WiddyTwo

Unlikely it was a Carnival ship

Carnival Fascination was in St Kitts on the 8th then San juan

Not sure about last week but the cruise that leaves today is skipping St Martin and St Thomas. Subbing in Dominica and Antigua

Why haven't they even mentioned the Fascination? It sails from San Juan, PR on 9/10 and goes to many of the affected ports (including St Maarten). I sail on that 9/17 and wondering what is happening with the 9/10 cruise to judge what I can expect with mine.

 

 

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I am also surprised about the lack of info about the Fascination. I'm assuming that right now it's because everyone is already on the ship so they will probably just wait to see how bad PR is hit before making announcements on them getting back to port and the next sailing.

Just a quick update from our son who is currently on the Breeze. He said the captain just announced they are heading for NOLA. Relieved they aren't going to be off loaded in a city that is seriously in disaster mode.

Did he mention the mood on the ship? I was just wondering if people on board are being understanding of the situation and enjoying the extra days or if people are in meltdown mode. This is a horrible situation, obviously more-so for those on land.

Barbados was the only place that I had a delay with people getting back to me. The original person I wanted to do a turtle swim with took 2 weeks to get back to me. He was booked but made a recommendation. That person took a week to respond to the first e-mail and then two weeks before I heard from him again. All booked up now

You should do exactly what you wrote. Do not miss out on the time you have in PR. I only have experience with Island Marketing. I did el Yunque with an airport drop off and found it was the best decision i made for the time i had. There are others out there not sure on their minimums or costs.

The only thing i would do, depending on when your departing flight is, is switch your days. I would drop off my luggage and walk around town on arrival day (or tour from the airport to your ship). Then on departure day go to El Yunque with an airport drop off. I love these options, i no longer worry about how much extra time i have, i now tour during those times.........Just a thought:D

Thanks for your opinion! I was thinking to go on embarkation day because I figured if they close at 6pm I'd have no problem getting back to the ship. You never know what can happen though, and I'd rather miss my flight home than miss the ship!

I think I've definitely decided we'll just wander OSJ on embarkation day and I'm going to leave it to my boyfriend decide what we do after we disembark. I'm lucky enough that I did a 10 day vacation in PR a few years ago and I split my stay between both sides of the island. Ive seen EL Yunque, so I'll just let him take the lead and see what he feels up to.

Hey everyone! Is there enough time for it to be worth it to go to El Yunque on embarkation day? Our flight arrives at 11:55am and we're on the Fascination so I'm pretty sure we could stay at the rainforest until closing at 6pm. I haven't found any excursions that leave In the afternoon so we would be renting a car. I'm not sure at this point if we would check-in at the ship first and then head out, or just get the car at the airport and lock our bags in the trunk for the day (suggestions?). Is the amount of time that we would spend there worth it with the drive?

I know we could just visit the forts and tour around OSJ but we also have a late flight home after the cruise so I was thinking of doing the forts on that day. Any other suggestions for things to do would be great. I'd also be up for a taxi tour if anyone knows if those are available at the port. Thanks!

Thanks for the info Stinger. OCruisers - I'm not super opposed to the ship offerings, just thinking that I might get more turtle interaction on a smaller tour. I'll check out the ship offerings. There's also a couple tours on Viator with good reviews.

About a year ago the BY package changed and recent reports indicate that a ride out to swim with the turtles is included in your BY admission - no need to book a separate tour.

 

http://www.theboatyard.com/

All of the reviews I have read say that the trip with the boatyard last anywhere from 10-30 minutes. We were hoping to do a tour that lasts a couple hours. Thanks for the link tho! In all of my researching I somehow hadn't looked at their page.

(Hi from Fredericksburg btw!)

Hello all! I'm having a problem locating a smaller turtle tour operator to prebook with for our stop in Barbados. I've read quite a few threads about local operators being available once in port to take people out. Will these guys be available right at the terminal and will they get us out to the beach and then to the turtles, or do I need to get to Carlisle Bay first and then try to find someone from there?

My original plan was to do a tour and then hang out at The Boatyard until it was time to go to the ship. A couple threads I read said that local guys would offer tours from the beach at BY for around $20pp but this appears to be from before BY started taking people out. Would I be able to go directly to BY and then walk the beach until I find someone to take us out? Also important, if I do this will I have a wristband or something so I can get back into BY without paying again?

I'm a planner so the thought of not having something pre-booked makes me nervous but I've not been having any luck with the tour operators I've contacted being available or they just don't respond to emails at all. I'm looking for a smaller tour, no catamarans, so I'll take suggestions on those too if you have them. Thanks everyone!

I contacted him through his website. It took him a couple days to respond, maybe two or three. I saw your other post that says his shutterfly was shut down. I just checked and it was updated with the last pictures from 7/17, so it's definitely active.

I've been having a very hard time with vendors responding. Vendors in Barbados are taking a week or two. Another vendor on St. Kitts that I contacted on Sunday has also not responded yet. I'm going with "island time" but I've got time to be patient.

