dpostman

Coors Light would be included in the Select package. Bud, Miller, Coors, all 3 are the 16oz screw top aluminum can.

dp

There were some outstanding wines available by the glass at Giovanna's for a little more than the package ($5-$7). Can't speak to Chops as we split a couple of bottles of Rombauer with my brother, but we did get the 20% off so they were reasonable.

What you say is very true. now that I re-read my post, I should have said that even if there were very few wines available by the glass, those that we had were very nice.

dp

In the speciality restaurants is there a decent choice of wines which are included in the drinks packages (eg 12 dollars a glass or less).

 

Many thanks for any help.

In both specialty restaurants we ate at last week, there were only a few choices per wine type that were available by the glass. The waiters pushed the bottles but were fine with getting our wine by the glass on our package. The choices were different in Chops and Portofinos. The wine suggested by our waiter Flavio in Portofino was great but I can't remember what it was. But It was an Italian wine.

Omg....I pay $15 for 5 liters of wine.....no way would I pay $12-14 for one GLASS! I know drinks are always more pricey "out" than at home, but lordy...that's way too much!

If you are happy with the wine you get in a 5 litre box for $5, you'll be plenty happy with the wine available for $6 to $8 per glass on ships. :D

dp

Quite honestly, this was one of the few complaints we had on our recent cruise, was the limited choices available by the glass.

I believe you should have received an e-mail with a link to the survey. I received mine when I was still in the Airport in FLL a few hours after disembarking last Monday.

My wife also received an email link in her email.

dp

Just got off Liberty last Monday (4 night cruise). Formal night was on day 2. My wife & I ate at Portofinos that night. In Portofinos (Early seating) I was the only one wearing a complete suite. One other had a sports jacket and no tie. Everyone else was wearing a Button shirt either with or without a tie. When we were having desert my wife asked where we were going after, when I said we should go to the promenade, she was worried that we would be overdressed. I said not to worry. Sure enough, the Royal Promenade was hosting the captain's reception, free champagne was being handed out. The environment felt very chic. A few men wore tuxes, there were several with complete suites, many shirts with sports jackets, a few golf shirts, and I kid you not, one guy (He might have won the belly flop competition) was wearing a red wife beater cut off sleeves shirt (Can I even call this a shirt?) that did not quite cover the entirety of his... how can I put this politely.... his belly flop equipment. His shorts looked like they used to be long jeans but had been cut off a few years ago, and the matching footwear... Flip flops, not sandals, the big toe thong flip flops. I don't really usually care about what others are wearing but it did sort of look out of place. The Liberty Band was playing jazz and they sounded and looked great.

On the first night in the MDR, I wore a Shirt & tie, and I felt I was over dressed. I feel that is normal because many probably had not received their luggage yet but we had.

On nights 3 & 4, I chose to wear a nice shirt but no tie and I did not feel out of place at all. But the rest of the crowds were better dressed than on night 1.

All in all, the dress pants and opened collared, tucked in, shirt is probably the most common choice for most men on most nights. And then runs all the way up the scale, and all the way down as well ;)

dp

Just got off LOTS last Monday. Yes, as stated, there is a Cigar lounge. It is on deck 5, just before the entrance to the Sphinx on the right.

dp

Just off Liberty this morning. Tim Connor was CD on our April 2nd Cruise. Have no Idea for how long.

dp

Just off Liberty today. We had night 2 (formal night ) in Portofino. It was topnotch. Flavio was our waiter and was super. He said that portofino will remain until the next dry dock. Then it will swing over to Giovanni's.

dp

OP, glad you are taking things in stride. I'd be very frustrated as well. As far as CC, this place is famous for killing the messenger and punishing the innocent. I feel badly that you've been put on trial by some here for venting your frustration. Hope the rest of your cruise goes better. A vacation is a terrible thing to waste. :cool:

You are right again. It's funny/sad how it seems many here forget that the forum is called Cruise Critic. If they just want to cheer lead, and not hear the Good, the bad and the Ugly they should head over : WeLuv2CruiseNoMatterWhat.com :p

The OP seems to have a good enough sense of humor that I don't doubt that they will make out OK in the end.

dp

 

I have duly noted my responsibility to look on the dark side of things.

