lindseylu8

you are all very welcome for the review. I also agree attitude has a lot to do with how you perceive situations. For me, vacation is a

Thanks for your review. We are on the New Years cruise and it can't get here soon enough.

 

Re the BOSS excursion: we did this a few years ago and while we enjoyed it I would warn anyone who is even slightly prone to motion sickness or claustrophobia to consider whether this excursion is the right fit. We have done many excursions over the years where they warn about motion, but this is the only one where it was an issue.

I didnt notice any motion issues. it goes pretty slow. I can def see how one could get claustrophobic though. Its like a astronauts helmet :)

That's not too bad. We enjoy Nachi Cocom, which is $55 and probably another $10 per person for taxi. The ship excursion also avoids waiting for a taxi and has protection if they are late.

 

Thanks for the info.

Thats not too much of a difference then. In future cruises we will probably be bolder & not feel we need to book through the cruise line.

We were on your cruise as well, and every time we saw John Blair we could only think was that our cruise is being run by Hasselhoff! Lol.

 

That was a great cruise!

hahaha hilarious!!!

you are all very welcome, thanks for reading the review.

I didnt add: we are late 30's, no kids, this is only our 3rd cruise (1st two on smaller carnival ships) but we have done a lot of all inclusives and other travels.

Appreciate the report.

 

What was the cost of Playa Mia, and was it all you could eat and drink?

We booked through the ship & it was $89/ person. Im sure there are better deals out there. All you can eat/ all you can drink included. Transfer to & from pier and non-motorized water sports. They had kayaks, paddle boats as well as a kids pool area and 2 swimming pools, and one (not so hot) Jacuzzi.

We really enjoyed the ships amenities, cozy cabin (great cabin attendant), great food, excellent staff, and awesome ports.

FOOD:

All the food we had in the main dining room was great. Windjammer food was good too. The timing for breakfast & lunch in the main dining room was limited so we had to windjamer it most days. We did room service one day and that was also fine. We have only cruised smaller ships in the past with Carnival and we found the food to better on this Royal ship. With the exception of Royal has no chocolate melting cake lol.

We had to wait about 10-15 for my time dining for a table for 2 (alone) one 2 occasions but that was all.

We ate at Sabor one day and the drinks, guacamole, appetizers, and desserts were outstanding. Neither my husband or I really cared for our main dishes though so maybe we just chose the wrong items. The guac was seriously the best we have ever had. But with the main dishes lacking, we would not pay for this again.

Entertainment:

All of the shows were awesome. We almost didnt go see Stephani Parker- but you wont want to miss. Her voice is amazing and her Whitney Houston tribute was awesome. Saturday Night Fever was wonderful. The ice show was great. The in the air performance was also amazing.

Hot tubs filled up on cooler days but other than that we had no problems. We ice skated, did the water slides, adults only pool, went to all the shows. We did not do many other activities such as trivia, etc. I did one shopping talk and attempted the holiday tag workshop but that was super crowded. We actually ended up skipping the flow rider & rock climbing wall this time around. But checked them out and they looked fun. No lines at the water slides when I checked. The flow rider line was really not bad at all either.

Excursions:

We did BOSS underwater adventure in Roatan and it was so fun. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Super easy to do and so fun to just scoot around. Also came with snorkeling. Great staff and a quick trip from the port which left plenty of shopping time. Though there was not much to buy. I am noticing all of the same stuff around the world at these ports. I actually bought nothing at any ports or on the ship.

In Belize we did the cave tubing, trekking, and lunch and that was also great. The water was not cold, I was worried it would be. The lunch was good and the trekking was easy and quick. This was a long ride from the port but worth it. Very unique experience. I would recommend this as well. We also had time in port to mess around after.

In Cozumel we did Playa Mia beach break with lunch & drinks. Some of the items on the buffet were amazing and some were not so hot. The snorkeling was awesome here- we just brought our own gear and swam around the inflatables and saw a TON of awesome fish. The inflatables were a lot of fun too. Drinks were not so strong but we asked them to hook them up & they did. Great service & staff all day. Fun water slides. The beach was great and the attendants took drink orders, brought umbrellas if you wanted and sand toys for kids. This was such a great day- would recommend. Very close to port, maybe 10 min.

