Jerel

The days leading up I don't think of the cruise much, way to frantic getting all my ducks in a row. Long days at work, preparing the house, getting the pets taken care of, making sure I got everything packed.
I'm pretty frantic up until I have a coffee in my hand and am on the way to the airport, nothing left to worry about, aahhh...peace.

Woohoo, waterslides!!!
Its a no brainer really, I cant believe Royal took this long. 
My inner child likes water slides more than Broadway style musicals. 

I cant believe I read the whole thing! You sure put up some long posts CelebrationFlCruiser.
Im not complaining though, you raised some good points, im glad you took the time.
 
Tipping is a age old debate that isnt going away anytime soon. In general im always contemplating whether or not to tip, many times I dont think I should and many times I do.
Im not a fan of mandatory tipping, but I have to admit on a cruise ship I dont mind it, for a few reasons.
First of all, tipping gives me a bit of anxiety. I never know if I should and I feel bad if I dont. I really dont want to feel that way on vacation, I like knowing they are tipped when they do me a favor.
The last thing I want is a pocket full of ones and fives dishing them out whenever someone does something nice for me. If someone answers a question in detail or points me in the right direction I dont want to think they are fishing for a tip. With mandatory tipping I know they are not.
 
Truth is those people would never get tips otherwise, only the room attendants and servers would. Good service comes from many areas, not just servers. I like to know there taking care of too.
We can debate whether or not we are paying their wages, maybe we are. Iv always wondered what they get paid, I doubt much. Especially considering they spend months from home (low income countries) sending their family's home money. Tips are probably a large part of their income, but one way or another were going to have to pay their wages, whether its tips or higher fares. Atleast this way I dont have to worry about tipping them.
 
I also doubt this enables poor service to go unseen. Iv always been impressed with the job they do, im sure they weed out the bad ones eventually. Someone at Royal told me once that if a employee is faking happy or just putting on a smile and playing the role, they wont last, you have to genuinely enjoy your job and be naturally polite to survive. I can believe that, in my past couple cruises they have gone above and beyond, its gotta be genuine.
Like I said above, it tips were not mandatory only servers and RA's would get them. For me its the service from the little guy that leaves you feeling well taken care of. The last thing I want to do is dish out cash to everyone that I think should get it, this way I know they already did.
After all a vacation should be worry free.
 
Although I disagreed it doesnt mean I dont agree with much of what you said, just a different way of looking at it I guess. 

I cant believe I read the whole thing! You sure put up some long posts CelebrationFlCruiser.
Im not complaining though, you raised some good points, im glad you took the time.
 
Tipping is a age old debate that isnt going away anytime soon. In general im always contemplating whether or not to tip, many times I dont think I should and many times I do.
Im not a fan of mandatory tipping, but I have to admit on a cruise ship I dont mind it, for a few reasons.
First of all, tipping gives me a bit of anxiety. I never know if I should and I feel bad if I dont. I really dont want to feel that way on vacation, I like knowing they are tipped when they do me a favor.
The last thing I want is a pocket full of ones and fives dishing them out whenever someone does something nice for me. If someone answers a question in detail or points me in the right direction I dont want to think they are fishing for a tip. With mandatory tipping I know they are not.
 
Truth is those people would never get tips otherwise, only the room attendants and servers would. Good service comes from many areas, not just servers. I like to know there taking care of too.
We can debate whether or not we are paying their wages, maybe we are. Iv always wondered what they get paid, I doubt much. Especially considering they spend months from home (low income countries) sending their family's home money. Tips are probably a large part of their income, but one way or another were going to have to pay their wages, whether its tips or higher fares. Atleast this way I dont have to worry about tipping them.
 
I also doubt this enables poor service to go unseen. Iv always been impressed with the job they do, im sure they weed out the bad ones eventually. Someone at Royal told me once that if a employee is faking happy or just putting on a smile and playing the role, they wont last, you have to genuinely enjoy your job and be naturally polite to survive. I can believe that, in my past couple cruises they have gone above and beyond, its gotta be genuine.
Like I said above, it tips were not mandatory only servers and RA's would get them. For me its the service from the little guy that leaves you feeling well taken care of. The last thing I want to do is dish out cash to everyone that I think should get it, this way I know they already did.
After all a vacation should be worry free.
 
