BrnBrok

We did this a few years ago at a San Juan stop during a cruise.  The one we went on was the worst tour we have ever had.  Vehicle was larger than a van.  We were there before the xmas holiday and people going to a festival made us skip Old San Juan completely.  Here is a sample of the info we got...We are stopped at a red light...Chicken place is very popular..when asked about a bridge I think called 3 Brothers Bridge we were told yes named after 3 brothers who died.  When asked if we could see the front of the capitol was told no.  Dropped off further from pick up point due to security concerns??? All on this tour went and asked for refund from Royal.  We did get to see a little slice of the ocean in New San Juan and we were told the price of condos as we saw them from the back.  I would be leary of this tour if it the same folks offering it.  Royal could have told us that the festival blocked seeing Old San Juan and had we known then we would have stayed near the ship and watch the parade of boats and maybe walk a bit into the old city from the pier.

If your ship will be docking right in Old San Juan here is my suggestion.  Walk outside of your ship towards the first street you come to.  Either take a cab/van there or go across the street and do the same.  El Morro is an uphill walk and usually the weather is warm to hot.  Tour the fort and look for schedule of ranger activities. Maybe go to the national park site before you travel to see what looks interesting Depending on how tired the kids are you can use the same cab method back down to your pier or you can start to walk down the main streets maybe resting/eating at any number of restaurants.  You want to avoid the area on other side of fort or the old cemetery for I have been told it is not very safe.  Never had any trouble going down the wide grassy area towards the shopping and restaurant area.  You should also make use of tourist map info when leaving the ship.  I have seen the trolleys, but never when I needed to use them.

Just found out that our 8:00 or 8:15 traditional on the Island Princess had been changed to 7:00.  Not happy.  We like to have time to come back to the ship, do some things, and get ready for the evening.  On land we do eat earlier, but somehow later time works better on a cruise.  We will just have to see how it works out.  If it does not work out we might switch on the ship to anytime dining and pick a later time.  Of course we will have to see how this all works out with show and other activities.

We will be sailing in December on a full transit of the Panama Canal. We have the following stops Cabo San Lucas (Mexico),San Juan Del Sur (Nicaragua),Puntarenas (Costa Rica) Fuerte Amador(for Panama City, Panama Canal and Cartagena Columbia. Wondering what shots we need for this cruise?? The 4 of us traveling are all seniors.:)

It has been quite awhile since we visited San Diego. I do recall fondly taking a harbor cruise, riding a ferry, visiting the San Diego Zoo and going to Old Town. When we went to Balboa Park we sort of wandered around and took in an arboretum. Also enjoyed the sunsets and even wandered up to La Jolla. Not sure if walking is possible for all San Diego has to offer. Had some excellent seafood meals, but can't recall the restaurant names. If I was returning I would check out the Midway. Our hotel was right across the street from the cruise pier, but by now it probably has changed hands numbers of times.:)

Thanks for the responses concerning salads at Alfredo's on the Island. So I guess we will just enjoy the pizza.

One more question do they serve salads with the pizza?

Thanks for the quick response. Looking forward to Alfredo's again!

Just wondering if the Island Princess does or does not offer Alfredo's Pizza for Lunch? I thought that it was mentioned as a side offering of an existing restaurant experience. But elsewhere it seems that it is not offered. We experienced the restaurant on the Grand Princess in a separate location. We loved the pizza on that sailing.

Thanks to all for the information about Hideaway show. I will pass the information on to the rest of my group. That is one less thing to reserve a seat for. Good to know that there will be 2 afternoon shows for us to consider.

Thanks that might explain it... well maybe we will try a cruise on Anthem if not available on Harmony

Trying to find out if this show is still being presented on Harmony of The Seas. I found something on internet that mentions it. In following up with Crown and Anchor they gave somewhat conflicting information. One that the only reserved show was the Fine Line. But they did not confirm that any other shown called Hideaway Heist was being delivered on Harmony. Yet elsewhere on the internet I see references to this as a diving swimming show. We did reserve the Fine Line at Aqua Theater. Not sure if that one includes diving swimming or high wire acrobatics.

