spf50 Posted April 30, 2009 #301 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Thanks for sharing the great pics of Roatan. We are on the Liberty this Saturday and are heading there instead of Cozumel. Now I can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted April 30, 2009 Author #302 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I glanced back at the line after we were at the door and realized I was glad we made it ahead of the throngs returning from Carnival excursions; All week we had noticed they were moving tables in and out of rooms on the ship. As we were boarding I noticed a curtain opening and snapped a pic of the tables being refurbished; We returned to our cabin via the port side hallway and noted that the private stair well door on port side was glass instead of solid like the one on starboard; We also discovered Bryson had just returned to his room from Lido. I guess he was hungry and it looks like he gathered his food in a hurry; Our balcony view of Roatan; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamajules Posted April 30, 2009 #303 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul I, too, am thoroughly enjoying your review! We'll be sailing on the Legend with Saints & Sinners in October. Did a Victor Bodden tour in Roatan on the Glory. It was raining that day (summer shower). Our guide was great and still took us around, but its nice to see the scenery in sunny weather. I'm hoping its sunny this time around, will be touring the island with Bodden again. My son still did the zipline in the rain, and LOVED every minute of it. In fact, he actually said he hopes it rains again, because he had such a blast. Loved your review and pictures of cave tubing - we're thinking about that this time around in Belize. Went to the ruins of Altun Ha last time there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted April 30, 2009 Author #304 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Thanks for sharing the great pics of Roatan. We are on the Liberty this Saturday and are heading there instead of Cozumel. Now I can't wait! spf50, All things considered, even if the pigs weren't wreaking havoc with cruise schedules, I'd rather go to Roatan than Cozumel. If I were you, I would email Victor at BoddenTours dot com and make arrangements now. Roatan only has one ship per day capacity unless each ship does half a day. I know they plan for ship's schedules, but private operators may not be aware of your arrival if you don't contact them. I am totally impressed by Roatan....and now want to go there! Wow! Shelley, Roatan is impressive. We're looking forward to our return trip next year. ___________________________________________________________ Our tour costs in Roatan were $45 per person for total of $225 for the zip line. We tipped Kelvin $50 or $20 I'm not sure. I gave Karen the tip and money for drinks and I think she may have mistakenly spent the tip $ for drinks and gave Kelvin the drink $20. Our tour with Victor was $25 per person for total of $125 and I am the one who dropped the ball on Ann's tip. I got out of the van and started taking pics as I walked and completely forgot. We plan to request her next year and I'll make it up then. If anyone gets a chance, request Ann and be sure and tell her we appreciated her. I told her I planned to post a review and she said she would watch for it. If you mention the review to her, she may remember me as the cheap bastard who failed to tip her. :eek: I got another nice reflection pic sailing away from Roatan; Snorkelers will note that the corral is EVERYWHERE in Roatan; After sailaway we enjoyed another meal on Lido; Karen, Britt and I that is. Bryson and Spencer ate when they got back on board then they also went to dinner at 6:00 in the dinning room. Karen and Britt were too hungry to pause for pics; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deloresgardella Posted April 30, 2009 #305 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I love your review and pictures. Thank you for taking the time to post them. I look for your post every day. Enjoy reading it so much. Have you ever cruised to Hawaii? We will be going there in about 4 months. I was thinking if you had maybe you had some pictures or review. Delores Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirsty Cruiser Posted April 30, 2009 #306 Share Posted April 30, 2009 When we arrived at our first platform, Kelvin explained the safety rules and how each of us would be situated on each platform. We had twelve zip lines ahead of us and would be accompanied the entire time by Kelvin; Kelvin explained how the connections would be made and what the purpose of each piece of equipment was; I assumed the boys would do well zip lining. Each of them inherited my lack of fear of heights, but they hadn't been zip lining before so I wasn't sure they would jump. My first ever zip line experience was from the New River Gorge Bridge in WV to the rim of the gorge. At 976 feet above the valley, the New River Gorge Bridge is an impressive sight to zip line from. (The company I worked for did rescue coverage for the gorge and had authorization to practice there from the National Park Service.) Even with my zip line background, I was apprehensive about the first few jumps so I'm sure my boys were. You could not tell it from how they dove right in; Kelvin zipped over first