S.S.Oceanlover

56 minutes ago, hrmkr said:

Looking at the least expensive pricing, we would do the Horizon on October 6 and the Freedom on Dec 1.

 

Not including air using those dates, the Freedom is about $175 less.

 

We would fly Southwest to either Fort Lauderdale or SJ. Cheapest from BWI.

SW does not have their pricing out for December yet.  I was originally  looking at the Horizon for the same October date and it would only be about $60 more to fly to SJ than FLL.

 

One thing that could jack the air prices up for us going on the Freedom is we would have to leave the day after Thanksgiving and who knows how high the airlines will raise prices for that time.

According to the SW website they will be releasing their schedules for your dates on May 23rd. I recommend checking for the flights you want the morning that bookings open as they only go up from there.

The last time they posted the release dates of bookings they actually released them a week earlier than posted so check often.

Good luck with whatever itinerary you choose.

Bill

2 hours ago, mompells said:

How is the snorkeling at the Holland House Beach?  We have our own equipment. Thanks!

Nothing to see there. Very sandy bottom with no plant life

On 1/10/2019 at 8:20 PM, davekathy said:

My Magic 8 Ball says," don't count on it". The only way that is going to happen is if RC decides to cancel the next cruise.  

I agree with you here. We tried that with Princess a few years back when the previous cruise had a big outbreak.

They wouldn't let us cancel. So we went, didn't board until 10pm due to the extra cleaning which was fine by us.

Unfortunately we never made a port as the ship had another major outbreak and we returned to port after 5 days of a 7 day cruise.

They paid for our airfare home, full refund and a discount on another cruise.

Bill

5 minutes ago, dongordon said:

Bill....

Glad you had a great time at Sandals…….every year on our cruise we go to the Sandals at St. Lucia.

If we can get in, we hope to go to the Sandals at Barbados and Antiqua.

 

We are cruising this year on NCL's Escape in January....14 day cruise out of NYC.  This will be our first time on the Escape.

Don

Don,

Hope you get in and hope you have a great time on the Escape. Getting away for 14 days in the winter would be awesome.

Bill

1 hour ago, dongordon said:

Thank you Bill for the email information.

When are you going and on what ship?

Don

You are very welcome.

We just got back last Saturday and we were on the Jewel of the Seas.

Had a great day at Sandals.🍺

Bill

32 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Yeah, water is the default choice.  Alcoholic beverage choices are added at D+.

OK that worked out then since I'd prefer the water to caffeine. that was the only disappointing thing on our cruise which was the lack of access to the soda machine where they have caffeine free drinks. I like the creme soda with vanilla. Not much of a ginger ale person.

Thanks again Bob

Bill

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Soft drink in the stateroom when you arrive, that used to be selectable on Royal's website, but now must be selected by phone call since the last website improvement.

Thanks wasn't aware of that. We got 2 bottles of water.

I'll have to remember that for the next cruise.

Bill

15 hours ago, Goofyfanatic said:

...we are now emerald...can’t wait for my welcome beverage. 😂

 

now on that we will be diamond by the end of next year I am sure that means they will in fact remove all of the diamond clubs from the ships. 🤣 

 

 

Congrats on moving up!

What welcome beverage would that be?

Bill

that seems like it would be more than suitable.

Heck last week on the Jewel we saw some who had shorts, tees, and flip flops, ball caps etc. on formal night.

Bill

1 hour ago, seacruise9 said:

Hi,

 

I recently cruised aboard the Mariner of the Seas (Dec. 7 - 10, 2018) and don't think that Jamie's Italian was doing very well. Whenever I went to the Windjammer, there was a waiter outside Jamie's Italian trying to encourage people to make reservations.

 

Chuck

Same on Jewel last week. He was there every day of the cruise.

One guy came up to us while eating in the WJ and asked if we would like to book Giovannis for 50% off.

Bill

4 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

Carnival at Crown Bay, are you sure? Carnival usually docks at Havensite

 

 

 

Not sure what you are talking about. My post said we were in Crown Bay. I didn't say there were Carnival ships docked there.

Bill

On 12/6/2018 at 3:58 PM, taranch said:

Regarding the OP's concern about getting back to the ship on time...I was with Cosol Tours last week, along with about 24 other people in 4 vans. Our all on board time was 3:30! Yellowbird, who was in charge of the whole group, made it very clear to all of us...guests and drivers and staff at the food stop...that we would do everything as advertised but we would be moving along quite smartly.  And that's exactly what happened. The only significant time reduction we knew about was the Sugar Beach stop, reduced from one hour to 45 minutes.

We arrived back at the pier at 2:55, allowing some time for shopping if folks were interested.

As mentioned, there is no way these tour operators are going to have their guests miss the all on board call.

Aside from that concern, this was an excellent tour. Everything ran like clockwork. Staff terrific...friendly, knowledgeable, helpful with getting in and out of various vehicles. Their excellentvratings are well-deserved.

 

We just did this tour December 11. It was great. Lots of stops with lots of different things to do and see. One of the best excursions we have done in more than 30 cruises.

