purplephenom

Because you're nervous, for Roatan, look at Gumbalina Park- you get a walking tour and get to play with some monkeys and hold some birds- but it is mostly (or all?) cruise passengers. Also, look at the West Bay beaches- they are all resorts, so mostly tourists.  There's a ship excursion that does the Park followed by Tabyana Beach- they're both nice places to visit, and you'll have your fellow cruisers with you. 

For Belize, you really want to get out of the city.  The city doesn't have much in the way of tourism. For at least some of the Carnival excursions to the snorkeling areas, you meet in the cruise port, and are put on a boat- you never go the the city.

For both these ports, I would leave the port area, and do something.  There's a lot to do in both places.  Just read some reviews, decide on your level of comfort, and give it a try. 

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

My DW has the same problem and our solution is to avoid authorized smoking areas. We shouldn't encounter smoke anywhere else.

Yup, this is me, too.  I eventually get sick smelling smoke.  At home, I'll avoid doing things with people who smoke.  On the cruise ships, I'll either quickly hurry through the casino area or try to go around, and definitely avoid smoking areas.

In the situation the OP posted, I'd very likely ignore it for a time or 2- figuring everyone's on vacation, I can leave my cabin.  But, if it went on, I'd eventually choose to say something in hopes of ending it. 

Nothing on drink packages, besides pre-buying.  Shore excursions- sometimes.  If you follow John Heald on facebook, he sometimes (maybe a couple times a year?) has shore excursion codes.  In the past, I think there's been a Black Friday code, and a Cinco de Mayo code- that one was only valid for excursions in Mexico.  

On the Sunshine, I could smell the casino smoke well down the hall on that deck.  It seemed worse on that ship than the Splendor (which I sailed the year before), and the Fascination (which I sailed the year after). 

We did walk quickly thru the casino area- I don't really like taking longer routes, though I understand that's an option.  And when we got to the other end of the deck, we tended to stay there awhile and tried not to go back and forth.

The Ocean Plaza/Red Frog Pub areas were favorites of mine on that ship, and that made it "worth it" to cross through the smokey areas for me.

48 minutes ago, jon46 said:

only reason I go to travel agent. I hear everyone say they will help you. like keeping ahead on price drops. funny mine only goes up. But now I am wondering.

 

You can do mock bookings occasionally to check on price drops.  If it looks like there's a drop but you're not sure, you can just call Carnival and they'll confirm it is a drop before changing your booking.  

If you have a particular room location in mind, just book what you want now, if you're happy with the price.  Better than missing out

3 hours ago, rukkian said:

After doing my training, I will say that having a consistent instructor would be plus as much as possible.  There is also something to be said about doing your cert at home, so you can focus on actually seeing things in the beautiful locations you will be at.  3 of the 4 open water dives are really focused on skills, and not much on sight seeing.

 

Either way you do it, if you are like me, you will be hooked.  Good luck.

Thank you for the tips. What you say definitely makes sense 

If you want to choose what the kids eat (or let them have more choices in what theyre eating), you may be better off taking them to the buffet right as it opens for dinner, getting them food, dropping them off at the kids club right when it opens, and then heading to your own dinner.  This wouldn't work if you have early dining, but should work for anytime/late.

I really wanted to stay away from Margaritaville, so I went to Jack's.  The jerk chicken was good, but I'm not sure I'd eat there again.  I think if I go back, I'll do a snorkel excursion, then just walk over to Jack's for maybe a drink and to play with the dogs for awhile. 

Generally, the further away you go from the ship the less crowded it gets.  But, as the day goes on, if there are 2 or 3 ships in port, it does get crowded even further down the beach.  

Maybe it's because we book late seating,  maybe it's because lately, we've been going to the Southern Caribbean and those cruises are a little pricier than the Western Route (which I also love), so there there aren't as many first time cruisers on them, or maybe it's because we cruise in February when there aren't a lot of families, but people seem to be fairly dressed up even on casual nights.  For men, that seems to be mostly polo/collared shirts and khakis, for women, mostly sundresses.  I've felt under dressed a couple nights when I showed up in black pants and a dressy top. I've definitely seen some people in gym shorts and t-shirts, as well as some people who are in very fancy outfits every night- so the spectrum is covered.  But, generally, people seem to change into something a little nicer for dinner.  

