flcruising89

Thank you both!

Hi! We are sailing on the Mardi Gras itinerary that travels to Mahogany Bay, Honduras and when we contacted Discover Roatan about the Infinity Bay Resort day pass they said to schedule the pick-up based on the local time which is 2 hours behind EST. My question is, when it says 8a-6p on our cruise planner itinerary, that is EST right? Thanks in advance!

On Symphony 2 weeks ago our luggage was sitting at least 15 cabins away from ours. Thankfully we were walking from the aft elevators and spotted them because we usually use the forward elevators and there we never would have seen them.

47 minutes ago, SamTimeDining said:

Just curious if you had VOOM Surf or VOOM Surf+Stream? Also, just so you know, SOTS could be Symphony or Serenade. 

I had surf+stream on Symphony the same cruise as the OP and it was more like surfing in a pool the last 3 days. Streaming was not even an option. I tried watching one 3 minute YouTube video and it took so long to load I turned it off before it started playing. 

On 5/6/2019 at 4:56 PM, California_Cori said:

 

·         “Computer glitch” took 90 min to board.  The whole process was really unorganized.  No room credits or anything for the inconvenience. Yes, agreed. We arrived at 11 thinking we'd be on the ship by 11:30 like everyone says but didn't get on for over an hour and half the time had to stand in the blistering sun.

·         The Wi-fi that the crew uses to ring up purchases kept going out so they had to hand write room charges and receipts.  Delayed everything. I didn't have this happen to me.

·         The “smoking allowed spot” is PORT side, deck 15 or something like that.  I could smell it on deck 9, always. Didn't have the problem on deck 9, but didn't enjoy having to walk by it to get to the back of the ship on deck 15 so would always go down a level or walk to the other side after making that mistake not knowing where I was walking the first time.

·         WAY too much Casino smoke.  Very poor air filtration. HORRIBLE. We smelled it the minute we got off the elevators to go to dinner on deck 4 aft. We really wanted to try out the casino too but couldn't take the smell. I didn't remember that from my last cruise on RC.

·         High speed internet. Not so much.  (Some days it worked well but other high traffic times was awful). Yes, the WiFi we purchased was good the first few days and then crapped out for the rest of the cruise. 

·         Windjammer sucks: EVERYTHING was cold and ALWAYS crowded.  Lots of dirty dishes sitting on open tables. Didn't enjoy it either. The food was subpar at best so we didn't go back after the first lunch.

·         Ship felt short staffed.  Had to cancel scrapbooking so the gal who was supposed to host it could go help run “the parade”.  A parade? Really? Didn't run into this

·         Walls are thin. (And yes I had LOUD neighbors on one side) Agreed. We heard our neighbors every morning and in the event we didn't, we sure heard the door slamming to wake us up.

·         Beds are hard. They are but I actually liked them.

·         Towels are scratchy. Didn't have that

·         Room attendant was just okay. I asked for ice and never once had ice.  Also took the empty box of Kleenex but never put a full box back.  Service was very inconsistent.  One day we had 4 bath towels, then we had 2, then we had 3… just odd.  He also kept talking our washcloths, without replacing them. Our attendant was super good! The first day she came and asked if we needed anything and I asked for ice (meaning only then) and we had ice the whole trip which we loved having.

·         Johnny Rockets closes for breakfast at 10am which is too early. IMHO Agreed. I would've preferred all breakfast be open until 11 and lunch open later too.

·         Offer drinks in Windjammer and only tell you after the fact that they will be charging you for them.  I should have known… NOTHING is free!! I can see how not knowing what is free and what isn't would be confusing.

·         Spend too little time in Ports. Only one we did was Nassau which changed after we booked the cruise. The other ports we had enough time to do most everything we wanted.

·         All-inclusive food venues close at 6 except pizza. Kept pushing everyone to Windjammer. Didn't run into this problem besides port days when we'd get back and it'd be a weird time. In that case we'd go to Park Cafe or Pizza.

·         Walking pathways suck, on many decks you have to walk down the room hallways to get past the hole in the middle of the ship. We didn't notice this besides going to dinner at the back of the ship but it didn't bother us.

·         Deck 5, 6, 7 ran out of water day 7. As others have said a pipe busted and they had to repair it but we were never told what was going on, we had to go to guest services. Also, we had just left a show in the theater and all the ladies in the bathroom couldn't flush and were walking out with soap all over their hands. I thought an announcement of what happened might have been a good idea. Then again, could've caused panic in some.

