NateUpNorth

8 minutes ago, Bigbob7777 said:

Carnival is great!  Where else can the passengers join in on main event wrestling and boxing?

And on the other side you have RCL that actually schedules these events........ ever been to the "$10 sidewalk sale" they throw on the promenade? LOL



*to be fair, this photo is an actual brawl........... not the $10 sale..... making that clear so as not to offend the sidewalk sale shoppers completely

Has anyone used Curacao Dreams for a tour lately?
Booking something in Dec for a visit to Grote Knip

Bear in mind the other parties will ALSO have to link back to you as well.
We did ours by phoning in and at that point also did our dining table request with the CSR over the phone.

Just pay attention to the price, not the headline "deal" banner.
Mock book it and watch the bottom line. KSF banner means nothing.

We sail with 2 kids under 12 and the variance in price depending on the day, time of year, prevailing wind direction and what the guy in I.T had for dinner last night is all over the place.

 

5 hours ago, Donsyb said:

We will be visiting St Maarten in November on Oasis, and I want to book an excursion with a 3rd party.

 

I believe that St Maarten is 1 hour ahead of ship time - does anyone know if that's correct?  The planner says we dock at 8am, so I'm assuming therefore that we dock at 9am island time and the earliest I should book for is 10am?

We've encountered this before.
I usually go straight to the Port Schedule online provided by the Homeport. That'll tell you what time "locally" you'll be docking. In our experience this is also what a local tour provider schedules around.

https://gls.portstmaarten.sx/sxm/MainMenu.aspx?ShipScheduleType=2   

On 7/6/2022 at 4:03 PM, Cruise, J.D. said:

We had a good time at Arashi (late June 2022). We took the public bus from Oranjested. The bus terminal was located in a parking lot across the main street that runs along the cruise terminal. It was about $5pp for a roundtrip. We rented 3 chairs and an umbrella for $50, which included free bottled water. Snorkeling equipment was $15 per person or 2 for $20. There was great snorkeling here. I suggest wearing water shoes as there is quite a bit of rocks.

I've seen a few reports about the bathroom being an outhouse or very basic facility. May I ask if this is an exaggeration?

Also, did you use the snack shack at all? Curious what was on offer for food/drink?

TIA

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

Blame Canada

Hey!!!! I'm Canadian and............. yeah.. fair point

6 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

So…….how does an unvaccinated individual get a test report on an non proctored, at home test? 
 

Are we just going with the honor system? 

A photo of a negative rapid test seems to be good for locations that don't require PCR proctored..

So yes, the honor system..........  I mean a photo

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I don’t understand how this works as proof, if I test positive I can just take a picture of someone’s negative test, if I can’t cruise for any reason I can just take a picture of a positive test even if I’m negative. With all of the talk about fake vaccine cards I do not trust folks to do the right thing.

Only thing I can think is it's a liability transfer somehow..... "we didn't know they were positive" denial?
I mean......... it's not like the whole world is immediately thinking this....... and can use copy/paste

So according to the healthy sail centre:

Unvaxxed (including minor kids) need a test within 3 days that's negative.
That test can either be brought to the port as proof OR you can take a picture of the rapid test showing negative?

I'm not gonna lie........ I'd be surprised if anyone lugs the actual test around with them.... yuck! 

On 6/11/2022 at 2:00 PM, CorrieCJ said:

 

 

Would especially appreciate suggestions on how to do some of this either on our own, or with non-ship excursions. Thanks!

 

 

We did "Sailaway Tours" pre-Covid and had a magnificent time. We had 4 kids with us and they enjoyed the entire experience. 
3 snorkel spots.... 1 was a bit rough for them.. but the other two spots were calm and perfect. Rope swing off the side of the boat for fun also.

If you book a cruise where this is the headline banner on the website...... adjust your expectations accordingly.

I'm not condoning that elevator behavior at all, however that particular RCL pronouncement could be considered full disclosure on their part. 🤪

16 hours ago, loman said:

I was ... that guy ...  that typically flew in the day of the cruise . 

Always a direct flight , and never had any issues.

For my next cruise i booked a room in FLL and am flying in the day before.

Wife was getting nervous watching the fiasco at the Toronto Airport YYZ .

Booked a room at the Riverside to experience Las Olas Blvd.

 

Could you do a flight out of Buffalo?
YYZ is just a disgusting mess.
There are also hotels across the street that have in the past given free parking for the duration of your trip if you stay over the night before your flight.

We have a cruise booked in Dec. 
Leaves on a Sat, we're flying outta Buffalo on Thurs..... because if it's cancelled and things are still as convoluted with no guarantees like they are now we'll keep driving to FLL and should still make it in time.
Oh what a time to be alive..... sigh
 

Don't worry Aussie's...... you're in fine company.....looks like the joke's on Canadians too:

17 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

That no longer works.  😞

Was just about to ask for this line..... several times in past week I've called to request one and given up between 30 & 45 mins of hold time...... and all at different times.... 

