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Location: Gainesville, TX | So we're going on a Carribbean cruise over the holidays? Any recommendations from people who've been on packing, what to see and do? |
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Location: OK | Really depends on the cruise. Most of them now have formal nights that are more "optional" than they used to be. I always take some nice black pants that I can use several nights.
Also, depending on your ports of call what you want to do. Do you like more "touristy" things-sight seeing and such or more shopping or more activities/sporty things?
One thing I always enjoy even though I've done it before, is on Caymen (if you stop there) do the Stingray city-it's a touristy nightmare but so fun! The stingrays come right up to you and eat out of your hand! |
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Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | We are going to Cozumel, Honduras, and Belize. I believe one of the excursions involves haning out with stingrays. We were also thinking about seeing the Mayan Ruins. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | You'll definetly want to partake in the formal nights! They are so fun and you can try ANY dishes you want, you can order 3 entres, 3 desserts etc... they don't care! Dress fancy for this! Pack suncreen, chapstick any meds you might need, mainly summer clothes but prepare for cold also! camera, books/kindle. Not much else I can think of
Be prepared to tip! Tips are required for your room service, waiter etc... it's not too expensive but have some money set aside for that. If you like soda (yuck) buy an all you can drink cup and you can get whatever you want the entire trip... saves money, they always have juice, coffe and water for free.
Def do some short excuritions... they are the fun of the trip... check out what they have at each Island and book ahead or you might not get to do what you want to do. Beware of the Island folk...depending which Island you go to... they will try to get you to buy EVERYTHING they can! don't show any interest unless you really are or don't mind being bothered.
If you are a women... I would NOT recommend walking around late at night alone on the ship... my third cruise We were at these peoples suite having a party and the doorbell rang, I opened the door to see who was there, it was an employee, he asked me to step outside, I figured he was going to tell me that we had to queit down or there was a problem...whatever, anyway...when I stepped out of the room, he pulled the door closed behind me and KISSED me etc and starting trying to drag me to who knows where... it was really scary but luckily I was strong enough to get away and ring the doorbell of the room and it scared him off... my brother and his friend looked ALL over the ship for him and we never saw him again.... most employees on the ship are super nice but BEWARE!
Enjoy the cruise! I am jealous! I absolutely LOVE them! I go every three years so next year is my turn again :) |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | oija - 2013-12-12 2:12 PM
We are going to Cozumel, Honduras, and Belize. I believe one of the excursions involves haning out with stingrays. We were also thinking about seeing the Mayan Ruins.
The Mayan Ruins are cool, In Cozumel I really enjoyed swimming with the dolphins... it was a really crazy experience! My Grandparents went to Hondurus and really enjoyed it... said poverty was everywhere though... they serve there pop in a plastic bag! not sure if they still do... |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| Zip line and snorkeling! |
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 Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | We will be doing that same cruise towards the end of January. Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.
It has taken two years of scrimping and saving to have everything paid upfront. I've never been to the Caribbean before but have cruised to Alaska twice and been on one coastal (Seattle to LA) cruise. We have a fairly large group of family/friends/co-workers going and we are all spending a few days pre cruise in New Orleans. I have never been there before either.
The last cruise to Alaska the weather was hideous and the water very rough. I spent the first day in bed very seasick. I swore that if this one has a hint of crappy weather I'm not cruising anymore. I prefer land vacations, my preference being Vegas.
My sister and mom took a different route out of New Orlreans a couple of years ago and kind of know what to expect. We are packing mostly shorts and tanks/short sleeved shirts. Considering the low for last weeks super cold spell here in central MT was 42 below zero, yes, you read that right, 42 below, we will be enjoying the warm weather. We'll have heavier, warmer stuff for the day we leave home and the day we fly back.
We do dress up for dinner and one night most of us in our group are wearing black formals/suits for photo ops. We do lots of photos after dinner in hopes of getting a few good ones to bring home, so that encourages us to get dressed up and "decked out."
I am limited to two suitcases since we are flying. I cannot swim so will probably be taking up a lot of room in one suitcase with my own personal life jacket to take off the ship for excursions. I'm *probably* only going to take one long formal, a dressier summer dress, and a black skirt for the other dinners. Unlike some family members I do not have tons of shoes to take up room in my suitcases, a couple pairs of sandals and a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of black heels should cover it.
We planning on one excursion at each port, we are going to Tabyana Beach (? sp), a private cave tubing tour, and Mr. Sanchos. We are also planning on doing horseback riding on the beach at Mr. Sanchos.
Hmmm....some tips......Probably too late for this one but anytime we fly and have much $$$ into a trip we always get trip insurance. Insure My Trip dot come let you compare and find the best options. I don't like the odds of flying out of Montana in the dead of winter and just HOPING we won't have delays.
If you have a lot of electronics - phone, camera, computer, reader, etc. - you may want to take an adaptor that will let you plug multiple items in. There are only a few electrical outlets in each cabin. One thing that has come in very handy for us if there are more than 2 people sharing a room (space is very limited so make the most of it) is a mesh over the door shoe hanger. We use it to store grab and go items....sunscreen, sunglasses, pen/sticky notes, etc.
If you forget everything else the one thing you want to make sure you have with you ....and double, triple check, is your passport. Then, once you get onboard, lock it in the safe in your room along with all your credit cards, cash, ID, etc. Lock it all up tight so you don't lose or misplace it. You will be given a key card that lets you into your room and puts anything you buy on a running tab.
We also generally over tip. We do the prepaid gratuities and then tip our room attendants more. Only once did we not. We had a really weird attendant on the last Alaska cruise, my sister and I split a mini suite and once again there was a large group of us that went. And....because we had a big room we had people coming and going a lot and he harrassed some of our friends, asking them where they were going. He was kind of a jackass.
