B2B two short cruises - good, bad, ugly? Really need opinions!

[Mum2Mercury]

22 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

This is indeed an unintended perk of B2B's at PC.

We hypothesized that it's not something that affects many people, and that closing the loophole would cost more than letting those few B2B people "slide".  

[CruizinSusan70]

Oasis for 7.  Too many party people on the 3 day cruises and the Oasis is better than the Indy, have sailed on both.

[Thisguylikestocruise]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

We hypothesized that it's not something that affects many people, and that closing the loophole would cost more than letting those few B2B people "slide".  

Does this loophole still exist? I’m doing a 5/4 b2b from PC.

[mentor1000]

19 hours ago, brillohead said:

It sounds like you're not interested in Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel as port stops.  

Have you looked around to see what other things might be there that WOULD interest at least some of the people in your group?  And not everyone has to do the same excursions, so you could mix it up quite a bit.

Roatan has ATV riding, horseback riding, AMAZING snorkeling (from beach or boat), lots of zipline and monkey/sloth options, and all-inclusive excursions (all of which can be booked separately from the ship).  

Costa Maya has golf cart rentals, Maya Chan resort, ruins, etc. (which can be booked separately).

Cozumel has so many options -- the amazing race, a large variety of beach/pool resorts, booze tours, cooking tours, snorkeling, shopping for drugs (at the drugstore, people!!!!), etc.

 

 

 

We went to Cozumel several times and really liked it. Right now, with all the news about Mexico, our friends are just scared of going anywhere near Mexico. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just trying to figure out how to please the group.

 

We've always done excursions on our own but maybe I could look into ship excursions. They are more money but my group may feel safer going that route. Snorkeling and ziplines are our 2 favorite activities so I need to look into Roatan more as I have not been there before. Thank you for the suggestion!

[mentor1000]

4 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

- I love CocoCay, but I lean towards ONE beach day in a one-week cruise (I like variety), and my husband really wouldn't go for two CocoCay stops in one week.  But the real question is, How do your people feel about this? 

- If you go with Independence, I assume your other stop would be Nassau.  If I never go to Nassau again, it'll be too soon.  I'd choose the Honduras and Mexican stops before Nassau.  

 

Thank you for such a detailed reply. You brought up so many great points!

 

Yes, we'd love 2 days at CocoCay as my group is all about beach days. But I'm with you about Nassau.  The last 4-5 times we docked there, I didn't even get off the ship.

 

 

4 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

When we drove into the parking deck for our 3-night on Independence, we were surprised that the machine demands payment up front (not as you leave the deck days later) ...

 

 Funny regarding the parking.  Our last cruise on Indy, we were frantically looking for the parking ticket in the car as we were trying to leave. We thought we lost it and then driving out, we saw that the gate was open and no parking attendant to even ask for help. So we thought it was broken and they just let people out for free. Only when we came home and looked at credit card receipt did we remember that we prepay for a certain number of nights. 😆

 

4 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

We did our first 3-night in December, and this is true.  Maybe take away the adjective "totally", but -- in general -- it was a younger, harder-drinking, wilder crowd. 

 

Yea, that's a huge negative. DH & I are Royal all the way but fell for a 3-day NCL cruise with drinks included once. That was the worst experience ever!! I felt like I was at an ever-ending frat party for 3 days. Drunk college kids EVERYWHERE.  It was horrible.  I know this wouldn't be the same since Royal's drinks are too expensive to get drunk on for college kids on, lol. But the idea of a more "party" crowd is still a big turn off.

 

4 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

 

On the way home we discussed the differences and agreed that we'd do another 3-night ... but we wouldn't pay more than $150 for a cruise that short ...

 

 

 

Yea.... These are summertime cruises so we're looking at a $1000/pp in a balcony for 7 days - on either cruise ship. With all those points in mind, it would be too much to pay to put up with all that.

[brillohead]

22 minutes ago, mentor1000 said:

We went to Cozumel several times and really liked it. Right now, with all the news about Mexico, our friends are just scared of going anywhere near Mexico. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just trying to figure out how to please the group.

 

We've always done excursions on our own but maybe I could look into ship excursions. They are more money but my group may feel safer going that route. Snorkeling and ziplines are our 2 favorite activities so I need to look into Roatan more as I have not been there before. Thank you for the suggestion!

Keep in mind that Cozumel is an island, not part of mainland Mexico like Cancun.  As a female who travels solo (and who was in Cozumel ten times in the last year on cruises), I have NEVER felt unsafe on the island.  The taxis are all regulated, and the various beach clubs are private (no random vendors coming up to sell you stuff).  

The snorkeling in Roatan is AMAZING.  I like to go to West Bay Beach, where you can snorkel right off the beach.  (It's nothing for me to spend 4-5 hours snorkeling in one day there.) 

Here's a video that @Sea Dog put together for me when I used @Ozark_Kid's GoPro at West Bay Beach in January of this year:
 

I can highly recommend Let's Go Roatan Tours -- I've used them probably a dozen times now.  They have access to a variety of vehicles and drivers, so if you don't want to do something with the whole big group in a bus together, you can instead break off into smaller groups and each group has their own vehicle and driver -- some can do monkeys and sloths with an island tour, others can zipline and go to the beach to snorkel, others can just do an island tour, others can do monkeys/sloths and zipline with no beach time... completely customizable, and amazingly affordable considering you have a private driver for the whole day!  Just email / WhatsApp with Josue Elias and he can work out whatever different groups you are interested in.