I think the biggest issue that some people including myself had with your post, is that the OP was mearly venting some frustrations and maybe looking for a little sympathy. I felt like the OP was going to get over it, especially if she ever gets her suitcase. Your post was simply stating the already obvious and I'm sure the OP has already learned from her day. It felt like you were kicking someone that was already down.

Just my 2 cents.

dp

Maybe I'm just a Pollyanna, but all that sounds pretty mild, to me. True, it's not the ideal start, but you're really just talking about a bit of a slow check-in process and a delay in the cabins being available (probably related to extra cleaning because of some cases of norovirus) and one missing piece of luggage.

 

You manage to make everything they try to do for you sound like a bad thing. It's nice that they provided you with toiletries, t-shirt and complimentary laundry service.

 

I'm not unsympathetic to the annoyances, but at least you'll learn to pack a little better. Sounds like you had "heavy carry-on luggage" that didn't hold any of the things you really needed.

That was the smartest thing you said in your post. Pollyanna: to refer to a personality type characterised by irrepressible optimism evident in the face of even the most adverse or discouraging of circumstances. It is sometimes used pejoratively, referring to someone whose optimism is excessive to the point of naïveté or refusing to accept the facts of an unfortunate situation.

:p

dp

@thrasht

As far as I know, all beers were included in the Premium & Ultimate packages except for 2.

The Chimay (750ml) and The Fosters Oil Can, and I've even seen a few posts that said the Fosters was included so...

I do believe that if the Beer was not included, you had to pay the full price, not just the difference.

As for the select package, I think it includes a more limited selection of beer but I can't say where the cut off is, or how it is determined.

dp

Look forward to your review! Maybe because it's an Easter week cruise, they'll have more of a selection. Cheers!

That sure would be nice. As long as they don't expect me to make any sacrifices and abstain from meat and drinking for the duration of the cruise.:eek:

dp

We are sailing on Thursday, so I will give you all a run down on brews. I am not an IPA lover myself, more of an unfiltered gal, but the husband enjoys an IPA or two. Well, maybe more with the drink package and no worries of driving. YAHOO!!!

Darn, you beat me to it :p

Is that on Liberty? if so, Great! I'll see you both at the pub. I'll probably have my Tilley hat on my head and an IPA in my hand.

dp

I should also add: I'm boarding Liberty for the Easter Cruise this Thursday April 2nd. I will probably not be writing a long and detailed review of our cruise. Many people with way better writing skills than I have already and will do this in the future.

But, you can rest assured, that as a Co-Host to a local friendly annual beer fest (10 years running), I will be taking pictures and notes of what beers are actually available and at what bars throughout the ship. I'll probably not be making individual reviews of any of the beers since those can be found on many websites already.

I'll also be taking notes regarding different drinks and my thoughts on which bars/bartender makes the better ones :D

dp

312 is OK, but I love their summer ale.

 

I have to imagine the craft beer might be hit or miss on how long the beer has been on board. Can't imagine it turns over often. I don't see the cruising crowd as much of a craft beer crowd, but I could be wrong.

I see lots of talk on CC about specialty beers, more than I expected to see. I'm into craft beers myself. The available selection that I seen on Gambees list, are more than what I expected for a cruse ship. Now I would add that International / imported beers do not often qualify as "Craft" beer, but still better than just having BMC on board. (BMC = Bud/Miller/Coors)

OT: I was really impressed with the Carnival Vista thread that has popped up recently that mentions that there will be a Full time Brew master on board, creating different brews on the ship, to serve on tap at different locations on the ship. Now that is a WOW.

dp

Looks like a great option for families. Would most definately like to try out one of those hammocks.

dp

I was trying to factor in the Buy 1 drink package Get the 2nd 50% off sale going on right now, which effectively lowers the drink package by 25% for 2 drink packages. Perhaps I went about it in a less straight forward way.

Oh... Right. Now it makes way more sense. I should have figured that out but never thought of the 2nd package at 50%. Now that I re-read your original post I can clearly see that you had stated that.:o

We bought our ultimate pkg last november @ $69 CDN PPPD including fees. now they are $80 CDN PPPD. We cruise Next week on Liberty (April 2nd).

dp

Perhaps, I just went over on the RCI website and during our April 2nd sailing, the only available options were 2 different Chops (one regular and one California wine pairing) and only on 2 nights left (First and third nights only).