Edited by GoinJettin 2013-12-18 10:21 PM
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 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | Make sure to take some to wear for cooler/cold days. Also if you are flying to catch your cruise and are going to stay in a hotel the night before, you can box up and ship your extra cloths via ups or fedex the week before to your hotel. I have done this several times when flying and it works very well and sure makes the flying easier. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 368
| we just got back from our first carnival cruise! what line are you going to be on. We LOVED cozumel. We went to Mr. Sanchos and would not hesitate to go back in the future.. we paid $89 a person for an all inclusive romantic vip day thing there.. we got a cabana, food/drinks, massages, tequilla tasting and then added on parasailing. the package also includes snorkeling and kayaks. It was the best!
We also enjoyed the food..there was an every day menu that stayed the same and then the menu that changed daily. order as much as you want!!! if you are doing carnival, totally reccommend the warm chocolate melting cake...every night...in addition to a second dessert to try!
we didn't go all out on formal night.. i wore a dress and he wore khakis a nice shirt/tie. there were lots of photo ops this night and other nights. all other nights we were casual (just no tshirts and ballcaps)
we also did the cheers program.. for 49 a day plus gratuity you got unlimited soda and 15 alcoholic beverages (in a 24 hour period)...saved us a big bar bill at the end
enjoy! |
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Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | tuff5224 - 2013-12-18 6:37 AM we just got back from our first carnival cruise! what line are you going to be on. We LOVED cozumel. We went to Mr. Sanchos and would not hesitate to go back in the future.. we paid $89 a person for an all inclusive romantic vip day thing there.. we got a cabana, food/drinks, massages, tequilla tasting and then added on parasailing. the package also includes snorkeling and kayaks. It was the best! We also enjoyed the food..there was an every day menu that stayed the same and then the menu that changed daily. order as much as you want!!! if you are doing carnival, totally reccommend the warm chocolate melting cake...every night...in addition to a second dessert to try! we didn't go all out on formal night.. i wore a dress and he wore khakis a nice shirt/tie. there were lots of photo ops this night and other nights. all other nights we were casual (just no tshirts and ballcaps) we also did the cheers program.. for 49 a day plus gratuity you got unlimited soda and 15 alcoholic beverages (in a 24 hour period)...saved us a big bar bill at the end enjoy!
Thanks for the info. on Mr. Sanchos. A massage in our own personal cabana on the beach sounds heavenly. Just need to find one fine HOT cabana boy to go with it. Maybe someone will send that cabana boy to charm us 
We decided against the Cheers package. In all reality we do not drink enough - there is no way I could drink close to 15 drinks in even one day and function for the next three. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Y'all are making me want to go on a cruise NOW!! Anyone care to PM me the general cost and what cruise line? My mom would love the one your guys are talking about!!! |
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Location: Over by those oil wells, TX | the last cruise i took the one thing i did that was amazing was our stop in Cozumel. I've enjoyed lots of the other fun things posters recommended too and loved them all but for some reason this trip by speed boat from the Cozumel port was the one I would love to do again. These speedboats carry 2 people each so even if you've never driven one you'll have no trouble becoming a speed freak in the first 10 minutes of driving, promise! the drive takes nearly an hour because the boats aren't"really" all That fast...lolol We drove along the coast to the north end of the island across more astonishing colors of crystal clear shades of turquoise/blue water then I ever knew existed on this planet, to eat lunch prepared for us on a beautiful white sandy beach. No resorts in sight. After an hour and a half of lunch, swimming, volleyball (if you wanted) we all ran back, picked a boat and once again drove across that magical water to end the day. oh one thing that is MOST awesome is sitting on your balcony and watching all the flying fish! !!! Crazy! !! Leaving the port out of Grand Cayman -wow- there was a huge gathering of hammerhead sharks that followed us a little ways! HAVE A BLAST!!
Edited by hopin4$ 2013-12-19 5:00 AM
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | I'm a diver, so I dive over and over and over again. Hubby gets his one day of fishing, usually in Cozumel since I've dove every spot there. Used to love Belize since it was so non commercial but I can't say that any longer. If you get a chance at least take some time snorkling, its a whole 'nother world-very beautiful. I always task my party with helping me to find seahorses!
Just look ahead on the program and pick yourself something fun to do. The ruins in Coz are not that great but over on the mainland Chichen Itza the Pyrmid is 80ft tall and you can go in the jungle surrounding it by horseback. This is a 7th wonder of the world.
Enjoy your trip.
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Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | hammer_time - 2013-12-19 1:53 AM Y'all are making me want to go on a cruise NOW!! Anyone care to PM me the general cost and what cruise line? My mom would love the one your guys are talking about!!!
The one we are doing leaves New Orleans towards the end of January. The cost of the cruise was around $610 per person for two people in a cabin for an inside (no windows) up to $850 per person for a balcony room with two people per room. This includes all the taxes and fees except the daily service charge.
It is a 7 day cruise and it includes meals, non alcoholic drinks, entertainment, etc.
The excursions average $65 per excursion and we are doing three of them.
Last time I looked ours had not sold out yet and Carnival has been running a special for single people having a room all to themselves......it starts around $550. If they had been doing that earlier I would be having a room all to myself instead of sharing.
We have some perks from our travel agent for people joining our group, a $50 room credit. Maybe something else too from the travel agent, I can't remember off the top of my head. |
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Expert
Posts: 1488
| Good luck on your impending stay on the largest petri dish on the planet.
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Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | DD2012 - 2013-12-19 8:05 AM Good luck on your impending stay on the largest petri dish on the planet.
Haha.....point taken, but it is really not that bad.....
I should have added this to my tips though ----If we ever eat anything off the buffet I always have hand sanitzer or sanitzier wipes to wash my hands with. |
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