lieslt

Mark it wonderful!  He is everything and more as described above.  We were in Ocho Rios in December and Mark picked up our group.  We did Blue Hole and went tubing after.  Wonderful experience.  I can't say enough about him.  You will not be disappointed!

I will be on Allure Feb 13th and am trying to figure out what to pack. I was on Harmony in November and was comfortable in sleeveless tops/dresses. As well as enjoying warm beaches and water except ocean a bit chilly at CocoCay.  I would love any info you can provide about inside venues and outside evenings. I don’t want to pack long sleeves and a lightweight jacket if not needed. TIA!

2 hours ago, Aviator of the Seas said:

Sorry, but as a local I can't make any specific recommendations. Just make sure that whoever you ask, that they have permits for the actual U.S. Forest Service-run El Yunque National Forest. Right now those are very, very limited.

 

Right now your best chance of visiting the actual rainforest is through an unguided visit with your own rental car. Reservations through the U.S. Forest Service required. Or, you can write to your Congressman and demand that the U.S. Forest Service drop the tour vehicle capacity and entry limits so more tour operators can start offering the rainforest tours again.

Thank you!

Any tour company recommendations to use for rain forest tour?  We will be in San Juan in 2 weeks. Thx!

Thx for the info.  Thats almost as much as just ordering the alcoholic drink so my idea of getting refreshment package plus shot may not be such a good idea LOL

I’m not a huge alcohol drinker. On vacation maybe 2 drinks a day. But love the coffee, water and fresh juice option. If I decided to buy refreshment package how much would a shot cost?  Was thinking I could get a few mocktails and add a shot. No idea if this is the most cost effective way of doing it for me. 

23 hours ago, binro01 said:

Does anyone know if I apply for an AMEX card, if I would receive this offer? I have seen one person on this thread apply for the Blue card but did not get the offer. I was wondering if any new AMEX member had luck receiving this offer.

I applied for the AMEX blue card 2 days ago and did not receive the offer.  I have accepted 140 offers just to move them and have the same 7 offers left.  I have not used the card yet so maybe once I use it then new offers will show up.  I just got off the phone with AMEX asking them to check for the offer to see if I have it on any of my family cards and did not.  She also said she was not able to specifically add the offer because it is random.

We had a good time on Carnival Magic.  I will do a full review soon but here are a few things to note.  Bball court does close every night around 5:30/6pm.  La Cucina is directly below the bball court so assume that is the reason the it closes so early.  We ate there for lunch on the first sea day and you could definitely hear the basketballs!  This was a definite bummer for my boys as they love to play bball.  On RCI Oasis of the Seas a few year ago they played most nights so was disappointed on this cruise that court closed so early.  They did enjoy the dive in movies in the evening.  But make sure to get there early...seats fill up quickly.  We saw a couple of the shows...nothing I would stand in line for or would be disappointed if I missed it.  Favorite was the rock show.  Food in main dining room was pretty good, we did not hit any of the pay restaurants.  We were all frustrated with the buffet closing down at 2:30pm.  Most days we would not get back onboard until 3 or 4pm and would all head up to get something to eat.  Burger and sandwich place would be open but very long lines since the buffet lines were closed and most people would be getting back on ship about the same time and hungry.  Not a deal breaker but definitely something we did not like about this ship.  Seemed to be a lot more lines than on Oasis. Magic is definitely showing wear and tear but all of the staff were always courteous and very helpful.  We are booked on the Breakaway for April 2020 so lucky to get the best of both ships!

That is going to be a bummer for my boys.  We are sailing on the Magic next week and my boys love playing bball late into the night.  For those that have sailed on Magic does it close that early for the entire night or open up later for pickup games?

Thx!

We decided on Carnival Magic and will be sailing next week.  I hope the bball court does not close at 5/6pm as my boys will be very disappointed!  I will let you know once we are back!

Thx for your responses.  The ships really do look very similar and prices are about the same although we will not know our room numbers beforehand on the breakaway.  Hard to choose and know what is the best for our family...bad problem to have lol!