Although I disagreed it doesnt mean I dont agree with much of what you said, just a different way of looking at it I guess. 

I cant believe I read the whole thing! You sure put up some long posts CelebrationFlCruiser.
Im not complaining though, you raised some good points, im glad you took the time.
 
Tipping is a age old debate that isnt going away anytime soon. In general im always contemplating whether or not to tip, many times I dont think I should and many times I do.
Im not a fan of mandatory tipping, but I have to admit on a cruise ship I dont mind it, for a few reasons.
First of all, tipping gives me a bit of anxiety. I never know if I should and I feel bad if I dont. I really dont want to feel that way on vacation, I like knowing they are tipped when they do me a favor.
The last thing I want is a pocket full of ones and fives dishing them out whenever someone does something nice for me. If someone answers a question in detail or points me in the right direction I dont want to think they are fishing for a tip. With mandatory tipping I know they are not.
 
Truth is those people would never get tips otherwise, only the room attendants and servers would. Good service comes from many areas, not just servers. I like to know there taking care of too.
We can debate whether or not we are paying their wages, maybe we are. Iv always wondered what they get paid, I doubt much. Especially considering they spend months from home (low income countries) sending their family's home money. Tips are probably a large part of their income, but one way or another were going to have to pay their wages, whether its tips or higher fares. Atleast this way I dont have to worry about tipping them.
 
I also doubt this enables poor service to go unseen. Iv always been impressed with the job they do, im sure they weed out the bad ones eventually. Someone at Royal told me once that if a employee is faking happy or just putting on a smile and playing the role, they wont last, you have to genuinely enjoy your job and be naturally polite to survive. I can believe that, in my past couple cruises they have gone above and beyond, its gotta be genuine.
Like I said above, it tips were not mandatory only servers and RA's would get them. For me its the service from the little guy that leaves you feeling well taken care of. The last thing I want to do is dish out cash to everyone that I think should get it, this way I know they already did.
After all a vacation should be worry free.
 
Although I disagreed it doesnt mean I dont agree with much of what you said, just a different way of looking at it I guess. 

Got a t-shirt heading my way :) 
Going to add it to my cruise attire.
 
Next will be a hoody, waaay too hot to be thinking of that now though.

WOW
 
Thank you for all the great information. It's interesting that the program that was instigated by Royal Caribbean to give recognition to those who continue to cruise it's line, is not that responsive to the needs of those that continue to use them.
 
We now have been told that we should have received a crystal award that was to be presented by the staff of the ship that it was received on. Didn't happen. Now they say they can not present it to us in a recognition meeting because the opportunity was missed. They said they would order us one to be mailed, but they said the cavet, no promises. The C & A rep put me on hold and came back and said that a number of people acually refuse the award because they do not want the added weight of an award in thier luggage while traveling. He then went on to question me, "did you refuse the award". Implying that we had refused an award. He stated in that case they, C & A, would not attempt to re-give it to us. I assured him that if ever C & A or anyone on the Ship attempted to give us anything, be it an award or item or service, we would gladly accept it without question, Especially an earned award. So, they were attempting to blame me (us) for refusing the award and taking the responsibility away from themselves. They then added that on our next few cruises that we should get another crystal award and if we don't get it on board the ship, we should call C & A and let them know. That is not going to happen. Now they want us to tell them what it is that they didn't provide us as a recongnition at a presentation event, and they will just mail it to us. But not before, trying to shift the responsibility for not providing the award, to those that are recieving the award. Not happening.
 
In all our cruising, and "earning" all our points, C & A has never, never given us pins, awards, or recognition at any of their on board parties or events. Now they are accusing us of causing their lack of giving us awards. Most people save for months, and many, years to cruise to an exotic port and get an all enclusive vacation experience. It seems that everytime we cruise, more and more, things, items, are being eroded away for the good of the profits, shareholders, salaries, ect.
 
