Shekim

Shekim,

 

Thanks for taking time to comment. I'm sorry, I've slept too many nights since I wrote this review and honestly do not remember. I just know we were impressed with his service that night.

 

Happy Sails!

Cindy

 

 

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I'm sure...great review. This is making me want to talk to my husband about doing a NE cruise. We've talked about it but have never gotten serious. And I bet he's the same Caitilin we had on Voyager. He was awesome!

And I am glad someone brought this review back! I would have missed it otherwise. Thanks for taking the time.

Afterwards we headed back to the room and ended up taking a 30 minute nap before getting ready for dinner at Choppe's at 6pm. Tonight was the second formal night in the main dining room. We had never been to Choppe's before and thought it was very nice. Our waiter was Catalin from Romania and he was excellent.

Catalin, medium height and blondish hair? Great smile? If he is the same person we had him as a pool side waiter on Voyager in 2010. Awesome guy...I do have a picture of him, I think.

Anyone with any recent experience tendering from the Navigator in Grand Cayman? We're sailing April 12th, I've heard it can be a nightmare and takes a long time. We have a private Stingray City tour booked, not the cattle call the ship offers, and want to make it in time. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

Please be aware you may still end up next to the "cattle call" of other excursions. Our private excursion last year was so crowded we could barely get in the water. Our boat almost hit another boat trying to get as close as possible. Then another, much bigger boat, almost hit us when they were leaving. And as others said the process isn't near as bad as the first time I had to tender to GC. We did miss our excursion because the ship used the ticket process. By the time our ticket was called we were too late. When we were on Navigator no tickets were issued so we just got in line. No big deal.

I'm curious on the sleeping arrangements. Did I miss you posting that? Anxiously awaiting more!

We will be doing our 2nd Southern on Adventure April 2016 going to St. Thomas, St. Croix, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Grenada. The only port we've been to before is St. Thomas. I don't like port intensive cruises but so tired of the eastern and western Caribbean. First Southern was to St. Thomas, Aruba, St. Kitts, and Curacao.

You will have a blast! It's hard to say whether you got a good deal or not; it is rather "subjective". Some of us have discounts for many different things (state, senior, military...) but keep an eye out for price drops. You do this by doing a mock reservation. If you see something lower than what you paid then call RCI or your TA. But some sales are for new bookings only or for living in certain states or...see, there are a lot of factors for price.

Join the roll call and ask away! There is a lot of knowledge on these boards so take advantage of it.

THANK YOU! I am a pescatarian, so this is helpful. Glad to hear the vegetarian Indian cuisine is still around - I loved it on my last cruise with RCI almost 10 years ago.

The Indian dishes are not on the menu; ask your waiter. On our Navigator cruise last March we commented to our waiter we will miss the dishes. He said just let him know and he would place an order for Indian dishes and have them delivered to us at the table. Delish...and we left the choices up to him.

Not a stupid question. Trying to find anything on Royal's website is a frustrating experience.

Where is that like button????

Once you go aft you rarely go back....unless there is no aft left :(

 

 

 

Enjoy, I love the aft and I was an aft virgin on Adventure too ( 2005 )...we were on the 7th floor amazing views!

We had our first aft on Navigator back in March and I won't waste the time nor energy on another one. We love our hump balconies on deck 8. We book long enough out that we have always booked the cabin we want (99.9 % of the time). I will continue to enjoy cruising...so I guess as long as I have a room on a cruise ship I will be happy

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Absolutely agree! As soon as the sale started, I got a price reduction of about $500 on our March 2015 Serenade cruise and over $600 on a May 2015 Grandeur cruise. Within a day or so the base price went up so that the "Half Off" was almost a moot point.

What date in March? We are sailing 3/21 on Serenade

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Hopefully you have already found lodging. Galveston fills up quickly and lodging becomes limited (expensive) if you don't have a car. Are you sailing around Mardi Gras?

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OP

How long ago was your last Celebrity cruise? I have read on cruise critic that the sea day brunch has been eliminated.

