Lifestyles VIP Serenity Beach - still valid?

Booked this for our April 24th Conquest Cruise.

Have read that there are issues with this resort and that this excursion is either being cancelled and/or cruise guests are being redirected to another resort (Iberostar).

Can anyone who booked VIP Serenity Beach and sailed within the last few weeks confirm that this excursion is still valid. If not, what happened once you were underway....cancelled/credit or sent somewhere else.

I posted this in the port of call discussion as well, but realize folks recently back from their cruise might not visit those forums.

I'm going to cancel this, if there are problems.

Noticed that the excursion went from $49.99/pp to $79.99/pp.

Could it be that Carnival is shutting those of us out who booked at $49.99/pp? I'll gladly cancel our excursion and we'll do something else if this is the case.

Why don't you try emailing excursions@carnival.com. They have always been very helpful to me anytime I had questions. And I've asked many regarding Amber Cove.

You might also want to check the port of call page and see if anyone has posted about this excursion.

Why don't you try emailing excursions@carnival.com. They have always been very helpful to me anytime I had questions. And I've asked many regarding Amber Cove.

 

You might also want to check the port of call page and see if anyone has posted about this excursion.

I've already emailed them and please refer to my OP which did, in fact, mention that I had already posted this in the port of call discussions add well as my rationale for posting here as well.

I've already emailed them and please refer to my OP which did, in fact, mention that I had already posted this in the port of call discussions add well as my rationale for posting here as well.

I missed the part where you said you posted this already on the other page. Sorry.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

With our cruise a little over a week away, it would be nice to get a real life answer as to what happened to this excursion rather than some generic response from Carnival. If we will not have the excursion we booked than I would like to cancel now.

We were on Conquest Easter week and tried to book this excursion but we're too late as it sold out ( limit 21 couples?). We ended up booking the RUI all inclusive but when in line to get our wristbands for that we heard the people in the next booth explaining that there was indeed a problem with resort or the contract with the resort and that fols were being sent to another 5 star resort instead.

We did not have the best experience at RUI ( awful food, kids galore including one who puked in the pool, lousy beach) so if you cannot get a straight answer from Carnival you may want to consider something else. Hope this helps...

I have sent another email asking again if the Serenity VIP excursion will be cancelled or sent to another resort. Hopefully this time I'll get a straight answer from them. Especially since we are supposed to be there on April 25th. The only reason we booked the Serenity option in the first place was because of the reviews and that particular one was adults only. We really don't want to go to the hotel that they are substituting.

I have sent another email asking again if the Serenity VIP excursion will be cancelled or sent to another resort. Hopefully this time I'll get a straight answer from them. Especially since we are supposed to be there on April 25th. The only reason we booked the Serenity option in the first place was because of the reviews and that particular one was adults only. We really don't want to go to the hotel that they are substituting.

Yes, agree 100%. I've seen a couple of posts where folks were shuttled to either an Iberostar resort or someplace 1-1/2 to 2 hours away!!! No way we're doing that.

We were sooooo looking forward to the crepe and oyster bars.

We did not have the best experience at RUI ( awful food, kids galore including one who puked in the pool, lousy beach) so if you cannot get a straight answer from Carnival you may want to consider something else. Hope this helps...

All the beaches in the Puerto Plata area are like the above description - lousy. I've been attacked by posters who haven't visited there yet, but I hope cruisers won't be disappointed if they know beforehand what they will and will not be seeing.

Dark brown/yellowish dirty looking sand, and the dark gray waves of the Atlantic Ocean are the typical characteristics of beaches in this area. One has to travel to them too since Amber Cove does not have a beach area within its confines.

Booked this for our April 24th Conquest Cruise.

 

Have read that there are issues with this resort and that this excursion is either being cancelled and/or cruise guests are being redirected to another resort (Iberostar).

 

Can anyone who booked VIP Serenity Beach and sailed within the last few weeks confirm that this excursion is still valid. If not, what happened once you were underway....cancelled/credit or sent somewhere else.

 

I posted this in the port of call discussion as well, but realize folks recently back from their cruise might not visit those forums.

 

I'm going to cancel this, if there are problems.

i was booked on this back in mid-march and we were redirected to the iberostar. no problem for me, really enjoyed the iberostar. good food, good drinks, free wifi, nice beach, pretty resort. just what i was looking for.

oh, and not only did they honor the price we had paid......59.99 when i booked it.... but they gave us 10 percent off of that price for the change.

eta - it was about a 30 minute ride to the iberostar dorata and about a 20 minute ride back. the resort is just east of town several miles before you get to the airport.

