BigHouseFootball

Have you ever had Jamaican Rum Cream? If not, you should definitely grab yourself a bottle. My favorite is the banana flavor but there are several different kinds to choose from: coconut, chocolate, etc!

We did the SeaTrek in St. Maarten last year and it was our favorite excursion of our cruise. Now, I will saw that my wife and I are not scuba divers so the ability to go down 20 feet and be down there for a good 20-25 minutes was an amazing experience for us. You are separated in 2 groups. While one group is down doing the walk the other is able to snorkel in the area. We saw a handful of fish but most of them were down by the walking path. You climb down a ladder from the platform and there is a path laid out with PVC Pipes as the guard rails. You walk a little distance then they stop you and they do a little activity like put a sea urchin on your hand, then you walk down a little further, stop, and something new is waiting for you there-like a sea spider (I declined to hold that haha). They also are spraying food out of a bottle to keep the fish all around you-you will see a TON of fish. At several points they spray the food right in front of your helmet and the fish swim right in front of your face and are bumping into the helmet, it was so cool. We really, really enjoyed the excursion and the staff was amazing the whole time. I felt completely safe and confident that in the unlikely event that I didn't to be brought up to the surface that the divers down there would of taken care of me. There are several divers down with the group the whole time. You are also given a cup of Rum Punch and it packed a punch! The other nice thing about it is that the whole experience lasts maybe 2 hours so if you get the first excursion of the day then you still have plenty of time to do other things in town. We were on the 2nd or 3rd of the day (we even had people in our group that had done the earlier excursion and came back tot he ship and signed up for another go!) so we had maybe 3 hours left in St. Maarten so we just strolled the shopping area a bit. I hope that helps, let me know if you have any specific questions that I can answer for you!

So my fear comes from the barb on their tail and that I have seen some pictures of people bitten-I know it's not a bite as stingrays don't have teeth but a strong suction from their mouth. But thank you for the replies, it helps calm me a bit :-)

Hello All, We are heading on a Southern Caribbean cruise on Adventure next April. We are seriously considering doing the Stingray City excursion when we visit Antigua. I have to admit I am equally excited/terrified of this idea. Has anyone here done this excursion that can share their experience? Thanks!

Thank you so much for the great information! All the activates are what my wife and I enjoy but I wasn't going to sign up if you didn't get a good value on it. Sounds like it is a must do the next time we are in Cozumel!

Had the same experience as you when I was on Allure last year. The guacamole wasn't nearly as good as what we make at home, the bacon wrapped chicken poppers were very dry, and the tuna tacos were bland. Definitely not worth what we paid.

We have eaten at Chops once on Allue, and Portofino's once-that was 3 years ago on Freedom. The only reason why we went was because we got a free specialty dinning card from AAA for booking the cruise. Otherwise we enjoy the main dinning room. We just can't bring ourselves to pay for food when we have already paid for our food by paying for the cruise. I will say we very much enjoyed our experience at Chops. I think they carried me out in a wheelbarrow. The filet was cooked perfectly and the cheese filled sides were amazing. Sauces weren't bad-my wife enjoyed them but I am a steak purist so while I did try them just so I could sample them I ate much of the steak without them.

Food is so subjective. My wife and I really enjoyed the sushi selection on Freedom of the Seas offered at Jade. We would head of there for some sushi after we got back from our excursion but before our late seating dinner time. And just to further prove how subjective food is my wife and I do not enjoy Sabor. At all. And the guacamole that we got on Allure was dreadful. Haha I know those are fightin' words around these parts but it just goes to show you that what one person would describe as awful another will enjoy, and vice versa.

I'm not sure on that...I would think that if you prepaid that you wouldn't be able to get them back, but I have no idea.

Gratuities are not obligatory. You do not have to play them. Or, If you don't like the rate the Royal has in place per day, or if you would rather tip in cash on the last day then simply head to guest services and have the auto gratuities removed.

How is Xplor? I read the RC description and also checked out their website and it looks absolutely phenomenal. But it is quite expensive. For those who have done the RC excursion did you feel it was a good value? Did you get to see/do a majority of the activities?

I just made reservations with Cool Runnings Barbados for their lunch time cruise! Get to snorkel with sea turtles, over a ship wreck, and a beach stop. Basically everything the RC tour does but for cheaper and an extra hour. Anyone here ever use them? They get great reviews on Trip Advisor. Best part was they had no deposit! SO that's one excursion I don't have to worry about. Get to turn my attention to the rest of the itinerary.

My only complaint when it comes to Oasis Class ships is that they do the same itineraries over and over. And the fact that they don't tender. I'm glad CoCo Cay is getting a dock so maybe they will start stopping there instead of Nassau. I was really looking at a Liberty Cruise that did the Roatan, Belize City, Cozumel route but they replaced Belize City with Costa Maya before we could make it happen. The Cave Tubing in Belize is something I really want to experience!

I have always wanted to do these all access tours. I walked up to Guest Services on Freedom during my Honeymoon and asked if there was such a tour (I had no idea) but balked at the price. Same thing when I was on Allure, way too steep of a price for me.

I usually only tip the driver $2. The guide maybe $5 or $10.