Goodtime Cruizin

Accounting for the fleet wide decline in quality and service, I've got to say Independence is just amazing. I haven't had much positive to say about Royal Caribbean recently, but we are a few days in and this cruise has been fantastic. The ship is in impeccable shape and the crew we have experienced have been great.

 

We had a record early boarding time of 10:25 in Fort Lauderdale. We may have to try and squeeze in another trip before she stops doing the 7 nighters out of Ft. Lauderdale! Any questions I'll try to answer.

Great to hear! We're on her in October and really looking forward to this Birthday Cruise for the DW.

Drink packages have not increased. Gratuities went up 3%, on everything including drink prices.

RESPONSE from Port of Galveston:

This photo is not Photoshopped. It was taken on March 23, 2015. It was after the Texas Y oil spill.Like · 19 hrs

The oil spill was March 23rd, 2014, we know, we were on that cruise. :(

Thank you for a great read and allowing me to tag along on your vacation. Oh and btw, RCCL has just announced that they will be adding a a water slide to Liberty during it's upcoming dry dock (Jan2016) We sail on her out of Galveston in Feb 2016. Thank you again!

Happy sailing wherever you go next!

If like Freedom, then Portofino becomes Giovanni's and Sabor goes into the top deck of the former nightclub.

We really enjoyed Sabor while on the Navigator. To us, adding Sabor to the Naigator would be another nice addition to Liberty.

I'm a little surprised that several people say this makes it too much of a playground atmosphere. Maybe, if they put the waterslide in the Solarium, I could see the issue. But the sports areas and main pool areas have always been somewhat playground-like, and I don't see how a slide would make that big of a difference.

Agreed. I'll completely avoid the dynamics of sailing in the summer, spring breaks and holidays until the Grandkids get old enough to really enjoy them . The slides will be a major attraction for families.

Nice. The addition of Derik lewis and now Water Slides should make our Feb sail date even better!

I'm liking this!

Our trip to San Juan on the Adventure is still another 15 months away, but I'm curious if the RCCL luggage valet service works for San Juan. Anyone know?

Here's an article from May 2015. The expansion is going forward but no dates were mentioned in this article. What caught my eye though was the $46 Million generated in 2014 on shore due to cruise activity.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2015/05/galveston-cruise-terminal-expansion-moves-forward.html

If ever you needed a post that encapsulates completely why people stop posting on this forum, it's this one. So unnecessary. This is a discussion forum, not a place for regular "in the know" cruisers to flame those who didn't know better at the time...

First. The OP has resisted any & all common sensical posts in this thread. The OP has some culpability in their problem and claiming ignorance isn't going to work and so far hasn't. This thread is 7+ pages long and I've read nothing that the OP has accepted any responsibility.

Second, the OP did know better as it was stated they felt the line was too long and elected not to wait.

Third, checking your account is not a taught or learned event although RCCL does place comments in the cruise compasses that communicate this.

Lastly, I don't consider myself 'in the know'. In fact, I checked my account on my first cruise, found a small error, went to Guest Service... and stood in line to get it resolved. How did I know to do this? It's common sense.

But I did not expect any onboard charges, so why would i want to check the onboard account? it would be like walking into a supermarket and asking what my bill is before I have purchased anything... nonsensical IMO, however hindsight is a wonderful thing ;)

Look, you've asked questions and you're getting answers.

So why would you check the onboard account?

Because it's basic common sense. Nothing more, nothing less. You failed to do this and because of this, you do not wish to have any accountability. I'm not sure who has the overall responsibility for your fiasco, but there is no doubt that you have some responsibility. Spending a week on the ship and then leaving when you knew there was an issue w/o attempting to have it resolved is a problem for you, created by you.

Sorry so blunt, but it is what it is. You should have checked your account and you should have corrected it on board instead of bailing on your responsibility because the line was too long.

How were the drinks?

They do need to switch this up a bit now -- its been exactly the same each time I have seen it ... the newlywed couple, the mid-range couple, the senior couple . ... alotta the same questions ... and the adorable senior couple always wins ...

 

Time to inject a little new life into this old show .. getting dull

We were the middle couple in March 2013 on the Mariner. It's was really fun but yes the few I've seen the oldest married couple usually will win. To the degree the CD, re-addressed the question quite a few time and gave them hints to the needed answer.

