monctonguy

ha...I was defn going to suggest poutine!!..SO many different varations and flavors/toppings you can get on it as well. I would also suggest trying Donair or a slice of donair pizza with donair dipping sauce on the side.

If close to the port is your issue, then above as they posted. However, I have found in all my cruises that staying further away from the port gives you a lot more options and is cheaper even if/when you add in the cost of the cab and some hotels will even offer shuttle service for free or for a low cost. I have stayed a few times in Tampa and did not stay close to the port, but picked locations close to nightlife, restaurants, bars and beaches as I usually stay a night or two before my cruise. If your looking for something like that I can give some advice. I guess it all comes down to what you consider to be cost efficient as that is what you are asking about. Port/downtown hotels are usually double the cost of where I stay.

I didn't know Royal did that on their European cruises....although seems to me maybe I remember reading about someone complaining the drinks were included but didn't drink so wished the cruise was cheaper without drinks included. Haven't seen a drop in prices or an increase in deals/pormos yet with cruises...maybe after the next 3 hurricanes roll through it will start to affect bookings. Defn going to hurt Royal's bottom line.,..but I think all that will do is cause them to increase prices and drop pomo's to try max their returns. .Time will tell!

Thanks...glad you like and hope it helps! You will be visiting at our warmest time of year....should be quite nice...well normal temps are prob around 85 at that time of year....we had a warm stretch this year with many days in the mid to high 90"s and the evenings down to 75 or so which is quite warm and muggy for us here in the East coast. Of course I am referring to where I live for the temps. You will be visiting places probably like Saint John, Halifax, which would be probably about 10 degrees cooler as its on the water/coastline. I would pack similarly for what you would normally wear in Tampa to be honest. While you may want to bring a light sweater or jacket you probably wont need it unless we have abnormally cool weather.

its supposed to be a warmer than average fall...so you will probably get a little luck this year. Its been really nice so far...supposed to be 95 here tmrw...been around 90 the past few days...not the norm! Long pants and long sleeves would be standard....but I would bring a pair of shorts and short sleeve shirt just in case you get a real warm day....and throw in a sweatshirt or light jacket for the coolers ones. generally the mornings will be quite cool...but mid-day can be still quite nice!

I have done it...multiple times.....HOWEVER,......I self checked off the boat and had a private car to take me to the airport. I would never book anything before noon as a rule... Of course its a chance as even a delay of a hr or somehow could cause you to miss your flight but...

$5 water on the ship..never saw that before..I think the bottles are around $2.50 maybe....(well the rip off water in the room or the mini-bar maybe $5 but if you pay that, that's on you..lol) That being said...I drank all the bottled water I wanted and didn't pay a penny for it... its free with the drink package...I have a hard time getting why people buy bottled water on land or at sea. And you can get it on the way off the ship as well..and lets be honest, if there is a line up to get off...its not cause people are buying water so you might as well get some while your standing there anyways

I wouldn't look too much at the St. Maarten one at this point....you may very well not end up there and if you do, hard to say what will be available to do at that time. Will be interested to see what else people suggest here as I am doing a similar cruise on Jewel in April!

It will be interesting to see how long it takes these places to rebuild back to the point where they are able to start accepting cruiselines/tourists back. it really is a catch 22 as they need the $$ from tourists to repair/rebuild but .... I am guessing its going to be a 3-6 month process at least. I wouldn't expect these places to be back up and running at full capacity before that. I hope they rebuild back Maho beach, but I am sure that's not high on the list...maybe one day. It will stay on my bucket list till then. And to think I was changing my next cruise so it would stop in St. Maarten...will leave things they way they are for now I think!

Had to be quite an experience!

Maho beach has been on my bucket list for years and I was disappointed when I realized my April 2018 cruise didn't stop there....was thinking of changing dates or ships to make sure it was in the itinerary but now I am not even sure what's left of the airport or the beach there to be honest...

When will Royal start offering and bundling some deals together?...Like the drink package for example....and I don't mean with extra cost for other things I don't want/need

Wonder if Royal is going to drop St. Marteen from its stops....seems like some other cruise ships already have at least temporarily... Some of the resorts there closed now till at least the end of the year...wont be much to see or do there if you did have a stop in the next few mths I guess.

yes..I was confused as on my 2nd, 3rd, 4th cruises I was sure there was something I was invited to and then nothing for a cruise or two and then the last few its been the top tier event which was just for platinum and above the last time I went. The welcome back, I haven't seen on any cruise for awhile now.

Not based on my experience...and I believe that it only starts at platinum level ?(the welcome back party).

This season is shaping up to be a bad one....Harvey and Irma are going to do lots of damage and lots of delays and cancelations to the cruise industry...I cant imagine if Miami/FLL takes a direct hit....the impact will be huge and affect so many cruise lines and ships. At this point if I had a cruise booked this week or next week, I would be just looking to rescheduling it for later in the fall.... And Jose is close behind, but it looks like just some of the ABC islands and maybe Puerto Rico may be affected by that one..but after the damage from Irma, it could be still a bad situation to get hit by another one 3 days later.

It's a bad mth for sure its shaping up to be. This one is going to be much worse and affect the cruise industry much more than Harvey. Already has with cancellations and shortened cruises. And its just a start so far.

Sept is the most risky of all the months I think. I have done Oct and Nov with no issues and its a lot cheaper during those months for sure so I get it. Anything can happen anytime when it comes to weather...but if I was a betting man...I would bet on travel in Sept to be the highest risk for a hurricane interruption. Depending on how hard/bad Irma is..I think we could see more damage and delays to the cruise industry from this one then Harvey.

I am guessing that Royal will be altering a lot of her cruises even in advance as they are going to be evacuating the Key West area...all visitors are to be out by the end of the day tmrw they are reporting.

Yup...that's why I wouldn't book it...as a Bermuda cruise is either a cruise to Bermuda or nowhere......lol Other cruises have multiple stops in multiple countries so a change in plans or itinerary isn't as big a deal imho. Glad to hear this one is going ok.....

Smoke and Mirrors as it has been referred to many times regarding Royal's "sales" While there will be a few ppl that find a better price...for the majority it seems that the sales are not lower/cheaper than what you booked. While I don't track them as close ly as you do, I have booked 10 cruises in 4 years with them so I am a pretty regular checker on the prices and sales...and at the end of the day, no matter how they spin or sell it..it usually works out to be about the same price every time! Best advice I can give is to not look or book with Royal directly as some travel sites can offer better pricing and perks I have learned the hard way!

So my prediction from Thursday still stands true...it will affect the ABC islands(at least some of them) and it will/did affect the OP's cruise itinerary!

I wouldn't book a cruise to Bermuda in Sept....I am not scared of a hurricane..but with the cruises to Bermuda...you basically cruise there and then spend 2-3 days docked in port..i wouldn't want to take any chance that the weather was going to be bad if I book one of those cruises. I realize that with any cruise you cant control the weather, but with this cruise to one place for 3 days, there aren't many options if weather does get bad. That being said..this hurriance wont affect this sail...but could the next one for sure.

Things are defn changing....its no longer just a formality or a breeze to get through..even for Canadians coming back.....that being said I really haven't had many issues myself with the US customs and I head across 5-10 times a year between land and air.

yeah...just headed in that direction now....so whether it hits them or veers north there is a good chance its going to affect the OP's cruise I would think.