mbk999

The Ellis Island portion of the Statue of  Liberty/Ellis tour is great.  We really liked walking around the Esplanade along Battery Park and the Colonial section at the end of Battery Park.  

Nice shout out from Royal Caribbean's Chief Meteorologist James Van Fleet tonight!

OK, I’m back!
I’m sooo sorry for not being able to update while on the cruise! So busy... I don’t know how you all find the time to live blog!
Let me take a step back to TUE (5/21) which was our day in Labadee!
With the early day, we decided to go with the basic complimentary room service continental breakfast (no delivery fee). For those that have never ordered breakfast, they request that you complete the order on the door hanger card (extras kept in the cabin - see door hanger and menu below) and place it on your cabin door by 3:00 AM. If you prefer the American breakfast (omelettes, pancakes, etc.), the breakfast is not complementary as the normal $7.95 room service delivery fee (per order delivered regardless of size) plus an 18% gratuity applies.


 
Our order arrived on time at exactly 6:00 AM (we requested the 6:00 am - 6:30 am delivery time). 
We never received information in our cabin regarding the Key and early departure from the ship on Monday, so that evening we stopped by guest services. They explained there was no early Key departure time for Labadee. We should just go down to the gangway prior to the scheduled time and they will escort us off of the ship first. In the end, we never had to mention the Key since we were the second group on line. We wanted to get off quickly so we could claim our cabana!
Once we got off the ship we stopped by the information booth on Labadee (just through the main entry). They directed us to our assigned driver, Willie, who took us to the cabanas at Nellie’s Beach. Since we were first to arrive, we were able to pick any cabana and we looked at a number of cabanas and finally selected NW4 (pics to follow).
We liked this cabana because we were not on top of the beach or facing the beach. We also did not have neighbors directly to our right (Barefoot Beach was through the trees to our right) and had some nice privacy since our neighbors to the left were at a slightly lower elevation. They actually left a little after lunchtime so we had the area all to ourselves. The sun exposure was absolutely perfect! We had the sun on the deck area, but never got blasted by the direct sun in the covered area, especially as the day went on, like the cabanas across Nellie’s beach. You’ll notice in some of the pics that the cabanas on the other side did not have an umbrella on their deck area! 
These pics were taken before we selected our cabana. We climbed up the hill to our right next to our cabana and took these pics. Later we realized that we were walking through the Barefoot Beach cabanas. We actually liked our cabana better since we had direct access to the water and could see the ship from the water, but did not have to look at it when we were in our cabana. 


 
Map of Labadee...
 
 
Here is our cabana (NW4)... Regis was our attendant and he was awesome! The cabana came with a large ice chest filled with large bottles of Evian bottled water. We would later use it as a cooler for the beers, etc. We also received the floating mats for all four of us. The cabana had a nice ceiling fan and one electrical outlet with two receptacles which came in handy for charging phones, playing music on my Bluetooth speaker, etc.
Shots of steps to our cabana (not for folks with mobility limitations)... we only left occasionally for lunch, bathroom breaks and to explore. This is the end of the beach on our side from the bottom of the steps.

 
Steps and cabana shots...







 
This ladder access may be too steep for children and folks that cannot swim will want to walk down to the beach to access the water...

 
A bunch of shots from the cabana... non-stop Labadoozies!




 
My my wife and friends having a blast!

 
Some shots with my GoPro from the water (still learning how to use it)... our cabana is the one on the left with the tree in front (a little blurry)...



 
... have to start boarding our return flight... more later!
Thanks for being patient! 

Good to know.  I was excited about the prospect of Hooked but I had my doubts on the MD crab cake and I'm not a huge lobster fan so the menu doesn't appeal to me very much.  I know others love lobster so neither my wife or I partake in Lobster Night to leave at least two more lobster tails for others on the ship.

As a MD native, crab cakes just aren't the same outside the Delmarva area......
Thank you for all the details about the Key.
 

As a MD native, crab cakes just aren't the same outside the Delmarva area......
Thank you for all the details about the Key.
 

Well I just spent a few minutes on YouTube watching SpaceBalls....
Yeah, that's incredible.  Nice life if you can swing it.

My first thought wasn't actually the crowds, it was:  that's gonna confuse some passengers.  It's weird to me but I know there are people that have no idea of what  ship they are on.  They just think the name is "Royal Caribbean".   To have two or three docked at the same time?  
Here's hoping there's not two Oasis class ships at the same time.....

@Lovetocruise2002 and @WAAAYTOOO give sound advice.  I avoid transferring in Chicago at any time of the year if I can possibly avoid it.  I'd pick Option #2 as the best of the worst.  I'm not as familiar with that airport but Chicago would be a no-go for me.   

@Lovetocruise2002 and @WAAAYTOOO give sound advice.  I avoid transferring in Chicago at any time of the year if I can possibly avoid it.  I'd pick Option #2 as the best of the worst.  I'm not as familiar with that airport but Chicago would be a no-go for me.   

Well I just spent a few minutes on YouTube watching SpaceBalls....
Yeah, that's incredible.  Nice life if you can swing it.

On the Allure we were able to get one bottle/per card/per bar visit and I believe we were able to get more than one as we were exiting the ships for port call.    There was no limit so we would stockpile bottles for the room.  There are plenty of recycle containers on the pool deck.

