dancingranni

Thank you all for your replies. I'm cancelling Rodeway..also passing on Ramada and Dania. Now looking at Hampton Inn/Plantation. Cruise is in April..so I have some time.

We are looking for an affordable FL hotel for 1 night pre-cruise stay. Would like to have something nearby that we could walk to in order to purchase wine for the cruise. Airport/cruise shuttle service would be nice. I have reserved Rodeway Inn but because of an abundance of negative remarks about it we are trying to fiind something else? Any feedback on Ramada Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruiseport?

Does the Serenade have shuffleboard courts? Does it have an ice cream machine? ( if not...maybe I won't gain so much weight this time...LOL)

Does Celebrity honor the C&A status of Royal Carribean PPs?

Each day in the compass they will post various onboard activities. That is where you will find the dance venues listed. We enjoyed several fun dance sessions out on the pool deck. There are also several bar areas that have dance floors and music in the evenings.

We also love to dance...have been line dancing 2 to 3 times a week for over 20years. Have a wonderful cruise!

We were fortunate to be on a B2B because on April 26, the end of week one, debarkation was a nightmare. I heard it's always worse at the end of the week that has Belize and Roatan...due to drugs, I guess. Also I believe there were some computer glitches. Anyway we were escorted off thru customs and back on quite quickly. Unfortunately it was past the lines of very unhappy passengers who had been waiting in line a long time. We received lots of dirty looks and a few choice words...:eek: I tried to put myself in their shoes.

The second week debarkation went quickly and smoothly.

Week 2 was even better because we had finally achieved Diamond status. Best part was the free drinks :D We went to all the shows again and enjoyed them just as much.

Ports of Call:

Roatan: We went with Victor Boden Tours. The 4 of us did their private excursion. We went to Monkey Business, their little zoo, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Then we toured the area, with a great guide who was very informative. He then took us to a resort on West Bay Beach to snorkel, swim and relax. He took us back when we were ready to go. It was a wonderful day.

Belize: We did a private snorkel excursion to Ho Chan and Shark Ray Alley through Shore Excursioneer....which is just a middle man. We ended up with Splash Wave Tours. There was good and bad about this, and if anyone is interested I can post more. The best part is their guarantee to get you back to the tender in time. Overall , I enjoyed it very much.

Cozumel: We went to Chankanaab Park (sp.?) I absolutely LOVED it. It had the best snorkeling of my trip, good food, and lots of fun things to see and do.

The water was unbelievably blue, the sand soft and white, and hammocks and chairs under palapas were plentiful. A great day!

Grand Cayman: We took a taxi to Smith Cove, a very picturesque local beach nearby. It has nice swimming, some things to see snorkeling, restrooms, a shower, and some picnic tables. I had fun watching crabs scurrying around on the rocks, geckos, a small iguana.....and so many chickens I thought I was in Kauai..lol.

Falmouth: We stayed in the port area and spent the afternoon at Margaritaville, enjoying good food, drinks and the beautiful pool with a waterfall and swim-up bar. The music was great and the atmosphere lots of fun.

Well, I'm done for today. Next post will be random thoughts, both good and bad.

Happy Mothers Day tomorrow..to all whom that applies. :)

Look forward to hearing more! What made the casino brutal? Just losses?

Very nice casino...I'm just a very bad gambler..LOL!

Hello everyone!

We are 4 adults getting ready to cruise on the Carnival Magic August 23, 2015 and we need to figure out how to get to the port in Galveston. Not sure if we are flying into Hobby or George Bush airport yet. We plan to arrive the day before. Is it best to stay in Houston and take Carnival shuttle on Sunday? Rent a car and stay in Galveston? Take a cab or ???? Has anyone stayed at La Quinta in Houston and used their Cruise and Stay package?

Thanks for any info you all can share!

We just returned from our cruise out of Galveston. We used the Cruise & Stay package at La Quinta. For the 4 of is it was $292 total. The shuttle picks you up at the hotel at 10am and you are a the ship by 11, When you return, the shuttle picks you up at the pier at 11 and takes you to the airport. The rooms are not fancy, but they are decent, and the beds are comfy. They had a nice little buffet breakfast available in the morning.

