MO & LO on the go!

I also noticed that the area is a bit smaller than my previous time several years ago (long before upgrade). The weather was VERY windy when we went in the end of May and the water was great. Saw lots of life in the water! Not crystal clear but still very good! I am not exactly sure how the boat propeller could cause the cloudy water since the boat is quite a ways away and the area is largely protected by rocks from the boat side of chill island. I would assume it has to do with tides, people, and general water/wind flows.

We were able to book our cabana for $399 at chill island. We had 4 couples so we split it 4 ways! Totally worth that price! We showed up at the cabana checkin and they gave everyone in our group bracelets (4 different rooms of people). Very easy! When you get on the boat make sure you go to the excursion desk and pick your cabana though, they are not assigned and if you want a specific one go right away when you board the boat!!!

We also did an island tour. Very cool and fascinating! LOVE St Lucia!

YAY to triple points! Suites are awesome, especially when the price isn't too much more than a balcony room

Sounds like a tight time schedule. With any minor hiccup you might miss it or atleast be very stressed out. Our personal preference is to have a little buffer. We don't mind sitting in the airport for a bit and just going over videos and pictures from the cruise while we wait. And of course getting caught up on the world (emails, texts, phone calls, news, etc..). Our 2 cents

Just a note from our trip, if there is one boat you won't feel too crowded. We were there all day and never felt overwhelmed by the amount of people. Lots of space. Very enjoyable experience

We did the Dark Night Cave Trek and tubing. Here is our video of some of the excursion. It was not difficult at all and was interesting. The video is mostly of the trek to tubing and the tubing. There was a piece that walked through a cave (others were zip lining through it) and was fun too. Overall it was a decent excursion. I don't remember there being crazy amounts of walking. Very manageable. The tubing was maybe 30 mins at most. Let me know if you have more questions.

What kind of excursions do you typically like? Do you like adventure, leisure, something else, etc..? We did a tour of the island that went to a waterfall and it was nice. We tried walking the island a bit out of the port shops after the excursion and were harassed so much we went back and called it a day.

Not to be rude..........but what does this thread have to do with wanting to be Pinnacle?

We have been there several times with the last in May 2019. We usually walk the shops and then get back on the ship. We have never had any problems or felt harassed. I did have to argue with the jewelers to get the stupid free charm or coin because they insisted that they had to show me something so we played a little game of words. Other than that it wasn't bad. We have been harassed far worse in Jamaica (which we hate) and Cozumel (guys doing show on the poles I looked up at while standing at the entrance to a store while LO was shopping and he came over and told me I had to pay to watch....not to mention the entire "looks are free" crap at every store). We walked through the very tight straw market in Nassau and did get a little uneasy feeling but we walked quick to the whole reason we went in....the bathrooms!!!! The people weren't too bad but I usually walk on the side of the vendors to fend them off from LO since I have no problems telling people "no" and whatever I need to so they go away. We have found they are less aggressive when they can't have direct/close access to LO without going through me.

This is what we do. If we see it and like it....and the price is good we book it but watch the price like a hawk to see if it goes down (which it sometimes does, but most often just goes up).

I think they are all loaded by 90 days out but some should be available before that, at least in our experiences

We always print and bring the confirmation emails just in case (even for hotel, airfare, transports, and anything else we prepay just for extra proof), but yes it should be on the setsail passes as shown above.

I believe they save some slots for booking on board to accommodate people that don't/can't book online. But probably not many

We do that too!

Agreed. This was what happened to us too.

We went on a cruise that turned out to be Florida college spring break. 5 nighter I think. The pool deck was out of control busy with drunk people everywhere, no where to sit, and spilled alcohol/cups all over the deck. The kids were grouped up in the walkway and it was hard to walk around up there. We just avoided it and it was fine. We did not have our kids but I don't think it would have changed our feeling about it if we did.

We did Mariner in May and it was a good ship. It was only a 4 night cruise and wasn't too bad. We have been on spring break cruises before and 9 night cruises. Mariner was somewhere in between with its partying. We aren't partiers and found the crowd just fine and enjoyed our cruise! We were docked next to Navigator at a port and I would say Navigator looked better on the pool deck. The water ride looked awesome!!!!

You walk straight in to the water from the beach. Snorkeling there is very good. I would possibly recommend a vest for them as the waves and wind can get pretty difficult. I am a strong swimmer and did not use a vest but after an hour I was very tired from fighting the waves and current (I also had fins).

Our experience is usually Next cruise. We still watch the deals when back on land and price match accordingly. But with it being 50 days out to book you might want to consider booking on land then see if you can get a better deal on the boat. We have used the boat phone to call Royal several times to cancel the land deal and re-book at sea (you can't just alter reservation between the two, you have to cancel one and do a new booking for the other). Sometimes the land price beats the OBC and price of Next Cruise.

When we first looked for our cruise in May 2019 we found $299. I stupidly waited for a "sale" and it never again went below $399.

When you say "don't want to spend tons" what kind of budget? We have done several nice excursions there

We also have done taxi. We walked to the taxi line and they just line up and fill them up! VERY easy! Last time (January 2019) we had 12 people and used a shuttle but we filled the shuttle so it left right away.

We were there in the end of May and also had a chill island cabana. We only got the water mat and a couple bottles of water included. I brought my own mask, fin, snorkel and did not use a vest (not required if you bring your own gear...I hate those things!). I agree that I don't think you can rent one piece. You could ask them once you get on the island at the hut though (or shore excursion desk on boat). If you find out on the boat that they don't rent one piece you can buy that gear on the boat typically or maybe theres a port before cococay that you could buy some quick for the same price as the entire gear rental cost

We have had several excursions booked through Royal get cancelled. Several for weather and one for the bombs in the cozumel ferry. We always get all our money back! If it gets cancelled you can try a different excursion that possibly didn't get cancelled too using the credit Another thing to consider is that the weather in the caribbean (if thats where you are going) lots of time doesn't last long...