Embark/ Disembark:

Were both quick and easy. The day before we disembarked the road to Galveston was closed off and a huge cluster we heard. The airline lost my luggage prior to our embark so I am very thankful we came in the day before as I had to go back to the airport to get my luggage before the cruise. Had we came in same day my luggage would have arrived after we were already on the boat. Not a fan of Houston airport. It was rainy & miserable in Galveston when we disembarked.

Summary:

Clean ship, courteous and attentive staff. I didnt like the cruise director though I found him really annoying lol. He just intro'ed a few of the shows and that was all we saw of him. All around great trip. Cant wait to cruise again.

awesome-thank you for the responses. I was worried if it was super windy on the water, it would be too cool for shorts.

Thanks all

Hi all, leaving soon :) cant wait. The weather looks like low 80s in our ports. Can anyone tell me what to expect on the boat. Does it add a big "wind" factor that would make it cooler on deck or do you all think its still swimming/ lounging weather?

Trying to get my luggage packed and dont want to bring all shorts if its going to be chilly but dont want to bring pants if I wont need them. Its been YEARS since weve cruised and we have never been this route.

Thanks :)

I signed it. I would love to see a RC cruise out of CA. We can drive from AZ making our trip about 1/2 of what it is when you add airfare, taxi, hotel stay to the cruise.

too many! 108 days:eek:

Thank you both! This is exaclty what I was looking for. Glad to hear I will already be in the reef :) cant wait

thanks again for the great info! Wish my cruise was sooner

Docking at Coxen Hole.

We have booked the BOSS underwater tour already and are very excited! It doesnt say specifically where we are BOSSing & snorkeling at. I really want to see the reef. Maybe a dumb statement if the reef is "everywhere" ...

This tour is only 3.5 so Im thinking we will have some extra time. Where can we go from the port to snorkel in the reef on our own?

Next question, if it turns out that we are already BOSSing/snorkeling in the reef, what other fun things are around Coxen Hole that we can walk or quick taxi too?

Thank you in advance!

Can you use your drink package in Sabor? (ultimate for margaritas for example)

Can you use your drink package to order the room service drinks? Would mimosas be included in the ultimate package?

thank you in advance

I'll bet you could drop bags as early as 10am.

That would be awesome!!! Then we wouldnt have to lug our bag around with us :)

Thank you again everyone! I have one more question. We will be arriving in Galveston early - does anyone know how early we can check out luggage so we dont have to haul it around with us in Galveston. We were hoping to do some light sightseeing until boarding.

thank you!

Thank you all so much for the tips & info!!! I will be researching all of your suggestions :) thanks everyone

Hobby Airport to Galveston I just got a quote on app. Up to 4 people 49-59 dollars

 

 

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I read Uber pulled operations from galveston because of regulations requiring too much paperwork/ background etc for drivers that "did not fit with their business model" Maybe drivers are still venturing in. They are being ticketed, i guess, if caught....Uber is awesome so hopefully that will work...

Thank you for the tip! We would def like to avoid crowded. Will check that out!

Are rum runners still getting through or are they getting confiscated? We have used in the past without issue.

thank you for the info & link!

We are going on our first RC in the fall. We have done 2 Carnival cruises, they port out of LA so we can just drive there so they were just quick& easy (& cheap) vacations. We wanted to try RC so thought Galveston wouldnt be too difficult (were in AZ). Well (I didnt do my research obviously) you cant fly into Galveston, so you have to fly into Hobby then get a hotel, then get a car to the port. Then I see Galveston has banned Uber. Sorry I digress lol, here are my questions:

• Is the $100 taxi ride our best option?
  
• Is Hobby better to stay in or Galveston?
  

The cruise we are doing is the Roatan, Cozumel, Belize. Any feedback on any of these exercursions that we have picked out:

• Roatan: BOSS Underwater Adventure Observer
  
• Cozumel: DELUXE BEACH BREAK AND PLAYA MIA WATER PARK
  
• Belize: JAGUAR PAW CAVE TUBING & JUNGLE TREK WITH LUNCH
  

And my last questions (for now):

• I know with Carnival, we could bring on 1 bottle wine/champagne each. Is this allowed at RC?
  
• Is the drink package worth it? I am going back & forth on this
  

THANK YOU for all of your feedback & any other thoughts/tips are also greatly appreciated. Thank you :)