bonvoyagebites

We are going on the Navigator in a few weeks and cannot wait! We are on the other itinerary, with Belize and Roatan.

Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us! I will soon return the favor, and post lots of photos here, as well as on our blog.

The Frozen Mojito sounds awesome. I love a good mojito.... I cannot wait... less than 40 days to our Navigator journey. (our first Royal cruise)

Welcome, and enjoy your trip. You will find that there is a lot of helpful information on cruise critic.

It appears that your questions have been answered, and that you have also done due diligence and researched a lot on your own.

Cruising isn't necessarily for everyone, but I have found it a great way to travel. Read reviews and gather all the information you can. Each line offers a different experience, and we have enjoyed trying several of them to see what works and doesn't work for us.

Our blog (below) has a review of the Amsterdam trip we took, which was our first Holland America trip. We had a great time and will be back.

Thanks for stopping by and welcome again to cruise critic.

On our May trip on Amsterdam, we brought on cans of soda and sparkling juice. We carried them on. It was nice to have them. We also bought bottles of alcohol online to be delivered to our room. It was quite a bargain, all things considered. 1 liter of Myers rum was approximately $30 which is just barely more than street price.

In regard to tipping room service, we always do, and we also left a stack of dollar bills for our teens that were in their own cabin, so they could order room service.

You had me at curry, but then upped the ante with two of my favorite words ever... TACO ..... BAR. One can only hope. :)

What can anyone tell me about the "Jade" asian part of the buffet? Any good?

I would give Holland America a try. I was on a short 3 day cruise from San Diego to Vancouver and enjoyed it. The demographic was a little older than what I am used to, but on that same note, it was quieter and more relaxing, and far less crowded.

(I am 43, wife is 33, we took 3 boys 13, 14, 16)

I personally am quite looking forward to making a fool of myself in front of everyone. I just have a feeling that it is going to go down like that. :) Should be fun. Maybe it will turn into a video on the blog. That trip is coming in October

Greetings. I cannot say if it is the same on all MSC cruises, but the Eggs Benedict on my MSC Divina cruise from Miami was the worst Eggs Benedict I have ever eaten :( It is also one of the things I look most forward to while on vacation, so that was sad to me. I hope it's a better experience for you. That being said, everything else ranged from good to excellent.

Enjoy your trip!

Sorry, I was slightly unclear. The PIzza at the Italian place was not free, but the pizza on the buffet was.

In my humble opinion, the buffet was quite good. We ate at the Main dining room twice only on our 7 day Caribbean cruise last year. We tried Eataly once. It was good, but not really anything to impress. The pizza at the Italian place near eataly was quite good, but the buffet pizza was ALMOST as good. That was truly one of the highlights of our trip.

There are a few pics of the Divina, along with a short review on our blog (below)

I think a lot of it is the social aspect of it, perhaps. I have had several people in my life that would contact me to ask simple questions and I would usually reply "I'm not sure, hold on, let me Google that"...

For the sake of my own sanity, I'll just assume it's a desire to be social...

Also, there is a shop in the terminal (or there was in 2012, anyway) where you can purchase your wine for the trip... It's just near the entrance to security.

In regard to a hotel suggestion.. A few years ago, we took our first cruise out of san juan, and stayed at a cool place called "Da House" check it out if you like nifty little places.

Thanks for your review. We were also on our first HAL cruise recently. It was very nice and we had a great time.

Sounds like fun. I will be on Navigator in October and can check for you...

Kinda reminds me of the "one pound fish" guy for some reason. If you haven't seen it, check that tube site and search "one pound fish" .... not 100% sure why it reminds me, but enjoy either way. :)

Again, I will check Nav in October and hope to remember to post back if no one beats me to it.

OH Geez.. I cannot say for sure what my favorite is, but there is a local place right off the 17fwy (and Central Ave, I believe) that you would drive right past if you didn't know it was there, and it is quite a surprise. It's called "Comedor Guadalajara"... if you go past it, it's much nicer on the inside... don't be afraid :)

We are on our first RCI cruise in October, on the same itinerary. I am very much looking forward to it.

Thanks for writing up the mini review. I know even the short reviews can take a bit of time... especially if your memory is like mine :)

Thanks again

Very important for you to turn off Cellular Data Roaming on your phone, if that is an option. My son misunderstood my instructions on our recent cruise, and just the PUSH data (meaning the emails that came in uninvited, and alerts from his work, etc..) was going to cost well over $120. (for a simple 3-day cruise and a simple mistake)... He wasn't even surfing the internet or using his phone in any other way... and that was for 5MB of data only.

I would suggest getting WiFi or using at ports, as mentioned. Even with Roaming data turned off, you SHOULD get text messages... so you can be alerted when to check your email via wifi.

Just a thought.. Hope this helps.

The market has not been kind at all as of late.

Did you have any run-ins with the "biting" seahorses at the stairwells?

Any idea of the Cozumel / Roatan / Belize menu order? :)

Our 3-day Pacific Coastal from San Diego to Vancouver had a Mongolian BBQ for lunch. Loved it!

Whatever you choose, have a great time, and enjoy your special family time. Most Caribbean ports will be quite hot, as mentioned... so it's hard to say where would be best. I am a fan of the planes in St. Maarten, but there isn't much chance to get from the heat. One thing you could consider is renting a car wherever you go, so you can turn on the air and escape when you want. That's what I like to do when I go new places. Get a car and explore.

If St. Maarten is an option, I have a video on my blog of the planes landing. One of the best cruise days for me so far. :)

ENJOY! and best wishes. Much love to your family.

Thanks for your review. We have cruised 4 times so far. Twice Carnival, Once MSC, and once HAL. In October, we will be going on our first Royal Caribbean cruise. Clearly we haven't any loyalty yet, but rather enjoy all the similarities and differences of all the lines.

Keep cruising, and keep enjoying... I know we will.

:)