bozman2112

1 hour ago, TourDeCruise said:

 

Did you see any interesting excursions for Bimini? History related? All-inclusive beach? A great house or botanical garden? Hiking?

 

We are still waiting to see Bimini excursions for our Equinox cruise in a few weeks on January 21st. The port changed from Grand Cayman to Jamaica and is now Bimini as of early December.

For now it's only a beach day. I hope they are able to add more as we get closer to our sail date.

This happened on our 3/12 Reflection cruise as well and it took about a month before anything was added for the new port (Bimini). With all of the changes between what ports and countries will allow cruise ships and I am sure tour operators are dealing with, it could take some time. Just keep checking the website.

I noticed last night they had changed our March 12th sailing on Reflection.  Nothing was added yet for excursions through Celebrity but I checked what they offer through the excursions link on the left side of their website.  Not much listed but my TA's site had nothing listed. 

Just wanted to put this out there for anyone having difficulty seeing discounts. For our Reflection cruise March 12th the cruise planner really had no new discount banners. However, the prices were adjusted reflecting the discount. So knowing an excursion we were looking at was 94 PP before and saw it today for 65.99 PP.

We almost had the same decision. Only we were looking at Western Caribbean. That said, we will do the Apex in the future we decided on Reflection. Price was much better and with the Pandemic we were not sure if everything would work out  such as ports of call, or what changes would be made to the cruising experience. We did take advantage of the great pricing to up our category.  Just my two cents.

Not much I can add to what I have already seen posted but we were on in October out of Barcelona and had a wonderful experience. The Itinerary is so port intensive you won't really have enough time to not enjoy the ship. If given the opportunity I would do it all again.  

We were in Haven on Epic out of Barcelona in October and for whatever reason, our experience was perfect. Maybe it was because the terminal was not super busy yet. Security was for everyone but then we were led right to private check in. Whisked to a private room where we were offered snacks. Stayed there for 30 seconds or so the led onto ship, and into Haven. Handed to our Butler who then proceeded to give us a tour of the Haven complex.

Just Off Epic Yesterday. So...NCL had canceled all the shore excursions in Barcelona yesterday out of an abundance of caution. We had no issues getting from the ship to the airport or flying home on time. It seems that most of the protests are happening in the evening. Of course things can change in these situations but our experience was fine.

For what it's worth. We booked air through NCL and they put us on a 12:10 out of BCN.

Not sure if they will have the same menu but we did the tour on The Anthem 03/25. The Tour itself was both fun and interesting and we enjoyed it. Our tour started with Champagne and Mimosas. We sat at our table and ordered first. From what I remember the appetizers were all standard fare from MDR daily menu. The main course choices were French Toast, Eggs Benedict on English Muffin, Steak, Linguine with Shrimp and possibly one other option that I forgot. I had the french toast and while it was good, it wasn't enough for a brunch. Dessert was also standard MDR fare. After ordering they took us in groups of 12 or so on the tour. I will try to attach a couple of pictures. Anyway, overall, I thought it was a worthwhile experience.

Bob

Having problems with the pics. Probably too big.

First about us - Myself and the Mrs. live about 45 minutes from Cape Liberty, no children. Sorry, I am not going to be able to assist with information for them. My 6th cruise and her 7th. We had the My Time Dining.

The disclaimer, all opinions are mine and I am far from a professional writing reviews.

Embarkation- Probably best boarding experience I have ever had. Left home at 9:10 March 19th and we were on-board by 10:30. The entire boarding process was seamless. Just have your Set Sail Pass printed with Documentation ready. If you purchased a beverage Pkg in advance, your Set Sail Pass will act as the Seapass card until the rooms are available (Around 1 PM).

Food & Dining- As mentioned earlier, we had MTD. I had made reservations in advance (so we ate in American Icon) for Nights 1,3 and 4 not knowing how the week would unfold. Once we figured out what we wanted to do I found using the Royal IQ App extremely easy to use to make the reservations. However, the later you book, the later you'll get reservations for. So the earliest we could get reservations for booking on the App was 8:45. The line for those without reservations was generally pretty long but did look like it moved fairly quickly. Not being a food critic I will say only this, Food was good, not 5 star but Good. There wasn't a night that I couldn't find something I enjoyed...and I am fussy. Now for the Shout out to Our team at American Icon. Ruth and Lukman. May have been the Best Waiter and Asst we have ever had. So to them..Thank you.

As far as the food on the rest of the ship, Windjammer does offer a decent selection but it does get crowded. A really nice option for Breakfast and lunch is Cafe 270. A must try in my opinion. And because I have seen this question asked more than once in other posts, the Formal nights are day 2 and 6.

Entertainment- Really enjoyed all the entertainment. We had made reservations for all the shows on cruise planner in advance and I do highly recommend it. However, here was the one fail on the ship. Each of the big three shows were "Paused" during the performance with technical issues and in fact they had to stop "We Will Rock You" entirely at about 3/4 of the show. "The Gift" was about a 5 minute "pause" and "Spectra's Caberet" was also at least a 5 minute "Pause". Being married to a huge Queen fan, we had to see the end of "WWRY" and we were able to, but if this had happened at the last performance... Well I don't know. Other Highlights for me was Led Zepagain, Really good tribute band. As far as the comedy, we got to see three great comics (Carl Banks, Michele Balan and Troy Thirdgill). All comedy shows were held in the Royal Theater with no reservations required.

General Observations- Ship is Beautiful, and big. So, while most of the day is fine, elevators do get backed up after a show lets out or at traditional mealtimes. The Royal Esplande on deck 4 does get crowded at "sale" times. Chair hogs are not extinct, although we spent most of our pool time in the Solarium which was really enjoyable even leaving Bayonne in 30 degree weather. The covered pool also seemed like it would be fine on a cooler day. CD Dru was Amazing as well as AD Kevin.

Other Observations or answers to questions I have seen multiple times on various threads. Freestyle Machines are in Sorrento's (2), Windjammer (1) and Seaplex hot dog station (1).

If you can Book an excursion early to Coco Cay, it gets you a priority tender. I had seen posts about folks not getting on tender until much later than they had wanted. We booked the all day snorkel and they gave us a priority tender ticket. I must say it was nice being on tender 1 and getting our pick of spots.

Make reservations for everything you want to do. First it will assure your spot but more importantly if let's say Northstar gets canceled early and you have reservation at a time they are running, you're in, no worries. Overall we did see many people do things without reservations but I like to comfort of the "Guarantee".

Do the Escape room. Very Limited space but so much fun. Beat our time..40 Minutes.

Meet and Mingle was on Day 2 at 10 a.m.

Hope this helped someone,

Bob

I wouldn't worry about the "Negative Reviews". Just got off this morning and had a great time. Sure there were a few hiccups, but nothing serious. I hope to post a little bit of a review sometime this week but for now, back to the reality of being away for a week.

Bob

Just booked a Coba tour last week for June. What I know is that our ship is in port for 11 hours and we will not have time to see a beach. We get into port at 8:00 AM and Leave for Coba at 8:30. The Schedule has us getting back to the ship at 5:00.

Bob

They Do. It's called the Royal Refreshment Pkg. on the RCI website.

Bob

We are Sailing Allure on June 15'th and are experiencing the same issue as you are. Thank you for contacting customer service because I had sent an email last week to which I have yet to get a reply. So at least now I know.

Bob

While it has been along time since I have been on the boards since we just booked Allure I had to have a look.

Anyway, we were in 1694 about 10 years ago. Loved it. Best Balcony by far. these pictures are simple but will give you an idea.

Bob