Babsy47

I did this two weeks ago with no issue in a rental car. I rented a car at MCO and drove to PC for a cruise on DCL ( I did a red eye to MCO). The rental was not much for a week ( less than $300). I parked at PC. When I got off the ship, we drove to Miami and arrived by about 1:00 pm with a couple of stops along the way (we had two tots). Later in the day, Miami port is easy with little traffic. Given the morning traffic insanity, I prefer arriving later anyway. I kept the car and drove back to MCO for the flight home, but primarily because there are no direct flights from FLL or MIA and the direct flight home from MCO was only about $150.

Perhaps he is staying in the 80k a week cabin?

I love diving and almost always use a third party. The only exceptions are Nassau where Stuart’s Cove is the only alternative I have found and Coco Cay. Cozumel is amazing. I generally use Scuba Tony. Roatan is even better. I’ve use a couple different operators that arranged travel from the ship. Belize is great!! St. Thomas has amazing diving. I have not found a good operator in St. Martin. In Cabo, we had an amazing private charter. Catalina has good diving and Ensenada is fine. Costa Maya is ok, but not great. I generally charter a boat, but I usually have at least four divers so the increased cost is manageable. The problem with ship dives involves the varying comfort and air consumption of divers. On one ship dive in Cozumel, as an example, one person ran low after 15 minutes. If we do a charter, our first dive is usually at least 50 minutes (can be longer based on depth). In Cabo, we saw a sand waterfall, but it was at about 90 ft in tricky currents so the dive master said he often could not take groups. I read lots of reviews and then email with several alternatives before choosing one. That said, I am heading out on Friday for a cruise with grandkids and am solo diving in Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Because it is just me, I chose the ship excursions. We will see how it goes . . .

My Labadee excursions/cabana were cancelled by RC and amounts have already been refunded to my card,so I’m not sure folks need to worry about OBC.

I don’t think Royal knows either . . . Likely part of the problem.

My April 14th Oasis cruise is replacing Labadee with a sea day. I am jealous of folks who get a replacement port!

We will be on Oasis in a few weeks. As kids, mine were obsessed with CATS. We had a video of a Broadway show on VHS and they would watch, dance and sing. I must have watched that video 200 times. They are now looking forward to the show on the ship! I guess if you know every single word to every single song, it helps.

There are restrooms where you get off/on the ferry. There are very nice restrooms at the museum about half way through the tour route. It is a nice, civilized site and the tours are very helpful to understanding what is there.

We are in the same cabin with the same itinerary in April, so I am really looking forward to this one! To help with child going to college . . . We took our first cruise in 2002 when oldest was 12. Our April cruise is with oldest, DIL, and two awesome grandkids (1 and 3). Our middle son and his wife are in the adjoining CLS. Youngest, sadly, is still in college and cannot come, but he and I will go together on a mom/son cruise between last day of class and first day of summer internship. Our family grew as the kids aged, and sharing the cruise experience with kids and grandkids is amazing!

GTY works for us when we are only two without a child. Ship movement causes us no issues and we have no deck preference on most ships. Thus, where a significant price difference exists that can pay for something like the UDP, we go with GTY.

I’m not sure it really makes long-term business sense to dramatically increase prices while cutting service. We are now paying far more for cruises. It seems the entertainment, staffing, and food cutting should stop.

Some group needs to build a something fabulous and family in Ensenada. The city has great weather, super friendly folks, and a relatively good infrastructure. Giant pool, aviary, nice shopping, and a kiddie pool with slides would do it. Extra points for beach access! They have a very nice park with great pools and a ropes course, but it is a long drive from the port in very bad traffic.

My teen son and I flew a redeye to Newark and then had a flight to Europe in the evening. This was a weekend day and we had an absolute blast touring NYC on our own. First, we rented a car, drove to Manhattan and parked near the Statue of Liberty boat trip terminal. We took the earliest Statute tour. Upon our return, we visited sights around a deserted Wall Street and got brunch. We then took the subway to the museum at the start of the High Line walk, which we both loved. We walked the High Line and then marveled at the strange stair globe structure at the end ( it is enormous). I think we may have stopped for ice cream on the High Line (I loved that walk). Next, we wandered to the Empire State Building and did the tour; it was very well done for a building tour. At this point, we found another meal and made our way back to the car via subway. We found said car and returned to the airport for our flight to Europe. It was a truly memorable day for a mom/son duo! I reserved the Statute of Liberty, museum, High Line, and Empire State Building ahead. This was in 2021 and COVID restrictions existed. Thus, I would guess that reservation are not that necessary anymore.

We could not dock on my last cruise on Allure (‘December). But, it was super windy causing high seas. In Nassau, waves were crashing completely over what is slated to become Royal’s new beach club. It made me wonder about the viability of that beach club plan. It was quite a sight from the balcony. While we could have gotten off in Nassau, it was cold, super windy, and rained part of the day. We ended up never getting off the ship anywhere and still had an awesome trip! And, as a bonus, we saved all the shore excursion funds.

Where is good snorkeling?

Buy a Baha Mar day pass on their website and take a taxi? Nice beach, good food, etc.

A long time ago when my now 34 year old was about 15, he got coerced into a conch shell purchase. We still have the shell and an awesome story/memory of our first Labadee visit! Thus, I honestly can’t say that the pushiness is all bad . . .

I just looked at this on a transatlantic for 2025. The descriptions of the Jr. Suite and the sky are exactly the same, but the sky is $2,000 more. I am baffled as to what the $2,000 is supposedly buying?

They developed the new adult area on Coco Cay remarkably fast in my view, so who knows?

Ok — this happened to me late one night. I was late for a flight and TSA Pre had closed. My shoes did not emerge from the scanning machine. They said it would take them at least 30 minutes to get in the machine to find the missing shoes, and I only had about 15 minutes. So, to the flight I went — in my socks. So embarrassing!

We are doing a type of S2S in April with kids and grandkids. First, DCL 7 day out of PC in adjoining family OV cabins and returning on Saturday. Then we are driving south for a 7-day on Oasis in the Royal Loft on Sunday. I have not been on DCL since my youngest turned 12 (‘several years ago). I am Platinum on DCL and D+ on Royal, but I have ignored DCL since my all my kids reached tween status. It will be interesting to see which the grandkids (1 and 3) enjoy more. Adults will definitely prefer the Star Class experience . . .

I have received the survey each time, but I only sent it in the first time. Since then, I have ignored it. I send everything when the genie contacts me directly.

Thanks, all! I did not realize you could share vouchers. That solves the whole issue!

This is an odd one and perhaps a good lesson for new cruisers. I make my booking, pay my deposit, and then immediately go online to make sure the booking is appearing in my upcoming cruises on the website. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to appear, but it never takes more than 30 minutes. This enables me to confirm that all is good. I would assume that TAs do the same. I have had it happen that I booked and a payment did not go through. Within 24 hours, I figured out that the booking did not go though because I could not see the booking on my upcoming cruises. RC does mess up (and has for me several times). It takes some diligence to make sure that there are not problems. I would assume that a TA would engage in that diligence, but this one appears not to have done so. I feel your pain and frustration; anyone would be upset at the situation.

For our April 14th cruise, it is also down to a far more reasonable amount than it has been for just the pass. The cabanas are still really expensive.