jumbojimbo
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Posts posted by jumbojimbo
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Beach is open! The restaurant is open! The bathrooms are open! Dive shop is open!
We visited Dec 4 on RCI Jewel of the Seas. Taxi ride from Crown Bay was $11PP each way. We weren't sure of phone service so we arraigned with our cab driver to pick us up at 1pm, which he did, he was even early. The restaurant is open and I'm sure someone there could call for taxi even if you don't happen to have phone service. That way your return time could be flexible. We did have phone service (sprint).
Beach is open, clean, it's just as you remember if you've been there before. Most of the sand was even raked. We got there early and there was only 1 other person on the beach. A small family arrived around 11 so we just moved further down the beach.
There are a few chairs out. Just as in the past it's not clear if non-guests can use the chairs, but we did and no one complained. We're pretty sure that if need more you can take from the stacked chairs, they didn't seem locked. The resort is not currently open, there were a few people in rooms, not sure if those are condo owners or relief workers. Worst case you might have to pay a few bucks to rent the chairs, it's worth it if so.
Bathrooms are open and flushing. Clean as always.
Restaurant is open. Food is good. We shared a burger and fries. Burger was a good solid 7 on the mainland scale, 9.5 on the island scale. Fries were a 9/10, really good fries, hot and crisp. Beers are only $5. Overall, cannot recommend the restaurant highly enough.
We snorkeled only on the dock side (left when looking out to sea). Water was a little cloudy, there were the usual fish, etc. We didn't go all the way out around the point. It's decent snorkeling from shore.
It's like the Secret Harbor of the old days, casual, quiet, uncrowded. Go, don't even hesitate.
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We docked at Terminal A on May 10 and I have better instructions for catching the x80 bus from Terminal A. We went out the wrong exit and unnecessarily went across the street searching for the bus stop.
The bus takes about 20-25 minutes and if you take the first bus you can get to the Acropolis ahead of the main crowd. A taxi is faster but the price of the bus is right and it will get you there early enough.
1. Exit the boat and walk thru terminal A.
2. As you exit the terminal doors you are in a covered area. There is a taxi circle to the right, an island straight ahead and a sidewalk to the left along the fence. https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/11312938_1061996420495528_8798892691003171688_o.jpg
3. Go left, follow the sidewalk, hug the left side.
4. After about 50-100 feet you'll come to a car gate, go left thru the gate to exit the covered area and enter the parking lot. Stay left along the fence.
5. Just before you reached that exit, on your right, on the island is a little drink kiosk you can get drinks on your way back to the boat. Beer and soft drinks, maybe chips. Don't pet the dog without asking.
6. Walk thru the parking lot, there may be tour buses lined up. Stay left on the "sidewalk" along the fence. Do not walk thru the middle of the parking lot like the people in the picture, stay left. Did I mention, stay left?
7. At the exit of the parking lot (200 feet?) there is a guard shack with 4-5 dogs. From here you can see the ticket kiosk. The ticket kiosk is not on the main road, it is sort of in the entry to the parking lot.
8. Buy your bus ticket at the kiosk. You can buy on the bus, but the bus driver gets irritated if he has to sell a bunch of tickets. Once on the bus you have to validate your ticket by getting it punched by the machine in the middle of the bus. The picture shows a window in the kiosk, but I think the kiosk is automated, no person.
9. Once your buy your ticket go to the bus stop which is on the main road, the four lane divided road. The bus stop is on THIS side of the street. The bus will come from the right (terminal B) and turn around and pick you up. The bus stop is not "down" from DHL it is across the street from DHL. Actually it is across the street from the Keg n Crew pub, which you should stop at on your way back to the boat if you have time.
10. The bus stop is on the main road, just past where the split is to enter the parking lot on the same side as the terminal. There is a shelter and a bunch of bus related signs. There is a little tiny decal on the bus stop that indicates the x80 bus. In this picture, the harbor and ticket kiosk are on your left, the Keg n Crew is across the street on your right. The bus will come from behind you on the other side of the divided road, turn around and it will be coming from the direction this picture is looking.
