trouble1964

It's not that bad. It's cold at first but you get used to it quick. At first I thought I would just stay waist deep since it was cold, but I kept going a little further in and finally went all the way.

Sorry to hear about your son but glad that he is doing well. You should check out Dan Duffy from St. Louis on the F Book....he has a page. He's also written articles for Huffington Post and has a book available on Amazon called The Half Book. He went thru the same thing and I know he would be willing to give advice if needed.

We had to cancel our honeymoon cruise because my DH had an allergic reaction that put him in the hospital for 2 days. NCL was wonderful. We ALWAYS buy the insurance. Twice, DH has had to go to the clinic on board, and between our insurance and the travel insurance, we've been completely reimbursed for what he was charged.

I'm getting a very late start on my research since we leave next week, but I keep seeing posts about the Baths and it interested me.

After seeing some of the posts, I'm a little concerned about the walking. Both of us have prior surgical fixes to knees and ankles and would not like any more.

From what I am reading, you have to walk down cliffs and rocks and squeeze thru small openings (has anyone ever not fit??) to get to the water. With my luck, I would take a shortcut and just roll down.

Is it just as bad getting back up the to where you are picked up or worse? Is there anyway to get to them by boat where you DON'T have to do the rocks?

Thanks in advance for any help

We sailed on the 10th. I'm not sure which guy was what job. One of them made a remark about my husband's expression (he has resting bitchy face) to the audience and it was embarrassing to us both.

No cruise is ever a BAD cruise, but this was my least favorite of the ones I've gone on.

The bed was very hard. I'm used to a sleep number bed. This was more like a Flintstone bed. My fit bit said that I was up 14 times that night, and I believe it. I got sick right after I got in bed (fairly early). I don't know if it was some bad seafood from the spaghetti or what. I was fine the next day (after catching some sleep).

We never made it to the ice show and I hated that. Because of the hardness of the bed, I could only get comfortable about 3 hours a night before I had to get up for a while, so I napped when I could.

We had the PERFECT cabin. It was nice and quiet on our floor and I love being able to take a couple of steps from the bed to the balcony. Our first cruise was a balcony, so now they ALL have to be ;) We were midship, 6th floor.

We did get to do the turtle farm, Hell, and Stingray City. That was my favorite part. I've swam with them before, but those were in captivity. There were a whole lot more of them here but there were just about too many people. You didn't know if you were touched by a stingray or a person!

In Jamaica we went to the Bamboo beach club. It was about an hour's drive from the ship. Nice beach with live dancers, beach chairs, lobster tail and typical Jamaican food. Drinks were available free (not sure what kind since I don't drink), but there was also a bar there. There are a few little stands selling things. We bought some of the sauces they used on the chicken they fed us. It was very good and inexpensive.

Labadee, we did the adventure boat ride. It's like a rubber dingy with an aluminum bottom. We did this same type of ride in Alaska. It gets a little bumpy, but we got to see a lot of the coast line that you can't see from Labadee. I was really disappointed that Labadee seemed to be like an amusement park instead of a relaxing island. I guess when you have so many people in such a small place, that happens.

The game shows were fun, but the rest of the entertainment was not really entertaining so much.

Food was great, as always. Service was top of the line as always. I think this would be a great "first" cruise for someone, rather than more experienced cruisers. It just seemed to lack "something" that I just can't quite pin down. There are pros and cons to everything in life.

Your review was just what I was looking forward to! I'm not that excited about Jamaica either, so I think we will just stay on the ship. And I want to do Stingray City and Hell. Was that an excursion booked thru RCI or somewhere else? I could skip the turtle part and be happy. I realize it's pretty late to be booking excursions since we leave Sunday, but we just haven't found anything that suits both of us with our physical limitations.

Thanks in advance!

My cousin used to fly floatplanes out of Juneau. He talked us into the Taku Lodge excursion. He said that we weren't seeing Alaska if we didn't do it.

The first trip of the day was cancelled due to fog. It cleared up and we were able to go later. I felt completely safe in the plane. We had no problems. It was an amazing excursion, and I'm so glad that the weather finally cooperated.

I hope people don't let this horrible accident keep them from seeing the beauty of Misty Fjords. An accident could happen anytime. On my last cruise, we had a person die while snorkeling. You never know.

If you opt out of the floatplane, snorkeling in Ketchikan is fantastic. That was probably the most fun excursion I did on our last Alaskan cruise.

