melissagohard

not on a cruise but following along! supposed to leave 3/30 on the NCL sun but still on the fence for obvious reasons

following along because i too am anxious to hear about the completed refurb! it looks like she made it on schedule to seattle so we're off to a good start!

we will be going in may and can't wait either!! i hope someone posts some pics of the updates soon. it comes out of dry dock 4/19!

Thanks everyone! That’s great news. We last sailed in April out of Ft. Lauderdale and they still required them then. This is great news!

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Yes! Another vote for Thenford Grey. We had a blast and got to see so much of the island and learn a lot of history. The beach he took us to has great food and drinks too. Love love love!

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Whaaaat? No custom forms? Is this new or because you skipped Coco Cay?

We leave on Majesty the day after Thanksgiving. Our third time on her and we are still as giddy as our first time! Your review has been so fun to follow and has reminded us why we chose Majesty again for this quickie cruise. Thank you!

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Sailing in 19 days, does anyone have recent 3 nighter menu's and cruise compasses?

@livingitup - do you remember the order for your cruise's MDR menus? we cruise the day after thanksgiving on majesty and would love to peek at the menus in advance. i have the pdf menus but not sure what order to expect. i know it may change but figured i'd ask and look anyway. anything to keep me going for the next 44 days! ;p

thanks in advance.

Absolutely loving the review so far! Will be sailing on Freedom in less than 2 weeks (11 days.... but who's counting?!). Your review and pictures are getting me so excited! THANK YOU!

I also received this survey and took it. Pretty interesting! Lots of questions about food and broadway shows. My fav MDR food experience, my fav MDR service experience, least favorites, etc. They also asked what was important to me (organic, farm-to-table, antibiotic free meat, etc) and what types of cuisine or menus I would enjoy (Vietnamese, Gastopub, Caribbean, etc). I hope that means they are listening to feedback and wanting to improve things!

Thank you for the foodie pics and reviews!! Keep 'em coming! [emoji7]

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Day 3 – “Zipping” through Labadee (cont)

 

before heading in for breakfast, I had to get one last photo of the pilot boat which means we are very close!

 

 

 

As well as a couple more photos of the mountains. Might as well while I’m all the way up on the bow right? :-)

 

 

 

 

Our group of 5 all met for breakfast in the WJ, then got our stuff together and headed out. Don’t forget that you need to bring towels from the ship with you to Labadee – and bring them back with you also! We usually make sure we have them the night before so we can pack our beach bag ahead of time. It seems like sometimes they have a towel check-out down on Deck 1 on the way out and sometimes not, but for us it’s not consistent enough to trust.

 

Here are our plans for Labadee – three of the five of us are doing the zipline and the other two (including my wife) are laying at the beach all day. For me, I have always wanted to do the zipline, but between the cost and my wife’s not wanting to do it (and me not wanting to do it by myself), I haven’t in previous Labadee trips. This time, since our friends Monty & Sue were planning on doing it, I figured tagging along with them was my window to do it.

 

Our beach of choice on Labadee is Columbus Cove. It is the last one to get crowded, has great sun & shade options, and a great view of the mountains. It also has bathrooms and a lunch pavilion within steps, which is nice. Here we are off the ship and heading to Columbus Cove.

 

 

 

Set up shop at Columbus Cove beach. We got chairs right up near the water without having to be the first ones off the ship! There seem to always be four of us in our pictures and everyone volunteers to be the 5th person to take it and thus not have to be in it! :-)

 

 

 

Here’s the old tender dock from before the permanent pier was built. The Pinta is present and accounted for, I wonder where the Nina and Santa Maria went to?

 

 

 

to be continued…

 

Funny, we were just in Coco Cay last Saturday on Enchantment of the Seas and saw Santa Maria and Nina. We wondered where Pinta was!! [emoji38]

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Thank you for taking the time to post this review and all of the compasses and menus! It is so very helpful in planning. We leave in 24-ish days and your review has me extra excited! :D

Thank you for the quick reviews everyone!

Is this typical March weather?? I just booked an 8 night Eastern Carribean cruise on Freedom for March 17 next year with my parents. It will be their first cruise and my mom has motion sickness issues.... I was hoping for calm seas that time of year!! How is Freedom with the rough seas? I have been on Oasis and barely noticed any movement.

DITTO THIS. We are leaving on Mar 17 of this year on Enchantment of the Seas (Bahamas) and I've had motion sickness issues in the past. [emoji17] I really hope things calm before then...