We did not have the best experience at RUI ( awful food, kids galore including one who puked in the pool, lousy beach) so if you cannot get a straight answer from Carnival you may want to consider something else. Hope this helps...

All the beaches in the Puerto Plata area are like the above description - lousy. I've been attacked by posters who haven't visited there yet, but I hope cruisers won't be disappointed if they know beforehand what they will and will not be seeing.

 

Dark brown/yellowish dirty looking sand, and the dark gray waves of the Atlantic Ocean are the typical characteristics of beaches in this area. One has to travel to them too since Amber Cove does not have a beach area within its confines.

Yes, I have heard that the beaches around Puerto Plata were not the best. My son's girlfriend is from the DR (Punta Cana area), so she's told us all about the area. Unfortunately, it's just not possible to be able to get to those prettier beaches from Amber Cove.

Yes' date=' I have heard that the beaches around Puerto Plata were not the best. My son's girlfriend is from the DR (Punta Cana area), so she's told us all about the area. Unfortunately, it's just not possible to be able to get to those prettier beaches from Amber Cove.[/quote']

 

There is just no comparision between the Puerto Plata/Amber Cove area and Punta Cana beaches which are absolutely beautiful..

 

That would be like comparing Orchard Beach in the Bronx (ugh!) to a Miami or South Padre Beach beach.

Ok.....excursions finally emailed back and said that they "do not have official confirmation of any changes at this time".

Although, since all of the excursions there have been removed as options for Amber Cove (for my cruise anyway), it seems they should know something.

We accepted the replacement excursion to Iberostar two weeks ago. The pool area was very nice and had a swim up bar. The food was tasty and there was a large selection. The beach was just OK. There is only a small area available for swimming (due to a coral reef underfoot) and there was lots of seaweed floating around.

I have to agree with other posters that Puerto Plata beaches are disappointing in comparison to Punta Cana.

I'm curious as to what's going on with this excursion too - we are booked on it in May. It had disappeared off the excursions list for my cruise, but last week I did see it was sold out. I'm wondering if people over the limit per day are sent somewhere else or if it's everyone? If anyone gets any more information, please post!

Hope OP comes back with his/her experience. We have this booked for Dec. and this is the first I have heard of any problems. I would not be happy if they switched it to RIU and because that excursion is $15pp less. Also RIU only includes local drinks and there is no Oyster bar. Hope they get this straightened out before Dec.

Hope OP comes back with his/her experience. We have this booked for Dec. and this is the first I have heard of any problems. I would not be happy if they switched it to RIU and because that excursion is $15pp less. Also RIU only includes local drinks and there is no Oyster bar. Hope they get this straightened out before Dec.

After some discussion with my wife last night, we decided to cancel this excursion. It's obvious something is going on between Carnival and Lifestyles that is preventing cruisers who booked these excursions from going there or being rerouted to another resort.

Not to sound petty, but we don't really care about the resort, but wanted a nice beach with the oyster and crepe bars. While Iberostar may have a nice pool and food, it simply isn't going to be the same experience.

We'll try to find something to do when get there, or we may just walk around a bit and then head back to the ship. We don't have to do anything to have a good time.

I'm curious as to what's going on with this excursion too - we are booked on it in May. It had disappeared off the excursions list for my cruise, but last week I did see it was sold out. I'm wondering if people over the limit per day are sent somewhere else or if it's everyone? If anyone gets any more information, please post!

It's everyone who is being sent elsewhere or cancelled. There are actually 3 different excursions going to this resort....the Lifestyle Serenity VIP (which I booked), the Lifestyle Resort experience, and the Secluded Luxury Villa for the day. All three of these excursions have disappeared as options for my cruise. They are still showing under the Carnival's "explore port" page though.

After some discussion with my wife last night, we decided to cancel this excursion. It's obvious something is going on between Carnival and Lifestyles that is preventing cruisers who booked these excursions from going there or being rerouted to another resort.

 

Not to sound petty, but we don't really care about the resort, but wanted a nice beach with the oyster and crepe bars. While Iberostar may have a nice pool and food, it simply isn't going to be the same experience.

 

We'll try to find something to do when get there, or we may just walk around a bit and then head back to the ship. We don't have to do anything to have a good time.

My husband and I have decided to cancel, also. We were just going for the private beach area, too. We have no interest in the pools or resort either so being redirected to another resort that has a great pool but not beach is of no interest to us.

