micmacmissy

@lovelife

You'd be surprised at some of the good deals on the bigger RCCL ships over Christmas!

20 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

As an employee as a teacher in the public school board, I will not be able to enjoy those early December cruises until I retire.  We cannot take the time off work.  Alas, until that time, those of us working in education or who have kids that we do not want to miss school, are forced to pay triple or quadruple to sail over the Christmas holidays.

School principal here - I'm in the same boat!

We’ve sailed on Allure (during spring break, pre-covid) and really enjoyed it.  That trip was 100% capacity with 2,500 kids on board - and still it didn’t feel crowded…but that was in 2015 or so.

Looking at booking 12/22-12/29 and wondering what Christmas cruises are like.

On Christmas Day, in port, are there things to do or is everything closed down?  We’ll be in Roatan that day.

Anything else we should know about a christmas cruise?

Thanks in advance!

On 5/9/2022 at 10:54 AM, PORT ROYAL said:

Social media discovered/destroyed Carambola.  Herds arrived, discerning locals and genteel cruisers abandoned it as a drinks/lunch/day meet-up destination. Takings fell, and it resorted day passes without beds for Towels.

Happily, Sunshines and Marriott are still unaffected by T’erds and Morse ensures Towels are verbally driven away (some distance) to ensure his paying guests views are not spoiled.

 

 

 

What are T’erds?

On 5/20/2022 at 7:48 AM, jack dcruiser said:

Going to St Kitts in July.  How much was the taxi ride?  DId they charge per person?

Taxi was cheap - maybe $20?  And no, didn’t charge per person.  It was me and my husband in a minivan, and we arranged for him to return for us.  He didn’t even want to be paid when he dropped us off - we paid him on the way back

On 8/17/2022 at 10:06 AM, crazycatlady82 said:

I'll be doing a solo cruise on NCL Epic in April and am interesting in going there...however, solo female traveler. Any safety concerns there? I really like the idea of a quiet beach with a bar/restaurant.

No safety concerns at all.  No sketchy wandering people on the beach, either.  I’d go as a solo female, no question.

On 5/8/2022 at 8:22 AM, EatonDoolittle said:

OK, then. 

It won't be secluded and peaceful any longer now that it is posted on Cruise Critic. 

Meh - I don’t think so…a lot of people don’t dig this deep into the shore excursion boards.  

On 5/10/2022 at 7:21 PM, TheHawk1 said:

Oh dear.  I thought this was still a health issue?  After touching all those utensils, I'd have to run and wash my hands before I could eat anything. 

 

But otherwise, loving your review!

I totally got that wrong.  I meant to say, served TO YOU, not self serve.

Newsflash:  something is going to kill you someday.  This is a guarantee.

Live your life.  Drink from the mystery glass in your cabin. Employ the five-second rule when you drop a cookie on your floor.  And for the love of Pete, don’t clean your cabin/hotel room on vacation.

Do you really want to improve your odds of good health and wellbeing?  Wear your seatbelt, cut back on sugar, and exercise daily.  

The perseveration on how to keep everything in our lives sanitary is not good for your mental health.  

On 5/9/2022 at 11:35 AM, micruiser2002 said:

I am very confused, I thought at the beginning of this thread you said you were had just finished the cruise? Isn't this the April 9-16 review?  Regarding sales team informing customers not sure that is always done properly, when I was leaving a Celebrity ship in March I heard a couple complaining very loudly about this, I believe they thought Duty free was everything and they were stopped by customs.

Yes, the cruise is over, but I’m doing the review day by day.  I’m on day 6.  ;)

9 minutes ago, cementhands said:

RCL used to be my wife’s favorite but mine was celebrity. Diamond on RCL and elite on celebrity based on cruises on each separate. But the inactivity on celebrity has us back to more RCL.

Recently last 2 cruises were on Ncl which had amazing activities 20,000 steps a day plus in dancing, dedicated comedy club, huge activities staff. I’m not sure how many others are like us but older and retired we live for activities, Zumba, line dancing theme parties 🎉💃🏽👌🏻🚢🏖

. On celebrity excellent food and service but silent disco 🪩 is the highlight of activities which is a cheap boring way to say that you provided a party! 💤 😴 

 

20,000 steps a day!  Yikes!  (Good for you.)

Celebrity is definitely more laid back.  I would say the high energy vibe you’re looking for might be found on NCL, or even one of the newer Carnival ships in a suite (check out Jim Zim on You Tube).

Virgin cruise line also seems to have quite the party vibe!

13 hours ago, emory2001 said:

We’re diamond on Royal and just booked Celebrity Beyond for next year. The ships are beautiful, but I do find in the Celebrity groups people are a bit more pretentious, so we’ll see how the experience actually is. We can more than afford to sail Celebrity, but we are not pretentious. We’re also taking our teens with us, who are very introverted and only ever went to Adventure Ocean a couple of times because they really don’t like big group activities, especially with kids they don’t know (don’t need anyone’s comments on that - that’s who my kids are). They enjoy traditional cruising like mom and dad, but there’s a lot of “don’t bring your kids” in the Celebrity groups. Oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ignore.  We took my kids on two Royal cruises (as young as ages 9 and 11) and all they wanted to do was read, hang by the pool with their parents, and visit the buffet.  They wanted no part of the children’s clubs.  

People on the Celebrity boards are pretentious but onboard, everyone is super friendly!!!

15 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

For those who has cruised both, how does the evening entertainment/shows compare.

The Oasis class ships have great entertainment, between the ice rink, aqua theatre, and main theatre shows.  However, not much small group/acoustic/live music in the lounges.