We flew in the night before and stayed at LaQuinta Hobby Airport , using their Cruise&Stay package. It worked very well for the four of us. It was nothing fancy, but the room was clean, the beds comfy, and the continental breakfast was good. Our transportation to the port and then back to the airport on the day of return was included. All of this for $292....I found it quite reasonable. There are no businesses within walking distance close by. They offer a shuttle to go somewhere for dinner...but know they only have one that runs at 6:00p.m. We took a taxi to and from dinner and had the driver make a quick stop at a liquor store so we could buy some wine to take with us, as now RC allows 2 bottles per stateroom.

Embarkation went smoothly and we were in our rooms by 1pm.

The ship is beautiful, however I agree with previous posters that the solarium is a bit underwhelming compared to other RC ships.

Golda, our stateroom attendant for our first week was OUTSTANDING. Besides keeping our room meticulously clean, she emptied the frig for us, got us wineglasses and extra hangers, and transferred all of our belongings to our new room for the second half of our B2B. She always wore a beautiful smile and a great attitude.

My first week was clouded by the fact that I had left behind a sister who was in the hospital very, very ill. I mention this only so I can tell you how wonderful Guest Services was. They allowed me complimentary,unlimited ship to shore phone calls to check on her progress. For this I was so very grateful. She began recovering nicely and I did not abuse their generosity by using phone calls the second week.

I cannot sing loud enough praises for "Kelly" the C&A Loyalty Ambassador. She was over the top helpful on so many things and she has the dearest personality. Please go visit her if you get the chance. Tell her Donna said "Hello".

The first week we did MTD, but could only get a 5:45 (or MUCH later) reservation. In retrospect I think I would just do the "show up" approach. The second week we did Main seating..it was on the first floor of the Sapphire dining room and I felt the atmosphere was much nicer.

We loved all the entertainment venues on the ship. We didn't do the Flowrider. but what fun it was to watch. The Ice show is fabulous, a don't miss. We thoroughly enjoyed all the shows in the theatre, with exception of the comedian on the last night, who was uncomfortable, unbearably bad! :eek: I almost felt they booked him unseen, unheard as a last minute replacement for a no-show.

The Casino is brutal...lol, and I really think Bingo is a joke, incredibly expensive for 4 short games and small pots.

Food is subjective, plus I am easily pleased, so I won't review that.

I wish they had at least one dance venue with a decent sized dance floor. Studio B would be perfect for that.

Oops...time for dinner and cards. I'm out of time, but not out of things to say...will return later..prob. tomorrow. :)

Thank you so much for responding to my questions! You have set my fears to rest. Now I can concentrate on being super excited.:D

Good call. Our shuttle wasn't picking us up until 11:15 so we decided to stay on the ship longer. BIG MISTAKE. Last year we cruised Navigator the same week (but not Easter week) and were the last passengers off the ship and got through customs and still had to wait almost an hour for our shuttle to Hobby. So this year we waited in the 5th floor MDR with the rest of the Diamonds who were called about 9:15am. We waited about half an hour after that to start to leave and we walked off the ship and right into a queue that extended all the way to the ship. Took us well over an hour just to get into the baggage/customs hall. Because most of the ship was Mexican nationals, once we got to the bottom of the escalator they called for people traveling with a visa (all the Mexican nationals) to go forward, which didn't seem fair since the US line is supposed to go faster, especially with that many non-US citizens on the ship. Once we finally got into the customs line we understood what was going on, as the whole serpentine line in the customs hall was for people traveling on a visa, and the US queue just went around the perimeter of the building. When we got through customs there were only a handful of people behind us in the US/non-visa queue, and the visa line still had about 1000 people waiting.

 

The whole time in line my wife was in contact with our shuttle driver (we did the La Quinta Hobby Airport stay/cruise package), begging him not to leave us. He told us he would have to leave once the van was full, and wouldn't come back for us because it was Easter Sunday and the traffic back into Galveston would take hours to get through. At one point my wife was on the phone with La Quinta threatening to dispute the credit card charges if they didn't wait for us. Luckily Carnival had the same delays, so almost everyone on the shuttle ended up getting through at about the same time (just before noon). FWIW The driver said he had never seen it this bad before.

 

This was probably our last time cruising from Galveston. It seems like the perfect port if you are able to drive and park your car by the port, but trying to get there by plane and get to Galveston and back to the airport is is just too hectic and stressful. Fort Lauderdale may be a bit more expensive for cruising over Spring Break, but from now on having the peace of mind that I can just walk out the front door and will have a cab waiting to take me on the 10 minute drive to the airport is worth every penny.

MIL76...How was your stay and cruise with LaQuinta? We have this booked for April 18. I would really like some feedback on the hotel and shuttle. Also, do you know if the shuttle will take you anywhere to buy wine?

