WhoCruiser

Recently discussed this with our travel agent for our recurring celebrity/fan cruise with the Doctor Who cast & crew that's coming up next March on Vision out of Baltimore. This is the first time we've been offered the choice of THREE times for MDR instead of two. From 5:30, 7:45 & 8:30 we picked 7:45 for our group tables.

As others have already noted, in San Juan it's very easy to just walk up the hill to do the fort (a small entry fee there, or free if you already have a National Parks membership pass) and enjoy the old city on the way back, lots of options to snack or lunch on if you want to.

I too suggest a sunset catamaran tour. Every time my recurring celebrity/fan group of Doctor Who fans and cast & crew members stop in Aruba it's a must. The ship's tour office generally books onboard one of Red Sail Catamarans' 4 boats, and I've never been disappointed by them. Twice, when our group's numbers were large enough to do so, we privately booked our own catamaran directly with Red Sail (their vessels vary in max capacity between 40 & 200) at about half of what going through the cruise line's tour office would have cost. Amazing views, and a full service open bar, not just a big barrel of rum punch like some other operators have.

Someone had to post it...

No ferry ride required, but in my opinion, extremely underwhelming when compared to any of the far superior Mayan sites on the mainland.

As someone who doesn't do Mayo, Mustard, or Pickles on anything, I share your pain! And with or without condiments, I was somewhat peeved at just spending 10 nights on Explorer of the Seas without seeing them make ANY of the beef on weck sandwiches the entire time, despite my asking each day about them.

Ahhhh, breathing again now! Not me! you can ignore the PM, LOL.

I bought an internet package on Friday afternoon for one of my linked cabins, and had no issues doing it.

Oh, and yes, we know EXACTLY where our group is going for our NEXT voyage, we locked it in last February, but won't publicly announce until we set sail on the current voyage next week. Still on Royal, but on a very different itinerary in a whole different ocean, and tied to what is, for us, a very significant date. As my dear old friend & Doctor Who producer (and two-time Guest Of Honor on our group's first two voyages) John Nathan-Turner, was famous for saying, "Stay Tuned!..."

This is the same sailing that my recurring special interest group was originally supposed to be on, until they started playing musical chairs with dry docking, and stonewalling for three months, before finally admitting that they were going to dry dock, even though some of us here on the group had already figured that out ourselves when the ship's normal operations mysteriously "disappeared" for 6 weeks on the calendar, and then suddenly popped up in harbormasters' listings in the Canaries and the Azores heading across to Spain for an obvious drydock appointment, instead of continuing its normal schedule out of Fort Lauderdale. This caused us, and many other people planning to use that ship in the late fall or early winter, to make plans on other ships, before Royal came back a month later, telling us "oh no we're not dry docking it after all, why don't you bring your group back?" Meanwhile we had proactively moved our group, even before the belated public announcement, over to Explorer Of The Seas, which actually has a far better itinerary, and we were extremely happy to stay where we were. We're going to be a group of about 40 odd people (and yes, I mean that in every sense, we are quite odd ha ha ha, but fun too!) and I can't help wondering if they had us, and any others who proactively canceled/rebooked on other ships, still on Freedom they might not be forced now to be deeply discounting literally days before departure. Karma...

OK, false alarm. It appears that the original UK Government website article that got us concerned does NOT specify method of entry to the DR (air vs cruise ship) or length of stay (actual overnight or longer land stay vs 8 hours off of a cruise ship) and that on further investigation it appears that, as I suspected, they are EXEMPT and only need show their normal ID. Crisis averted! We now return you to your normal suitcase packing, LOL!

I have several UK citizens on my voyage departing on 5 December, and visiting Puerta Plata in the DR on 7 December. One of my people found this on a UK government site, saying that an advance entry form must be submitted a week before arrival? First I've ever heard of this, and Royal never said anything about it. Would I be correct in assuming that this might only be required for tourists STAYING in the DR, and that it's NOT required for cruise passengers only there for a port call? It's causing much confusion here at the moment, anyone have definitive info on this? I'm thinking the ship probably submits their usual manifest, which bypasses this for anyone to just show their Sail & Sign (or equivalent on other lines.) Entry requirements - Dominican Republic travel advice - GOV.UK

So, it's a Royal Caribbean Bar Mitzvah? Mazel Tov (NOT!)

