m32446

Somewhere between 3 and 5 years ago we were on a ship (Not Harmony) with a rock climbing wall that allowed us to wear our own shoes to climb and such. The walls are not great, but it is our preferred exercise so we made it work. We're booked for November on Harmony for the very first time, and it's been a while since we were on a ship with a wall. Has anyone been on Harmony lately and could guess if they're still ok with you bringing your own gear and doing laps on the climbing wall? 

I'm actually on the charter the week before you depart, and can confirm we've had no communications about any changes so you're very likely safe. 

2 hours ago, m32446 said:

On some recent sailings of Independence there have been entries in the Compass on the first day with BOGO offers for the package. If that's an actual thing and I didn't misread it, it seems like it'd be a much better plan to buy on board regardless of price. (And now I can't find it again, so maybe I just dreamed it?)

I paid $58/day for a 5 day, when it went down from $67 for 3 or 4 days. It's back up to the $67 price now. 

Finally found one, from August 22. At this point they've probably stopped doing the deal with increased numbers of people on board. 

On some recent sailings of Independence there have been entries in the Compass on the first day with BOGO offers for the package. If that's an actual thing and I didn't misread it, it seems like it'd be a much better plan to buy on board regardless of price. (And now I can't find it again, so maybe I just dreamed it?)

I paid $58/day for a 5 day, when it went down from $67 for 3 or 4 days. It's back up to the $67 price now. 

It would be nice to see some small toy breeds in action as service dogs. I wouldn’t be surprised a lot of people have the same casual impression as me that toy breeds are mostly ESAs. It still may be true though.

I know many of the alert dogs are smaller breeds. I know of 2 miniature poodles who alert their owners of impending low blood sugars.

Now, on to the next experience. We had 6 couples at our table, and had recently met both couples in the DL on a previous cruise and decided to cruise with them again. As above, the wife of one couple was diabetic and asked if she could give herself an insulin shot while at our dinner table. Since our good friend had done this in the past, we did not see a problem with this. Mistake!!:eek: Well, she proceeded to lay all of her stuff out on the dining table, pricked her finger and dabbed up the blood on her napkin, then held up the insulin bottle to draw out the insulin for ALL to see, and gave herself the shot! Am I being heartless to think this is so wrong?!!:rolleyes:

:(

While I'd agree that wiping the blood on the napkin is rather rude, there's no problem at all with doing a blood sugar test, or giving a shot at the table. She even asked, so it's not like anyone is going to pass out from a needle phobia. Is there somehow something inherently offensive about drawing up a shot?

For those that sail out of Galveston, have you noticed do they actually sell the all you can drink packages while in Texas waters? Or do they wait until they are out of Texas waters before allowing on-board purchase of the package?

 

For the people that pre purchased the all you can drink packages, technically they didn't sell the package in Texas, so the law may not apply.

As usual, Bob is correct. They sell them as soon as you get on board. Prebuying doesn't make any difference though, except in price. All the rules still apply. Of course, quite a few of us who prebuy still buy it in Texas, so it wouldn't make a difference to us anyway. ;)

Note: I later learned there are actually TWO sloth places in Roatan. Victor Bodden’s, which is where we went, and Daniel Johnson’s, which is where I thought Johan would be taking us. Johan said Johnson’s typically has an hour wait to get in, and is smaller than Boddens. Has anyone been to both that can confirm or deny that? I’m curious.

 

...

 

Interesting side note. While standing at the gate waiting for Johan to return I was chatting with a few of the tour operators who were standing there trying to get Allure's passengers to buy from them. One gentleman asked which ports this cruise had been on so far and commented that he was glad we hadn't gone to Belize. I asked him why, and the gist of his answer is that the tour operators there are very unethical and pushy. When I told him I would be going to Belize on my next cruise, he told me in no uncertain terms that while in most ports, including Roatan, it is fine to plan tours directly and not through the cruise line, do NOT do that in Belize. He made me promise him that I would ONLY book through the cruise line next year. Has anyone reading this had any experiences in Belize to share?

 

I haven't been to both, but we did Johnson's place, and there was no wait at all to get in. There were plenty of groups there, and we just all went through each of the sections with our little tour guide guy, no problem. Having never been to Victor Bodden's I don't know about size comparison, but there were some other animals besides the ones you mentioned on ours, so I'm unsure about the veracity of your guide's comments.

And I got our Belize excursion from Shore Excurioneer, although I don't remember which company actually fulfilled it. Was no problem at all, and we had a lovely time.