1 hour ago, lensonlife said:

Yes- I saw them offering at Grand Turk for sure and since we walked from the ship to Jacks Shack, it had to of been very near port. Pretty sure I saw it at another port too, but definitely Grand Turk. 

Also, the Grand Turk port area- before you get outside of the fenced in area- has hair braiding as well.  

20 hours ago, K&RCurt said:

 

 

If you have any specific questions, please ask, I will be happy to answer for you.

I have a question- does the kids club staff just get off for this cruise, or are they assigned to other duties?  It's not important, just simple curiosity.  

8 minutes ago, joepeka said:

That's true and I was reminded of it when someone above mentioned that "flip flops" didn't exist when they were young. In fact, in my part of the world back in the day, we called them "go aheads" because it was really, really hard to walk backward while wearing them!  

suddenly, I have the urge to put on some flip flops and try to walk backwards.

I really think the MDR dress code boils down to "please change your clothes before you show up for dinner, don't wear what you wore to the beach."  

I would say don't go down to all cabin floors unless your group has rooms on that floor- there's no reason to be running around the hallways.

Don't overload your plate at the buffet, you can always go back.  So much food is wasted on a cruise, just take what you think you'll eat, they're not running out.

Don't sit on the stairs as a group.  People need to be able to get by.

Pushing all the buttons on the elevator really isn't a fun game, there are much more fun things to do on a cruise. 

Don't go in the pool without a buddy/adult/whatever works for your family- at least for the younger kids.

Don't say you'll be one place, and not be there- a ship isn't a great place to sneak around.  You're too easily found.

Don't break mom and dad's rules- being stuck with mom and dad for the rest of the cruise isn't very fun. 

But honestly, since you're taking the time to ask- I bet you have great kids and you and they will be just fine. 

2 hours ago, young_k92 said:

I'm trying to gear myself up by focusing on the different areas, instead of the whole. I think it's possible my biggest problem is that I hate buffets (I call them "troughs") and crowds. I should probably stick to the MDR. Does anybody know if Guy's or BlueIguana are less "trough"-like or less crowded than lido buffet generally?

Yes they’re less crowded. And blue iguana is more or less made to order. I’d highly suggest those over the buffet. 

I think the buffet is a region/country a day.  So Italian day, Caribbean day, etc.  The actual buffet isn't that long- you can look down and see all the hot foods. There's a separate salad area, and a separate dessert area. 

Social wifi is ok.  We only bought it once.  We were able to check twitter, post individual pics on FB/insta/snapchat.  But when we tried to post pictures of our day (so uploading a bunch at once), we'd start it, go get a late lunch, come back to our cabin and it would still be uploading.  This might have been due to it being right when everyone was getting back on the ship. We won't be buying it again- we're glad we tried it once, but pictures can wait until we're home to be uploaded.  Nice thing was iMessage worked with the social media package.  

1 minute ago, DukeASUGirl said:

When I've taken shore excursions through Carnival, if there is a bus that takes you far away, then they give you the option to return back to just outside the port area or to drop you off downtown. If you choose the latter, then there is a little waiver you can sign on the bus. The only people in the excursions I've been on who have ever chosen to get dropped off back at the port are those who had a second excursion they had to get to.

I do a fair number of excursions thru Carnival (yeah I'm a terrible Cruise Critic poster, i know lol) and I've never had to sign a waiver on the bus.  It's rare I've even had that option to be dropped off downtown, but when I have, there was no waiver involved.  But, I guess every port and every excursion is different- so I'll take back my "you're usually dropped off outside the port" comment. 

3 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

Yes! Continental breakfast just doesn't cut it if you're an early riser and want to eat before getting off the ship for port. Sure, I can wait 30 minutes for breakfast in the buffet or an hour for the MDR, but I don't want to. Why can't we have full breakfast at 6 am? Am I really that much in the minority, especially on days when you can get off the ship at 7:30?

You might be. :-)  I feel i'm cutting it close, getting up to Lido 45 minutes or so before we can get off the ship.  But it never fails, the lines just as I am finishing up breakfast are waaaaay longer than when i first get up there. 

We enjoyed Chankanaab.  We didn't swim with the dolphins or anything, but we got to do a little bit of everything- watch the sea lions, tequilla tasting, swim, snorkel, lay on the beach.  It was our last port day and we were exhausted, so a low key day was nice. 