A while back, we can remember getting more "freebee" items left in our stateroom, shampoo-conditioner-hand lotion being in our stateroom, the choice of to give, or not to give gratuities (to now a manditiory salary fee) to now, less and less items and service.
 
The cruise we took after Royal Caribbean chose to automatically charge us for what they call gratuities, I was continuing to tip everyone that got in front of us. So, we were double and sometimes triple tipping. I later was told that it was an automatic charge and I could not have it taken off my bill. I could however, move some of the monies to someone on the ship that showed better service, but they would not take the charge of our bill. This was not a gratuity, it is a fee or added or hidden charge. When you times what they were taking from us and you add our manditory gratuities, then times it per room, per person, that adds up to an astronomical amount. We cruisers are paying the salaries now, of the crew. Why should the crew give outstanding service if they know they will get a gratuity from each and every cruiser, whether the provided good, or bad service?
 
I also just recently learned that if you own 100 or more shares of Royal Caribbean stock you are entitled to a money bonus each time you cruise. We own 100 or more shares. So I was told to document the ownership, fill out a form and they would have the credit on our stateroom on our next cruise. Just got an email from them that states that since we were getting other advertized bonuses (ie: 50% off the second cruiser, 30/30, ect.) that we were not entitled to any monies for owning shares. Or, we could take the $50 to $100 and loose all the other bonuses. How is that an incentive to own stock? The next time our financial people tell us to sell the Royal Caribbean stock, we will be more inclined to agree.
 
I am getting tired of learning that there is something that we didn't get, then told to jump through some more hoops, only be told no. It is our fault for not knowing, since they missed it, it is now not available, or because you accepted this bonus you are not entitled to that bonus. I am tired of excused and miss direction. We at moments like this, we just stop asking. We are tired of them telling us we should have, could have, would have, and then not provide it at all and then try to shift the responsibily to us.
 
We have now decided that we like Royal Caribbean more than we don't, and are saying to ourselves the added perks and bonuses really don't matter that much. We still get things added on our stateroom cards and we like cruising (even though it seems, even the crew are not sure what all the bonuses are on our cards). But, service and recognition is what will keep the loyal cruisers to come back. It took us a while to get to Diamond Level, then they create Diamond Plus and, the "how do you ever attain", Pinnacle Level. It seems Royal Caribbean continues to figure out how to provide less and charge more. Currently we as cruisers (customers), still feel that Royal Caribbean does a good job delivering a product that we want. But, after spending thousands of dollars, bad service, not getting items or services, having to pay more for items not seen, we sometimes queston, "why did we do that". Or at least attempt to do that.
 
We don't like cruising with a lot of children (ours are adults now) but, we like Disney's goal, go beyond what is expected. Give the WOW they attempt to advertise. Now when the cruise is over we do not say WOW. We go over the pluses and minuses of the positive vs the negative experiences and then see if we want to book again. So far the pluses (positives) have outnumbered the minuses (negatives).
 
I don't normally complain or stand in line to get something changed, we just go away (and don't do it again), or change to a like company providing the same service and avoid the one that caused us grief. But the more I point out the inconsistancies in the promised things and what is provided, the more people we find the same things have happened to them. They find out they were promised something and then told they missed it or no, they are not entitled to it.
 
Back to service, people and families, that have saved and sacrificed to get to a point where they have thousands to spend on a vacation only to, either be told they do not qualify for something, need to now, get to the next pin level, or just to be repeatedly told "no" we do not provide that or you will be charged more, will after the vacation think back on their experiences and next year or next cruise, will choose a same or different destination with a different company. It continually seems Royal Caribbean is trying to make the same or more dollars on other things (ie: gratuities (salary for their service), drinks, pictures, excursions, ect.) rather than the actual cruise experience. It may become just too expensive and not fun anymore for the cruisers. We cruise to have fun, not to be charged for more and more things getting less and less service. And now added with not getting the things that are promised for achieving loyalty status levels, is adding to our and others discontent.
 
