travelbuddies

Yellow Cab is the biggest company. 954-777-7777. You can just call when you are ready to go as there will be lots of taxis nearby waiting for dispatch.

I highly recommend you call. Last year front desk did not want to call us a taxi and were even argumentative about calling as they were pushing their shuttle service. Other than that it was a lovely hotel in a great location.

You would get a reduced deposit and on board credit for the future cruise.

If you prefer working with a TA after you book onboard you have 60 days to transfer to a TA who may give you additional perks for transferring.

Can anyone tell me if I still get to keep the onboard credit if I transfer?

While running around doing our "homeworks" we joined in the Central Park garden tour, so interesting to learn about this amazing garden at sea. Most unusual trivia fact: once a plant enters the Oasis, it never leaves, alive or dead. Gardener cannot give any cuttings, if a plant is removed, it is burned. There is no way to know what diseases these plants may carry, so they cannot take the risk.

 

Pretty Coleus

 

Head Gardener led the tour

 

Amazing living wall

 

Secret tool closet hidden in Central Park

 

 

Did you have to sign up for this or was it on the compass for a day activity? Free or fee?

DAY #6 – THURSDAY, December 12, 2013 – Cozumel, Mexico – 8:30am – 6:15pm

7am stretch, 7:30am fab abs… Solarium Bistro breakfast with Marianne and Becca: Bagel, cream cheese and lox… half grapefruit… grits with salt, pepper, hot sauce, butter… turkey sausage… cappuccino (from the Diamond Club)…

 

Dressed for a beach day, went ashore and met up with those sharing the private cooking class we had booked at Mr. Sancho’s beach club ($45pp plus transportation and tips). We shared a cab ($5 each) and arrived at the beach area early, checked in, and went to the food preparation area.

 

What a great class! This was one of the best tours I have taken… and I love our “food theme” for this cruise, with a food tour in Jamaica and a cooking class in Mexico.

 

(I would have booked the cooking class in Jamaica at the historic house, through the cruise line shore excursion department, but it was more than twice as expensive as booking the food tour privately… ditto, the Mexican cooking class through the ship, held at another beach – which many friends of mine have taken and said was terrific – was also nearly twice as expensive as what we booked on our own.)

 

We prepared several dishes: salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips, sopas (small fried breads), refried beans, grilled chicken + frozen margaritas (virgin for me) – regular, strawberry or mango. It was so much fun! We learned hygiene (washing our hands like surgeons before handling the foods), knife handling skills, chopping tomatoes, peppers, onions, avocados…

 

We cut tortillas into triangles and deep-friend them into fresh tortilla chips for our salsa and avocado… we customized the salsas to be spicy or plain depending on our taste… and we filled the sopas with the refried beans (which had been prepared in advance), chicken which we had grilled on the open grill, topped it with a little white cheese, and enjoyed several drinks while we were working.

 

We tipped the chef and his translator/teacher well, and ate the delicious lunch which we had prepared ourselves. I continue to make the guacamole for my appreciative family!

 

Tropical Christmas Tree @ Mr. Sancho's

 

Beautiful fresh ingredients!

 

Diced tomato

 

The gang's all here...

 

...with big knives!!

 

Avocado and onion

Looks fun, I went to their webpage and didn't find a cooking class/tour posted how did you book it with them? Thanks

Thanks for the replies, looks like my first call should be to the 'agent'.

I just moved cabins in the same category through a TA. Time is of the essence so insist on speaking to anyone at the agency willing to help you NOW, don't accept a response for a call back as the cabin may not be available. Take anyone who will assist at the agency who will get you that cabin and if your call goes to your TA's voicemail call back immediately for anyone to assist you. You should know when I did this I lost some of my perks.

Does anyone have a list of the D+ coupons that are loaded on the sea pass? I'm starting to hear bits and pieces and I'm sure we will make specialty resv before going to the cabin on Day 1. Don't want to miss out on using any of the new coupons but I don't really know what they are. Will be our first cruise as D+. Thanks

Sorry no updates this weekend... packing for my upcoming Explorer cruiser on Friday!! :D

 

I was at a wedding today :)... going to a funeral tomorrow :( ... and I've got lots of work to do on this short week before I'm traveling...

 

I hope to post some more before I ship out... and to get my next review posted sooner!!

 

If you're going to be in Falmouth, I heartily recommend this tour. Well organized, well led, interesting history, delicious food, always felt safe yet still out in the "real Jamaica," not some protected resort enclave.

 

Re: entertainment in labadee, interesting you never encountered this! I've always gone for a walk after lunch to browse the shops... and every time I pass the open air theatre the show is going I and I walk in. No announcement, no entry fee (other than tips), but I think I've seen it every time I've been to labadee...

 

Glad to hear from more folks, and thanks babyrock for having my back!!;)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

Bon Voyage! Enjoy the Explorer.

Has anyone taken a tour to Rockland Bird Sanctuary or found dependable roundtrip transportation to Rockland Bird Sanctuary from Falmouth? Was it worth a visit. Looks like a unique and awesome experience, but maybe not.

Has anyone found a tour to Mystic Mountain with dependable roundtrip transportation from Falmouth that isn't with RCI? I see tickets available online for Mystic Mountain for a lot less than you would pay RCI but since it's an hour away & still need roundtrip transportation is it better to take the RCI tour? I will not be ziplining and might not bobsled. Just want the aerial tram, gardens & maybe swim.

We did the Mystic Mountain excursion in Falmouth on Celebrity...if RC offers it, it was great, DO IT! You go up to the top on a nice slow ski lift ride, take a "Jamaican Bobsled" roller coaster ride down and then up the mountain, then zip line down the mountain. So much fun and we were out all day!