It was indeed another Good Time. Especially with the answers we gave and our adult kids sitting in the audience. :D

BTW, they selected the 1st couple (honeymoon couple) by who was married the least amount of time and they selected the 3rd couple by who was married the longest amount of time. The middle couple, (DW & I) was selected via audition. About 20 or more couples lined the front of the stage and the CD went right down the line for the auditions. The 5th couple auditioning took on everyone and was still standing. We were the last couple and we wowed the crowd enough to hit the stage.

I suggest that if you can, attempt to be one of the last few couples to audition so you can see what others are doing. It worked for us anyway! Good luck. And congrats on the wedding!

Seeing the throwback of yesteryear's cars and buying a few Cubans wouldn't be too bad. But I'll wait awhile before taking that cruise.

How were the drinks?

I guess they are designed for the binge drinker.

That would be a wrong guess. :cool:

We will be on a 7 night next year to Alaska and was thinking about the Ultimate drink package. Is it worth it? We are not heavy drinkers but do love my martini's and prefer Bombay Safire while DH like Guiness on tap or Titos. We don't drink all day. A typical day might be:

Coffee, tea, juices, soda, and water during the day.

A drink or two before dinner

A glass of wine during dinner

A night cap either the same as the pre dinner drink or shifting to a brandy or sherry just before bed.

By your count that is 4 or 5 drinks per day as a minimum, plus water. So you'r right on the cusp. Two questions that help me form my thoughts are...

1. How many sea days vs port days do I plan to have?

2. How active are my excursions?

4 drinks/day depending what you drink is about $40/day avg, the Premium Pkg is $49/day. I'd say if you do drink 5 or more, is easily doable at today's prices of their drinks.

Enjoy the cruise!

I CALLED RC ON 6/23 TO GET A QUOTE ON A CRUISE FOR NEXT JUNE ON AOS i WAS SENT A QUOTE UNDER THE 30% OFFER . HEARING THAT THEY WILL BE RUNNING THE 50% bogo again i figured that would be a better rate sense 50% is greater then 30% i would get a better rate. well I call rc to get the 50% rate and the price went up for my cabin by $169.00 and my sons cabin went up $172.00. I just think this is a little crazy.:mad:

50% off one cruiser vs 30% off all cruisers told me that the 30% was a better deal.

Well the base rate did not go up. It didn't change. The discounting of course changed from 30% off for two people to 50% off one person, as a result, the overall rate increased $89 each.

Not really news as I projected this one.

I am one to think that the experience of any restaurant is to also include one's attitude, temperament, and anxiety during the visit, no matter where you go to enjoy a dinner. A slow greeting to a dinner by the waitstaff can set the tone of the overall experience including the taste of the food served.

With the growth of the industry, and in particular RCCL, I imagine there are more posters on CC as well. Some will post bad reviews some not so much.

I'm also one to believe that there are 'plants' from other cruiselines that step up their game on Cruise Critic regarding RCCL.

TampaCruiser, sometimes dealing with companies can be frustrating. I'm curious as to what you think RCCL could have done made things better to erase the situation.

"Rule of thumb is if you don't drink 6-8 drinks a day then it's probably not worth it to buy a drink package."

 

Have to disagree on this. If you drank just four frozen cocktails (at $12/each which is what most are now) you would break even. Toss in a bottle or two of water, or a soda or two throughout the day and you've come out ahead.

Sheri nailed it.

Really? Don't they always? The answer is an astounding YES!!!

Well not always or at least not an astounding yes. Rates do go up as supply & demand disctates. But I in fact was just contacted moments ago via email from a service that monitors cruise rates, that the two of our three cruises we have booked (that I did not show comparables in my post above) actually just went down. Not by much, but a drop nontheless. As we expected, these drops did not effect our booked rates.

We have three cruises booked. All of them in JS. Two of which I do not expect they will go any lower than the cruise fare we booked, as we booked them over one year ago. As such, as the shipped gains occupancy, we expect the rates to go up. Having said this, the 3rd cruise was booked about 75 days ago during BOGO50.

Here are the comparables of the 3rd booked cruise:

BOGO30 Current rate....................... $2587.40 plus $50 OBC

Upcoming BOGO sale at current rate.. $2646.00 plus $0 OBC

Booked during BOGO50.................... $2146.00 plus $200 OBC, plus $200 off premium Bev Pkg

I think you meant to say "The ship is empty and the prices are low".

Yes. Nice catch. I did mean when the ship is empty.

Thank you!