cookingyo

Hey I'm reviving this thread. 1. Mrs Cookingyo, myself and the Bubs are all signed up and very much looking forward to this cruise. 2. Airfare is just starting to open up for the cruise time period and I was wondering will there be pre-cruise meet up the day before? I don't need specifics, but a yea or no and approximately what time it may happen. I'm trying to find a flight that won't break the bank yet gets the family in town to start the festivities. Yes I am an over planner....

I wanna know who grabbed the lonely AFT JS they had, I was going to snag that....? You snooze you loose I guess.

Have you googled the ship and room numbers you are looking at? Sometimes there are pictures or you can see the pattern of the bed couch layout or at least a room description.

NICE!!!

Just wanted to bring to everyone's attention. Maybe you can save a few bucks. There is a new discount this morning on the RCCL website. I booked Anthem yesterday and repriced this morning on the RCCL website, Yep it was $100 dollars less. When I called they tried telling me I wasn't able to apply that discount, that's when I said I just repriced it online. After some back and forth with "the manager" I was granted the $100 less. BTW Final payment is in a few days, feeling techno geeky good. No worries Royal Caribbean, I will give you back that $100 in the form of CHOPS and another prime restaurant. Note: I already had a good resident discount and the another discount applied. I guess their coder missed this one. Anyway. The old adage of "book early and often", well this is his cousin. Reprice often up to final payment. Ken

That would be great to use OBC for Excursions, or Voom prior to arrival.

We just did the Chichen Itza ruins tour from Cozumel off of Empress of the Seas. It is a long day. Meet up at 7am. Then you are on the boat to cross the channel shortly afterwards. Three hours of a bus ride, first through Playa del Carmen, then like 100 miles along the highway in the middle of the jungle. Finally through the village by Chchen Itza. About halfway through the tour guide will give some back ground on the ruins. 30 minutes prior to arrival he will give out radio headsets. When you arrive you are immediately surrounded by local vendors hawking their wares. The tour guide hands out the tickets. No backpacks allowed but everyone is issued a bottle of cold water. While walking the short distance to the ruins, again through another gauntlet of local vendors. A quick toilet break followed by around a 1 hour guided tour which was very interesting. Then you are given around an hour to explore the ruins by yourself. We chose to quickly visit the Cenote that supplied water for the city about a 1/4 mile away. Again there was local vendors lining the path on both sides, being quite aggressive for our business. Time goes very quickly, before you know it, it is time to go back to the bus. A box lunch was issued along with a small can of Coke. The lunch was a simple ham sandwich, banana, juice, muffin, and chips. Simple but quite good. As soon as the last straggler arrived, the bus took off for the return trip. The Ferry boat was waiting for our bus and we made it back with about an hour before Empress departed. Would I recommend the trip. Yes because the Pyramid and ball court were very impressive. Would I go back to Chchen Itza. No. The local vendors were so annoying, they really spoiled the short amount of time we had to explore the ruins.

She said CeCe, Cecilia .... Blah Blah Blah, I couldn't remember the last name by the time I got a chance to write it down. Michael P should be able to get that info soon when he sails Empress.

I asked the very lovely Angelle Rutten van Hemert, activities director on Empress. She said this was the last cruise for Carlos Torres as CD, and Elvis Pinto will be the permanent Cruise Director going forward. In addition Angelle's contract ends Oct 1.

I think we would of been hosed flying in the day before in this case. We decided to fly in on Saturday, and worst case we chill in Miami for 2 wet and windy days. I've ridden out a few mean typhoons in Okinawa many moons ago so I guess as long there is booze we'll be o.k. The good news is we will be able to periscope current conditions for those arriving.

I totally agree. IMO downtown Nassau is a dump, my spidey senses were tingling the whole time there. I thought I was going to be jumped at any moment. The Mrs and I did pop over to Atlantis which is 100% beautiful and safe but not really worth the expense for the short time available. If I ever go back I'll be hanging on the ship.

Greetings, my name is Ken. My family and I are starting to cruise again. The Mrs. & I went on a short 4 night Bahama and a 14 night Panama Canal (Honeymoon) trip. We had a little one and now we are introducing him to cruising 10 years later. We are sailing on Aug 29th on Empress and in 2017 on Jewel of the Seas.