Just did the advance check in for Explorer on 5 Dec 24, for myself & several cabins linked to me in our group, I was RIGHT in there at Midnight, but NO arrival times earlier than Noon. I was expecting to see 11 and/or 11:30 am on offer, have even seen !0:30 often in the past, but nada. Are they now holding the earlier times only for Suites, Pinnacles, or whatever? A small issue yes, but it still rather annoys me.

Just did the advance check in, was RIGHT in there at Midnight, but no arrival times earlier than Noon. I was expecting to see 11 and/or 11:30 am, but nada. Are they now holding the earlier times only for Suites, Pinnacles, or whatever?

If your kids (or YOU!) are at all into Star Wars or other sci-fi/fantasy films, you might want to check out The Yoda Guy museum & shop, owned & operated by Nick Maley, one of the original designers of Yoda, and many other memorable film & TV creatures over the years. Nick & his wife Gloria retired to St Marten years ago, and personally welcome fans who come to the museum, located on Front Street, an easy walk from the pier. Well worth a visit, tons of info here on their official website at netdwellers.com/mo/ygme/index.html I'm taking my happy group of celebrities from & fans of Doctor Who there when we stop in St Marten, and we're really looking forward to it.

Measure your luggage - if it fits, you sits!

Significant price drops today on two tours I'd previously booked for myself & some of my group members, just rebooked & saved $105 total, or $15 per person, on the two tours for 7 of us, yay!

You'll be getting off as my group is getting on, take good care of the ship and give us a wave, LOL! Or alternately, join us and go B2B!

About a mile from my house, I pass by it daily. Hampton Inns are decent & fairly consistent, and do include a free basic breakfast. Nothing special to see, either in the hotel itself or in the neighborhood. Not the best of neighborhoods, not the worst, but a good location if you're driving down on the turnpike because it is literally on the off ramp. If you need to head out for goodies it is within walking distance of a shopping plaza with a Publix supermarket and a few other shops & small restaurants. Krispy Creme donuts also right next door, yummy.

Well, no one else has started a thread yet for this voyage, so I will. My own private membership celebrity/fan meet the stars group with cast & crew members from the BBC-TV series "Doctor Who" and their fans will be just one group among others, and countless non-group fellow passengers, on this sailing. Please feel free to discuss any aspect of the sailing, group or non-group, here below if you wish. If you'd like to officially book in as a member of our group, you're welcome to do so, we're very welcoming of new members who share our interests, and if not, please do still feel free to say hi if you see any of us casually on board or ashore. Dan Harris - Group Leader, The Sci-Fi Sea Cruise.

LOL - Couldn't resist the pun...

Although I'm not doing the beverage package myself this time around, I know quite a few people in my group are planning to do it, so I went and checked out how this particular sale affects our particular voyage. Turns out that it is actually about $10 a day less than the prices they have been floating for the last few months on our ship and dates, so I sent out an alert to my own people to check it out if they are interested. Quite a few of the people I expect to be in my group have not actually booked their cabins yet, so I dearly hope that, as I expect, this or a similar savings will present itself as well on Black Friday, exactly 6 days (WHEW!!!) before my group sets sail.

There's one born every minute, or so they say...

Another vote of confidence here for Native Choice. My recurring Doctor Who Celebrity/Fan meet the stars group was on Wonder Of The Seas at Costa Maya at the end of October, and we did our own group booked online in advance directly through Native Choice. Absolutely wonderful experience, and the walk out of the cruise line owned private compound and up the street to Native Choice's location was only a few blocks. We ended up paying about half of what Royal Caribbean charges for essentially the same tour. Highly recommended.