Itchy&Scratchy

My friend is refusing to disembark at Cozumel because she had a horrendous experience with the taxi drivers during her last cruise to Cozumel.

Her family wanted to go to a free or reasonably priced beach, and the taxi drivers demanded $240 to take 6 of them to a "free beach which includes beach chairs". She tried to negotiate the price with other drivers, and they were yelling at her and nobody wanted to take them to any beach for less money.

When they got to the beach, it was very bad and the chairs were extra $15 each.

Has anyone else have any bad experiences like that? We were in Cozumel in 2009 with this same friend, and I don't remember any outrageous taxi prices. I do believe that we paid about $20 each way. The beach was underwhelming, but it didn't have rickety chairs for $15.

I am interested in Monkey Bar or Paradise beach. Still in a process of researching.

Could the driver have been asking for 240 Mexican pesos instead of $240? Do they ask for dollars or pesos? I'd think dollars, since most of us are American?

That's one of the main reasons we sit at a table for 2. Unless you really enjoy the conversations around the table each evening, it eliminates so many problems. :)

well, there is going to be 9-10 of us (my family + friend's family) at the table. We cannot isolate my mom just because she eats slowly. :) ;p

We'll simply order dessert long before she is done.

The only problem I have seen when a passenger at our table orders two mains is that the waiter will not go on to the desert course for anyone at the table until that person has finished both entrees.

then we'll be in trouble on our upcoming cruise, since my mom eats at an excruciatingly slow speed.

Got to ask - how many people can eat two entrees? If people are just wanting to try the different options may be it is time for Princess to consider having a taster option made up of all the entrees that day.

you'd be surprised...

We have a very athletic friend that loves cruising. We go together cruising all the time. He'd alone have 4-5 entrees fully consumed, and then finish whatever we didn't finish. He is not obese at all. Very athletic, plays hockey and does yoga.

My hubby, who doesn't usually eat much, can finish off 2 entrees. Plus appetizers. No, he is not obese. He only does it while cruising 1-2 times a year.

I usually order a couple of entrees and several appetizers, but do not eat veggies/garnish/side dishes - I prefer to eat meat only. I may nibble on the side dish if it looks interesting, and if it's really good and worthy, I'll finish it, but that happens very seldom.

My dad can finish several plates at any buffet, not including dessert. Unfortunately, his voracious appetite caused diabetes, so he can no longer enjoy THAT much food. He is obese.

I don't think my mom will be eating more than 1 or maybe 2 entrees at the most. She is not obese.

P.S. I indicated the obesity status because PP mentioned it and said that, perhaps, only the obese people could finish more than 1 entrée. Not true!

never happened to us either. All of us (7 adults and 1 kid) always get multiple entrees.

We are not avid cruisers (only 5 cruises so far, and #6 is coming up on Regal Princess), but we do have a 50/50 experience with Royal Caribbean.

The first 3 cruises were on RC (Liberty, Navigator and Independence). RC offers a lot more things to do on the ship than Princess. You can participate or you can watch many fun activities (rock climbing, ice skating, mini golf, water sports, kiddy pool, etc.).

Princess is geared more towards the adults, just like Celebrity. If your kids are not into the Kid's club and have to go with you everywhere on the ship, there is very little to do on Princess besides sunning or swimming on the pool with kids. Our kid will not stay at the kid's club (stranger anxiety), so he had to trail us everywhere. It rained every sea day on Caribbean Princess. There was nothing to do with kids. At least on Regal my husband took him to the gelato shop, but there was no gelato cafe on Caribbean. Caribbean Princess' photos were deceiving, because they showed a great looking kid playground/jungle gym, but when we arrived, we discovered that it was in the room for kids 8-12 years of age, and my then 5 year old was not allowed in. Now, I must mention that kids 8-12 years old are NOT interested in this playground at all. Caribbean Princess crew should really rethink this arrangement.

