Bluewake

1st place was Tom Costello & Stephan Magloire and 2nd place was Funky Butter. No idea what happened to either. Gotta remember that she was only 18 or 19 when this occurred....not the polished performer she's become.

Sometimes, local talent shows can be interesting. For many years, I was an administrator and faculty member at a university at which a student talent show was an annual event. The student who took third place in 2005 ended up doing fairly well later on. That third place winner's name was Stefani Germanotta. She later took the stage name Lady Gaga...

Thanks for the reminder. Will do!

Thanks to everyone for the informative replies. I've learned a lot! I have to admit that I did not realize I could switch back and forth between devices with the paid WiFi plan. For some reason, I thought that once I had logged in on my laptop, only that device could be used for the WiFi plan for the duration of the cruise. Now that I am aware of that, since I will always have an internet package, sounds like I have three options to reach family at home other than email: (1) log out of my laptop and then log in on my iphone when I need to use it to text or Facetime home (2) use the phone link app on my windows PC to text home (3) download Whatsapp to use as a potential backup if the other options are not working. Much appreciated🙂

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Verizon and thought I'd be charged significant roaming fees if I make a call even when the ipone is configured for WiFi calling. Am I incorrect?

While on a cruise, I always get the ship wifi plan to use with my laptop for work related things but - once or twice a cruise - I want to check in with family back at home without the inevitable delay of sending an email and waiting to hear back. On some ships I've able to use my iphone to imessage and Facetime with family members who also have iphones when I'm connected to the free shipboard wifi. However, that only seems to work on some ships, not all. Even stranger is that, when we were on Adventure of the Seas a few months ago, something came up at home and, for a while, I was easily able to imessage and Facetime with family several times when connected to the ship's free wifi. However, that suddenly stopped working about the fifth day way of the cruise. I guess the alternative is just to pay for a two device plan so I can use both my laptop and iphone throughout the cruise but I'm still not sure that I'd be able to use imessage and Facetime whenever I want. A friend suggested that I don't need a two-device plan. All I need to do is to download Whatsapp to my windows laptop and, since that device will be connected to the ship's wifi plan, I'd be able to use it to instantly communicate via texts or calls with family (they have iphones) whenever I needed to do so. All we have to do is to link the laptop and iphone before we leave home. Any tech savvy persons on CC who can advise me on the best option? Is Whatsapp "the way to go"....or not? Much appreciated!

My wife and I may be the only two cruisers who actually don't mind stopping in Nassau! Some of that is because Bay Street (the main shopping street) is so conveniently close to the cruise pier. We always stop in John Bull (which is one of our favorite stores in the Bahamas/Caribbean) and can't help but stroll through the many souvenir shops that line Bay and Wood Rogers Walk Street. We've always felt entirely safe in Nassau but we don't venture too far away from the tourist area of Bay Street. There are a few "steerers" who will try to get you to come into their store (kind of what you'd encounter in St. Thomas) but they aren't really "high pressure". Margaritaville is easily walkable from the ship but it's not a typical Margaritaville. While the other Margaritavilles primarily are restaurants, the Nassau version is more focused on the beach and there is a lazy river and a waterslide...the food is more "just available" than the centerpiece of the experience. If you have kids, the Pirate Museum can be fun. One excursion we enjoyed was a relatively brief tour around the Nassau harbor. You will find vans standing outside the terminal offering tours of Nassau for $25 or so. We've done that a couple of times and thought it was interesting. As for Grand Bahama, we haven't been there for a couple of years but there used to be a straw market and bar adjacent to the pier which I'm assuming still exists. However, unless you like to spend a lot of time looking, it will take no more than 30-45 minutes and you will be done. We totally agree with what others have mentioned about taking a taxi to the Port Lucaya Marketplace - which is a bunch of shops and sort of a "straw market". That also doesn't take long to go through but across from the Marketplace is a hotel that offers a day pass to use their beach. [Don't be fooled and go to the adjacent public beach (on the right side of the hotel beach) that tends to draw the locals. I think it's free but it's not the same experience.] The hotel beach has a pool and a bar with food items. The beach is quite nice. Between the marketplace and the beach, you can spend several hours and be quite relaxed. Other things we've done on Grand Bahama Island are a van tour of the island and a glass bottom boat excursion. Frankly, we didn't think there really was anything to see on either of those excursions.

We are thinking about doing the same thing. Did you have any concerns about Coral Breeze making it back to the terminal area in time to catch a tender to the ship?

mz-s - Thank you for providing the link. That was incredibly helpful.

BlerkOne - Thanks for the info. A few years ago, we were on a ship that had self-service laundries and it was very handy. We sailed the same ship a few years later and the cruise line had closed them. Glad to know they still are available on Horizon! Do you happen to know if the machines require change or will our ship card work?

We are scheduled to sail on Carnival Horizon in three months...our first time on the ship. We've heard that Horizon has self-service laundry rooms for which you can use your ship card to pay for a load of wash and the dryer. Does anyone know if those still are open and in operation? Thanks a lot.

