Shorty
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Member since 5/05 30390 total posts
Name:
really
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Back from the Cruise! Review: 5 night Royal Caribbean Key West, Cozumel, Belize. Crazy long. hah!
You all saw my panic when I saw the track TS Fay was taking last weekend, but we got very lucky! We only hit rain in Ft Lauderdale, only the first night.
We had to skip Key West (they evacuated all non-residents), so we spent all of Day 2 at sea, taking a longer route to Cozumel to avoid the storm. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to follow the coastline of Cuba - we were told by the captain that cruise ships usually have to stay 12 nautical miles away from Cuba, but we were 3. We saw the buildings of Havana clear as day. It's probably the closest we'll ever get.
Our Captain was aggressive and decided to reroute SOUTH to avoid the storm - the 2 Carnival ships that follow the same itinerary rerouted EAST and the cruisers that paid for Key West, Cozumel and Belize only got Nassau (Bahamas) and Belize, OR Nassau and Jamaica. I would've been soooooo mad - but like I said, we were so lucky!
OK - I'll go day by day.
Day 1: Southwest Air flight from Islip to Ft Lauderdale:
Boarding was great, the flight was great, WAITING 45 MINUTES AT THE BAGGAGE CAROUSEL FOR MY BAG THAT NEVER CAME = not so fun. YEP, Southwest lost my bag. DH's made it, but mine (that of COURSE had allllll of my clothing and all our toiletries) didn't. I put in a claim at the baggage counter and waited at the airport for 2 hours hoping for good news, but it never came. All they could tell me was a) the bag was not in Ft Lauderdale (duhhhhh) and b) it wasn't in Islip either.
I gave the Baggage counter my cell # and cruise itinerary and made them promise to try their best to get it to me before 4pm (the time our cruise was scheduled to depart). I was FREAKING OUT. I was not prepared to spend a week on a boat and/or in a foreign country with NOTHING. Medications, clothes, DEODORANT!!!  I was stalking the baggage counter from the ship, my travel agent was stalking them, AND my sister was stalking them 
Thank goodness I booked an early flight. We arrived in Ft Lauderdale about 10 am - we had to be on the ship by 4. (it was later changed to 3 due to the weather - the captain wanted to leave early to beat out the storm.) I waited until 12 noon, but because there was absolutely nothing in the section of the airport where we were, we gave up and got a cab to the ship.
SOMEHOW my bag made it's way to Ft Lauderdale (I still don't know how), and I got a call at 3:30pm that I could come pick it up. FANTASTIC, because I was on a ship (that was scheduled to leave in 30 minutes) about a 15 minute drive away from the airport. I told them THEY had to get it to me. My travel agent said she didn't care if the baggage claim guy had to get in his car and drive it there himself, they HAD to get it to me. I realize now that the baggage handler at check-in tagged my bag with the incorrect arrival city. So I went to Florida, my bag went to Baltimore. That's the last I heard from the Baggage Counter people...they didn't answer the phone when I called at 4:30 because we were 15 minutes at sea already and I had no bag. 
Husband and I walked around the ship for about an hour (I was freaking out the entire time). I only had the clothes on my back (a sundress, bathing suit, and gold flats - not even underwear or a bra!!! ) and my makeup (in my carry-on). We were up on the top deck sitting in the drizzle, trying to breathe in the salty air in slow deep breaths and calm down....(hiding in a little nook I found  )
when all of a sudden....
grey skies blew in....
the sky got pretty black...uh oh....the wind picked up (auntie em!!!)......so we started making our way to the downward stairs....
but we didn't make it. aaaand we got drenched.
At this point, I'd given up all thoughts of going to our 6pm dining room dinner seating because I didn't have appropriate attire and I was drenched, so we went back to the room to shower/calm down. This was pretty upsetting to me, because frankly, I'm fat, and I love fancy food. I didn't want to visit the dreaded "casual buffet".
