Babsy47

If you are a water person, both Belize and Roatan are great. Both offer amazing snokeling. In Belize, I have only done snorkeling and scuba, so I do not know other options. Roatan offers a bit of everything. A beach break would be nice. Any on the animal excursions are fun one time. The water is clear blue and the reefs are colorful. I love both stops! Cozumel — beautiful beaches and reefs. The fish populations are healthy and snorkeling is great if you go with a tour. or just take a cab to cabana beach or Paradise Beach club. Costa Maya — tour ruins if you like that type of thing. Other great days are Balacar lagoon kayaking or tubing. On days without abundant seaweed (I really do not like the smell), beach clubs are nice and abundant.

Folks have been so helpful . . . I thought I would try one more question. After our cruise on Harmony, our flight does not leave Houston until 5:00 pm. We will have two toddlers and a rental car. I am wondering if anyone has suggestions on what to do with two toddlers all day in/around Galveston/Houston on a weekend in late September? Unfortunately, it appears that the Schlitterbahn water park will be closed for the season. Thanks in advance for suggestions!

PDCC would be even better with a Flowrider or two and a lazy river! That said, it is a pretty nice day as is.

As an aside, I always work an hour or two a day on a ship. For me, it alleviates the stress of coming back to 7000 emails. But, I think this is a person-specific thing.

Some states require reimbursement like California and Illinois. If you work for an employer with folks in these states, a request would likely be seen as relatively normal. But, if you do not have such a company culture or work in a state like Florida that does not require reimbursement, the request may be odd or raise eyebrows. If you have some type of HR helpdesk, you could just ask.

Thank you for the responses! Hopefully, everything will work out ok. I do not know if the person was a shoreside genie or a ship genie; that information was not part of the email. In any event, we will see how it goes. We are pretty flexible on the meals/entertainment, etc. The only thing I would really like is the birthday cake!

I'm hoping for some advice from other folks who have sailed in Star class. I have previously sailed Star class five or six times (most recently on the Oasis in April). Each time, I have had communication with the genie in advance (some much better than others). I have another sailing on Harmony coming up on September 14th. I received one email last week from the genie stating that he was "follow up on my previous email." I received no previous email. I promptly responded, but then received no further communication. On Friday (August 30), I sent another reply just asking for confirmation that my earlier email had been received. I have not received any further communication at all. The email says to reply to [email protected]. I responded by forwarding emails to that address along with replying to the one email that I did receive. I cannot find any information about the genie who sent me the email. I am a bit worried as my granddaughter has her birthday on the first day of cruise, and I want to make sure that she has a birthday cake for her birthday. This worry is compounded by the fact that for our April cruise, I let the genie know in advance about a birthday, and that information was forgotten (or never read). It did not matter because it was an adult birthday. It matters more for a five year old. The April genie turned out fine once we arrived, but she quite obviously never read much (if anything) of the planning email that I sent (she did, however, acknowledge that I sent it). Should I just hold tight and assume that the genie is just really busy and received my emails? Alternatively, does anyone have any information about how I should follow up by chance?

I was just in Iceland. On the couple low wind, sunny days we experienced, I used the head net over my cap. I looked stupid, but I was far, far more comfortable than all of the other tourists so I was happy!

We did this walk and loved it!! We took the “Oia on your own” excursion to get preferential tendering. In Oia, we told the leader that we were not returning with the group. The walk was awesome. We got to Fira for drinks and amazing views before walking down to the tenders. A great and memorable day!!

I will fly direct from California overnight to get on a cruise in Florida, which wipes me out for the first cruise day. I would never do an international cruise this way, let alone one with a connecting flight. I fly internationally for work fairly regularly. Direct flights do not generally cancel (but the can), but the do delay pretty regularly. With a connection, there is a much higher likelihood of a problem. Why pay for a great European vacation, but risk missing the boat? You will have a great time going early even if your friends don’t make it!

I think this happens fairly often. I’ve had to straighten it out for my son twice and both DILs have had it happen once each. One phone call is all it took in all cases. Since the people on the phone know exactly what to do, it must be a relatively common issue.

If you must go in/out of LAX and are comfortable driving, you might just want to rent a car at SAN and drop it at LAX. There are beautiful places to overnight between the two (La Jolla, Carlsbad, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and on).

I have done many cruises with my kids where at least one grandkid is in my room on my reservation. I’ve never had a form or an issue, but names all match.

