dc-snoopy

How smoky was the Casino? I have heard it is really bad

It depends. There are quite a number of tables that are non-smoking, but they still allow smoking at some of the tables and also in the Casino. It's not unusual for a non-smoking table to have a smoking area about 10-15 ft away. I used to be more tolerant of smoking, but have been in non-smoking facilities, household, and areas predominantly for over 10 years now, so not so tolerant of smoke. But even still, while it was annoying, it was bearable, except when sitting next to someone smoking. I moved to another seat at the same table and was able to bear it. But the gambling crowd has been a little on the smaller side these days, especially on a small ship like the Vision.

Well, the boys were tired and they slept an hour past their normal 7am wakeup time. How nice that we got to sleep in an extra hour. With a day at sea, that was nice. We decided to go get breakfast first. It still took us a while to get four of us out of the room and up to the Windjammer for breakfast, so we didn’t get there until almost 9am. It took an hour to get breakfast (more than moderately busy). We asked the boys if they wanted to go to the playroom (Adventure Ocean) and they said yes. We left them there happily while we went back, showered leisurely, took some time to get ready for the day and we took a brief walk around the deck. We got them just before noon when AO closes for lunch. We took them to lunch in the WJ, but being that it was noon on an at sea day, it was the worst madhouse I’ve seen in a WJ in three cruises on RCI—PAINFUL. Will have to avoid that mistake if at all possible in the future. Lunch ended with an unfortunate bathroom accident which necessitated returning straight to the room.

Once there, it was pretty clear that the boys were pretty fussy. Although we’ve largely given up on naps, they still do need one occasionally and they were definitely pretty close. So we made them have some quiet time and we each took about an hour to wander on our own. I did some errands and ended up kibitzing in the casino for a while. I normally do my gambling at night, so I was good and didn’t step in early (after all, it was the first night of the cruise and there would be many more chances). That evening was the captain’s reception and the first formal night. DW and my mother made an appointment with the photo gallery to have family photos taken on the Centrum stairway on formal night at 5pm before our 5:30pm seating. So when the boys got up, we got the family ready including these cute outfits with hats that the boys loved. We headed to the Centrum and got there first and it was already apparent with a sparse crowd that the boys were drawing loads of attention due to being twins in cute formal outfits. The hats were a big hit all around. It took a while for the whole family to gather so at 5pm, we started taking photos of various subgroups. After 5-10 minutes, when we were still missing my nieces, we let some other families take some photos. When the niece showed up we got back in line and finally got photos with the nieces there. When the twins got up on the steps for a twosome photo, the photographer asked them to step closer and they naturally drew together and put their arms around each other. I noticed several strangers who we hadn’t met, pulled out cell phones/cameras and took photos. A little odd, but at least they didn’t ask my address!

After the family photos, we finally went in for dinner. Midway through dinner the boys needed a rest room break and when we came back in to the dining room, a bunch of heads started turning to see the kids. So I picked them up to walk them back to our table and had them waiving to the tables. It was like being the limo to the queen of England. They boys waved as we passed. Yes, they were gaining a lot of notoriety. Additionally, the boys asked to sit with their cousins and their two cousins took care of ordering food and watching them throughout dinner.

This was the first night we could take advantage of the Adventure Ocean deal. At 6:40 each night, if you bring your kids out of the dining room to the stairwell area, the Adventure Ocean staff will pick up kids from the lobby, take them back to Adventure Ocean and you can come to pick them up anytime before 10pm. After 10pm, you pay $7/per child/per hour until 2pm or when the last child leaves. What a joy! Between my nieces watching the boys at dinner and then the AO deal, we got a nice break at night. We went to the captain’s reception including the aerial show in the Centrum. Not quite Cirque du Soleil, but still an enjoyable show for the 15 minutes that it took place. After the show, we got to spend about 45 minutes catching up with the family without having to mind the kids and that was pretty nice.

We went up to AO about 9:30 and picked the boys up. They were pretty happy. The teachers in the AO had read them several books (one of their favorite activities, having books read to them) and they were in a great mood, until we said that we had to go back to the room for bedtime. Again it took a while for them to fall asleep. At least we gained an hour ship-time as we set the clocks back an hour as we change to Central Time.

After the boys fell asleep, I went for my night-time walkabout and visited the Casino for the first time. Not too bad, I spent about an hour and broke even for the night, so I called it a night with the same money I walked in with. Since I budget a certain amount per night, I figured that this just saved me one night’s stake.