·         Show times were often changed or delayed. We did have Hairspray change to a day showing, but thankfully we went to the box office right when we got on the ship to reserve laser tag and they told us so we could change it to another day. Also Hiro changed (not for our showing) but that was to be expected as it seems to happen often since the seas can't be predicted.

The floor that covers the ice rink broke a few times.  They managed to get it moved, but it delayed the show. When we saw the first showing of 1977 we didn't experience that.

We were on the same cruise as you and thought I'd comment on some of your thoughts as well.

21 hours ago, BillOh said:

The night was capped on by the usual Royal Carribean Hottub shuffle.  If there is anything I hate about Royal, it is the bone heads on each ship that set the hot tub hours.  Don't close any before 11pm and don't close one with people enjoying it.  I guess that is too much to ask.

I knew you looked familiar and I couldn't figure it out until I read this! We were in the solarium hot tub together the first night and got kicked out because it was "closed" even though there were no signs or anything. I am one of the two girls that were in it with you and then we moved to the other one that was of course full. Anyways, hi!

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

 

Are you in the second picture?

 

 

 

 

You just missed me! We were on deck 10 around 4-5 cabins from the second picture at the top left. 

On 5/3/2019 at 4:58 PM, auntie.emily94 said:

Maybe I'm imagining it, because I can't find it again... but I thought I remember reading about fresh doughnuts in the morning on one of the Oasis class ships. I know its not Oasis herself because we recently were on it....but we're about to board Harmony and I'm curious if anyone knows about this. 

Just got off Symphony today and donuts were in the Main Dining room, Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, and Cafe Promenade in the mornings. Not sure about Windjammer as we didn't ever go for Breakfast. 

On 5/3/2019 at 8:52 AM, fscool said:

1.  The shows are not currently showing up in my Cruise Planner.  Is that likely because they have never showed up there yet and will within 30-60 days of the sailing or is it likely that they did show up but everyone has reserved already?  I've been checking regularly for many months now. Ours showed up right around the 45 day mark but I checked each day from around 90 days out just to be safe. 

 

2.  If I do get a reservation, I believe they are all general seating based on a first come first serve basis.  How early should we arrive at a show?  15 mins ahead?  30 mins ahead? We just got off Symphony today and for the theater shows we arrived 30 minutes in advance and got great seats for both shows, the ice skating show was pretty picked over at the 30 minute mark, and getting good seats for the Aquatheater show was nearly impossible for even just the 2 of us and we got there around 30 minutes in advance. I'm not sure if it's always like that, but we'll do 45 minutes beforehand next time so we have a better selection. 

 

3.  I recently read a posting about some seat saving going on.  If we arrive early enough and sit in some seats are people really coming up and saying that the seats were saved for other people? There was a lot of seat saving at all of our shows but it was usually like one or two people sitting and then saving another 4 so you didn't get the opportunity to even sit in their "saved" seats. 

 

4.  Can we bring drinks into the shows (in the theater)? Yes, definitely! There are also waiters coming around before the show asking if you'd like drinks too and bringing them to you.

4 minutes ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

omg I would just die right there on the pier. 

I wonder what the hold up was. 

I have so much anxiety about missing the boat. I cant take private tours anymore. Peace of mind costs more but is worth it. 

Same here. I was stressed for them just seeing it all go down. 

44 minutes ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

THIS is why I no longer book private excursions. I just cant imagine. 

 

I wonder how late they were? 

I’m on Symphony right now and saw the whole incident from my balcony. They came back at around 4:10 and our all aboard was 3:30. The ship announcements called for them multiple times before closing everything. They were about 5 minutes too late. We had another group of 14 people show up in golf carts super late too at 4pm. They all got on. 

26 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

Some travel insurance policies will let you file a claim for changes in itinerary or missing a port, even if you get compensation from the cruiseline (OBC, etc.).  Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for this type of coverage for some reason.  I know for sure Florida residents are excluded.

Okay not worth looking into then as we’re Florida residents. Thanks for the info!

34 minutes ago, Cel_cruise said:

We are approaching Nassau for our waste of a day...arrival at 10:00 /debark at 10:30 and all aboard by 3:30...#lame. Wish I had taken out the Nationwide insurance that would have paid for adjustments to ports of call! This was much longer when we originally booked!

It’s currently 8:30am...Looks like a few ships are already in port..




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May I ask what you mean about the insurance adjustment? We bought the insurance through the cruise line. Is that eligible for an adjustment? We are on a different sailing but the same itinerary where originally when we booked we were scheduled to be there longer and now it's the same as you. P.S. Great review!

2 hours ago, Robo1098 said:

Yes but deck 14

Thank you both!

