hmhanel

Our group of 4 did this excursion after we disembarked from FOS in October. It did not include a trip to the park's visitor center. This is a private airboat tour company and the excursion starts and ends at their tourist center.

The airboat ride was fairly short, 45 to 60 minutes if I recall correctly, but enjoyable. The excursion also included a short talk by one of the tour company's staff on the Everglades.

Now that Barbados will be a home port for RCI Grandeur of the Seas. We are looking for recommendations for a one night stay since we will be flying in the day before embarkation. Thanks in advance.

Our experience was similar to Cruiseguy1016. Our waiter also made a comment on the difference between a 1 and a 10 on the survey. Apparently she felt that in the past some people filling out the survey got the two confused. I'm not sure that it rose to the level of begging for a 10 and it certainly was better than our past experience with our waiters.

The ship looked great and the staff was wonderful. While it was certainly disappointing for us to have the second week of our B2B cancelled, that is nothing compared to the uncertainty that the crew is facing with a halt to future sailings. Somehow I feel that this will extend beyond the original 30 days.

Our biggest criticism for our cruise was the food on the ship. My wife and I both thought the food was fairly bland and under seasoned. The one word that came to mind immediately was 'uninspired'. Not that we are foodies, but we just felt that the dining on our previous cruises with RCI was better than this cruise. Not that big of a deal but just our observation.

The last time we were on FOS was October of 2018. We had a couple of the staff say that they remembered us from our previous cruise. We were certainly impressed that not only did they vaguely remember us but they recalled conversations we had on that cruise. Finally, kudos to the staff in the Bull and Bear. They were phenomenal.

I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong in my response, but I thought the Izumi Hibachi and Fish and Ships would not be dining venues on FOS until after it comes out of dry dock in March.

Yes, it does directly face the opening to the elevators and stairwell. We are doing a B2B in March but unfortunately could not get a hump balcony for both weeks so we opted for a non-hump balcony stateroom that we can keep for both weeks.

We have stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan for our last two cruises and enjoy the location and friendly staff.

There is so much to see within walking distance from the hotel, great shops and restaurants.

Sorry to hear about the prepaid airfare and apartment rental. For once my procrastination paid off and we had not booked airfare or hotels on San Juan.

All is well, we are now re-booked for a B2B for March 8 and March 15 on the newly refurbished FOS.

I am assuming that we were only given FOS options that matched the itinerary that was cancelled.

Waiting for a call back from our TA to discuss options.

Just received an email from our TA that the second half of our B2B on FOS is cancelled. She was scheduled to go to dry dock immediately after the 1/12 itinerary but due to the damage at the shipyard in the Bahamas she now will be headed to Cadiz, Spain for dry dock.

We were given options of FOS for 3/15 or 3/29, VOS for 1/11, 1/18, 1/25 or 2/1 with $200 OBC for our Balcony stateroom OR re-booking on any other RCI sailing with the same OBC, or full refund for cancellation.

It's unfortunate since this was going to be our first B2B. I will ask our TA to see if RCI would be willing to re-book both parts of the B2B for March of 2020.

It was still there when we were on Freedom in October.

We were also on the 10/13 sailing and while we did notice a large number of children and family groups we did not feel that this in any way detracted from a great cruise. This was our 5th sailing on Freedom and the crowds were no better or worse than any of the previous 4 cruises (IMO).

While the Windjammer was usually busy we did not have any issues finding a table. We also didn't have any problems with loungers poolside, though we shied away from the family pool area and preferred either the Solarium or the area directly in front of the bar on Deck 12.

It was a great opportunity to drink a beer (OK several beers) and people watch.

We also just finished our cruise and had stateroom 9640 (hello neighbor!). We were also concerned about potential noise being located by the stairs and elevators but didn't have any issues whatsoever. We really enjoyed the ease of access to the stairs and elevators as well as the view from the hump balcony. Would not hesitate to book that stateroom in the future.

Also want to give a shout out to the excellent staff in the Bull and Bear Pub. Aldric, Ferdy and Christino were fantastic!

They used to have a panini press. Not sure if they still have that or not.

We have the same contest in North Dakota as well.

How strict are they on the height and weight limits they show on the rci excursion page for this tour? Does anyone know.

I am also interested in the answer to this question as well. Will be close to the weight limit by the time we sail but might not make it:').

We used FL Tours Transportation. They were reasonably priced and the service was excellent.