Cruisin4

We booked to be on STAR, October 2025

Looking forward too this cruise

41 minutes ago, Texex2 said:

Some in our group may not be up to a lot of walking. Can it be adjusted to have more time in car and less walking? You guys do lunch? Lastly, I have heard the guides appreciate some items that are hard to get in Cuba. Did you give anything other than a tip? Are tipping guidelines similar to US? I know it varies in Europe but want to be appropriate as I am sure the service will be great! 

 Yes, just ask and they will accommodate

This button was removed with the upgrade and it is SORELY MISSED!!

Oh where, oh where has the "first read" button gone?

Oh where, oh where could it be?

It was so helpful, useful and a real timesaver

Oh when , oh when will it return????

Our tour via Blexie Havana Tours was with Blexie. He did an outstanding job weaving history, politics, social issues, architecture, common life into our day.

He is easy to find. Your exit the cruise terminal and walk across the street to the plaza and Blexie was there at the appointed time of 10am. The tour lasted 6 hours. He was born in Cuba and has never been off Cuba. His english is perfect. He takes you to the government rehabbed plazas, then also a block over and you can see where the real Cubans live.

Among the places we saw were

-Walkthrough old Havana,

- Walkthrough the 4 main squares in the old city to see the Cathedral and mainmonuments and historical sites.

- Fort,People's House/capitol, Drive along Embassy row.

- Drivedown the malecon towards Fusterlandia which is an entire neighborhood covered with mosaic tiles. Walk Fusterlandia (*** THIS IS A MUST SEE- Fuster's work was inspired by Gaudi)

- Visit the Plaza de Revolucion to see the square where Castro gathered million and he gave a 6+ hour speech there.

- Lunch - we skipped lunch and kept touring

- Popped into to see"Hemingway’s" hotel and also at "his" bar, Floridita. Too crowded to stay but fun to see

- Stopped to do a Rumpurchase/Cigars purchase/Coffee purchase. The only place that had Air-conditioning...

We had hoped to see insidethe cigar factory however they were on break (they reopen in Sept.)

Tour was 130 CUC plus tipextra The tour is for up to 4 people. So two couples toured, so we spent 65 CUC per couple plus tip. The first third of the tour is a walking tour with Blexie, the second and third part of the tour his friend Lou joined us who had an old fashioned well maintained car (that had A/C- YEAH)... he drove us to see different sections of the city and Blexie was with us the entire time. The tour was informative, we stopped to see one of the medical clinics as I am a nurse. Blexie is very knowledgeable. I would highly recommend him and his tour.

We will be there! Will be our third FPC. Here is a link to the roll call - it isn’t too active yet. On it you will find a link to my review of this year’s FPC and some pictures. We can’t wait ! They just added Blood Sweat and Tears and many more.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=55841663#post55841663

Thank you for redirecting me. I appreciate your assistance.

We are Anne Marie and John from Naples Fl. Looking forward to our first FlowerPower Cruise. Who else is joining us?

I had been looking ahead to a possible 5 night Western Caribbean cruise on the Infinity, departing 25 March 2019, and had priced up the possibility via Celebrity's web-site.

 

However, upon looking up this particular cruise late last week, and again over the weekend and today, it appears that you can book a 4 Bahamas night cruise departing 21 March 2019, but then no further cruises are showing on the web-site until a 5 night Western Caribbean cruise departing 13 April 2019 - i.e. effectively a 19 day break.

 

Does anyone know if the Infinity has been earmarked for a quick dry dock wash and brush up? Or could it be a potential private charter?

 

Many thanks

Private Charter for the Flower Power Cruise, March 30 to April 6, 2019

When were these blocks supposed to be awarded? We hit 146 last April 2016 and have cruised twice since then. Never received any acknowledgement yet. Turned D+ on last cruise the first week of September. Other than better balcony discount and coupons is there anything else? I’m appreciative of what we get just wondering (like the block) if there is anything we should have received and didn’t.

 

 

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Call the ships loyalty desk. They can look up your cruises. We too did not get one for our 140 points/nights. They just mailed it to us. We will get our second block in Nov. of this year.

When were these blocks supposed to be awarded? We hit 146 last April 2016 and have cruised twice since then. Never received any acknowledgement yet. Turned D+ on last cruise the first week of September. Other than better balcony discount and coupons is there anything else? I’m appreciative of what we get just wondering (like the block) if there is anything we should have received and didn’t.

 

 

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Call the ships loyalty desk. They can look up your cruises. We too did not get one for our 140 points/nights. They just mailed it to us. We will get our second block in Nov. of this year.

TWAS THE NIGHT

'Twas the night before Christmas, and far out at sea

Our vessel was sailing, as smooth as could be

The stockings were hung from the balcony chairs

With hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there

The children were nestled all snug in their uppers

Having just settled down from a Christmas Eve supper

And ma and myself, we were covered in aloe

A bit too much sun, in a pool, warm and shallow

When up in the sky, there arose such a clatter

I leapt from my bed to see what was the matter

To the sliding glass door, I flew like a flash

Well, more like a saunter, and less like a dash

And what to my skeptical eyes should appear

But a great shiny sleigh, and eight flying reindeer

They circled our ship, from starboard to port

As the moon lit the driver, a jolly old sort

Who called to his team, in a happy retort

"Now Dasher, now Dancer," so on and so forth

We raced through our cabin and into the hall

To the very top deck, in time for us all

To be awed by the sight of Old Santa's sleigh

As he lightly touched down, by the midnight buffet

With a bundle of goodies thrown over his back

He rose in the air and dropped down the smokestack

Santa went straight to work, and later we learned

He found every child's cabin, from the bow to the stern

Insides and oceanviews, balconies and suites

Santa filled every stocking, with toys and with treats

Until all his deliveries had been handled with care

Then he noted he still had a minute to spare

So he surfed the wave rider, with nary a fall

While Dasher and Dancer scaled the rock-climbing wall

And Prancer, who had always been fond of the cold

Tried the ice-skating rink, a sight to behold

And then with a whistle, Santa summoned his team

And he bade us farewell, silent nights and sweet dreams

And I heard him exclaim, as he flew out of view

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good cruise.

