NovCruisin

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Thanks to everyone who provided helpful responses!

Can I break large bills (USD) onboard?

8 hours ago, I082692 said:

 

OML- Just like a poor poor dog that has to live in your tiny backyard or cooped up in your tiny house and never gets to run wild like its ancestors.  Or maybe your a great owner and walk it around on a leash?  Think of the dolphin as a pet that enjoys making the owner happy by doing tricks to which it is rewarded for..  I am not for animal cruelty in any form but watching these Dolphins play with a ball, ring, whatever and swimming, jumping together when no one is around doesn't strike me as a Dolphin that is feeling sorry for itself.   

I actually don't have a dog because I think it's cruel to chain them up all day while I work. Soooo...yeah...🙄

Just because bored Dolphins may find companionship with the other captive Dolphins and pass time by playing doesn't mean it's not still wrong to keep the captive in the first place. That's a poor argument you have there...

I don't know about you but I definitely wouldn't want someone to lock me in a cage and tell me when and what to do and when to do it...we have something like that for humans, it's called prison and it's a form of punishment! 🤣 But 'sure' tell yourself the animals like being prisoners so you don't have to feel bad.

On 4/26/2019 at 1:36 PM, maldenmusic said:

The dolphins at these types of places are captive dolphins and some are not in the best shape. I think it's so sad to see these intelligent animals used in this way. 

I agree. Doing a true open ocean dolphin swim would be a better way to go. I don't believe any tours offer this in Cozumel. If this is a bucket list item, may I suggest you try to find a vacation destination that offers this. We did one in New Zealand (although it turned into a seal swim because we couldn't find a pod that we were allowed to swim with; there are restrictions for age, species, etc.)

On 4/27/2019 at 4:45 PM, nascarcruiser said:

This was not  the question 

If someone posted on a forum they were looking for advice on how to rob a bank, you wouldn't expect people to make suggestions...you would expect people to try and dissuade them from doing it in the first place because of **insert appropriate reason**. For the OP, the reason being the animals are held against their will and tortured for human amusement. For robbing a bank, obviously that's illegal 😉

4 hours ago, Krisco said:

 

I am sitting under a Palapa right now at Nachi drinking a Bloody Mary. No sea grass today. Costa Maya was bad yesterday however. It’s beautiful.   

WONDERFUL!! Thanks for reporting 🙂

4 hours ago, ihopfar said:

Glad you are enjoying Nachi!  Where did you go in Costa Maya?

We heard pretty much all the beaches in Costa Maya have "bad" seaweed. We debated going to Bacalar (lagoon) but decided against it due to how long it takes to drive there (btw 60-90 mins one way)

1 hour ago, FamCruz2012 said:

No seaweed for us at Nachi last week, and it was a windy/rough day.  🙂

Yay! This is very exciting to hear! Thank you for reporting back on your experience! We will keep our fingers crossed 🤞

16 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

 

No way to tell that far in advance. 

 

Normally east side is more affected BUT we had it bad in December at Nachi. The day was rough and it was obviously just the way the wind and currents were on that particular day but what was disappointing was the length of time they took before they started to clear it.

 

 

I went ahead and booked it; worst case we can hang out at the hot tub/pool area 😄 I will try to remember to come back and report after our trip!

Does anyone have a recent update on the seaweed? Our cruise stops in Cozumel next month (last weekend in May) and I'm debating going to Nachi (I've been twice before) but the last visit was a few years ago and I know all of Mexico has been plagued by seaweed in recent years. Honestly seaweed, especially if they don't clean it for several hours, would ruin my experience.

4 hours ago, Shaded Lady said:

Thank you for the review... the issue about the wine aside, I'm more concerned about the fact that you found the ship 'dirty'. The age of the ship doesn't really impact the things you mentioned (dishes left untouched, slow service) so much as the attitude of the crew. We're cruising on Vista in 4 months and I was originally concerned about the service issues I heard reported, but then the complaints seemed to taper off.

 

So now in this thread I've heard 2 conflicting reports- I guess it's just a hit or miss situation and we'll have to wait to see what happens on our cruise.

Just make sure that if anything goes wrong, you never come back and report it! You'll suddenly become a stuck up 'B' who thinks she is better than everyone while at the same time so cheap she is just looking to get something for free! 🤣

All joking aside, I do wish you well and hope you have a nice cruise. 