29 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

What is your boarding time?  If late in the day I would arrive early and notify someone at the terminal that you need to have a pier test, as we observed last October in Bayonne NJ, as example, that around 2 or so in the afternoon the test facility was closed. 

 

That could either be that all that needed testing were already taken care of, or that the facility has to close by a certain time to assure test results are completed and reported prior to the 90 minute departure boarding cut off.  And maybe it is both - that they plan all required testing by a certain time to assure time for the results to be confirmed.  I would have to assume that whatever boarding time you have takes your testing requirements into consideration.

 

Not trying to cause concern - just mentioning our observation so that you are aware. 

25 minutes ago, CruiseBride926 said:

We haven’t cruised since September but it was fairly seamless. Pre-cruise it was just set up as the last stop before boarding. We received in email about a week in advance to register. The one on the ship we received a letter in our room the night before. We went down to the conference room where they were doing them and were in and out in 5 minutes.

Thank you both!
No boarding time yet but if we get a later in the day assignment we'll for sure attempt to switch to an earlier one with the extra testing in mind! (or perhaps they'll assign an early one for exactly that reason as you hypothesized) We've never been fans of "timing it", we would rather arrive early and wait patiently in line. 🙂 

I believe this is what you're looking for:



If I interpret it correctly - only those two Islands (current, subject to change etc etc etc etc) have other requirements. 

On 2/8/2022 at 7:55 PM, nolyd said:

Thank you! We’ve booked the tour with Curaçao Dreams and have found them to to be very responsive with questions we’ve asked. We’re looking forward to swimming with the sea turtles!

When are you going? We are headed there in December....... would appreciate any review you could give.
We'll probably book the same "tour with pictures" but I think they say they will download them to your phone/device? Curious about that process!

Reading through the current (always subject to change) rules for unvaxxed minors. (which are different and there are no issues with that fact):
PCR test pre-board (good idea), Test at the pier (fair enough), Test in cruise (no problem)

Does anyone have experience with the process? I assume the "at the pier" and "in cruise" are rapid tests.

It's the "at the pier" with "instructions sent in advance by email" that strikes fear into probably everyone familiar with RCL notifications, emails and IT department.
Anyone have a smooth and seamless experience with this?
And the "prior to disembark" - in anyone's experience do they provide timely notice and instruction? Or is it about as clear as the regulations for the Coffee punch card?
 

Any details appreciated! 

Thanks OP for taking the time to post your experience. Two sides to this:

1) given current conditions I think understanding these things may happen is first and foremost
2) there are some who value these posts to confirm that these situations are in fact occurring so they can make their decisions on booking 

For every "what did you expect" response there is likely a "good to know that's still happening" reply also.

Complete revamp of the loyalty program for your added benefit.
Unfortunately due to technical issues all previous loyalty accounts have been lost, but you will still experience the excitement of climbing the ranks once again to new and dynamic rewards!

I'm sorry your plans got done in by Covid. That's a really crummy spot to be put in. I hope you can find alternate options and make the best of a bad situation. Perhaps you'll be one of the lucky ones that gets a refund in less time than anticipated.

I hear a lot of seasoned cruisers not having a lot of sympathy here, but c'mon man. "We" all read these boards enough to know RCL customer service is luck of the draw, that the past year has had a lot of shortfalls in communication and planning, the sales practices are open to interpretation sometimes, and that policies and protocols vary widely depending on the time of day.

That's not to say RCL doesn't deliver a great product when it goes smoothly - but when it's bad, it's really bad, and fixing it isn't easy.

6 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

That is not the case.  Every ship in the fleet with the exception of Spectrum and Wonder has their itineraries posted and for sale from August 2022 through April 2023 (as far out as itineraries go.

With some more time to look at the sailings I indeed see you are correct. Itineraries are there.

1 hour ago, BigRoger said:

 RC have their investment analysts call today… this smacks of trying to get all good and bad news out there before this call regardless of the impact on guests….. 

100% this is likely what is going on. For customers - terrible business. For investors - great business.

I also suspect there are a lot of itineraries for next year that will be held back from sales until they wipe out the L&S option. I'd wager a lot of the currently existing L&S's on the books are people holding onto great deals from +/- a year ago.... and being strict with the L&S same ship/itinerary is forcing people to the FCC/refund option.

Regardless, it's a public traded company - investors are the higher power always.

So the L&S option... this seems like an obvious question... but this is RCL...

"Original booking" may be L&S'd - is that last years Explorer to the ABC's which is the true original... or is that the L&S to this year that ended up being "enhanced for our benefit" into the Radiance to St. Lucia/Barbados/Antigua etc?