Great review. Great info. Enjoy the port reviews.

 

Questions?

 

Perhaps you said- wondering where the turtle swim is in Barbados? Where do you start?

 

What is your opinion of St. John's? It gets such mixed reviews. Thanks.

Hijack---we used Calypso cruises, as Calabaza was booked up. I would recommend them in a heartbeat! They picked us up outside the cruise terminal and took us to the dock. It was $100 for adults and everything included. A premium bar (no cheapo watered down stuff), great food, great crew. They have a page on F book and reviews on Trip Advisor.

We were on the AOS at the beginning of April. We did the ship transfers from the airport and waited there longer than we did for the boarding. There were 2 lines...one for people who had their own luggage, and another for ones who had it delivered (we were in that one). I think it maybe took us 20 minutes to get thru, while the people who were in the other line waited longer. Just something to think about.

I was on there with you.

I saw 2 girls almost get left in St. Maartin, but I had no idea that someone passed away. How awful.

Planning a similar cruise this fall. Which of the excursions you took were through RCI and which did you book or plan on your own. We love doing our own planning but not against using ship excursions if time is tight. Thanks!

We did this cruise in Oct. We didn't do anything in Boston since we got in late and left early.

In Portland, we did a ship tour that took us to Kennebunkport and a short tour of Portland. We went over to Cape Elizabeth to this nice park that had a lighthouse and a lighthouse museum. It was about an hour's bus ride on the highway to KBP and the same on the way back, except thru rural areas (which was a lot better to me anyway). I enjoyed seeing the little rural towns, but I also enjoyed seeing the large houses in KBP and Portland, even if it was just a passing look. The bus dropped us off in Kennebunk (there is a difference), which is a little town with a lot of shops and restaurants. Nothing really very scenic except a little pond and boat dock, but the lobster was fairly cheap. I was in a walking boot, so we didn't get to walk very much, so we probably missed a good bit. In KBP we also passed the Bush residence and slowed down for photos but weren't allowed to get off the bus. Portland looked really interesting and I regret that we didn't get to spend more time there. Try to be outside at sunrise in Portland....it's beautiful!

We've been to Bar Harbor several times (I have family that lives about 45 minutes from there). We met up with them and spent the day together. Bar Harbor never gets old to me. Be sure and see Acadia National Park. We never make a trip that we don't go there and it's different every time. There is a free trolley that runs up there. You can find info on the town's website. Lots of little shops, but they sell generally the same things. Another nice sunrise viewing. As you are coming into BH, there are huge mansions that you can see along the coastline. Bring binoculars so you can see just how big they are.

In St. John, it was raining and we had also done a bus tour. We didn't get off many places because it was slippery and I was afraid of falling. It didn't seem that interesting to me though.

Halifax, we did another rainy bus tour. First stop was the Citadel where we got out and walked around. Next was the Maritime Museum. It was incredibly crowded and hard to read the exhibits due to people stepping in front of you. There were only a few Titanic artifacts...I would have liked to have seen more. We were taken to a restaurant next to the museum and had our choice of 2 kinds of wraps. There was a big gift shop attached to the restaurant. After that, it was on to Peggy's Cove and I was really looking forward to that. When we got there, it was raining and cold, and the wind was blowing HARD. They have a little gift shop and I think everyone from 3 cruise ships were packed inside it to get out of the rain :) You can get a passport stamp upstairs in the post office there, and the line was very long. I wish we had gone to Peggy's Cove first.

Check out the Ports board here, and also Trip Advisor. You can also order guidebooks from each one of the towns you stop in. I had studied them for over 6 months, then got my ankle injury and had to change everything I had planned to riding around on busses. There were alot of things I would have liked to have done, but knew that it would be impossible....so we will be going back one day!

My cousin got engaged on the beach this summer. It was a family trip with her, her boyfriend, and their families. Some other friends "just happened" to be in town, and one is a photographer. No one knew about the proposal except for the dad, the boyfriend, and the photographer (this was planned by the guys). The photographer suggested since everyone was together, to do family pictures. So they grouped up and did family pics, sibling pics, etc. The very last ones were to be group pics, and once a few were taken, he got down on his knee and proposed while the photographer caught EVERYONE'S reaction. The pictures are fabulous. They all have so much emotion on their faces....I would definately suggest a photographer/video so that it can be shared!