Where's the best place to watch sailaway from Miami? On my past cruises I would walk to the front of the ship and watch it from a deck that had an outside area which looks to be above the bridge on Symphony (deck 12 I think?). Would you recommend there?

11 hours ago, Grenouille21 said:

I booked it in advance on Cruise Planner.  I went looking for the email confirmation to see when I booked it, but I cannot find it.  I want to say it was within a month of sailing?  But it had been available for a while.  I wonder if they are going toward booking on board only?

Super strange. Yeah, they might be as it's no where to be found on Cruise Planner. I guess I'll ask someone when we board where to book it.

On 3/30/2019 at 2:09 AM, Grenouille21 said:

Day 4 continued

 

Before we got back on the ship, we wanted to do some shopping.  DD wanted to buy something to wear for dinner, as she had only brought t-shirts and jeans, and a dream.  So we explored some of the shops.  We had reservations at the Escape room at 4:00pm, and we had to be there exactly at 4 or we would lose our spot.  It was probably 3:30 and I kept telling DD that we had to get back on the ship, we had reservations, etc. but she was absolutely set on buying a "nice" shirt or dress.  

Did you book the Escape room when you boarded? If so, when and where did you do it? We haven't had it come up on our cruise planner and we're only a few weeks out now. Thank you and LOVE your review!

1 hour ago, ihopfar said:

Ah Ok.  I thought you were on our cruise.  So you are in St Kitts on April 30th.  

Close enough to May 😂

6 hours ago, colesc15 said:

We didn't go in the water. You only get about an hour and the beach looked pretty crappy

Do you happen to remember which beach you went to?

2 hours ago, Scillycruisers said:

Just off the Symphony, everything is done on ship time regardless of which port / time zone you are in. 

Thank you for the info!

4 hours ago, ihopfar said:

 

By the way, are you on the May 18th sailing?  We are on that sailing and I see 8-5 not 9-6 listed on the itinerary. 

Oh no we're on the April 27th sailing

5 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

Hello! Here’s my answers:

No, you couldn’t swim in the tide pools at the lava rocks. 

When we snorkeled, we saw a lot of huge starfish, and different colored fish around the shipwreck, which was really cool to see. 

For the beach time we just went in the water and hung out on the sand and took it all in. So I’m not sure if there was snorkeling there. I think it was Cockleshell beach, so maybe google “snorkeling at cockleshell beach” and see if anything on trip advisor or cruise critic comes up. 

The rainforest hike was probably an hour or so. That part was so interesting! It was my son’s favorite part of the day. Javin gives you so much information, and quizzes you on plants and things—it’s fun. We saw wild monkeys too which was cool. And the best part? No one else is there. It’s not a touristy spot. Javin created the trail himself, dug steps and made railings out of bamboo. No one else goes there. So it was just our group of 9. So fun and so beautiful and peaceful. 

Thank you for all of the information!

On 3/6/2019 at 9:37 PM, FirstAnthem said:

We were recently in St Kitts and took this excursion. It was me, my husband and two kids, ages 14 and 12. It was the best excursion out of all we have taken so far! Such a wonderful day—a rainforest hike, climbing on lava rocks by the ocean, a drive through the island, learning so many island facts, a wonderful lunch provided, followed by great snorkeling and some time at the beach. A little bit of everything. And Javin’s pet monkey was on the tour with us and was so hilarious—a really unique and fun part of the excursion! Never thought we’d have a monkey sitting on our shoulders! Many wonderful family memories made that day. I highly recommend it for your stop in beautiful St Kitts! (Javin also takes pictures of you the whole day and puts them on his website for you for free. We have so many awesome family photos from our great day.) 

Hi! I have a few questions if you don't mind:

Were you able to swim in the tide pools of the lava rocks?

Was there a lot to see in the snorkel area you went to?

At the beach time, were you able to snorkel there too and if so, was there anything to see? 

How long was the rainforest hike and was that part interesting?

Thank you for your help!

8 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

 

We did! It was a lot of fun. The thing I didn't care for was we didn't do a ton of off roading. Would I do it again? Probably not. 

Oh, good to know! The beach they took you to at the end, did you happen to snorkel and if you did was there much to see? I've heard St. Kitts isn't the best for snorkeling.

1 minute ago, ihopfar said:

I am sure someone will be around to correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is St. Kiits is Atlantic Standard Time but does not have Daylight Savings Time.

 

So Atlantic Standard Time is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time, but is the same as Eastern Daylight Time, if that makes sense.

Yeah definitely makes sense and that would be amazing as having to figure out the time is a bit of a pain.