I had never heard of Cricut. How much did these shirts cost to make. Many custom T-shirt places charge at least $50 for small one time orders. This looks like it might be more affordable.

 

I won't be making a guess, but enjoy your cruise.

A cricut is a machine to make cutouts. Unless you're doing a reasonably significant number of shirts, it wouldn't be cheaper to buy an entire machine (and necessary supplies) than make a custom order from somewhere.

So we're bringing a couple on their first cruise in October. They've decided to purchase the ultimate dining package, because they're a bit foodie. We usually do First Night Done Right, and maybe another later in the week if there's a good deal, or we've got some OBC. We don't plan on eating dinner together every night, but we did want to do the first night together. So, my question in this case is how easy is it to combine our FNDR reservation and their dining package reservation for the first night? I would assume we'd just go to the restaurant upon boarding and they'd be able to combine us in wherever or whenever we wanted to be. Has anyone does this before, or have any possible issues I'm not thinking of?

When we went on our Halloween cruise they did have a trick-or-treat type thing for the kids. We don't have any, so I don't know exactly what it entailed, though. And it was a few years ago, so who knows what's changed. If I remember correctly, they walked the kids around to different places on the ship where they were given candy, all provided by the ship.

I used Lyft in January from FLL to Miami Port and back. Cost about $40 each way.

Yes, they're magnetic. I found a fairly large-ish board on Amazon that's just a magnetic piece itself. I cut it into pieces, so we could have one on the outside, and one on the inside of the stateroom. Worked quite well. It's called 'Premium Magnetic Dry Erase Whiteboard Sheet 17" x 11"' from 'kedudes'

So, I'm browsing the RCI excursions for George Town Grand Cayman, and I'm having difficult figuring out what the difference between the "Reef and Wreck Snorkel" and the "Sunken Ship and Snorkel". RWS is $44, SSS is $64, and offers snacks, but is it really just the snacks (And the time to stop for shopping. :rolleyes:) that make it cost $20 more?

The cheaper RWS doesn't specify which wreck and which reef it stops at, although I can only assume it's talking about the Kittiwake. Has anyone done either of these that could confirm what they actually entail?

Or if anyone knows of a private supplier who could offer something similar for not dissimilar price? I've found a few, but they all cost a bit more and involve taking a taxi somewhere else to be picked up, so I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

Yes, there will be costumes and such. We had a parade, and a special Halloween themed show when we cruised on Halloween. I think they did something specifically for children with trick or treating, but since we didn't go to it, I couldn't tell you exactly.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do something around town, rent a car, get out, do something, but don't sit at the airport.

Last time I did it, I did sit at the airport with my tablet, working on organizing my photos. Read a book. Caught up on the worldly goings on that I missed while cruising. Nothing wrong with sitting at the airport.

I think my cut off would be something like $10. I've called for as low as $18 before, but I've never found a deal that saved me less than that. And that's at least one fruity beverage, which is totally worth it.

You really don't need any sort of insurance, or even a medical professional to take out stitches. They're very, very easy to remove yourself.

not a wine drinker - think a 750 ml hard cider would get through?

Not in my experience. I attempted to bring a bottle of lambic, which looks exactly like a wine bottle, but they took it away.

The differences that have mattered to me the most are that Lyft has significantly better customer support, particularly if there's a problem. When Uber has screwed up, I'm usually out of luck, or it takes a long, long time to get an issue resolved. When Lyft has screwed up, they're both easier to get a hold of, and much faster at resolving issues. And Lyft is better to their drivers.

I'll put another vote forward that Lyft is a better option than Uber. I use it frequently, last time in January for a cruise out of Miami. No scheduling necessary, I just put my request in, and by the time I'd hauled my suitcase down the stairs my driver was pulling up to the curb to get me.

When we went on a Halloween cruise, elegant night was indeed on Halloween.

Just buy an insulin cooler pack, they're as cheap as $10 on Amazon.

And every insulin I've ever used didn't actually need to be refrigerated, it just helps it last, and since you're using it then and there, it's not necessary.

A few years back,I made Nachi reservations from the ship the day before we were in port! They responded quickly and I had no problems reserving space for four people! Have fun on your trip whatever you decide.... Live long and prosper!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Thank you so very much! That is exactly what I was hoping to hear. :D

I certainly wouldn't just show up, no. They (generally) only take people with online reservations, so I'm trying to see if anyone has made them so close to their port day.