Firefly

Not sure if it was coincidence or not, but within ten minutes of making final payment on a cruise that included a stop at Costa Maya, I got an email from Royal canceling my reservations for the Aviary. My son will be bummed, but I guess that means now we will spend the entire day in Mahahual. I feel really bad for all the people there that depend on tourism now that Perfect Day Mexico looks to take over everything. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love PDCC, but don’t want to just cruise from private cruise beach club to private cruise beach club.

I will looking for updates as we move into and through the summer. We’re going to be at Costa Maya in late August and are looking forward to walking through the Aviary before enjoing the day in Mahaual itself. I booked the Aviary for my bird enthusiast son via the cruise planner because the price was $10 vs $14 on site. So far, my reservation is still showing, so I will be watching for that to possibly be cancelled. I can’t help but wonder how they can handle all the cruise passengers (Both Royal and other lines) if the entire current port area is under heavy construction. You currently have no choice but to navigate that maze to get to the taxis if you want to head into town. For the sake of all the people In Mahahual whose jobs depend on cruise tourism, I hope it isn’t to devastating an impact as construction takes place.

I typically like to choose my cabin location, but have done GTY a few times when it was the only available option, or in one case where it saved over $100pp on a cruise I am trying to keep costs down on. On Oasis back in 2019, I got my OVB GTY assignment about 2 months before the sail date. Most recently my OVB GTY for Star was assigned about three weeks after booking, seven months before sail date. In both of those cases my TA said the sailing is quite full. My other current GTY booking is for a relatively empty sailing on Enchanment. Booked a few weeks ago, sails in August and no assignment yet. Many, many rooms of all types available. Literally booked this one because I wanted the cheapest way to earn a few Crown & Anchor nights before my Star cruise so that I receive my first crystal block on Star.

We will be visiting Costa Maya/Mahahual in August and our go to excursion (Maya Chan) will not be open for the season yet. It’s just me (Mom) and my 17 yr old son on this cruise, so I’m looking for a safe place to spend a few hours on the beach with food and shade. I’ve narrowed it down to Jamie’s Blue Reef and his newer venture down the beach, Luna’s Bar. Anyone been to either or both of these places?

I always have a tough time choosing a favorite between Radiance class and Voyager class. Whereas some of my favorite most memorable cruises were on Mariner, I absolutely love the smaller more classic cruise feeling on the Radiance class ships. Even when sailing at higher capacity, it has not felt overcrowded like my cruises on the Oasis class ships. I enjoy seeing the ocean from the public spaces, and the Radiance class definitely delivers.

Serenade docked in Cozumel this morning at Punta Langosta downtown. Captain Stig informed us we will stay docked overnight and enjoy a second day in Cozumel tomorrow. Can’t complain at that. The independent snorkeling excursion I had booked was cancelled for today due to wind and rough seas, so hopefully tomorrow is better since we opted to reschedule. Everything on the ship is going great despite the uncertainty of where/when we will be able to return to FL.

Change of plans on Serenade. We are now heading to Costa Maya. The sunset tonight while sailing between Cozumel and the mainland was memorable with Milton looming on the horizon. Weather on the ship is still fine.

Currently on board Serenade. We left Tampa yesterday at 4:30pm and are currently just off the coast of Mexico already - I can see the beach high rises in Cancún from my balcony. We are docking in Cozumel overnight tonight. The cruise has been relatively smooth so far and sunny all afternoon. Captain Stig said we might have bad weather overnight. Feeling I made the right decision to leave my car with family north of Orlando instead of parking it in Tampa. Wondering how long this 5 night cruise will actually be…

We did one in 2022 at Coco Cay. We didn’t purchase ahead of time, but the night before our day at Coco Cay they called our room asking if we would be interested in a private photo session while at our cabana, no pressure to buy anything. (Guess they were desperate for family sessions in hopes someone would buy pictures afterwards) The pictures actually turned out really nice when we went to view them at the photo gallery. They were rediculously overpriced and as much as we liked them, we left the photo gallery without purchasing. Later that evening my husband returned and chatted with the photographer/salesman (same person in our case) and offered a much lower price for a 13x17 metal print (shipped to us) and several other digital prints with the permission to print wherever we wished. They accepted and we got the photos we loved for a price no more than what we pay at home. Don’t be affraid to bargin. My advice would be to talk to someone on the ship personally instead of purchasing ahead online.