We are trying to decide between Carnival Magic and NCL Breakaway.  We have been on several cruises but have not been on either of these ships.  Family of 5 with 3 teenage boys 18, 16 and 16.  They don't really do anything with the teen clubs so not a priority.  Mostly play bball when onboard.  Itineraries are pretty much the same so really looking for differences in the ship. TIA! 

We are trying to decide between Carnival Magic and NCL Breakaway.  We have been on several cruises but have not been on either of these ships.  Family of 5 with 3 teenage boys 18, 16 and 16.  They don't really do anything with the teen clubs so not a priority.  Mostly play bball when onboard.  Itineraries are pretty much the same so really looking for differences in the ship. TIA! 

Love reading your posts and your writing style...very funny!  I am thinking of booking this cruise in April for myself and 3 teenage boys during spring break. Seems to be one of the best deals around for last minute booking. My boys love to play b-ball...how is the b-ball court on this ship?  TIA

What night was love and marriage?

Love and Marriage Game Show was on Day 3 Opal Theater at 10:30pm.

Day 4 St. Maarten

We were signed up to do The Race through trisports. This is like the Amazing Race on tv. You can also sign up for this excursion through RCI but it is more expensive. Trisport charged us $75 per adult and $60 per child...kids 16 and under. We met tripsport guides at Bobby’s Marina which was about a 15 minute walk. We were the only ones that signed up directly through trisport. The rest of the people signed up through RCI. So trisport ran this excursion. If you sign up through RCI instead of the walk you will take a watertaxi to the marina. Big savings if you have kids and don’t mind the walk. The Race was a lot of fun! I could not find many reviews on this but I would recommend! My kids loved it. I think there ended up being 10 or 11 teams. We did not join up with anyone...just the 5 of us. They suggested teams to be between 5-10 players per team so some groups of people joined together. Make sure someone has a swimsuit as there is one leg in the race where someone has to swim and touch a buoy in the ocean. Not very far out...our 17 yo did it. We came in 2nd overall :) After the race we stopped by one of the restaurants near where the race ended and had lunch then headed back to the ship. This afternoon we went by the excursion desk and found out we were able to get a spot for the non-certified scuba excursion for myself and all 3 boys! Tonight we saw Oasis of Dreams Aqua Show at 7:15pm so we had to show up for dinner at 5:45pm. Mentioned to our waiters that we had a 7:15pm show...they made sure we were out in plenty of time. Another fantastic show. I did watch this show again from my boy’s boardwalk balcony on another night and it was fun seeing it from a different perspective. BTW...very easy to get on and off the ship.

Day 5 San Juan

My boys and I were super excited about going scuba diving. As you know we signed up for this excursion through RCI for $185 pp. We were told to meet on the pier at 7:15am. So an early morning for us. We took the elevator down to get off the ship but the doors were closed so we had to wait...ended up being closer to 7:30am. There wasn’t anyone there to talk with so we just hung out until the doors opens. There were only a couple of people plus us waiting. Once we got off the ship I started looking for someone holding a sign for this excursion...took a while to finally find it. RCI did this excursion through scubadog. It was only about a 15 min ride to their shop. We were assigned one guy for the 4 of us which was nice. He helped us get on the tanks and explained how to look at the gauge and the hand signals. We also had to fill out a questionnaire...mostly about our health. Then we walked off the beach and into the ocean...basically a small cove so no waves. We did some practice going under and breathing and then headed out a little deeper. One of by boys did not like it at all and did not want to continue so our guy took him back to the beach and yelled for a co-worked to help him with the equipment. We continued on and swam around. Saw some fish and a big turtle and some wreckage. I had read that San Juan was not really a great place for scuba diving and I agree that there were not a lot of really colorful fish but we still had a good time. My boys really enjoyed it. Once we were back at the pier we went back to the cabin. I took a quick shower and headed out to walk around with hubby. We went to a couple of the nearby forts. Just walked around...did not pay to go inside. We really didn’t have a lot of time left after scuba. Once we were back on board and heading out of port I went to the excursion desk to see if I could get a refund for my son that did not end up finishing the excursion. Yes, he did go out and try it but was in the water less than 10 minutes. Guy at desk called his manager on the phone but they were having a bad connection. So he said someone would call the room later that day. They ended up refunding the excursion which was great...kudos to RCI for doing that! Tonight we saw Come Fly with Me...another great show.