When we get off the ship, where we have left thousands of our dollars, we expect to feel good about it and that it was money well spent.
 
Sorry for such a long post. And again, thank you, for all those that have taken the time to read this and have offered solutions and suggestions and just sharing their own experiences on this topic.

Got a t-shirt heading my way :) 
Going to add it to my cruise attire.
 
Next will be a hoody, waaay too hot to be thinking of that now though.

He certainly is spreading allot of his crap around. You would think a small forum like this woulnt be worth the hassle, cant imagine he'd get any business off of it. 
Maybe its a Carnival guy :)

Im really excited to hear this. When we recently booked we were very close to the Majesty, passed it up worried about ruff seas in November (wife).
Now ill get another chance, thats awsome, I really want to give it a shot. Its hilariously small but it looks like fun, really want the model too.
Good on Royal for the upgrades, looks like allot more than just carpet and tv's.

Thanks for your advice everyone, I totally agree, with risky excursions your better off booking threw Royal.
Especially after hearing of some of your close calls, I tend to worry about those things.
 
As for needing a cruise to tide me over, it really is hard to wait. I thought one a year would be enough, but now its looking like I need one in the fall aswell as the winter.
Thats all well and good, its just the money. Flight and hotel cost just as much as the cruise, sometimes more. I guess ill just have to work a bit harder.
 
Thanks again.

Me and my wife have one booked for February on the Allure, but thats sooo far away. We couldnt take it so we broke down and booked one in November on the Independence, Belize and Cozumel.
 
This one we're trying to do for cheap, on the Allure we splurged with a balcony, drink packages, 150 central park dinner, and going to try for a cabana at Labadee. This one will be no drink packages (not even pop) with very little money spent, its really just to tide us over to our big cruise. We still have to find some affordable airfare aswell, which takes time and effort.  
 
One thing I am looking forward to is Belize, I really want to see some Mayan ruins, we're thinking of doing the Altun Ha excursion at about 97 dollars. Its a two hour boat ride threw jungle then a short bus trip to ruins, 6 hours in total. For excursions I never book threw Royal, too expensive compared to the same thing privately. But because of the long amount of time it takes and the distance, I want assurances ill make it back to the ship without it leaving, which apparently Royal excursions guaranty (?). Also from what I read Belize is a long tender and im at the tail end of hurricane season, so the port stop could be canceled for all I know.
 
Id be interested to hear people thoughts on Mayan Belize excursions, Even Cozumel, would I have time to make it to some mainland ruins?
 
On a side note my Allure trip in February is the same sail as the group cruise. Total coincidence, we booked it long ago for my wifes birthday on the 22nd.
So if you see a sunburned ginger wearing tacky Hawaiian shirts, thats me!!

Me and my wife have one booked for February on the Allure, but thats sooo far away. We couldnt take it so we broke down and booked one in November on the Independence, Belize and Cozumel.
 
This one we're trying to do for cheap, on the Allure we splurged with a balcony, drink packages, 150 central park dinner, and going to try for a cabana at Labadee. This one will be no drink packages (not even pop) with very little money spent, its really just to tide us over to our big cruise. We still have to find some affordable airfare aswell, which takes time and effort.  
 
One thing I am looking forward to is Belize, I really want to see some Mayan ruins, we're thinking of doing the Altun Ha excursion at about 97 dollars. Its a two hour boat ride threw jungle then a short bus trip to ruins, 6 hours in total. For excursions I never book threw Royal, too expensive compared to the same thing privately. But because of the long amount of time it takes and the distance, I want assurances ill make it back to the ship without it leaving, which apparently Royal excursions guaranty (?). Also from what I read Belize is a long tender and im at the tail end of hurricane season, so the port stop could be canceled for all I know.
 
Id be interested to hear people thoughts on Mayan Belize excursions, Even Cozumel, would I have time to make it to some mainland ruins?
 
On a side note my Allure trip in February is the same sail as the group cruise. Total coincidence, we booked it long ago for my wifes birthday on the 22nd.
So if you see a sunburned ginger wearing tacky Hawaiian shirts, thats me!!

