How'sBartCruisin'?

Just arrived home, so I'm back with a bit more! While it's fresh in my mind, let me rave about debarkation...

 

I have never been off a ship so quickly in all of my life. We chose to self-carry, which started at 6:30. At about 6:25, we walked down the hall to the elevator. About thirty seconds later, a lovely empty elevator arrived, and we were in line on deck 5 before 6:30. We waited about ninety seconds for the line to start moving, and walked through the gangway and terminal to the customs line. Never waited. After that, we paid our parking ticket, and took an elevator up to the third floor of the parking deck. I had had anxiety about all of the possibilities for backups this morning, but we were on the road 6:45 and I'm typing this from the comfort of my own couch shortly after 9 am. One thing that was undeniable on this cruise: RCCL runs an efficient ship.

 

Ports: This cruise was supposed to go to Port Canaveral, CocoCay, and Nassau. We had excursions booked for the latter two, but nothing stood out to us in Port Canaveral, so my boyfriend suggested that we just wing it (I am definitely the planner, while he prefers to figure things out as they come). I really wish that we had planned something prior for Port Canaveral, because aside from Kennedy Space Center or Disney, there isn't too much to do. We ended up grabbing an uber to Cocoa Beach Pier (readily available right outside the terminal) and hung out there for a bit. The beach is lovely, but it was a cooler day (about 70), and there's not a lot to see on the pier. I was expecting something more along the lines of the Hampton Beach boardwalk (while not the nicest place, still offers lots to see!), but really there were a couple of shops and restaurants. We headed back to the ship around 3 and enjoyed the extra space (and prepaid drinks!) onboard.

 

CocoCay, unsurprisingly, was cancelled due to wind. The announcement was made at about 8:30am, and the captain said that he had increased speed to get us to Nassau around 12:30pm. This way, we'd have all afternoon on Tuesday in Nassau, and the entirety of Wednesday. Let me tell you, people were salty about this. All day, and for days to come, the chatter around the ship was all about how we'd missed CocoCay. Let me take a minute to share my thoughts on this: what possible reason would Royal Caribbean have for deliberately skipping CocoCay? They own the island. All revenue for that day goes to them. Why would they actually want to have to refund all of the money we'd paid for excursions on the island? It makes no sense. It stinks to miss an island, but I give RCCL kudos for making the best of it.

 

As soon as the announcement was made that we would miss CocoCay, I ran down to the Shore Excursions desk. The line was already quite long, and not moving, as the staff was on the phone with representatives in Nassau trying to get excursions lined up for us last minute. They did not need to do any of this. I've missed CocoCay in the past and ended up with an extra day at sea. Instead, we got an extended stay in Nassau. We had had a snorkeling excursion booked for CocoCay, and we replaced it with the Seahorse Snorkeling excursion on our first day in Nassau. It was a lovely catamaran ride out to the snorkeling site, an hour of snorkeling, and a nice ride back. On our second day, we had the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim booked. I can't say enough wonderful things about this experience, from the ferry captains and staff on the ride over and back, to the dolphin trainers, to the facilities. We left at 8am, and arrived at Blue Lagoon around 8:40. Our session wasn't until 11am, so we had a couple of hours to enjoy the premises. As is true with nearly every beach, it is worth it to walk a bit. We found ourselves on a beach sort of overlooking the main beach, and shared it with only another couple for quite some time before others discovered it. Our actual dolphin swim was a great experience, and highly recommended to do at least once. We bought a couple of pictures (surprisingly, less expensive than ship photos!), had a snack, and took the first ferry back at 1pm. After arriving back in downtown Nassau, we ate at Senor Frogs and headed back to the ship.

 

More later...

Great review!!! We took the same cruise over Easter. I agree with you on Port Canaveral. I could have done without it. The Blue Lagoon experience from start to finish is excellent!

My first two cruises were Explorer. What a great ship and crew!!! So many great memories.

Team trivia and mystery games, organized discussions and simply reading at the back of the ship are my favorites.

Which activity, day or night and not Spectra’s Cabaret, are your favorite(s)? I’m thinking more along the line of games.

I was inquiring about the same room for a different sailing. I was also wondering what the obstruction was. Sometimes it may mean that there is a lifeboat below and you can't see straight down to the water or the balcony is cut out of the hull and it's metal not glass and that would be the obstruction. Either would be fine with me. Hope someone can answer.

We were close, had 6228 over Easter break. We had a rescue boat in front of us but could see over and around pretty well even when seated. Not perfect or great but I didn’t have much of a complaint either.

The Civil War book or pro wrestling biography I am currently reading...balcony time!!!

Thanks.

You’re welcome. :)

Ibuprofen, because aspirin doesn’t work on an extremely painful tooth ache.