If you don't usually take a carry on, take a backpack. Put an extra change of clothes in it, medicine, Ipad...whatever you need to do to not make her suspicious.

Hijack-----Lizstas, Please, please write a review for your cruise!! We are doing the same one in April. We've never been on a large ship before, and 2 of the ports we have never been to.

If possible, can you post the dailies too? If there is something good happening on board, we might cut our shore visit short on some of the repeats. Thanks in advance!

Not on the Jewel, but doing several of the same ports.

trouble@cableone.net

I would like to see them please. Thank you!

Victor Bodden is the way to go! I think we paid less than $100 for the 2 of us a couple of years ago for about 6 hours. You tell the driver where you want to go, and he will take you there. He will also take you places that are very scenic for photos, and show you some things you won't see anywhere else.

At some of the photo stops, we were approached by people selling things but a "no thank you" turned them away with no problem. At one place we were approached by a group of about 5 young men asking for money to pose for pictures with a monkey. Our driver said something to them and they moved on without another word.

We did the botanical gardens on our own and I think we were the only people there. We did walk up on some young guys with a machete who were obviously not supposed to be there, because they weren't too happy to see us. They had a dog with them and I petted the dog and asked if I could take a picture of their cashews that they were harvesting, and they complied with no problem. Then they just seemed to melt back into the trees.

I've brought gallon water bottles on board before and ended up not using them all. I drink a lot of water, so I carry a Tervis tumbler and just pour cups of water from the Windjammer into it, or at the dining room, a waiter will fill it for me, to carry around after dinner.

I get a bucket of ice at night from the room steward, and then pour some of it, with the water it has made from melting, into my cup to drink while getting dressed in the morning. You will almost ALWAYS see me with a cup of water in my hand, except for when getting off in port. I usually stop at the first store and buy a bottle then.

If you don't do a ship sponsored excursion and do go into the port, don't go past the fence! There will be people hanging over it yelling, trying to get you to come to them. I don't know what they want, because I didn't go...too scary for me!

Wow, I'm really disappointed at how people just HAVE to comment something negative, or what they would have done.

Personally, I've learned alot. We've always just carried a credit card with us, no phone, no phone numbers.....nothing. Of course, we haven't come close to missing the ship, but there's always a first time.

Holland has the magnifying mirrors, or they did on both ships I've been on.

Something else I remembered---I think it was the 1st night, I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and it wouldn't flush. I figured they must have been working on the smell issue. In the morning it flused fine. And yes, I was awake enough to be doing it right (DH asked me that).

I've never been on Princess. Maybe one day. We are relatively new to cruising. We usually pick our cruise line based on intinerary and price.

I don't know what would be worse---missing the ship or ending up in a foreign hospital from the anxiety attack I would have from missing said ship!

Following

Matt Wright--Maybe I should clarify that I wasn't the one that was really bored....it was my husband moreso than me. He doesn't like to read (I do, so I was really fine with reading), and just didn't find anything that he wanted to do. We're not really drinkers, so we didn't find any reason to go to the lounges. The previous lines we've been on had more than one thing going on at a time that we wanted to do, and we've had to choose which one we wanted to do the most. Sorry that you don't take me seriously.

KC320--We didn't mention the odor because we felt like they were probably doing the best they could to control it. I neglected to mention how clean the ship was. When I say clean----it was CLEAN! So I felt that it was probably something that was just an issue that they were doing their best about.

I loved the Brilliance. It was the perfect size for us and I really have no desire to go on a mega ship.

The ONLY time we heard anything from the casino was when that microphone was used. DH called security thinking it was next door to us (we both have a hearing problem---he can't hear some sounds and I can't tell what direction sound is coming from because I am deaf in one ear). In between the time that he called and the officer showed up (a very short wait), we figured out it was the casino. The next day security followed up with us, which was a nice touch. They didn't just brush off our complaint but of course, with it being the casino, there was nothing they could do. No biggie.

We were probably 6 doors down from the Centrum. We could hear the music from it faintly. It didn't keep us awake though.

Smiley Perry---we didn't see Ghostbusters. We both saw it a LONG time ago. It was shown in the cinema. They had a couple of newer movies that were shown outside but it was just too cold at night to be out there for us. We didn't watch any that were offered on tv.

Merion Mom---no, we didn't play pool, but we did watch a little bit.