Thanks so much for your post I have been wanting to do this excursion. We cancelled in Ocho Rios because our excursion began at 7:30am which was too early for us. How long did it take you to get there from Falmouth? We dock at 10am so timing will be much better for us this year.

Enjoying your review & pics. We will be sailing this ship & itinerary this December. I have been to Labadee 3 times and never noticed there is entertainment there. Where is it located? Did you see it posted somewhere? Was it on the compass?

Never knew about the beer cooler, thanks for the tip.

Look forward to your next post. Thanks

My wife and I booked a cruise specifically to go on an excursion we really wanted to do; a day trip to Moscow with tour guide. Mow all of the sudden, that excursion is not on the website anymore.

 

Is it time for my to flip my lid with Royal Caribbean or is there something else I need to know?

If you want a refund you will need to call RCI then check your credit card in 5 days. If you have not received credit against your account then call them back otherwise you will get an OBC for the amount you paid for the excursion. Should be simple I know, but I had to do this last year and it took about 3 hours. BTW, I have taken many private tours that were less expensive than RCI excursions. They got me back on time and were awesome plus even better experience than my RCI excursions.

More updates to NC on these boards

Well my husband has talked with work about taking off two weeks in a row, and now I'M the one starting to freak out about taking that much time away from work/home. I know though, if I don't book this back-to-back, I'll be disappointed come day 6 of our cruise.

 

My problem is, I'm worrying about something happening here at home with my elderly inlaws. They would NEVER join us on a cruise; my mother in law is scared to death. They still live in their home not far from us, but neither of them drive anymore. 89 year old father in law is a "fall risk," but yesterday morning I caught him out shoveling snow! No matter what we tell them not to do, they do what they want to anyway, and I get that, they don't want to give up their independence. I feel like we're living our lives waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

 

And for those following my saga with elderly parents, we were scheduled to cruise on FOS in May. My final payment was due March 4, and a month before that my dad in Florida suffered 2 strokes. He passed away on 2/18, but in between that time, I canceled our cruise, because I thought I would be doing a lot of back and forth to Florida while he was going through stroke rehab.

 

My husband and I are both only children, and we've had a rough year with this kind of thing. We're looking at sailing on Allure September, because that's a slower month for my pet sitting business.

I am sorry for your loss. The downside to a b2b is leaving our two canine companions for a long period and worse yet getting a good pet sitter for 2 weeks in a row. We are planning a b2b on the Oasis in December. The good news is DH will be able to relax from work for two weeks, we will have a great opportunity to really enjoy the mega ship, the entertainment and restaurants.

Also if there are perks or sales from the cruise line or your TA you will receive x 2.

Susan

Must be a glitch in their system, we had aged quite a bit when I did reservations for shows, this is the only time it happened and was before I did the online check in. I am not worried about it since I have put our correct info in for the check in. It was rather strange to be 12yrs older, not ready for that yet...:eek:

 

Bev

LOL, when I did show reservations it had my age as 114:eek:, BTW I am 60.

I was wondering if there are a lot of tour companies & taxis waiting at the ports in Alaska wanting to sign you up for a tour?

Took the private Segway tour and had a blast. If I have a chance to do it again I would take a longer tour. Listed as #1 things to do on tripadvisor. Ask for Danny you won't be disappointed. They pick you up and drop you off at the cruise port. So much fun!

have anybody heard about any 2 x 1 on board credits, that if you buy $100 they give you $ 200 ?

No but if you purchase gift certificates from RCI using your Royal Caribbean Visa you get 2x points.

When I called RCI the last two years to verify there would be valet service for my sailing I was assured there would be. Turned out it was not offered. I would say they have it but you can't count on it being available for your sailing.:eek:

This is very helpful information. We will have our first B2B this summer and were able to get the same connecting cabins for both sailings. Some postings have mentioned a special lunch for B2B (consecutive cruisers ;))?

b2b is shown as Consecutive Cruisers on RCI's website.

Also if you are entitled to C&A Loyalty Amenities your new sea pass will be loaded with them.

I used Rugby travel Sickness Chewable Tablets which are non drowsy that I got from Walmart in the past but they didn't have last year. Not sure if there is a problem with the product or if Walmart bullies dropped them.

Susan

We are looking at booking a B2B on the Radiance for Alaska, Vancouver to Seward and return.

What will happen on turnaround day?

Will we be allowed to stay on the ship or will we have to leave and go through embarkation again?

On RCI's website b2b is referenced as Consecutive Cruisers

I could be wrong but as I remember the document RCI gave me never said they would announce the winner. Thought it said they would contact the winner and if you want to know who it is there was an address to write to. Anybody have a copy?

Just in case no one else has mentioned it, Oasis does not go to Coco Cay. You have it backwards. Oasis goes to Nassau and Freedom to Coco Cay. If you're taking new cruisers, I would pick Freedom. Oasis Class ships can be a little overwhelming for the uninitiated. We loved both Oasis and Allure but I think you need to break your friends in on a little slower paced ship and we loved Freedom too. As far as Port Canaveral, you can get some reasonable beach front hotels along Cocoa Beach. We usually fly in two days before just to enjoy the beach and the pier area.

I agree. Make sure they sign up for the C&A Society and you should both purchase a 'Next Cruise' for future use, you won't be sorry. Once you have all experienced a few cruises you will have a better feel for how to get the most out of the Mega ships Oasis or Allure.

My TA emailed perks I would receive for transferring the booking. You might asked them to do that so you have a receipt to give to guest services if needed.

royal caribbean blog dot com has eastern caribbean for the week. I cannot post the link here. If you google Oasis compass you will see the website I am referencing, it is from August 2013.