We got up and despite hoping to get on the road to Tampa around 10am, we didn’t leave the house until about 10:45, then had to stop by the bank because after taking cash out for the cruise, I left the cash at home in my winter coat which I didn’t wear to the airport. There was horrific traffic so we didn’t get to the cruise port until after 1:00pm. Then there was a long backup at the parking lot and then we had problems checking in. First they misplaced my sea pass. They finally found it and then there was a problem getting the photos to register on our seapasses. After more waiting she was about get photos for all four of us. When we finally went to board, the first time they tried to scan our sea passes, DW and Ted’s passes were in the computer as lost cards (even though they only gave those to us about 5 minutes prior. We had to go and get those two passes reissued.

After boarding, we all went up to our cabins to freshen up. It was about 2;30 when we finally got to the Windjammer to try and eat. I get some food for the boys and we do potty breaks and we’re trying to serve the boys food when they tell us that the Windjammer will be closing at 3;00pm (in about 15 minutes) for the muster drill. We were pretty annoyed since it took them almost an hour to get us boarded due to the various seapass snafus, so grabbed lunch quickly and wolfed it down in about 10 minutes, then ran up to the deck for the muster drill. After muster drill, we tried to resolve a few things. We tried to register the boys for Adventure Ocean, but they were closed until 5pm. We found our group had been split into two dining groups seated at two adjacent tables instead of one large table as I had requested. I tried to go and have this resolved, but there was no one at the maitre d’s station in the dining room. So I went to the shore excursion desk and managed to get the remainder of our shore excursions booked. The line was long and I had to wait quite a while, but DW and the boys got to go out on deck and watch sail-away then play on the deck for a while until I finished and came out. Checked the dining room, but now the dining room was closed and they had these big fire doors closed over the entrances. We finally gave up, took a walk around the ship with the boys, visited the pool deck where Twin A wanted to hang out watching the band play (he specifically wanted to watch the drummer play) but Twin B though it was too loud (it was!). Finally Adventure Ocean opened up and we were able to register the boys. Then a quick trip to our room and off to the dining room for dinner.

So, since this was a milestone birthday celebration (celebrating my 50th birthday a couple of weeks ago), I had my whole extended family with me. My parents, my siblings and their SO’s two of my three nieces and my children. A group of 12 of us. When I made my reservations back in August, I had specified that I needed to have the group together. The group reservation specialist said that if I made all the reservations together at the same time that I could get all of the reservations linked and he could ensure that we would all be seated together. I even checked I made final payment and the linked reservations were all flagged to be seated at one table. I guess those on ship don’t really read the notes on the reservations. As expected, they had us at two adjacent 6-person tables. The head waiter could not do anything that night, but he said he would try to put a bridge piece between the two tables for tomorrow night. Dinner was pretty good. Other than a disappointment that the smoked rillettes of fish that I ordered had lemon (which I am allergic to) in it, the starters around the table were pretty good and enjoyed. I did mention that I was allergic to citrus when I ordered, but there was a big lemon sitting there when it arrived and I was told the appetizer had lemon juice in it and could not be removed from the preparation). We got the strip loin steak. I got a good cut where the gristle was on the end , but DW had one with gristle laced throughout. The roast vegetables on the side were not completely cooked and still semi-hard. The baked potato however was good. For dessert the blueberry and peach cobbler was a big hit. The crème brulee was tasty, if not quite crème brulee. I think one thing that made it tasty was that they put extra sugar on the top and the topping was thicker (and sweeter) than usual. They did forget a few items requested that we ended up just not getting, but this happens on the first night when they have less time to prepare and are getting used to the new special requests.

After dinner, we invited the family up to our junior suite (the only cabin large enough for everyone to visit). After a short break, my nieces (who are 22 and 24) took the twins (3.5 yo) out for a walk and a visit to their room so that we could unpack. The boys were excited they got to stay up after their usual bedtime with their cousins and Mommy and Daddy were grateful for 30 minutes uninterrupted to unpack. After the got in bed, it still took them a while to calm down, so it was about 2 hours after regular bedtime by the time they fell asleep. An additional big problem is that our JS is just off of the Centrum. They have live music playing there most of the first day. It was quieter earlier, but starting around 8pm they started doing loud pop music and then late night they had various crowd interaction games and more loud music ,etc. The speakers/microphone system was so loud that even 3 cabins down from the fire doors, our walls were vibrating and the sound inside our cabin was louder than we usually play the radio at home. The kids could not sleep. So I went out and closed the fire door between our hallway and the Centrum area. That helped cut it down enough that we could hear it but our walls were not vibrating. People opened the fire doors and I had to close them three times, but the kids did finally fall asleep.

I took a tour of the ship after they fell asleep and found the Adventure Ocean program for the week, then signed up for the WiFi. I watched in the casino for a little, found the piano bar in the Schooner lounge, the karaoke lounge and then the Park café in the Solarium where I connected my phone briefly to check the Wifi connection. Slow, but available. Returned to the room and worked on the diary for the night. Tested WiFi in the room on the laptop.

