The bungalows are currently there at South Beach, but that doesn't mean it won't change once they begin construction on the over the water cabanas and Beach Club areas. That could be the reason they aren't showing in the cruise planner at all. They may feel construction would interfere with the enjoyment or they will have removed them. South Beach is the last area that will be completed and with the waterpark almost done, they may turn the focus on that area next and close it off.
We don’t know much information about them yet as I havent seen talk of them being open for use yet, but according to the map, they should be where I circled by the pool.
Given that $1100 per person is almost the cost of another whole cruise I cannot imagine what would be in a suite that makes it worth it. I would always choose a second cruise over a nicer room with a few perks.
Just my .02
Given that $1100 per person is almost the cost of another whole cruise I cannot imagine what would be in a suite that makes it worth it. I would always choose a second cruise over a nicer room with a few perks.
Just my .02
The inconsistency with this indicates to me that it is not an intentional attempt to block people from seeing sale prices.
Personally, I see all the excursions I have booked and their new prices on my cruises.
I think this is one of RCL IT's infamous issues and nothing malicious.
You get all of the amenities associated with your upgrade, but you just don't get any booking benefits - so no OBC or whatever they may be offering as a booking incentive. You also do not get double points....correct.
I recently had an opportunity to try a fly-in vacation at an all inclusive resort in Jamaica so I'd thought I'd share my thoughts on my experience versus a Royal Caribbean cruise.
I booked using a Priceline "Express Deal" for a "5 star resort". I ended up at the Hyatt Ziva Rosa Hall in Jamaica's Montego Bay. I used a 10% off coupon from a previous Priceline stay which brought our nightly rate for two during spring break down to $400 USD per night all in (taxes, resort fees, gratuity, meals and drinks). This for the least expensive "resort view" double bed room. For this resort that was pretty much entry level. Pool view and suites only went up fast from there. I did not include the cost of flights in this price because those vary based on origination and cruises don't have flight costs bundled in. The best rate I could find for this resort without using Priceline or my 10% coupon was over $550 per night for the same room, same dates.
The resort itself is beautiful. The property consists of two resorts, the Hyatt Ziva (family friendly) and the Hyatt Zilara (adult only). We were free as adults to walk between them at will. Both resorts have their own pools and share many facilities such as beach activities, restaurants and bars.
First Observation - Solo Rates
As a frequent solo cruiser I often lament the dreaded single supplement. Cruise fares are advertised on a double occupancy basis with a per person rate. To cruise solo, you must double that advertised per person rate. Hotels and resorts generally advertise a room rate. Since this was an all inclusive resort including drinks and food, rates were also based on occupancy. In this case a single person paid just $50 per night less than two people in the same room. Even with my best deal finding, coupon clipping abilities that's just a 13% savings for a solo traveler.
On this trip I traveled with a friend who I have cruised with before but with just a $50 difference in the rate for a solo traveler it's hard to give the fly-in resort a win on solo pricing.
Second Observation - Food
The resort featured seven restaurants available to us included in the price. These included an Italian, French, Brazilian Steakhouse, Asian and Seafood restaurant as well as more common options such as American bar food and a pizza station. Breakfast was pretty much a buffet style affair with eggs cooked to order stations satisfying our daily start with a made to order omelet. Fruit was plentiful. Lots of pancakes, waffles, etc.
Every restaurant offered upcharge options such as this common offer available regardless what restaurant we visited:
The menus looked great and the variety appealing. However meal after meal was just okay. Mediocre might be a better description.
The Italian restaurant may have been our next best meal over breakfast. The Brazilian style steakhouse offered one of those red/green discs you turn over based on your supply and demand needs. My travel companion noted that the highlight of her meal was the salad she made for herself at the salad bar. The meats came regardless what color our disc displayed and I sampled a few of them before just having several small servings of the 'tenderloin' beef. Having eaten at Brazilian style restaurants in cities such as Atlanta this was not a highlight meal.