Our very first cruise, about 17 years ago, due to a last minute opening,we were invited to go with a large The first night we were to sit at a large table with some of the group. We were asked if we minded being moved to another table so that a couple from their "group" could sit there, and we complied. We were moved to a 4 top and seated with an elderly couple celebrating their 60th anniversary! At first we were like...:eek: Well...we wouldn't trade that experience for anything. They were absolutely delightful and we enjoyed our nightly dining with them very much. I think of them often.

Our second cruise a couple of years later was on the Radiance. We checked out the dining room early and found we were to be seated at a table for 8. I asked if we could possibly be seated at a table by a window. Well...they obliged us!!!!!! :o We were seated at a table for 8 ,by a window, with a very large group (many tables) of Jewish families who had to have special meals, special wrapped tableware and even special scissors to cut open the packaging.

WAIT...don't flame me yet!

The family we sat with was very nice, and we enjoyed them. However due to their traditions, dining was a really long process. And because they were families...it was the atmosphere of a large , boisterous family get-together. Nothing wrong with it..it just wasn't a good fit.

Soooooo.....we asked to be seated at our original table the second night. This ended up perfectly. We met 2 other couples our age, we all hit it off and spent a lot of time together throughout the cruise.

However, I have to say I have always felt badly due to the fact that I never explained to the family we sat with the first night, why we left them.

Thank you for your reply! It might just be a bit much for me.

We are doing a B2B on Navigator in April. We had all of our Visa points put on the first week as onboard credit (before adding the 2nd week later). Does anyone know if I can transfer any leftover to the 2nd half or do I have to cash it out at the 3% penalty . Or is there another option? TIA

Bingo anyone?

Did you play Bingo? If so, how much was it?

What is the cost of playing Bingo on the Navigator?

Messunderstood

I called the shuttle company that transports for LaQuinta (they gave me the number). He said they pick up at the hotel at 10:00 and at the port for return at 11:00. I felt reassured after talking to him.

I think most of the negatives of this place are due to it being a bit lower end establishment and because of the area its in. We just wanted a decent place to stay and transportation that wasn't a logistical nightmare. I believe this will work for us.

If you end up going with LaQuinta , when you retutn, will you please post and let us know how it was?

Thank you so much for all your help. We will be on the Navigator for the 4/19 and 4/26 sailings. We added the second one too late to get the same stateroom...but we only have to move to the opposite side of the same deck...

both inside rooms..

merion....lol...I have to admit, I thought you were kidding about the fire door.

We are going on our very first back to back. I read somewhere that we don't have to pack the things hanging in the closet because they will move them as they are. Can anyone confirm that?

Also, may seem like a silly question, but do we have to put luggage tags on, or will our room steward already know where they go?

We will be diamond for the second half, I hope all notifications of that go smoothly. TIA

DUELING PIANO BAR......:(

That is one thing from the past that we tremendously miss on RCI !

Does anyone know who the CD will be on the Navigator for the April 19, 2014 sailing? Just curious, as it seems to be a big mystery.

This is at the La Quinta Inn and Suites Houston Hobby Airport.

It is their cruise&stay pkg. I don't think it's anything fancy, but it will do

us just fine for an overnight sleep and transportation . For us it's

"....all about that cruise.....bout that cruise....no hassle." 😁

This is what we have for 4 adults:

Includes- shuttle to hotel from HOBBY and 1 nights accomadations for 4 plus breakfast

-hotel shuttle to stores /restaurant in area

-shuttle to Galveston pier for embarkation

-shuttle back to airport after debarkation

Total: $292.49

Our reservations are currently for Springhill Suites. I'd prefer to stay there but for the combined price (roughly $300 for the overnight stay and transfer from airport -> hotel, hotel -> cruise terminal and then cruise terminal ->airport) I'm game for trying it! So long as no horrible reviews are fleshed out in the next day or so, I will swap our reservations since the hotel reviews themselves are mostly positive.

 

Dancingranni, we will be in the Navigator on 4/5. Please come back and review La Quinta's hotel and transfer service for me!!

I'm so sorry..I put the wrong month on my post. We are going on the April 19 sailing, so I guess a review from me won't help you. :( Maybe you can post one for me....:D Have a wonderful cruise.

I found the info for this LaQ way back in the forum somewhere, and the person who posted it sounded satisfied with it. If I run across it I will post it here for you.