mfeld

I've sailed on both. The Adventure in 2009 and the Dawn earlier this month. I would choose the Adventure hands down. There is much more to do on the Adventure and as another poster mentioned, the main pool on the Dawn is very crowded and overwhelmed with kids (even though it's an adult pool).

Skip Tobacco Bay, it's way overrated. Small crowded beach and the coral and sea life is not that great. If you are a serious snorkeler my suggestion is Church Bay, Warwick Long Bay or Elbow Beach. All of those spots will be less crowded with much healthier reefs, and interesting underwater terrain with lots of sea life.

If you are only thinking of interest as in a CD or money market or other bank account, then I agree. However, there are many other investment options that can provide a significant return on your money.

Why would you pull money out of an investment account to pay off a cruise? That seems silly, any investment account that is aggressive enough to make significant money off of is a risk. You could lose money if the market or markets you are invested in takes a dive. Personally I prefer to pay off my cruises in increments out of my checking/spending account (not my savings account) and money that I invest stays as an investment until I'm ready to retire or make a big purchase like a home or starting a business.

I was on the Breakaway last September out of Manhattan. We found the Waterfront on deck 8 was pretty empty for sail away and ended up being a great spot. We started outside Shaker's Martini Bar by the chairs and tables while passing lower Manhattan (port side), then went through the ship and out the starboard side by Ocean Blue to see the Statue of Liberty. Quite frankly, the Manhattan skyline is more spectacular to see. Also, after you watch the Statue of Liberty go by walk to the back of the ship on the Waterfront and you get a nice aft view of the Statue of Liberty, buildings in Jersey and Lower Manhattan. Then you can head back up by Shaker's Martini Bar as you approach and go under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

After a little bit of research, it appears that the Northern Caribbean's jellyfish season is the warmest months which is usually the case at most locations. August seems to be a month that people in Puerto and the Dominican Republic claim is high season, but I would google the topic and see if there are any specific times of year for the Labadee area of Haiti. Since Haiti is not as common a destination for people to go to, it may be difficult to find out for sure, but since it is a concern for you and your family, I would avoid the warmest summer months.

If you are swimming in the ocean anywhere there is always going to be the possibility of jellyfish being around. There are a couple things you can to to minimize the risk. Wear rashguards with long sleeves or even buy a full body swimsuit, they are very common now as people wear them to protect against sun exposure. The more of your body that is covered, the more you minimize the risk. The other thing you can do is research the area you are going and see if jellyfish are common at certain times of the year. Jellyfish blooms and spawning tend to be seasonal, if you go during a season where jellyfish tend to bloom in that area, obviously you are taking more of a risk.

Agree with others. You should never feed the fish. Another major reason is that in tropical zones it damages the nearby coral reefs. Coral reefs rely on many reef fish to eat the algae that naturally build up on them. Coral needs some algae to survive, but too much and it will kill it. If you feed the fish you throw off this balance, the fish eat less of the algae off the coral and over time the algae smothers the coral. When you see people doing this around you, that means they are doing it every day in the same area, chances are that much of the coral that is nearby is damaged and suffering because of it.

The water in the Bahamas is beautiful and very clear, even around Nassau. Water activities are where it's at. Those who don't enjoy the beach or water excursions tend struggle to find things they like to to do in Nassau. If you don't want to go to a beach, I would suggest a snorkeling excursion, or an excursion that sails out to Rose Island.

If you want to take a snorkeling excursion I highly recommend Stuart Cove. Stuart Cove's snorkeling tour is one of the best snorkeling excursions I've been on. The last stop they even give you the option of swimming with reef sharks without a cage, which is was an incredible experience. Even if you are too scared to swim with the sharks, the other two stops are very good.

If you stay on the ship in Nassau you really are missing out on what the Bahamas has to offer.

That is correct Coral World is on the right side. Most people will likely be snorkeling along the right side.

I have snorkeled at both locations. I had high expectations for Trunk Bay and must admit that it was disappointing, the reef is not in great shape, however the beach and surrounding area is very pretty. There was a decent amount of fish and good variety, but I was expecting much more.

Coki Beach on the other hand, I was surprised at how good it actually was. There are a few things about it though, most people just snorkel out 20 or 30 feet where it's sandy and feed the fish where huge schools of sergeant majors congregate and miss all the good stuff. If you swim further out along both the right side of the bay and the left the coral gets much healthier and you see a lot more variety of fish. The right side is easier to access and has some good stuff, but you are limited as to how far out you can go because the Aquarium has set up buoys you aren't supposed to swim beyond. The left side of the bay from the beach all the way up to mouth is incredible, lots of big healthy Elkhorn Coral and even areas of some healthy Staghorn Coral which I find is rare to these days in the Caribbean. The left side can be a bit tricky though as waves and currents can push you up against large boulders and Eklhorn Coral Formations. I recommend that you be a good swimmer if decide to tackle it, it's worth it though. The Beach area at Coki is not near as nice as Trunk Bay and will most likely be very crowded.

