crd27

On 5/19/2023 at 9:44 PM, pa_snowbird said:

Has anyone booked a Cove Balcony?

 

I did book a Cove Balcony!  It is a Guarantee.  We really enjoy the cove balconies on Carnival ships.

Our June 19 sailing has replaced Skagway with Icy Strait Point.  We had booked the train and will definitely miss that.  🙁

16 minutes ago, Reisdawg said:

Did this include a time for ice skating when you were on the Allure?  My wife really wants to skate and I just bought the Key when it was on sale this week. 

This did include time for ice skating while on Allure in Oct22.  There was private time for FlowRider, Ice Skating, Rock Climbing Wall, and Zipline.

The time reserved for these activities are not always the most convenient, but between the Key times and other "regular" times, hopefully one of them will work out for your wife!

-C

1 hour ago, JEN5508 said:

I'm worried we will get bored so I'm considering RC over Princess.  Was anyone unhappy with Alaska?  Should we try something another destination?  We've been to the Caribbean so just looking for something different.

Yes, you should do Alaska!  We went in 2019 after going on several Caribbean cruises.  I don't even put the Alaska cruise in the same category as the Caribbean cruises.  You can't compare them, they are completely different. But I love both of them.  Alaska is the most beautiful place and to see it on a cruise is a good choice.  As you are sailing along, you see waterfalls cascading into the ocean, the snow-capped mountains are very majestic. The beauty is unmatched.

As someone mentioned, be prepared for any weather.  We were lucky (or blessed) and had amazing sunny weather for most days so we count ourselves fortunate. We did go on Princess which I do recommend.  I wouldn't say we were bored to tears on Princess but there are definitely more options to keep you entertained on an RCI ship. The ability to go into Glacier Bay is worth the trade-off, in my opinion.

We are booked on Quantum in June this year going back to Alaska so it will nice to compare and contrast with our first experience.

I wouldn't say its the "norm" per se but you definitely will see many that are dressed up. Many different levels of dressy.

On 12/27/2022 at 9:00 PM, crd27 said:

Yes, I'm still waiting.  My TA had to call about my refund and said it would be 7-10 business days from the day she called which was Dec 20. So, with all the holidays I figure that means it might be sometime around when we sail in January....

Whattdyaknow?  I did just received my credit card refund!  A relief to be sure.  I hope that everyone else will eventually receive theirs as well!  

Happy New Year!!

C

On 12/24/2022 at 10:01 AM, bluecruise456 said:

Is any one still waiting for refunds from 11/18 or 11/19?

 

Yes, I'm still waiting.  My TA had to call about my refund and said it would be 7-10 business days from the day she called which was Dec 20. So, with all the holidays I figure that means it might be sometime around when we sail in January....

On 12/17/2022 at 7:30 PM, crd27 said:

I'm still waiting for my refund from 11/19.  I think I might need to call on Monday... 

I called and they wouldn't help me because my cruise was booked though my TA, even though the specific order/cancellation was done via the website independently.  Anyway, I contacted my TA and she got back with me and said there were "issues" (as we all know from this thread) but to expect my refund in 7-10 business days. Here's hoping...

I'm still waiting for my refund from 11/19.  I think I might need to call on Monday... 

On Allure in October for our Key lunch, they gave us a choice of table for two (but would need to wait until one was available) or table for 6 with no wait.

On 10/8/2022 at 10:34 AM, Ozark_Kid said:

You are welcome.   It's not easy to find when you are not aware that the option is there.  Remember that after today this week's cruise will disappear.   We are also cruising Allure 10/15.  I made a spreadsheet of the shows so we can get an idea what we want to reserve when we board.  Maybe we will meet!  Happy cruisin.

I am interested in your spreadsheet of the shows.  My wife and I will be on Allure 10/15 also.  If you don't want to do that, I am totally fine with that, just wondering if you are open to share it...

Nice review, thanks for sharing!!

1 hour ago, karrotscruiser said:

We are looking more into an itinerary that isn't touring but more just going to the beach and spending our days there. This is also our first time cruising, so I need all the help I can get.

