Firefly

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. 

11 hours ago, twangster said:

I have always thought it was Potpourri but you spelling makes more sense.  

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=

7 hours ago, Mike n Ky said:

recommendation on the mattress pad?

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!

26 minutes ago, sleepy425 said:

Lucky! Our 4 rooms somehow got switched to guaranteed rooms.  Sending an email to the TA now so she can deal with this.  We have had rooms in different parts of the ship before, and it isn't a big deal.  But considering this one is for Christmas it's a bit more important to me that the two rooms for my immediate family be really close.  I don't plan on bringing much in the way of presents, but whatever I do bring I was counting on just sneaking onto their balcony via our balcony (we had aft rooms booked on the 6th floor, so if anything were to be dropped during this maneuver it would be easy to retrieve based on how the layout is there - these dividers don't open so can't just walk room to room.  I had the whole thing planned out)

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…

11 hours ago, sleepy425 said:

We have 4 staterooms booked, none have been moved over yet.  

My families 2 cabins haven’t been moved yet either. My sister works for our TA and checked our groups 8 cabins. 4 of them have been moved (same cabins) 4 have not. 

2 hours ago, RandBsMom said:

Great news - Mark returned my email! The IT person is working on the website issue, but if anyone needs to make reservations while the website is down please email at:

 [email protected] 

Spread the word! This is a small business I believe many of us want to support. Thank you for the massage and book info @Firefly!

Glad to hear Mark returned your email. He and/or  David are usually very quick to reply. Enjoy your cruise and your day at Maya Chan!

I was able to make reservations last month for cruise in December, so not sure what’s up with the website. Strange, but I wouldn’t be too concerned. Hopefully they get it up and running again soon. On my past visits the staff walked around shorty after guests arrived to make appointments for massages. Never had a problem booking one. 
 

If you haven’t read Jane’s book on how Maya Chan came to be, “It Helps to be Crazy, the Story of Maya Chan” , I highly recommend it. I have a new appreciation for the business they built and run  after reading it. 

33 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

Are you not seeing your new staterooms yet? Ours showed up this morning (although a letter this afternoon from our TA said the invoices and the price matching would lag behind).

No. When I log into my cruise planner it still shows Voyager. Maybe tomorrow….

We are still showing Voyager. We booked 2 adjacent hump balconies so fingers and toes crossed we are assigned the same rooms. Our teens are still minors so Royal better not screw this up. Our group has a total of 8 staterooms so it will be interesting to see if we all keep the same staterooms or if someone gets moved around. I doubt C&A status means much in these situations but will be interesting since we are Diamond and 3 of the staterooms are first time with Royal.

Although our first two cruises where on Oasis class ships, we prefer Voyager class as well as Radiance class ships. Most of my nights at sea have been on Mariner- we absolutely love that ship!

My boys were able to get beverages (soda, virgin lava flows etc) using the Diamond drink vouchers. They haven’t quite reached 80 points so they are Diamond via me. 

We enjoy our days in St. Thomas with thses guys, https://www.stthomasadventures.com/st-thomas-adventures You can choose to snorkle, hike,  or sightsee…. Everthing is up to you. Worth the $ for a private tour.