Celebrity does a great job with the live music, but the stage shows are definitely not as good as Royal.

THAT SAID the stage shows on Apex were the best we’ve seen on Celebrity - their new theatre set up is pretty darn amazing.

13 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

I am surprised you were not stopped when leaving the ship.  Did you declare the watches?  The ship reports all large sales to customs.  Nothing is completely duty/tax free.  I believe the allowance is $800 per person anything above is supposed to be reported and then taxes paid.  My  son bought a watch a few years ago on a ship and they stopped him on the way out and then charged him plus a fine.  Tough lesson learned.

Stopped when leaving the ship?  Goodness we’re on day six…we haven’t left the ship yet…don’t rush the end of my vacation!  No worries, husband is a former tax attorney so we are well aware of the laws, and everyone who makes a large purchase onboard will definitely be directed by the sales team on exactly how customs and taxes will play out.

13 hours ago, JoeMammy said:

This is a great review and really enjoyed consuming. We also try to find local spots for self guided excursions. And we also really like cocktails.

 

We just booked an Apex with similar stops. We also have previously visited all except San Juan and look forward to the walk of kitties (I'll bring treats).

 

Did you guys play any blackjack? Not a big fan of the slots and want to use OBC for blackjack. In the X faq for OBC use it just mentions slots for the casino. We've sailed X only once before and it was the Reflection about 3 years ago.

 

We didn’t play any blackjack, but yes, they definitely have it (and a bunch of table games).  In our experience on previous X ships, the dealers are very friendly and will add up your cards for you - very different than Vegas!  :)

1 hour ago, txtechmk said:

Hate to hear that there were NO cookies!!  We picked up four cookies daily at Cafe Al Bacio and took back to the cabin on our last cruise in January.  We will be on the Apex in two weeks so I will be looking for those cookies!!!

 

Love the photos!

Cafe al Bacio had no cookies when we were there- though the cakes were phenomenal!

1 hour ago, wendyam76 said:

Those early cruises were out of this world! Actually The Retreat areas were the busiest. I often had the main pool to myself! 

Wow…i’m jealous!  We didn’t spend one minute on the pool deck- so loud and crowded!

1 hour ago, wendyam76 said:

Thank you for your review! We sailed on Apex last July when it was like a private yacht with only 800 guests! In regards to cookie gate, we too were on Equinox early April and none in Cafe Al Bacio but there were some next to the ice cream station in the Oceanview Cafe. Have to see if any on Beyond in July - but I’ll make sure not to ask in the Retreat Lounge and end up with them every day.

Wendy

800 guests?  That sounds like a dream.  We had about 2200 on our sailing - and it felt pretty darn full to me!

We did find chocolate chip cookies in Eden (lunchtime) but that was it!  We were also surprised that the indoor Retreat lounge didn’t have food options out all day.  (But the one day we caught the food there, they had warm spicy nuts and lawwdddd…they were good!)

12 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

I find that the "nice" things are nicer on Celebrity, and the "fun" things are funner on Royal.

This is the best sum-up I’ve seen.  You are 100% right.

On the way back, our taxi driver stopped at the two infamous overlooks where the Atlantic meets with Caribbean.  He even offered to take photos for us.

St. Kitts is officially our favorite new port of call!

You can message the owner on facebook to let him know you’re coming, and he’ll send a taxi for you.  Contact info below!

Chairs and shade are PLENTIFUL.

While there, we met some fellow Americans who had lived in St. Kitts for awhile and yes…this little spot is their favorite.

The water was lovely and calm, and it looked to be a nice snorkel spot (didn’t realize til we left that the bar had snorkel gear to borrow).  Sitting in our secluded little spot with a beach ALL to ourselves, we noticed a group of about 20 kayakers over at Carambola.  Everything at Carambola and Shipwreck seemed to be geared toward big crowds of cruisers.

Even our taxi driver hadn’t heard of this place - he kept asking, “are you sure you don’t want to go to shipwreck?”  When he dropped us off, we arranged for him to come back and get us, as well.

Look at the serenity!

We cruised recently and I had NO IDEA what to do in St. Kitts.  Planned nothing.  Finally, the night before we pulled into port at St. Kitts, I hit up trip advisor and found some incredible reviews for Discovery Beach Bar & Grill.

None of the cruise ships have their own excursions to Discovery Beach Bar, but it’s located between Carambola and Shipwreck.  A 10-15 minute ride from the port.

We had no problem grabbing a taxi and heading over…two loungers and a rum punch was $22.  We were two of six guests there the ENTIRE time.  

The bar/grill is nothing to write home about…but the drinks were good and I’m told the owner (Morsi) makes all food from scratch, and supposedly his wings are amazing.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

You should be!  Especially with this new class of ship.  (Edge, Apex, Beyond)

I didn’t think our Allure cruise could be beat…or at least, beat by much.  But we recently sailed Celebrity Apex and it is truly.  Next.  Level.

Photo review here if you’re interested!

After dinner, we lost money in the casino (I mean man, we were unlucky!) and then we headed back to the watch store to “visit” the watches we tried on earlier in the week.

Service in the store was great and low pressure, and we got a really good deal on two Tag Heuer watches (about 20% less than the best we could find online), plus tax-free.  Sold!  And happy anniversary to us.  They sized them and told us to pick them up the next day.

As for the other stores (Bulgari, Cartier) … there didn’t seem to be a ton in stock.  I was ready to shop and the stores felt on the emptier side.  (My husband did not think this was a problem.)