We just returned from our first Royal Caribbean cruise on Jewel of the Seas to Alaska. We had a great time and I wanted to share my thoughts with everyone. (I'm also curious if some things we experienced are the same on other Royal ships.)
 
My only other cruise experience is on 4 Disney ships, but since this was our first cruise without the kids, so we thought we'd try Royal Caribbean.
 
First of all, Jewel is a beautiful ship. As Matt mentioned on the podcast, there are windows everywhere! This was especially nice on an Alaska cruise, where there is always something to see.
 
The entertainment was very mixed. When we went to the first Production show, Cities of Dream, I was worried for the week. It was bad. The show didn't make sense and the some of the performers struggled. We almost skipped the second Production show, West Side to Broadway. I'm really glad we didn't, because we really enjoyed it! The performers were much stronger and we liked most of the music selection. The music in the Centrum was not good. They had a duo singing that sang the same songs badly every night for the 7 night cruise. The entertainment highlight for me was the Jewel of the Seas Orchestra. The live band is the one thing that Disney doesn't have on their ships and it added a lot to the cruise. Our favorite thing on the ship was when the Orchestra performed big band in the Safari Club! It was such an intimate environment with amazingly talented performers!
 
The dining experience was so great! The food quality was great! Our server, Ivan, was very friendly and helpful. We really like My Time Dining, but learned that we need to book the entire cruise when we board the ship so that we can keep the same wait staff each night. On our first night, we made reservations for 5:30 each evening (8:30 at home!) and were able to get the same table each evening. But a couple of days later we realized we needed to change our reservation time due to excursions getting back later. Unfortunately, at that time we couldn't get a table in Ivan's section. We still had good servers, but missed Ivan! (He came by and said hi anyway!) The Windjammer was better than the buffets on the Disney ships. The food was comparable, but there was more seating available!
 
My biggest concern with Jewel of the Seas was the smell of cigarette smoke. It seemed to seep from the casino to all nearby areas. Maybe because it was cold outside, everyone was smoking inside. On embarkation day, we could smell cigarette smoke in our stateroom three decks below the casino. Fortunately, once the ship started moving, we didn't notice it again. My wife is very sensitive to smoke, so we were unable to enjoy the Champagne Bar, which was right outside the casino. The Champagne Bar was one of our favorite places on the Disney Fantasy and Dream, so this was very disappointing. I was hoping that the experience on Royal Caribbean would be good enough to convince my wife and I that we could take our family on Royal Caribbean for 7 nights next summer instead of our 4 night cruise we've booked on the Disney Dream. But my 9-year-old daughter has asthma and other respiratory problems, and I'm not comfortable having her around the smoke. On the Disney ships, the only smoking areas are outside and easily avoidable.
 
The staff though out the ship was friendly! That's always a hallmark of Disney, and Royal Caribbean was just as good! The photography staff was fun!
 
Despite Matt's advice, we missed eating at the Seaview Café! We had missed it on the first sea day, then ended up at the main dining room on Tracy Arm Fjord day for the Salad bar. I told my wife that we had to go to the Seaview Café on the final sea day. The final sea day had huge waves (the captain said 5-8 meters or 16-26 feet!) So they closed all the outdoor areas of the ship, including the ones that accessed the Seaview Café!
 
We quickly discovered and loved the helipad! Especially for Tracy Arm Fjord, we could stand at the front of the ship and see everything!
 
The stateroom was nice, but I don't understand the way it was laid out. When we arrived, we were disappointed to see the bed was underneath the window. We thought this was going to make it difficult for us to look out the window without crawling on the bed. We went to my brother-in-law and his wife's stateroom (next door, same category), and their bed was turned 90 degrees up against the side wall, leaving the area next to the window open. You could easily sit on the side of the bed and look out the window. Each room was designed to be in their configuration, since our room had the lamps and headboard mounted to the wall with the window and my brother-in-law's room had the lamps and headboard mounted to the side wall. So, I did the only logical thing and rearranged my room. (The stateroom attendant never said anything about it, so I wonder if I'm not the only one who's done this!) I was very glad when he vacuumed the carpet where the bed had been that evening! A couple other thoughts about the stateroom...the 90's called and they want their televisions back! And there's no clock in the room. I'd have bought a travel alarm clock in Juneau if I'd have seen one! We struggled thoughout the cruise with the time, since we were three hours difference and it was never dark outside. We'd wake up at 4:30 every morning, since it was 7:30 at home and bright outside. Having a clock would have let me see what time it was, turn over, and go back to sleep!
 