You have to pay-per-view for movies and cartoons on RC. Regal offered a variety of movies and cartoons for free, on demand, and plenty of them were dubbed in other languages. Caribbean Princess didn't offer the same - their TV programming was set.

From 2009 to 2012 RCCL menu didn't change at all. They offered the same dishes on all three ships (MDR and buffet). We got tired of it, and that's when we tried Princess. Our first cruise with Princess was on Regal. We loved the food and the Chocolate Journey. MDR dishes were simply great, but the buffet on Regal blew me away. It was fantastic. I am looking forward to exploring it again this November.

So, naturally I thought it was going to be the same on Caribbean Princess, and no, it wasn't. MDR dishes were slightly different from Regal, but great nevertheless, but the buffet was small and underwhelming. We didn't go hungry by any means, but both my husband and I were disappointed. Oh, and I must mention that the kid's menu food in MDR was subpar. My son is a good eater, but the kid dishes were simply inedible (I tried them after the kid complained and I concur). Eventually, he would just eat something at the buffet beforehand, and have a fruit salad and ice cream at MDR.

We didn't have this problem on Regal. Also, Regal offers MDR menus in a variety of foreign languages, which is a huge plus.

For our second cruise with Princess, we chose Caribbean Princess only because of the destinations on that sailing. Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire were fantastic, and we are very happy with our choice. The ship itself was a bit tired and dirty, and I had to wipe the entire cabin with Lysol wipes. It was a dirty cabin and especially bathroom.

Regal was grand and clean. However, I was a bit disappointed in the layout of the ship. On RC ships there was one long promenade with shops and cafes, perfect for strolling, eating and looking in stores. On Princess ships the Promenade is split between 3 levels with stairs between all of them. A little inconvenient if you are traveling with people with limited mobility.

So, basically, if you are looking for great food but don't care about activities with kids, go with Princess. If you are looking for kid-friendly activities and are ok with good food, go with Royal Caribbean.

Oh, one more thing. RCCL has been pretty bad about pricing in the last few years. It's very expensive, and the 3rd/4th passengers are even more expensive than the first 2. All three times on Princess our kid has travelled for $99+ tax, and the 1-2nd passenger prices have been very enticing when you catch a great sale.

P.S. Forgot to say - we had the most uncomfortable twin beds on Regal. Rather painful to sleep on for both me and hubby (we are in very early 40s). Caribbean had OK twin beds. RCCL had average beds - neither super comfortable, no super uncomfortable.

P. P. S. Our friends cruise a lot, and they tried different cruise lines. They love Regal Princess the best. The food is the greatest, kids love Kid's club, comfortable, grand, clean, etc. Oh, and their most favorite thing by far? Chocolate Journey. They are really-really into food quality.

Except for the water slides on the Harmony Of The Seas the ships are basically the same. The Allure Of The Seas is a wonderful ship and that would definitely be my choice for a first time family cruise.

my friends who are not first time cruisers actually hated the Allure. Long lines for buffet (about an hour to get in), huge crowds, charges for movies and cartoons for kids, etc., all of these were just a bit disappointing. She also complained about food compared to Regal/Royal Princess.

we brought our car seat for the kiddo, and I didn't want to entrust a $300 seat to just anyone. The luggage handlers on Caribbean Princess broke our suitcase twice, so I don't trust them with a car seat whose safety may be compromised. We brought it onboard ourselves and stashed it in the closet.

You will definitely need a stroller for your toddler before the luggage handlers bring it to you later in the evening, so keep it with you.

MUST have water shoes! We didn't know a year ago, so I had multiple cuts to my feet from very sharp rocks both on the beach and in the water, and my kid sliced his foot pretty badly. This year all of us are wearng water shoes!