4 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Sorry I disagree.

 

We did a swim with dolphins in the Keys many years ago.

 

Just before, there was such an expose about how terrible it was to do this to the dolphins.  Keep them captive and "make" them do these things.

 

Funny thing was, the people writing the article did not actually swim with the dolphins or talk to the company.

 

The point was, yes, there was a fence between the swimming area and the nearby waterway.  But it was to keep the boats out of the swim area.  Below the water were very large holes.  The dolphins could leave at any time.  And did at times.  But most came back.  Sometimes they would bring other dolphins with them to swim and play with the people.  Strangely, the dolphins seemed to make sure that there always several there to swim with the people.  If there were too few, none would leave until others showed up.

 

This place, we just went out into the swim area with the dolphins.  And if they did not want to interact, they did not.   But they wanted to interact.  And were not rewarded to do this.

 

Although, one young male took a liking to one person in our group.  An interspecies SERIOUS liking to him.  😄

 

 

Haha 🤣

On a serious note though, did you actually SEE this hole where the dolphins can come and go? Did you see any dolphins leaving and then coming back? Or was this what the operater told everyone?

Would you mind sharing the name of this company?

If the dolphins are in fact free to come and go as they please, I think this would be a great suggestion to anyone looking to do such a tour.

I hope that this is accurate because I think we can all strive to treat these creators with the respect they deserve and in doing so we can have amazing, natural experiences with them built by trust and admiration for each other!

Thanks! 👍

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No ones guessing.

Sorry, perhaps guessing was the wrong word. I was just trying to say (apparently incorrectly 😋) that they may be able to check once onboard and get a definitive answer prior to hopping into any pool/hot tub.

6 hours ago, Dgshooter said:

Sorry you had such bad experiences.

 

I was on the same cruise. As you said YMMV, my experience was quite different. 

 

My DW and I loved the main dining room for dinner and breakfast. As we had purchaced CHEERS the wait staff made sure our wine glasses were never empty and they would bring two bottles of Pelligrino at a time! And the food, the steaks arrived to the table rare and medium rare as we ordered (the first time that has ever happened on a cruise for me) the lobster was cooked perfectly, juicy and tender not the dry rubber I've experienced in the past.

 

Our room steward was great. Asked us when we wanted to have our room serviced (10 am) and without fail when we came back to the room it was made up with the towel animal of the day on the bed (or hanging from the vent in the instance it was a bat).

 

The only down side for me was the port operation. After parking in the port parking lot, the shuttle driver dropped us off and told us the wrong place to take our luggage. We ended up dragging our luggage through the terminal to the ship. Arrgh!

 

Aside from the rough start we had a great time and I would recommend the Vista.

I am glad you had a nice vacation 👍 just because I had some hiccups I wouldn't want anyone else to not enjoy their trip! That stinks about the shuttle issue; we parked across the street at the Park N Cruise, it was a nice and easy walk across the street from the ship.

3 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

How about a hint about which ship?

Well, I'll jump on the bandwagon and hijack for my ship haha 

What about the Enchantment?

I wonder if you could ask once onboard? It may be easier for the staff to go physically check the chemicals when you're there, as opposed to guessing ahead of time. 

Also to add to @Capt_BJ I would evaluate WHAT you drink too. I prefer beer over liquor so the alcohol package doesn't seem like a good fit with me (I'd have to drink over 8 beers a day, which is doable for some just not me). Whereas if you drink cocktails it might only take around 5 to 'break even'. For my upcoming cruise on the Enchantment out of Galveston in May, the deluxe beverage package is $49pp per day before gratuity.

18 hours ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

The attacks you are experiencing from certain individuals here are just what always happens when anyone dares express their discontent with a negative detail of their cruise.  There is a particular type here that cannot refrain from personal attacks on a "complainer", usually with the aid of ridiculous hyperbole and intentional obfuscation.  One of the tried-and-true standbys of these operators is the introduction of the phrase "ruin your cruise".  So it has always been, so it will always be. 

