tugtraveller

Just off the Glory on Saturday and used the Sign & Sail cards - no longer uses quarters. $3 wash, $3 dry, $1.50 for 1-washload of detergent. Note: there are more dryers than washers, so we had to go to a different deck to find an empty washing machine. Pretty painless. Did 2 loads pretty quickly.

You would think you wouldn't need to do laundry on a cruise -- but our clothes got totally soaked going out on those high speed snorkel boats -- they hustle. Plus, the rashguards smell awful after a couple of days in the ocean. It was great to have a selection of nice, clean clothes again!

When I called Carnival with this same question, I was told that excursions are fully refundable only if they are cancelled by midnight prior to cruising.

I think if you wait to do it on board, you will not receive any refund.

tea4ular,

Thanks for that awesome review of your experience in Roatan. We will be there in just 2 weeks, and your tour guide Herbert sounds like one of the best tour guides ever. I am a little jealous, as we have already booked a similar experience, but with a different company. So no possibility of getting Herbert. But your review is making me even more excited for our planned experiences in Roatan. We booked the Zipline, sloth/bird sanctuary, and a snorkel boat trip out to the Barrier Reef thru Victor Bodden Tours on Roatan.

We have also booked the snorkel trip to Rendevous Cay directly from the cruise ship in Belize. Mitsugirly, my favorite cruise critic reviewer raved about the snorkeling there on her last trip report.

Did you do any snorkeling in Cozumel? I am reluctant to book snorkeling there because the reefs are so far offshore.

----Rene

This happens weeks ago... no one was injured. Long thread on it on Scubaboard.

We dove with SandDollar back in May and had zero problems with them, thought the crew was actually very good.

ABQrobin, I posted this information because Carnival and other lines are just this week cancelling scuba excursions in Cozumel with no stated reasons why. We are just 2 weeks away from cruising and scrambling to find a replacement, as are others here on CruiseCritic.

Sorry, but I am not familiar with Scubaboard, and the title of my post states that the passengers were rescued. What concerned me the most about the article was the comment that Sand Dollar retrieved the sunken boat, made repairs, and has put it back in service again.

I would not feel safe booking a scuba excursion for my adult daughter that would put her on that same boat that just sank just a few weeks earlier. Maybe you have a different opinion about this, and that is fine, too.

I was trying to figure out why our Scuba excursion was cancelled in Cozumel, and come to find out --- Sand Dollar Sports who handles a large amount of the scuba & snorkeling excursions for the cruise ships had a dive boat sink earlier this month with 10 passengers on it. They were on ship-sponsored scuba excursions with 4 passengers from the RCCL Navigator of the Seas and 6 passengers from the Celebrity Equinox. I originally heard about it on a recently-posted TripAdvisor review for Sand Dollar Sports while looking for dive shops in Cozumel.

Here's a link to the article in the Miami Herald.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article193830679.html

Two days ago we received an email from Carnival that our daughter's shore excursion (Scuba - 2 tank dive) was cancelled in Cozumel. There were no replacement scuba dives listed under Excursions, so I went to TripAdvisor in search of another dive shop. I knew the Carnival dive excursions had used Sand Dollar Sports Diving because people had mentioned the name of the dive shop in their reviews.

On TripAdvisor I read a very angry review of Sand Dollar Sports by someone who showed up for their scuba diving excursion on January 4th & found out it had been cancelled because one of their dive boats SANK the day before with cruise passengers on it. I was surprised because I had never heard about this. But, come to find out there was an article about it in the Miami Herald:

"Cruise passenger recalls 'shock' as Mexican tour boat filled with water - then, chaos"

www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article193830679.html

Apparently the 10 shore excursion passengers on the sinking dive boat (Jan. 3, 2018) were from the RCCL Navigator of the Seas and Celebrity Equinox. However, Carnival began sending out emails this week that they were cancelling scuba (dive boat) excursions in Cozumel, although no reason was given.

I totally agree with Carnival cancelling all dive boat excursions with Sand Dollar, as the article said that Sand Dollar Sports retrieved the sunken boat, was making repairs, and planning to put it back into service again soon. No thanks - that's not an excursion boat I'd want to be on. I was surprised I had not read anything about it here on Cruise Critic. So that's why I wanted to post this, for others who were wondering why their scuba excursion in Cozumel was cancelled.

Those Starbucks VIA coffee sleeves are truly a godsend when you are travelling. Costco now sells a large box Starbucks VIA coffee for around $9. The sleeves are individually packaged for one cup of coffee.. You can add half a packet to strengthen a weak cup of hot coffee and transform it into a decent cup. Afterwards you can fold the top over and save the remaining half for a 2nd cup or another day.