We have been lucky so far on our only Transatlantic sail the weather was great. We did make use of the balcony during the entire voyage. But weather as you know can be fickle. And as others mentioned the balcony does cost a bit more. Our Transatlantic began first with a Med. trip then to the Azores and finally across the ocean to Ft. Lauderdale. We had lots of sea days and loved them.:)

Have sailed on Grandeur many times. Yes it is an older ship, but sometimes the ease of no travel outweighs the newness of the ship. The itinerary continues to be of interest to me, and the service by the staff still is quite good. Having said all of that I would enjoy sailing on the Radiance Class as my experience on those ships was also really good too. I did not know that this class could fit under the bridges closest to the cruise port, but if the information about fitting under our bridges is correct that would be a nice short term change of pace.

In all my sailings from Baltimore we only ran into embarkation problems once and that was a weather related problem caused by the ship returning from the Caribbean. I can't comment about ease of parking as we use a private company to drop us off. Weather for me does dictate choosing an ocean-view cabin rather than a balcony in cold weather sailings. Of course once in the warm and sunny weather of the islands outside is more agreeable. In all of our sailings around December we only had one really cold cruise. We had cold weather on departure, 25 degrees in Charleston, and to cap it off 39 degrees in Key West...but that all was so far a once in a lifetime experience.

As far as safety goes Baltimore continues to experience crime at a high level, but generally these occur outside of tourist areas. Once has to be careful as you would in any large city. And if you are just coming to the cruise port I have never heard of any problems.

This does seem unfair to the person in the cabin who does not want to have a beverage package. I am assuming that RCCL wants to increase the amount of revenue coming in per cabin. What if someone purposely limits their individual drinking by ordering single drinks? What happens if someone cannot drink alcohol because of the medication that they may take. There may be a limited amount of sharing for packages without ordering let's say two packages, but I doubt that this is the reason for introducing this new approach. I agree with others that RCCL is testing by seeing the reaction on the Harmony. If the approach is something really good for the customer why not introduce it fleet-wide.

Enjoyed both San Juan and Labadee. Yes the time in San Juan is short, but if you get off the ship early you could still do many things. For example take a cab to the Forts and then walk around the shopping area. San Juan is pretty steep so I prefer a downhill walk rather than a walk up the hill. Labadee has always been a great port. I enjoy the beach and have never had a vendor problem. That might happen at the markets on the island. Again I get off early get to the beach with option for food at the food sites or back on the ship.

Does anyone have information either about a planned additional fee for room service. We have sailed on RCCL for special family trips with our last one for 20 of us to celebrate. Our grandkids (a wide range of ages) have always enjoyed using room service as an included benefit. I understand that in the past there has been a charge for service after midnight. But I am upset that this may change. If you have any suggestions for how to influence RCCL to go back to their prior policy.

I am so glad that luggage valet seems to have risen from the ashes. We have used this service several times and were unhappy that it seemed to have gone the way of the dodo. Hopefully those who need the service will now be able to use it throughout the Celebrity fleet.

We are looking at cabin 8181 and 8183 FV category. Has anyone experienced problems like soot, too much sun exposure, room to warm, etc on either of these cabins?

Thanks for the photo's of the corner FV balcony rooms. Wonderful views!

Was looking at the Celebrity Infinity and wondering what an aft FV balcony room would be like going through the canal? Any pluses or minus for our day of travel through the canal. Any issues for the routes of the journey? The ship starts in Fort Lauderdale and ends in San Diego. I believe that it has stops in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala among others.

thanks for the suggestion I will post on Celebrity section for comments

Was looking at the Celebrity Infinity and wondering what an aft FV balcony room would be like going through the canal? Any pluses or minus in this location for the journey?

We have only experienced the Sushi and hot rock part of Izumi. On our next cruise we look forward to the Tepanyaki type experience. We will be going with a nice size family group with grand kids ranging from 13-20. We enjoyed the sushi and for those non-sushi folks found the hot rocks to be fun. And yes the hot rocks are really hot.

Glad to hear that future stops at Coco Cay will have the use of a pier. That makes enjoying the private island a much better experience. Years ago we missed Coco Cay due to the weather for with the high waves tenders were not safe to board. The party was moved back to ship.