DH is a measly 6'1, so he didn't have any problems. We had a queen on Royal Carribbean, and always twin setup on Princess (Regal and Caribbean). I found the beds to be very uncomfortable, but they were long enough to accommodate a 6'1 person.

on our very first cruise I totally blanked out and didn't bring rubber flip-flops for beach/pool/upper decks. I don't know what I was thinking. I had to wear my dressy shoes to the pool (they were ruined) and sneakers to the beach and tubing (they were ruined as well). Hubs forgot his toothbrush.

Now that we are older and travel with a kid, we also have to pack up our entire pharmacy...

If you are going to Princess Cay, water shoes are a must...

Battery operated nightlight is great for the bathrooms on any cruiselines and inside Royal Caribbean rooms (we found no usable outlets), and plug-in nightlights for inside rooms are fine for Regal and Caribbean Princess.

We don't bring ducktape or magnets. No use for those.

It's better to have SPF lotion in bottles instead of sprays for ship use. OK to use sprays on shore. Too windy for sprays on the ship (and you can't spray inside unless you want to inhale that stuff).

Make sure sun hats are snug, or they'll fly away on the ship.

We also bring Lysol wipes and wipe down our seats on the plane (plus window and folding trays), and the entire room on the cruise. They were very useful.

on our very first cruise we thought we had to dress up big time for formal nights. We ordered a tux for hubby and I wore a little black dress. Ha-ha. Not anymore. He wears slacks and a buttoned-up shirt for formal nights and I wear slacks and a nice smart-casual top. For smart casual - nice top and jeans. For casual - jeans and t-shirts.

The FLL airport is right beside Port Everglades. A taxi ride will take maybe 10 - 15 minutes depending on the traffic and will cost around $10 or so. .

We've always cruise from Port Everglades (since 2009) and we always fly to FLL. The taxi ride has never been $10. Last year it was just over $20 from Spirit arrivals, plus tip. 3 passengers. Before that we flew Delta and the taxi ride has gradually increased from $15 in 2009 to $20.

If you are in the US, Publix stores and their entire chain offer Metformin for free with prescription. Other than that, it's much safer to buy it at Walmart for $4/month than to trust unknown Mexican pharmacies.

keep in mind that if the taxis are not American cars with locking seat belts or latch, you will need locking clips or built-in lock-offs to install your car seats securely. You will also need to store the seats at your destination somewhere.

Easy to install seats are Britax clicktight seats and Evenflo Maestro which is a great light forward facing seat which doesn't usually have installation quirks. However, Britax seats are big and heavy and not extremely travel-in-foreign-countries friendly. You can also check the Traveling with Children board on http://www.babycenter.com for more tips.

Cosco Finale is the new seat that is only $44 and also travel friendly. It may or may not have installation quirks, too soon to tell.

Pirate Bay beach was tiny and underwhelming. It wasn't very crowded, probably, because it's not all that nice or pretty.

We were there last year and loved it! Lac Bay at Sorobon Beach.

The resort was on the other side of the beach the taxi delivered us to. The non-resort beach was nothing special and very small with little shade. However, the bay itself made up for everything! We stayed in the water for hours, but saw no fish whatsoever. I hear that you need to go to Klein to snorkel.

I specifically registered to comment on this thread.... Water shoes are a MUST! It's been 2 years since we'd gone to Princess Cay and I am still bitter. I had no idea about the super sharp rocks in the water and on the beach. My feet got small cuts all over on hidden rocks, but what's worse is that my 4 year old kid's foot got sliced on a rock and it was pretty bad.

Princess Cay was the first day stop, and with the sliced food he refused to get into any water be it the ocean, pool or shower for the rest of the cruise.

Princess Cay was the only destination that I've seen so far that provided free bandaids to cruisers on the beach. I am, however, glad we brought our own super-heavy duty giant water proof bandages because we had to seal off my kid's wound. It wasn't sliced deeply, but rather a piece was sliced off of a foot, so stitches were not possible.

So, come November, our entire family will be wearing water shoes!

Must wear water shoes!!!!!!! The sharp rocks on the beach and in the water cut my feet, and sliced my 4 year old kid's foot open. It was pretty bad.