Ron_L

We booked through belizeshoreexcursions.com but the confirmation came from Island Marketing.

We had a great time and the crew did a great job! Rojo makes a killer rum punch!

I will say, however, that the island was different than when we went a few years ago. There were more vendors selling stuff, and there is now a chair rental guy. We still had a great day and the island is beautiful, but it was just a little more commercial.

When we were on the Star they set up a table on the pool deck and were handing out tender tickets. They made an announcement. I think it was 7:30. I saw a post on here about it so I grabbed a coffee and wandered up to the pool deck about 7:15 and walked over to the table as soon as she was set up. We got group 2 and had plenty of time before we were supposed to meet for our excursion at 9:00

Nice list. I added a couple of comments below...

Hi Cruisers,

 

I've been reading and reading since booking my 3/27 cruise a few months ago and like many of you, making lists/spreadsheets/plans in order to maximize my relaxing vacation once on board! I thought I'd share the tips that I know will be helpful to me on this trip and might be to you as well! Feel free to add to this, I'm sure there are more great tips/hacks out there! Thanks to all previous cruisers for their advice, it really makes such a difference. :)

 

1. Take a picture of passports on smartphones

2. Bring sea bands for kids (first time cruisers, no idea how they'll react to motion of the ocean ;))

3. Pack power strip for phone/ipad/camera chargers

 

I use a Belkin multioutlet adapter like the one linked below. I keep it in my carry on so it doesn't get snagged by the outlet strip police :)

http://amzn.com/B0015DYMVO

 

4. Bring bag for dirty clothes to keep them separate

5. Put cruise ship luggage tags in carry on to attach the morning of cruise. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019HLKJSA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

6. Bring small magnets to attach dailies and other paperwork to doors

7. Pack lanyards for ID cards and have Guest Services hole punch them during embarkation.

8. Bring bugspray with DEET to repel those nasty diseased skeeters

 

This is also useful if you are going to a beach known for sand fleas.

 

9. Activate iConcierge app at port and connect to ship wifi - DS and I can text for $8/device.

10. Check out hot tub on Deck 13 forward, I think I read this one is not very crowded in evenings.

11. Go aft to Versailles for bkfst to avoid crowds

12. Button to activate light in closet is at eye level in the back, some people evidently couldn't locate and complained about lack of lighting in closets.

13. Double check OBC, my UBP and kids soda packages are listed during boarding

14. Can request a foam pad for bed if too hard

15. You loved caipirinhas on your last cruise, make sure you try one immediately after boarding :D

16. Try the Cote de Boeuf Pour Deux at Le Bistro

17. Bring confirmation emails to all excursions (booked 3rd party)

 

18. Bring half as much stuff and twice as much money :D :D

thanks for the tips!

 

I have to look up the iConcierge app. Not sure I understand - assume you need a wifi plan purchased onboard?

Nope. You can use it free to look at restaurant reservations, etc, but if you want to send messages to another guest both have to pay and Extra $7.95 to activate that feature. It uses the ship's wifi network, but not the internet.

You should post this in the Roll Call for your sailing. You are more likely to find folks there who may be willing to join you.

This video is nuts. A vortex on a balcony throwing furniture around like they are cotton balls.

 

Crazy! I wonder how many chairs, loungers, etc. are floating around in the ocean?

This thread is amazing, and an example of why lots of folks I know have stopped coming to this forum.

To the folks on the ship, thank you for posting and I am glad that you have made it through the worst of the storm! I hope that there are no serious injuries and that your cruise can continue, but as mentioned, the ship will undergo a thorough inspection once in port.

I know nothing of piloting a cruise ship and I am not a meteorologist, but I have a huge respect for this captain. Just the effort to keep the ship in one place and in the best position to handle the wind and waves must have been a full time job!

We never waited more than 5 minutes either.

We enjoyed the karaoke at 5 O'Clock Somewhere a couple of times.

I may be too late, but we went on a catamaran snorkeling trip with Blue Water Safaris in St. Kitts and had a fantastic day and great snorkeling!

We're big fans of St. Thomas and St. John, so it would be hard to go wrong there, but I wanted to mention an alternative for St. Kitts.

No pole required on lower balconies. Leave out a little bread crumbs over night and flying fish will have attended theron to provide for your breakfast needs. Just be sure to forewarn your steward so he can clip their wings and do the needful!...😉

I was going to suggest a handheld net to catch the flying fish! :D

The free UBP is only offered to balcony cabins, the inside cabins only qualify for free soda. And they can't assign the UBP to the minor that they are "fake" booking in the balcony because she is a minor.