Day 6 Labadee

We were off the ship by around 9:30am. Took the ferry over to Columbus Cove with is the farthest beach from the pier. We would have walked but the ferry was almost filled so we knew we wouldn’t have to wait long for it to leave. Still plenty of chairs in the shade of the trees. Water was calm...no waves. Sandy beach. I had read on CC that this was one of the best beaches to go. Apparently some of the other beaches are very rocky. My boys decided they wanted to go parasailing...this was sold out. So we went to try and sign up for the Dragon’s Breath zipline. But this was sold out as well. As we were standing in line to “double check” that there were no spots one of the guys working came up and pulled me out of line and said they were sold out...we were able to work out a cash deal. So my boys and I were able to go and it was amazing! This was one of their favorite things they did. It you want to do this make sure to sign up a head of time. Food was okay...not really any lines to get food which was nice. The labadoozie drink was good. They have big coolers of it already made...wish I could have had a few more! Tonight for dinner we had reservations for Chops at 5:30pm. We also ordered a bday cake which was delivered to the table. Most everyone got the filet...all enjoyed. Side dishes were family style so we got to try some of everything. No show tonight. We did go see Quest which was a game show...this was done in the ice skating venue. Very fun...lots of crowd participation!

Day 7

Our last day at sea. Did the usual stuff...bball, mini golf and ping pong. Went to dinner at 6pm...this was probably the worst menu of the entire cruise. Not really any appealing main courses. Order the fish which was fried...not really good. So went with the spaghetti which was really good. My son got it several nights. Went back to the room to pack everything and then headed to the casino for a last bit of gambling. I am happy to say that we ended up winning overall for the week...only about $80...but better than losing!

Embarkation

We decided to walk off with our luggage so we did not put it in the hallway last night. We left the room around 7:15am. Super easy to get through security and out to our car...less than 30 minutes from our room to our car. If you decide you do not want to deal with your luggage in the morning you have to have it in the hallway by 11pm on the last night.

Drink package

I went back and forth several times before the cruise trying to decide it I wanted to keep this. End the end I decided to go for it...purchased a combined package with voom. I would not get it again. I am not a big drinker so RCI made money off of me...but probably not much. On the boards I read that you really need to order 4-5 drinks to make your money back. I did end up ordering several alcoholic drinks most days but one day I was not feeling well so did not get any. Of the drinks I did order I did not finish all and felt ok if I decided not to. Money wise it would have been better to pay as I go but then I would not have ordered as many as I did. I did go to the park cafe several times a day to get the mocha frap which was delicious! I also got the fresh squeezed orange juice several times which I highly recommend. I’m not even a big fan of OJ but fresh squeezed was yummy! I also got tons of bottles of water every day and stocked up our fridge. I will say the bottled water they have on the ship was not great...had a funny taste but was what they had so drank it. I was not going to pay extra for evian. Overall I would not get again but was fun to have as I did try new things and didn’t feel bad if I decided not to drink the entire drink. They did start offering the 10 drink beverage card on Wed day 4...$70 plus grats. This would not be worth it if you are a beer drinker but if you like cocktails then it is a good deal. But I also thought I would be sitting around a lot more relaxing on sea days and at Labadee. But alas...I ended up enjoying hanging with my kids swimming in the ocean, playing ping pong and golf. Sidenote...my kids did not get in any of the pools or hot tubs...for some reason they think pools/hot tubs are “gross and dirty” on cruise ships...no idea why.

Random thoughts...and I mean random...I will be jumping all over the place!

