msmccorm

We are cruising soon on Liberty of the Seas and I was hoping to take a look at the dining room menus beforehand. This will be our first RC cruise. We typically go on Carnival and I have had great luck getting those menus in advance. Thanks!

We have a reservation in the steakhouse during our upcoming cruise, to celebrate a birthday on-board. But after reading about the steakhouse entrees being available in the MDR, I am wondering if we might as well just get our special meal there, and save a bit of money too. I would appreciate thoughts from people who have experienced both.

We have a 7-year old and if we can get a comparable meal in the MDR, where they are more accustomed to kids, and have a kids menu, I think that might be a good option.

We are taking the Eastern Caribbean itinerary on the Sunshine this summer and I am wondering what the beach situation is near the ports in St. Maarten and St. Kits. I would like to do an excursion, but still have some beach or shopping time after. Several of the excursions we are looking at are on the shorter side.

Thanks!

When we sailed out of Miami we stayed at Holiday Inn Port of Miami - Downtown and I would definitely stay there again. It was reasonably priced, we could see the boat in the morning (exciting), was close to a CVS for last minute purchases, and across the street from an outdoor mall with lots of restaurant choices. Getting a cab from there in the morning was really easy, and cheap.

Thanks JohninDC, taxi in town seems like the best option too. I am not keen to rent a car and drive to Cocoa Beach, I want to be vacationing by then and leaving the driving to others - with a shuttle or a car. So it would just be for a shuttle to Cocoa Beach the night before and maybe back to the airport from the port.

A hotel we are considering in Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach does not have its own shuttle, but recommends Happy Hour Shuttle. I can't find anything about them on the forum, which has me worried. Has anyone had experience with Happy Hour Shuttle? Their prices seem to be on par with Cocoa Beach Shuttle.

Part of the fun for me in staying close to port the night before a cruise is getting up and being able to see the ship. Do any of the hotels near Port Canaveral have a view of the port itself?

Thanks for sharing about the flamenco show. I need to save that tip for our trip.

We were on the Triumph in March and they had not switched to the new menu yet.

Thanks for sharing the tip about "Resort for a Day." I keep reading about people getting day passes to all these great resorts, but I wasn't sure how they arranged this, what a great idea. This is exactly what I had in mind when we go.

Great idea Mark, I never thought of that. We are looking at the Valor itinerary and I will try to check out the web cams for those ports. Does anyone have experience with the Valor's SC itinerary - St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St Kitts, St. Maarten?

If the ship you are booking has a web cam check it daily to see where it usually docks and which way it faces. Even better is the port cams which show the ships as they are docked in port. This will help you get a better idea of which side of the ship would be best.

 

I used to make this a big part of my cabin choice when booking a cruise but now I am just glad to be sailing and will take whatever cabin is available for the best price.

The ports on the Valor's 7 Day Southern Caribbean itinerary out of San Juan sound great for having a few beach days. Any of these ports have decent beaches near where the boat docks? In Grand Turk they have a great beach right at the port, which if free. I am hoping these ports might have something similar we want to skip an excursion one day. Any advice?

Thanks for sharing soozles, I hope your Dad is doing well.

I wonder why they took that information off the website?

When we sailed on the Magic and the Breeze they had a slide lock at the very top of the balcony door. It would have been impossible for our 5-year old to unlock it.

I remember when I went on a cruise with CCL last year they had something on their website about how people could call the ship through an operator. It was super expensive, but I gave it to family and my office, just in case. Now, I can't seem this information on their site. Does anyone know if this service has been discontinued?

I have found many of the Fun Times online. They will change from time to time, but it should let you figure out which days are casual and which are elegant.

I know John Heald has his blog and a FB page, and Butch Begovich has a Twitter handle and FB page. Do any others? I enjoy following both of these CDs.

We had an OS on the Breeze (7242). We could not be seen from above, but you could look up to any of the balconies on at least decks 6 and 7 from deck 5. We were far enough up that people were not looking at us, but technically if they went right up against the glass on 5 they could see us I guess.