stevendom57

Having come off a four night cruise on Mariner OTS in November, I was surprised by the two formal nights on Liberty OTS out of Galveston. On Mariner, it was "dress your best" in the MDR. On Liberty, it a full blown formal night. For men, sport coats up to tuxedos were worn by probably 75% of the men. I looked like a bum wearing slacks and a polo shirt. Oh well, live and learn.

Consider going from November to May. That way you avoid the hurricane season. While a hurricane will probably not cause you cruise to be cancelled, it could cause it to be diverted to different ports. If you wait until May (which I am doing) you also have the best chance of having ports that were damaged last hurricane season to be repaired and ready for tourists.

Next week my DW and I are taking the Dolphin Push, Pull and Swim excursion in George Town, Grand Cayman. Should we wear or swim suits there or do they have facilities to change from street clothes? TIA Steven

Thanks for the info.

I am getting on Liberty OTS in a few days. When we are in Cozumel we are taking the RC tour to Tulum. Is bottled water available on the bus trip? If so, is it free or is it an extra fee? TIA Steven

Thanks @SpeedNoodles, that's exactly what I have done. Amazon to the rescue.

Just think about how it will be in 30 years when people comment about taking small, cozy ships like Oasis of the Seas.

Maybe you were looking for the shows on May 32 and 33. ?

Are there any restrictions with bring back vanilla to the ship?

Hi all, I am going to George Town, in the Cayman Islands in a few weeks. I have the Dolphin Push, Pull, and Swim excursion booked. Are there any restrictions on sun screen for this excursion? I don't want to hurt the environment and certainly not the dolphins, but all I have is regular sunscreen. Thanks Steven

That flat iron looks like a weapon to me. ?

I think we need to be careful with our nomenclature. In the very recent past, a flat iron was used for ironing clothes. It had nothing to do with hair (unless you put you head on an ironing board). The famous "flatiron building" in New York was named such because it resembled the shape of a flat iron.

My DW and I went to Miami in November. Like you, we had a hard time finding things that appealed to us. You would think that Miami would have a lot do, after all it is MIAMI!. Unless you like laying on the beach with all of the other 20 something bodybuilders (which we didn't), we didn't find a whole lot to do. We finally settled on a segway tour (nothing says tourist like a segway tour, right?) and visiting the Vizcaya Museum. But neither of these is fun, or even possible, with a three year old. Steven

Now the question for me is how do you tip the waiter and assistant waiter? I use the envelope provided in my cabin for my cabin steward, but how do you give the waiter/assistant their money. Just cash in the hand, leave it on the table as you leave after the last meal, get another envelope from GS?

Yesterday I was looking at the cruise planner for my May 5 cruise. My booked excursions would show up one minute but when I exited the shore excursions section for that port and reentered, it would disappear. It did this repeatedly. It was very nerve-wracking to cancel an excursion, not knowing whether it would appear for me to rebook at a lower price. I eventually got my three excursions rebooked and saved about 25%

I have a rolling cart with wheels that is made so that can strap a backpack on it to do what you say. It is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYPGCCS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Do you think there will be any problem on embarkation day if I use that?

I am going on Liberty OTS and I am determined to save a little money by bring on my 2 bottles of wine and my 12 pack of Diet Cokes. I realize that these must be in my carry on bags. This is going to be pretty heavy to carry around in a backpack. What do other people do for this situation? Thanks Steven

Wow. I wouldn't have thought that the island was that large of an operation. Impressive.

OK, I'm a cruiser and an engineer. I have been to Cococay once and saw that there was very little need for a typical infrastructure (electricity, fresh water, etc) for the previous activities on the island. With all of the new water park, the new freshwater pool and other facilities, how have they beefed up the physical plant on the island? I mean, surely the ships do not provide the electricity and they haven't shipped in the water for that pool. Does anyone know? Steven

Not to mention that CC is 200 miles west (well, southwest) from Houston. That would make for about 8-10 more hours cruising to get to typical Caribbean cruise ports like Jamaica.

@carlosalonsor and @Mljstr. Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. I have read on these forums that USD would be accepted in touristy areas like Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, but I was worried about Tulum (spelled correctly this time). I will just bring my dollars, then.

I will going to Talum this May on a RC excursion. do I need to bring some pesos along or will US dollars be accepted?

I just bought a small, mirrorless camera to take on excursions. I have been an amateur photographer in the pass and really don't like cell phone cameras except for taking pictures of business cards, etc. I find that the lack of a viewfinder is a problem with my somewhat bad vision.

My DW and I will be in this activity on the May 5 sailing of Liberty OTS. We are wine novices, heck I think Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill is classy stuff (not really). I will let you know how we liked it Steven

My DW has recently started to play American Mahjong. She is wondering of there are any games on RCI ships.