BlondieB

3 hours ago, Ashland said:

Not the poster but usually the reason is flight costs FLL vs MIA. I know it usually is for many.

Not the OP either but chiming in to say that and FLL is MUCH easier to navigate than MIA.  I always fly into FLL and shuttle with Jiffy Jeff or SAS Transportation. 

We are sailing out of Miami in March.  I love to stay in downtown Miami near Bayside and couldn't figure out why hotel rates were so high for our dates ($770/pn @ my favorite Intercontinental). I failed to google.  There's a big music festival in downtown March 28-30th 😒.  So now I'm having to figure out where in FLL I want to stay because I want no part of MIA with our 6yr old who will be coming along this trip. 

23 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Hello Cruise Critic Family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another cruise adventure. This time we were aboard the Carnival Vista for B2B cruises. The first cruise was a six day cruise to Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove. The second cruise was an eight day cruise to Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk.

 

For both cruises we had the same Havana interior cabin # 5214. When the Vista came out in 2016, we thought that we would love to try one of the Havana Cabana cabins, but we never got a chance to book one before Covid hit. When cruising resumed, our first cruise was on the Horizon, but those Havana cabins were not available so we just booked a regular balcony aft on the port side. Much to our surprise we saw that we could look down directly into the cabana and see that there was no privacy. Also, the views of the sea from there were not very good.

 

 

 

We decided then that those cabins were not for us, so we booked a Havana interior for our Panorama cruise. We couldn’t have been more pleased. We felt that with the Havana area itself, an interior cabin is all you need, and it is very cost effective. When we got back from that cruise we immediately booked the same for these cruises. The bonus was we received a great offer that basically gave us two weeks on this ship for the price of one. We couldn’t have been happier!

 

We decided once again to purchase Cheers for both cruises. Since we came out a bit ahead on the Tribe Cruise, we figured that with a total of six sea days we could make it worthwhile. I calculated that with some coffees, waters, and milkshakes, collectively we would have to consume about twelve (12) alcoholic beverages a day to make it worthwhile. That’s just twelve (12) out of a possible thirty (30) alcoholic drinks a day. That seems doable to me. I know that I will have to do the heavy lifting, but like I said, I am always up to the challenge! As the review progresses I will keep track of our numbers, and at the end of the review, I will reveal if indeed, it was worth it for us. These cruises were going to be about nothing but relaxing. We didn’t book any all-inclusives since it would be cheaper to utilize the Havana Area and Cheers. We did book Pool Cabanas in Amber Cove and Grand Turk just for a change of pace, and a reason to get off the ship!

 

Once again, we will be driving down to Florida. We must have made this trip a hundred times. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense for us to have our own car down there. We can pack as much of our stuff as we want to, since we don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about eighteen hours. Since we have the time now, we will break it up into two days. 

 

 

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it.  Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS740 HS, and our water, and back-up camera, is the Fuji FinePix XP60. Unfortunately, our water camera died halfway through the cruise.

 

 

So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun! 

 

Pre-Cruise  -  (April 10th & 11th)  -  On the road again!

 

 

As always, we begin our travels around 9pm in the evening. This allows us to bypass the morning rush hours in Baltimore and Washington. Our son Ryan will be minding the house and our cats. As usual, he takes our picture as we head out the door…..

 

  

After leaving the house we make a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for a large coffee. Though I took a nap before leaving, the extra caffeine will definitely help. I really don’t mind the drive at all. There is hardly any traffic, so I set the cruise control to 79 mph and listen to tunes all night. For the most part, the drive down was uneventful until we hit North Carolina where it began to rain. Between watching the lines on the road, and the windshield wipers moving back and forth, it was making me sleepy. Patti, who normally doesn’t do any of the driving, took over for me and drove for an hour and a half until we stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Santee, South Carolina…..

 

 

 

 

 

That breakfast sure hit the spot…..

 

 

 

 

After filling our bellies, and Patti getting a little shopping time, we are back on the road again. We made really good time so we arrive at today’s final destination, Kingsland, Georgia a little after noon. We are going to be staying at the Country Inn & Suites. If this place looks familiar, it is our usual stop over point when heading south or cruising from Jacksonville…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

Yay, I'm here fairly early.  I haven't been on CC much the last few yrs and hopped on last week and the first thing I found is your Celebration review. I always loved reading your reviews! We're booked on her next March in an Ocean Suite.  While I've been on the Vista twice and she's probably one of my least favorite, I know I'll still read every line of your journey LOL 

8 hours ago, weezyreid said:

No not yet, I keep checking lol. I’m going to call this week to see when it should be applied. 

Me too, I was going to give them till October. I already had $600 due to a  canceled covid cruise, some from booking a casino rate and now this.  Bar tab for the week covered 😂!! Especially since both my husband and I have drinks on them while playing in the casino 😅

7 hours ago, JCrewz said:

Blondie....I haven't.   I was looking again at the email and I'm not entirely sure I understood it correctly.  It talks about refunding shore excursions and says that anyone impacted will receive the onboard credit.  Certainly, an awkwardly written email.  Everyone going on the cruise is impacted by the port changes.  So, is it just those who had shore excursions that get the OBC or everyone on the cruise?  Not obvious from the email.  I'll call tomorrow and ask and post the response.