Those breakfast omelets turned out to be the highlight of our culinary experience. Watch out for the Scotch Bonnet Sauce, it's hot, hot, hot but very good. A little goes a very long way. The breakfast venue offered stunning views outdoors as we enjoyed our start to the day.
Side note - room service food was included but we never tried it.
One other included venue was a jerk food station with several sauces and corn bread.
It was okay but you had to carefully pick through the chicken to avoid bones as they just chopped it all up into pieces and served it on a plate. Like most other food, it just was missing something and I'm a jerk fan (you are what you eat).
By the third day we declared Royal Caribbean food a hands down, no contest winner.
Third Observation - Beverages
Adult beverages were included, including the stocked mini-bar in the room. The mini bar was stocked with a couple of Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light cans, some common liquors (rum/vodka/tequila) and a couple of cans of mixers. WATA (local play on words for bottled water was also plentiful).
Pool bars offered a decent selection of frozen concoctions, Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light on tap plus your standard variety of mixed drink cocktails.
We sampled many of the frozen concoctions. So many we were left with a sugar buzz but not much of an alcoholic buzz. I never like to accuse anywhere of watering down drinks but either my tolerance rose substantially for four days or those drinks were mostly water.
The included wines were hard to drink. Wine menus were offered with each meal but everything was at an additional cost ranging from $45 to "OMG there is no way we are getting that bottle". The house wines left a lot to be desired. As my glass lowered even slightly they were very good about refilling it. However it's not often I leave a full glass of wine at the table at the end of a meal. The wine was just that bad. "Maybe if I don't drink it, they won't refill it" went through my mind.
Cocktails like vodka-tonic were basically well drinks with nothing top shelf available.
Bars opened at 10am but Mimosa's were available at breakfast before that time. We each had three one morning yet felt nothing.
Best option turned out to be Red Stripe on tap. Despite how much beer can fill you up, if you desire to become even moderately buzzed, stick with beer. Fortunately I like Red Stripe.
It didn't take long to declare Royal Caribbean adult beverages a hands down winner. Even the included Diamond happy hour wines on Royal Caribbean have found a new respect from me. I longed for them during every dinner at the resort. That says a lot.
Fresh off Navigator with the hand crafted cocktails in The Bamboo Room I was very disappointed with the adult beverages at the all inclusive resort.
Even standard Royal Caribbean frozen drinks, mixed drinks, any drink, outshined any drink I ordered at the resort.
Fourth Observation - The Resort Itself.
Beautiful resort with well kept grounds. Staff were excellent and well trained. Everyone we met was happy and went beyond expectations to assist and be helpful. No complaints whatsoever at any time with the resort itself or any employee. Just very pleasant and accommodating people. I was quickly on a first name basis with many of them.
Our lunch restaurant view one day:
Some of the more expensive rooms feature a shared pool exclusive to those adult only rooms with outdoor lounging beds on the patio and in water loungers. On the adult only Zilara side of the resort these pools featured a lazy river type channel to the main pool. Very nice, but expensive.
Meeting rooms and convention space. Immaculate grounds. Very well kept with attention to details.
Each resort had it's own swim up bar which was immensely popular. Yes even Jamaica has spring breakers but nothing that was a problem. Pools had lifeguards. One pool next to this one had sport activities such as water bike spin classes, in water yoga, pool volleyball, etc. Lots to do.
Cabanas available for rent.
Cabanas pricing started at just $89. Beach cabanas $99. Aqua cabanas pictured above $139. The most expensive Royal Palm cabanas included a fruit plate, 15 min. message and lunch delivered for $250.
Compared to Royal Caribbean's private destinations of CocoCay and Labadee the resort cabanas are a strong winner for value. While not as large as the new Oasis Lagoon pool on CocoCay, the resort pools were pretty incredible.