 

I've taken a 2-year break from CruiseCritic,  just to come back and find out the only thing that's changed is the website format.  The set design of the stage is a little altered, but the actors remain the same. As does the script.🙄

 

Don't let it get to you.  Those of us who don't wear red funnel-shaped blinders and have fully functioning brains with reading comprehension skills can appreciate your balanced review and your perfectly understandable reaction to an unsatisfactory experience.  And I, for one, appreciate you sharing it with us.

I appreciate your response. I think too many have sunk cost fallacy and for that, they will never see the review for what it is...a pro and con accounting of my cruise. At this point I'll leave it to the individual reading to take from it what they may and make their own minds up.

To the last two posters who were offended by my 'ancient' / 'dinosaur' remarks, sorry but not sorry. This woman was well over 70+ and had no idea how handle the 'gizmo' at check in. There are just certain jobs that seem obvious that someone shouldn't do; I have limp noodle arms and I don't try to have a job lifting heavy objects...it is what it is. I'm not offended by this, I just find a job that I am good at...which is pushing paper behind a desk all day 😋

41 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Good points. I question a person who would mark a bottle of wine on a cruise.  It sounds like the OP was looking for trouble or looking to get something for free. 

Nope and nope. Of course you and I don't know each other, so you cannot speak to my character. It is all too easy for you to brush off a legitimate complaint with accusations of nefarious intent but it was most certainly not my intention. 

46 minutes ago, deedle7544 said:

I see this as a "he said she said". Even if they interrogated the lock to see if the cabin had been entered while you were out, that wouldn't prove that the person who entered took a drink.  Also, no way for them to know that the bottle wasn't marked after the fact. 

I completely understand this argument and would agree there is no way for Carnival to truly know if whomever entered my cabin did it. However, that being said, I was disappointed with the way it was handled in that they did not even ATTEMPT to try and investigate. We gave them the date and time (narrowed to less than a 45 min window while we were at the muster drill). We in fact know someone was in our room since our complimentary water bottles were delivered while we were at muster also. So again, while the act is unpalatable in and of itself, it was Carnivals lack of due diligence upon complaint that was the most disappointing.

On 1/23/2019 at 6:36 PM, Hoosiermama said:

It's been several years since we cruised, but for some odd reason we decided 2 weeks ago to book a short cruise and take our adult son and his wife with us.  I narrowed the search down to 2 cruises that would work in our time frame and decided on EOS.   Knowing nothing about the ship, or the itinerary, we booked first and then read about the ship and where we were going. BTW, when we first booked, there were no balcony rooms available online, but I called and was told 2 balcony rooms were just released, so we grabbed them.

 

As soon as we told people about our plans we heard the "Oh my, I would hate to travel right now.  The TSA issues are going to be terrible."  Yes, we didn't think about that!  But, we were going and even the giant snow storm heading our way wasn't going to stop us.

 

We had a great flight, got through TSA with no problems, in fact, everyone was friendlier than normal.  Security was a bit relaxed, but all was good.

 

We stayed at LaQuinta Inn in Cocoa Beach. We had a great ocean front room, perfect weather and plenty to eat within walking distance.  Great stay!

 

Now the ship!  I read how this ship was cut in half and made larger, so I carefully inspected the outside and my husband assured me that doing that kind of a job was entirely possible, so we were ready to board. We got on the ship very quickly.  We arrived right around noon and it was only a matter of minutes to board.  I have to say that the personnel noticed my husband's cane and immediately took us upfront to board.  However there wasn't a huge crowd in the other lines.

 

My first impression was, this is a very pretty ship!  I saw nothing that looked outdated, or needed clean, it was lovely.  We all bought the deluxe beverage package, so we wasted no time and ordered our first drinks.  The bar staff was friendly and service was good.

Of course we were hungry, so next stop, the Windjammer.  It wasn't difficult to find a seat, and we were happy with our food selection.

 

We stayed by the pool until rooms were opened,  and at 1pm, the announcement was made that our cabins were opened.  First impression, the cabin was small!  Smallest we've ever been in, although we usually booked suites.  But, it was just fine for our 3 day cruise, and it became home to us very soon.  We did have one of the older rooms without shower doors, just the curtain, but I didn't mind that at all.  You do have to be careful with where to spray the water, it can get wet outside, but we learned quickly to handle it.

