Royal Caribbean Cruise

[BP]

Some cruises allow a couple bottles of wine to be brought on board.

If you do that make sure you also buy one of these:

http://www.homebrewing.org/PVC-Shrink-Wraps--Green-w-Gold-Grapes_p_2257.html

I'd also spring for a better wine. They'll look closer at those $4 Walmart bottles than they would if it were a brand name.

I have a Sodastream and plan on carrying on a 12 pack of a carbonated soft drink of some sort.

[BP]

I also have a friend with their own canning line who I'm sure will be bringing some treats along.

[CWO]

protip: get your drinks at the bar right across from the Guest Relations desk when you can, handmade drinks (fresh strawberries and real lime juice in strawberry margaritas for example). Try the key lime pie martini.

[YALE]

protip: get your drinks at the bar right across from the Guest Relations desk when you can, handmade drinks (fresh strawberries and real lime juice in strawberry margaritas for example). Try the key lime pie martini.

[Gaber]

Friends of mine are planning a 7 day cruise wedding in August out of Galveston to Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize & Cozumel, Mexico. The ship is Navigator Of The Seas. Has anyone been on this cruise? Anything good or bad to say about it?

We just got back last week from there. We cruised Princess. Snorkling in Belize was amazing.

[dmh165638]

Cruised the sister ship "Liberty of the Seas" out of Barcelona, Spain 1.5 years ago and the ship was very nice especially for it's age. Cruised out of New Orleans on Norwegian to all but Honduras and had a great time. We took a tour around town in Belize City and will never do that again. I would not leave the walls of the cruise port unless it was to go to the barrier islands or away from the city with a reputable guide. Drugs and the cartels have ruined that town. Our Norwegian cruise years ago stopped in Guatemala instead of Honduras and that port was crazy scary. It was an industrial port and the dock had a metal building for souvenir shops. You walked outside the gate of the port between two huge machine nests and the soldiers were in full armor and doing a 180 scan with the guns constantly. As you returned to the port from outside they would have the guns trained on you until your passport was checked. Outside those walls it was cesspool and people walked around with Uzi's, sawed of shotguns, etc. I have been in scary places like that before but never expected it in a cruise port. Just got back a month ago from a cruise out of Miami on the Norwegian Epic and it was fantastic.

[Mike69]

Pricing through Royal Caribbean for the 7 day cruise August 16th with a Balcony Room comes out to $1980 Total for 2 people. It will include a $275 Crdeit to use on the ship. That is the special they have at the moment & are throwing in a extra credit for the wedding party. I've never shopped for a cruise so don't know if that price is good or not. What do you fellas think?

[BP]

Make sure you check the price with RC's website and double check with someone like American Airlines. Also you might check with various rewards programs and credit cards. With Carnival you can buy egift cards through Verizon's program and save 10% and usually if you book with a Mastercard there is another on board credit promotion.

If you aren't booking through the wedding's travel agent your absolute best deal will probably be on cruisecompete.com but if you are going as a group it's probably a good idea to book with that group. Otherwise you won't automatically be seated with them for dinner.

That price doesn't seem too out of line, especially with on board credits. I paid around $1250 for the five day we are taking next month and it was $1600 or so last time I took that itinerary without any credits.

[War Machine]

That's what me and the ol lady paid for two with a balcony without the credit.

[Mike69]

Thanks fellas for all the help. I booked our cruise. I'm not sure if I'm really excited about it though. I've never really been into seeing beaches and stuff like that. Seems like that's all there is to do for the most part. Vegas is more of my thing.

[War Machine]

I snorkeled at the first, Zip lined at the 2nd, and road dune buggies and snorkeled on the third. The third was by far my favorite. It's so beautiful.

[jyro]

Nassau connection for snorkling beach and fishing

all in one day Captain JJ 1-242-425-7779
E-mail:jaurez23@hotmail.com

[BP]

I've never really been into seeing beaches and stuff like that. Seems like that's all there is to do for the most part. Vegas is more of my thing.

Belize has a casino pretty close to the port. I didn't visit it though, it looks kind of small from the outside. Cave tubing and visiting Altun Ha are the big attractions here. Or zip lining of course. There isn't really much of a beach and it's not touristy at all.

Roatan is pretty much only a beach. There is a man made reef and some mangroves but the tourist area is completely synthetic. You'll see the same stores here as you do in Cozumel. They do have a vendor selling local coffee though but you can also get it at the duty free store. They have some other excursions on the island but honestly Honduras is sketchy, I didn't want to leave the tourist area. I know a lot of people book trips with Viktor Bodden and have a good time. I ended up snorkeling and laying on the beach. It was cool though because a lot of the ship's crew were also there and you'll notice that the women are very young and mostly from Eastern Europe. They also are used to Mediterranean beaches so their tops came off.

Cozumel has pretty much anything you'd want to do other than gambling or strip clubs.

[mschmoyer]

We did this cruise in September for just a couple hundred bucks apiece and we loved it. Favorite part was scuba diving in Belize -- it was amazing and the water was especially clear.

Roatan - kind of rough, I'd suggest excursions that start at port there. I'm not one to venture into a poor exotic island.

Cosumel - We did "Xplore" in Cozumel and it was amazing. Highly recommend that -- best lunch on the trip too.

Ship was clean, lots of fun entertainers, and not a lot of kids. Food was great (we're not too hard to please though). Bring a 12 pack of cokes and if you like to drink a lot, be prepared to pay $$$.

[CWO]

If you do plan to drink a lot on the boat you can get the Ultimate Beverage Package. It includes just about everything, even Starbucks. No limit. A Starbucks or two to start your day, mimosas with breakfast, Grey Goose bloody marys with lunch, a few pre-dinner Makers Manhattans, a couple Balvenie 12s with dinner, an after dinner key lime pie martini (or two), and a handful of other assorted cocktails during shows/just hanging out adds up pretty quick.