SailingSal

Thank you so very much - that is so very helpful.

Love St. Croix:D

We have visited St. Croix via Cruise ship 4 or 5 times. We are on a bcb cruise and will be in port on a Monday and again on Easter Sunday.

We have traveled across to Christiansted on the vans that are at the port as we leave the ship. We would prefer to use a taxi this time for the 4 of us - the vans are always packed and the ride in the back gets pretty bumpy:eek:

How much is a round trip by taxi? And we usually have lunch at the pub on the water front in Christiansted that sells their own micro-beer - but last time they had none! Is that usual? We hope to enjoy lunch there and a beer again this time.

Since we are going to be there on Easter Sunday, we thought we would celebrate mass at the church - can we walk from the pier - it does look very close.

Lastly - we have never been to Rainbow beach and were considering taking a taxi there after mass - is this a good idea since it will be a holiday?

Thanks for your help - always love to read your advice:)

St John's, Antigua

 

Basseterre, St Kitts

 

Castries, St Lucia

 

Bridgetown, Barbados

 

Open to the following type of excursions and others...which island above would you do the following in:

 

Zip line

Beach Day

Scenery Tour/hiking

Snorkeling/catamaran

Dolphins,

ATV/quad

 

 

Open to suggestions or opinions

 

Thanks all!

We have done Cosul twice in Saint Lucia - great all day tour and you see EVERYTHING! New vans and great drivers.

I'm leaving on the Adventure of the Seas on Saturday. I just received an e-mail from Royal saying that due to gastrointestinal illness on the current sailing, check-in will be delayed on Saturday while a full sanitizing takes place. Can anyone let me know how things are currently? Just last month I was on an Oceania cruise right after they had a round of Noro and lots of things were cancelled/closed. Also the poor couple I'm going with were on last year's Royal sailing out of Baltimore that was cut short by a day due to Noro and other issues. Guess we don't have much luck right now.

 

Thanks in advance!

2 years ago we left from San Juan and were delayed as you will be as they had to sanitize Brillance due to the virus.

We made sure that we washed our hands all of the time - didn't even touch elevator buttons with our hands. We used elbows everywhere - LOL -

But - we returned healthy. As others have already said, this just happens and everyone needs to try a bit harder to sanitize! Tis the season for the virus everywhere!

I like that price! Do I need to book ahead of time or just go to the terminal in the airport? Also does SAS stand for anything (so I can google them).

We have used SAS several times and booked ahead. We flew into Fort Lauderdale and they picked us up and took us to our Miami hotel as we were sailing out of Miami. Very easy - and they picked us up when we arrived back in Miami from the cruise and took us to the airport. Most affordable and very reliable!

We love staying in Miami downtown - priceline will give you great prices in June. We go 2 nights ahead of time to enjoy Miami and everything is within walking distance or we took the free skybus. The port is a 5 minute cab ride from the hotels. Enjoy!

We have been invited twice to dine with the captain. The first time we met the captain at the "meet the captain" evening and talked. He had a little boy the same age as our children and we talked about how much we miss the children. This was on our 2nd cruise, and the next day we received an invitation to dine with the captain;)

Our second time that we dined with the captain was when we were up-graded from a balcony to the royal suite:eek: I know that this will never happen again in our life-time!

How can it be too smokey when you are in a smoking area?

When I started this thread, I didn't mean for it to be non-smokers against smokers.

I know that casinos are smokey - but I wanted to use my free spins and even that is hard with the smoke. The casino was next to the Schooner Bar on the ship, and we could smell the smoke - it was over-whelming.

The point I was trying to make was it is SMOKEY - PERIOD.

When there were non-smoking nights in the casinos, my husband and I did go.

Could there be better ventilation? Or actually have a small non-smoking casino in another part of the larger ships? It just appears as though the smoke is worse now.

Hi Sal, try going when the Casino first opens and it surely won't be as bad as when it gets more populated with more folks that are smoking.

Thanks - I never thought to do that. I will give that a try.

I do save money when I don't go in ;)

Yes, I know it is a smoking area - and it is what it is.

Please allow me to state that I do NOT like or enjoy cigarette smoke.

I especially find the ship casinos very smoking. I am not really a gambler, but would like to play a roll of quarters on occasion or watch my husband play.

However after our last few trips, i smelled so bad after only 15 minutes in the casinos I left and I don't plan to return.

There have been times when our ship did have a smoke-free evening, but the casinos still smell so bad:eek:

And it always happens that a smoker sits next to me waving their cigarette in my face.

So, is it only me that is bothered by the smoke or are others dissuaded to go into the casinos, too? I was really just wondering?:confused:

Is is safe enough to book airfare leaving San Juan at 12:40 pm. Would we have enough time to get thru customs and get to airport in time to make a 12:40pm flight?

ABSOLUTELY!

We have sailed out of San Juan for the last 7 years and always book the 12:40 flight without any problem. Actually, it is a shame that there isn't an earlier one because we usually get to the airport by 9:30:confused:

And - this flight is often late and over-booked. So, book the 12:40 and just relax.