I'm not sure about a sea day brunch? Never heard of one; the MDR is open for breakfast and lunch on sea days. It's very good and as someone mentioned the tutti salad is great! And of course there's always the Windjammer.

I called C&A yesterday to check on dining times and while on the phone the system crashed right at the end of our transaction. Oh well...not gonna worry about booking MTD times. We will wing it this cruise. We are rebels looking for some cruise excitement! :D

We are 166 days out and MTD reservations just opened up. But as usual the prime times aren't available...ALREADY. I think they block those times. For us it's either 6:46 or 8:00 and it opened up in the last couple of days!

How do you know which ships have this? I think I would enjoy watching...how funny!

Allow at least an extra hour for Houston traffic. We were stuck in a traffic jam once on the way to port. It isn't likely, but happens.

 

Better to leave early and be relaxed in my opinion.

It's very likely to get stuck in a traffic jam; especially on a beautiful weekend day. Once you are south of the loop traffic on 45S can back up until you pass FM 646 exit.

Although Portofino and Giovanni's Table are both "Italian" restaurants, they were never intended to be the same.

 

Now that RC is taking Portofino out and putting in Giovanni's Table on all ships, people somehow expect the same thing, but it isn't.

 

:(

We much preferred Giovanni's. Portofino was meh...whereas Giovanni's knocked our socks off! YUMMY and can't wait to go again next year :( (so far away)

We hated the original coffee that was available... we had to water it down and still no luck.

 

We did however think the hot tea choices were ok

 

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We like the coffee because we can pour a lot of cream in it...I love a strong cup of coffee and this fits the bill. It's a one cup eye opener!

Many people have had the experience of telling their waiters how much they like the Indian dishes, either in general or specifically by name, and the waiters tell the kitchen and the kitchen provides the Indian food on subsequent nights.

 

Worth trying.

 

:)

We did exactly this in March on Navigator. Each night our waiter would tell us what could be made the following night. If we liked it he would put in an order and we'd have it along with whatever was on the menu. We love Indian cuisine and was so sad to see it taken off the menu. But it's NOT gone!

Never had to do that in Galveston nor in any other departure port.

There are trash cans near security that you must throw any open containers away. Been out of Galveston 4 times...each time we had to throw away our bottles of water.

That being said, 3/4 times I've successfully taken a case of water on board from Galveston. One time it was held until the end of the cruise then returned. We take a rolling softsided cooler with us.

Before our last cruise I would have said I'd never been to the ship's doctor! I'm not a flowrider type person nor a wall climber. I have not been in any pool on any ship! I guess I'm not a pool type person either!

I have cruised alot but always book at the last minute. We live in Florida. However, by mistake I booked a cruise for September of next year. How do I monitor the price drops and when do they stop. I only have a 500 deposit so far?

Why not move your reservation to a date you'd rather have? I rescheduled one cruise 3 times! Just keep your reservation number and deposit.

Thanks for the heads up. I think I will try one but I appreciate the tip that they are not authentic. Can't wait to try the tiramisu too, I hear that is wonderful.

Enjoy some of each. My husband and I went for lunch on Navigator and my oh my. I am not of Italian descent so the cannolis and tiramisu were fantastic. We were so full from lunch we ended up getting the desserts to go. Fantastic!

Galveston is a drive-to port for us so transportation is not an issue, but Galveston is as good as any of the six ports that we have cruised from, as far as getting on and off the ship. Parking is certainly not an issue. We have used Lighthouse and ParkNCruise and they are both good.

We have always cruised CCL out of Galveston so we have always embarked from the larger of the two terminals. In three weeks we are sailing on RCCL out of the smaller terminal, so I hope my thoughts are still the same after that cruise.

I've read a lot of complaints about the "smaller" terminal that RCCL uses. Other than being fogged in one year we've never encountered major delays disembarking in Galveston.

Hi., Leaving on Freedom on Sunday (yeah). Quick question..... Is it cheaper to buy liquor on St. Thomas or St. Maarten? If they do not sell Jameson on ship...

 

Thanks....

St. Thomas has better prices.