We also had yellowbird who was great. Our back onboard time was 4:30pm and he had us back at about 3:45pm.

Bill

On 3/16/2018 at 7:53 AM, BillOh said:

 

 

I would fine tune that and say they aren't servicing them well perhaps. I know for the first time since I've been on a ship with them, I won't be buying that package on my next trip. Part of that is because on Jewel there was only 2 machines in the very back of the Windjammer and when that was closed they turned the machines off.

Just off the Jewel this morning. I was very disappointed with the machines.

On day one both machines were out of order. On day 2 one of the machines was working but only had 4 options for caffeine free. The other machine was out of order all week.

I like to get the drink package so i can get creme soda with vanilla.

The Jewel is a port intensive cruise right now with only 1 sea day and as mentioned by BillOh the Windjammer closes at 9:30pm so you have no access to the machines after that.

Other than that our cruise was great and now i need a vacation to rest up from our vacation.

Bill

7 hours ago, serene56 said:

We are on Carnival Magic come February.    There are 5 ships in port.   3 at the port we are docking.    We are the last to arrive. 

We booked a Magens Bay and Paradise Tram.  Vendor will pick us up at noon.

 

is this a crazy idea-- how crowded will that beach be by the time we arrive?   How easy will it be to get two chairs?

 

 

We were just there yesterday and we only had 2 ships docked in Crown Bay. I don't know how many were docked at Charlotte Amalie but there was no problem getting chairs and the beach is so wide I don't think you'll find it that crowded.

Bill

anybody know CEO Bob Dickinson' email address?

Bill

Tyvm

Bill

Is there a way for somebody to contact the ship if there's an emergency at home?

Bill

this is the 2nd post I've seen in the last week or 2 stating there were no early shows.

I wonder what's going on?

Bill

6 hours ago, reba said:

Thanks for the information.  I will send an e-mail off right away.  I also sent an email to:  www. sandals.com/grande-antigua  -  just an address I picked up off their website.  Hopefully someone will respond.

 

Reba

I had to email 3 times before I got a response but maybe she was off when I emailed or on vacation.

Hopefully she will get right back to you. Unless your cruise is within a couple of weeks they won't give you a definitive answer.

Bill

1 hour ago, reba said:

I just did an online chat with someone concerning the day pass for Sandals Grande Antigua and she informed me to call the day before to book the day pass.  Since we are cruising this can be difficult.  I will try emailing the resort now and see what kind of response I get, if any!

 

Reba

I got my pass booked by using this email:

jcarryl@grp.sandals.com

Good luck

Bill

On 10/20/2018 at 10:58 PM, CruisingSoon88 said:

We have a side by side scheduled next month on the Horizon and the Magic. While we have done a back to back before, this will be our first side by side. I was just wondering if anyone had any nuggets of wisdom that they would like to share from experience. Our current plan is to get a higher luggage tag number and take our time getting off of the ship. Normally we self assist so it will be different not trying to get off the ship early. With no long drive ahead and just a short stroll to the parking lot to rearrange a few things in our luggage, no need to hurry off. Please let me know of any tips for packing or anything else that you may have learned. Thanks in advance!

no tips but just wanted to wish you smooth sailings on your back to back cruises.

Bill

23 hours ago, BrittersC said:

$420, I assume that was for 4 people? Getting in was not easy, bring a copy of the email with you. We were not given a warm welcome, we were kind of made to feel like we were not welcome which I totally get as we were only there for the day. Once you pay cash or credit (they preferred we all paid together on one card or with cash), it was a fabulous day and the staff were great. Traffic was heavy when we were on our way back and it took about 20-25 minutes to get back to the ship. Our all aboard was for 4:30 and we left the resort at 2:30 which gave us time to look through a few shops in port but you could easily stay until 3pm, I don’t like to push it and be rushed. 

Thanks for the reply. Yes it was for 4 people.

I did email them back and they sent me a reservation number. I have the email printed out and with all of our travel docs.

Thanks again

Bill

7 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

5. Took 15 minutes , maybe.

Thank you very much for the quick reply.

I just got a response but all it said was that they have availability for our date and the price of $420 payable when we get there.

Is there anything else I would need ?

TIA

Bill

On 10/17/2018 at 12:35 AM, tinkr2 said:

No, they do not put a deposit and I am sure they take cash. Make sure you have all the details of your day pass worked out before you arrive or you will not get through the gate. We just grabbed a taxi and it was 13 bucks and he came to pick us up at 4.

 

what time did your ship leave the day you were in Antigua?

How long did it take to get back to the ship?

Bill

On 11/8/2018 at 1:02 PM, tinkr2 said:

I went on their site and emailed as many as I could find. I got a response from one. for whatever reason , I can not seem to find the response email.

 

I emailed them about a month ago asking about the day pass but they told me to email again about 2 weeks before our cruise so I did twice to the same email address that replied to me earlier but I haven't gotten any responses.

I am persistent but at some point I have to make a plan B.

Bill