YadaYadaJodi

Thanks for your quick review!! Good to hear!! May I ask what excursions you went on and whom you booked through? We're on Liberty in September and I believe I have our plans set for that cruise but would like to hear about your experience. I believe you went to the same ports - Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth.

I'm obsessed with spreadsheets and enjoyed using this one to legitimately justify the cost of the drink package. :)

I'm obsessed too!! I have many cruise-related ones that I've found on the boards or created on my own. One of mine is "packing checklists" which includes different tabs for different occasions ex. Cruise, Cruise Excursion, Beach House, Beach (day trip), Miller Outdoor Theatre (in Houston), etc.

Here's a nice one from the Princess board.

You can change the prices as needed, as its a few years old.

I like that it is broken into boozy (at sea) and less boozy (port) days.

Thanks! I hadn't seen this one before. (I have my own & others that had said to buy a Deluxe Pkg). I especially like the fun "verdicts". :cool:

I didn't change any of the prices (which I think are mostly low) and I filled it out ultra-conservative and it came back with "Nothing in it" which basically means break-even. To me that says definitely get it as 1) the prices are certainly not any lower and 2) it leaves room for "experimenting" - getting that drink or coffee I'm not sure about. :D

On one of our cruises, we noticed tiny pieces of folded paper on the rugs outside the doors in our area. We deduced it was our cabin steward who placed them in the door jambs late night/early morning so he knew when we went to breakfast so he could make up our rooms. Clever enough and the rooms were always made up timely.

Haha - I was a "good" kid, but I did sneak out by bedroom window 2-3 times when I was a teenager. "Good" in that I wasn't sneaking out to drink, do drugs or have sex - just wanted to see if I could run in to a boy I liked. :o Worst punishment ever for me was disappointing my mom!

Anyway - I used this trick on the inside of my bedroom door. If the paper had fallen I knew I'd been caught. If it hadn't, I could go to bed peacefully. ;p Probably learned it from a mystery/detective book I read. :evilsmile:

Trust, but verify! :p

Most important rule is the cabin one!!! Don't go in someone else's!!! Don't allow anyone into yours!!!

I purchased mine at the Black Friday sale in November, for my September cruise, this was the lowest it had been at $41, plus tax. I then cancelled for the 4th July offer of $39 plus tax. Book, then watch like a hawk!

This!

I booked my cruise on the Liberty of the Seas in May for 9/2/2018 sailing. The cheapest I have seen the Deluxe Beverage Package since then is $45/pd/pp + 18% gratuity. I have seen 3 different prices with this being the lowest. I have also booked 2 RCI excursions - I have seen 2-3 different price each for my excursions.

Right now all three are at their lowest price. I am wondering if it is in response to Amazon's Prime Day Sale....?

In any case - I would book when you see a price that you are willing to pay and then keep looking. If you see a lower price between now and your cruise it's easy enough to cancel and repurchase. I have cancelled and repurchased both my excursions to lower my price.

Hint - 1. while the charge shows up immediately on my credit card, the credit does take a few days (I find this to be the case in retail stores on land as well). 2. If you decide to cancel all together I think there is a time frame (like 3 days before cruise) where it will show up as a credit on your credit card or it will show up as OBC.

I agree, great start! I'm sailing on the Liberty for the 2nd time in September on the Cozumel/George Town/Falmouth itinerary. I have sailed your itinerary twice on the Carnival Dream.

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

thanks Longhorn Cruiser, this is what mine looks like.. and luggage does not show up yet.

Is it too late to delete or edit this post? I now know where you live and when you'll be gone. :eek:

I'm honest, but what about others? Took me less than a minute btw.

Loving your review - the title was perfectly intriguing and I'm personally glad the reveal wasn't too early. LOL :D

To catch up with a few things:

Belize - Definitely also recommend cavetubing.bz I have used them twice if that's any indicator. ;)Smaller group than cruise line, go further down river than cruise line plus delicious lunch! Felt completely safe!

Next time in Roatan I recommend Zip and Dip with South Shore Zipline Small group - 1st time just me & DD plus family of 4; 2nd time just me and gentleman & young son (after my DH bailed due to hurting knee&ankle rt before trip)

TP - Positively over! I have been enlightened however and will forgive cat owners, but only cat owners, in the future if they decide to use under.

Fever w/o technology (like on a cruise ship) - Lips! I always did back of the hand until hearing about lips - definitely seems like lips are more sensitive and thus more accurate. ;p

Looking forward to the rest of your review!!! :cool:

I like the logic you used to decide on an amount. I can even agree on the $100 per hr considering the times they can do it are very limited.

It's not something that's worth $25 to me at this stage in my life but to my DH it will be.

I definitely know why the cabbie turned his nose up at me. LOL ;p

In any case, as my DH says - when it seems like a lot sometimes you have to consider people's lives compared to yours and figure you should be paying some of it forward anyway. AND using your method of calculating, I don't necessarily think it's a lot for the service that's provided. Thanks for the explanation!

Thanks your help!! :cool:

Basically, early seating goes to the AFTER-DINNER show....Late seating goes BEFORE-DINNER...and MTDer's will have to decide which show they want to see, and eat accordingly. No reservations are needed or able to be made.

Reservations may or may not be needed but they are certainly able to be made!

Will there be enough time in the sale to wait on the money to come back into my account before I rebook?

I would say probably not. I haven't cancelled my bev pkg and repurchased it, but I have cancelled 2 shore excursions and rebooked them. Of course the rebook charge went right through but the credit for the cancel took 3 days to show up on my credit card account. I find this to be normal with credits btw. It seems like that has been my experience with retail store returns as well.

