GregD

Costa Maya - Got to Maya Chan!! My kids loved it there, and its great for adults too.

For Roatan, book Victor Bodden and do their best of Roatan private tour. We have used them multiple times. We've held sloths, monkeys etc. They have a great zipline course. Went to a chocolate factory. The options are endless, and their prices are great.

While not exactly RC excursions, I can make a couple recommendations.

Costa Maya - Book Maya Chan. It's a private beach "resort" that's all inclusive. It will be a great beach day. They have loads of sand toys for kids to play with, and plenty of things for the adults too. They provide transportation etc and everything that you need. My kids had a great time there. If you search through the blogs here, you will see they. are highly recommended. https://costamayabeachresort.com

For Roatan, I recommend https://www.boddentours.com/best-of-roatan. Book their private tour. We have used them multiple times. Kids under 5 are no charge. They have fully customizable trips. You can hold sloths! Their communication is great.

If you are concerned about traveling in cars with your little one, we have these travel booster seats. They are super convenient and have great reviews. My kids have outgrown them, so if this is something you are interested in, and you can't find one, reach out in a PM and I'm willing to mail out our unused ones.

@ScottDhey, any chance you can snap a picture of the vending machines on deck 15 aft. Im running a Facebook group for my sailing, and people are asking about costs of some of the items. Thanks!

1 hour ago, asquared17 said:

i hear this — but then why do i keep running into the same people on any cruise?! always the ones i want to steer clear of!!

(to clarify, i mean this in a strictly NON swinging capacity!!! just as someone who finds themselves HAUNTED by the same folks over and over )

i felt it was necessary to add that postscript  but no shade to anyone who swings. 

(,,,okay i’m just going to stop here before i get myself more in trouble hahahah)

I was more thinking that you won't ever see them again at home. 

9 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Side note, why do so many people try to swing or whatever on cruises????

Pure speculation here...

I bet it's a combination of someplace new/exotic, lots of people with decreased inhibitions, and a decreased likelihood of finding a partner that would have a personal connection to back home so being more brazen with approaches is easier since the likelihood you would never see that person again is so small.

1 hour ago, FireFishII said:

Tell 'The Boss' to get the patch.  I use it all the time.  I get motion sickness just sitting in the back seat of a car. The trick to the patch is if a full disk is too much, cut 1/3 off of it.  But make sure you either wear gloves or immediately wash your hands.  Because you don't want that medication anywhere need your eyes. 

Oh, she is well aware of the patches!!

1 hour ago, Mike T said:

When we sailed on Freedom last year and the year before, ...we ate at Chops and ordered as much as we wanted.  Perhaps this has changed?

This seems to be a very YMMV policy. It varies ship to ship, server to server. @Truly108 Go with the expectation of multiple apps and deserts, and one entree. Then ask and you may be pleasantly surprised.

I'm fashionably late to this party, if you want to call it that. Ive just read the entire blog up to this point and have been laughing non-stop. While I too have witnessed many adults and kids hacking and coughing and in serious need of some good discipline, I somehow have managed to avoid all of the drama that you seem to find. I'm sure it happens on every cruise though. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the crew lounges because I am sure there are the "you would never believe what I saw today" conversations all the time. I also picture a write board with tally marks for cheating wives/husbands, drunk idiots etc etc.

Hopefully my trip on Oasis in 26 days, 22 hours, 11 minute and 5 seconds is far less exciting. I doubt it though, because it's prime vacation time for us in the NE, so I picture a fully booked ship with 40% being under 18, all of them hacking and coughing and full of other forms of Tomfoolery. It will be our first sailing having reached Diamond status, so I look forward to the looks we all get since we are young and with children in tow(who have also earned diamond status on their own).

I feel bad that you didn't like Giovannis. We had good meals there. I agree with @WAAAYTOOO though, Jamie's is just garbage. I never liked any of his cookbook recipes so I didn't have high hopes for the restaurant. I think the only thing that they do well there is the meat plank, and that's because those are really hard to screw up.

I hope you have a great time on Grandeur. I wouldn't mind sailing some of the older smaller ships, but getting The Boss on them is a hard sell since she is prone to motion sickness. 

Unpopular opinion, the creme brûlée that RC makes is the worst creme brûlée I have ever had.....