This was a great cruise and I recommend this ship and itinerary. We have been on several cruise lines...Carnival, NCL, Celebrity and Viking. This was our first RCI. I had always heard RCI was one of the best...especially over Carnival. I will have to say the specialty restaurant on the Carnival Dream was much better. I would not pay again to go to Chops...yes it was good but not an extra $49 pp good although our waiter was excellent! Much better than our main dining room waiters. Carnival kids program also has RCI beat. No, my kids did not go to the teen club but my 10yo nephew went to the kids club a few times and thought it was just okay. On Carnival Dream 3 years ago my kids were in camp every day and loved it! Again...my kids are older now and mostly played bball but on Carnival they were allowed to sing themselves in and out and still went all the time. Carnival also has RCI desserts beat every day of the week! RCI shows beat all other cruises we have been on hands down...no comparison! We ended up seeing all of the shows except CATS. I read very few good reviews here on CC about CATS so didn’t even bother signing up for it. I did hear from some other cruisers that the 2nd half of CATS was better. I would recommend going to all of the other shows! They were all so good! Pool towels...I only saw the towel stations by the pools. They will scan your sail and sign card and you can get as many towels as you would like. They do tell you there is a $25 fee on any towel that is not returned. They will scan your card again on return of the towels but they do not count how many you throw in the bin...so not sure if they will actually charge you for the towels. Pictures...there are picture stations everywhere...especially on formal nights. There is a picture package you can get...cheapest to buy online before your cruise...but you only get pics on a disk but get all pics you have taken. So if you choose to buy package...go crazy and get as many pics taken as you can. Otherwise they are $20 a pop if you buy individually. I did try and have my SIL take a pic with my phone while we were having a family pic taken on formal night. The photographer immediately told her no...and was not very nice about it. I know this is a way of them making money but have never had anyone else on other cruise lines tell us no. We only tried it once so not sure if we could have done it at other stations. There has also been lots of discussions about dress in the dining room. Formal nights most people were dressed up more than other nights although I did see some people with nice shorts and dress shirts. You will also see cocktail dresses and suits. Other nights I saw lots of people wearing nice shorts and golf shirts. I did not see anyone with athletic shorts and teeshirts in the section where we sat. So don't stress over bring lots of dressy clothes if that is not your thing. I also made sure to bring a long sleeved sweater to wear in case it was cold...did not use it anywhere. I was very comfortable everywhere we went and I am usually more on the cold side.

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Overall this was an awesome cruise and family vacation and would highly recommend! I know I am probably leaving out a lot but hopefully have hit the highlights! Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for review!! We sail on Oasis this Sunday. I would love to see the compasses. Can not find them anywhere for this itinerary My kids have a boardwalk balcony as well!

I will take pics and try and figure out how to post them. Boardwalk balcony was more fun for my kids than the ocean view although they didn't really sit out there. They had a great view of the bball courts so was easy for them to check to see how crowded that was before they headed over to play. Enjoy!

This is my first cruise review so trying to include everything I think might be of interest or help those planning or getting ready to cruise on Oasis. Please let me know if you have and questions and I will try and answer. I do have all of the cruise compass papers for each day. Sorry no pictures...not sure how to post them here:o Again...I am new to posting reviews. But wanted to try. I was able to get so much good info here before we left so hopefully this review can help!

