Cruising Divers

I’ve only booked an interior once and will never do so again. Not for me. Balconies only; I would rather skip a cruise then take another one in an interior room but to each his own. If I was retired or living in Florida then maybe I would change my mind but not likely, hated it. 

3 hours ago, Newbie2006 said:

 

I think the cruise is booked solid. Doesn't show on celebrity website (1st after drydock). Oh well, I want to do aqua class next time . . . preferably with an itinerary with more sea days.

We are on the second Summit sailing after dry dock and we just upgraded to Aqua this past week! Very excited as this will be our first Aqua cabin. All of the deck 11 cabins were already gone but there were 5 to choose from on deck 9 and 1 on deck 10 (new cabins). Like someone else said you never know if someone is going to cancel or upgrade so keep checking – good luck!

4 hours ago, Muushka said:

We thought that the smoking interfered with our nostrils about as much as it does on X.  We could usually avoid cutting through the casino but if we did, we just walked quickly and it really was not that bad.  There was also smoking on the pool deck aft just on one side.  Again, not that bad.  And we detest the smell of cigarette smoke.  I did not see any more smokers on HAL than I do on X.  But then again this was a big holiday cruise so the pax mix may have been a bit skewed.

It sounds like you are pretty much against even trying HAL, your prerogative.  But as I said above, I found the smoke no worse than X. 

We had the exact same experiences as well. In fact it probably bothered us more on X than it did on HAL (which was minimal-no at all) because the top-side smoking area on our X cruise was at the seating at a bar we would sometimes frequent and have to wait at for 5-10 minutes to be served at. Basically on X we were “standing in the smoke” vs on HAL where we “walked past the smoke”.

Regardless, on both lines it was minimal at most and both lines provided us an amazing experience that we’d be thrilled to repeat. We’ve been looking for another X cruise to take after our next cruise (which departs in 55+/- days from now) but haven’t found anything so I think we’ll look into one of the two new HAL ships! I also really like the thought of a reduced single supplement fee on HAL to possibly take my DM on her first trip... Thank you!

Thank you for the info! We’re booked on the second sailing after drydock and can’t wait to get onboard. We’ve only been on the Equinox before so we’ll not be able to compare everything to “before” but honestly that’s the way we prefer it. Less than 60 days away! 🎉

33 minutes ago, XtaSea said:

Got the same email so checked pricing on a Summit cruise we've already booked with this TA. The price is up about 21%, or $1400 total. It's a suite which already gets all the perks, so there's no added value involved. In fact, our deposit is refundable, so the value is now less. I agree with others that these "promotions" often represent an across-the-board price increase to cover the perks and for some it's just a price increase, period. As some have noted, do your homework, shop early and make sure any promos that pop up are really of value to you.

Exactly what I received and exactly what I found when I compared the math/numbers for a Summit in Jan. 2020.... A bit disappointing tbh.

20 hours ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

The lack of a pool, which I knew, is a disappointment on warm weather itineraries out of San Juan, but then again it's a port intensive itinerary so I don't know how much use we will get out of it except for embarkation day, the sea day or if we're back from an excursion early.  

We are on the March 30 San Juan sailing and think this exactly also. We would have loved the additional pool as an option but since we spend almost the entirety of the available port time onshore it likely will not be a huge inconvenience. Very much looking forward to being one of the first to enjoy the “new” ship! 

Thank you so much to everyone - Please keep the suggestions coming! 😃

18 hours ago, cathi007 said:

I will be at Orient Beach next week I will be posting back after I get back from my 14 night cruise

Awesome, thank you!

22 minutes ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Have you joined the Roll Call yet?  There’s also another site people are using that we’re not allowed to post about. Come join the group. 

 

Based on what you said, I don’t think you’d like Maho Beach. Very crowded and touristy.  It’s where the planes fly over head. Been once and that was enough.  It was hit hard by the hurricane too. 

 

Research Pinel Island like Ozzmund said. Never been but have heard people talk about it. 

 

Jessica

Thank you! Just joined the RC. 

Didnt know Maho was the name of the plane flyover beach; definitely not what we’re looking for. I’ll look into Pinel next and appreciate everyone’s time and reply’s!

2 hours ago, SnorkelAway said:

Orient Beach was not destroyed by Irma, or Maria.  Still very nice beach.