@Lovetocruise2002 the pictures of the family came out great!!! I especially like the B&W one of the 4 of you. Those will look great in your home I'm sure!!!

I love when the ship is empty. I really enjoy strolling around the ships early in the morning, watching them "wake up"

We were so spoiled to sail Oasis right after the pandemic when it was so empty. It will be eye opening in a few short weeks when we board her again at full capacity. 

As always, that you for sharing your adventures with us. Hopefully the kids don't give you too much grief while packing tonight, and have a safe flight home tomorrow.

Oh.....I'm still working on the boss for FR 3/9/25!

8 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Wait…does that mean you are going to book it too?

Discussions will be happening, I'll keep you posted!

Man I've missed so much in these past 2 days...for some stupid reason, I thought to myself I had too much free time, so I picked up a second job. Now I have no free time....well, except to take cruises. 

6 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

FR 3/9/2025 pretty decent price 

Only a booking for 3 though

I showed this to the boss. I need to hear the cow story!

The food pictures are great. I have to say Johnny loves the chicken noodle soup too! I was shocked to see you ventured in the WJ. The things we do for those cookies.....

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

If we ever sail together again, remind me to tell you a story about me, cows, and a bunch of Grade 1s. You will laugh even harder, I promise.

I’ll let the boss know we need to make this happen!

I am laughing so hard reading about your time Roatan. It's one of our favorite places to visit, but we ARE animal people, so holding sloths and getting.....umm..."loved on" by the monkeys doesn't necessarily bother us. I do have to take a cold shower once back on the ship though. 

I can picture the teenager bargaining about breakfast. I feel I am not too far away from these same conversations!

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

This morning, because I am a creature of habit, I headed to CK for breakfast. Hubby later joined me. I was commenting to Hubby that the last time we sailed SY, I was not a fan of their CK. Something was up with their quality of food compared to CK on other ships. Last night and this morning, the food was really good. Looking positive. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes.

I was wondering what you thought of the CK food. I know how impressed you are with the CK on Anthem and whether or not this is living up to your expectations.

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I may have something booked in 2024 that hits one cruise goal

Can't wait to hear what it is!!

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We're going to just miss you !  We will be on OA for a B3B beginning 2-26.

We seem to keep doing this. I remember one blog where we passed each other in the airport! One of these times we'll end up on the same ship

Thank you for sharing your trip. I'm glad you guys had a great time. The entertainment section just opened up for booking in my cruise planner for my 2/19/23 Oasis Cruise, so we are getting closer!! 7 more weeks. 

We will be in star class in an ATS again.. I'll take lots of pictures for @Lovetocruise2002 to show the hubby!!

15 hours ago, Jax said:

Sounds like we need to work on hubby. Lol 

10 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@Jaxso glad that you had a fantastic sailing! Loved following along this week. I know that I have long said that I am #teamDeck17 but I would be lying if I did not admit that your blog and IG stories have made me consider trying the ATS at least once. Just for those daily aft views! Have a safe trip back to Alberta later today. 

They really are nice!!

I'm on the next one 2/19/23

I'm so happy for you guys that everything has gone smoothly so far. Have a great trip!!!

Has anyone been able to book shows past these holiday weeks, IE end of January?

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Just landed! What a relief! 

how about the luggage??

@PRMLVMI'm sure having a drink package will make this easier. I wouldn't be surprised that if you discuss with the bartender what you would like to do they would help you out. Especially if you are with someone, you each could order a different drink, not drink it and wait a couple minutes, then order two more different ones, and voila, you have a flight.

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Voom was horrible on both of my Oasis cruises this past week-and-a-half.

great......this should make my February cruise fun. How am I supposed to keep the people happy and blog about my travels? (kidding of course)

I bet the assessment by @twangster earlier is correct. There is probably an issue in their hardware, and has been there for some time. When we were on Oasis last year the internet was terrible, even by earlier voom standards. I was constantly having to reconnect, and I would have terrible time staying online no matter where I was on the ship, and what time of day it was. 

I had a better experience on Anthem while in Norway that I did on Oasis in the Caribbean, which given the latitude, shouldn't be the case.

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

We were told it was no longer included fleetwide on Oasis in November, so another one of those disappearing perks with a $ value attached to it.

This is annoying. My kids really enjoy the cupcake class..