 

We ate at Chops because we were approached so many times to sign up for that, we just went with it.  The food was very good, the service was fast, and we recommend it to anyone.

 

We were tired, so we found some trivia games, met some good people and just hung around visiting other people.  Our kids stayed by the pool for the most part.  Oh, we did the casino quite a bit on this trip too. We slept well, the ship was quiet on the 7th floor, and we happily rested up for the Bahamas.

 

The Bahamas.  I really don't care for the Bahamas stop.  I really thought I would stay on the ship, but our kids wanted to go and my dear husband did too.  Now mind you, he had total knee replacement surgery 4 months earlier and he had a bad, bad, time healing,  He is still limping and the pain has been terrible.  He finally at this time has some pain relief, so he wants to go and do more things after being so sedate.  We spent 90 minutes off the ship.  If you're not doing water activities, or care to tour the town, we had no interest at this time.  It was still too loud, too pushy and not my favorite place, so it was a short stay.  My son was approached 3 times to buy weed, or other stuff. No one bothered us in that way, but we're over 60, so we don't look the part I guess.

 

Again, we played trivia and did the casino, and met more people in the evening.  The next day, the water was too rough to get to Coco Cay, so it was a bonus sea day.  That was fine with us.  We discovered the Solariam and loved it!  The food, the atmosphere and service was really good!  The weather was stormy and windy, so we stayed inside most of the day.  

 

My impressions of this small ship....really liked it!   Our fellow cruisers were great!  I have heard people say 3 day  cruises are all party and rowdy, but that was so far from the truth on this ship.  We are in our 60's and there were many people our age or older.  People dressed very nicely on the formal night, (we didn't choose to eat in dining room that night), and it was just a very pleasant time. There was definitely music onboard, which was pretty good, and people did go to those venues.  We did see the comedian do his show and my husband really liked him.  

 

I will say, if you need assistance, or if you are using a cane,  RC has trained all of their people to help in every case.  We got off the ship quicker, but the lines were long and slow for everyone else, including our kids.  My husband would not have been able to stand in those lines, so if you are offered help, take it!

 

All told, it was a good cruise and I wouldn't hesitate to go on that ship again.  Great staff onboard and plenty for us to do.

 

 

Thank you for your review! If I may ask, if you remember, did they have smoking and non-smoking tables in the casino or was it all smoking?

Deleted; duplicate post.

7 minutes ago, robertlanajean said:

 

Sorry, we went off on a bit of a tangent about the drunk steward and his (imagined) choice in undergarments. I don't think that was aimed at you. 

I do appreciate your review and honest input. I would rather have than than a rose-colored love-fest or an "I knew I would hate it before getting on board. Here's why I was right!" review. The world is full of different perspectives and ideas and there are folks that do things I wouldn't even think to do (like marking the bottle) just as there are things I do that I'm sure others wouldn't consider. Not that I wouldn't  -- just never dawned on me to do that. I'm sure your experience made parts of your trip unpleasant and I applaud you for being able to make the best of it all things considered. By the way, everything I asked was out of sincere curiosity. 🙂

 

My response was not actually directed at you, there were just too many responses to quote everyone 🙂 

I appreciate your fair, balanced response and did not take your questions as anything other than sincere curiosity. Some of the other commenters I cannot say the same for.

On 1/10/2019 at 10:31 AM, PortSideCruzan said:

 

Hi Jstevenson0617 ☺️

 

From an Enchantment Of The Seas 'cruise compass', here are the designated smoking areas. 

 

 

☺️

Thanks for posting this information, I'll be cruising with a companion who is a smoker (and I am not) on the Enchantment in May and now I can just forward her this picture 🙂 

On 1/16/2019 at 4:39 PM, twinsaj said:

Booking a cruise for next May and need to do a short cruise from Galveston.  The only two choices we have is the Enchantment and the Carnival Dream.  Looking for opinions on which would be better.  It is my DH and myself and our Adult Children (mid twenties).  We have cruised on both lines before and enjoyed both.  I will post the same question in the Carnival thread to be fair.

Thanks in advance!  

My preference would be Royal but Carnival may be better for your adult children. I am going on the Enchantment in May (for the first time) and it doesn't appear that there is much to do on board (besides relaxing) 🙂 There may be more "things" to do on Carnival.