My first thought wasn't actually the crowds, it was:  that's gonna confuse some passengers.  It's weird to me but I know there are people that have no idea of what  ship they are on.  They just think the name is "Royal Caribbean".   To have two or three docked at the same time?  
Here's hoping there's not two Oasis class ships at the same time.....

My first thought wasn't actually the crowds, it was:  that's gonna confuse some passengers.  It's weird to me but I know there are people that have no idea of what  ship they are on.  They just think the name is "Royal Caribbean".   To have two or three docked at the same time?  
Here's hoping there's not two Oasis class ships at the same time.....

That is my opinion too.  For me, even if I'm paying a little more than I would have ala carte, I'm okay with that if I don't have to think about it while I'm trying to relax.  I know everyone doesn't share that opinion but it works for me.

My first thought wasn't actually the crowds, it was:  that's gonna confuse some passengers.  It's weird to me but I know there are people that have no idea of what  ship they are on.  They just think the name is "Royal Caribbean".   To have two or three docked at the same time?  
Here's hoping there's not two Oasis class ships at the same time.....

My first thought wasn't actually the crowds, it was:  that's gonna confuse some passengers.  It's weird to me but I know there are people that have no idea of what  ship they are on.  They just think the name is "Royal Caribbean".   To have two or three docked at the same time?  
Here's hoping there's not two Oasis class ships at the same time.....

I think you got a good feel for the other responses that San Juan is a great port to walk around and do on your own.   The little legs might get tired with all the walking but it's an easy, safe place to explore.  It's our (new) favorite tour stop.   The kids should like the forts, at the very least enjoy running around on the wide open grass space.  The Old San Juan gate is a great picture spot too.   

I found a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon cruise in 1993.  We were on Premier's S/S Atlantic (one of the Big Red Boats).  We were docked at Nassau at the same time as the Empress (was it the Nordic Empress at the time?).  I just remember being awed by how big she was.  I think the Atlantic was ~30,000 tons and their S/S Majestic was ~17,500 tons.    The "Big" Red Boat is off on the right (with the life boats on the top deck).   I have no idea what the little ship on the left is, I just know my wife will never get on that ship unless it was a tender vessel....
Apologies for the non-twangster image quality, a scan of a crappy 25 year old print.

Not to sidetrack the cruise discussion but this is the same experience my sister had flying out of Philly to Key West on American.   Delayed, delayed, cancelled, rebooked 3 days later  on a 5 day trip .  At least they were able to get to Florida later that day (Orlando) and then do the 8-10 hour drive to Key West.    Next time, if it's practical, Southwest out of Baltimore has lots of options to Florida.  Driving from Orlando or Tampa to Miami would have been more palatable than Philly to Miami.
Glad you had a good time.  I feel the same way about the drink package.   Comparing costs for us, I would have broken even but it would have been cheaper for my wife not to have gotten a package.  I just look at it as a convenience  fee to not worry about it during the trip, why add stress to vacation?!   
 

I found a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon cruise in 1993.  We were on Premier's S/S Atlantic (one of the Big Red Boats).  We were docked at Nassau at the same time as the Empress (was it the Nordic Empress at the time?).  I just remember being awed by how big she was.  I think the Atlantic was ~30,000 tons and their S/S Majestic was ~17,500 tons.    The "Big" Red Boat is off on the right (with the life boats on the top deck).   I have no idea what the little ship on the left is, I just know my wife will never get on that ship unless it was a tender vessel....
Apologies for the non-twangster image quality, a scan of a crappy 25 year old print.

I found a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon cruise in 1993.  We were on Premier's S/S Atlantic (one of the Big Red Boats).  We were docked at Nassau at the same time as the Empress (was it the Nordic Empress at the time?).  I just remember being awed by how big she was.  I think the Atlantic was ~30,000 tons and their S/S Majestic was ~17,500 tons.    The "Big" Red Boat is off on the right (with the life boats on the top deck).   I have no idea what the little ship on the left is, I just know my wife will never get on that ship unless it was a tender vessel....
Apologies for the non-twangster image quality, a scan of a crappy 25 year old print.

I found a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon cruise in 1993.  We were on Premier's S/S Atlantic (one of the Big Red Boats).  We were docked at Nassau at the same time as the Empress (was it the Nordic Empress at the time?).  I just remember being awed by how big she was.  I think the Atlantic was ~30,000 tons and their S/S Majestic was ~17,500 tons.    The "Big" Red Boat is off on the right (with the life boats on the top deck).   I have no idea what the little ship on the left is, I just know my wife will never get on that ship unless it was a tender vessel....
Apologies for the non-twangster image quality, a scan of a crappy 25 year old print.

I found a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon cruise in 1993.  We were on Premier's S/S Atlantic (one of the Big Red Boats).  We were docked at Nassau at the same time as the Empress (was it the Nordic Empress at the time?).  I just remember being awed by how big she was.  I think the Atlantic was ~30,000 tons and their S/S Majestic was ~17,500 tons.    The "Big" Red Boat is off on the right (with the life boats on the top deck).   I have no idea what the little ship on the left is, I just know my wife will never get on that ship unless it was a tender vessel....
Apologies for the non-twangster image quality, a scan of a crappy 25 year old print.