uprivermama

We've done all three, just not on the same cruise. I loved Bonaire! If you're a snorkeler, grab the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire and drift snorkel the length of the little island. It was some of the best snorkeling I've ever done! Have a wonderful time!

We did the Fantasea one with the Nevis beach break a few years ago. There are always going to be a boat load (literally) of folks, but we never felt crowded. On the way back, the drinks started flowing, the music got going, and the dancing started. This was down below; up on deck I believe they had a more peaceful ride back.

Sorry this is huge, but this is 9196 on the Carnival Conquest. Loved this room. The ONLY issue (and it would not stop me from booking it again) is that the walls seemed thinner than usual. We had a frequently-screaming baby next door that woke us up at 3 am multiple nights. To answer an earlier question, yes, there are blinds operated by a switch. You are required to close the blinds at night if you have lights on in the cabin to prevent the light from interfering with bridge operations (directly below you). I felt like the storage in this cabin was way above normal too.

We just did this tour on the Ecstasy. It was $55/person, and it lasted about 3 hours. My husband and I both enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to anyone to try at least once.

2018 prices are up on the website now! Unfortunately, the date I want is not valid for the value price.

Thanks for the heads up! I was able to book my dates for a good rate!

I just emailed valuetrips today about 2018 reservations, and they are now saying Oct. 27th before 2018 rates are available, due to Hurricane Irma.

We just did the same thing with a cruise we had booked under an early saver fare. We were charged $50/person, our deposit we had paid on the first cruise was applied to the new one, and if we had booked the original cruise when there were reduced deposits, we would have had to pay the difference between that deposit amount and the current booking period's deposit amount.

If you're a planner like me and the thought of "going with the flow" terrifies you, you could always look into some of the ports that have been substituted in eastern itineraries thus far and do a little bit of research into them. That way, you're not going in completely blind hopefully. We also book outside of Carnival for the most part, but the times we have booked with Carnival we have not been disappointed.

This is our plan too. This is one of those unprecedented situations where it's just out of our hands, and we can approach it with optimistic enthusiasm or frustrated anxiety. Read up on the ports of Antigua and St Kitts, as they seem to be the go-to substitutions right now. I used to be a hard core planner, and couldn't relax until I had a plan for each port. DH demanded that we go with the flow a little more (evidently I was a little too militant in my planning :halo:) and you know what? We didn't die. Everything was ok.

"Don't worry...about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright"

Not a fan. But easy to ignore.

Thanks for your review. We'll be sailing the Ecstasy in November--it'll be the smallest ship we've sailed, so that'll be a fun change. Seems like people love 'em or hate 'em. Anyway, I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Like most people, it depends...

When we began cruising, we got most of our information from these boards, and it sounded like everyone else planned an excursion in each port, so that's what we did.

As we've become more "seasoned" cruisers, we have become more confident in exploring new places, and have gotten a pretty good sense for the ports where an excursion is really the best call (i.e. Belize or La Romana, DR) vs ports where we might just grab a taxi to a beach for the day, or walk around and explore (i.e. Half Moon Cay, or Grand Turk).

We're on the Nov 5th Journey Cruise on the Ecstasy, and we are really only planning one organized excursion for San Juan, PR. We've been there previously for several days, and want to get out of San Juan and explore a little.

I think being judicious about spending money on excursions is one of the easiest ways to control your costs on a cruise. Works for me anyway :)

Edited to add: I always do tons of research ahead of the cruise, and we have a pretty good idea of what the plan is for each port before we sail. But every once in awhile, we see an excursion advertised on board that sounds fun and we'll jump on it. Generally, I avoid ship excursions due to the crowds. Crowds suck.

We Uber whenever possible. Just set up the app ahead of time. Couldn't be simpler. Cheaper than a cab or shuttle, and it gets you there on your schedule.

I realized last year that the sunscreen I used to wear would rub off on my clothes, especially around my shirt collars. We have a well with pretty rusty water, and the oxybenzone reacted with the rust and left a reddish stain wherever it rubbed on the clothes. I switched to zinc-based sunscreen and I've never had the staining since. One more strike against the non-reef safe sunscreen! I have to laugh when people complain about the white residue the sunscreen leaves. Who cares? Plus it eventually evens out.