Did you see any drink cards for sale?

Staff was selling full packages on day one and two. On day five they started selling 10 beers/drinks for X amount of dollar cards.

🇧🇸

7 Nights of Fun Amongst Friends and Our 3 Year Old:

Embarking was easy and we were on the ship by 11:30. Signed up for iFly, Northstar, We Will Rock You and Cabaret unmediately.

My cohorts signed up for my-time dining. By day three I had them fix that mistake. I don’t do lines and my-time had big ole lines. We ate in American Icon 6 of the 7 nights. Anak, Inengah and Rohit were fantastic and were great with my daughter: gifts, hugs, kisses, dancing. They treated her like their daughters. We will certainly stay in close touch with them. Food was delicious as always.

Stateroom: obstructed balcony 6228. Obstructed but still a good view. Albertus was great and once again the interaction between him and my daughter was almost too much to discuss...like she was his own daughter. Another crew member that we will keep in touch with

Day 2: iFly...so much fun!!! Bojan was a great instructor. My daughter “flew.” She loved it. Bojan took great care of her, flipped her etc. She immediately wanted to go again.

Clo O’Conner is a great cruise director: funny, personable and very self deprecating. Name That Tune Gameshow was fun to watch.

Day 3: Port Canaveral. Took a cab to show at Ron Jon, walked around Cocoa Beach and got back on board to watch rocket launch...awesome!!!

Day 4: Coco Cay. Got off tender by 10:00, walked a bit and got ready to swim with stingrays with Stingray Bahamas. Again, tons of fun. Even my daughter fed and held one. Brave chick!!! Got back and snorkeled with friends. I followed a 2 foot puffer fish for minutes.

Day 5: Nassau. Dolphin encounter at Blue Lagoon. Beautiful place. Hugged, kissed, pet, fed and danced with Shawn. Again, my 3 year old nailed it too!!! Shopped at Del Sol, Cariloha and some souvenir shops before getting back on board. Late night comedian, forget his name and will post later, was hilarious.

Day 5: We Will Rock You rocked again. The Good Die Young always gets me!!!

Day 6: Cabaret is unique and fun.

Day 7: Northstar...interesting but just okay in my opinion. I saw more ocean. Love and Marriage Gameshow always fun.

Cruising with friends was much different than with family. Both fun in their own way. Definitely a fun itinerary that I would love to do again.if I missed something of you have a question, I will certainly reply.

Just horrible for everyone involved. We just got off Anthem on the 7th...great people.

Aaah...I miss anthem. Thank you for the photos.

I have done over 20 cruises... with some roughish seas.. but a hurricane. no.

 

I think they should have at least told the passengers this was a possibility and given them the option to get off the boat.

 

This is the second time this has happened to this ship. Something is wrong.

 

Would not trust this cruise line.

 

by the way there is another thread about this cruise on this board.

I'd trust the cruise line, ship, captain and crew again.

Dear Weather Channel, you have one job and you regularly get it wrong. You have no room to criticize anyone...anywhere.

Thanks lor. You've earned so good rnr after your day at sea. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Incidentally, my neighbors are on the same cruise. I'll be picking their brains as soon as they get home.

We took our photos at home for our July cruise. Apparently they were successful, but still had to retake them at terminal.

Thank you. It's been two months since our cruise on her and I still miss her. Wimbeldon men's final and movies on the big screen were AWESOME!!!

(Family) 1 outdoor pool, 1 indoor pool

(Adults) solarium pool

Area for kids toswim

In July, we got to cape Liberty by 10:30 and waited in no lines. In the terminal getting checked in in 5ish minutes.

Can't say I pay any attention to the pricing schemes. I pick a cruise, check the pricing, and book if it's a good value. The trouble is 'value' is in the eye of the beholder. You can get caught up and angry if you pay too much attention but in my mind, life is too short for that. I also book as early as I can.

Agreed. I look for a cruise we'll enjoy and if we can pay for it in the allotted time, we book it.

I heard it on our cruise in July and I understand why. People linger when dozens other walk in circles looking for a spot to eat. People try to hold tables, deck chairs.

If certain people didn't behave the way they do, announcements like that would not need to be made. We are on vacation with thousands others who all paid their money too not just our family and many, many unimportant, unsignificant blurs.

I will say that if anyone gets to watch the Opening Ceremony on the pool big screen, I'm jealous because Wimbeldon was awesome!

On Anthem, Wimbeldon final and Euro final shown in bars and on pool big screen, so those are possibilities.

Great review and pictures Joe!!!

In singsong..."wash your hands."

If you have early seating dinner, everything seems fine. Have a great trip. We Will Rock You is awesome!