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mtsublueraider

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  • Location
    Tallahassee, Florida
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Royal Caribbean

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  1. No matter what I try, I can’t get check in to work today. It’s the first day it should have been available. I tried after midnight last night and even today it says “check in now” but I keep getting errors. Trying to snag the first available check in time at the pier. Happened to anyone else?
  2. go for the reserved chairs instead of cabanas. Can do those in advance to ensure availability. yes we did a cab. Can’t recall but felt like it was $30-40 round trip for six people. Same person came and got us at the time we requested to return. Probably a 10 minute ride.
  3. Yes! Sorry I forgot to come back. It was a perfect day. Loved it and would go back. The water was amazing and you were right next to the sandals resort. Can eat at Ana’s. Food was fine but truly took forever. Need to place food order as soon as they start making food. Drinks were reasonable and staff was friendly. Easy to walk down beach to other vendors too. Guy had his own cooler and was selling $2 canned beers too.
  4. Review time! Would be happy to answer any questions you have. It was our first time sailing out of FLL. We've done 10 cruises with Royal and all of them were out of Port Canaveral. That makes sense because we can drive to port. (Don't throw things at me) We really enjoyed it! I learned a little about the parking situation. I thought i'd be smart and put my truck in the front corner of the lot knowing we were coming in to another terminal. Turned out it WOULD have been smart but I didn't realize I could cross into that fenced area. Would have saved some headache getting bags back to truck post-cruise. It was amazing to have our rooms ready as soon as we boarded. That was a luxury I haven't had since sailing with Cunard. We had the ultra-spacious family room at the bow of the ship on deck 8. It was a show-stopper. I've never had so much room in a ship. Our kids had their own bunk beds with a door that could be closed. Their room as dark so they slept wonderfully. The kids also loved Adventure Ocean. They went at least once a day after dinner but sometimes twice just to play with their friends. My youngest especially loved her "second dinner" after we picked her up for pizza and dessert. The ship was very clean but seeing some rust spots reminded me of her age. We typically love the smaller ships but this was the first time I really saw it dated. I prefer Brilliance for example but also really love what Oasis has to offer in the way of restaurants and different venues. Speaking of, this is trying to be nice, but we typically spend HOURS at the schooner bar but really didn't enjoy the singer this sailing. On a ship this small if you cross off one of the venues it does limit your options. That being said we spent a ton of time at the pub and at Bolaros. The biggest problem we found with the bars were the lack of availablity of wine bottles. We don't get the drink package but typically find value in purchasing bottles of wine to share. The lower end bottles were simply not available at any venue. We stuck with Castle Rock Cabernet at $35 and the simarily priced Chatau St Michelle sparkling. Thankfully I pre-ordered a few bottles from gifts and gear along with the gin and tonic package that suited us very well. (And the three bottles we brought on board) The main dining room was the star of the show for us. I can't believe we ate 9 meals in a row at the MDR. It also showed us that the LONGER cruise is our style. 7 nights isn't enough! Our staff was incredible and made sure we had everything we needed. They were also so kind to our kids. The entrees we most enjoyed were the "english" beef. Not what i was expecting at all. The lasagna was also wonderful. The crab cake was good and the seafood patty was great. We didn't care for any of the fish dishes we got except for the salmon. My wife even commented on how much better the escargot was. We did some MDR for lunch. It was hit or miss. The seafood sandwich was awful. but, many of the Mexican dishes were great! I will also say ANY of the Indian entrees we got to share with the table were fantastic. We would typically order what we wanted and then the Indian dish to share. Curry for the win! The breakfast bowl in the MDR was also good but I really had high hopes for the buritto. Skip that. Not enough meat in it and tended to be soggy. I was also very happy with the made to order/pager system in the windjammer for omletts. We attended many of the shows. Thought the magician was fun but not as spectacular as I expected. The final comic on the last night was awkward. Didn't enjoy that. Should have gone somewhere else. However the ice show was amazing... that rag doll dancing had me in stitches. Really enjoyed the journey tribute band too. On the ship we liked to play mini-golf but I hated they took the clubs up after dark. one of my favorite things to do is play at night. We also climbed the rock wall and ice skated. Also fun! As for the ports, I'll give a general idea of what we did in case anyone has questions for next time. Overall we would do this same trip exactly the same again. It was perfect and we certainly felt we got our money worth. Perfect Day- We spent the day at south beach. loved the floating bar and saw a ton of "wildlife". Two huge rays and someone said