We finally reached our stateroom door, and VOILA, there was my suitcase. ?!?!?!? I didn't ask any questions, I just opened it and started to pull out clothes for dinner.
Dinner was FANTASTIC. I had a steak and baked potato and about 40 asparagus and I was sooooo happy.  We had a beautiful table for 2 in the middle of the dining room.
After dinner, we explored the ship some more (just the inside parts!!! The upper decks were not accessible due to the rain and high winds) then fell asleep around midnight.
Day 2: At Sea (should've been Key West, but hey, you know that story)
Day 2 was great. We didn't set an alarm and slept til 9ish. Got up, checked the weather outside and it was GORGEOUS!!! Bright, sunny, and warm. It was still very windy though. We threw on bathing suits, grabbed towels and books, and headed up to the top deck. We tried out a few spots, but the wind was blowing so hard the metal lounge chairs were blowing down the ship, so we had to choose our location wisely. We found a great secret spot all the way up top with the big ship "fin/propeller thingy" blocking our wind. woohooo! This was my upward view all day:
and this was the outward:
We relaxed alllll day - I needed that! Dinner was great again - it was formal night.
After dinner we caught the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers in their broadway/movie songs show and it was soooo good. They had an amazing 19 yr old guy that I guarantee we'll see or hear on TV in a few years. Amazing voice, stage presence, you name it. His bio said that he was a disney performer too.
Out of that nasty storm came an incredible sunset:
Overall Day 2 = Great day!
Day 3: Cozumel
I've never been to Cozumel, and we were very pleased! We spent the morning browsing the shops and I got a present! (Don't worry - NOT at one of the 37 Diamonds International )
We hit Fat Tuesday...twice... (a travel tradition for us - we always look them up before we go somewhere so we are sure to make time for it )
Donkeys in HATS!!!
And on our walk back to the ship, we stopped into Dolphinaris on a whim. I've never swum with dolphins - always thought it was a tourist trap, felt so bad for the animals, etc. DH convinced me I'd like it, so we did it. Our little group of 4 (me, DH, and a HMing couple from Omaha, NE) got to pet, ride, dance with, and get kisses from 4 dolphins.
Great experience!
We got back to the ship with just enough time to shower and prep for dinner, which again, was awesome. 
We skipped the show that night - the "original" Drifters (I thought they were mostly dead, no?). Not our thing. We went to the "repeaters party" (I've cruised with Royal Caribbean before with my family, so I received an invite) and had a couple drinks on the captain  , then parked in the piano bar for most of the night and just watched the ocean from the window.
Day 4: Belize
I'd never been to Belize either, so I relied on travel sites like TripAdvisor and the advice of my travel agent, and we decided to stay away from Belize City. Apparently it's very poor. We booked an excursion (through Royal Caribbean - it was very reasonably priced) that met us right at the ship and took us on a catamaran ride, snorkeling,(run punch!) and then to a private island. THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. DH was in awe of the water, the fish, the beach, everything really. He's never traveled anywhere except Disney World (with his parents as a kid), Italy (our HM), and South Carolina (with my family), so he'd never seen the crystal caribbean waters. There's really nothing like it. We felt like we were on Survivor in the middle of nowhere. NO development, no interference....it was serene.
Back to the ship for dinner - again, fantastic.
After dinner, we went to another Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers show (also great) and stayed put for the Love & Marriage Game Show (aka Newlyweds show). DH wasn't willing to participate, but he laughed SOOO HARD watching other people make fools of themselves. All in good fun . It was probably the funniest moment on the whole trip when the host asked the 60s-70yr old man what his favorite condiment was and he said TROJAN. We stayed in the theatre (which was really pretty, by the way) for the midnight ADULT comedy show. Pretty good- a few F bombs and Viagra jokes...who doesn't find that funny, you know?
