Cruise Gopher

7 hours ago, RICruisegal said:

I went to price check as I do on a regular basis, and the cruise is now missing.  It was an 8 night to the ABC islands.  Don't know why it has disappeared! Does anyone know? I have not received a phone call or email concerning this. Ugh - our 50th anniversary & my 70th birthday.

It appears to be available on the TA site. All looks good. 

Well their new branding seems to be working. The zoom zoom fast photos and video is all part of their new brand guidelines that launched earlier this week. 
 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/NCC/NCC_2024_Brand_Guidelines.pdf

1 hour ago, Katstang said:

We will be arriving on oasis in Naples and want to go to Capri. I want to purchase ferry tickets myself because RC are much more expensive. My question is there anyway to know what time the ship will disembark in Naples? I have to choose a time to leave from port to Capri. Thank you.

I’ve done this three times. Love Capri!

Plan to get off maybe about 30 mins after the scheduled arrival time in port. 
 

We usually bought the ferry time for around like 10am and then the return like around 3:30pm (depends on what time your ship leaves). 

Make sure you look at the ferry schedules and choose a timeslot that is a fast ferry and not a slow one. 
 

Must see and do things in Capri:

- Take bus or taxi up to Anacapri then take the chairlift up to the top of the mountain (even better views)

- Augustus Gardens (great views)
- Drinks/lunch in Capri

- Take the Funicular back down to the port at the end of the day before catching the ferry back

I checked the Celebrity booking site that TAs use and the sailing is showing as normal. Usually if it’s being redeployed or canceled they will mark the sailing as closed in the system but that’s not the case here. 
 

The Celebrity website might have just been undergoing some maintenance. Keep checking back. 

Yes $200 is totally worth it for a dedicated spot for the day with great waiter/bar service to bring you drinks and food. You can order the Luminae burger which is delicious. 
 

Also even though you have the premium drink package, it’s nice to have the included bottle of champagne. 
 

Technically, all jeans are designer jeans if you think about it. Some human had to design the fit, finish, cut, etc of the jeans. 🙃

8 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

...but there is no hardwired port to connect to in the staterooms, if that is what @Algoron is asking.  All internet access is wireless.

I know. But they aren’t being clear about WHY they are wanting to hard wire plug their computer into the Ethernet jack with a cable. 
 

Maybe they are bringing a full size desktop computer and monitor? 🤣

You can also bring your own travel router and enable VPN on it and then plug your laptop into the travel router via Ethernet cable. 

28 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I think its only 2 bathrooms.  But there is one cruise site that does show a third bathroom. I could be wrong but does not the NCL site say 2 bathrooms?  I think the bedrooms upstairs share a bathroom.  I like the use of space.  Many RCCL suites have a similar layout but its loft style which takes up space for a high ceiling in the living room.  I wish they were aft. I always like to sail port side but this time I picked starboard because no slides on that side. 

Almost certain it’s 3 bathrooms based on NCL’s photos and the general layout of the room. 
 

5 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Me too.  I will be excited to see it. They are less expensive than an owners suite.  It’s either going to be out of this world or meh.

The renderings looks great. It’s definitely going to be “cozy” in the living room area as that appears to be tiny. But at least there is 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

We booked the Aqua the day it was announced. Booked one of the 3 bedroom duplex Haven suites. Can’t wait!!!

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Royal may have negotiated with Aruba to allow the ship casino to open the night of their departure.   

What were the casino hours posted for today?  

7pm til late. 
 

Interesting! 

We are currently in port of Aruba and it’s 10:12pm and just walked through the casino and it’s jammed packed with people gambling. Do they allow the ship to open the casino while docked in Aruba? This totally caught me off guard, since we don’t leave until 11pm tonight. 

42 minutes ago, jfio1021 said:

How is the pizza, is it elevated above sorentos or pretty similar?

Also what about the actual ocean, too cold to swim?

Pizza is on par with Sorrentos. I liked it, they have a couple unique options like a BBQ chicken one and a seafood one. 
 

Ocean is ice cold. It was so funny watching people walk into it and freak out and scream when they saw how cold it was. Regardless though, some people did go all the way into the cold water to swim a bit. 

33 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

We're also at Coco Cay today and the Oasis pool is freezing. A heated pool would be nice.

Yeah the Hideaway pool is super warm. I stepped into it for a second and was like wow!

3 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

that doesnt seem any louder than the bar area of the main pool on the island

Yep it’s comparable to the Oasis Lagoon pool on the island which in itself is a big party pool too. 

Let’s see if the video will upload. 

42 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

Is the whole pool area loud, or is it concentrated on one end?  Is the only tranquil area on the beach, not near the pool?

Yes it’s SUPER loud! We are down by the pizza place and the volume has increased (it’s now 11:20am). So the quiet that we had way down here is now gone. I can’t imagine how loud it must be in the actual pool. 
 

I’m going to walk over to the Hideaway Hut for food in a bit so I’ll get some video and sense for how loud it is. 

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

 This is the second report I've seen noting you can get away from the noise. That was my biggest concern about Hideaway once details were released.

Yep when I first heard about the adults only area I was super excited for a nice tranquil place and then when Royal officially announced it as a big party atmosphere I was so disappointed. But yeah in reality it’s very easy to find a nice quiet spot on the far end. 

Just got here. For those wondering, you scan your sea pass to enter so no kids would ever be allowed in. 
 

Yes the pool area is VERY loud (not our scene) but you can easily escape that. We walked down towards the pizza place and got chairs there and it’s much quieter and relaxing. 

We are at CocoCay today and going to hideaway beach. I can report back later today. 😎

58 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

Rather than long-time Celebrity cruisers (especially those who are 65+), I think VV is targeting the same demographic Celebrity has been targeting recently, i.e. DINKS (double income, no kids) in their 30s-50s who want a somewhat elevated experience in terms of food/service/entertainment, but still plenty of fun. As someone who took her first X cruise 13 years ago at the age of 33, I know I wasn't Celebrity's target sailor back then. However, their marketing (and the product) has changed significantly since then, and now at the age of 46 I feel like I am precisely who Celebrity is trying to attract - at least until their general marketing strategy fell to pieces. At this point they it's impossible to tell what kind of sailor they're after!

We are dinks ages between 42 and 53 and we have zero desire to sail on Virgin. Their rooms are horribly designed, ship outer decks are so unappealing, prices are sky high (even when considering the inclusions), itineraries in the Caribbean are timed poorly (who wants to embark mid-week?). 
 

VV could make some tweaks and we might consider them, but for now we’ll stick with Celebrity. 

I’m betting Celebrity is blocking Cruise Critic on the basic package. 

Try signing out of the app and then trying to sign back in. It might recognize properly then. 

Actually, I may have found it, it might be this. I’ll try ordering and see how it is.  https://a.co/d/92aB3tj