lucywestie

Thanks for getting back to me...all the best

Pete

Going on the Rhapsody and it appears they are docking at the military pier right now. Looked at Google Maps but nothing specific jumps out when you type that in. I see the coast guard station on the north side of Key West with what looks like a large mooring facility on the west side of it (where Whiting and Mustin meet).

Is this the pier? If so I read that you have to take a tram from there to the town. Can I assume this is laid on by the cruise line or town and if so where would it drop you off and then...do you pick it up from the same spot (obvious really I know).

Would it actually be the "Navy Mole Pier". So the south west part of the town near Fort Zachary?

Many thanks

Pete

We went with Woodwind last Xmas. They were very good but I wondered if we had done the afternoon tour would the water have been calmer? It was very rough in the morning and the reef they take you to where you "drift snorkel" was very cloudy. Plus they were recovering from storm damage and there was a lot of bare sandy areas.

Still, if you wear glasses etc. try and be aware of your prescription strength as they carried a whole bunch of prescription masks etc. My wife has a strong script and they had an all in one mask and snorkel that was perfect for her without her glasses on.

They also provided shirts to keep the sun off etc. and protect the skin. They were excellent with my wife who is not very good in open water. They guide pretty much led her by hand the whole way as the rest of the group were pretty strong snorkelers. I think we were in the water for about 45 minutes or so. I had an underwater camera but it was pretty lousy in the conditions. They have a professional photographer along who dives with your group and he takes some excellent photos and you can then buy them on a USB drive for about $40. A lot of photos though so they are pretty generous

At Christmas 2016 we rented one of the Clamshell beach shelters. They were about $45 total for the day but very much worth it. They are in a private section of the beach so if you dont have the shelter then you cant use the beach and the life guard etc. was pretty good at checking to make sure people had the appropriate stickers etc. Very quiet area and I think the first stop there was probably only about 3 of the 30 or 40 shelters being used and on the second stop (New Years Day) we were the only couple with a clamshell. Great way to spend the day and very peaceful with the whole beach to ourselves

Hi there T.O Cruiser.

I will look at the roll call and see what the missus thinks! We leave on the 4th as we have another cruise booked out of Tampa with Royal on the 10th. Driving down I-81 with a couple of stops on route.

If memory serves me there are shops just as you get off the ship. Its a pretty simple port though, not a lot of bells and whistles but we felt pretty safe. When we came back from the snorkel trip we wandered west from the ship (left if you are getting off) and there are some bars and then further along there was a craft market set up in a small square. I also noticed that just a bit further west but within walking distance there is a bar called Karel's. If you google map the island, find the cruise dock then look left it will pop up if you zoom in. We noticed it when we did the snorkel tour last year. It extends out into the ocean and looks pretty inviting for a cocktail on Xmas day afternoon!

We are on Jade in December so nice to see your report. For the tour you did in Curacao, did you literally just walk off the ship and find the tour people hanging around the pier?

I know we did similar thing in Aruba last year so hoping this will be the same for Curacao.

Pete

So I have been doing some research and from looking at Tripadvisor there are a reasonable amount of recent negative reviews regarding the turtle farm. Some reports state that the animals are kept in very poor and crowded conditions and that the staff are no help whatsoever.

Others report that its all sunshine, smiles and dancing unicorns.

So just wondering what people on this forum think. Will only be my wife and I (50's) so no kids etc.

Hi there, we are on your cruise (and funnily enough, we live an hour east of you!!)

We have been to Bonaire before (Xmas 2016). Nice little port and not overly developed. Last year we went with a snorkel tour in the morning with Woodwind. You see them highly recommended on here and the reviews are all true. Not very expensive and you get a good experience.

This year we have booked a golf cart through http://www.bonairecruisers.com/

Also highly recommended on both this forum and tripadvisor.

They will be offering rentals on Xmas day.

Hope this helps.

We were in Bonaire last Xmas and will be there this Xmas. Last year we booked Woodwind snorkel tours. Easy 5 minute walk from the ship, just walk down the jetty and turn right and you go through a hotel's garden and Woodwinds office is right at the end. Very easy to find.

The only thing I found with the snorkel cruise is that the water was exceedingly chopping and churned up for our morning snorkel. Not sure if the afternoon tour is different but it might be something to consider. They offer you soft drinks on board plus after the snorkel they fed you, some kind of noodle dish that we turned down.

They have all sorts of equipment that you can use and if you are a bit wary about being in deep or choppy water then their guides are extremely helpful. The guide we had pretty much held on to my wife the whole time apart from when we were in shallower waters. They also have very good prescription masks, my wife has a strong prescription but they had a mask for that.

After the tour we walked back into the town (again, no more than 5 minutes to the ship and then kept walking another 2 minutes to a bar). After the bar we walked to the craft market were there were all kinds of local products on sale plus the local animal shelter had a stall selling beer coosies and the like to raise money.

This coming Xmas we have booked a golf cart through a local company. Excellent recommendations for the company both on here and on Tripadvisor. Its $90 for the day and includes gas etc. You have to put a $100 deposit down on arrival but they don't bill anything in advance. Apparently we just walk off the ship and they will be waiting.

Bonaire is a very pretty and under developed island so it was quite relaxing. Local beer in the bars etc. We are hoping to get to Karels which is just to the left of where the ships dock. Its on a long jetty running out into the water and looks perfect for a few cocktails before heading back on board.