We are a family of five. My husband and I and our three boys, recently turned 17, 15, 15. We also went with other extended family so we had a total of 10 people. We were all staying on deck 14. My husband and I had an ocean view balcony and my boys were across the hall in a boardwalk balcony. Room numbers 14314 and 14315. I know a lot of people have asked about beds next to closets versus beds next to balconies. On our ocean view balcony the bed was next to the balcony so there was lots of room to get in and out of the closet. Boys room boardwalk balcony the twin beds were next to the closet and there was a bed that pulled out of the ceiling above the couch which was next to the balcony. It did make it more difficult to get clothes in and out of the closet because the bed was right next to it. But they were boys and didn't really care. As far as room temp my room was cool and comfortable all week. We were very good about making sure to keep the balcony door locked...even when we were on the balcony. There is a pic on the door that is very clear about what position the handle should be for door to be locked. My boys room was definitely a bit warmer on some days. They said they were keeping the door locked but who knows. They only went out to put wet clothes on the chairs. I sat out there once to watch the aqua show. I will try and do my review by day but will also throw in some helpful hints that I learned from these boards as well as being on the cruise. We left North Carolina Saturday and started driving and took about 12 hours because of the holiday traffic. But we were all very excited because we had the cruise to look forward to. We checked into the Hampton which was about 4 miles from the port around 9:30 PM. We opted not to use hotel parking with their shuttle. The shuttle was $10 per person. We decided to drive to the port and pay the $128 fee parking for the week. This definitely worked out best for us...easy to get to port and park and was great when we left the ship. Nice not to have to sign up for a shuttle time to get to post and worry about getting shuttle back to hotel. We were parked and walking into the building at about 10:30. Check in and security was a breeze. They started boarding diamond and gold members at 11 o'clock. We were in general boarding group number four and were on the ship by about 11:30–11:45am. Once onboard we stopped by guest services so I could put a limit on my boys sail and sign cards in case they were lost. We also got an extra key to their room for my husband and I to have. Next stop was the excursion desk to get on the waitlist for scuba diving. If you are interested in doing one of the more popular tours I suggest booking it early. I waited until the week before and The scuba excursion for non-certified divers in San Juan was totally booked. Hopefully we will get off the waiting list and get to go on that excursion. All of my boys have the soda package. Two soda packages came with their room as a perk and we purchased one soda/voom package. I also purchased the deluxe drink package/voom. For each of the voom packages they will give you a login code. So we had 2 codes between the five of us. One person can log out and another person can log in with the codes. This work well for our family. I just used it to check emails. My boys shared to stream and snapchat once they were in bed for the night. As far as the soda packages go none of the drink containers were in the rooms, mine was not in my room and none of my boys had theirs. Stopped by one of the tables selling packages later that afternoon and they gave us 4 drink containers without even looking at our cards. We ate lunch in the wind jammer… Very crowded. Had to wait to be seated but was not a long wait. We were told this was the only day we would have to wait because so many were boarding the ship at once. We waited less than 5 min. Average food and usual choices as far as buffets go. Cabins opened up at 1 PM. We got to our rooms around 1:30 and our luggage was in the hallway...not by our cabins. We happened to see our luggage in the hallway while walking to our cabins...guess our bags had not actually been brought to our rooms yet. Grabbed our luggage and took it to our rooms and unpacked. My SIL did not have their luggage at dinner...it was by their cabin door once they were back from dinner. Plenty of storage. I did bring a shoe holder to hang on the back of the bathroom door but ended up packing it away. Did not need it. Explored the ship. Boys played lots of basketball and hit minigolf. We had scheduled seating for 5:30 PM in the silk dining room. Table was plenty big for 10 people. Dinner was slow, waitstaff very average. Said they were very busy because it was the first night and they were getting to know everyone. Asst waiter did not speak very good English but was very nice. We did speak with our waiter and head waiter about wanting to show up to dinner at 6 PM every night. They said that was not a problem. So we will do that starting tomorrow night. Hoping tomorrow night is a better and more efficient night. As far as dress goes in the main riding room it was very casual. I saw lots of shorts and T-shirts and tennis shoes. Maybe it was a little more lax because it was the first night. Time will tell. After dinner we went and sat in the Solarium for about 20 minutes. We were able to get one of the big comfy lounge chairs for two. It was pretty quiet in there. Then we went to the ice show. Teenage boys thought it was just OK. I was impressed with what they could do on such a small ice skating rink. The guy that did the sand art was amazing. Not building a sand sculpture but sand on a board and used his hands/fingers to draw things. Very impressive! After the show kids went and did their thing… Whatever that was. Hubby and I went to play craps in the casino. Actually made money tonight… We will see if that continues the rest of the week...probably not ;)

Thoughts for the day… Did not encounter much up-selling other then when we first boarded. Definitely had the soda table set up and people walking around telling you about all the specialty restaurants,voom and the drink packages. Very polite when we said we were not interested.