So my recommendation is Coki Beach, even though it is nowhere near as nice of an area as Trunk Bay, the snorkeling is far better if you are willing to swim out along the sides where most people don't venture.

My suggestion would be to go out of Nassau and use Stuart Cove. I'm a fairly avid snorkeler and the Stuart Cove trip was by far one of the best I've ever done. They'll pick you up at the cruise ship dock and take you to the other side of New Providence Island where the reefs are healthier and the fish are plentiful. The final spot they stop at is a snorkel above live reef sharks while they feed them, it's optional of course, but not to miss as it's quite an amazing experience.

I believe Stuart Cove also does trips out of Freeport (Grand Bahama Island) too, but I've never been on that tour and it's a totally different island so I can't really comment on it.

http://www.stuartcove.com/

I received double, 10 points on a 5 day cruise, out of Tampa on the Brilliance last November by booking a cabin as a solo. There was even a 0% single supplement and I still received double points. It was a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with a balcony (E2).

I'm a fairly experienced snorkeler and did the Stuart Cove snorkel a couple years ago and I have to say not only was it a great snorkel, but one of my favorite excursions I've ever done.

The first stop takes you behind Goulding Cay, which is a great spot, a nice healthy reef with big Elkhorn coral formations. Also lots of fish, saw a few Caribbean Reef sharks in this spot too, they just swam around at the edge of the reef and didn't bother anybody. The second stop is a deeper reef where there is a sunken plane...pretty good spot if you can dive down some. The last spot was the best, they take you out to an area where they feed dozens of Reef Sharks and let you float above them while you hold onto a rope for 10 minutes. Amazing Tour, the 3rd stop is optional of course, only half my excursion participated, but it was so worth it. Unforgettable experience. I hightly recommend doing Stuart Cove if you stop in Nassau.

http://www.stuartcove.com/

Here is video I took from the Stuart Cove Excursion, the second half of the video is a patch reef off of Rose Island which is close to Nassau...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC5lC89-nyA

I did the 5 night Grand Cayman/Cozumel cruise last month (Nov 17-22). The formal night was indeed night 2 and the lobster tail night was night 4 I believe.

The lobster plate is called the "Fisherman's Plate" and also has 4 or 5 medium sized shrimp that come with it and served on top of mashed potatoes with a couple pieces of broccoli. The tails are rather small so I ended up getting 3 orders, and to be honest, I probably could have eaten a couple more. They also will drizzle some more butter on top of the lobster if you'd like, but it does come with some butter already on it.

I was on Brilliance from Nov. 17 -21 and I enjoyed the escargot every night.

Thanks everyone for the insight. I hit the bars on the ship and usually go to bed around or after midnight anyways, so late night noise is usually not an issue for me. I think I'm going to be happy with the switch. Thanks again!

So I inquired with my TA about switching from cabin 1502 on the Brilliance to hump cabin 7092. Both are E2 with a balcony, but from my understanding the 7092 hump cabin balcony is significantly bigger, but has a downward partially obstructed view of the lifeboat covers. My TA told me that when she called Royal Caribbean they insisted 1502 was the better cabin as it didn't have an obstructed view and the balcony is the same size as 7092.

Can someone who has stayed on 7092 on the Brilliance or a Radiance class ship please advise? Is this a good move to make? I'm fairly certian that the person at Royal was wrong and cabin 7092 does have a significantly larger balcony, but now I'm second guessing if this is a good move to make. Also my original cabin (1502) is connecting, and I would prefer a room that is not a connecting room, which 7092 is not.

Thanks guys!

Nassau has some really good snorkeling through a dive outfit called Stuart Cove's. Don't be intimidated by all the sharks on the webpage, they make 3 stops at different locations, with the last one being a shark snorkel which is optional. The first stop on the snorkeling tour is a beautiful reef with tons of fish called Goulding Cay. The second stop is much deeper, but it does have a plane wreck, which is pretty cool. And of course the last stop, which about half the people on my tour including myself did, was to get in the water (while holding a rope to minimize hand movements) with dozens of reef sharks being fed on the bottom for about 10 minutes. Amazing experience, but again, it's optional.

http://www.stuartcove.com/

You must have gotten lucky...all are showing 200% as of right now...tried to book a couple this fall...and they all showed double the rate for single

Wow, Royal must have just changed the rates on Brilliance of the Seas cruises because that no single supplement was available for the past couple weeks. There was no single supplement on all cabins literally on all sailings from Nov 2013 - April 2016. I just checked Vtogo and they still have all Brilliance cruises listed with no single supplement, but they can be a couple days behind updating thier single supplement deal list. Glad I finally pulled the trigger and booked when I did...whew!!!

It appears that the there is no single supplements on most Brilliance of the Seas cruises from October 2014 through spring 2016. I just booked a 5-day cruise week of December 1, 2015 out of Tampa with a balcony room for $650 which includes all taxes, fees and gratuities.