Hello! Can anyone who has done Javins rainforest tour comment on how strenuous the hike is? I have a neuromuscular disorder that causes foot drop and some unsteadiness/balance issues. I wear braces that help so I'm mostly concerned about going down inclines and rocky areas. I've looked at pictures on his page and the hill with the rope to get down and the black rocks area look like they would be the most challenging but I can't tell how big the hills really are in the pictures.

I'm not going to lie, it's the monkey that has me most interested in this tour, plus my boyfriend loves hiking, but I don't want to get myself into something I'm not physically capable of doing just because I want to play with a monkey. I did the cavetubing tour in Belize in February and had no problem with that hike to the tubes, but I have no idea how it compares. Thanks for any help!

I did it in February. The only thing you mentioned that we didn't do was putt putt

I emailed Island Divers and Dive St Lucia yesterday. DSL said they would not recommend doing a trip with them with the hours I had in port (8am-5pm) because of their distance from the port.

Island Divers will pick us up at port at 8:30am and have us back by 3pm. I inquired about the policy if the boat doesn't make it to port and the response was "please wait until the last minute to worry about the cruise ship". Their booking policy says more than 12 hours notice there is no charge, less than 12 hours is 50% back. They require 4 people to take a boat out so they have my info if someone else inquires about the same day. I was emailing with two separate people so I will get more clarification on the cancellation policy before I actually confirm the booking.

The $799 price already has the 60% off the second guest factored in

Thanks! And thanks also to the poster above! Guess booking my "ABC" island cruise will have to wait at least until I get back from the one I already have booked.

I just went onto the website to check out the prices. I found a sailing I liked and went to do a mock booking. It lists the price as $799pp. With 60% off that should make my second guest approximately $480, giving me a total of just under $1300. Taxes and port fees are listed at $100.04. The total listed at the top of the screen is almost $1800 and it does list the 60%/OBC/reduced deposit under the total. I did not go as far as putting in my guest info because I didn't want to somehow end up actually booking. Would the price have dropped if I'd gone further into the process or is my math screwed up on the deal? I've only sailed with RCI once so I'm not very familiar with their website and might be missing something.

Great start! I'm following as we are booked for October.

I'm on your cruise!

I did .bz in February and it was great! Ur guide was awesome and taught us a lot while we were hiking. We even saw a boa. Really cool. Lunch was delicious. We did the zip lining also and made it back to the boat with plenty of time.

I know you didn't ask, but the rays excursion is just okay. There's nothing in the closed in area except the rays. It going boring pretty fast.

We did the race back in February and had time for a couple hours at the beach after. We just hopped in a taxi at the restaurant and I think we went to Paradise Beach. We just set up with the taxi driver to come pick us back up to get us back to the pier.

Also have been experiencing this last couple of weeks. So frustrating when price checking. They do need to get this fixed especially for those of us that like to do our own booking online [emoji6]

 

 

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I had this problem when I was checking prices/booking about a month ago. Usually I would clear my browsing history and it would work.

Hopefully this hasn't been asked before. I scanned through a lot of pages and didn't see it. I know the gift cards can be loaded to my S&S account at the kiosk or guest services. Do I need to have the physical card or can I use the info from the e-gift card? I've been using e-gift cards to pay off my cruise but I'm going to get a couple more for onboard spending. I just need to know what kind to get. Thanks!

Don't knock yourself too hard. I booked on the last $49 per person deposit promotion (this past March?) and still had the regular schedule. I received an Email from Carnival about a month ago about the change in the itinerary. This has gone very under the radar since no announcement was made anywhere. You can now pick this itinerary from the booking page at Carnival but it was about a week after I got the Email that the itinerary became available to book.

That's awesome! Even better when you don't have to pay for the port fees.

I was lucky enough to be on one one of the few selected summer 2018 cruises that had the day at sea changed to a stop in Dominica (which is a new port for me) so that would make it a 6 port (7 if you count Old San Juan) in 7 days cruise. Whew!! We`re gonna need a vacation from our vacation...lol.

 

Oh and BTW, I was very vocal against an older Fantasy-class ship being shifted to this route. Boy was I shut up!!

Super jealous of the extra stop! Should've done my research before I booked in October. Still excited tho!

 

This trip, some of the crew are staying at Mahogany Bay Beach, some are going to the Sloth Sanctuary!

OMG I had no idea there was a sloth sanctuary at this port! I'm now very upset that my next cruise does not go to this port... the one after that will tho!

Just so I'm somewhat helpful, I just did cavetubing in Belize back in February. I booked with cavetubing.bz. It was so fun! Our guide was great. The guide was showing us the tarantula holes and him and my boyfriend were trying to get them to come out. Luckily they failed because I would've died. We also saw a 6ish foot boa hanging out in a tree. He also told us a lot about the plants and island history. I really recommend them.

Does anyone know how much the initial deposit is? Thanks!

I have done this but on our own - not through the cruise line. You may want to see if you can book direct with Coral World. Then you would on your own schedule, not someone else's. We hired a driver for the day and did Coral World, several scenic stops, downtown shopping and back to the boat. Great day. We loved the sea lions BTW! Have fun

I believe there is a disclaimer on the website that states that if the excursion is available through the cruise line then you must book through them. I'll be in St Thomas in October and plan on doing the sea lion swim, checking out the rest of the aquarium, and then wandering over to Coki Beach for some snorkeling.