fl-girl

Thanks so much! That helps!!

Last time I went to Grand Cayman (in the beforetimes) I was on a Carnival ship with friends and we did Stingray City + Turtle center - it was fantastic. Now I'm going on RCI in June with family and I see there are 3 ship excursions that look really similar and I can't decide between them. Anyone have any insight?

$89 for Stingray City Sandbar and Starfish Point Beach – 3 hr 45m

$69 Singray City Sandbar and Camana Bay – 4 hr 30m

$69 Coral Garden Stingray City Sandbar Snorkel – 3hr 30m

It's so hard to make decisions since so many people haven't been cruising to these ports in so long and it seems like everything is new! Any advice on these excursions is much appreciated. Thanks so much!

We've been trying to decide on which excursion to take when we go on Allure next week and visit Cozumel. We finally picked one we've been iffy on for weeks and I went on the cruise planner to book it tonight - and it's gone 😞 . It was there yesterday. My guess is that it's full. I'm so so so so bummed. I guess it didn't even occur to me as a possibility that it could get booked up and disappear as an option from the cruise planner.

So is my family completely out of luck or do any slots for these excursions open up once we get on board? Typical that this happened right after we finally told the kids about it and showed them videos. 

Any advice? 

Well damn - we finally decided to fork out the dough and book the excursion - got the kids all excited about it and we sat down and it's GONE FROM THE LIST! My guess is it has sold out 😞

Soooooo.... is the Chaak-Tun trip as good? Or is it a waste of money? I'm so so so bummed. This is just so typical of our luck 😞 

Any advice?

Thanks dsnutz! I always wondered how people knew that!!!!

1 minute ago, blackshirt said:

You are charged for gratuities for as many nights as the cruise is. Sunday to Sunday is a 7 night cruise so you’ll be charged $14.50 x 7 per person.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I guess I never really paid attention when we prepaid.... 

Thanks everyone. My hubby and I have been to Tulum before and we're heading up to some ruins when we go to Costa Maya. I'm glad to hear the excursion is worth it though - thanks crewsweeper! 

On 3/8/2019 at 8:25 AM, crewsweeper said:

We had a wonderful time on this excursion last year!  The caves were fascinating.  Water a bit cold but they provide wetsuits.  Lunch at the small beach resort afterward was excellent.  But only 2 of us so more affordable.

 

Do a ship excursion to Tulum. Ruins are interesting but views are fabulous.

 

Every cruise we've been on before allowed us to pre-pay gratuities. I'm not sure what we did wrong this time, but we haven't pre-paid them and we leave next weekend. So I'm looking on the RCI website and I don't see an explanation of how it works. I know it's $14.50 pp/per day. BUT if our cruise on Allure is Sunday to Sunday, do we pay for 8 days of gratuities?  so do we pay for the disembarkation day (final day when we return to port) where we exit the ship at 6:30 a.m.? 

Sorry for the lame question, but we're trying to plan our budget ahead of time.

Thx!

We head out on Allure in a matter of days and I can't find a single excursion that sounds awesome to us in Cozumel. Problem is we aren't really beach, booze or shopping people, so that cuts out 95% of Cozumel's "fun." We are spending money on excursions at other ports and wanted our Cozumel excursion to be a little more affordable, but the only thing I can find that looks fun/different is the "Amazing Secret River and PDC" excursion that will be $436 for the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 teens). I know, I know... I'm being cheap, but is ONE day in a cave really worth that much money? I'm hoping to find someone who did it and LOVED it and who wants to sell me on forking out this much money for this excursion. My kids haven't been to Mexico before so I hate to just stay on the boat. We're from FL and my kids hate the beach so have no interest in a beach club day. 

Anyone want to amaze me with a story of secret river awesomeness? I'd be forever grateful. My bank account, however, may not be.

Thanks

I was just about to post the same question. We'll be on RCI Allure in about a week and we are torn between the same 2 excursions. It's $436 for 4 of us for "Amazing Secret River + PDC" compared to $336 for Chaak Tun + Shopping". I'm wondering if it's really worth the extra $100 for the first one? It looks awfully dark in the videos. Do you really get to see anything? We really wanted to do a fun excursion in Cozumel for our teen boys, but we are just striking out left and right. We are from FL so a day at the beach has zero appeal. I'm just not sure what to do. We were trying to keep Cozumel affordable since we have some excursions at the other ports, but I don't think a taxi to the beach will be met with any enthusiasm. 