Day 2 Sea Day

We ordered room service this morning by hanging a card on our door last night, just continental breakfast. No cost for continental breakfast but if you want things like eggs bacon etc. there is a $7.95 fee. After breakfast on the balcony we headed to the gym about 9:30 AM...plenty of equipment. There was a class that started at 10 o'clock, look like a great cardio/weight class but pretty crowded for the small space...not sure what the fee was to take the class. Gym was excellent, always equipment available free weights in a smaller area so that was a little crowded but everyone was nice about moving/sharing equipment. We also hit the running track which is accessible through the gym. I think 2 1/2 laps around is a mile. Walkers on the right runners on the left. Lots of fun signs as you run around to keep you motivated. We all ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. Boys had one free meal as a perk with their room hubby and I paid a surcharge, I think it was around seven dollars. Milkshakes were extra for everyone that ordered...I think around $5.00. Walked around up on deck 14 where the pools/mini golf /basketball court and flow riders are located. Saw lots of available chairs. Definitely much more crowded around the pools and kid pool areas. We sat back by minigolf so we could watch kids on the basketball court. Very enjoyable day with a good breeze. My SIL said she walked through the solarium, adults only sitting area, and it was pretty crowded. I did not make it back there today. Tonight is first formal night so everyone got spiffed up and we arrived at dinner at 6 PM. Waiters immediately brought same drinks we ordered night before. Waitstaff was better, beef tenderloin was delicious. Disappointed with the lobster bisque. For dessert I tried the chocolate bar and the kids brownie with ice cream, neither were very good. Ended up eating my ice cream with one of my kids chocolate chip cookies and that was delicious. All three of my boys got the soufflé and they all really liked it. So far both meals they have tried new things and have enjoyed some and others not so much. Tonight was the adult comedy show, Mike Pace was the main person. His opening act and Mike were very funny. We enjoyed it, there were lots of laughs from all. Highly recommend seeing this show. Very small venue so if this is something you want to do make sure you sign up online well ahead of your cruise. There were a few random seats left over that people were able to sit in that were standing in standby line. After the show we headed back to the craps table… Husband is now down about eight dollars. So we're going to chuck this evening up to pretty cheap entertainment.

Day 3 Sea Day

Happy July 4th

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We spent today very much like we did yesterday. Boys played a lot of basketball ping-pong and golf. One son did the rock climbing wall. Nobody has been interested in the flow rider. I have felt a bit of movement today up in my room and actually felt a bit last night when I went to bed. Nothing bad just a slight vibration and a bit of rocking. Was actually nice to go to bed with that. Head waiter stopped by again this evening for dinner to make sure all was good. They made an announcement about July 4 and a lot of people had on red, white and blue. Everyone was pleased with their meals, dessert was still hit or miss. We went to see the main headline show this evening Mo5iac. This was a five guy a cappella group. They were great, the show was very entertaining. Again my boys just thought it was OK although they liked the songs they did by Queen. I thought it was amazing what they can do with no instruments. We went down to deck five for the balloon drop at 10 PM, Captain said a few words and one of the singers from Cats sang the National Anthem and then they dropped the balloons. They were also handing out free champagne, red, white and blue colors to anyone that wanted some. Headed to the casino for just a few minutes. Not many people playing tonight we were the only ones at the craps table on the non-smoking side. The last few nights it has been pretty busy. Guess everyone is turning in early for tomorrow. As far as smoke in the casino I do not think it is bad. I do not smoke and do not like the smell of smoke. There are two craps tables...and probably two of many other tables. Half of the casino is smoking. We went on the smoking side once because there were open spots at the craps table...did not stay. Some people smoking and really smelled of smoke. But again, did not really notice smoke or the smell on the non-smoking side.

I will try and post again tomorrow...next up St. Maarten. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try and answer.

ThX for all the suggestions! I think I will try and pack my electric fan and if confiscated I will go for an app on my phone.

Looking for suggestions for scuba excursion in San Juan. Mom and 3 teenage boys...first time scuba so not certified. I've looked at reviews for a few private companies. RCI has excursion as well. Surprisingly not a big price difference between RCI and private but worried about a huge group with RCI. Suggestions?

Any reviews on Great race excursion either Through RCI or Tri-sport eco tours? RCI is only about $10 more pp but wondering if it will be a smaller group with private company. I did post this on port board but only got a couple of responses.

I sleep with a fan on for white noise. We have an ocean view balcony. Are the cabins quiet or can you hear a fan from the AC? Wondering if I should bring my small floor fan for the noise.

We are thinking of doing this as well but can't decide if we should do it with RCI or go directly with tri-sport. Any recommendations? Thx!

Thanks all. I sent my TA an email asking about perks and he said there was a WOW sale with $100 OBC. He changed all of our bookings and said they will continue to look for any new deals...I will continue to look as well!

Happy Sailing!