 

NCL.com says differently...

Pick One.

 

Book any stateroom on a 5+ day cruise, more than 30 days before sailing, and pick any of the four choices below. Choices differ on Hawaii cruises. This offer is excluded on Norwegian Sky.

https://www.ncl.com/specials-and-promotions/choice

Maybe I am missing something (most likely :D ), but the current promo allows one choice for any cabin, se the inside cabin would be able to choose the beverage package so any adult in the cabin would get the UBP and any kids would get the soda package.

Well, I don't know if they are sold out. Give NCL a call. With that said, I'd do a private excursion to Little French Key. You will not be disappointed with it. I personally couldn't give my money to Maya Key with their possible involvement of the raid and removal of some of the animals at Little French Key.

I talked to Cindy at Maya Key when we were there in November and their only involvement was to provide temporary housing for some of the seized animals.

Maya Key is a 5 minute boat ride from the pier in Roatan.

LFK is about a 45 minute bus ride, so take that into account. We chose Maya Key based on our time in port. We would only have had about two hours at LFK because of the port times (11-6, with sunset at about 5pm).

Mea culpa ... very new at posting ... just trying to help ... not hijack. Will be more careful next time to follow protocol. :o

 

Good luck with getting the recipe.

No worries! You were just answering a question.

Merry Christmas!

Nice hijack :D

Now, anyone willing to try to get the recipe? :rolleyes:

Leaving loose coffee grounds for the cabin steward to clean up from the garbage can isn't really fair. When the steward takes the garbage down to the garbage sorting area, they have to hand sort everything, so a wet mass of coffee grounds makes a mess of this process.

I bring my own coffee, grinder and water kettle whenever I travel (I leave the kettle at home for a cruise) and my coffee kit also includes a supply of sandwich-sized ziploc bags for the grounds. I agree that a hotel maid or cabin steward shouldn't have to deal with my extra mess.

Do they bring a pot of coffee ?

Yes, but the first morning I put coffee for two and they brought a small pot, barely three cups. After that I wrote in "large pot, please" and they brought a large pot :D

Thanks... She wants the specific one on the ship. I tried Google and a bunch of alternatives before posting.

I have a request :D

When we were at the M&G for our Cruise the HD mentioned that if we want any recipe we should just ask at that restaurant and it would be delivered to our cabin.

Well, we asked for the recipe for the green salsa (maybe it is a chimichurri) that is served in Moderno and never received it. My wife wants me to make it for her soon, so if there is anyone on the Star who is will ing to try to get the recipe, that would be great!

Merry Christmas!

http://ropaviejagrill.com/

The mofongo was fantastic! It's about a block from the Condado Hilton on Ashford.

Yes, it's available. However, not all parts of it are functioning. You can review your account, but you can't check restaurant availability or make reservations. I thought the coverage was pretty good although we did experience a few dropped signals. I thought it was worth the $7.95.

Restaurant availability was working on our cruise on Nov 15th. I wish you had the ability to view the restaurant menus from the app.

We didn't use the texting/calling portion, only the free stuff.

The week pass is $119 online. I bought passes for us for our cruise last week.

It was nice to get away from the crowds. We never saw more than 15 people in there. They have wooden loungers and chairs, no heated tile loungers. There is a regular hot tub and a large rectangular one and the Therapy pool.

From the Legal Notice at the bottom of ncl.com...

NCL makes no representation or warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of the information contained in this site. NCL reserves the right to change or modify any of the information contained in this Internet site or to the services described therein, without notice but we make no commitment to update such information. NCL SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, INJURIES, SAVINGS, OR GOODWILL RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE INFORMATION PROVIDED FROM THIS SITE. You should therefore verify information obtained from this site before you act upon it by calling NCL or your travel agent, as applicable.

This is pretty common. It saves companies from someone fat-fingering a price or shifting a decimal point. I have seen some companies honor an error on their web site, but it isn't required.

Sunset Bar late afternoon, Martini bar for pre and post dinner.

This is why I always ask the fare up front, preferably before my bags or fellow passengers are loaded. Actually, this is also why I use Uber and Lyft whenever possible. Est. fares are quoted before pickup and disputes are much more infrequent.

Yeah, We'll probably use Uber or Lyft next time. I haven't used either yet and wasn't sure so just went with taxis.

I too confirm fares up front.

 

Also just like any profession there are taxi drivers who play by the rules and some who don't. Unfortunately you had two that didn't.

 

Keith

Two out of three is pretty bad :-D