royal girl

weav02 - Thanks for posting! I was getting nervous at all the negative reviews and comments about the Oasis! Esp Chops! We never had a bad dinner there and the reviews have been awful. Thanks for putting my mind at ease! We will be doing the same itinerary you were on! Can't wait! :D

Also glad to hear a positive update on Orient Beach!

Hi Natmom- Even though the gratuites are pre-paid, we always leave another $10- $20 (cash) because the servers we had were always exceptional and we just want them to know we appreciate it. They have been better then any servers we had in any land-based restaurants!

:( OK, Thank you!

Does anyone know if there is a punching bag in the gym on the Oasis??

My Oasis reservation for April just changed over from MTD to the 8:30 seating I requested!

Hi everyone. Starting to make plans for our Oasis cruise in April! :p

How do you get to Orange Fever? I understand it's on Orient Beach, but do you just take any cab to Orient Beach and walk until you find it? Or do you ask the taxi to drop you off right at OF? These beach bars look like they are right next to each other, so I'm a little confused. But OF seems to have good reviews on chairs & beers!

Also, I'm guessing getting back to the ship is no problem with taxis? First time in St. Martin! :cool:

Thank you for all the replies. I'll book the 12:30 pm flight home.

Hi. We (me and my husb) just booked the Oasis on the April 18 sailing! :D We are driving to FL but coming home, I am flying and he is driving back. I have to get back to work whereas he is going to visit with some buddies in SC for some golf.

We plan to park at the Port Everglades parking lot. Can I make a 12:30 pm flight out of FLL? I'm assuming we'll be in the car pretty quick after customs...just not sure how far it is to airport or if we should take our own luggage off the ship so that we don't have to waste time looking for our luggage? Never been on the Oasis before so not sure how quickly things move.

THere are also fights home at 1:40 or 3:30 pm, but would much rather get on the 12:30 flight!

Thank you.

Decided to take Amtrak from CT to Baltimore for cruise. Which train station is closer to this hotel? Sleep Inn and Suites Downtown Inner Harbor, 301 Falls Way. Penn Station or the BWI station?

Thank you. :)

Thank you for the replies.

I'll see what happens; I'm just nervous that final payment will probably be due soon and I don't want to pay it if we can't go cuz then what? :rolleyes:

Too bad we have to have jobs! haha

Something has come up with my husband's work and I might have to cancel our cruise! :eek:

I am just about over 100 days away and I've only put down the deposit. I am assuming final payment will be due soon...

Can I move our deposit to another cruise? Since I haven't paid it off yet, I'm guessing all I would lose is the $200 deposit if we just canceled altogether. (We booked on our last cruise, so deposit was only $200) I did buy insurance.

I won't call my TA until I know for sure, so just wondering what my options are.

I'm booked on the August 9th cruise! :D

We try to go to Bermuda every year on Royal. We love the Explorer and never had anything bad to say about the ship.

We've always had pretty good weather in August. We did have showers last August, but then it clears up and the sun comes back out. Usually in the 80's.

You can spend some time strolling around King's Wharf. There is a nice little mall there now and some restaraunts and bars. But you would probably want to take a bus or ferry to Hamilton since you've never been to Bermuda. If you are a beach person, you can go to Horseshoe Bay, which is where most of the cruisers go.

The water tends to be a little rocky at first, but the further out you get, the smoother it is. I take bonine though around lunchtime.

Hope you enjoy Bermuda and the Explorer as much as we do! :p

Oh, I see. Thank you for explaining that!

I was pricing out my upcoming cruise on the Royal Caribbean website to see if the price went down any and I noticed that in the "breakdown of the cost" the taxes, fees and port expenses are listed as $182.33 per person.

Now I just looked at my cruise package details from my travel agent and for the taxes, fees and port expenses it has $309.88 per person.

Why would there be such a big difference in the cost of these things from the RCI website and my TA for the same cruise?? :eek:

With my TA, I have gratuities and insurances included in the price of my cruise, but that wouldn't affect the taxes, fees & port charges, would it?

Thank you for the replies.

IF I have extra OBC left over, I'll go to the guest relations desk on the night before last day.

I was just wondering what happens if you don't use all of your on-board credit if you 'cash in' your RC Visa points?

What I mean is, if I trade in my points for a $500 on-board credit and I only spend $400... what happens to the extra $100 credit? Does it go back onto my Visa card as points? Do I lose it? :eek:

Thanks!

Oh Cool! I was wondering when the ships would be returning to Bermuda again! I've been watching the webcam on and off! I'll tune in!

We'll be back on the Explorer in August! :p

Last summer on the Grandeur in the Solarium while I was having a snack, I watched a guy literally 'take a bath' in the hot tub. He was alone in it and there were lots of people around, but he washed his arm pits, scrubbed his hair, then went under water and came up washing his face. :eek:

I don't go in the hot tubs to begin with but after watching that... I definately will never go in!

I guess he didn't need to shower that night!

I just booked Portofino's for our upcoming cruise and it is now $25 pp. Last August it was still $20 pp. When did the rates go up? :confused: I missed it.

I usually match whatever the 15% gratuity was.

I just look at it that the bartenders work hard and work long hours and put up with alot. I don't care that I am tipping more than I should. I think they deserve it.

This happened to you a month ago and you are still losing sleep over it? :rolleyes: It wasn't even your balcony! Maybe the people whose cabin it was caused it to break or maybe they got an explanation, but why should you?

The glass top on our outside table shattered on our deck once for no reason at all. We cleaned it up and went out and bought a new one... We didn't call the manufacturer asking why this would happen.

Next time dont get a balcony cabin and then you won't have to worry about it again.

I would go! I'd be the first one on if I could! :D

I wouldn't hesitate one bit. You only live once. Life's too short!

Very nice review!

We've done this cruise a few times and going again next August. We love the Explorer and Bermuda is such a pretty island! :)

294. :(

As someone posted below, there are really good directions on this Bermuda forum with pictures to follow to Sea Glass Beach. If you walk past the staircase leading down to the beach and keep on going straight, you will stumble upon Black Bay Beach. We just walked there from the ship. (Not sure how small children would do on the walk though) The water was refreshing!

I guess because the tide was high, we didn't see that much sea glass compared to last year. I'm actually glad that is the reason. (hopefully!)

Bermuda is a really pretty island!