then called us over one by one. Spencer was a little stiff on his first zip; I fully expected that Britt would end up having to go with me, but when his turn came, he stepped off and zipped across like a champ; Excellent information! I will definitely be referring back here when planning my excursions this fall. I noticed that they used redundant lines (2) on the zip line. Is Victor Bodden the only one that offers that? Thanks for the great work! Edit: How did you get to the "top" of the zip lines? Was there a lot of climbing, or do they drive you up, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted April 30, 2009 Author #307 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul I, too, am thoroughly enjoying your review! We'll be sailing on the Legend with Saints & Sinners in October. Did a Victor Bodden tour in Roatan on the Glory. It was raining that day (summer shower). Our guide was great and still took us around, but its nice to see the scenery in sunny weather. I'm hoping its sunny this time around, will be touring the island with Bodden again. My son still did the zipline in the rain, and LOVED every minute of it. In fact, he actually said he hopes it rains again, because he had such a blast. Loved your review and pictures of cave tubing - we're thinking about that this time around in Belize. Went to the ruins of Altun Ha last time there. mamajules, Thank you. We were blessed with zero rain for the entire cruise. I'm sure our boys would have enjoyed zipping in the rain too. If you haven't been cave tubing then I'd definitely recommend it. I'm not sure we'll go again, but if we do we will go with CaveTubing dot com for sure. ___________________________________________________________ After I took a pic of Karen and Britt, a gentleman nearby offered to get a pic of Karen and I. She would't take time to pose for me, but she did pose for his pic; As we finished our meal on Lido, we noticed the ship was listing to port side in the heavy wind; I took pics from several locations hoping to find one that demonstrated the leaning; The ship was off level by three degrees or so based on the horizon; This pic is of the stairway to Lido from the pool slide entrance area. I spoke with a gentleman near there who was convinced we had major problems and were listing 30 degrees. I assured him we were simply experiencing a strong side wind and our list was no more than a few degrees. Maybe three at the most. The view was interesting down the steps though; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myacuna Posted April 30, 2009 #308 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, Another quick qustion for you... You said the Bodden tour is $45 per person. Is this for everything or just for the zip line? I noticed on his site that it starts at $40 pp for 2 people for the Best of Roatan, and then an additional cost of $45.00for the zip line, and then his monkeys for $2.00 per person? Thanks again for answering all of our questions!! -Julie PS. I read more - and realized that they are separate fees!! Shame on me for not reading more before asking!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted April 30, 2009 Author #309 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, Another quick qustion for you... You said the Bodden tour is $45 per person. Is this for everything or just for the zip line? I noticed on his site that it starts at $40 pp for 2 people for the Best of Roatan, and then an additional cost of $45.00for the zip line, and then his monkeys for $2.00 per person? Thanks again for answering all of our questions!! -Julie PS. I read more - and realized that they are separate fees!! Shame on me for not reading more before asking!!! Julie, The zip line was priced separately. We also had the option of paying with Visa or other plastic at the zip line site. We were low on cash by then so I wished I had taken plastic with me. We paid for the tour portion at the end with cash. As I recall a gentleman was at the drop off and collected as we exited Ann's vehicle. I might be mistaken though because I was preoccupied with pictures at that time, but that is when we paid and the amount is correct. I'm not sure if the monkeys were additional or not. I don't recall paying for them, but Karen or the boys may have. Excellent information! I will definitely be referring back here when planning my excursions this fall. I noticed that they used redundant lines (2) on the zip line. Is Victor Bodden the only one that offers that? Thanks for the great work! Edit: How did you get to the "top" of the zip lines? Was there a lot of climbing, or do they drive you up, etc? Thirsty Cruiser, Thank you. I would assume the other zip line operators also use redundant lines and redundant connections. Having a rescue background, that redundancy was what I expected to see. If I went to a zip line without redundant safety backups, I would promptly thank them for their time and exit the area. Zip lining is fun, but accidents can and will happen. Preparing for accidents will minimize their occurrence. We climbed steps carved into the mountain and shored up with timbers at the beginning of the tour. After then we would climb an occasional level on a platform, but not too much climbing after the initial steps. Being from West Virginia, we tend to not pay much attention to when we're going up or down a hill because we do it every