I’ve done this excursion booked through Royal twice, once with each of my teenage sons on separate cruises. We really enjoyed it and thought it was worth the price we paid which was about $50pp on sale. The ruins are smaller, but still interesting considering we haven’t visited the larger ruins on the mainland. The tour at the Mayan Coco Company was also very interesting, you learn the history of the cocoa bean and how the Mayans made chocolate. Overall the tour lasted about 4 to 4.5 hours so there was time after the tour to explore the port a bit. Not sure what the are doing now, but the first time I took the tour we also stopped at El Mirador beach for 20 minutes or so. The second time I took the tour we stopped at the Mayan Bee Sanctuary. Both of these places offered bathrooms and beverages/snacks for purchase.

I looked at this tour last year but ended up just visiting the Pirate Museum. Interested to hear about your tour, we might consider the tour next time we are in Nassau. (We usually stay on the ship)

Cruise prices these days are insane, and not just for Star. We will definitely NOT be booking. All of the sudden college tuition prices are looking like a deal. ( We have a high school senior this year making his college decision) I’m really bummed that after our upcoming Christmas cruise we have nothing at all booked. We prefer the smaller ships and cruising out of Port Canaveral so who knows when we will sail again.

We had a fabulous tour with this company. They only do private tours so it’s just your family and the snorkeling was fantastic. Worth every penny. https://www.stthomasadventures.com/snorkel

Royal always docks at Town Center/Coxen Hole . (Mahogany Bay is exclusively Carnival and their other brands.) There is not much at Town Center - a few shops, a duty free store,leather shop, jewelry etc. Think typical port shops, just on a MUCH smaller scale than places like Cozumel and Costa Maya. This is definitely a port to pre plan an excursion unless you plan on just staying on the ship.

We seriously don’t travel without this stuff, especially when sharing those tiny bathrooms/staterooms. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C659V6K/ref=sspa_dk_hqp_detail_aax_0?psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9ocXBfc2hhcmVk&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyVjZOVEdJOU00OU5HJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTM1NjYwNDE4SFJGNk9MMlE0JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwMTk0MjIyVFU4Q1JCUUdUWjg2JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfaHFwX3NoYXJlZCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

We use this brand and ask our stateroom attendant for and extra blanket to put between the air matress and the sheet to cut any noise from the plastic matresses. It packs pretty small and is worth the space in our suitcase for a good nights sleep. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J972O8Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Inflatable mattress pad - the beds are soooo hard! motion activated nightlight for the bathroom on older ships PooPouri Spray Wristlet that holds my phone, seapass card and cash for bar tips

Hard to believe I spent 1 of every 10 nights on a cruise this year!

Unfortunately, no milkshakes at all on Brilliance

Looks absolutely incredible, especially for families who are looking for lots of thrills and activities to entertain the kids. That said, I highly doubt our family will sail Icon as we prefer the more relaxed smaller and midsized ships. Oasis class, and now Icon, are just way too big for us - too many people, lines and crowds. We cruise to relax, chill and enjoy the culture of ports, but I know many cruise for the ship. Icon will no doubt be a hit with families.

On Mariner now - Drink of the day is $11 (plus grats)

My 16 year old son has Autism but at this age does much better with lines, wait times etc, but when he was younger it was much more difficult, so I understand where you are coming from. We haven’t disclosed our son’s diagnosis while cruising because we honestly don’t require any accommodations at this point. However, this past February when we were in line to check in for Brilliance in Tampa, we were the first family at the corral for our time slot - we had the second slot, 11am and we were right on time. Back then they strickly enforced check in times then so most other corrals had long lines and unhappy, grumbling people. I was chatting with the port personel lady while waiting for the line ahead to move before they let more people in the building. After interacting with my son, she pulled me aside and asked if he had a disability. I said yes and a few moments later when they let more people onto the building she walked us to a check in person that had no line (probably the key/ suite line) and we zipped through and where walking on the ship a few minutes later. If you have any concerns at all definitely reach out to the port personnel as well as crew once on board. Have a great cruise!

Hopefully your TA can get it all straightened out for you. I definitely understand your frustration.

Update: All is good now. We got our same hump balconies that we originally booked for Voyager. Huge sigh of relief. Now I can get excited about this cruise again.

Our cruise planner finally says Adventure instead of Voyager but now has our rooms listed as GTY. We had booked adjacent hump balconies (our teens are still minors) so I am not happy. Waiting to hear back from my TA…