No everyone will get a $50obc/$100 per room max OBC for thr inconvenience of the itinerary change and Carnival excursions will be auto refunded which my group noticed they initiated on Friday

Anyone had Carnival apply their $100 per room OBC yet? 

On 9/20/2022 at 2:21 PM, dmet0225 said:

We went to LFK when we stopped in Roatan on our Vista cruise at the end of July.  They allowed us to pay when we arrived rather than pre-pay.  A few of items to watch out for:

 

1.  If you do the monkey/sloth tour as part of your day through LFK, it's a cluster trying to get them to drive you to and from the place, which is right down the street.  It's also a cluster trying to get one of the staff to take you back to the cruise port when it was time to leave.  People who booked the LFK trip through a 3rd-party vendor received much better service.

2.  We were eaten alive by sand flies.  I had to get steroids from my doctor due to the terrible itching from the DOZENS of bites.  Make sure to bring bug spray.  In all of our previous cruises, we've never experienced that problem.  

3.  Make sure you're clear UP FRONT with your server if you get the full island tour regarding the food/drink tokens that are provided and included.  He told us we could use our tokens to order anything off the menu.  When it came time to leave, he insisted that it was NOT the case, and that you only got the "island plate" for the food, and that we could not use the free tokens since we ordered something different off the menu.

Thank you very much for info on LFK. I am 100% planning on the sloths. I will definitely bring bug spray and look into an outside vendor because I'm not trying to stress out over getting back to the port

plug and play any other ports but my perfect itinerary would include a looooooong call to Tortola so I could spend the entire day on Jost Van Dyke.  As it is, I'd have to take NCL, Celebrity or Disney (hard pass) to get there again 😞

Guess I'm going to mosey on over and see what the latest on Little French Key's drama is for Roatan and if they're still asking people not to pre-reserve/pay. 

yeah I could take or leave Jamaica.  But, we are taking some friends on their first cruise and Jamaica was where we were doing the dolphin swim because that was her "must do" item.  She can do it in Cozumel though.  I've already done it so I'll be letting Julio at Mr Sanchos keep me hydrated 😄

We are on the 11/12 sailing as well.  Grand Cayman is my favorite island behind the hard to get to Jost Van Dyke so I'm pretty bummed as neither of those ports, for me at least, can compare.  I'll be fine I guess as long as we don't skip Cozumel.  Must get my Mr. Sanchos fix ;)

6 hours ago, BlueHerons said:

Do not stay on Cypress Creek Road.  It is sketchy as hell and will take forever to get to the port.  It isn't convenient to anything but Cypress Creek Road.

 

Marina Mile also has really dismal hotels.  Avoid Rodeway Inn, Red Roof or Red Carpet or whatever it is and Candlewood Suites.  

 

That Southland Shopping Center is GROSS.

 

On your list, the areas in this order:

 

Las Olas Boulevard (three new hotels have opened in the past six months_)

17th Street

Plantation/Sawgrass

 

I like the hotels out by the TriRail Stop and Bass Pro Shop but that area is a little depressing and not where I'd want to start my vacation.

Thank you for this info. We currently have a room reserved at the Fairfield Inn Las Olas but having never sailed out of FFL, only POM, I wasn't familiar with what is sketchy and what isn't. I was looking to see what options were out there but I think we will just stay put with where we're booked. 

Breeze is my favorite ship and I just booked it again for November. Breeze itinerary gives you much more excursion options.  The Magic itinerary, your only options are pretty much beach days in HMC and GT, there's not much else to do there. 

Sad to hear about the damage to Barbuda, Virgin Islands and St. Maarten. Cruise wise, I'm okay with swapping ports instead of more sea days. Does anyone know what the Fascination is doing excursion-wise with the last minute changes in itinerary? Are excursions still available for Antigua and Dominica with such a short notice? Or do passengers just book excursions to the new ports once they board the ship in San Juan? I'm not cruising until January, but I would love to book excursions ahead of time if possible.

Obviously, you can research and decide what you'd like to do in those ports but until you have an official notice of itinerary change for your sailing and find out what days you'll be in each port, there's really no way to book ahead of time.

I don't see the Fascination going to St Maarten and possibly even St. Thomas any time soon. The sailing that left yesterday, Dominica and Antigua replaced those two ports. Whether they shuffle or stay the same for an extended period of time, it's far too early to tell. I'm assuming a lot will have to do with available births in other ports. We're on the Nov 5th sailing. I could do without Dominica but I'm ok with Antigua

I'm interested to see though if the new ports change the days we're in St Kitts, Barbados and St. Lucia. We have private excursions booked in 2 of those.

It's always wise to be prepared, and you can never have enough water, but the hoarding that's going on already is a bit absurd and I solely blame it on media.