I would choose option #1.  Half Moon Cay is absolutely beautiful, Grand Turk is also a great beach (head to your left off the pier and walk to the beach in front of Jack's Shack) and how can you go wrong with Aruba??  I think the Dream is the best ship in your three options but for me the stops at Nassau and Freeport kind of tip the scale towards Sunrise and the Southern Caribbean.  In fact, I'm going to check out that cruise for myself!

Take care!

C

I apologize for bringing up the past if you didn't want to know, but in case someone is interested... here is an update on this story...

https://www.ksl.com/article/46712892/utah-man-to-plead-guilty-in-wifes-death-on-alaska-cruise

On 3/1/2019 at 10:39 PM, SuperCrewBear said:

...  The lady who was in charge let us go ahead and pay at that time so we wouldn't have to [possibly] stand in line later.  She said it really didn't matter what time we showed up (during their open hours) because they would have groups coming and going the entire afternoon & evening.  There isn't much parking for cars but it doesn't matter because most everyone comes on a shuttle.  

 

 

 

 

How much did they charge you for this salmon bake?  Thanks.

That sounds great!! I was similar to you with paying for Florida travel for years (but not 10+). Finally booked an Alaska cruise for May 2019. One thing I have been told is to do the train ride in Skagway. Still researching everything but really looking forward to it! I've heard that Tracy Arm is fantastic. Ours will do Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.

I disagree, the reason why I looked at is because I wanted to find out if he went to trail.

 

 

I was surprised what the request was, but don't view it as pointless, did remember the details so provided the information.

 

 

In recent months, seems...that so many threads are being pulled from the archives, that we have to check the dates and search for a current post before responding.

I also vote to keep this thread active. I want to know about the trial outcome and further details along the way. Thanks to everyone for providing information!

I'm 0/1 in the recent years and have stopped booking Bahamas cruises because of it. I'd rather be guaranteed a stop in Labadee (plus an extra cruise night or 2 can't hurt). We're trying again in September on Mariner when the dock was *supposed* to be done. With my luck it'll be a cruise or 2 after that actually docks for the first time. I guess Royal is going to rope us into another one. ;)

I wish Labadee WAS a guaranteed stop. We found out otherwise in January 2016 when we couldn't stop there because of political unrest. I was totally crushed. :loudcry: I am hoping for better luck this coming October (yn)

Just off the Breeze last weekend and I was impressed that our room thermostat was very responsive. We turned it down at night to keep cool and usually had to turn it up during the day because it got chilly. I'm not sure the actual temperatures because I didn't have a thermometer.

Hope my parents are ok.

I certainly hope so as well!!

An ambulance is pulled up on the dock beside her. You can see it pretty well on the Fort Lauderdale Cam.

Does anyone know why Caribbean Princess is returning to Port Everglades right now on the webcam. According to the schedule, it should have departed from there a couple hours ago... Is it very late arriving or did something happen after they departed which caused them to return?

... therefore in PV, the ship time was one hour behind port time and in Mazatlan and Cabo the ship time was the same as port time.

Didn't catch a lot of the entertainment. They had a comedian onboard until PV, and he was pretty funny - saw him both nights. We went to "Magic to Do" and hated it -- feel guilty to say we left about 20 minutes in, which is rare for us. Normally we stay put even if we aren't enjoying something. Skipped all of the production shows after that. We caught the guy in the lounge doing a Neil Diamond tribute (as well as various other short shows he did in the Wheelhouse Bar during the cruise) and he was pretty good. And we enjoyed DJ Nikki up in Skywalkers.

 

I agree the comedian was extremely good, loved him. But we also loved "Magic to Do" as well as all of the other production shows. Different people will have different opinions and I respect that. I also thought the food was quite good, especially in the dining room. We were on Emerald Princess last October (2015) and were quite disappointed with both entertainment and food, but this cruise experience as far as food/entertainment goes received a big thumbs up from us!

C&C

I am speculating here and wonder about other viewpoints.

 

 

For those who choose traditional dining, are there many empty seats in the dining room at tables?

 

Based on my experience on the Ruby last week where we were on the 8:00 pm TD seating, there were quite a few empty seats around. I think that could be part of the reason. We have always done the late TD. No lines, no wait. It works well for us and don't plan on changing anytime soon.