Hello! Last time I was in Cozumel I bought a big clay pot and so I hired a pedal cab to take me down the long dock (we were on the Carnival Breeze). I asked the guy the price and he said just a good tip. Well, he acted like my tip wasn't enough.

So this time I'm cruising with DH on RCI Liberty of the Seas. He doesn't do well walking long distances and so he might like to use the pedal cabs. So my question is what's a "good tip" for 2 people? 1 person? I honestly want to pay them a fair price but not sure what that amount is. Any thoughts?

TIA!

Sale going on now for - Liberty of the Seas 9/2/2018 - I had posted notice earlier on my Roll Call

Beverage Pkg $45/day/pp + 18% I had already purchased at this price but it had gone up to $48 in between.

I had purchased an excursion for more earlier this week so I cancelled and rebooked - only saved $12 but $12 is $12, am I right? ;p

I can't seem to find pricing for Native Ways. Anyone have recent pricing? Or do I just contact them from their website?

Yes, I think you just have to contact them from their website.

We did the "Stingray Sandbar, Coral Garden and Starfish Snorkel" tour in 05/2016 for $40/each (adults). I think there were 10-12 customers on board the boat with a driver & helper, plus a professional photographer.

Note: instead of the "starfish snorkel" they took us to a beach (island?) where we were able to wade in the water and see them up close, which I actually preferred (see the pic on their tours page with the starfish in shallow water).

I wound up spending about $30-$35 on the photographer's photos even though I had some good ones with my waterproof camera. It included pics of me & DD together plus picks of wildlife from all 3 stages of our tour - Stingrays, Snorkel, & Starfish. He e-mailed me when they were ready after we got back from our cruise and I was able to download them from a website. (Note photographer wasn't there 1st time we went so don't count on it - I believe he was independent from Native Way).

In Roatan, I definitely recommend South Shore Zip Line! I've done the "Zip and Dip" with them twice! Small groups, friendly guides! The last time I went in Dec 2017, the guides kept my camera the whole time and took lots of pictures and videos for me. They got a good tip! :D

My DH had hurt his ankle and stayed on board and it wound up being just me and a gentleman & his young son with 2 guides. I did skip the "dip" part and go on back to the ship to my DH. They were great making this change in transportation for me.

The first time I went it was just me and DD and a family of 4 with 2 guides. These are the only 2 times I've been ziplining but I had a blast!

Lots of lines to zip! I haven't done the Zuperman line - which is only 2 long lines in Superman position. So depends on what you're looking for. I definitely recommend this company though.

Take some small bills for locker rental.

Hello - I'm looking at doing this tour and have a couple of questions.

1 - DH has trouble walking long distances (pain not ability) I'm was thinking this would be a good tour for him is that correct?

2 - How sunny is this tour? DH is also trying to avoid too much sun. Is there much shade provided along the river or are you basically out in the sun in the middle of the river? I'm hoping a hat and a long-sleeved uva shirt would help enough.

TIA!

Anyone know if you can take the shuttle there? $40 round trip for a taxi doesn't sound great. Everything else did!

Hi! No suggestions but I'm following your thread along. I'm traveling with my DH and we've both been to Stingray City (I've been twice) and are looking for something else to do also. DH can't walk long distances and we aren't looking for an AI since we'll have an alcohol pkg on the ship.

Hoping someone will come along and help us both out. ;)

I'm following this. I've never been to Grand Cayman, but have no interest in the Turtle Farm or Stingray City. We are into adventurous stuff, and mostly booked this cruise for the two other ports we're interested in: Roatan and Belize. My cruise is about 50 days away and I still can't decide what to do in Grand Cayman!

mmclaughlin - I have to agree with bookbabe! I've been to GC twice - once with my adult daughter and once with my husband. Both times we booked with Native Way Watersports to go out to Stingray City Sandbar. It was great! One of the times we went to a place where you could snorkel to see starfish and once to a small beach (island?) where you could walk and see starfish in shallow water. Both times were great with small groups - much better than booking through the cruiseline.

You sound like you have Roatan & Belize already figured out but I have done these 2 excursions twice also and recommend them:

Roatan - Zip and Dip with South Shore Zipline

Belize - Cave Tubing w/lunch with cavetubing.bz

Have you tried the Cruise Critic Roll Call for this cruise? You can interact with others on your same cruise on this board (click on the link):

Caribbean Princess July 28, 2018

Good luck finding a snorkel partner!!

People have reported $38 plus 18%.

Thanks, Bob! I'll keep checking then! (yn)

Any observations on lowest price the Deluxe Package has been offered in the U.S. - specifically the Liberty of the Seas?

I was able to snag it for 25% off last week. B1G1 1/2 off = $45/day + gratuity. This week it is only 20% off = $48/day + gratuity.

Did I luck out and catch the best sale known for the Liberty of the Seas or has anyone seen it lower?

Thanks!

:eek:Haha - made me look! I was so excited about getting a "hump" ;p(I wish I could say this pun was intended but it was just a lucky accident) balcony for my next cruise that I didn't think to make sure that it wasn't a connecting room. Whewww - it's not!!:D

I just booked a September cruise on Liberty of the Seas this week. I always do a mock booking on RCI's website 1st before calling my TA to compare numbers. On RCI's website all the Oceanview Balcony cabins were Guaranties. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to my TA's website and I was able to pick my cabin for I believe less (certainly not more) than RCI's guaranty price!

So my TA must have definitely had some put aside.

Anybody else wear the same darn dress on both formal nights? No? Ok me neither.

LOL - my mom always took one black dress and 2 scarves (different color for each night). I can't get my DH in a suit so I usually bring 1 pair of nice black pants and 2 tops.