they spotted a nurse shark. I was also able to pick up a starfish. The food was good and then we walked to the kids splash area. We knew what to expect here and still had a great day. St Thomas- So sad we missed it. Obviously prayers for the passanger affected but this was going to be the highlight of our trip. We had a private catamaran booked to snorkel over at St John. Next time! (However, I was happy we didn't have to pay the $250 quoted for a round trip taxi to the dock... good grief) St Maarten- We paid the $6 per person for the water taxi to the beach. Immediately after getting on the dock (we knew what to expect) we were solicited on where we wanted to set up shop. In fact, the diamonds international lady pointed us to another lady she knew that helped us out. Ended up paying $40 for two chairs, an umbrella, and six beers. Our location was ideal because we were within easy access to a clean restroom and just across from a market where we could buy very inexpensive drinks and snacks. The food for the day came down the beach from a Jamaican familiy who also runs a skating rink on the island. SUCH a great family to meet and the curry was perfect. It was a fun day. Next time I may check out the new hotel that just opened with a beachside infinity pool. They offered day passes and had local craft beers on draft. St Kitts - We worked with a guy I found on-line to pre-book a taxi. With our kids we brought our own car seats so I wanted to be sure to organize it. For $60 round trip we got to stop at the overlook for a few pictures before going down the other side to the Carombola Beach club. He didn't request payment ahead of time but just asked that we be ready at the assigned time to return to the ship. It was even nice of him to take a detour to show us some of the island before going back to the port. Such friendly people who are proud of where they call home. The beach club was great and the beer/chairs were inexpensive. However it did cost us over $100 to have lunch. That was a little unexpected but we saw, by far, more fish off that shore than anywhere else on the trip. St Johns Antigua - We grabbed a cab from the port at just $5 a person to head over to Ana's beach club on dickinson bay. It was adjacent to the Sandals property that I wanted to see and had the most beautiful water of the trip. Calm and wonderful. Ended up paying $10 each for chairs and umbrellas on the sand. There was even a local guy selling beer from a cooler for cheaper than the bar was offering it. Gotta love that! Lunch was fairly good but it took over an hour to get our food. It wasn't a big deal because we had the time but i would have stayed in the ocean longer if I knew it was going to take that much time. I'd probably go back to Ana's but I'd probably eat somewhere else down the beach.
  5. It was Dexter rental car. I had a feeling it may be that they don't want to let one loose for one day. I really can't believe I'm going to pay $250 for a round trip of 16 miles. But what are you going to do? Stay on the ship? It's a shame really.
  6. Kind of strange... i'm on adventure in May and that schedule on Vinow doesn't show our sailing into crown bay (or Havensight). Should I be concerned? ha! I was trying to set up some transportation in port and the taxi driver said he didn't see it on the schedule either. Weird...
  7. Searched the forum and found this answer. I printed my confirmation but haven't received an email or seen it on my card yet. Helps me to know to wait 24 hours before panic. Ha! Really a good deal to get a few bottles of wine this way and you don't have to pay the gratuities.
  8. I tried one adjacent to dock and they said they didn’t have any cars. Find that hard to believe a month out. Could get one from airport but would only save about $75 for the trouble. thanks for the input
  9. Check out Ana’s on the beach. $25 cabana rentals. I’m going there in May
  10. Thanks for this, but we really want to sail with Ryan again. We've done it before and it's an amazing experience. It's just this taxi/transfer that is a huge pill to swallow.
  11. Now it's sounding like we're going from Crown Bay and it's $21 per person... that's nearly $300 round trip JUST for an 8 mile taxi ride. Honestly... i've traveled a ton and I've never seen the transportation cost this high. I can rent a car for cheaper than that... and I might.
  12. Thanks. We did that same journey a few years back and I was shocked at how expensive everything is now. The darn transport back and forth to the excursion may cost more than the actual excursion.
  13. I haven't been able to find much on social media or youtube about Ana's on the beach. I will say that they've been VERY responsive for an upcoming date we've booked with them. Has anyone else been? Love that you can reserve in advance, with no deposit down, a cabana for $25 (FOR THE DAY!!!!) and chairs/umbrellas for $10 each. The menu looks good, they don't play loud music, and it's adjacent to the Sandals property. Will report back when I go but would be curious if anyone has tried them.
  14. I've got five adults and two kids sailing with a guy we've had a great experience with in the past. Can't wait! but we're having some sticker shock on some of the transportation opens we're being told about. Some of the quotes are $250-300 round trip just for transportation. That seems wild to me. Does anyone have any suggestions or could you give an anticipation on what just a regular ole' taxi would cost to Red Hook?
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