Book your excursions when you see something you like.  You can always cancel and rebook if something better pops up, or if there's a sale (it's rare but it does happen occasionally).

After the excursion, they'll drop you off just outside the port area, so you're forced to walk through the port shopping.  This is a great time to browse/shop/just wander around.  The stores won't be open as you head out for an early excursion, and they won't be as packed as at the end of the day.  

If you're booking an excursion thru Carnival, you'll have a meeting spot- either on the ship or right off the ship.  You shouldn't have any trouble making the excursion, as long as you aim to get there on time.  Groups which meet on the ship leave together, and groups that meet off the ship- they know about how long it will take to get everyone together.

If you are looking at booking 3rd party excursions, you'll want to check on their cancellation policies.  Also, for those, you'll want to aim to be off the ship as quickly as possible- they're still not going to leave you unless you're REALLY late, but you may not be able to get off as quickly as Carnival excursions

I wish the late night sandwiches would at least rotate a little.  Say have 4 options and 2 available each night.  They're not my favorite thing ever, but if I'm starving at night, they're ok.  But a little variety would be nice to see.  

20 hours ago, rukkian said:

If you are looking at getting OW, you will need more than one port (at least with PADI) as you cannot do 4 training dives in one day.  

Yes that's ultimately my goal.  I was hoping to do 2 dives in Aruba, and possibly 1 each in Bonaire and Curacao (that way if something goes wrong on our Aruba day hopefully we have time to adjust).  But, the person I'm waiting to get certified with is really hesitant about this whole thing, so I'm honestly not sure it'll happen.  I'd do it at home and be certified for our cruises if it were 100% my call.

43 minutes ago, Debbierpof said:

 

Unfortunately, Curacao was only 8 am to 5 pm (back on board by 4:30 pm). Loved Curacao!!! 

 

We had a hearty breakfast in the dining room, grabbed our snorkeling gear and got off the ship around 9:45 am (love time stamp on phone photos). We decided to walk around Willemstad first, took the obligatory photos, and visited shops until about noon. Lovely town -- would have loved to spend more time here.

 

There's a taxi stop right by the Queen Emma bridge (the floating bridge). We had avoided all of the tour buses waiting for cruise passengers at the port -- they were all going to Mambo Beach. Our taxi driver took us to The Dive Bus (towards Mambo Beach). The cost was $20 (I think it may have been less) for the four of us. We had considered diving with them, but at the last minute we decided we would just snorkel. Their outfit is located across the street from the beach, but they were very helpful in giving us direction on where to go. So we crossed the street and went to the landing area next to the Sea Side Terrace restaurant/bar. When facing the ocean, you can see a protected beach that goes all the way to Mambo Beach. To the right, is a small inlet. There's a platform where local kids were jumping off and having a great time. My husband stayed with our belonging while the kids and I went in the water. So it was very windy (shocking) and there were pretty good waves. But once in the water, it felt calm (you just bob). We are all very strong swimmers. We snorkeled the inlet, as well as outside the protected area. We saw a barracuda, one very tiny lionfish, many juvenile fish (parrotfish, grunts, etc.), school of tang fish, many sea anemones, elk coral, sponges, fan corals, puffer fish, wrasse, and much more. A group of shore SCUBA divers went by.... They have also set-up areas along the bottom to grow coral -- which is fantastic!

  

We snorkeled for about 2-3 hours. As we were leaving the beach, a school group arrived (so this is where the locals must go). The water is beautiful. We went back to the dive shop to buy shirts and called our taxi driver to pick us up (her info is below). We were back in Willemstad in 10 minutes and walked across the Queen Emma bridge just before the bridge opened to allow the pilot boat through. A great day!

 

Reference:

http://www.thedivebus.com/

 

Taxi driver: Rignalda Mauris (TX 163), rdmauris@hotmail.com   Her whatsapp number is +59995157521 

Thanks for the info.  I'm looking at the Dive Bus for my 2021 cruise which returns to Curacao.  I have vague plans of getting scuba certified on that cruise, and the port hours are a little better.  Sounds like you had an awesome day.  

The name is slipping my mind, but there is a similar hangover cure in pill form.  I've seen it on Amazon- it's just taken before you start drinking for the night. 

I like the casino lanyard.  I don't always wear it around the ship, I just loop it around my wrist, or just carry it.  Having the lanyard makes it easy to find the Sail and Sign.