11. The bus is really only for cruise people. The bus driver is only looking for cruise people so he will do what he can to pick you up as long as you dress like a tourist and act confused and helpless. The bus runs every "30 minutes".
12. The bus makes no other stops. when it gets to athens it goes up Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias, the street with the arch of Hadrian, you will see this on the right and the bus driver will tell you to calm down, that he will turn around and drop you off at the Acropolis. He's right.
13. The bus will drop you off just past the corner of Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias and Dionisiou Areopagitou. Dionisiou Areopagitou is the road that goes right up to the back entrance of the Acropolis. As you exit the bus, go right 30 feet and if you look left up Dionisiou Areopagitou might see the Acropolis. There is a big brown sign pointing you toward the Acropolis you can see on google street view.
14. Follow Dionisiou Areopagitou up the hill, it is a short walk (0.2 miles?), you can see the Acropolis and you will literally run into the back entrance which is down by the Theatre of Dionysus. You have to jog right slightly when you get to the fence that is around the Acropolis. Pay your money and go in. The back entrance is where the group of people is, behind the bush.
15. To return, the bus picks you up in the same place. Right in front of the fur store next to the Alpha Bank. There is a bus stop with a label, it is literally 30-50 feet down the main street from the corner of Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias and Dionisiou Areopagitou.
16. The buses run every "30 minutes". When we picked the bus up the people waiting complained they had been waiting an hour and saw no bus. They may have been exaggerating, we waited about 5 minutes and the bus arrived. I suggest having enough Euros to take a taxi just in case. It's a 20-25 minute ride so you have to be careful to time it right and not miss the boat.
17. Also note there are no toilets at Temple of Olympian Zeus, so if your plan is to do that last and then ride the bus, find a restroom first.
18. When you get back the bus drops you in the same place. Just go left and hug the fence on your right and you are home. Or, go across the street to the Keg n Crew for a quick beer. A surprisingly nice place with good restrooms.
MARDI GRAS Review 8/21-8/28
in Carnival Cruise Lines
Posted · Edited by jumbojimbo
I was going to create my own thread but I'll just drop my thoughts here from 8/12-8/28 MG. Sorry, a lot of these will sound like complaints, but they are just the memorable things that stand out in memory and may work as lessons learned for you.
- As has been mentioned before, if you want to own a bar choose Brass Magnolia not Fortune Teller or Alchemy. Alchemy and Fortune Teller both get clogged up with barflies who squat in the seats for literally hours at a time. Go see Alexadriia and Atilla in Brass Magnolia if you want attentive bartenders who will know you by the 2nd day.
- I don't understand the point of Alchemy anymore. The concept used to be a custom experience where the mixologist would listen to what you like and whip up something special just for you. Now it's just a short list of complicated drinks that take forever to make. The bar only has about 12-14 seats that turnover only once every 3 hours. We watched one evening and with 20 customers it takes 4-5 bartenders because the drinks take so looong to make. You can't stop by and grab a drink on the way to dinner, between the wait to be served and pour time it takes 15 minutes to get 2 drinks. It makes no sense, you're paying 5 bartenders to cater to 20 people who all have the drink package and aren't adding a dime of revenue. Meanwhile you have 2 bartenders at Redfrog serving 200 customers.
- Fortune Teller is almost as bad. Again, a short menu of very complex gimmick drinks. The chairs do turn over more often so you often can get seats here, but like Alchemy it's generally dominated by "regulars" and getting a drink can take forever. I can't remember if FT carries beer. I know Alchemy does not, they'll sneer and tell you to go to "over there" (Brass Magnolia). Again, it makes no sense, wouldn't you rather give 15 $7 beers to drink package people instead of 15 $12 drinks that take 7 minutes each to make?