We will be sailing on Vision April 4th. We are debating on getting the drink packages and recently saw posts regarding b1g1ho Onboard. Have you noticed anything like that? Are there many waiters walking around?

We thought about it for DW (I drink Iced Tea, she's the soda drinker), but decided that since I was going to pre-shop the night before we left, I just bought 3 six-packs of Diet Coke for her in bottles and she'll drink those during the week, so we didn't get the package. If I get a chance, I'll ask around whether there were any package deals.

As for availability, there seems to be a drink station up on the pool deck, one in the hallway outside the WJ, and one somewhere midships. I haven't spent much time on the pool deck since it is really crowded and loud out there. The pool band is good but they are so loud that even on the far side of the pool you can't really hear each other talk, so you have to go inside one of the elevator lobbies if you want to hear each other. That's just too loud for us. The pool deck and Centrum feel more like Carnival to us than RCI, but we can at least avoid them. The Schooner Lounge is more like expected. Music doesn't really have to be ear-splitting to be enjoyed. I wonder if any of the people who spend all week out on the pool deck will be experiencing hearing loss from exposure to that all week long.

I'll try to take note the next few times we pass by the pool deck and other areas how often servers circulate and if they help refill soda drinks.

Friday, March 20, 2015 -- Orlando

So, this cruise is a family celebration. My parents decided to give me a cruise with the whole extended family to celebrate my landmark birthday.

For the cruise, my wife and 3.5 yo twins and I flew down Friday to Orlando where Grandma and Grandpa live and spent the night there. I rented a minivan for the week so that I could take the six of us from Orlando to Tampa and back and save my parents figuring out how to get to the port.

Snow on departure day. Whee. It started to snow around 8am and by the time we were ready to leave for the airport (around 11am), there was about 1.5-2 inches of snow on the grass. Fortunately the ground was warm enough that almost none of the snow was sticking to the roads. And despite making him pee just before we left, Twin A insisted when we were just 5 minutes from the airport that he HAD to pee. So, we got to stop on the ramp from I-95 to MD-100 to have him pee at the side of the road. In the snow. Great way to start vacation!

We got to the airport around 11:30. We tried a new way of handling the drop off. I dropped off DW and TwinB with the luggage and took TwinA with me to the parking garage, unloaded the car seats and then TwinA and I went to meet DW and TwinB. I think it was definitely easier to split up the two during drop-off and have 1:1 time. We got through baggage check, TSA and had about 1.5 hours to get lunch and get to the gate. Once at the gate, we found that due to delays in the air (our plane was one of several that was still in flight and hadn’t landed), our flight was delayed about 30-40 minutes. We boarded about 40 minutes late, then due to the snow, we had to wait in line for deicing. Then wait for a runway. We were scheduled to leave at 1:45. We did not get off the ground until a few minutes before 3pm. We were supposed to land around 4:10pm. We did not land until almost 5pm. Delays in baggage claims and a short wait for a car, we left the airport around 6:30pm. We met Grandma & Grandpa for dinner around 7pm at Grandpa's favorite restaurant, Carabbas. Of course the boys fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got to dinner, and TwinA woke up but TwinB slept halfway through dinner, then was really cranky when he woke. We got home around 8:45 and then had to set up their room, get them ready for bed, etc. They were not in bed until about 9:30 and didn’t fall asleep until close to 11pm. I went out around 9:45 to get some last minute shopping done. Went to Target and Walmart to get a lot of last minute needs . When I got home, I prepped the boys’ breakfast, then did luggage tags for everyone.

So, we're on the Vision of the Seas now. Today is a sea day so I have a little more time to post. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to check daily, but no guarantee how long I'll have to hunt for answers and post.

When I get a chance, I'll be posting my diary entries here of our cruise.

That seems to be par for the course with regards tour operators on Roatan. I have personally sent multiple emails to at least three different places on Roatan and never received a reply. I know the electricity and Internet connections are spasmodic on the island but there are other operators there who seem to manage to conduct business just fine. For an island trying to promote tourism I don't think Roatan tries very hard. I presume you have checked your junk mail folder?

 

Hopefully if you do take this excursion you will return with a review. It could be a very quiet place if no one is able to book! I am just curious as to why we haven't seen any reports, good or bad. I guess many people who only book ship tours don't frequent CC.

Well, I waited until we boarded the ship, and still hadn't heard from them, so I went to the shore excursion desk. RCI only sells tickets to BFK as part of their ultimate beach package, so you would get it plus two more beaches on different islands for one price. Unfortunately, we had already made plans for the other two destinations, so I passed. I ended up booked a trip to Maya Key instead.