We just signed up for an 11 night cruise on Navigator OTS, it leaves out of Miami on Dec. 23 2016 and returns on Jan. 3rd 2017. It will be fun to be on the ship over the holidays!

Anne Marie

My sister and I did the discover scuba excursion in St. Marteen through Celebrity two years ago and we're signed up again in two weeks. It was fantastic.

 

We are both good swimmers and snorkel frequently. This was our first time trying scuba. They will show you an informational video at the office and fit you out with equipment - fins, snorkel, mask and shorty wet suit, if you like, though the water is plenty warm. After the video, you take a short power boat ride to a site where boats have been deliberately sunk to create a reef. The instructor reinforces your video training on the boat and connects you to the vest and air tank. You jump off the boat and practice breathing through the regulator. Once the instructor is satisfied, you start going under water by pulling hand over hand on a sunken line. Your instructor will keep a close eye on you and make sure you are breathing correctly and clearing pressure from your ears. Once we got to the bottom (about 25 feet) we followed the instructor for a 45 minute dive. The scenery was spectacular - tropical fish, eels, sunken boats, etc. I've gone scuba diving several times since then and plan to take a certification course.

 

This was, by far, one of my favorite excursions ever. The nature of the activity means there won't be a lot of people. My sister and I were assigned a scuba master, so there were only three of us in our area. The whole boat held less than a dozen people.

 

I wouldn't hesitate for a second recommending this excursion in St. Marteen. Incidentally, we tried the discover diving course in Barbados and it was not as well organized.

 

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

Jeri

Thank you so much for the information. We are signing up to do the Discover Scuba in January on St. Maarten.

All things (price/itinerary) being equal, I'd take Brilliance for the outdoor Windjammer seating, pool tables, and glass elevators with a view outside.

I would agree. We just got off Vision, it was very nice but we were on the refurbished Serenade last October and I liked that ship better (Serenade is a sister ship, size wise to Brillance).

You will see stairs just beyond 8579 on the inside.. It will take you into the spa area..just walk thru into the Solarium.. Kinda strange walking thru the Spa but I'm sure the workers are used to it..Saves a lot of walking.. Have fun!

Oh..You will love the cabin!!

Thanks for the info. We will be staying in cabin 8572- so this will be very close to us- to use the "secret stairs"! Can't wait. We leave in 2 days.

Thanks

I did order flowers to be in the cabin upon our arrival on our sailing date. TY all.

Thank you for your replies. i appreciate it.

We are sailing on Vision of the Seas, later this month. I am wondering if I can carry cut flowers on board to have in our cabin. Does RCCL allow this- when sailing in the Caribbean?

This was very helpful and informative- thank you.

Hi Linda, it is Anne Marie from our Mediterranean cruise.

I make my own door magnets, I find pictures I like, print them on photo paper and then cut them out and put a piece of a photo magnet on the back that you can get from CVS or Walgreen's. A few of our magnets have traveled over the years… but the cabin steward usually finds them and brings them back. It is usually the sport team that "travel". Hope all is well. Enjoy your Dec. cruise. Hi to Emily

I agree, the falls are amazing. The first time we climbed it, our children were small- about 6 and 9 years old and it was lightly raining and we still had a blast. BRING a disposable camera that is water proof- the guides will take pictures for you of you and your team or family climbing the falls.

We did not find them difficult to climb, people hold on to each others hands and go up in a chain formation. DO WEAR aqua shoes.

I agree: The view was breathtaking and the weather was great on 3 of our climbs. Do bring a towel.

There is a lovely beach at the bottom of the falls - a nice place to snorkel. What they do not tell you, is once you are admitted to the park, you can climb the falls more than once if you want (of course you need to tip the guides each time)..

As far as the vendors - just look them squarely in the eye and so NO Thanks and move on and they will leave you alone.

Once I needed to use the first aide facility at Dunn's River and they were most accommodating. Go the the Falls, everyone we have brought on it has loved it and often one of the pictures will wind up being your Christmas card or Holiday card picture.

Our first was Sovereign of the Seas, RCCL, we went on the Eastern Caribbean route in 1992. We loved it. When we were flying back north, we heard people saying on the plane that this had been their 10th cruise. We remembered saying, "Why would you cruise 10 times? Thinking the cruise was great but there were lots of other vacation opportunities". The following year we went to an all inclusive vacation in Jamaica and had all kinds of mishaps. The next year we went back to cruising- it was very relaxing and fun and safe. This year will be our 13th cruise- so we did become one of those people who like to cruise and keep going on them!

We are sailing on Liberty on May 23rd. 10 people. 5 of us have cruised many times, 5 are newbies. Can't wait!!

And do they drain the pools every night?

There are 10 of us cruising on LOS in May 2010. 5 are experienced cruisers, 5 are newbies. One of the newbies is a strick Vegan. What food options are there- we have registered her for a special meal/dietary restrictions. Are there Vegan items at Portifino's?