- Self Serve soda is available in Pig and Anchor, Guys Burgers and in the Lido Buffet. So nice to get cold fountain soda at will. The instructions are a bit confusing, it says to "scan" your card. And it looks like there is maybe a scanner below that. But what the mean is to tap the "Scan" words with your card just like getting in the room. It will say "Authorizing" in hard to see words and then Bubbles or Cheers and you have about 12 seconds to pour 16 ounces. So be ready with your ice filled cup.
- The new showers are almost a success. Definitely more room with the glass door. I wish the door were frosted to give a little privacy when washing certain bits, but you can't have everything. But the big failure is the water pressure, way too low. Which means you have to practically hug the showerhead pole or use it hand held. In practice it's a big shower now but you can only use 1/3 of it no matter how you try to angle the shower head.
- They really need to do something about the safe. It's too low even for my 5'2" wife, let alone a normal sized person like me. And mounted in a place were no light gets to it. Next time I'm going to bring a small motion light to put in the safe so I can see inside the safe.
- Guys burgers and even Super Chicken were never crowded. Even blue iguana had only 2 people in line at 12:15 on a sea day.
- Deck 8 aft pool is no longer a secret. You can still pretty much get seats any time but in the afternoon the pool is literally wall to wall people. And unfortunately it seems everyone has spent 2 years saving up a lot of words and they are desperate to get those words out of their head and into your ear at a very high volume. The same with the aft pool by the chicken. The "serenity" pool was even worse. With the enclosed walls the noise in the pool is deafening.
- Disappointment by Carnival's lip service to Covid safety. We saw young children running around indoors with no masks continuously. As the only non-vaccinated people on board the boat it should be every crew member's primary responsibility to put masks on children. If Carnival truly cared about Covid safety.
- The door open buttons are a little funky. The small round ones you have to clearly tap with a fingerprint. Not a knuckle, not a fingernail. The larger ones with a hand you can wave your hand in front of.
- The unisex single bathrooms are a mystery. They have a mechanical lock but it doesn't do anything, it doesn't actually lock the door. It's possible that the way you truly LOCK the door from the inside is to wave your hand over the "open/close" button. But there are no instructions and it's not clear since half the time when you do this it simply opens the door. If you have a need to use one of these i suggest using a spotter to protect the door for you from the outside.
- Another weird bathroom, the mens room by Pig and Anchor. The only way in is a hand wave which slowly opens the door and super slowly closes it. But the urinals are completely exposed during this time to any women walking into the ladies. It's a real challenge if you have shy kidneys.
- In the room there are three 110 outlets and 4 USB outlets. Very nice.
- We were happy with morning service only for the room. Ours was done up by 10:30. But my BIL said that their "morning" cleaning was often not done until mid afternoon. If that's going to be an issue I'd mention it to the steward so they can act accordingly.
- We never had a wait for Flamingo or Cucina. Always less than 10 minutes, usually 3 minutes.
- Bacon is always available in the dining rooms even on no bacon days on the buffet. Our lesson learned was to always do dining room if we can, the cold breakfast at the buffet is ok, but not the hot food. For example, the pancakes were literally hockey pucks. I cannot overstate how hard and dry they were. Dining room is always the answer if it's an option. edit: The only sausage available in the buffet is sliced up bratwurst with onions. With onions. For breakfast. On no bacon day your only other option is ham soaking in hot water.
- I can understand the complaints about the decor of the dining rooms. Yup, it's a cafeteria. It doesn't bother us as long as the food is good but I can see how it would rub some people the wrong way.
- The Hub app is pretty good. We never had issues with it not working. I wish you could get to drink menu's easier instead of having to scan a QR code. For me the best part was being able to mark items in the What's Happening for all week ahead of time and easily swap between my schedule and the full schedule in one click. That was nice. Restaurant reservations and map locations works very nicely too.
- Overall a nice boat, great crew. Don't take my observations here as major complaints, just minor things for the most part.