Day 5: At Sea (again)
We slept in, had breakfast (shared a table of 10 with 8 other people - they were all from LI! A family of 4 from Stony Brook, an unmarried couple from Bethpage and Bohemia, and HMers from Queens. What are the odds? ), then split up for a bit. DH played in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament down in the casino (won $100! woo!), and I found a lounge chair with my book. We met up for a salad lunch, then sat in on the art auction to get out of the sun. We used our free $5 of internet time (a coupon given for being a repeater) to complete online check-in for our flight home and print our boarding passes. Regular internet pricing was $0.55/minute - no charge for printing. We then took our books out to the covered outside deck 5 to read a bit and we both fell asleep . We went back to the cabin and started to pack up our stuff and get ready for dinner.
ONCE again, dinner was so good. DH made friends with the waiters...if we ever want to visit Panama or the N Phillipines, we have a place to stay.
Doesn't this waiter look like Ice-T a little?!?
We hit a few shows - a crazy good juggler/comedian, a 70s cabaret, then a jazz set - then went back to the room to finish packing and get our bags out by midnight.
Day 6: OUT!
We had to be out of the staterooms by 8am this morning, so we went to breakfast, and again, found poolside lounge chairs until our color luggage tag was called to disembark. Customs and security were a breeze, and we were on our way to the airport @ 10am.
Ahhh, back in the hands of Southwest. UGH. DH's bag was overweight by 2 POUNDS and they automatically tacked on a $25 fee. My bag was underweight by 10 lbs, so had they just let me redistribute, we wouldn't have had a problem. I was told by the baggage handler, ever so politely in broken english, "datz just ho it izzzz lady." I asked to speak with a supervisor - after all, they DID lose my luggage on the way down - but that did no good whatsoever. She just kept nodding like a friggen stepford wife or something. "Uh huh - uh huh - I understand - uh huh - that's just our policy." Needless to say, I was less than satisfied with everything about Southwest except for the fact that I'm still living to tell this crazy long story. I'm drafting a letter to their corporate headquarters to see if "datz just ho it izzzz lady" is in their training manuals.
OVERALL, it was a great trip. I had dramamine on hand, but we never used it. DH loved the cruise experience and can't wait to do another...(He's gross enough to enjoy the 24 hr pizza bar).
The service was phenomenal (the housekeeping staff, waiters, bar service, you name it - you don't ever have to ask for what you need - it's all assumed and taken care of), the food was phenomenal, the talent and the productions were phenomenal, and we were very pleased with the whole experience.
A BIG shoutout to our travel agent, a LIW / LIF vendor, Dawn Dorr @ CruiseOne. She is the SWEETEST woman. In all honesty, it is not necessary to use a travel agent to book a cruise. The Royal Caribbean site is so user-friendly, the careerbuilder monkeys could probably do it. There's no price discount on Royal Caribbean cruises, but Dawn was able to give free stateroom upgrades. We opted to stay in an inside cabin because the $600 price difference wasn't worth it to us - we were only in the room to shower and sleep. We paid for the cheapest, and were upgraded to the largest interior stateroom. It was the largest room I'd ever had on a cruise, and it was perfectly fine. My 6' tall, 230lb DH had no trouble with space in the bathroom or shower.
Dawn did not book my airfare, but she was RIGHT THERE to help as soon as I had trouble with Southwest. She was genuinely upset for me - she knew how much I was looking forward to just relaxing on this trip, not worrying if I'd have UNDERWEAR. AND she also sent a bottle of wine to our room. It was waiting for us, on ice, when we first got into our stateroom. I brought it to the dining room and had it with dinner 3 nights in a row (DH doesn't drink wine at all). When I had questions regarding excursions, I dialed her number and got her husband Brian, also a cruiseone agent! Dawn was in the Bahamas, but Brian was more than capable of answering my questions and he was such a nice guy to boot.
I will 100% book our future travel through Dawn.
PHEW
OK I need another vacation
Message edited 8/24/2008 12:41:48 AM.
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