My final thought on Jewel is how well if held the crowd. The ship was sold out, but it never felt crowded. Even when everyone was outside to see the glaciers, there was plenty of space. I don't recall ever thinking that it was crowded the entire cruise!
 
Overall, we had a great time! We loved Alaska. I'd like to compare one of the newer Royal Caribbean ships.

1) There are two Coke Freestyle machines in the Royal Promenade near the pizza parlor
2) Make your Next Cruise appointment as early in your cruise as possible. 6000 of your newest friends are waiting until day 6 or 7 
3) Johnny Rockets for breakfast - yes, really!
4) Don't worry about getting caught in the rain in Central Park, there are umbrellas at the entrances for you to use.
5) For a smallish upcharge, you can order a steak from Chops when eating in any of the main dining rooms (at least until Dynamic Dining comes on line) 
6) probably not specific to Oasis, but the cold soups are The Best Thing in the main dining rooms.
7) Ordering room service with the manual card gives you more delivery time options than using the smart TV application.
8) Book a Back to Back cruise; you'll never do everything you want to do on Oasis in just 7 days. 
9) Book your dining and entertainment reservations as early as possible. 
10) The fitness center is never crowded (go figure....)  (also probably not specific to Oasis)
11) The wifi really is fast enough to stream video and make wi-fi voice calls.

I love visiting all of the Caribbean stops for very different reasons. We did this itinerary for a new years cruise 2014, albeit on Princess. The new port area on Roatan is beautiful, that being said once you get out the main port area, you definitely want to be with a organized group. In terms of the "Caribbean feel" the west end has a less swanky resort town feel with local shops and bars that really is island living. A lot of US transplants running the excursion companies, bars and dive shops. You also have the high end resorts to spend the day at on the north coast. I am in the habit of running 8 miles at every port possible, I find it interesting and gratitude inducing to see the socioeconomic disparity on all the islands, but as stated above, the poverty is in your face between the resort areas and at 4 miles into the run I stopped at a what looked to be an American style gas station guarded by men with shoulder slung semi automatic rifles. I won't run there again. Later in the day I did the underwater scooter/helmet dive which was really fun.
 
In Belize, we also did the cave tubing tour and Zipline combination. Was about a 40 minute drive the cave was beautiful, water was cool, and the zip lining was a lot of fun, they get you through really fast but you are REALLY in the thick jungle. Beautiful and amazing flying through the canopy. They also served a great local lunch. Again, as stated above, Belize city doesn't have you typical port of call feeling. Semi industrial capital city of the country. Not a lot to see (that I am aware of).
 
Cozumel is great, I don't know how you have not been there yet. It seems like every western itinerary we do Cozumel is the one constant.
 
I am truly blessed to have to have seen a lot of places on this Earth, And we really enjoyed this itinerary! It's just not your st. Maarten / Barbados type of feeling.

Liz, I hate to be the only with an alternative view but since you asked, I will give you my opinion about this itinerary.
 
I have been to Belize, Roatan and of course, Cozumel many times. I never tire of Cozumel. I love going there. As for the other 2 stops, let me caution you.
 
