day that we are there. (since we don't get to port until 5pm)

So you are able to convert any leftover CUC back to USD? Also, has anyone experienced shops, restaurant's or any tours that actually accepted US dollars?

We have a group of 10 that will be arriving in Havana on The Sky in early November. So overwhelmed with what we can or can not do. Personally I would like to do tours and such outside of the cruise line because of the cost. What are things that you could suggest we do as far as exploring on our own? And do most things fall under the People to People interaction? We are staying overnight so doing something in the evening is appreciated as well.

We are platinum on DCL and took our first non-Disney cruise on the Vista this Fall. I have to say for all the accolades DCL gets and all the bashing Carnival gets I really couldn't tell the difference. In fact I much preferred the Vista over Disney's top rated Fantasy.

I love Disney there are intangibles that are hard to describe with the characters and the family atmosphere, but of course that comes at a hefty premium. I will say as far as the ship, service, entertainment and food goes Carnival was good as or better than DCL. The food on Carnival is so much better there's no comparison. Like I said I love Disney, but food is not their strong point. Not much different then the crap they serve in their parks.

 

My kids still prefer the teen clubs on Disney, but they were not disappointed in the Vista. Because I have kids I will continue to cruise Disney when it's affordable.

We have a cruise booked on DCL next month and then we'll be back on the Vista this Summer. I'm glad we found an alternative, since Disney's prices aren't always in the budget.

What activities were on the Vista that your kids enjoyed? Have sailed 3 times on DCL and once on RC. Have been looking at Carnival Vista (and Breeze as well) but curious about kids activities. My kids will be 14 and 12 when we want to sail again in May so just wondering what your kids enjoyed about Vista. Thanks!

Is there an adult only pool on the Breeze? (or Dream class?) Is the Tides pool for all passengers? I am looking at possibly booking a cruise, but was curious about the adults only areas. Looks like there are hot tubs, but was also hoping that there was a pool as well.

Thank you.

I agree and share the disappointment. The service we received was by far the worst on any cruise we've taken as a family the last 5 years. It's hard that we just got off the Disney Fantasy in June and they set the bar so high, but this was bad.

 

Here were some of our issues. And I know some of them have very reasonable explanations, but it doesn't make it less disappointing.

 

Couldn't get off in GC. I get it, but the Carnival Dream worked around it and got it's passengers to shore. RC didn't want or need any more incidents of bad press last week.

 

The slides and flowrider were closed till day 3. Then, when they opened, only one slide opened and the one that did had intermittent closings throughout the week.

 

Service all around was poor. Not average, poor. The best service we received was in Adventure Ocean and Windjammer. We did the MDR the first two nights and not again till the last night. We struggled to find anyone at the pool to get us more drinks and had to the bar ourselves almost exclusively. The one server we saw selling drinks around the pool every day said if we wanted his drink we would have to go to the bar and get a plastic cup ourselves since the souvenir glass he was selling cost $3.95. Throughout the week we felt like we were treated differently because we had the drink package over those paying for each drink. One bartender we heard repeatedly tell guests how happy he was that he was on his last trip. The MDR servers were nice, but either extremely new or completely incompetent. In our 3 MDR meals, we either did not get something we ordered or had some other issues in regards to timing, etc.

 

Lastly, because we booked and paid for so much up front, we actually ended up with a negative balance at the end of our trip. On the last day we went to the photo center to use that on board credit to purchase pictures....BIG MISTAKE. It was an absolute disaster. We wasted an hour of our time trying to get the servers to work and we could never process our order. Not only did we not get our pictures and wasted an hour in the photo center, but we then stood in guest services for over 30 minutes to be assured they would refund the balance to our card to only find out later they couldn't.

 

It wasn't all bad and we had a good time, but had we not got the trip so cheap, I would be alot more upset. Cruise director was great. The shopping guy was a big help.

 

The ship itself was magnificent, clientele was still a step above Carnival but I'll gladly pay for Disney on my next cruise.

You are right about Disney setting the bar so high. This was our first RCI cruise(as a family) and my husband and I were disappointed. I too exepected so much more to have been done and completed when we boarded. We had also met a passenger from Carnival on Friday who said their ship pulled in on the other side of the island so that they could tender. But when we booked our excursion for GC we knew it was a hit or miss if we would be able to stop there. So we weren't completely disappointed since we knew that going in. Elevators were horrible (as someone else mentioned). I had also heard several other passengers who were not happy with the photo center and issues they had with the LONG wait times (not just on the next to last day). Our server in the MDR was actually pretty great. We sat in a different section the second night we went there and that server was HORRIBLE....it took forever to get our order, and then he did not bring out everything we ordered. No personality whatsoever. So we made sure to sit in the same section as the first night and after that and had no more issues. We were disappointed that the 9-11yr old club was not open so they mixed them with the 6-8yr olds...my 11yr old was bored in there after an hour and a half on day 2 and never wanted to go back. But she was content either swimming (once the pools opened) or trying Flowrider and the slides, WHEN they were open and functioning. I am not sure if they ever got the one big slide up and running properly, as we finally gave up trying after day 4. Yes there was still some fun had by all of us, but it definitely was not a cruise that we "loved".

Well We're home.

 

I am happy to try and answer questions you may have. Don't have time to look back a previous posts for questions, but will try to keep up with new ones. I have some, but not all the compasses, but don't know how to post them...sorry feel stupid about that:D. but can answer questions about them.

 

Without being to negative, I will say this was not the best cruise we've had. Can't really pin point one thing, just a lot of different things that were off. Will say we will never go on a cruise right after dry dock again.

 

Ask away...

Totally agree with you. Definitely not the best cruise we have ever been on and will also NEVER go on ANY cruise right out of dry dock...or even a couple weeks after. Really disappointed in a lot of the things that were not done or ready for this cruise.

We will be sailing on Liberty on 2/7! First family cruise on Royal Caribbean. Looking forward to it.