I double checked and both our reservations are still there (Portofino on April 3rd (Night 2) and Chops on the 5th (night 4).

we had however booked these back on November 17th. Maybe they are just full, but from the rumblings on CC about specialty restaurants pricing and how they are usually only half full. Although I don't recall hearing of any pricing increases for Portofino, only Chops, perhaps Cruisers are chosing Portofino first because of the increasing price difference.

dp

Trying to book Portofinos on upcoming April cruise but planner doesn't show ANY restaurant available for booking other than Chops...has Portofinos begun construction change over to Giovanni's perhaps and this not open? Any recent cruisers verify? Thx!

Not sure when in April your cruise is, but we have Portofino on Liberty booked on Friday April 3rd.

dp

So on previous threads or RC blogs I've read, the general consensus was you would need to drink 6-7 drinks per person per day to make the drinks package worth it.

 

However since RC is offering the B1G50% off on drink packages, and with the increase in individual drink prices, has the number of drinks per day been lowered to consider the drink packages?

 

I'm looking at the Premium drink package at $49/pp/day

$49 +$49/2 = $73.50 + Tax

$73.50/$10 per drink = 7.35 drinks per day for 2 people

7.35 drinks per day/2 people = 3.675 drinks per day per person to break even

 

So now, it's ~4 drinks per person (or 8 per couple), per day to make the premium drink package worth it. Am I missing something? Tax is added on to both the packages and drinks so I didn't include it. Is this roughly accurate? I'm normally a few drinks during the day, glass of wine or two with dinner type of gal. I didn't previously consider the drinks package worth it, but now I'm reconsidering. . ..

You don't teach math in school do you? :p Maybe I'm just not getting your calculations but they seem WAY more complicated than they need be:

If I take your $10 per drink average: 5 Drinks X $10 each = $50

Premium Package is $49. So after 5 drinks, you're ahead by $1

I did not factor in the tips because you were not also in your calcs.

dp

Let us know what happens when you get back. I will be dropped off earlier than what I'm sure my email or phone call will tell me. Curious to see if they are going to make us wait or will get us on. Either way is fine if that is what it is but just curious.

Will do.

dp

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We would like to provide you with important information regarding your sailing on April 2, 2015, onboard Liberty of the Seas. To enhance your check-in and boarding experience, we ask that you arrive to the terminal after 12:00 PM. Your check-in window is between 12:00 PM and 3:30 PM. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming you onboard the Liberty of the Seas.

 

Is there an issue here or are they just trying to avoid congestion at the terminal?

My wife and I both got the same email yesterday. We are on that same sailing. My DW asked me what do we do about the letter... I said Ignore it. Our checkout time at the Hotel is 11am and Plan to make our way to the terminal at that time. If the personnel at the port have a problem with us arriving at 11 or 11:30, then I'll ask them if they would prefer that we wait out by the curb ;)

dp

does anyone have the book/ list of drinks that are served on the ships?

 

Thanks

The list of available drinks is probably still close to accurate, but the pricing has increased.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2176366

If you would like pictures of the drinks, try this site:

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/royal-caribbean-drink/

dp

Just remember that for many, and especially first time cruisers, expectations are the result of the cruise lines and their advertisements, brochures, TV commercials, etc. When the cruise lines fall short of the bar that they set themselves it isn't fair to blame the disappointment all on the consumer. We all learn from experience. The first time cruiser has very little experience to fall back on. Sometimes the cruise lines just fall victim to the success of their own marketing.

 

Even with returning cruiser this can be an issue. The cruise lines want you to feel like, and go out of their way to create the illusion that, you are the most important person in the world to them and when you step foot on the ship you are returning home. Then when they fall short and someone expresses any disappointment that person gets jumped all over by some posters on these boards. I, and many here, have a much more realistic view about cruise lines and cruising but we have all leared that over time and with experience. And since we all cruise for our own reasons it is very possible for one person to have a great cruise and another have a horrible cruise on the same ship and same sailing. It all depends on what one was looking for in the first place.

Thanks OB. Those are pretty much the sentiments I was trying to convey but you said(wrote) it much better.

English is a second language for my, but honestly, I'm not much better in my first language anyway :rolleyes:

dp