I, too am curious. We are going to be in Roatan on Monday and we had thought to go here for a easy beach day with the kids. Since they're preschoolers a beach is a beach, so we thought we'd go with this since it is less expensive than the next-door beach. But I tried to book from their web-site last weekend and despite me sending them a second email, I cannot get a response from them confirming my reservation. I'll check out the shore excursion desk on board the ship, but we may bag it and pay the slightly more expensive rate to go to LFK.

Hope someone can chime in soon.

The link in my signature line goes straight to the page the review for Playa Mia starts on (which is done within my entire cruise report). You have to scroll down the page to where I start the Playa Mia portion, which would be at post #139 ;) :)

 

 

If you want to see just the pictures only and not read the review or my thoughts/experiences on Playa Mia, you can click HERE and just see the pictures at my host.

Got it. Thanks!

Looks like you family had a blast. I'm sorry that it was so crowded. I'm sure that was frustrating. ;)

Wonderful to actually see the place. We'll be taking my family of 12 there a week from Wednesday, so we're getting excited!

When we went for the first time and we weren't sure if we were going to be back, I wanted to do the Royal Dolphin Discovery (swim with the dolphins). It was a fantastic seemingly once in a lifetime experience and so worth it. I recommend that if you do this, call Dolphin Discovery (the have a US toll free number) and book directly with them. When we did it, the on-ship excursion was sold out and I had to call them directly. We arrived around the same time as the ship-board excursion, but we had a longer swim with the dolphins and got to do more (we got towed by the dolphin and the pushed up for a dive by the dolphin).

We caught a cab out to Chakanaab Park (where Dolphin Discovery is located) and got lunch and still had time for a snorkel swim in Chakanaab before heading back to the ship. 2-for-1 bonus!

Playa Mia is a perfect place for a 3 year old. The newer waterpark/spray area is pretty big and super fun for little ones.

 

I have a complete review with TONS of pictures of Playa Mia and our day there, listed in my signature line, if you are interested. :)

Mitsugirly--would love to see your photos of Playa Mia, but the link in your signature doesn't go to the right page.

Can you post a list to the correct page for the review/photos of Playa Mia?

We'll be going there next week and I'd love to see some photos of the place.

TIA

One option that hasn't been mentioned before is that some ships have a select few cabins that have connecting doors between them. For our upcoming cruise (we leave in 4 days!!!) when researching, I considered booking two inside cabins with a connecting door for our 3.5 yo twins. This would mean that we had a separate room for them that allowed us to keep dim and prop the door open, so that we didn't have to turn the lights off at "lights out bedtime." But for various reasons, that didn't work out, including the fact that we got a promotion that allowed 3rd and 4th passengers to sail free. So we ended up in a JS where we'll have the two of them share the sofa bed. There is a privacy curtain between their side of cabin and ours so that we can turn the lights out for them, but not us. They actually love to share a bed; the main issue will be that when they share a bed, they talk and keep each other up talking, but we'll see how it works.

Some neighbors of ours who have almost 4 yo twins just came back from a Disney cruise and they had one of those cabins with a pull-out couch and a wall-mounted bunk bed. Their twins slept well in the bunk bed configuration.

Yes, not owned by Carnival.

We are on an upcoming RCCL cruise and a ship shore excursion to Starfish Island is on the official cruise excursions list.

Just show everything! We cruise for the first time ever on march 21. I will be anxious checking for your posts! Have a great trip.

Congrats on your first trip. We will be on the same cruise as you. I assume from your name that you have kids. What ages? We have 3.5 yo twins and although we have cruised a few times, we are excited that this will be the twins first cruise.

Thanks for the responses. The idea of hiring a driver for the day and doing a private tour might not be a bad idea. I'll have to check out that thread. Thanks.

As for just going out to Playa Mia, that isn't great for my parents who would really enjoy the island sightseeing and the buffet meal (they don't like the idea of ordering without seeing food in places they don't know). It seemed like a good mix of things for both young and old.

Also, thanks for the tip about the car seats. We'll have ours since we're driving to the port, so we could do this if we were willing to drag them out to port. We'll have to see. Trying to corral a party of 12 including two seniors and two preschoolers may preclude trying to haul to carseats with us, too.

So, we are going to be in Cozumel at the end of March with a family reunion (12 ranging from 3.5 to 89 yo).

I'm thinking of booking Cozumel Water Sports Around the Island Tour, Tequila & Playa Mia Beach Break Excursion.

Anyone have any experiences with the company and/or this tour? The 3.5 yo twins are pretty typical for that age and can walk some, but slowly (and stop to look at everything!). The 89 yo does not walk much anymore, but we have a travel wheelchair for him.

Any thoughts? Appreciate any responses. TIA.

I had that recipe but I lost it. Can you give me the link to it or can you give it to me on this post? thanks

Scroll back through this thread. There are several different recipes that match the one Carnival uses. Also, you can find many good similar recipes by just Googling "Chocolate Lava Cake".