KristyM79

I recommend Izumi for either hibachi or sushi. We ate there for sushi and it was fantastic. My husband and I split 3 sushi rolls (two of them had lobster) and split the Japanese sampler dessert. I will definitely go there again whenever we cruise next. The hibachi dinner looked a lot of fun and people said it was good. That seems to book up fast though as it was always full. For sushi, we didn't make a reservation.

The deck map on the ship show Wonderland as of a couple days ago. I didn't see anything in the Cruise Compass about so I went to check it out. Like another poster said, it's a lounge for Diamond status folks.

Tried for the first time BBC, which is Bailey's, banana liqueur, and colada mix. Delicious. I also love the Champagne Bar and the variety of martinis. I'm a fan of the classic martini, but they have a wide selection of dessert martinis. I tried the Tiramisu martini. What impressed me was that it has real mascarpone cheese, just like the dessert, in it.

It's been years since I've been to Barbados, but I remember enjoying a tour of the caves. That was different than other Caribbean island tours.

Ended my cruise yesterday and did the Essential St. Kitts tour this week. It was through Royal Caribbean and was $59 per person. I loved it. Our driver took us through town pointing out various sites and giving the history around it. We stopped at Brimstone Hill Fortress, which was better than I thought it would be. It's a historical fort with amazing views. We also stopped at Romney Manor which has beautiful gardens and the Caribelle Batik.

There are Zumba classes on sea days on the oasis. As someone who does Zumba at least twice a week, this class was unimpressive. More like mild dance aerobics and fairly easy. You'll be sweating more from the fact that you're outside.

We did the Essential St. Kitts tour through Royal Caribbean. It was excellent. Our driver, Sheldon, provided lots of history on the island, we visited Brimstone Hill Fortress and Romney Manor. I highly recommend this tour.

Just spent the day in St. Kitts today and it was delightful! I felt safe and thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Such a beautiful island.

Thanks for the reassurance. I've traveled quite a bit around the Caribbean as well as other parts of the world. The string of articles were a bit surprising and alarming.

I have booked the Essential St. Kitts excursion and as I google St. Kitts, lots of articles on the increasing amount of violence and crime popped up on my search. I know that 5 years ago tourists on a cruise ship sponsored excusion were robbed at gunpoint on a bus. I don't plan on doing anything besides the excursion and know to be cautious of my surroundings, but all of the articles are making me nervous. Can anyone provide some insight?

We did not eat lunch at Sarafina's, but the pastries were delicious.

From an itinerary standpoint, my favorite was Canada/New England in the fall. As far as ship, Freedom of the Seas.

City tour including Queen's staircase and Fort Fincastle. Lots of people go to the Straw Market for shopping, but I wasn't a fan of it. If you do go, be prepared for aggressive vendors.

It would be great if there were some food oriented shore excursion when docked in Nassau. I've only seen a tour of a chocolate shop. For those that have been there more than once, it would be a nice change of pace to sample guave duff, conch, rice and beans, fresh fish, etc.

Oh, I am so going to make mine with Appleton Estate next time instead of the bacardi gold. I love Appleton Estate rum!

I've tried a few different rums and so far Appleton Estate is my favorite and delicious in rum cake.

I make my own with Jamaican Appleton Estate Rum. Frankly, Tortuga rum cakes aren't as flavorful as mine :D!

Lamanai is a fantastic excursion in Belize to see ruins, but with a 3 year old, I think it would be a long day. I would recommend Chaccoben in Costa Maya to see ruins. It's a shorter day and relatively easy trip.

I thought that the 20% was in the form of an OBC?

I'm not sure if it is in the form of OBC. I'm looking at my Aug. 10, 2014 Cruise Compass now and it says "Today Only- 20% off iin Chop's Steakhoue. Why not take advantage of our special offer of 20% discount, only valid today, on day 1 of your cruies."

Freedom class solariums are open air and do not feature a roof that can be opened or closed.

Well, that explains it! ;)

The discount really isn't highly publicized though. I saw it in the Cruise Compass, but no one really talked about it.

The regular price is $35 per person. On the first night they offer 20% off.

We did STE8 a few weeks ago and loved it. I could have spent more than 90 minutes at the beach because the weather and water were perfect, but this was just the perfect amount of time for my husband. I would have liked to see the plantation ruins, but this still was nice. Trunk Bay is just gorgeous.

I was just on the Freedom and the roof of the solarium was open the whole time.

Nice review. I was on there the week of the 10th and had a lovely time. I'm with you, the pizza does stink. I'm not a pizza snob, but I do like a good slice. This was worse than frozen pizza.

There shouldn't be a problem as even during the week I saw folks in there in shorts.