Popping in to say hello to everyone. No plans for cruising in the near future, and I miss this forum :(

Hello to you too. The lounge is busy but I'll pass on most of it. :S-.

We've added another cruise, an 8-day eastern Caribbean in and out of Miami in March on Celebrity Reflection. Have never been to any of the ports, St. Kitts/Nevis, Puerto Rico

and St. Maarten/Basseterre. Looking forward to it, any advice or tips on the ports. We're very familiar with the ship, have loved it in the past.

Caribbean cruise is mostly winter getaways, some place warm, sun, beach, you get the idea.

When we take a Caribbean cruise, it is usually to relax, unwind, don't make plan for anything. When the ship dock, just walk off and see what caught our eyes.

The ship usually offers "port talk" the day prior to arrival, just don't fall for the "shopping talk" and coupon baits. Some port talks (usually not someone from the ship's staff) offer really good information such as what tourist traps to avoid, transportation tips, local food and safe local places to visit etc.

St Kitts is mostly famous for the water sport. The Grey's island tour could be interesting if you are not interested in the whole water thing.

Most would enjoy the rain forest tour in Puerto Rico.

St Maarten, again, is mostly water related. The "city" tour is interesting enough. Sea Trek is fun if you are adventurous but pricey.

The Reflection is nice, the ship could be the destination. Ask about Aqua class upgrade if the price difference is not too extreme. Well worth it if the price is right. Ask about the price difference and what "extra" you will receive and decide if it is worth the extra $. We were booked on the Aqua class last time with Celebrity and we were spoiled rotten ... and our upgrade cost was minimal.

Thanks, Eschew. We love aqua class and Blu restaurant but on this cruise friends asked us to join them and they're not in aqua class. It won't matter much on such a short cruise, we'll eat in the Tuscan Grill and the French restaurant for two nights. Twice we did suites on repositioning cruises, the newish suites-only restaurant is really lovely but usually suites are too expensive for us. Celebrity is our favorite line, I suppose we should branch out a little.

If you are in Aqua class, you can always bring your friends to blu and take them through your private entrance to the spa. We have been on many cruise lines but someone how we always ended up on the same two: Princess and Celebrity. Enjoy your cruise!

St. Maarten is on elf my fav islands. I recommend this person who arranged a tour for us. Its private, moderately priced and personalized.
http://joyceprince.com/

Eschew,

Wasn't aware we could bring guests to Blu. Will check because the difference in price wasn't much.

Thanks.

cath

A small up charge may apply as it is a "specialty" restaurant. We had guests on 2 occasions and the Maitre'd gladly accommodated us.

We just checked about Blu, only guests allowed are passengers with suites. Nice idea though.

That must be new then ... most night, it was not full at all. Our guests were not suite passengers and no one asked if they were. We just showed up at the door, told them we have guests, they said there is an "extra charge" and I said put it on our account and that was it.

We're looking forward to our winter cruise - that is, in the Australian winter. We're doing a five week cruise around the South Pacific - round trip out of Sydney with five ports in Hawaii, three in French Polynesia plus several others.
We're finding that we need to book well ahead - at least twelve months - to get the cruise and cabin we want. Don't know whether that is because of the limited itineraries out of Australia or the increasing number of people who want to try cruising. So now we're looking for interesting cruises for 2018 - hopefully without having to endure a long long flight to get to the departure port.
Eschew - hope you have an enjoyable cruise with your family. I still have a copy of your Alaskan report which travelled with us to Alaska last year - thanks again for all your suggestions.

Less than 7 days to go with the little one ... not sure if we are having second thoughts ... too late now. Let's hope GD travels well on the plane and everything else. DIL biggest worry is GD loses her favorite stuff animal by throwing it overboard ... LOL

Ordered a welcome package which includes a stuffed bear for arrival to cabin.

Sass, any last minute advises?

Eschew,

Our GD was a bit older, but she has a little doll carrier that holds a doll or teddy in front of her. It is great. She still uses it, now at age seven, because her favorite doll travels everywhere. With the carrier, she can see the doll and still have her hands free. The tube like carriers that hold the doll or teddy in back look cute, but are not as good because the child can't see the toy or sit down with it on. You have to take them off, so the whole point of not losing it is at risk.
The one GD has was cheap and very small, just in case you are interested. Do not know if they still have them, but you could find one on EBay. It is the American Girl Star shaped doll carrier, for bitty baby, but holds the bigger dolls just fine.
No other advice. Hope you have a fabulous time.

Eschew, how did the cruise with a little one go?

We just booked a 5 day a couple of days ago. I posted it separately. Things have picked up in the form the last few days.

Eschew, just realized you are not back yet. Hope it is going wonderfully.

Just got back today. The shooting at FLL airport created new airport security concerns. Flights were delayed for hours and have a spat with airline over luggage fees. I'll be posting something probably next week and this cruise surprised me. Maybe it is the time of the year, or maybe because we have the young GD in tow, we noticed things that you never notice before.

Eschew, can't wait to hear everything you can tell us about your trip! So, as soon as you can, thanks.

Look f/w to it!