 

LOL...blame someone I guess...once again, people have free will and a brain (well???) to make their own decisions in life and those that stayed behind in their homes in TX only to be stranded and needing help to get out (putting others in danger in the process) in the end are probably really sorry now that they didn't listen...people LOVE to blame for others for everything these days....:confused:

Local government told residents to shelter in place. It is mathematically IMPOSSIBLE to evacuate a metro area that has a population larger than 30 other entire states in the US, in a 2 day period even with contraflow lanes. Over 100 people died on the highways during Hurricane Rita trying to evacuate. Cars were stranded for days out of gas and people's water supply was used up. Had Rita not took a last minute turn, thousands would have died stranded on the highways. Harvey was a 1000 year flood event. People LOVE to talk about what they don't know about...especially from other states :confused:

I doubt the media told folk to build their houses in a flood plain, or next to a bayou, or in the path of emergency releases from lakes and reservoirs? Some of the homes in Texas have been flooded 3 years in a row.

Most of the houses are not in a flood plain, thus, the reason most don't pay the extra premium for a flood insurance. But yes, do tell us Texans all about it from NY :rolleyes:

I am so sad, it is my favorite island.:(.

 

I can't find any pictures. Can someone post a link to what you're seeing?

https://mobile.twitter.com/MeteoExpr...antic-storm%2F

We used http://www.sxmstmartincatamarancharters.net/ 2 years ago and it was fantastic. There was 14 of us and we felt the price was very reasonable for what we received. They are listed as #2 on TripAdvisor

Anybody else disappointed that this thread wasn't about someone inquiring about parasailing while nude?:')

LMFAO I thought it was just me :'):'):')

We are sailing her in November and when we booked in January we paid $608pp (taxes/fees incl.) for an OV (6c) on deck 5. That same category on the same floor is now $678.50. How much time are you really spending in your cabin on a normal 3-4 port cruise, let alone, a 5 port one? I don't think it's all that unreasonable. The airfare is almost as much as the cruise itself. While I love the bigger ships (Breeze is my fave), on a cruise this port intensive the ship is merely the vessel to my destinations.

I'd say I do pack a little less...like, from 13 pairs of shoes in an entire rolling carry-on size suitcase to like 5 pairs.

I enjoy my sea days more.

I won't say I plan less, I'd say I plan smarter. I know what to look for and where to look when doing my research. I'm a meticulous planner when it comes to vacation so there's never going to be "less" planning. Going on a trip that I had no hand in planning gives me hives. Is it a bit of a control thing? Sure. But mostly, it's I enjoy doing the research and reading the reviews and finding the best deals.

I also don't smuggle alcohol after the first couple of cruises because I determined I'm way too lazy to stop what I'm doing and go back to my cabin to mix a drink so I'd always come back with the exact same amount I left with :')

We'll be arriving via cruise ship in early November. There's only one other ship in port with us that day according to the port schedule so crowds I'm not too concerned with.

I've been set on Orient for the last couple months due to the amenities and what we typically look for in a beach day (Chairs, umbrellas, food, and good prices on local beer...wifi is a bonus and bar service from your chair is super bonus). The potential nudity doesn't bother us, we're grown ups, we can handle it. Snorkeling is not all that important as we're doing that in other ports. We're more relax in the water and drink beer types...but not rowdy, we're too old for that nonsense. Our group of 22 are mostly in our late 30s to 50s.

Recently I've looked at Dawn (Mr Busby's) and this seems like a comparable option as well. I have read that if there are strong east winds, the seas can be a bit rough there so to have a contingency plan.

Does anyone know the following in regards to Dawn:

1. $ of chairs/umbrellas

2. is there wifi

3. how long will it take to get there from the port (I know Orient is about 30 min)

What's your preference between the two?

I'm so amused at how some of you nosy nellys think the way someone else dresses is going to change the taste of your food. I personally, dress up for dinner every night but the first. That being said, I'm not up in arms and thumbing my nose at anyone else in the dining room and how they choose to dress, however tacky it may be. Have some more chocolate melting cake and lighten up.

I've cruised with someone that wore what we refer to as a "Texas Tuxedo" on formal night. Nice blue jeans, boots, a button down shirt and sport coat and nobody blinked an eye. OP will be just fine.

I have seen them carding and turning away under age at the disco and escorting out of the 18+ comedy shows. Some teens are more mature than others but if it states those are the rules then that is what it is.

That being said, I was raised by my grandparents so I was way more mature than your typical one month shy of 14yr old (I think I've reverted at this point LOL) and I remember on my first cruise in 1992 on now non-existent Commodore Cruise Lines hanging out in the disco without my parents. I'm pretty sure I even got drinks from Rohan the bartender. I can't remember what I had for lunch Wednesday, but I can remember a bartenders name from 25yrs ago ha!

At 38 I sure as heck don't want to hang out in the nightclub with teenagers though.

I've used Lighthouse many times. They have covered spots and a shuttle. You can find coupons on line. Easiest thing to do is drop your bags at the terminal first then park so you just have to hop on the shuttle with your carry on. They pick up you and your bags at the terminal on the way back. I don't care to try and schlep my way overpacked luggage across the street to the garage parking.