Hope this helps

Just saw on this board that somebody parked with the above company just recently. Did some online googling but mostly its short blurbs about how great they are etc. They are significantly cheaper than the Oceanside garage parking (by about $40) though Oceanside is inside and it appears Parking Doctors are outside and uncovered.

Anybody have some recent experience, apart from the most recent person that posted (no offense to you though, I read your review and its fine but just looking for an "across the board" sort of response!!

As the title says. On sea days will they show a movie in the afternoon in the theatre. On our previous cruises they have always done this.

Thanks for the responses. We will be in Cozumel on Rhapsody of the Seas with RCI so maybe we will be a distance from the town. No worries though. Will see what the day brings when we get there I guess.

We were in Aruba last December. Didnt have anything booked but when we got off the ship, wended our way through the little building with the vendors you will then find you have to walk out through the dock security gates. Just before those gates there is a long line of tourist vendor huts and right at the front was one which I think was called the Aruba Tour Association. Anyway, there was a group of older guys there (my ages, so 40-50) all in matching red polo shirts and nicely dressed. They offered 3 hour tours of the island in air conditioned mini vans. $25 per person and they just require 6 people per vehicle.

Great little tour by a guy who was obviously very proud of his homeland. We went to the lighthouse, the stone formations, found some Cashew trees and he gave a pretty good guided tour. Dropped us off right back at the port area.

I meant to add that at a lot of the places we stopped off there were big coach tour buses with 40 plus people on board. Whereas we were just 6 people so nobody ever delayed getting back onboard and heading out to the next stop. Plus at the lighthouse our driver knew the local vendors and got us coconuts etc. to try the water inside. One of our better unplanned stops....now.dont ask me about doing the same thing in Antigua because that was an absolute nightmare!!

So we just plan on getting off and going for a wander around the port and town area in Cozumel. So whats in the nearby area? Any restaurants, bars, local shops etc?

First time visiting the area

Last December on our Navigator cruise we went with Thenford Grey in St. Kitts. There were supposed to be 10 people on our tour but only 5 of us turned up and we had an air conditioned bus big enough for 25 people to relax in. The driver was new to the company (works a couple of jobs) but was fantastic. Had cold water etc. for us when we got on board. The tour we did took in the Batik factory plus the old English fort. I think it was about 3 hours long and they picked up and dropped off right at the port. Paid for the tour at the end of the tour and not at the beginning as well. Very informative tour, clean tour bus, professional driver and even their customer service via email before and after was great.

TiffanyD.

Yup...I think my brain got a big foggy when working it all out earlier today but I think you are right. I will wait to see what TA says

Yup. But I dont have the drink package on the upgrade. So theoretically I have paid the fees for a drink package that I no longer am getting.

This is purely about the fee's you pay on the drinks package. Waiting to see what my TA says though no doubt I bet somewhere along the line the math is factored so that Im not due anything!!

So nope, I had to pay an additional $450 (just rounded all the figures up here) on top of the original $3300 that I had paid.

So here is the story.

Booked on the Jade sailing December 18th 2017.(booked it in May 2017) We originally booked an inside cabin and along with that we chose the drink package.

Fast forward to a September. We had made final payment and then saw that there were some pretty good prices on balcony cabins, but the price was only good if you just had the cabin with no perks. So we upgraded to a balcony with no perks.

For ease of explanation.

Inside cabin with drink package - approx $3300 (inc. gratuities)

Balcony with drink package - approx $4800 (inc gratuities)

Balcony without drink package - approx $3750

So we had made final payment and that included the fees/gratuties etc. for having the drink package.

So my question is. Because we upgraded and got rid of the package am I not due a refund of those gratuities? I have fired off an email to my TA as I just thought about this 2 minutes ago.

Just wondering what other peoples thoughts are on this.

We cruise out of Tampa on December 10th but are spending 3 nights in Titusville prior to the cruise (so we can visit the space centre and do some shopping in the area, plus we are driving down from Canada)

Google maps shows that its about 2 hours or so from Titusville area to the cruise port. Just wondering if anyone is aware of any issues with traffic backups etc. going around Orlando on a Saturday, suggested driving times versus Googles times or anything else that might help to make the drive easier.

I know that people on my December cruise on Jade were posting on the meet and mingle forum that they bid on balconies (going from an inside) and were getting their upgrades in just a couple of days after making the initial bid. And from they were saying they had put in surprisingly low bids that got them booted up to a balcony. Maybe this will help you

We cruised last December from mid month to the 3rd of January. Hit up ports like Aruba, Bonaire, Antigua and San Juan and......it was scorching!

Beautiful warm weather the whole cruise, no rain, no cloud and I think in San Juan it was around 30c+

Great weather when sitting poolside on sea days and on the balcony as well. Loved it so much we are going back this December as well. Spent the whole trip in shorts and tshirts etc. Might need something warmer for on board when they crank the a/c up inside but everywhere else it wasnt needed.

Hi Drew, thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. I spent about 6 weeks on the Caymans back in 1988 when I was with the UK military and looking forward to returning

Serenade was in 2007 and Navigator just last year

So thinking of taking a taxi from the pier up to the turtle farm so that we can spend a couple of hours or so mooching around. Does anyone know if there are taxi's hanging around outside the farm throughout the day? We wont have a cell phone plan (coming from Canada and prices are nuts) so if we had to call one it would be either a payphone or see if the farm would call.

I sent an email to the farm a week ago but havent heard anything back

Thanks