Mud_Shark

If you are booking as a single 20 day voyage, there will be a larger supply of rooms, including suites, that are held for 10 day bookings of the same sailing.

Our grandchildren - 2 year old twins, both got medallions on the Enchanted in March, Their mom wore all the family medallions around her neck when the family got on and off - 5 medallions all swinging in the wind on lanyards. Maybe because they are not infants they got them.

That works for eilte. And even if you booked one cabin all the way through in one booking, you would still need to get off the ship in between legs so they can zero out the count. They wait until all other guests have disembarked, then they walk you off the ship and right back on before any of the new cruisers board for the coming voyage. Of course, you can choose to head out into the city for a while, but you must then wait until the official new boarding begins to get back on - but you can bypass the check in with your in-transit card (they will supply).

Made a booking on Oct 15th Star, but summary does not show Premier package - just a regular booking. But still, if it works - a good deal. And we don't use casino. My guess for Star Princess - this is kind of an attempt to mitigate the press disaster of the Sun Princess, as it had to cancel some of its early cruises and even when it sailed, half the venues were not up and operating, nor was all the entertainment operating. I guess this way if the ship is not fully operating, people can't really complain with the price being offered.

Yes, It's been the "new way" or about a year now. When you cancel any excursion - the first form of "refund" is any OBC you may have begun with. So if you booked 3 excursions, and used up $100 OBC and then paid $200 cash, if you cancel one of them, you will get your OBC refunded to your account - not your cash.

Ship is in good condition - not perfect, but good. We sailed three times on her in the last 6 months for over 40 days. Would choose the Royal over the Grand in a heartbeat if the price was close. We just got off the Enchanted and it has more "spit and polish" or newness to it than the Royal. The Royal is just a little worn in places but otherwise fine. No idea on your cabin selection.

we did the princess excursion to Rendezvous Cay a couple weeks ago. Agree with Elizabeth about the beauty of the island, but, as she indicated, the snorkel groups are too crowded and we got turned off with that part. Anytime you were in the group, you were getting hit by someone kicking, or you were the one kicking someone else. We just lagged behind our group, but our guide kept calling us to catch up, and we would, only to get kicked and then fall back again. In truth, the snorkeling from the shore at Tabayana in Roatan the next day was far better than what we experienced on Rendezvous Cay.

We loved the cave tubing, but you are right - the drive there and back eats up much of your day. You will have to decide if it is worth it to you. The actual cave tubing portion is so enjoyable though.

Most who desire beach or snorkel time take an excursion out to one of the many islands on the barrier reef. There are many venders at the port selling such excursions and others pre-sell online. Usually it is about 45 minute boat ride out to the islands. Some have chairs. few have umbrellas. But the islands themselves are right out of a tourist brochure.

for a 6pm departure, Princess will usually have a last tender departure at 5:30pm. If you can actually get on the 3:30pm water taxi, you would be fine to catch one of the later tenders back to your ship. It's just the uncertainty of something going wrong. I am too nervous about such things to actually enjoy my time on a venture like this. So ourselves, we will just take a ship excursion out to Caye Caulker, though that includes snorkeling and not a lot of free time on the island - but that is what we prefer anyway. Hoe you enjoy your plan for the day.

Tabayana beach (west Bay) - snorkeling -is A+ for the Caribbean Mahogany bay - Snorkeling near pier by cabanas - is C- (but I would still do it for a while if we were staying at the port for the day instead of heading out on an excursion.

We were there last Thursday. Not one small piece of sargassum noted at Tabayana. Water was fantastic. I am sure they clean the beach shoreline in the morning if any accumulates during the night, but we saw nothing. In contrast, there was plenty on some Costa Maya Beaches same week. Not like an insane amount, but some piled up on the beach shore and pieces floating in the water every few feet. Some areas that had not been cleaned were thick with sargassum and stank.

Just about ditto to the previous post. 24 cruises to date. Have not purchased any extra insurance or cancellation insurance. We have health and travel insurance through a government retirement policy and our travel credit card. Sometimes have to top off if out of the country longer than 40 days. Just felt that if we had to cancel for some reason or got delayed, we would just eat the cost and in the end it would not be more than the amount we would have paid if we had purchased cfar insurance for all these trips. To date, have not had anything major. But now, as the years pile up, the possibilities of problems is tending towards us being a little more cautious and protected.

Another vote for "meh". For the right itinerary we would sail on her again, but definitely prefer the royal class. We are just getting off Caribbean princess on Saturday. Cruise was fine, but could list probably 20 minor things broken or warped or loose. Plus, there just is not enough seating in the horizon court, but that is more of a Caribbean princess problem alone. We cruised emerald right after the COVID restart, and they had not yet touched up maintenance on areas that had been left untouched for a year so maybe our perception is skewed.

The only one we inquired about was the Everglades your without the flamingo park. That one gets back to port at 1230pm.