Clearly no ship can build these massive fresh water pools, there is just not enough space on a ship pool deck to do it. Not pictured were gas fire-pits around the grounds with resort seating around them at night. Very peaceful and relaxing. Included Hobie catamaran 15 minute sailing, paddle boards and kayaks.
Night time entertainment was pretty much musicians. One played a violin or fiddle with a machine generated track of background songs and he was very, very good. We listened to him for hours.
No ship can compete with a resort spanning hundreds of acres with massive pools, a fitness center, fire-pits and so much more. Hyatt Ziva is very well maintained and beautiful.
Win for the resort especially with the reasonable cabanas.
Honorable mention to Navigator's new resort style pool deck. For a ship it's the next best thing to a resort.
Summary
I'm really glad I tried an all inclusive resort because you hear so many people trying to draw comparisons.
Departing Jamaica after boarding the plane and getting airborne I had some drink coupons so we enjoyed an airline Mimosa in a plastic cup. We both felt more from that half-sized mini-Mimosa then we did from the three in a row we had at breakfast one morning at the resort.
Drinks on Royal Caribbean are a clear and strong winner.
When we landed in Orlando for our connection we both clamored a real meal of airport food. It says a lot when Outback in an airport is a fantastic experience after three days of blah. Even with a plastic knife and fork.
After clearing immigration we had to wait for our luggage before rejoining the rest of America in the terminal. We talked with some other people who stayed at different all inclusive resorts more expensive than ours (the word Secret is in the name). I had to ask. "How was the food?". Long pregnant pause before their response... "Well, it was just okay, but we really like the resort." Pretty much exactly how we felt. Just okay.
Food on Royal Caribbean is a strong winner without bringing Royal specialty dining into the picture.
Chair hogs. We learned on our first morning get out early and stake your claim. I grabbed a coffee and claimed loungers under umbrellas while my travel buddy worked out in the fitness center. Some of my message posts this week were from that very poolside lounger.
WiFi was included but not much better than O3b internet on newer ships. It struggled with Pandora.
Upcharge opportunities. At every turn there were offers to upgrade just about everything, at a cost. A frequent source of complaints from some cruisers comes from upcharge opportunities on a cruise. I've heard people frequently claim "I though it was all inclusive". At this five star all inclusive resort we were inundated with opportunities to upgrade our experience including photographers taking pictures available at an additional charge. We didn't purchase any of them, just as I frequently don't when cruising. I just had to mention the irony of cruisers comparing it to an all inclusive resort.
Transportation to the resort from the airport was not included and amounted to $33 per person round trip plus tip. Not much different than airport to port and/or hotel costs for a cruise. No clear winner.
Airfare is difficult to compare but I can say that airfare to Jamaica (with a stop in Florida each way) was more expensive for the same spring break week had our flights ended in Florida. How much? Somewhere between $100-$150 for two people.
My overall conclusion is that a Royal Caribbean cruise is a winner for my needs and my culinary expectations, which aren't much as a non-foodie. A cruise is simply better value. Despite having gratuity included in the all inclusive resort pricing it was pretty clear that a few extra bucks here and there made a better experience and our bartenders kept our drinks full or replaced with a new one before we could say no.
I've seen that some people don't understand where Royal is heading with the CocoCay investment. We pretty much hung out around that resort pool a lot. I get it now, more so than before. Oasis Lagoon at CocoCay is calling my name. Give me a 3 night cruise with Royal Caribbean food, drinks and a long day in CocoCay any day.
I don't regret my Jamaica vacation. It's very beautiful there. However I'll never feel like I am missing out by taking a cruise. When my friends talk up the all inclusive resorts I'll just nod and smile knowing I have another Royal Caribbean cruise booked where I can enjoy the food, and drinks, and so much more.
For what's it's worth, the Hyatt Ziva is available for cruise ship "resort for a day" from independent websites. A couple next to me at a bar mentioned "it's almost time to get back to the ship". We watched Adventure of the Seas sail past us just after sunset one night.
