9 day cruise turned into an almost 10 day cruise when Baltimore port and the bay was closed due to the storm and instead of 7am - we docked at 7pm. Wheee - one more day of cruising. Crew was great - got an entire extra day of activities and a show (Farewell - We really mean it this time). they even paid up to $150 for people who had to change their flights to get home. VERY nice on their part.
Ship is, yes, a little worn BUT still VERY nice, clean etc. Crew wonderful. Very curtious, professional. We thought the food was great too. Drinks reasonable.
Gossip - cruise director said RCI would not be going to Samana any more as "it isn't ready for us yet". I think so many complaints about excursions. Most people not happy with the ones they went on as there was nothing to see and guides mostly spoke no english to talk about history or nature on the island. We did go ashore to see for ourselves. Yeah, not much. We took a one hour motorcycle rickshaw ride ($20 each) and mostly just saw the slums along the road. He took us to the gates of a nice hotel and pointed at it. Took us to a muddy dirt road and said there was a waterfall about 15 minute walk (we didn't get off the bike-thank you cruise addicts). Driver had no english skills - we however knew cervasa (beer) and he took us to a nice bar for a drink before heading back
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Labadee was really nice and lots of fun stuff to do. They are turning it into a disney type island experience. There is the zip line, water park, roller coaster type ride, jet ski rental etc all on the island and lots more stuff being built. Lots and lots of vendors (of course all selling same thing LOL). Was fun tho. We called it "the gauntlet" every time we walked thru. I have no problem saying no. Drinks on the island were great. Came in a big cup with lid and straw and was $5.95. Loaded with rum too.
The other two stops were St Thomas and San Juan. Both nice ports to stroll around. 4 (or rather 5) days at sea so lots of pool time.
Even tho we had lots of high waves and we were rocking and rolling due to the hurricane, was still a great cruise. This captain is fantastic and funny - in fact, when he announced we would be 12 hours late in docking we thought it was a joke and were waiting for the punch line.
Lots of great passengers made this a super trip too - not much bitching about the weather, the ports or the delay - almost everyone took it in stride.
This is my 18th cruise and I enjoyed it all. On the customer survey we had to think long and hard about anything to complain about so we said if we have to think that hard there wasn't anything!
Ship is, yes, a little worn BUT still VERY nice, clean etc. Crew wonderful. Very curtious, professional. We thought the food was great too. Drinks reasonable.
Gossip - cruise director said RCI would not be going to Samana any more as "it isn't ready for us yet". I think so many complaints about excursions. Most people not happy with the ones they went on as there was nothing to see and guides mostly spoke no english to talk about history or nature on the island. We did go ashore to see for ourselves. Yeah, not much. We took a one hour motorcycle rickshaw ride ($20 each) and mostly just saw the slums along the road. He took us to the gates of a nice hotel and pointed at it. Took us to a muddy dirt road and said there was a waterfall about 15 minute walk (we didn't get off the bike-thank you cruise addicts). Driver had no english skills - we however knew cervasa (beer) and he took us to a nice bar for a drink before heading back
.Labadee was really nice and lots of fun stuff to do. They are turning it into a disney type island experience. There is the zip line, water park, roller coaster type ride, jet ski rental etc all on the island and lots more stuff being built. Lots and lots of vendors (of course all selling same thing LOL). Was fun tho. We called it "the gauntlet" every time we walked thru. I have no problem saying no.
Drinks on the island were great. Came in a big cup with lid and straw and was $5.95. Loaded with rum too. The other two stops were St Thomas and San Juan. Both nice ports to stroll around. 4 (or rather 5) days at sea so lots of pool time.
Even tho we had lots of high waves and we were rocking and rolling due to the hurricane, was still a great cruise. This captain is fantastic and funny - in fact, when he announced we would be 12 hours late in docking we thought it was a joke and were waiting for the punch line.
Lots of great passengers made this a super trip too - not much bitching about the weather, the ports or the delay - almost everyone took it in stride.
This is my 18th cruise and I enjoyed it all. On the customer survey we had to think long and hard about anything to complain about so we said if we have to think that hard there wasn't anything!