We'll be in Cozumel in March on Allure of the Seas and we'll have 6 people in our group ranging from 13 to 72. We're Floridians, so the idea of a beach day doesn't really appeal to us. We aren't drinkers either. Soooooo we thought about hiring a private driver to take us around Cozumel. The only company I've found that seems to have consistently decent reviews is Tours Plaza. We were hoping Cozumel would be our "cheap" excursion since we've booked some pricier ones elsewhere. It looks like it's $195 for the 6 of us for 3 hours. Is three hours enough to get around the island and see stuff? And what should we ask to see? We aren't really shoppers either - LOL. We like quiet out of the way places, ruins, nature, etc. 

So any advice? Is Tours Plaza the only decent one in Cozumel? Where should we go on this tour? AND... is 3 hours enough?

Thanks in advance!

We took Bernard's tour just over a week ago. We were taken to La Playa club where it was family friendly. I did see one topless girl walking along the beach, but that was it. No big deal.

 

Enjoy your excursion!

Thanks for the helpful tip! I really appreciate it.

I do love how no matter what someone posts, there will always be people who can start with snarky responses. I am personally not against nudity on a nude beach (in others that is), but as I said in my original post... it's a little different when you're with your two boys and grandparents. I just wanted to know what to expect. If my kids were raised elsewhere they wouldn't blink twice at topless or naked adults on a beach, but they've been raised in the states and it's not something they've ever seen before. I think as a parent, knowing what to expect and asking for real opinions from people who've been there is just responsible parenting.

You guys are awesome! Super super helpful!!! THANKS so much!!!

I realize this is a really specific and slightly odd question.... but we're sailing on Saturday and we're online right now looking at drinks packages for the family. I have one kid who loves soda and one kid who loathes soda, but drinks gallons of non-carbonated drinks. I've been told by friends who are seasoned cruisers that we should still get the kid who hates soda a basic $8.50 soda package because if we don't the only way to get him non-carbonated drinks (like lemonade for example) is to pay for it (nope) or to walk to the buffet restaurants... BUT.... they're "sure" the soda dispenser machines have a non-carbonated option and that will make it easier to walk up to any place on board and get him a drink.

I know that at most restaurants there's a punch or lemonade option in the dispenser machines. And yes, I called RCI and the guy on the phone had no clue. I hate to spend $59.50 for a week of the basic soda package for him if he's not going to be able to get a single drink out of the dispenser machines bc it's all carbonated.

Any clues?

***Edite to add*** I called RCI again.... this time the rep said not to buy a soda package and just wait until we get on board and see what's in the machines. Can my kid order a glass of ice water on board? Maybe we can bring those individual little Crystal Light flavor packs or those flavored "squirt-in" packs and just add some flavor to ice water? I don't see cups of ice water as an option though. Anyone know?

We are the family of 4 (2 parents and 2 kids) and were ableto use it on the Quantum this past Christmas/New Year cruise.

Before you sail you need to install Royal IQ app(free). Then while on the ship you canuse it for free to look up your calendars, make dinner reservations, etc.

Then if you pay $7.95 per device you can use the same app totext and call anyone on the ship who has this app (and also paid $7.95). So we paid 7.95 times 4 ($31.80) for our 10days cruise and were able to text/call each other.

 

I can’t say it worked all the time, but I would say 75% ormay be even more it worked. I will be on Oasis in June and if they have it I wouldbuy it.

That is really helpful! Thanks!!!!!!!

well Google is your friend;)

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/royaliq

 

STAY IN TOUCH ON THE OPEN SEAS

 

With Royal iQ, you're only a phone call or text away from friends and family, whether they're onboard or wishing they were onboard. Once you download the app, you'll receive your own unique onboard number.