Thank you! Would you consider it the “best beach” to spend our one and only day in SM at? Thanks again!

1 hour ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

What ship?  We will be in St. Maarten on that day with the Summit.  We will be taking the excursion to St. Barts from the ship.  Basically, it's just the high speed ferry that Celebrity organizes for you then you are on your own.  On St. Barts, we will go to Nikki Beach.  It's beautiful there and uncrowded atleast it was when we were there in June.  Sand is nice , water is calm and a gorgeous blue.  There's also a restaurant and bar.  We loved it enough we are going back again.  You won't find however, any junk or souvenir shops.  St. Barts has higher end expensive stores.  They do have a few souvenir shops at the pier in St. Maarten though.

 

Mullet Bay Beach in St. Maarten isn't bad.  We went there in October.  There is a beach bar there.  It would say it's semi crowded.  I guess I don't know what you consider crowded.  You can also get chairs and umbrellas.  It's next to Maho beach in the next cove over but a totally different feel.  Nothing like Maho.  

 

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your time and reply! Yes, we will also be on the same Summit sailing. Hoping the dry dock work/updates go as planned! 🤞🏻

How would you describe Maho beach? I’ve not heard/read about that particular beach before... The St. Barts excursion looked great to us too but A) we didn’t know if it was worth the trouble and time the ferry takes away from the amount of time we have in port and if maybe the beaches in St Maarten were just as nice or better, B) we live within 10 miles of say 50+ high end retailers so that particular aspect is not a strong consideration on this trip (in fact it’s probably more along the lines of what we’re looking to get away from; we’re more looking for “local art shops”/etc, local handmade goods/souvenirs and the like) and C) we’d have a hard time not giving up our purposefully scheduled “beach day” to go diving there because it’s an island we’ve never dove before ha! Still, Nikki Beach sounds wonderful and just might fit the bill... 🤔 Any other suggestions? Thank you again for your help!

Hello all, I posted this in the "St. Maarten" board/section but I wanted to post it here also due to the "Celebrity Excurions" part of my question:

Hello, we are cruising to St. Maarten on April 1, 2019 with Celebrity. This will be our only "beach day" opportunity as we will be scuba diving the rest of our itinerary and we are looking for a "sugar sand" beach/day full of fun (we love the sand in Gulf Shores, AL for example). White sand, not overcrowded, good drinks, beautiful water and some fun tourist/souvenir junk shopping would be perfect for us. From what I've read Orient beach was the best but was destroyed during hurricane Maria... 

Anyone here recent SM visitors with insights? Are there any "Celebrity-sponsored excursions" that include something else "not to be missed" and also some wonderful beach-time? We'd love to hear all of your experiences and suggestions - Thank you very much in advance! 

Hello, we are cruising to St. Maarten on April 1, 2019 with Celebrity. This will be our only "beach day" opportunity as we will be scuba diving the rest of our itinerary and we are looking for a "sugar sand" beach/day full of fun (we love the sand in Gulf Shores, AL for example). White sand, not overcrowded, good drinks, beautiful water and some fun tourist/souvenir junk shopping would be perfect for us. From what I've read Orient beach was the best but was destroyed during hurricane Maria... 

Anyone here recent SM visitors with insights? Are there any "Celebrity-sponsored excursions" that include something else "not to be missed" and also some wonderful beach-time? We'd love to hear all of your experiences and suggestions - Thank you very much in advance! 

Hello! My wife and I are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox next week and today we are looking for 2 more Scuba Divers to join us for a dive trip in Key West on Sunday Sep. 23rd! Currently we are the only 2 people booked and we need 2 more to make the min. amount of people needed. We will have the entire boat to ourselves - want to go diving???

We plan to do 2-tanks on the USS Vandenberg (the 2nd largest vessel ever sunk as an artificial reef), you can read more about it here:

https://fla-keys.com/diving/vandenberg/

We are booked with Lost Reef Divers and the cost is $106 per diver plus $36 per diver for Nitrox (for those who want it) not including any rental gear you may (we will be bringing our own). We would depart imm. after docking in Key West and go a few blocks by Taxi to their shop (check-in is at 8:30 am). You can call the shop directly and book with them ("Nick" is who we worked with - (305) 296-9737) and we hope to have an excellent time both onboard and below sea! Take care!