day. My bet is that our boys will insist on trying out other zip lines as well as Victor's on our next trip. We passed at least two other zip line operations while riding to the beach area. The ones we passed were located at the top a hill. I'm not sure if the zip lines began there or the signs were just there at the top. I love your review and pictures. Thank you for taking the time to post them. I look for your post every day. Enjoy reading it so much. Have you ever cruised to Hawaii? We will be going there in about 4 months. I was thinking if you had maybe you had some pictures or review. Delores Delores, Thank you. Sorry, we haven't done Hawaii yet. We're planning a summer cruise to Hawaii for 2011. I wish we had some pics to share. ___________________________________________________________ The wind did make walking a bit shaky throughout the evening; It was so rough that evening that it was difficult to get a steady picture; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpytilicruise Posted April 30, 2009 #310 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, This may sound like a very dumb question but here it is. Did you have to do any currency exchange for spending on any of the islands or do they accept ammerican money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted April 30, 2009 Author #311 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, This may sound like a very dumb question but here it is. Did you have to do any currency exchange for spending on any of the islands or do they accept ammerican money? grumpytilicruise, All of the islands accept US currency. In fact it's sometimes hard to find native currency for souvenirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhuggi1 Posted April 30, 2009 #312 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Amazing Review - thank-you for taking the time to post it..I have spent all morning reading it and smiling feeling like I was right there with you !!! Question: How does one go about purchasing carnival stock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggerman101 Posted April 30, 2009 #313 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Cheryl, We had a 9A aft wrap on Freedom in April '08. The 9A wraps on Conquest class ship have huge balconies similar to Spirit Class Cat 11 Suite balconies. The 9A cabins are smaller and less well appointed than the Cat 11 Suites. Freedom 9A cabins do have flat screen TVs and DVD players vs CRT & VCRs on Spirit Class. Here's a shot of our 9A aft wrap balcony on Freedom (6452) ; CLICK HERE for review of our cruise on Carnival Freedom. CLICK HERE for review of our B2B cruise on Carnival Liberty. Thank you for this! I am in the same cabin on the Freedom in October. Now I have more of your reviews to go through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotshub Posted April 30, 2009 #314 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, Thanks for the wonderful pictures and the best review I have ever read. We sail in 65 days with our entire family (3girls & hubbys and all 5 grand kids). Needless to say we are excited. Thank you again-Dot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamajules Posted April 30, 2009 #315 Share Posted April 30, 2009 We were blessed with zero rain for the entire cruise. I'm sure our boys would have enjoyed zipping in the rain too. If you haven't been cave tubing then I'd definitely recommend it. I'm not sure we'll go again, but if we do we will go with CaveTubing dot com for sure. Glad you had such great weather! If your boys are like my teen, then yes, ziplining in the rain would be fun. He didn't do the one you did, I believe that zipline is fairly new. He did the South Shore zipline. Here's a picture of him coming off it - soaking wet and upside down! Will definitely check out cavetubing.com. From all I've read on the boards, they're the ones to go with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeron51 Posted April 30, 2009 #316 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Hi Paul, Still absolutely loving your review!!! We have already booked with Victor Bodden for our August Legend cruise. However, for the cave tubing, we've booked with Major Tom. I read a lot of positive reviews about his company here on Cruise Critic - that there is a real focus on safety. Just wondering if you researched this company as well and, if so, did you come across any negatives? Thanks very much, Deena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tink77 Posted April 30, 2009 #317 Share Posted April 30, 2009 What a wonderful review! I am truly loving reading every page of it! Now I'm going to have to go and check out the past reviews too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin4Real Posted April 30, 2009 #318 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, how long did your tour in Roatan take? I'm just curious how much time you had at the beach and how early you got back to the ship? Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu & SAND Posted April 30, 2009 #319 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Paul, Great job, again we were on the same cruise together and seeing some of the pictures you took makes me want to get back there today! BTW, Roatan was our favorite stop and would gladly take it over Cozumel. stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picklebongo Posted April 30, 2009 #320 Share Posted April 30, 2009 If nothing else, you know what your review has done for me, made me not be so cheap on my next cruise. I have been so blessed to get a REALLY good inheritance when my father passed away several years ago, but when I travel I watch every dime that is spent. The last time I even had an interior cabin! Just seeing your pre cruise experience with your family, noting the excursions, restaurants, shopping for jewelry, etc. made me realize how much more rich of an experience it would be for my family to just enjoy the moment and not be so conscious of money since I don't have to be. We sometimes even try and see who can have the smallest S&S bill and one time it was only the tips on there! So just seeing the great photos, smiling faces and obvious enjoyment of the excursions has made me decide come August we're goin' do this thang up right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted May 1, 2009 Author #321 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Amazing Review - thank-you for taking the time to post it..I have spent all morning reading it and smiling feeling like I was right there with you !!! Question: How does one go about purchasing carnival stock? lhuggi1, Thank you. ScottTrade dot com is about the easiest way. Everything can be set up online and trades, regardless of how many shares you buy or sell, only cost $7. After you have an account set up, you watch the share prices and buy when you think it's low or you simply enter a buy order for when it his a certain price. Hi Paul, Still absolutely loving your review!!! We have already booked with Victor Bodden for our August Legend cruise. However, for the cave tubing, we've booked with Major Tom. I read a lot of positive reviews about his company here on Cruise Critic - that there is a real focus on safety. Just wondering if you researched this company as well and, if so, did you come across any negatives? Thanks very much, Deena Deena, Most of my research was prior to our 2007 stop in Belize. I chose CaveTubing dot com then and just researched CaveTubing dot com this time around to make sure they were still reputable and hadn't changed tactics over time. I never saw anything negative about reviews of Major Tom. I also never saw 'Major Tom' labels or adverts on anything at the site so perhaps their times didn't coincide with ours. Paul, how long did your tour in Roatan take? I'm just curious how much time you had at the beach and how early you got back to the ship? Brian Brian, 9:00AM we were off the ship. 10:25AM we were climbing the steps up the mountain for zip line. 11:15AM we were finished zip lining and back in the parking area. 11:51AM we arrived at Infinity Bay Spa & Resort. 1:23PM we left Infinity Bay Spa & Resort. 1:53PM we were back at the port. 2:08PM we were back on board Carnival Legend I keep all of our cameras and watches set to the second for ship's time. One interesting note is that we sailed a few minutes early each time. Never late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBVest Posted May 1, 2009 #322 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Paul, this review is incredibly helpful. We're in the opposite aft wrap and have the same itinerary. Thank you so much for all the pictures and descriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imani68 Posted May 1, 2009 #323 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Darn...I wish that you guys were going on the Dream next year before us so that I could read your review before I got on the ship! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted May 1, 2009 Author #324 Share Posted May 1, 2009 The winds continued to sway Legend all evening after our day in Roatan. Karen and I hit the Lido buffet AGAIN that evening. It looks like rain streaking the window by our table, but it was actually ocean spray from the heavy winds; I opted for the best foods at sea; shrimp, chocolate cake, watermelon, chocolate chip cookies and warm chocolate melting cake; Freshly devoured shrimp; The photo sales desk was a place we visited each day to pick up our Carnival photos. Our photo bill was considerably lower this trip thanks to our dinner time not being changed; The public areas of the ship were nearly deserted with the heavy seas and high winds keeping most passengers in their rooms I guess. When we stopped by the jewelry sale we had two sales clerks to ourselves; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted May 1, 2009 Author #325 Share Posted May 1, 2009 The clearance sale tables were also ours to inspect with nobody around but sales people; Ghost ship FunShops all to ourselves; My date stamp obscured the price on this bottle, but it was $1449.95 and I saw them sell one earlier in the week while I was buying cigars. The young lady making the purchase said it was for her hubby who cancelled at the last minute saying he had to work. She said he told her to 'go ahead and have a good time.' She asked if I thought he would enjoy it. I couldn't offer her an answer out loud. I did make a mental note to cancel all credit cards if I cancel going on vacation with Karen. ; When we returned to our cabin we found a sloth sitting in Britt's bed eyeing his cookie; Our next days Fun Day at Sea capers were laying on our bed; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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