Mominor

We are considering booking the kayak snorkel trip on Antigua. Have you booked it before? How long do you kayak? How long do you snorkel? Is the snorkeling good? Thanks in advance!!

United has changed ours too but not too drastically. I wish we could get direct flights or even 1 stop flights. We will fly out of Oregon to San Fran to IAD to SJU and if all flights are on time it’s just over 14 hours each way. A red eye there and getting home after midnight after cruise. But it will be worth it to see San Juan again and for the great itinerary of a Southern Caribbean and 5 islands in 7 days!!

Check with Bernard Tours. We used them for a family of 6 but I know they offer bigger groups.

pirates cove link

https://www.piratescovebarbados.com/

Thanks! Prices seem super reasonable.

Does anybody know if it’s super crowded here?

Thanks!

Other than taking a taxi, and doing a beach stop, i can name a few activities that can be done. The presence of a four yr old will limit the amount of activities that can be done.

 

Snorkeling Antigua this is a shore snorkeling tour in English harbour. Great tour for seeing turtles and possibly rays. There are 1 hr and 2 hr tour, however, your 4 yr old may only be able to handle 1 hr. Great tour guide, gets along well with children. Pick up is included from the port and drop off, all included in the price of 60$ usd per person.

Stingray City this activity is also suitable for your family. You get to pet large southern sting rays and for $25 USD additional to the fee, you get a beautiful photo, of yourself holding one of the giant rays. The cost of this is $50 USD per person. You will need to get a taxi to sting ray city though, however, the taxis usually pool visitors traveling to the same destination to make the cost more affordable per passenger.

Hi Skylork. I tried asking a question on the snorkeling website but for some reason the contact page kept saying there was an error and I needed to fix my error. I had all boxes filled out so not sure what I was missing. I’m curious how the tours work with cruise ships? We will be on the Jewel of the Seas ship in December( itinerary says we will be there 8-5). We are considering this tour but want to make sure we can make the morning tour and we would be picked up from the cruise port after we are docked and off the ship? Thanks!

Thanks! I'm looking into the hop on hop off bus and the bus tour. We have free shuttle to the airport. I wonder if we take that and catch the metro rail? Has anybody ever done that?

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What's the best way to get to the cruise port from Embassy Suites, Miami? We are a family of 5. Last year we went out of Ft Lauderdale and I read that we could request a taxi for 6 of us. It was a huge pain (we were told by more than one taxi company that they didn't have a large enough car/van available) so we ended up taking 2 taxis. My mom is not with us this year so it's only 5 of us. What's the best/most cost effective way? Thanks!

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We are arriving early for our January cruise and have 1 full day to explore before and 1 full day after. We are staying at the Embassy Suites. We are a family of 5 with 3 kids ages 10-15. What is the best way to get around? Taxi or city bus? We are in the process of moving at home and extremely busy at home so we are looking forward to a restful vacation...we don't want a crazy go, go, go type of vacation. TIA for any help.

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Thanks! I have already checked into them and they are full the day we are in Bonaire. Is there a close second choice besides Woodwind?

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We will be in Curacoa in January from 8am-5pm. We are a group of 4 adults and 8 kids (ages 5-17). What is the best thing to do with our time there? Any must do's? Our cruise is also stopping in Aruba and Bonaire. What island would be the best for snorkeling? Do you know of any charter boats that we could rent just for our group to go snorkel?

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I'm looking to book a private tour with St Kitts Snorkeling Tours. Has anybody ever used them? Were you happy? What type of boat was it?

Thanks for any help!!

Can somebody tell me the benefit of getting a private tour vs just hiring a cab when getting off the ship? We are a family of 5 plus grandma so want the flexibility to go where we want but $400 seems high. Could we hire a cab to do the same thing right off the ship for less money? We have 4-5 stops we would like to do (most of them are on the Bernard's group tours but we want the flexibility in our time and choices so a group tour is not an option). I'd appreciate and help and feedback! Thanks!

Thanks for your suggestions. It sounds like the construction was room updates and not the big construction I've heard is happening next year. They had a notation when I booked that construction was happening until some time in November so I don't expect there to be any when we are there next month.

Sounds like I'm sticking with the Bahia Mar. I'm just hoping the rooms are not as outdated and dirty as some have said in reviews. I will report back when we return so you know for you NYE stay.

Thanks!

Anybody stay at Bahia Mar recently? I've read some negative reviews recently. Wondering if the construction is that bad? Rooms that dirty? Our stay is in December and I have ocean view rooms reserved.

