GreeniePrincess

Took our first cruise out of San Juan on Adventure right after the major hurricanes came through in Nov 2017 - the ship was at least 3/4 Puerto Ricans at that time, which we happened to LOVE!  I'd take loud and boisterous Puerto Ricans who were there to have a good time ANY DAY over what we experienced on our Carnival cruise out of NYC.  I swore I would never cruise out of NYC again after that - we have never seen such rudeness on a cruise (people yelling in the halls at night, parents not watching their children, loud music in the halls at night, ship security breaking up fights in the buffet more than once, etc) .  My now 7 yo son, when we talk about cruising, says "Puerto Rico, HEYYYYY!", because every time Puerto RIco was mentioned on the ship, everyone would yell "HEY!"  It was one of the most fun cruises we have ever done, and we are heading to San Juan again this year in August on Freedom with my 7 yo and 2 yo.  

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the info!

Thank you!

Excited to go to Cuba on Majesty of the Seas in December. We will get back into port in Ft Lauderdale on 12/31, and I was hoping to make it home to my kids before the ball drops at midnight (flying into Pittsburgh, but we have a ~3 hour drive home from there). The cruise documents I received said it was recommended not to book flights out of Ft Lauderdale for 6 and 1/2 hours after the ship docks (7 am), which means we wouldn't be able to fly out until after 1:30 pm, giving me almost no chance of making it home to Pennsylvania in time. Do I really need to wait to fly out until 6+ hours after the ship docks, or will we be cleared to leave the ship in 2-3 hours which is more typical of previous ships I've been on? I've never seen it recommended to wait that long to disembark on any other cruise I've been on... wondering if it's due to something different with being in Cuba as I know the airport is close to the cruise port in Ft. Lauderdale and it's a small ship...

Thanks for any help!

I've snorkeled the Great Barrier reef and have not found anything that compares to that. I've never snorkeled in Hawaii. St. Thomas has good snorkeling from the beach as does Bermuda. Labadee does not have snorkeling/reefs as everything has been over fished. Grand Cayman snorkeling from shore was average. Castaway Cay in the Bahamas had average snorkeling as well, although you had to stay in a designated area. In the Caribbean, so far, St. Thomas has been my favorite with Bermuda a close second.

Zika is still going strong in the Caribbean. I had to cancel a cruise last winter after learning I was pregnant due to concerns about zika, and I certainly would advise avoiding the caribbean if you are considering getting pregnant within 6 months of traveling there as zika effects on a fetus can be devastating and the most recent statistics I have seen are up to 10% or pregnant women or more are having babies with adverse effects from the virus when infected during pregnancy. While it was hard to make the decision to cancel, as it was supposed to be a family cruise, I would make the choice again in a second as a mom and as a physician.

Thank you :)

Thank you all :) I believe the advice about not getting pregnant for 2 years is for those women who live in Zika areas - the countries are recommending that they postpone pregnancy for 2 years to hopefully allow the virus to die down. The most recent advice I had seen was to delay pregnancy for 1 month after returning from Zika areas for women, in case one has an asymptomatic infection. For men, because of sexual transmission, they are not sure how long men may be able to transmit the virus at this point, so that may also be an issue if her significant other was going to travel as well.

I just learned this week that I am 6 weeks pregnant. My parents, sister, husband, 4 year old son, and I were scheduled to cruise out of San Juan for a southern Caribbean cruise with RCCL at the end of the month. My parents are retiring soon, and my sister, husband, and I have jobs with odd days/hours, so it took quite a bit of planning to make this cruise happen, and we were all looking forward to it. My parents were primarily going for their grandson, as my dad is not a huge fan of cruising. I called RCCL when I learned of the pregnancy, and they told me I could cancel without penalty (25% monetary refund and 75% cruise credit good for 2 years given the time frame before the cruise), but that nothing would be done for my parents or sister, despite us booking jointly, as we were in 2 separate rooms. After speaking with the travel agent we used, RCCL customer service and RCCL corporate, and writing a letter detailing our situation and asking whether they would consider extending cruise credit only to my family members so that we could rebook for a future sailing (hopefully with both of my children next time), they declined. I explained that this was a pre-retirement cruise and the financial limitations of my parents as well as their reasons for taking the cruise and that we are frequent cruisers. We also considered changing to an alternate destination, which the cruise line told us they would change all 6 of us to for free, however all of the other possible destinations would take more than the 7 day time frame we had due to work scheduled (Europe, Asia, South Pacific) or were also Caribbean destinations, so were not feasible. I was pleased that they were accommodating to myself, my husband, and my son, however was very disappointed that they would not also accommodate my family given the circumstances, as I was pregnant prior to the Zika virus warnings even being a thought. The travel insurance company would not help (it was NOT a cancel for any reason policy), but our airline offered to refund all 6 of our tickets in full, no questions asked, and did not even ask me to provide documentation. I was really looking forward to the cruise, mainly because it was going to be a family trip, and I feel like that has been taken away from me. While I appreciate RCCL extending travel credits to pregnant women and those in their room, I wish they would offer the same for all guests traveling with them if the bookings were linked and made at the same time. The only money the cruise line would lose in that situation is for the original sailing, but I would certainly be a loyal customer for life knowing that the cruise line would have been willing to go the extra mile for the families as well.

Thank you all. After doing a lot more research and confirming that I am pregnant, on the advice of my doctor, I did cancel the trip. However my other family members have decided to continue with the trip as Royal Caribbean would not refund their money as the travel restrictions at this time only apply to pregnant women and Royal Caribbean will only offer cruise credit to those in the same room as pregnant travelers. I appreciate everyone's assistance and concern!

Thank you all. After doing a lot more research and confirming that I am pregnant, on the advice of my doctor, I did cancel the trip. However my other family members have decided to continue with the trip as Royal Caribbean would not refund their money as the travel restrictions at this time only apply to pregnant women and Royal Caribbean will only offer cruise credit to those in the same room as pregnant travelers. I appreciate everyone's assistance and concern!

Thank you all. After doing a lot more research and confirming that I am pregnant, on the advice of my doctor, I did cancel the trip. However my other family members have decided to continue with the trip as Royal Caribbean would not refund their money as the travel restrictions at this time only apply to pregnant women and Royal Caribbean will only offer cruise credit to those in the same room as pregnant travelers. I appreciate everyone's assistance and concern!

Thank you all. After doing a lot more research and confirming that I am pregnant, on the advice of my doctor, I did cancel the trip. However my other family members have decided to continue with the trip as Royal Caribbean would not refund their money as the travel restrictions at this time only apply to pregnant women and Royal Caribbean will only offer cruise credit to those in the same room as pregnant travelers. I will pass the information on to my parents and sister about the information others have posted about areas/times where they are less likely to encounter mosquitoes, as they are concerned about the potential risks of other neurologic conditions that now may also be linked to Zika, and are looking to avoid mosquitoes as much as possible too. I appreciate everyone's assistance and concern!

Thank you all. On the advice of my doctor, I did cancel the trip, however my other family members have decided to continue with the trip as Royal Caribbean would not refund their money as the travel restrictions at this time only apply to pregnant women and Royal Caribbean will only offer cruise credit to those in the same room as pregnant travelers. I will pass the information on Cockleshell beach along to my family members, as given the other neurologic conditions that now may also be linked to Zika, they are looking to avoid mosquitoes as much as possible too.

I am a physician myself and have discussed with with DH as well. I am aware of the risks of the virus. We have decided, after much discussion, to continue with the cruise as this will be a family vacation and took much planning and is the only opportunity for us to do this. I'm looking for any suggestions as to any specific areas to avoid if anyone has suggestions. I realize that there is no guarantee, and this was not an easy decision to make. Any advice about places/times to avoid is much appreciated.

I am a physician myself and have discussed with with DH as well. I am aware of the risks of the virus. We have decided, after much discussion, to continue with the cruise as this will be a family vacation and took much planning and is the only opportunity for us to do this. I'm looking for any suggestions as to any specific areas to avoid if anyone has suggestions. I realize that there is no guarantee, and this was not an easy decision to make. Any advice about places/times to avoid is much appreciated.

We are heading on a southern Caribbean cruise at the end of February with Curacao as one of our stops. We have never been to Curacao before, and I was considering heading to a beach for the day. I'm considering becoming pregnant/could be pregnant, and with all of the news about Zika virus, I was wondering if mosquitoes are typically a problem this time of year. I'd like to go wherever I have the least possibility of running into swarms of mosquitoes, and would like to snorkel if possible. I plan to take proper precautions (long sleeves, bug spray), and it was too late to cancel the cruise by the time the outbreak hit. Suggestions please?

We are heading on a southern Caribbean cruise at the end of February leaving and returning to San Juan. We have never been to San Juan before, and we will be flying in a day before the cruise and staying overnight in a hotel. I'm considering becoming pregnant/could be pregnant, and with all of the news about Zika virus, I was wondering if mosquitoes are typically a problem this time of year. We were thinking about spending some time checking out the forts in Old San Juan, grabbing dinner, and maybe spending some time on the beach (staying at the Condado Plaza Hilton). I'm very concerned about the possibility of mosquitoes, however we have been trying to get pregnant since before the outbreak occurred and it was too late to cancel the cruise by the time the outbreak hit. I'm obviously planning on taking any precautions I can (long sleeves/pants, frequent reapplication of bug spray), however I'd like suggestions as to any areas to avoid or whether I should confine myself to my hotel room for the day that we are there if others would recommend avoiding those areas.

Thanks for any suggestions/advice!

We are heading on a southern Caribbean cruise at the end of February with St. Kitts as one of our stops. We have never been to St. Kitts before, and I was considering heading to a beach for the day. I'm considering becoming pregnant/could be pregnant, and with all of the news about Zika virus, I was wondering if mosquitoes are typically a problem this time of year. I'd like to go wherever I have the least possibility of running into swarms of mosquitoes and would like to snorkel if possible. I plan to take proper precautions (long sleeves, bug spray), and it was too late to cancel the cruise by the time the outbreak hit. Suggestions please?

We are heading on a southern Caribbean cruise at the end of February with Aruba as one of our stops. We have never been to Aruba before, and I was considering Eagle beach for the day. I'm considering becoming pregnant/could be pregnant, and with all of the news about Zika virus, I was wondering if mosquitoes are typically a problem this time of year. I'd like to go wherever I have the least possibility of running into swarms of mosquitoes. I plan to take proper precautions (long sleeves, bug spray), and it was too late to cancel the cruise by the time the outbreak hit. Suggestions please?

We are heading on a southern Caribbean cruise at the end of February with St. Thomas as one of our stops. We were on Coki beach last summer (end of May) and it seemed to be largely mosquito free. I'm considering becoming pregnant/could be pregnant, and with all of the news about Zika virus, I was wondering if mosquitoes are typically a problem this time of year. We were thinking of Sapphire beach this trip, but I'd like to go wherever I have the least possibility of running into swarms of mosquitoes. I plan to take proper precautions (long sleeves, bug spray), and it was too late to cancel the cruise by the time the outbreak hit. Suggestions please?

My sister just got back from a Carnival cruise to St. Thomas about 2 weeks ago. I know she booked her parasailing through the cruise ship and was picked up right at the dock - not sure who the company was though. She told me she absolutely loved it, and she had been parasailing in Hawaii before, so it must have been good! Have fun!