For $7.95, Royal iQ offers unlimited calling and texting to anyone onboard who has a Royal iQ communication package. Plus, you can take advantage of crystal clear outgoing (ship-to-shore) and incoming (shore-to-ship) calls, billed at a per-minute rate.

Thanks, but when I called RCI earlier today they said I would still have to purchase the ship's wifi package to use the app. So you can see my confusion, which is why I asked here. Plus the reviews are horrible in the app store, so I was hoping someone who has used it would be able to share some info.

You Need to connect to the Royal Wifi to use the web, but this part of WIFI is at no additional Charge. So the app can be used for free. However the texting part is an additional cost. So if you want to text it´s 7.95 USD for every Person to use the texting / calling Feature. Note for this you can only text / call People who have this Feature activated on their phone as well. No outside calls with this.

So it's only $7.95 per phone for the whole cruise to be able to text? Because that sounds like a good deal. Where does it say it's a $7.95 charge? I feel like the info on this is sorely lacking. Thanks so much for your input!

I've read so many different answers to this question... Does anyone who has actually sailed on Harmony know if the Royal-IQ app can be used INSTEAD OF purchasing the wifi option onboard? We have two parents and two kids and we'd like to split up, but be able to stay in touch... and especially would love for the kids to be able to go off together, but stay "connected" to us via texting. It's an additional $22 a day for 2 phones to have wifi. For a 7-day cruise that'll add up. So someone suggested we get the Royal-IQ app and use that for texting, but I've heard that you need to purchase ship's wifi to use the Royal-IQ app.

The app store description says "Please note, Royal iQ only works onboard Quantum, Anthem, Ovation and Harmony. Guests must be connected to "royal-wifi." There is no charge to connect to royal-wifi or use Royal iQ except for the calling / texting functionality which has a nominal fee."

Um - what? So you do or do not need to pay for the ship's wifi access?

And what is a nominal fee?

I called RCI and the woman who answered said she didn't know about the app, but read to me her "blurb" about it from her computer screen. She couldn't answer my questions on it. She suggested we bring walkie-talkies, but I've been told by pretty much everyone that bringing walkie-talkies on a huge ship for a summer cruise full of kids is a waste of time.

Can anyone help us figure this out? Thanks in advance :hearteyes:

We just booked a tour on Bernards SXM tours bc of the high reviews on Trip Advisor. There is tour 1 or tour 2. We picked tour 2 because it includes Orient Beach. Of course AFTER I booked it I read the FAQs that mentions that Orient Beach is a fully nude beach. My boys are 11 and 13 - and the grandparents will be with us - so a nude beach isn't exactly on the top of my to-do list. I'm wondering if I should contact Bernards and ask to switch tours? Anyone been to Orient Beach? How much nekkidness should we expect? (If it was just me and the hubby we wouldn't care - we wouldn't "join in" but we wouldn't care... adding kids and grandparents into the mix makes things ... awkward).

Advice?

Thanks. I've been looking into Island Marketing, but their tour descriptions are really vague. I think we'd prefer a SJ tour to a rainforest tour since we've never been to SJ before. I just don't see exactly what you get for the tour...

Anyone know?

I've been on their website and it doesn't explain exactly what you get from this tour. We'll be in SJ for about 6 hours in June and I wonder if this would be a good tour for us? But I prefer details than just a broad description.

We have a family of 6 going to SJ, PR, on Harmony in June. We have two kids (young teens), 2 parents and 2 grandparents (70s but active). We need to keep the cost down on this excursion, but would love to have a tour of SJ where we get to see a little of everything. I read about Charlie's Custom Day Tours on Trip Advisor and the reviews are great. Anyone used Charlie's recently and has a review for me? If not Charlie's, has anyone used another tour company in SJ that they'd highly recommend?

This is my mom's 70th birthday cruise (and her 5-year cancer remission celebration) so I want to make sure she really enjoys our trip!

Thanks all <3

Thanks everyone!! Has anyone done Bernards since the iguana farm closed for construction? I'm wondering if the tour is still good with that part missing??

I would look into Bernard's tour of the island. They are great folks for young and old.

That actually looks pretty great! Thanks so much for sharing that!!!

Well you're all making me feel a lot better. Phew! Thanks!!!!