We are in cabin 6295 on the Adventure of the Seas. It is directly above the "Gift Jewelry" shop which is located just past the the excursions desk on deck 5. The shop has a speaker positioned on a tall tripod at the rear of the store (directly below the floor of our cabin) which they use as a PA system and through which they play music to attract/entertain customers. It's not a huge speaker but it's powerful and, for some reason, tends to resonate in our room, particularly the base. We also are not too far from where the parties seem to be centered in the Promenade and those parties are quite loud. We have been in a Promenade cabin once before but it was on deck 9 so the level really seems to matter. We've always chosen our cabin but this was an "upgrade" bid offer and we were placed by the cruise line. I guess that is the risk.

Currently on a cruise in a deck 6 Promenade view cabin to which we were "upgraded". I can't overstate the level of noise in our cabin. The gift shop below our cabin plays music with a booming base frequently during the day and night. The speaker is mounted directly under our cabin so we hear every "thump". Plus, the shop holds drawings at various times which features staff yelling through the PA. Right now, the 80's party is going on and it's so loud in our cabin that it's actually hard to hear the movie we were watching on the TV. Should never have applied for an upgrade due to the risk of being assigned to whatever was left over. This is the worst cabin we've had in almost 40 cruises. Unless you don't mind loud noise, don't consider a Promenade view cabin.

Thanks. I finally did hear today from Bonaire Roadrunners. They were very helpful.

Sent an email to Caribe Watersports...no response. Sent an email to Bonaire RoadRunners....no response.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions! We looked at websites for golf carts and the one that seems to garner the most recommendations on Cruise Critic, "Bonaire Cruisers", has nothing available for the date we will be in Bonaire. We found a second company that seems to have carts but charges a bit more. We also saw a Youtube video about a couple who just went to Karel's Beach Bar and took a water taxi operated by Caribe Watersport to Klein Bonaire where they snorkeled for a couple of hours and returned. That actually sounds good because it would give us time to explore Bonaire afterward. Would Klein Bonaire be decent snorkeling?

This thread has great info about Bonaire. We will be stopping there in October on Carnival Horizon and would like to snorkel from the shore/beach ourselves rather than taking a crowded cruise line sponsored snorkeling excursion. Sounds like Andrea 1 is a good spot but what is the best way to get there and back? Is renting a golf cart feasible or is it too far? Thanks for any suggestions.

It's actually quite easy to walk from the ship to Margaritaville in Nassau. We've done it a couple of times. There is a fee, of course, to use the pool, lazy river, tube ride, and/or beach and I think it's over $100 for a day pass. To me, that's kind of expensive but it's clean, safe, and nicely themed so it might be worth it to you. However, we weren't interested in doing all those things. The first time we just went to the store and then walked around the outdoor area for a bit. No cost to do that. The second time we bought some nachos and a couple of drinks and just sat eating and drinking for about 30 minutes. Again, we didn't have to pay anything to get in...we just paid for the food and beverages. I don't know if a ship or private excursion would be cheaper than just showing up but I doubt it since you'd probably be charged for the ride.

Same thing here. I've tried different browsers but every time I try to press "manage my cruise" it sends me back to the log-in page.

Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions. Hearing from others who've been able to be seated after only a relatively short wait is very encouraging. Maybe we aren't going to have to eat in the buffet every night after all !!

We are booked for My Time Dining on an upcoming Royal cruise. Unfortunately, I was busy doing other things and forgot to make dinner reservations. By the time I realized it, the only times available to reserve were much later than we'd prefer. With My Time, is it possible to simply show up when the dining room opens and wait for a table or must one have a reservation for a specific time? I called RCCL with this question and was told that it's possible the dining room would not be able to accommodate "walk-ins" if there have been too many reservations. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We have sailed on a number of different lines, including multiple cruises on MSC. Please don’t be dissuaded by a few negative reviews about MSC on cruise critic. When you consider how many thousands of people cruise each year, a handful of negative reviews on CC doesn’t constitute a critical mass of opinion upon which you can rely. Similarly, condescending posts on cruise critic which imply that unless you’re in the yacht club, you are somehow sailing in a garbage scow or are of lesser social status are equally insipid. We’ve sailed in the yacht club on MSC as well as outside the yacht club. I don’t doubt there are cruisers who are very much drawn to the milieu of the yacht club and/or the individualized attention and services. However, because what is offered by the yacht club is not of particular importance to us, we simply don’t see the advantage in paying the additional cost. In fact, we actually have found some aspects of the yacht club experience not to be to our liking. In my opinion, it’s about objectively deciding what is important to you and then doing your research to determine whether or not a particular cruise line or ship is a match for those expectations. For some, that certainly will mean the yacht club is the only viable option. For others, not so much.

I greatly appreciated your description of Cartagena. We will be on this same MSC Divina cruise in April and it will be our first time visiting Cartagena. We've read about the relentless vendors in Old Town, including "rappers" who supposedly come up and loudly "rap" in your face until you give them money to go away. Not sure if that is a myth or not! Although we often book private tours, we decided to go with a cruiseline excursion in Cartagena that spends only part of the time in the Old Town so that might help to mitigate the stress for our first visit.

A description of the two piers can be read at: https://www.iqcruising.com/ports/caribbean/jamaica/ocho-rios/overview-ocho-rios-cruise-port.html

We are new to Princess and are looking at a cruise on the Island Princess. We are trying to decide whether to go with the standard option or the plus option which would give us two “casual meals” during our cruise. This brings up the question of what are the casual dining venues aboard the Island Princess? And are the casual dining venues the same thing as “pop ups” or are those two entirely different things? Advice is much appreciated.