Is it a Journeys cruise? If so, there is no FTTF.

We are on a Journeys cruise and we got FTTF.

I think it's helpful to know where some quiet areas are on the ship--somewhere you can go to get away from the crowds for awhile and have some peace and quiet with the ocean gliding by. A balcony is perfect for this, but if that's not possible there's always a quiet deck with chairs. I just think some people ( like me) are introverts, and really need the option to opt out of evrything now and then. Maybe your DH may be that way too.

Thanks for the advice. I'm having a hard time with carnivals website for some reason. It keeps saying I can not have multiple tabs open even when I do not. I would call to look at options but I'm not quite ready to put the deposit down so I don't want to call and bother a PVP quite yet either. I just didn't know if anyone had previous experience on what kind of connecting rooms the dream does offer.

Try a different browser, or clear the cookies/cache from your current browser. Worked for me :)

Its not against the rules to be in bikini or swim suits or swim shirts at Lido buffet. It is for MDR though.

Actually it is against the rules. There are signs posted at the entrance to the buffet area from the pool stating this, and I have seen a white-uniform employee telling a bikini clad teenager that she needed to cover up in the restaurant.

We got a decent price at the Church Street Inn for our November cruise, and since we won't have a car, we're looking into ways to get from the hotel to the cruise terminal on embarkation day. By google maps, it's .4 miles/7 minute walk to Union Pier--is that where you enter? Does a local have any input on whether this walk is feasible for 2 healthy 40-something's with two roller bags? Or is there some other quick, easy, and cheap way to get there? I hate to try Uber or taxis for such a quick trip--hardly worth their time :) Thanks!

We were on the Glory in November and we're booked again for next February. The only thing that I really disliked was the organization and flow of the lido buffet. We eat most of our meals there, and I thought it could stand for some improvement. But the staff and the ship itself were great. I hope Andrei is still working in the Sports Bar in February for Superbowl! Don't worry about the negative comments--so many things are subjective! Just go with an open mind and don't sweat the small stuff.

We just did this route on the Glory in November. Great time.

Grand Cayman- booked a Stingray City tour at the pier. Had a great time, despite initial reluctance due to my fear of stingrays. We had them drop us off at Public Beach after the tour, and spent about an hour and a half there. What a gorgeous beach! I would recommend the stingray trip if you've never done it. Next time, I'll go straight to the beach and enjoy a beautiful beach day. Public bus system is easy and cheap.

Roatan - Did a private tour with Victor Bodden. Friendly tour guide, completely customized. I mostly just wanted to take pictures, but it was absolutely pouring that day, so not many turned out great. We went to West Bay beach for awhile (it had slowed to a drizzle by then) but it was pretty rough, so no snorkeling.

Belize- We didn't book anything, and I really wish we had. The port area is just a big, hot, busy shopping area. We walked around for awhile and headed back to the ship. I hate crowded bus rides on crappy roads, so I wouldn't do anything land-based here. Given a second chance, I would personally do a snorkeling/swim with stingrays trip, probably to Caye Caulker next time.

Cozumel - This time we did an all-inclusive day at Occidental Grand through Shore Excursioneer. Drinks were meh, same with food. Beach was great, and found some decent snorkeling there too. All in all, it was a perfectly fine day-not the best, but definitely not the worst.

Have a great time on your trip--this is a really nice itinerary!

Our Group, with another crowded boat in the background:

The scene at the sand bar:

More crowded boats:

Stingray Sailing's Catamaran (almost booked this one):

Another boat:

Our boat:

Near Public Beach/Seven Mile Beach:

Could I ask how much you paid for your excursion in Grand Cayman and what the name of the tour was? Swimming with the Stingrays?

The excursion price was posted on the "hawker's" sign at $45; she lowered it to $40/person when she described the trip details to us ("only for you..." :rolleyes:) I don't recall the tour having a name, but it was a 3 hour excursion, and included the stop at the Stingray city sand bar, plus a short snorkeling stop at the nearby reef. We were told there would be 25-30 people on the boat, and there were 40 plus 3 crew. I didn't feel squished on the boat at all, but there definitely wasn't a lot of extra space. I will see about posting some pictures to show our boat versus others at the sand bar soon.