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Thank you for the quick review!! We will be on Freedom for the first time in 2 months - your review has been extra hyped!

Once again, you guys and gals amaze me! Thank you for your speedy responses and advice. Duh! I didn't even think to call the bank. :o

I did what you all suggested and called the bank since I do still have a card with them under a new number. They also said that I would receive the refund on my new card automatically. Phew! Now I can go back to just being excited about everything again. ;p

THANK YOU!!!

Hello fellow cruisers!

I saw some great deals on the Cruise Planner last night and spontaneously cancelled a few previously booked things (2 Deluxe Drink Packages and 2 Internet Packages) for the new "Sip & Stream" option which saved me quite a few $$$. After I cancelled, I realized that the money is being refunded to a now closed credit card (someone stole my credit card number :mad: so I had to get a new one).

I called RCI and was told they would "try to refund it and that if it didn't work their financial division would be in touch with me". This of course makes me nervous because I know it won't go through - my account number and credit card number were totally changed! :rolleyes: I guess I'm hoping for peace of mind... I hate not being able to fix this immediately.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thank you in advance!

Hmm they took the prices off

 

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That struck me as odd too! I really hope this is just some published/promotional version and they keep the prices on the printed menus. RCCL are already making it difficult to ascertain what is covered under the drink package at this point...

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Loving the review so far! Thanks!

We will be sailing on Enchantment soon - can't wait! (42 days... but who's counting! :p)

This thread hits close to home since I too suffer from seasickness. I have had really good luck with a combination of Bonine (meclizine) and MotionEaze. I buy the MotionEaze on Amazon since I can't seem to find it in my local stores. As others have stated, the key to Bonine is to start taking it BEFORE nausea hits. Once you are feeling seasick, it is honestly too late. Only sleep will help you then, my friend.

I take one Bonine tablet (chewable) per day for a couple of days leading up to the trip to get it in my system, then I take one in the morning, and another one at night, each day of the cruise. I apply MotionEaze throughout the day as a precaution as well. I know I might be overdoing it, but seasickness is honestly one of the worst feelings ever. Give me a migraine over that type of nausea ANY DAY.

FWIW, we tried the green apple trick when we cruised last October - hurricane season makes for rough seas, even without an active hurricane we discovered! :( - and it honestly was impossible to choke down any food, let alone an apple which requires a bit of "chewing". Ginger ale and sleep are the only thing that helped me on the worst night.

Otherwise, Bonine and MotionEaze ROCK! I drink a moderate amount on vacations (hellllooooo drink package!:D) so being able to mix the two is somewhat important to me.

We haven't been on Freedom yet but will be on her in April and can't wait!! Following this thread - though I've done enough research to know we are in for a GREAT time! :D

Just found this on the RC blog...

Looks like the Oasis (which has a $13 upper limit on the deluxe package) has drinks priced at $13 but Independence (which has a $12 upper limit) has the same drinks priced at $12 each, this would keep each under their respective upper limit. Also, the $15 super premium cocktails are $15 on Oasis and $14 on Independence - meaning it is $2 more on either ship. Interesting...

This might be a stretch, or just me being optimistic, but it appears that some of the new higher-priced cocktails ($12 and $14) appear to have better quality ingredients being added to them? In reading the recently uploaded bar menus, I'm noticing a lot more agave syrup, fresh squeezed lime/lemon (versus bottled), and lot less sour mix? Just thinking aloud here, maybe the price increase has more to do with there being more complicated drinks and/or with better mixers being used? Especially since it looks like the liquors themselves didn't really increase. Just a thought... I am in no way condoning the price increase but merely playing devil's advocate.

Of course, this says nothing about Kim Crawford being raised over $12 a glass either. :mad:

I also will note that when we last cruised the unlimited drink package was at a much higher price point ($70) and the premium at $57- we typically purchased the premium and bought the odd coffee/juice. We got the deluxe package at 30% off and paid $38-ish per day. I plan to just order what I want and see where the chips fall. Depending on the damage, we will adjust how we handle the drink package going forward. Hoping for a surprise and some drinks above $12 are covered but not holding my breath. :D

Thanks for your helpful advice everyone! You've swayed me!

We decided to spring for the extra drive and go on the Enchantment for March 17-20. We can always make a quickie drive to Port Canaveral when it is just two of us. If there was ever an incentive for an extra drive, it's a celebration cruise like this!

Excited to check out all the extras on Enchantment!

Haha! Thanks Troykahack!! Will do! [emoji6]

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