Or -- if you have access to hot water, you can make yourself a cup of good coffee with it. We have a Nespresso coffee maker at home, and this is the only solution I have found that works for me when we are on the road without easy access to good coffee. The packets are very small and fit in a pocket or purse.

Thanks! We leave in just 20 more days. Getting closer, but ..... not soon enough! haha

Saw this thread that is outdated. I'm leaving Saturday on my cruise and would like current info on Trunk Bay. I've read that the plumbing isn't fixed yet, so no restrooms but they have porta potties. Also, no restaurant. Because of this they've waived the entrance fee to Trunk Bay. My question (well, I have a few): on lockers (as the previous question from a couple of years ago asked but was not answered) is how much for the locker rentals? Are they coin or dollar? Also, regarding snorkel rentals - we'll bring our our mask and snorkel - how much are the vest rentals? I saw a picture someone took of the price sheet, but can't read it. Regarding taxis from Trunk Bay to the ferry - because of the fewer visitors right now, how easy/hard is it to get a taxi back to the ferry? I read somewhere that you make prior arrangements with your taxi driver that took you there. Any and all insights will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.:cool:

SunloverNW -- please come back and post your experience with Trunk Bay, cabs, ferries, etc. when you return from your cruise. We are going in February, and also struggling to get the very latest information. Thanks!

About how much does the taxi to the ferry cost?

FunInTheSun---- thanks, that answers my question.

Sorry, that is an old one. This one is from Feb 2017.

 

How do you indicate quantity for half & half to go with your coffee? If its those tiny little platic pods do you just put the quantity at 6 or 8? Or do they pour into a small creamer-servers, and you request: 1/2 cup?

I would just be tempted to write next to half-and-half: Yes, please.

When are you cruising?

When I go to date and time dot com, it tells me that Grand Cayman is currently on East Coast Time, and is exactly the same as Miami, Florida.

I think Cayman Islands may not do the whole Spring forward/Fall back thing. But right now --- aren't Grand Cayman and Miami both at exactly the same time?

At least on my laptop they currently are.

I am hoping that someone can post the current breakfast menu.

Also, a big THANK YOU to the OP who posted this. I would have never seen it otherwise.

The solution to the B2B repetition is to do it on two different cruise lines. We did a 7 day on X combined with a 6 day on RCI a few years ago and loved it. The only hassle was the pack/unpack and schlepping four bags, but they flew for free on Southwest and luggage express through RCI meant that we only had a small carry on to leave the ship with.

THAT is an excellent idea -- and adds some fresh, new menus and shipboard experiences. We just might try that next time since we have to pack and change cabins anyways. Love it!

Conquest has a 6 day cruise with 4 ports - Half Moon Cay, Nassau, Grand Turk and Amber Cove. I'm looking at this itinerary in April.

Yes, you could get some sun on this itinerary. But Nassau as a port does not have a lot of fans. I have read review after review of people who say they just stay on the ship in Nassau. So, the original poster needs to decide if it's about the sun, the ship, or the itinerary & the ports.

We are doing our first B2B cruise in February on the Carnival Glory. It's normal course is 7 nights in the Western Caribbean (Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, Grand Cayman, then back to Miami). Followed by the 2nd week visiting the Eastern Caribbean (Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk). The B2B makes sense for us because we are retired and coming all the way from California. I am not thrilled about having sea days getting to Miami and back out again. But, since our adult daughter decided to join us for the 1st week and do some scuba diving, it allows her to get back to work after only a 7-day cruise. Win/win.

We got an upgrade offer to go from a mid-ship balcony cabin (deck 6) to a higher deck (8) for $28.

I checked the floorplans and the new cabin (same size, same features) which would be DIRECTLY under the dining room. Plus, we would trade our not-as-queezy midship location, for a cabin **almost** at the very back of the ship --- but of course, not one of those large aft-balcony cabins.

Do I look crazy??? Sorry, Carnival. Email back when you know what a true upgrade looks like. If it's a good offer, I might bite.

If you booked through Carnival just go to the cruise manager, pull up the shore excursions, find the one you want to cancel and there should be a button to cancel it. It's that simple.

 

Alternatively, once on board you can cancel at the excursions desk.

This was very helpful -- Thank you for your post. I called Carnival, and the woman said she couldn't do it. A different company handles the excursions, not Carnival. I need to contact them. Blah. blah, blah.

After I did a search here on Cruise Critic, I found your post and went back online to try again under "my excursions". I did not find an option to "cancel", but for each excursion there was a button to "edit". When I clicked the "edit" button, it then pulled up all the information for the excursion and there was a button for "CANCEL". Problem solved!

