maysill88

I'm not sure if this will help you, but I will share our recent experience. We went to St. Maarten on the Grandeur in Dec 2017 and did Mullet Bay and Maho on our own. This was our first time in St. Maarten. Walked to town and found the $2/pp taxi van and had no trouble getting to Mullet Bay even with the recent hurricane damage. There were maybe 8 people total on the beach the whole time we were there. Rented chairs and an umbrella and stayed only a few hours since it started raining. The guy renting the chairs said their food stand was destroyed but they would have some limited food available at lunch time. We didn't stay for that. We then walked to Maho and sat at the Driftwood Bar sheltered from the rain and enjoying yummy drinks. Saw a few planes come and go. We weren't sure where the cheap taxi vans would be for the return trip to Philipsburg (not familiar with the roads there and couldn't remember which road was the main road.... should have just asked), so after walking around a little bit we just found a regular taxi and ended up paying $20 to get back to the ship. All in all, we had a great time even with the rain, and it didn't seem to take very long to get back and forth from Mullet Bay. About 30 minutes each way? We are planning to do the same thing when we return in Nov 2018. I couldn't see paying for an excursion to do this and be confined to a set time schedule.

Edit: I'll add here that we did not have to walk too far to find the first taxi van. Prior to our cruise, I read that we should walk to Back Street to find all of the taxi vans, but we saw one pulling out of Sol Gas Station and he let us get in right there.

1) week of April 2nd 2018. I am wondering, though, if that means 12:00 AM that morning or what... Anyone know?

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2019_2020/2019_2020_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

Never mind... I am completely wrong on this. Looks like this deployment does not include fall 2020.. I am confused.

We've done a land vacation twice so far in Bar Harbor, and each time we went on a whale watch tour with Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company (http://www.barharborwhales.com/). I have nothing but good things to say about them. Highly recommended! Within walking distance of the port!

If you do not decide on a whale watch tour in Bar Harbor, I would recommend as an alternative hopping on the Island Explorer bus at the Village Green to explore Acadia National Park on your own. Hiking trails, overlooks, beaches, etc... very beautiful place. http://www.exploreacadia.com/

Edit: I forgot about kayaking as well! Also within walking distance of the port. We've used http://acadiakayak.com/ twice and loved it! Sorry, I know you did not ask about kayaking and hiking, but I just love Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park and get really excited talking about it. :)

When we were in the same position in October, our purchases that we made with OBC in the Cruise Planner remained (they were not cancelled). However, the next time we logged into the planner, we immediately received a prompt to pay for the outstanding balance with a credit card or to cancel the reservations. It worked out well because we didn't have to rebook anything.

It happens on my LG phone in the Chrome browser.

I enjoyed the "Red Velvet Cake" at the R-Bar on the Grandeur. It wasn't too sweet and had a nice taste of chocolate. (Limoncello, Creme de cacao dark, Creme de cacao white and strawberry puree)

Are those discounts per stateroom or per person?

Hahahaha....this is the SAME cruise we are on. The prices are CRAZY!!!! ....for 12 Days!!!!! Best price we have ever had for a cruise..AND NO AIRFARE!!!!!

Woohoo! Glad you are excited too. Such a better value than a land vacation! :D

It is interesting how often the price can change. We got a price drop on 1/4/18, yesterday, and again this morning for our 11/10/18 sailing. Each time I called I got right through to an agent and they repriced it in minutes! Keep checking!

I bought a 10-drink card on the 12/9/17 sailing on day 5, 12/13/17 (12-night cruise). It was $93.22 including the 18 percent charge.

I will also throw in here that the coffee shop was charging only one punch on the coffee card for any size drink. :)

Can't wait to get on the Grandeur again! Have a great cruise!

What do they charge for the photo package for a 9 day cruise, we are sailing this coming April and would be interested, thank you:cool:

I don’t know if it will be the same for your cruise, but they had the package on sale for $199 on the cruise planner for our 12 night cruise. We purchased it before we got on the ship.

The SPL is a separate area with a bar at the rear, lots of seating, and a stage area. They had the art auctions, karaoke competitions, bingo, etc. in there when we sailed in December. I think the Diamond lounge is also attached to it.

We purchased the photo package for the Grandeur's 12-9-2017 sailing. There were photo ops every evening outside the main dining room on decks 4 and 5, not just on formal nights (several time slots available so you can work it in around the dinner/shows). There seemed to be at least two stations set up, each with a different background. You can get pictures in front of all the backgrounds if you want! You can also get your picture with the captain on the captain's welcome night (I think that's what it was called...). They had the Christmas tree up during our sailing, so we got pictures in front of that as well. They had at least two stations on the pier on port days; photo staff dressed up as dolphins, pirates, etc. Photographers came to our table at the specialty restaurants and the main dining room some nights. We were very pleased with how many pictures we were able to get.

I did see it listed at the higher price of $39 after our $29 booking had been cancelled. I did not rebook it right away, and then at some point it disappeared from the options altogether. Maybe they are not anticipating St. John to be ready for excursions in December.

I just looked again at the available excursions for St. Thomas in the cruise planner, and all of the St. John ones have been removed. :(

Following. We are on the Grandeur sailing 12-9-2017 and initially booked the St John on Your Own excursion, which is no longer available. We ended up choosing the Caribbean Sail to Christmas & Honeymoon Coves instead. I'll try to remember to report back what I see.

There is another way to view excursions. The following website shows the icons for snacks and meals when applicable. Your excursion appears to not include food if I understand this website correctly. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithGallery.do?pagename=shore_excursions_main

I booked the same excursion for my cruise on the Grandeur sailing on December 9th, 2017, and received the same cancellation email this morning. Also paid only $29 originally, and now they want $39.

On Grandeur now. Paid $36.xx including service charge. They do not care what size I get - it is one punch per. I think it is worth the cost.

I will be on the Grandeur in December and purchased the coffee card ahead of time. Your comment gives me hope that I can use the card for frappes and actually save money, as intended!

Available again pre cruise?

Yes. When I did that for an excursion sale, it was available again immediately.

This made me think, has anyone reported what happens when you cancel something bought with pre cruise OBC? Do you get it back somehow?

Refunded back as OBC.

Yes, you can switch to a non-refundable deposit and pay the extra to get the OV stateroom. Note that once you switch to non-refundable, you cannot go back.

Thank you for your reply. If I do that, will all of my cruise planner reservations remain? I booked two excursions, the BOGO dining, and the sushi class. Do they just change your room and everything else stays put?

Does anyone know how the non-refundable deposit option comes into play when you are trying to get a better price on your cruise? I booked a 12/2017 cruise in 10/2016 with the following: $1932 with $200 OBC for a large interior stateroom. If I price it again with this sale, it comes to $1954 with $200 OBC for a large oceanview stateroom, but that is with the non-refundable deposit option. All interiors are sold out. Does that mean I could pay the extra $22 to move to the oceanview? This is my first cruise ever, so I am not sure how this works. Would be nice to have a window though...

I read on another post here that all sizes except for the smallest (tall?) counted as two punches. The person who posted it was not happy with the card purchase.

 

Lisa N.

That is what I was afraid of. Seems like I would break even or sometimes lose money on the grande and venti drinks. Oh well!

I pre-ordered the coffee card because I like iced coffees and frappes. This was a good deal at fifteen specialty coffees for $35 or so plus gratuity. They punch your card, and a large coffee gets you two punches where a regular is one punch.

I am trying to figure out if this card will be worth it for me on my first ever cruise in December. It looks like there are 3 sizes for coffee drinks (tall, grande, venti). Do they take two punches for grande and venti, or just venti?