There is only one more ship (Valor on the 11th of this week) that was scheduled to be there before ours (Magic on the 25th), and, I've heard that those on the Valor were going to be sent to the Iberostar so unless something changed quickly, I'm guessing ours would not be going to Lifestyle's either.

My theory is that since this is a timeshare type resort, the owners/shareholders may not have been too happy about the cruise ship passengers coming in and taking over their resort. Especially since these "issues" started around Spring Break time. I have to admit that, if I were an owner, I probably wouldn't be too happy about it either. However, if the resort had a contract with Carnival (and I'm sure they did) then I'm not really sure how they could get out of it too easily. Once again, just my theory.

My husband and I have decided to cancel' date=' also. We were just going for the private beach area, too. We have no interest in the pools or resort either so being redirected to another resort that has a great pool but not beach is of no interest to us.

 

There is only one more ship (Valor on the 11th of this week) that was scheduled to be there before ours (Magic on the 25th), and, I've heard that those on the Valor were going to be sent to the Iberostar so unless something changed quickly, I'm guessing ours would not be going to Lifestyle's either.

 

My theory is that since this is a timeshare type resort, the owners/shareholders may not have been too happy about the cruise ship passengers coming in and taking over their resort. Especially since these "issues" started around Spring Break time. I have to admit that, if I were an owner, I probably wouldn't be too happy about it either. However, if the resort had a contract with Carnival (and I'm sure they did) then I'm not really sure how they could get out of it too easily. Once again, just my theory.[/quote']

 

Not to mention that when I found this excursion on Carnival's site, the price had jumped from $49.99/pp that we booked at to $79.99/pp. Something stinks here.

Not to mention that when I found this excursion on Carnival's site, the price had jumped from $49.99/pp that we booked at to $79.99/pp. Something stinks here.

Exactly! We paid $59.99 for our Serenity VIP experience. Plus, if they are redirecting all the different tiered excursions from Lifestyle's to the same resort (Iberostar), then they should be refunding back the difference in prices,too....not just 10%. We were paying extra for the "better" experience. Makes me wonder where they are sending the ones who paid $99.99 (or more) for the Villa experience.

Exactly! We paid $59.99 for our Serenity VIP experience. Plus' date=' if they are redirecting all the different tiered excursions from Lifestyle's to the same resort (Iberostar), then they should be refunding back the difference in prices,too....not just 10%. We were paying extra for the "better" experience. Makes me wonder where they are sending the ones who paid $99.99 (or more) for the Villa experience.[/quote']

 

These excursions are still showing for my sailing. Maybe they figure it will all be worked out by the time we sail. The adult prices are showing as $109.99 (villa), $79.99(Lifestyle VIP serenity) $59.99(Lifestyle VIP experience). We were gonna book the Villa one but opted for something else instead. I would be pretty disappointed too if this happened after we booked it.

After some discussion with my wife last night, we decided to cancel this excursion. It's obvious something is going on between Carnival and Lifestyles that is preventing cruisers who booked these excursions from going there or being rerouted to another resort.

 

Not to sound petty, but we don't really care about the resort, but wanted a nice beach with the oyster and crepe bars. While Iberostar may have a nice pool and food, it simply isn't going to be the same experience.

 

We'll try to find something to do when get there, or we may just walk around a bit and then head back to the ship. We don't have to do anything to have a good time.

as an fyi, half of the store fronts are still empty in port. you are also about 5 miles from town.

My husband and I have decided to cancel' date=' also. We were just going for the private beach area, too. We have no interest in the pools or resort either [b']so being redirected to another resort that has a great pool but not beach is of no interest to us[/b].

 

There is only one more ship (Valor on the 11th of this week) that was scheduled to be there before ours (Magic on the 25th), and, I've heard that those on the Valor were going to be sent to the Iberostar so unless something changed quickly, I'm guessing ours would not be going to Lifestyle's either.

 

My theory is that since this is a timeshare type resort, the owners/shareholders may not have been too happy about the cruise ship passengers coming in and taking over their resort. Especially since these "issues" started around Spring Break time. I have to admit that, if I were an owner, I probably wouldn't be too happy about it either. However, if the resort had a contract with Carnival (and I'm sure they did) then I'm not really sure how they could get out of it too easily. Once again, just my theory.

iberostar has a beach and imo is a nice beach. yes, it's on the atlantic side but that is what you have to work with at amber cove and for the atlantic side, it was a nice beach.