I find Belize to be a mixed bag...the cave tubing is fun but it's a LOT of work getting up that hill with those tubes (for an old, fat woman like me, especially !!!) and the water is COLD coming out of the mountains. The cave experience itself is totally awesome. There is an excursion that takes you on a river cruise and has a stop at one of the ruins that is completely and totally awesome ! I happened to be as sick as a dog the last time we went on that river excursion and I had to stay on the bus while the others explored the ruins but even as sick as I was, I totally enjoyed that excursion. Any trip to the ruins is worth it. They are all beautiful. Belize, on an excursion is really wonderful. I do NOT recommend, however, that you decide to just "go downtown and look around". Belize City is a dirty, busy town with little to offer, IMO. There are a couple of churches that are ok to visit but for the most part, you are just stuck in a really ratty place. I will say, however, that some people love the "authentic" atmosphere in Belize City. I guess I'm really just a true American tourist at heart and I was not amused as my husband and my friends drug me, endlessly, through those dirty streets.
 
Roatan is a completely different matter. Those people live in abject poverty and I think it is an absolute disgrace how the government treats them. I swore that I would never, ever go back and I will not. I have now been there 4 times and with each visit, the conditions have gotten worse and worse for the locals. You quite literally cannot drive more than 10 feet and NOT hit a pothole. The roads are treacherous and those poor people get absolutely no help from the government to fix them. They have local volunteers that try to fill the potholes but with only shovels and sand you're not going to get that far. To make the situation even more obvious (corruption), the ONLY streets in the entire place that are driveable are those that lead to the absolutely gorgeous resorts side of the island used by us (tourists in general) ! Amazing how THOSE roads are in perfect condition. On my last trip to the resort side of the island, on the drive coming back from the resort (I can't remember the name of the resort - there are many) there were people along the side of the road making "obscene gestures" (that's all I'll say about that !) to us in the bus and quite frankly, I cannot blame them for resenting the tourists. I have no reason to believe that it is unsafe....but I think it is immoral and I will not be a party to it again. Of course, the reply that I often to get this position is that if you do not go and support the economy then the peoples' plight will just go from bad to worse...but honestly, with the very few exceptions of those people who work at the resorts, I do not think that they realize any of the monetary benefit that the tourists bring. I absolutely believe that the corrupt government pays them pathetic wages and keeps all of the real money for themselves. It certainly has that appearance to me.
 
I hope I have not spoiled your vacation. That was not my intent. I guess if I can make any recommendations it would be that you definitely stick with the ship's excursions, visit the resorts side of the island and stay away from the "local" excursions. The last [local] one I took was supposed to be to a day at the beach but the roads were so bad (we got stuck in the mud at least 3 times on the way there) I was afraid to get out of the van for fear that they would not be able to come and pick me up and take me back to the ship. My husband and I just stayed in the van and went back to the ship as quickly as we could.

Matt just posted 7 drink of the day recipes on the blog, looks like good ideas are contagious.
 
Last week I bought all the ingredients for a labadoozie, cost me 80 bucks :), oh well, I have enough to last me awhile.
I had to make a couple of substitutes though, couldnt find Papaya concentrate so I got Mango, and i used Pineapple juice instead of concentrate, and I used a Cococay cup instead of a Labadee one. I guess that makes it a Coco-loco (same recepie).
I think ill try a Blue Ed next, making drinks with a blender is fun.

FYI you can leave messages on the phones and they also have phones throughout the ship to call the rooms.

It can be, people do it. But for me time is a big factor. Taking time off of work can be hard, id have to add two more days onto my trip, and I HATE driving. Stepping on and off a plane is awesome, ill never take it for granted. Montonguy is closer to the border, if he doesnt mind the drive he may be able to make it work, but he'd have to factor in gas and time.

And before you say something Matt, iv seen you blog on the beach beds, not going to cut it :).

Thanks everyone!
 
I think you will have a good time Steve. I cant help but recommend Peggys Cove, really amazing coastline with rolling rock hills. Got a few cool old forts too, Citadel hill is walking distance from ship. In Saint John the city market is a must. Also I cant say enough about the Bay of Fundy, there may be some excursions available from Saint John. It was on the short list for the new seven wonders of the world, truly amazing place. The highest tides in the world completely transform the coast every 6 hours.
 
Hey Montonguy, I was wondering if the were any Canadians here, looks like there is, and a Maritimer ta boot. 
I wish we could sail from here too, I think its possible to get off here though, I forget the details. We got the Anthem comming in next year, very tempting.