[mentor1000]

3 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Keep in mind that Cozumel is an island, not part of mainland Mexico like Cancun.  As a female who travels solo (and who was in Cozumel ten times in the last year on cruises), I have NEVER felt unsafe on the island.  The taxis are all regulated, and the various beach clubs are private (no random vendors coming up to sell you stuff).  

The snorkeling in Roatan is AMAZING.  I like to go to West Bay Beach, where you can snorkel right off the beach.  (It's nothing for me to spend 4-5 hours snorkeling in one day there.) 

Here's a video that @Sea Dog put together for me when I used @Ozark_Kid's GoPro at West Bay Beach in January of this year:
 

I can highly recommend Let's Go Roatan Tours -- I've used them probably a dozen times now.  They have access to a variety of vehicles and drivers, so if you don't want to do something with the whole big group in a bus together, you can instead break off into smaller groups and each group has their own vehicle and driver -- some can do monkeys and sloths with an island tour, others can zipline and go to the beach to snorkel, others can just do an island tour, others can do monkeys/sloths and zipline with no beach time... completely customizable, and amazingly affordable considering you have a private driver for the whole day!  Just email / WhatsApp with Josue Elias and he can work out whatever different groups you are interested in.

 

Thank you for recommendation.  That does look amazing! I'll check that tour place out.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, mentor1000 said:

I need to look into Roatan more as I have not been there before. Thank you for the suggestion!

Look on the port of call section of cruise critic for Roatan and then on YouTube for videos.  There are multiple locations for monkeys and sloths.  Excellent excursion that you can do on your own.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, mentor1000 said:

 

Thank you for such a detailed reply. You brought up so many great points!

 

Yes, we'd love 2 days at CocoCay as my group is all about beach days. But I'm with you about Nassau.  The last 4-5 times we docked there, I didn't even get off the ship.

 

 

 

 Funny regarding the parking.  Our last cruise on Indy, we were frantically looking for the parking ticket in the car as we were trying to leave. We thought we lost it and then driving out, we saw that the gate was open and no parking attendant to even ask for help. So we thought it was broken and they just let people out for free. Only when we came home and looked at credit card receipt did we remember that we prepay for a certain number of nights. 😆

 

 

Yea, that's a huge negative. DH & I are Royal all the way but fell for a 3-day NCL cruise with drinks included once. That was the worst experience ever!! I felt like I was at an ever-ending frat party for 3 days. Drunk college kids EVERYWHERE.  It was horrible.  I know this wouldn't be the same since Royal's drinks are too expensive to get drunk on for college kids on, lol. But the idea of a more "party" crowd is still a big turn off.

 

 

Yea.... These are summertime cruises so we're looking at a $1000/pp in a balcony for 7 days - on either cruise ship. With all those points in mind, it would be too much to pay to put up with all that.

College kids will buy the drink package no matter how expense it is on a 3 day weekend cruise.  I had a FCC to use up that had 225 left on it and I got an extra 100 in OBC from RCI and an extra 50 in OBC from my TA.  It was a 3 day out of Miami in November and had so many bachelor and bachelorette parties...it was a joke and we hated it even though it did not cost a whole lot.

[Mum2Mercury]

15 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

Does this loophole still exist? I’m doing a 5/4 b2b from PC.

We just sailed from PC in December (I'm writing this in April), and at that point they were charging for parking as cars entered the deck.  I was initially confused and asked my husband, "How do they know how many days we should pay?", and he pointed out, "Everyone sailing from this terminal is going on Independence for three days."  Then we puzzled out that anyone who would be staying on the ship would not re-enter the deck.  

13 hours ago, mentor1000 said:

... They are more money but my group may feel safer going that route ...

Money is not my main motivation for avoiding ship excursions.  

13 hours ago, mentor1000 said:

Thank you for such a detailed reply. You brought up so many great points! ...

You're most welcome. 

[PhillyFan33579]

On 3/31/2023 at 9:23 PM, mentor1000 said:

All great points! The party cruise is what I was thinking too and it would be a negative for us.

 

I agree that with the price of drink packages, it would be beneficial to be able to buy it for just half of the cruise.

 

So hard to decide!

I live in Florida and have cruised multiple times on 3/4 day cruises on both Independence and Freedom, and in the past Navigator and Mariner.  The crowd on these shorter cruises are significantly different than on longer cruises. These cruises are definitely party cruises, especially the 3 day cruises. Personally I enjoy the more outgoing crowd on these cruises where it seems everyone on the ship has the deluxe drink package. The party atmosphere also carries over to Coco Cay. Not sure how big a negative this is in your book. 

[PhillyFan33579]

18 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

Does this loophole still exist? I’m doing a 5/4 b2b from PC.

I did a B2B on Wonder on January and the “loophole” still existed then. Paid for 7 days but parked for 14 days. 

[brillohead]

10 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Money is not my main motivation for avoiding ship excursions.

Ditto, although it is definitely one factor. 

The frustration factor with ship excursions makes them not enjoyable for me... and what's the point of doing an excursion if it's not enjoyable?

Anytime you're dealing with a large group of the general public, you're gonna have idiots who screw it up for everyone else.  That's not how I want to spend my day in port!