Pellaz

Don't be too sure about that. On the Mardi Gras, the Serenity winds were strong enough to whirl lettuce up and out of the buffet area and over to the Serenity pool. 🙂 The bowls ARE deep, but on a sea-day the winds can be fierce. The bartenders at the Serenity Bar had it worse, though. They'd bring a drink receipt for a guest's signature and <whirl> off it would go into the wild blue yonder. Those poor bartenders need some mini-clipboards or something!

In January, I paid $119 for a one-stop snorkeling excursion by boat in Bimini, through Royal Caribbean directly. In the past, on Carnival, a similar excursion has cost me around $70 in (say) Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Aruba. --Maybe Carnival is raising prices to what other cruise lines routinely charge? It would be a shame...but somewhat understandable with inflation and rising costs. For $119 on Carnival, I've purchased snuba excursions...and in some cases there'd be some money left over afterward.

As others have said, you can avoid that particular route if needed; it's wise to study a map of Labadee in advance so you can know your way around. Cozumel, IMO, isn't TOO bad, but in fairness I AM more used to the Puerta Maya pier and not the International pier. The vendors and shopkeeps don't physically get in your way like they did in Nassau, and the walkways are wide enough. The trick to actually shopping at the port is to wait a while after the ships have docked; the crowds die down a lot and it's easier to browse. I'm still kicking myself for not buying penicillin at the drugstore there. 🙂

It's a close race, IMO, between the vendors at Labadee and the vendors in the former "gauntlet" at Nassau (the ones you HAD to pass by on the way out of the cruise terminal). The Bahamas' Minister of Tourism wondered publicly why cruise passengers held Nassau in such disdain; if he had taken a cruise and arrived there, he'd have understood why in a heartbeat. 🙂 Caveat: I've heard the "New and Improved" cruise center at Nassau has a better design. I'm not a big fan of Nassau but I almost wouldn't mind going there to check out the new place.

Yes, each cruise line has some sort of method for indicating "Snoozin'" or "Cruisin'". --And we usually forgot to change it, or deploy it, or whichever. 🙂

The vendors along the "straw market" path were terrible. I'd heard stories here on CruiseCritic about how pushy and aggressive they could be, but wow. I noticed there were some ship's security officers posted along that stretch during our visit, too.

AND.... There's no chance of being awakened by <taptaptap> "Housekeeping!" in the mornings if we want to sleep in. 🙂 Although "good" stewards seem to know somehow when you're up, when you're away, and when you're sleeping. Aside from a belief that they're actually ninjas, I can't explain it. 🙂

Hmm, I didn't get one either after our cruise on the Freedom in January. That WAS a charter cruise, though; does Royal send out the surveys to people who were on a charter?

First and so far only alpine coaster I've had the chance to ride. I really enjoyed it. Unless things have changed, I don't recommend the water inflatables area for heavier cruisers like myself. On my visit, I wasn't able to climb onto most of the inflatables due to the design of the ladders (you must be able to straight lift your own weight). Well, there's always Grand Turk, which actually DOES have a nice beach right there at the cruise pier. 😄 It is heavily guarded, at that. You won't normally see the armed guards unless you look for them, but they ARE there, AK-47s in hand. There WAS an incident a while back where some locals were protesting...something...about Labadee and trying to blockade the area (with smaller boats). Royal said "okay, fine, we'll just stop visiting there, and you can say 'sayonara' to all those US dollars from ourr cruise passengers." --The protests and blockade ended quickly after that. 😉

Agreed, it certainly is. I wanted to avoid some of the calories in Italian dressing and use oil and vinegar on my salads aboard Freedom, as I do at home. One evening they had the two bottles by the salad bar. Then the next night they didn't; when I asked about them they said they were out by the condiments in the very back of the Windjammer (nowhere near the salad fixin's). But, I somehow survived the ordeal. 🙂 They kept moving the salad bar, too. Sometimes along the side, sometimes a separate "island".... It almost became a game trying to locate it. Maybe because it was a charter? They were also providing a "vegan" island at times....

Hmm, interesting, and I wonder if Royal differs on this from Carnival. On Carnival, the preferred practice is to place your room-service dishware out in the corridor by your door, close to the wall (per John Heald, CCL's spokesman). The reason is that food-service handling is out of the normal purview of stateroom attendants, and there are food-service personnel assigned to removing dishes from the corridors. (In my experience, the timeliness has varied between ships but I HAVE seen crew picking up the dishes.) The crew gets a sizeable discount on wi-fi. That second part is blatant Fake News. As already pointed out, unless they are fired for cause, crew repatriation to and from their home countries is covered by the cruise line, as is room, board and medical services while onboard. Not sure if it's the same on RCI, but if a crew member on Carnival opts to remain in the U.S. and not fly back to their home country between contracts, they receive the difference (i.e., airfare, etc.) in cash. Your huge "Housekeeping and Tipping" thread about math over on the Carnival board hasn't fared too well either, I note.

