Dan Curtis

We are doing the taste of San Juan, we have did the Bacardi rum tour in the past, very good, not great.

On 12/2/2021 at 6:18 PM, KLA said:

Following this, too - scheduled to visit Labadee on our 1/29 sailing. 

A group of 7 of us are on the same cruise, we booked the jet ski excursion as well as the roller coaster, we just booked the excursions a couple of weeks ago, maybe they are holding out hope to re-open, hope it’s not just a sea day they add,we enjoy getting of and exploring, see you on the high seas.

We also have did the horse back riding two different times and did the Segway tour to a beach and spent a couple of hours on the beach, really enjoyed the segways.

3 hours ago, KLA said:

Hi there! Thanks for sharing - we're looking forward to sailing on Jewel in just under 2 months! 

Curious if you heard anything regarding passenger capacity? Did the ship feel fairly empty or did it feel like pre-Covid times (since the Windjammer is open for dinner and all)?

I'm getting the sense that some of the smaller/older ships have been slower to fill to capacity while some of the bigger ships are increasing more quickly. 

We are cruising on the Jewel in late January, wondering the same thing, we live across the river in Northern Ky from you and hope it’s really cold hear when we leave, ha.

Unless things have changed, the windjammer will be open, as sorentos pizza, but since covid I have not cruised, but have one booked.

15 hours ago, Shay said:

I'm scheduled for Labadee in February as well and I have not had any schedule updates. However, when I was on Anthem last week my waiter told me his supervisor asked him about his Labadee uniform for sizing .

We are scheduled in late January and have excursions booked, we have not received any updates as yet either.

9 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes.

You could walk in that amount of time, ha. 

Enjoying your blog, thank you. We are cruising in January, so keeping an eye on everyone’s blog. Also we live in Ky, so we travel to your beautiful part of the country about every year, I didn’t know any actually lived there, ha, thought it was all tourist.  Have a blast.

That is odd, I just booked an excursion thru the royal website for late January in San Juan, there was probably 20 plus options, might want to call Royal.

2 hours ago, Cmaccullen said:

This will never end

Unfortunately....I agree... ghz.

You mentioned the windjammer not having a variety at breakfast, I hope this changes, only time we visit there is breakfast for the variety. Do you know if you can still get the omelets made to order, thanks for the pics, weather looks great, we are just a little over two months til our cruise on the Jewel, safe travels.

On the Jewel in January, thanks for the blog, enjoy the cruise.

Many of the shows started at 730 for the 530 dining time, worked out very nice for us. I would say choose the time you prefer to dine, there is usually two show times.

On 10/9/2021 at 9:57 AM, KLA said:

I can confirm that as of yesterday, he was still on the Odyssey and celebrated his 9000th point last night! 

We met him once, like seeing a legend... just noticed, we are on the same cruise in January on the Jewel. 

I just made a payment today for a cruise on the same date, last payment date is December 30 th, I never pay it off much before due date. By any chance are you on the Jewel, there is seven of us booked on that cruise.

I would fly to the grocery store if I could, I don’t like driving for vacation, I have what I call the 5 hr rule, if it’s over 5 hours I’m on an airplane, the day before cruise is over, you start thinking, ghz I have a long drive home, no thanks, I work at the Cincinnati airport ( which is actually in Northern Ky), I worked every day of the pandemic, flying is totally safe, as soon as the plane unloads, a crew is cleaning and spraying, plus still a mask mandate. 

Yes sandals work, anything that you don’t mind getting wet.

So sorry to hear, hope you can rebook soon. Crazy times. 

58 minutes ago, IRMO12HD said:

Thanks so much for this update; I've got it booked in December, and was wondering how it was!  It's one of my bucket list items -- riding a horse on the beach and riding in the water!

IT was on my wife’s as well, we really enjoyed it, the horse looked like they are taken care of quit well, tour guide was great, of course they take your picture and try and get you buy it at the end. One little tip, the horses are in the water up to about the top of the saddle, so your legs and shoes are going to get soaked, something we didn’t think of, my wife had Sandels , no big deal, I had gym shoes, I actually found a Payless once we got back in town and bought a cheap pair of shoes for the rest of our trip, but awesome day, we hope to do it again in February.

Not sure if you enjoy horse back riding,we booked  thru Royal and it was a nice scenic ride to the farm, you ride thru the hills and then down to the beach, where the horses ride along the beach, then out in the water you go, the horses actually  love the water, highly recommend.

4 hours ago, jticarruthers said:

Interesting study in the dynamics of safety protocols being strict enough to encourage more people to sail vs so strict that it discourages people.

I have a couple of medium (20+ people) groups that are probably going to cancel based on the requirement that kids 12+ have to be vaccinated for example.

My sailing on Freedom was fun, the mask mandate on board got old fast .. combine that with 100% vaccination and having to chase around jumping through hoops for pre-cruise testing and I am really struggling with whether its worth it for a quick weekend getaway.  

Certainly not all Royal's decision and not their issue alone.

I tend to agree with you, we love cruising, just started cruising about 15 years ago and waiting on cruise 21, we have one in the bank after being canceled twice, just not sure if we will cruise with mask  mandates and etc, no fault of any cruise line, unfortunately this isn’t going away anytime soon and may have to become a land lover again.

We personally prefer the freedom class , not to big, not to small, to each there own, but we have been on freedom of the seas five times. 

On 2/8/2021 at 1:06 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Feb 7 was a terrible anniversary for us.  It was the date of our last cruise (Anthem Feb 7, 2020).  Of course, that is the cruise that ended up being delayed by 3 days due to an erroneous COVID scare...so the true anniversary of our last boarding will be on Wednesday(Feb 10).  Hard to believe it's been a whole year.  This truly sucks.

We was a week before you all, we was out of San Juan, I agree, so hard to believe, we thought by now we would have been on two more, it’s just hard to imagine, something so many of us truly love, just can’t cruise, we’re not getting any younger, I hope we can get sailing soon, we have canceled two now, hoping for November, we just need 14 more days to diamond plus, we’ll keep trying.

We just canceled yet again, not wearing a mask in 90 degree weather on top deck, hate to say it, after 20 cruises, we might have to find a new favorite vacation. I have the first shot, if the shots are not good enough, we’re holding off.

I think it’s gone, but the Empress of the seas, very pretty, but just to much motion, only one I have ever got a little sea sic on.