The people here on Cruise Critic were more knowledgeable than calling and talking to the cruise line directly!

We are doing a B2B in February and doing a cabin change, also. Sounds like it is easy enough to have the luggage moved from one room to the next. But since Friday, the day before, is a SEA day, I am thinking I might want to actually get off the ship and stretch my legs a bit in Miami.

After they take the B2B-ers off the ship & back on with new Sign & Sail cards can we get off the ship and just treat it like another port day? From what I can tell there is not really much going on shipwise, and I don't think I'll want to spend that day at the pool. Miami is not going to be as warm as the Caribbean.

Maybe catch an Uber for Cuban Coffee in Little Havana, or visit South Beach for a little shopping. Our adult daughter will be cruising with us the 1st week, but not the 2nd, so it would be fun to hang out with her & see a little bit of Miami with her. We would be back on board by about 2pm, at the latest. At least that would make it seem like less of a wasted day.

What a terrible situation to be in -- my heart goes out to you! If it ends up you can't get into San Juan in time for your ship's departure, maybe you could fly to the first cruise port instead. I have read several trip reports where a family member missed the ship departure in Miami, and met the ship at the 1st port stop instead -- Cozumel, St Thomas, whatever. Just a thought.

We have tentatively booked a ship excursion from St Thomas called "St John Catamaran Sail & Snorkel with Open Bar" and it is supposed to go to Trunk Bay. There are no reviews of it since the hurricanes and I am wondering what it is like these days, since it's a fairly expensive excursion.

I booked it because we have heard wonderful things about St. John and this would allow us to get there without having to deal with bad road conditions, or taking the ferry. I don't know how hard or easy it would be to get back & forth to St. John with the limited time we are in port (Carnival Glory: 10am-6pm) if we were to try and do it on our own in February. With fewer tourists right now, I worry that the ferry service might not run as frequently as it did in the past.

Any updated information on this excursion, St. John, or Trunk Bay would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

--- Rene

Internetwhiz--- What app is this? Very cool.

Just pulled out.

We had hope for them to return before we left on December 9th but that isn't happening. Not really looking forward to the replacement ports. We have done them before but St Thomas is my favorite. I guess we will just have to make the best of it.

Fishinjules, so what are your replacement ports? Hopefully you still get 4 ports, not 3. Hopefully not Nassau.

We don't sail until February, so our fingers are crossed that they will have a decent itinerary for us worked out by then. But you never know. It makes it hard to plan your exursions when everything is in flux. But we have gone ahead and booked Carnival excursions for Sailing, Snorkeling to Trunk Bay/St John and a reef snorkel trip for Grand Turk. It sounds like things are up and going okay at Grand Turk. I guess San Juan will just be walking around the historic center & the fort (if open). I think Half Moon Cay was never affected, so hopefully you will have good weather for a beach day there.

Did you check your emails for November 30th for an cabin upgrade from Carnival? I hadn't noticed anything but after reading Cruise Critic I went and checked -- and Carnival had an offer to upgrade our basement ocean view cabin to a Deck 6 balcony for $114 (total). So, even though I had a lot of angst/worry about cruising the Eastern Caribbean--- having our first balcony cabin will make it a much more exciting cruise for us. We are back-to-back with the Western Caribbean itinerary, and no offers were given for that one because that sailing is packed. If you didn't get any good upgrade offers you could always call them and ASK for one, unless of course you are in a deluxe suite, and it doesn't get any better!

Look at Sun Divers in Roatan. I booked with them for November 14th. On their website they offer discover Scuba. Minimum age 10

Mal was great to work with.

Squabbit -- How was your experience with Sun Divers in Roatan? I am looking to do a reef snorkeling trip by boat, and I noticed that Sun Divers offers either a 1 or 2 stop snorkel package. I think you did scuba, but just hoping for information about your experiences with them.

I want to do a boat snorkel trip, but I don't want to be at the same location as the divers. I don't enjoy floating on the surface of the water, trying to look 40 feet down to see the coral and fish. My vision is just not THAT good. I like to be closer to the action. Those kinds of trips are just a total bust for me.

Anyone have any suggestions for reef snorkeling on Roatan for me? We are booked on the cruise excursion to Rendevous Island with snorkeling at the reef when we stop in Belize (thanks Mitsugirly). The offshore snorkeling is usually so much better. Oh yes, and no kids. Just hubby & I for the snorkeling. Our adult daughter is PADI certified and will probably do a 2 tank dive. But it would be nice if we could all hang out at the same beach/facility after we come off the boats.