You may have been fairly lucky. On my Freedom cruise last month the cooler barely felt cold at all inside when I first checked it. That was something I was afraid of; my recent cruises on another line have all featured regular refrigerators. I'm sure all of those have an effect. I propped open the door to the cooler cabinet on my Freedom cruise...and by the third day, my sodas were "acceptably" cold. So in that case, it appeared that the additional ventilation DID make a difference.

Interestingly, this was one of the reasons why my friends opted not to get us a Havana cabana room again on the Horizon (we had one back in October), settling instead for a regular balcony just off Lido. While we loved every aspect of the Havana area (except the soot), my friends mentioned that they liked to see other parts of the ship, and not be so tied to the back and the Havana area. For me, I'd prefer a Havana room again, especially seeing how crowded the Serenity hot-tubs were, but I'll go with the majority. Besides, there are no 3-person Havana rooms available for our sailing.

Again, things may have changed since a few years ago, but I distinctly remember cans of beer -- and specifically Angry Orchard -- available at Pizza Pirate. Since they were then open 24 hours we joked it was technically the last open bar on the ship. 🙂

Yes, you're correct. Andouille sausage. Been a while since we've been on a Conquest class, but Ol' Fashioned BBQ was our go-to on embark day. Great way to avoid Embark Buffet Madness (tm). 🙂

THIS. The Excel class is a game-changer for Carnival. With the exception of their "afterthought" Havana areas, they are significantly better than the Vista class in every other way I can think of, ESPECIALLY for "free"/included dining options.

Well, at least SOME of us do.....

Interesting that some operations, notably hotel and transport, ARE subject to U.S. income tax. BTW, that sounded like a legal pleading or Tax Court argument FROM Carnival, not a ruling by IRS, Chief Counsel or the Tax Court as to Carnival's corporate income taxability. Blech. Enough work-stuff. I come to CruiseCritic to escape that, and think about warm climates and fun cruises. 🙂

Hmm, you've made that abundantly clear. Have you cancelled all your upcoming Carnival cruises (if any) and rescheduled for a different line? Or a few good nights out at Chili's? Oh? You have proof of this? By definition it's not "slave labor" since the employees voluntarily enter into their contracts. Moreover, although they work hard and for long hours, they are paid quite well by the standards of their home countries. AND of course, they receive free room and board, and free medical.

Based on my history with ye olde strawberry in-room treat plates, I'd call out the Liberty. 😮 Every time I've gotten the chocolate-covered strawberries -- from doing the Behind the Fun tour; they're an unofficial perk -- they've been "dressed up" with white and dark chocolate, looking like they were wearing miniature tuxedos, EXCEPT on the Liberty, where they just dumped some chocolate around the strawberries and called it a day. (That whole cruise was an "off" cruise for us dining-wise, including the worst MDR service we've ever had.)

I'll have to wholeheartedly disagree, here. Certainly not ALL of those special touches are gone. Maybe from your own special "Why am I not at Chili's?!" perspective, but certainly not from mine, and not, I think, from the perspective of most users here. And Chili's has been dead to me since they dropped the Awesome Blossom as an appetizer. There. I said it. 😄 Huh, that's odd. I tried the varied offerings from Time Fries on the Mardi Gras and thought they were fine. But, diff'rent strokes....

True. If not, it's a no-go from the get-go.

Oh, I dunno. The Royal board, the Norwegian board....just for starters. Yes, mentions on post-cruise surveys benefit crewpeople a lot, including more time-off in port. I don't like the way some cruise employees have been very upfront about telling us about the survey and how important it is...and by implication, how we should fill it out. OTOH, It's fine (IMO) when they make sure we know what their names are, though, if it's done discreetly. That's intel I'll need when I complete the survey and praise the employees who rose above and beyond.

Wow. That's comparatively short. It was being offered at one time for our charter cruise (two weeks ago), but it was dropped at some point. I'm kinda glad I didn't have the temptation. (By comparison, it's around $100 on Carnival and lasts 3+ hours, and includes photos and swag.)

I'm a Fed and, after the initial "probationary period" expires, it is virtually impossible for us to fire employees except under extenuating circumstances (willful disregard, falsification of hours, etc.) because the union steps in and blocks the action. I work with folks who have NO business collecting a federal paycheck. Oh, well. Our tax dollars at "work." Yep, it happens. A child drowned in the midships pool on a cruise just prior to our boarding, which was (rightly) delayed. Sadly, cruise ships have a morgue onboard for a reason. On my just-finished cruise on the Freedom, the charter organizer told us that a passenger "was on life-support" and we were diverting to sail within the 12-mile limit so they could be taken off by fast rescue boat and back to Miami. (It affected music performances on the pool-deck, which is why we were told.) The ship's medical facility can do a LOT (including, maybe, put someone "on life support"), but there are times when a boat evac or a helicopter evac is necessary. Another argument to ALWAYS purchase trip insurance, even if it just covers medical evac.