FirstAnthem

8 hours ago, LeeW said:

There are a ton of loungers everywhere with umbrellas and in the trees if you want more shade.  All are free.  Snorkeling is free if you bring your own equipment.  They will loan you a snorkeling vest for free.  Beach beds and cabanas tend to be out in the sun.  We cancelled our bed on second cruise of B2B when we found out how many nice lounger locations there are.  Cabana prices used to be $250-$400.  Since restart they tend to be $1200 and up for 6 people.  Now you can go to Atlantis for less per person, or a whole day at a theme park.  Get off the ship early, stake out a group of loungers for the day, and buy the water park passes just for those who want them.

Thank you LeeW! I had the impression that loungers in the shade would be impossible to get. We mostly wanted the cabana to have a guaranteed spot for shade and relaxing. But if there are plenty of loungers for everyone if we are up and out early, then this is a definite possibility for us! 

Thank you! That’s an idea I hadn’t thought of! Lots of different ways to do this day….fun stuff to think about and fun decisions to make! 😊

Thank you for thank info! Are there other things on CocoCay that older teen boys might find fun? For instance, are there kayaks, paddle boards, snorkeling that are no charge? I will look this up, I just like to get perspective from people who have been there. Thank you! 

Hi! We will have 6 in our group—my husband and me, our two kids ages 20 and 17, and they will each have a friend with them who are their same ages. We will have a stop at CocoCay and we have never been there before. We’d like to get a cabana of some kind, and my son and his friend will definitely want to do the waterslides, but the rest of us don’t care about the waterslides. Would it be best for us to do a water park cabana so their two tickets are included? However, we were hoping for a less hectic atmosphere for the rest of us, maybe a cabana in another spot. Could the boys easily get to and from the water park from a cabana other than the water park cabanas? And price-wise, are other cabanas that don’t include water park tickets cheaper? Meaning would we save any money getting another cabana and just buying two water park tickets? Any insight appreciated! 

We fly Saturday and cruise out of San Juan on Freedom on Sunday. Our first cruise without the kids! Have a fun week! 

21 minutes ago, 5thgirl said:

 

Day 9 - Monday At Sea

 

Today’s agenda was just onboard activities. Taking a pool break.

 

Sushi Rolling Class - for those who are interested, I recommend you save your appetite for this. The timing is tricky - 10am class that lasts about an hour, so 11am by the time you are done and can eat your creation.We tried to have a little breakfast beforehand to tie us over, but the key is “little” - keep it light. Cost was $35 pp and I felt it was more worth the cost than the cupcake class.

 

All the ingredients are organized on the table for you, and an instructor guides you on how to make 4 different sushi types. It was fun and each person receives a certificate in the end!

 

Finished Product - this is the portion per person

 

DH and DS were going to the 1pm showing of AquaMan in 3D, so DD and I found a few things to do which included spectating at the Belly Flop contest (I always admire the sense of humor each of the contestants bring), Bean bag toss on the Boardwalk, and 2 rounds of Trivia at Schooner (Broadway Musicals and Male Singers). I never win the trivia (maybe one day), but usually come a good 2nd or 3rd place, I feel.

 

We all met up afterward and redeemed our “free” ice cream scoops (comes with the cupcake decorating class) at the Cup and Scoops place at the Boardwalk. 4 scoops, one for each. Tasty.

 

Tonight’s MDR dinner

Here is the feedback I have, and plan to share with RC - most of the dining staff are great, attentive, personable, etc. They do a good job. I have no big complaints ever. However, I feel there is too much pressure on them to obtain a “10” survey rating. During dinner, I would like to relax with my family. Tonight, the dining manager came by and asked how our dinner was going - customary, no surprise, that was fine. BUT he proceeded to ask us what score we would give them on the survey and when we did not immediately say “10” he would not leave us alone to enjoy our dinner until he got down to the bottom of it! Honestly, this bothered me a lot for several reasons 1) Let me enjoy my vacation in peace 2) I’ll provide my feedback via survey when I am ready 3) bugging me about it while I am eating won’t change my opinion 4) RC places too much pressure on staff in this area. 

 

I’ll end by saying I thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience and appreciate the hard working staff, but they really need to ease up on this whole perfect “10’ thing. It's good practice to motivate staff to do well and strive to exceed in customer satisfaction, but sometimes it comes off the wrong way.