My other choice is Embassy Suites. But I like the idea of being able to walk to the beach since we fly in at noon and want to go to the beach most of the day we arrive. We have 30-40 degree weather right now so we are looking forward to 70-80 degree weather 🌞

Hey Patti....we did receive an upgrade via email. It said congratulations you have received a complimentary upgrade with a new invoice attachment. We did have our profile set for an automatic upgrade for that cruise...I guess it worked, we haven't gotten once since! ;)

 

BTW...love the new grand kids picture! :)

 

***

I'm curious where I change my profile to show automatic upgrade? If Ibooked through a TA does that mean the option is not there? Thanks!

Thanks everybody! We will pack as much as possible and plan to do some laundry as needed.

About half way through your cruise you should get a laundry bag special. You can put as much as you can fit in the bag, usually t-shirts, gym short, underwear, and other such items. It is amazing how much you fit if you fold nicely. To launder everything in the bag is a set price. I think the latest is $30. If you are a C&A member, depending on level, you will have a discount off that price.

 

We use the bag to get us through the second part of the cruise for those type of items. We have found that the nicer clothes (worn for dinner and later in the day) can be worn more than once so usually have enough of those. Besides, I am not sure I would put anything nice in the laundry bag.

 

Watch the compass to see when the bag special is as we have found some attendants don't always leave the bag without you asking.

Thanks so much! How long until you get the bag of clean clothes back from this special? Is the next day or should I expect it to be longer?

We are a family of 5 traveling and about 3 years ago I realized it was better to pack a little more than enough to go 1/2 our trip and then do laundry 1/2 way thru. When I tried to pack for the entire trip we always seemed to run out of something so I was doing laundry anyways. But since RCI doesn't have self service laundry I'm rethinking this. I'm wondering, what do you do? I know that we can wear things more than once but in the hot humid weather who wants to wear a stinky shirt again? I thought I read that I could buy an unlimited laundry package but now can't find where I read that. Does anybody know? If so how much? We have a 10 night trip planned and I'm honestly not sure if my boys have that many pairs of shorts. Thanks!

Loved reading your review! Felt like I was there with you and makes me more ready for our upcoming cruise. Ugh on Verizon, that's very disappointing. I do wonder why you opted for wifi over the $40 plan in the first place? I'm considering the plan for our trip next month so our teenager can use his phone to get ahold of us if needed.

Go to Columbus Cove all the way in the back on the right side.

 

Nicest sand beach on Labadee (much better than Nellie's or Barefoot beach - the beaches by the zip line are the worst) - plenty of loungers and palm trees - steel band and large covered area for the buffet, next to the water park and the dock for the ferry.

 

Accessible by walking, taking the free tram or taking the ferry boat from the dock near where you get off the ship.

Thanks so much! Can I ask you a couple of questions? Do we need to get there right when boat docks(7am) to get spots for 6 of us in the shade? If we all walk over to have lunch together or to ride the coaster, would we be forfeiting our spots? If not, how do we save them? How far is this spot from Colunbus Cove from the coaster? The things I see us wanting to do is the water park, coaster and just hanging by the water. Thanks so much for your help!

I can get an over the water for $395 or a regular one for $250 for our december cruise. Is the cabana not over the water still nice to have? My kids are 9, 11, and 14 and my mom is going too and we want it as a location to go back to if we split up while on Labadee. Not sure if it's better to just get chairs (hopefully in shade) and hope that they don't get taken if we all go off somewhere together?? Any insights?

Did you have any luck getting a Carnival card? I bought a RCL card without reading the fine print and realized it had to be used on a new booking. Verizon had terrible customer service and would not let me return it for a refund. I guess lesson learned on reading fine print.

I'm looking at the premium rooms at embassy suites. For my date it's only $25 more and we are a family of 5. I see the extra included is access to snacks in the "snack center" and Keurig in the room. Has anybody had one of these rooms? Are snacks available all day? I'm trying to decide if it's worth the extra and also trying to get an idea of what is actually included. Thanks for any help.

I'm just reporting what their website has on it. As I said, it's obviously not the big project since that will take years, not months. If I'm so inclined, I might call them to see what type of renovations they are doing from now until November. The big project does involve making the existing tower taller, in addition to the other 2 towers being built.

If you call would you please share the info you learn?

Bahia Mar is going to undergo a rather massive construction project, but not sure when that will begin. I'm hedging my bets for next January, as I'm booked there, but also have my original reservation at Embassy Suites still. I hate holding 2 different hotels, but if I find out in the next couple months about when construction will start, I can release the one I'm not going to use. We are staying 2 nights pre-cruise, and am not really interested in staying right in the middle of a construction zone.

I see that their website says construction through November. Is that the renovations you are talking about? We have a stay there in December so wondering if it will be newly renovated at that time?