Boogie boarding on the flowrider is not hard, and it is fun. Standup is a whole different ballgame.

One idea for Rome . . . Go Underground! Most of Ancient Rome remains buried, and many places offer tours to view excavated sites. Underground remains blissfully cool and sunless in the day’s heat. We visited outdoor sites in the evening when the heat is bearable; they are mostly well lit. I researched Rome underground before heading there during the summer. It was just roasting above ground, but we saw so much comfortably underground. And the Colesseum at night was beautiful!

One thing that does baffle me involves anger over port cancellations/changes. Maybe RC could do a better job of letting folks know this can happen, but for heaven’s sake . . . It’s a ship and ship happens . . . Weather, wind, high seas, landslides, illness, emergencies, coast guard, pirates (well hopefully not), civil unrest, wars, and on and on. If you cannot adapt to change, then perhaps a more stationary vacation is better?

As an aside, while the rooms may have the same name (like the Observatorium), the actual puzzles are different on different ships. For example, the escape room on the Mariner is a different experience than the Navigator even though the rooms appear similar.

My son went to college in Maine, so we traveled there often during the fall and spring. I love the coastal towns and Bar Harbor as well as Acadia NP. I do not recall seeing any cruise ships, but Bar Harbor always seemed vibrant and economically healthy. I do think it is a small place to add 3000 people from a ship, so I kind of see both sides. Avalon on Catalina island struggles with similar issues. It survives on tourist dollars, but does not really have the infrastructure for 2000+ cruse visitors. I think solutions exist, but it requires compromise and nuance which are sometimes hard to come by these days.

Are you flying in/out of LGB or LAX? It makes a huge difference . . . If flying into LGB, perhaps think about the Hyatt, Hilton, or other hotel on the beach in Huntington Beach. The beach is great and there are tons of restaurants and shops near any of the downtown hotels. All offer great hotel restaurants and the Hyatt and Hilton have great pools. It is about 40 minutes to the cruise terminal but only about 20 from LGB. If flying to LAX, it is much further.

No critters for us in May. We did have baby chicks, but the were adorable and grandkids loved them.

I would not want to pay the Star premium for the nicer suites on a Freedom class ship. I don’t know that I will again on any ship; the premium is too high and the benefits have been pared back a ton from the early days in my view. In the past, Star got to short-cut almost everything, which was a huge benefit on an Oasis-class ship. This benefit has largely gone away. The genies of my past would get us into escape rooms, laser tag, ice skating, back stage theater, or something else special. Last cruise was a bridge tour that we had no interest in as we have done it before. Genie can no longer make sure nursery time is available for dinner, and not once did we see a snack without a special request. No Starbucks delivery for adults; no special drinks or ice cream surprises for littles. To me, genie is now a person to arrange shows and dinners as well as help get you on and off the ship. On a Freedom class ship, suite concierge is great for all of this. I feel like the Star premium has dramatically increased in price while really cutting back on benefits. But, since people continue to pay the premium, they likely would do so on a Freedom-class ship as well . . .

I’m vintage—kids are grown with their own kids. My first cruise was about 20 years ago and I am D+. I have not once been bothered by a kid on an RC ship. I cannot say the same for adults. On Oasis a couple of weeks ago, the kids impressed me! Several helped me with my grandkids politely and happily; it was awesome!

Big thanks to @Lovetocruise2002 for La Bamba! A couple of weeks ago, I arrived in Miami a few days before our cruise for work and rented a car. I picked up a hungry family (we are Californians) at FLL around dinner. All were frantically device searching for food and I casually said, “I’ve heard awesome things about La Bamba” so off we went. All enjoyed dinner and could not believe I knew of the place; I was a food hero!

The suites prices on the newer ship have priced me out of the suite life as well. My last will be in September on Harmony. Just for kicks and comparison . . . I booked the 4 bdr villa suite with 6 adults and two kids on the day of release (way back when) for around $14,000, about $1,500 per pax for Star Class. If you think about inclusion of UDP and beverage package at today’s prices, you can really see the increases. I cannot find anything any more for my large crew that I can see working financially on any of the newer ships that are better for my tot grandkids. I’m not complaining. I just remain startled that the ships run full capacity (including suites) at today’s prices!

My grand kids love finding ducks! It is one of their great cruise joys and just makes them happy.