Quick question about the sushi class—was all the seafood you used cooked? My son would love to do this, but wouldn’t want to eat raw fish. Thank you! And great review!! 

Did I read that correctly? You’re cruising again in late September? We shove off on September 29 from San Juan on Freedom of the Seas. Our first kid-free cruise! 

I thoroughly enjoyed following along on your extended cruise. We have a son Owen’s age, and he said this cruise would be his dream come true! Safe travels home and all the best to you guys—you seem like a great family! 

The ports and excursions are my favorite parts of a cruise—I love the planning! When we choose we try to choose different types of excursions in every port so we aren’t just doing the same thing in a different place. That being said, snorkeling seems to make its way into many of our excursions. I agree with many comments above—nine times out of ten you will have fun no matter what because you are somewhere new and different. So when you pick something, stick with it and know that next time you cruise to that port you can try something else. Any excursion is fun because no matter what you are getting a taste of that country. 

I second pcur above on the Apple pie dessert. I had it on Adventure. Not the regular Apple pie with raisins in it—that was horrible. I had that awfulness on Oasis.  But the Apple pie that is like a purse, kind of open on the top. I got it every single night, except one night I got the baked Alaska because I love that too, but my husband ordered the Apple pie that night so I could at least have a bite! So so good. For meals I really liked the spaghetti bolognese, chicken Parmesan and the fried fish with jasmine rice. We ordered extra bowls of the rice! Something about it was just so good. So simple but delicious. 

Have a wonderful cruise! Can’t wait to hear all about it. I love your live reviews! 

We went to Good Hope Estate when in Jamaica (Falmouth) and had a great time! We did the river tubing and adventure falls. There are several choices for activities—just look on their website. We did ours through Royal Caribbean so check your cruise planner too for excursions to Good Hope. I think the company that sponsors the excursions is Chukka Caribbean Adventures. 

Oh my, I hope you have a speedy recovery! 

I missed this review way back when you wrote it, believe it or not! I’m so glad you had a successful and fun cruise! And wow, I’m honored to be mentioned in the review, and thrilled that I was helpful in your planning! We have taken another cruise (on Adventure) since our Oasis one, and it was just as wonderful for our GF daughter the second time around! Happy traveling....

Hi all! We are looking at a cruise leaving San Juan for the ABC islands in September 2020 for our 25th anniversary. I noticed that it’s a kids sail free cruise. We don’t mind kids, we have three! But since it’s just us on this cruise and it’s for our anniversary, I was wondering if a kids sail free cruise in late September will really be a time when lots of families will be cruising? I can’t imagine pulling my kids out of school when they’ve just started in September. Having been on a spring break cruise with a billion kids on board, I can only imagine what a kids sail free cruise might be like. But is it like that in September? 

My daughter has celiac disease and needs to eat strictly gluten free. We have been on two Royal Caribbean cruises and both were wonderful experiences for her. We sailed on Oasis and Adventure. We ate in the main dining room and in Giovanni’s. She was treated like a queen and ate the most amazing food! She loved ordering ahead. It made her feel more secure. The Windjammer was able to accommodate her as well, but the food there didn’t knock her socks off. She liked Sorrentos for pizza as well. Didn’t love it, but was happy to be able to be a kid and get pizza like everyone else. I would trust Royal completely. 

Great review! Thank you! We will be on this itinerary and ship in September! 

I hope you come back to the review! I’m really enjoying it, and am interested in it because my daughter has celiac and we will be on this ship and itinerary on September! You do really well reviewing cruises! 

Thank you for this review! Looking forward to the rest. I’m considering this cruise for next summer. 😊

Can’t wait to hear about your day in St Kitts! 

5 minutes ago, Grenouille21 said:

 

Thank you!  If only my next cruise weren't so far away... 😥

My next one is in September—without kids 😱—for my husband’s 50th birthday. I can’t wait! On our two cruises with the kids so far, we immediately realized we needed to take one just the two of us, because the kids were way lazier and much less fun than us! Hahaha 

Great review so far! 😊

Following! I’m enjoying your review! 

Following! We will be on Freedom from San Juan in September, and my daughter has celiac! I remember you also asked some questions in a previous post about our excursion in St Kitts when we cruised in February—curious if you are going on the excursion on your cruise. It’s My Islands Tours by Javin. Looking forward to this review! 

Following. I love your reviews!