Really its mema----There was a lady taken off in Halifax on a stretcher. There was an ambulance waiting for her. Friday night when we came out of the theatre, there were 3 guys in suits that went rushing down the hall. Afterwards, Clo came thru the dining room in a rush. (I think that was the same night, it might have been Saturday). Later it was announced that we were going to be arriving early due to a medical issue. So if they knew that far in advance there was a person with a medical problem that needed to get back early, that issue had already been waiting for a day and a half. I don't understand why we couldn't have gone closer to the coastline and had a boat evacuate if the wind was too bad for a helicopter. It was all mysterious to me. I woke up around 3 and we were in Boston.

This was our first time on RCI. We did the Canada/New England cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas.

Maybe I'm just overly picky, but there were several things I didn't like about the ship, and possibly the cruise line.

The main thing that bothered me about the cabin was the bathroom smell. It smelled like a sewer leaking somewhere. It was even noticeable in the hallway right as you entered it from the centrum. This was several doors down from us, so I know it wasn't just our cabin that was affected.

The shower was alot smaller than other cruise lines I've been on. Or so it seemed anyway. I'm not too big a person for it, but I felt crowded. I never bumped into the walls trying to use it, but there was no way I was able to shave my legs without becoming creative! I also didn't like that there wasn't a magnifying mirror. I'm new to bifocals and probably looked like I put on my makeup in the dark since I couldn't really see to do it.

The pillows were super thin. We asked our stateroom attendant if there were other kinds and she was able to produce a couple that were much better.

The movies shown on sea days were "old" movies. Ghostbusters is probably 30 years old. If were a teen, I might have been interested in seeing it. Likewise, the other sea day activities were not up to par for us. We were bored.

The nightly shows were just average, to me. There were many talented performers, and interesting acts, but they just didn't WOW us.

We were on deck 7 and somewhere over the casino, I guess. Every night---LATE---there was some sort of drawing that required the use of a microphone. It took us a couple of nights of being woken up to realize that it wasn't a neighboring cabin's tv turned up too loud. I started staying up past the drawing so I wouldn't be woken up from it. The last night, the drawing was at 11:30. I felt that is really too late to be risking waking people. DH usually sleeps thru anything, but he even woke up when this happened.

_______________________________________

NOW, the GOOD parts!

I loved the touch screens that had the Compass, the menus, and the ship layout diagrams on them. That was so helpful for finding things on the fly, and was much easier to read than the small print of the Compass (again, bifocal issues :) )

The theatre seating was probably the most comfortable of any ship's seating I've been in before. The aisles in front of the seats were wide enough for people to get by you, without you having to stand up and let them by, the cup holders were handy, and the seats wide and comfortable. I've been in others that were worse than airline seating, so this was a real surprise to be so comfortable.

The food was better than expected. We didn't eat in any of the specialty restaurants---there just was no need to. The main dining room food was probably the best I've had on a cruise. The only time we ate the lunch buffet was when we arrived on the ship the first day. All the other times were breakfast. The omelet station was really good and there was everything else you could think of available. This was the favorite breakfast buffet I've ever had.

Service was fantastic and above expectations. From guest services, who took the extra step to help us, to the exceptional dining room service, and a room attendant who made us feel like we were the only people she was working for----it was all very appreciated. I realize "that's their job", but they are the faces of Royal Caribbean and they represented it well.

My final opinion was that my dislikes were not enough to keep me from cruising with RCI again. They were important things to me at the time, but in the grand scheme of things, were minor. I just felt they were important enough to mention when giving my opinion. The most annoying was the smell that never seemed to completely go away. I carry a bottle of febreeze on cruises for bathroom smells, but it didn't completely cover it.

We just got back from this cruise today. The weather was awful at Peggy's Cove, which I REALLY was wanting to get photos of, and rainy almost that whole day. Saint John day was dreary too.

But Maine, as always, was wonderful!

Oh, I have more than 5, but these are a few that I haven't seen mentioned:

Safety pins or clothespins to make sure the curtains stay closed. Safety pins are actually better because you can use them for other things, but you use more of them on curtains.

Ponytail holder for those pants that shrink in cruising weather. Put one end thru the button hole and pass the other end thru it, making a loop. Take the looped end and hook that over the button.

Febreeze! For the bathroom or musty smelling closets.

Sewing kit with scissors.

Copies of every card, ID, or passport you are taking with you. Front and back. Just in case something happens to them, you will have account numbers and phone numbers/websites to cancel or get other information.

Those are 5 of mine that aren't mentioned....but I have more.