The rate I saw for a day pass was $152 per person per day. Suddenly Cozumel resorts for a day options looked like incredible deals and the food and drinks I've had at places like Nachi Cocum for a third of that price make them look like incredible bargains.
After becoming addicted to this blog I switched my HOS reservations, that I initially made through RC, over to MEI. My agent is John Ames and he has been amazing. This is the first time I have ever used a travel agent and I will use MEI, and John, for any future travel needs. I have had a hundred questions and he has been patient and answered every question. When I email him I get a reply within minutes in most cases and he always follows up to ensure I have a great understanding of what is happening. I would recommend John and MEI to anyone!
Welcome to the message boards!
The Diamond on board discount will save you ~$23 off the onboard Voom plans. I usually wait until day two to buy Voom so it drops in price by one day.
Assuming a cruise planner price of $14.99 here is a chart that illustrates the differences.
For Diamond on a 9 night cruise the cruise planner will be cheaper for Surf and Stream at $14.99 or below (cruise planner price). Surf is a different matter since it isn't always available in the cruise planner.
then i'm not sure you're drinking it correctly. LOL. JK.
but really...i've read here that it depends sometimes on the ship/venue/etc...your card may be "punched" more times than 1 depending on the size of the coffee drink you get.
Using a travel router does not slow down the internet.
My biggest use case for a travel router is extending the ship wifi to all corners of my cabin. The ship access points for wifi are in the hallways and cabins are all metal including the door. It's not unusual to have weak wifi deeper into a cabin such as in bed. A travel router can be placed closer to the door and it generates it's own strong signal through the cabin so that internet works everywhere including in bed.
Fantastic photos! The evening photos on this page and on page 11 are why I always look forward to a @twangster live blog. That and the jokes at @Lovetocruise2002 expense.
What can I say Matt? No Drink Package, no bad influences on a Group Cruise (and yes, i'm looking at you) maybe there is a reason....
In truth, we had a great cruise just the two of us. I will note that I got on her good side by waking every morning and heading down to Cafe Promenade to get her a Soy Latte.
@Lovetocruise2002 You certainly do, one of the great features of Oasis class. Don't underestimate the breakfast at El Loco Fresh either. It was quite good.
@Karahvacatimes Wonderful blog. brings back so many great memories for me of our time on Symphony.
@Lovetocruise2002 You certainly do, one of the great features of Oasis class. Don't underestimate the breakfast at El Loco Fresh either. It was quite good.
@Karahvacatimes Wonderful blog. brings back so many great memories for me of our time on Symphony.
Day 4 - St Thomas
Our day in St Thomas got off to a relatively quiet start. We were scheduled to arrive in port at 10 AM and so we had a nice breakfast before heading out to take some phots as we arrived.
After the ship had docked we got ready for our excursion. We had booked the Magen’s Bay Beach Getaway. This consisted of a van ride to a lookout overlooking the beach and then on the the the beach, some free time at the beach and a ride back to the port. The vans were an open air type where you ride in the back of a truck converted to a bus. Note to self for next time, get a picture of the vehicle.....
Here are some photos from the ride to the lookout.
As you can see from the photos there were 6 ships in port. There was actually still one to arrive. This was going to make for quite a busy day at the beach.
Once at the lookout we could see the beach and it’s unique heart shape.
After a brief stop to allow for photos we made our way down to the beach itself.
On the return to the ship our driver stopped briefly so we could get a better view of Symphony as we approached.
Back aboard the ship we were greeted with some chocolates and treats for my birthday.
Dinner was a Chops. The food was great, unfortunately the service was a little off as there was a large group dominating the staff’s time and there was a family with two young children who didn’t really want to be in a restaurant and weren’t afraid to make their unhappiness known.
After dinner I caught a sunset photo as we left port as well as an evening shot of the Big Wonder.
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