We leave April 4 on Jewel - praying that there is no problem that will affect future trips! We were on Jewel last spring break and although it does need to be refurbished, I sure don't want a fire to put it out of commission. Will be looking for more info:confused:

I didn't read all of the threads - but we bought our wine near our hotel In San Juan last year, and when we arrived at the port there was a shop right in the terminal that we could have bought the very same wine for about the same price! We will be sailing our of San Juan again in April and plan to just buy our wine at the port:)

This won't help you decide, but we have sailed out of San Juan for the past 6 years and love, love, love all three of your choices. Southern Caribbean ports are beautiful and you won't be disappointed with any of the three choices. BUT - a chance to be in a Grand Suite would be my pick. The amenities are very nice. We do love the Radiance size ships - people seem to be more calm and laid back:D

We were in Martinique last year and took a tour off of the ship. We went on a panoramic coastal drive and spent time at a beach - Pointe Marina. The beach and facilities were dirty and had no chairs or umbrellas to rent. Traffic was terrible. I would not recommend this at all. When we returned to the ship, they gave everyone who complained half of their money back...I have never expected to have money returned after a excursion. Apparently there is always an exception!

This is crazy:eek:

I just went onto the Rock legends web site. They just starting taking reservations today and are already sold out and there is a waiting list:eek:

This is for a cruise that is 15 months away! I guess we will be bumped - now we have to make plans on how we can fit in 2 cruises that are not back-to-back. I guess there are worse head-aches in this life - LOL!

Thank you all for information and help - I really appreciate it.

Looks like it has been chartered as a Rock Legends Cruise. See the following link.

 

http://rocklegendscruise.com/

You are so right! I tried surfing the net for the cruise this morning but didn't find this web site. Thank you for your help - I just didn't realize that a whole ship could be filled for a Rock cruise:rolleyes:. The cost doubled for the same room that we booked! I guess we will see if we are bumped - at least we have time before the sailing date!

Thanks for your replies - we will wait it out. I have checked about an alternate cruise -- -even on another line, but since we planned to get off of Independence of the Seas and get right on Serenade for an 11 day cruise, I can't find anything that works without staying in Fort Lauderdale for a day or 2:( Our major concern was who chartered the cruise - don't tell me it was full! I know that 2 years ago when this happened to Jewel of the Seas after we left the ship, the chartered cruise was a "clothing optional" trip:eek:

Our 1/21/16 sailing disappeared from our saved cruises when I checked our computer yesterday. I looked up the cruise on RC website and it was gone!:confused:

I then called Royal and the first person told me that we are still in the system with our booking number but that prices are too far out to post. I told them that made NO sense since I booked this cruise a month ago and every other sailing for the ship is available that month. Then I was told it was sold out! Really - a year and 3 month from now:rolleyes:? I asked what group booked this ship and was told they could not tell me. So I asked to speak to someone else. We did not want to go with a large group of people we would not feel comfortable with. I was transferred to "Resolution Team" and told the same thing. I explained that we booked Independence so that we could get off it on 1/25 to get right back on Serenade for an 11 day cruise and need to know if we still want to keep this "unknown" reservation on Independence. I was told to call back in 2 weeks to see if they had a better answer that would make me happy! I have never encountered this and searched the web to see if I could find out who booked this for these 4 days! Can anyone help me here?:confused:

Thanks so much!

Just booked our first cruise on RCI - Brilliance of the Seas!!

Myself, husband, and 2 kids ages 9 and 11 at the time we will cruise. :) My parents in their 70s, my mil in her 70s and bil in his late 40s.

It's a 5 day - to Key West, FL and Cozumel, Mexico.

 

Would love to hear anything and everything about the ship and the ports. :) TIA!!!

You are going to LOVE cruising - have been on Brilliance and her sister ships and they are the perfect size for a first cruise. Key West is fun and you can get off and take tours off of the ship. In Cozumel, there are taxis out front for the beach and they will take you for a reasonable price. You may want to book an excursion from the ship. Enjoy - and I bet you will book your next cruise while you are still sailing!;)

Hello,

I am a newbie here and have searched the forums but can't seem to find this specific question. We are sailing out of San Juan in November and flying from Chicago. We don't want to pack two bottles of wine in our checked luggage and were thinking about just buying some in San Juan at a store near the port before we board the ship. We have never been to San Juan so I'm trying to find out if there are stores near the port that sell wine/champagne that we could quickly buy as well as a case of water to bring on board??

We just sailed out of the San Juan Pan American pier in April and you could buy wine right there. You go through the security and it is to your left. We had already bought our wine the night before - but next year we will buy it there. The selection was okay - ;)

Adventure of the Sea and Jewel!:)

We will be sailing on Jewel in April out of San Juan and would like to decide on the time for dinner that night. Ship leaves at 8:30 and we have traveled this itinerary for the past few years and muster is never the same. We find that sometimes we have been rushed through dinner if we sat down after 7:00. Can someone please help me with this?:cool: