Taylor95

On your first trip to Cozumel you always do the Bar Hop. Those are the rules. I don't make the rules, I'm just letting you know.

 

:D:D:D

I'm not one to break the rules, so I should probably look at this excursion more [emoji6]

We will be in Cozumel for the first time in December and I'm struggling to decide what excursion to pick. Our group is myself, DH, DD (21) and her friend (23).

At first I thought Mr. Sanchos sounded perfect - we love the beach and all inclusive food and drinks would be great. I'm having 2nd thoughts now because for one we have the unlimited drink package on the ship, there is obviously unlimited food on the ship (Cozumel is our last port) and our other three ports are going to be beach type excursions.

Cozumel Bar Hop always has high reviews and I thought seeing the sites on the other side of the island might be good. Although the reviews sound like the tour is fun, I'm struggling to think going to four rustic bars is what I should pick for my first time on the island. Again not sure how much we will be wanting to drink after having the UBP all week on the ship.

Chankanaab sounds like more of a place to go if you have younger kids. Although my "kids" are not young, they do love animals so I considered the manatee and/or sea lion swim, but then what? I know we could snorkel some and look around the area - I'm just wondering if there is enough to fill up the day there.

I'm sure all three would be great, but I'd love to hear suggestions from anyone that has done any or all of them. Also, we are going to Little French Key in Roatan, beach day in Costa Maya (most likely Blue Kay) and undecided yet in Harvest Caye since there is so little info available right now.

I was also wondering about the massages at Blue Kay and on their website it looks like a 60 minute massage is $30. I haven't been there yet to confirm, so would also like to hear from someone that has had one there.

Always use tripinsurancestore and our phone calls have always been answered during business hours and also when using the "live chat". IMO, they are a very reliable company and know their business.

I agree. Their live chat works well.

She was finally able to reach Steve. I'm assuming they must have been having trouble with their phone lines because she mentioned the connection wasn't the best. He is sending some insurance quotes to review. I will let her know to maybe try the live chat next time.

I used a TA and my final payment shows due at 97 days. I'm assuming it's a cushion in case of any problems.

Our first cruise was the week after Thanksgiving and the ship was putting decorations up throughout the week. I don't remember seeing many (if any) decorations at the ports (St. Maarten, St.Thomas & Nassau).

I have not used trip insurance store myself, but referred someone to them based on the high reviews I have read on cruise critic. Unfortunately, when they try calling (during business hours) no one answers and there is no answering machine. Has anyone else had this happen? It makes me feel like it's not a reliable company when no one answers the phone.

Reach out to the NCL board and ask your question there. I believe they offer luggage express that will take your bags directly to MIA for you..

Everywhere I have looked says that NCL has discontinued this service. I wish they still offered it because I am also trying to figure out what to do with our luggage. So far the options I have found are to rent a car (we are flying out of FLL) or take a NCL post cruise excursion.

I am happy with the rate and perks I was able to get for our upcoming December Getaway cruise. We booked early and so far I haven't seen a better offer. We have a guarantee balcony with the UBP, 4 speciality restaurants, 250 minutes of Internet & $50 OBC for $799 a person (two people in a cabin). I read a lot of posts about NCL prices skyrocketing, but this deal is better than my past two NCL in 2011 & 2014. This is our first time booking a guarantee, but I'm not too worried because there doesn't seem to be any really bad balconies on the ship.

Just an FYI on the NCL escape to JVD on the Rebel Yell...

 

 

 

They have 2 different time slots for this excursion. The first leaves at 07:15 am and the second at 09:00-09:30 I believe. I took the earlier one, and while it was definitely a very nice beach (and not crowded) the only thing that was open that early was the Soggy Dollar. Great Painkillers, but the other beach bars (Seddy's One Love, Ivan's, ect) were not open yet...

 

 

 

If I had it to do over, I would have taken the second tour. I really wanted to try one of the lobster quesadillas at One Love...

With the 7:15 am tour, what time were you back? I'm trying to help someone plan their day in Tortola, but it's a little difficult since I've not been there myself. When you return from the excursion, is there anything to do in the port area until sail away time? Thx

So many on here are quick to advise others, with very little knowledge.

 

 

 

Cases in point:

 

1. Mosquitos can not fly to a docked boat...yea right!

 

 

 

2. It only stays in your system 2 weeks. Once you get it, and are a female. However it can stay in your male partner much longer and can be passed to you through unprotected intercourse.

 

 

 

3. Stay out of the jungle and you will be safe....That neighborhood in Miami is not in a jungle.

 

 

 

My advice is scrutinize the CDC web site and the Florida Department of Health web site. They have the correct information.

 

 

 

Weigh the risk and rewards. 7 days of fun and frolic over the potential to have a child born with a genetic deformity, such as microensephilitis.

 

 

 

today's fLORIDA sTATISTICS:

 

 

 

Travel-Related Infections of Zika

 

 

 

404 SO 404 PEOPLE GOT IT FROM TRAVELING TO OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE IT IS PREVALENT.

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Travel Related Infections of Zika

 

 

 

25 SO 25 PEOPEL CAUGHT IT HERE, EITHER FROM MOSQUITOS OR FROM A SEXUAL PARTNER

 

 

 

 

 

Infections Involving Pregnant Women

 

 

 

57 SO 57 PREGANT WOMEN ARE SWEATING IT OUT, AND SOME HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN TO TERMINATE THE PREGANCY

 

 

 

LOOK AT THE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SAFEW SEX AFTER BEING THERE OR HAVING A PARTNER WHO HAS BEEN. YOU WILL BE EITHER ABSTAINING OR PRACTICING SAFE SEX FOR UP TO 6 MONTHS.

 

 

 

THE ZIKA VIRUS IS NOW IN ALL BUT 4 OF THE 50 STATES, New York HAS MORE CASES THAN FLORIDA.

 

 

 

Check out the situation in Puerto Rico and the prognosis.

 

 

 

The worse thing you can do is ask those on here what they think, as many of them do not. Do your own research and decision making, and ask your family doctor or nurse. The people on here who say not to worry or just take precautions are not going to be around to comfort you or help if you end up pregnant with the zika virus. Take care of yourself.

The best advice posted in my opinion! I hate to see people advise others on a serious issue with no trained knowledge.

On a sea day we will sleep in, have breakfast, change into swimsuit and find a lounger for the day. We are probably there from 11-4 if the weather is nice. I enjoy laying in the sun, reading a book & having drinks :) We do take some breaks to use the slides or grab a snack from the buffet.

Those are the best policies. A lot of plans require you buy the insurance within X number of days of your initial deposit to obtain cancel for any reason, or pre-existing condition waiver. With these plans you have to purchase before or on day of final payment. The look back period is only 60 days too. With some plans the look back period is 120 days.

 

 

 

They give you a lot of coverage for your money. No, I don't work for Nationwide. LOL

Those are the exact reasons I ended up choosing this policy. I normally buy the insurance when I book the trip,but I booked so far in advance this time there were a lot of "maybes" whether we would be able to keep the date and who was going. Happy to hear I picked a good policy.

Nationwide Choice Cruise and Luxury Cruise trip insurance offer itinerary change protection. If you are notified of an itinerary change before sailing, and you elect to take the voyage, you are reimbursed for inconvenience. If there is an itinerary change during your cruise, you are reimbursed for any non-refundable shore excursions you missed.

Yes, that's the plan I purchased. I did not choose it for those benefits, but did of course notice them when I was reviewing the policy.

Did you buy trip insurance? I was buying a policy yesterday for my upcoming December cruise and noticed one of the benefits was for change in itinerary (prior to leaving and/or while on the cruise). I have always purchased insurance, but thankfully never had to use it for any reason. I don't know the details of the itinerary change benefit, but if you do have insurance maybe check to see if it's included.

Is your room currently booked as single occupancy? When I booked our upcoming December cruise I knew my DD wanted to take a friend, but we didn't know who yet - I booked it as double occupancy to lock in the rate & promos and will just add the name when she figures it out.

Sorry I'm not sure what the answer is in your situation, but hopefully someone will come along that can help.

Could you please tell me what your port times were in Roatan? We are on the Getaway in December and NCL shows 10-6, but the booking site I used as well as cruisett show 8-5. I was disappointed to see that there will be three ships in port the day we are there which I believe is a lot for Roatan. I'm hoping for the 8-5 port time so we will at least be the first ship that day.

I personally would take the dining package over the shore excursion credit. You can book your own excursions a lot cheaper than the NCL excursions. We are going on the Getaway that has the same itinerary and are planning beach days only in a couple of the ports - with the excursion credit the money would be forfeited. For me, I feel like I would end up spending more money just to use the $50 promo and wouldn't have as many options since you have to choose a NCL excursion.

The speciality dining is a treat for us. In the past we usually only eat at one speciality restaurant through out the week - with this promo, I'm excited to eat at some of the restaurants we haven't yet tried.

Awesome! You've got an amazing spot for the parade.

 

 

 

I can't remember do they have balconies? If you have a balcony, I'd get a bottle of wine and take out dinner and make it a romantic evening on the balcony.

 

 

 

If not, anywhere on the property will be excellent for viewing. These are 100+ foot boats that are lit up.

Yes we have a water view room w/balcony [emoji4].

Great idea for wine & dinner - too bad our adult daughter & her friend will be with us. This trip is celebrating her 21st birthday, so I'm sure we will all at least have a cocktail.

My DH lived in Fort Lauderdale 20+ years ago & remembers this parade - I think he said they called it the Bob Hope parade then(?). I'm excited to watch it & to be in warm weather in December!

Pick the 10:30am flight.

 

 

 

I think you will probably miss most of the parade with the 6PM flight.

 

 

 

There is a ton of things to do in Fort Lauderdale other than the water taxi. The Doubletree is in a great location for walking around.

 

You can head over to the beach with is decorated gorgeously for the holidays (just get back over the bridge by 4PM), hang out at the pool which overlooks the water way, or head over to Las Olas for a fun Saturday brunch and check out alll of the holiday decorations.

 

 

 

You will not be bored.

Thank you, that is the exact info I was looking for. I was lucky and able to change our flight for only $5 more per person - love that Southwest allows changes!

:eek:

 

 

 

Taylor95 who did you book your 3 snorkel stop though? Thanks!

http://www.stthomasadventures.com/

We just stayed at the Homewood Suites Miami Downtown/Brickell pre-cruise last week and I liked it. The hotel is new and clean. They offer weekday breakfast and heavy hors d'oeuvres with beer and wine in the evening. I liked the location, a very short walk (1.5 block) to publix/walgreens. There is a citibike rental kiosk right on the corner by publix where you can rent a bike and hop right on the m-path/underline to get a great ride in, do some sight seeing, etc.

I am considering this hotel and wondered how convenient the location was. We are planning on going to Bayside Market to pick up a tour - what is the best way to get there? I know there are other hotels with a more convenient location for this, but Homewood Suites has the suite style room we need at a good price.

You can check out the Doubletree Gallery One or the Residence Inn (formerly I Lugano). Both are waterfront and if you book a room facing the Intracoastal Waterway, you will have the best views!

Yes, the boat parade goes right by the Bahia Mar. It starts on the New River on Sailboat Bend which is before the Riverside then turns left at the ICW right before the Bahia Mar. The view poolside will be excellent but call the hotel and make sure they don't charge guests extra.

brunello22 and/or BlueHerons: I have a couple more questions about the boat parade I was hoping you could help with. Our flight is scheduled to land (FLL) at 6PM, we have reservations at Doubletree, should we be able to make it to the hotel in time to see the parade and are there any bridges that will be open on the route from the airport to the hotel that will prohibit us from getting there? I have two other flight options for this cruise I could change to - one is still flying in on the 10th but arriving at 10:30AM - this would put us there plenty early to not worry about missing the parade, but it's a little more expensive & with the water taxi closed that day I'm not sure what we would do to fill in the time. The other option is to fly in the morning of the cruise on the 11th... I know this is not recommended, but it's a direct flight landing at 9:30AM and would save a good bit of money (around $400). With the last option we would obviously miss the boat parade... in your opinion, is it worth the $400? Thank you for your help - I'm really struggling to make a decision and need to decide before flight prices go up.

brunello22 and/or BlueHerons: I have a couple more questions about the boat parade I was hoping you could help with. Our flight is scheduled to land (FLL) at 6PM, we have reservations at Doubletree, should we be able to make it to the hotel in time to see the parade and are there any bridges that will be open on the route from the airport to the hotel that will prohibit us from getting there? I have two other flight options for this cruise I could change to - one is still flying in on the 10th but arriving at 10:30AM - this would put us there plenty early to not worry about missing the parade, but it's a little more expensive & with the water taxi closed that day I'm not sure what we would do to fill in the time. The other option is to fly in the morning of the cruise on the 11th... I know this is not recommended, but it's a direct flight landing at 9:30AM and would save a good bit of money (around $400). With the last option we would obviously miss the boat parade... in your opinion, is it worth the $400? Thank you for your help - I'm really struggling to make a decision and need to decide before flight prices go up.

It is a 1 mile walk to the Hilton (not Doubletree) Marina and the closest water taxi stop(http://www.watertaxi.com).

Whoops you are correct - I have the Doubletree on my mind right now because I recently booked there for our next cruise.