The Fun Researcher

4 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

I know! Totally surprised when I found out that Oasis has it!

It is not on the cruise planner and on the compass (it will say my time 6.45pm to 9pm) - what they do is, they set aside about 40% of the my time space and move people to it that have the same reservations around 7pm for each day at my time - you will get a sea pass with the 6.45 dining time and your table number.

On Liberty in early June.  Do you know if there is any way, precruise, to shift our early seating to this 6:45 slot?  I'd much rather have that time slot.  ...or maybe even see the maître d once we're onboard?

35 minutes ago, doghog said:

We only use the W n F laundry perk (both RC and Celebrity) for underwear and socks. And even at that we really don't need to as we both over pack on those items. To be honest, we over pack on all clothes items. 

I've been working on that every cruise... to pack just enough for what I need.  I've ALWAYS had extra items.  It used to be a lot.... shorts, shirts, underwear..., but this last cruise was down to only one pair of socks that weren't needed.  I'm getting there...  LOL

Just now, Sonic2012 said:

I’m on Grandeur right now and the food has been good. The desserts are a little bland, other than the red velvet cake at Chops Grill. I have no complaints.

 I agree, they are still far more bland than they should be, but it's hard to believe it's been an improvement over the years 🤣 

I think back to when we first sailed in 2012.  I remember looking at all these amazing desserts (and I'm not really much of a dessert person) and thinking, This is Amazing!...  until I bit into them.  Massive lack flavor.  I couldn't find one that really impressed me like all the other food on Royal

UFO sounds far more exciting.  I vote for UFO.

13 minutes ago, doghog said:

And cruise more with RC to become D+. 🙂

Working on it.  😉

With reciprocal benefits on Celebrity this past December, we had the benefit of a free bag of laundry for each of the five in our family.  Never used it once, but it was nice to know we had the option!

Interesting how, after 35 cruises, ONE bad experience draws the broad conclusion that food "has gone downhill fast".  There's always the chance that things aren't going to be up to norm.

Even within all our Royal sailings, some have been noticeably better than others, some below average.  I wouldn't draw conclusions from one bad experience and am always willing to give it another try.

I will say that there are a few things that have been removed or scaled back on recently that bother me in particular.  The sandwiches in Café Promenade used to have more quality/costly fillings like roast beef, salmon, etc... on the last two cruises on Anthem and Quantum if was either veggies,  bologna, or tuna salad.  ...and I do miss the lamb chops in the MDR.

If you are hell-bent on no checked bags then just pony up and pay for Royal to wash your clothing if needed.

Early is 5:15pm on the upcoming sailing and late is 7:45pm.  Not sure what time they are slotting in MTD currently.

Short answer, NO.  Getting off the ship the morning of your last day sucks enough, no reason to make it even suckier.  🙂

Too much risk and stress on top of a bummer of a morning

18 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Unless it's children running hard we have not heard an increase in foot traffic being near that location.  I don't disagree that everyone with staterooms in you hallway using the elevators will pass by your stateroom, but the staterooms are insulated well enough that we have not heard them walking by. If you think about it, everyone in a given hallway walks by many staterooms every day without causing a noise issue.

Not disagreeing.

There are cabin locations that have far less foot traffic past them, so have less chance of hallway noise.  For example, far forward, far aft, or a middle hallway for inside cabins.   Those cabins have far less chance of folks walking by.

I'm not saying there are problems, in general, with cabins by the elevators.  It does increase the risk of hearing people being loud just because more folks are passing my your cabin door.

For instance, take deck 8 forward on the Liberty for example.  Cabin 8244 will have FAR more foot traffic past it than 8214 since everyone going to their cabins both forward and aft will be passing by coming from the stairs and elevators.   8214 will have hardly any foot traffic since there are only a few cabins forward of it, so no reason to pass by

As others have mentioned, being near an elevator you will not hear the elevator itself but moreso (if anything ) the foot traffic that passes by your door more frequently in that location. On many ships, suites are in those locations so it can’t be that noisy. Otherwise there would be some major complaints for spending that much money on a suite only to have noise outside your cabin 

If check-in is 11am, I would show up at 10:30am and get in line.  If they question anything let them know your 11am check-in time AND that you have a lunch reservation for 12pm.  You should be perfectly fine, and even if you are a little late to Jamie's you'll be fine as well.

...and my opinion of the key is that it's a total waste of money.  I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Even though Galveston has been the most difficult cruise port for us logistically, we had a great time spending 3 nights in a vacation condo and visiting the island before our cruise.  It's a wonderful downtown to walk the shops, there are some great places to eat, and fun walking the beach.  I do wish they would do longer sailings from there to get to the Eastern or Southern Caribbean.

25 minutes ago, bilyclub said:

It's a great port if you are driving in from Texas. Not so much if flying. Rental cars are a pain, especially because they are closed on Sunday and charge for an extra day plus drop off charges. I would never pay to park a rental for 7 days.

Yeah it only made since because we needed a way to get around and tour the island the three days before our cruise.   The rental was $480 and the parking was $90.  So $570 total.  When you consider the other option of paying for transportation from BUSH back and forth on the island for 7 people it made sense to do the rental and parking for not much more.  Galveston is the only port that has forced that issue though.

Just jumping in to say that, of all the cruise ports we've sailed from, Galveston is the biggest pain when it comes to the logistics. (We've sailed from Port Canaveral, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Bayonne NJ, Seattle, and Galveston)

We sailed new years 2017/2018 from Galveston.  Maybe this has changed but the primary problem is due to no good places to drop off a rental car near the cruise terminal.  We typically purchase a rental car from the airport the day before and drop it off near the cruise port the day of the cruise.

However in Galveston we ended up having to hold onto the rental car for an additional 7 days and pay for parking by the port because there was no good place to drop it off, or pick one up after the cruise.  We are a family of 5, typically with a set of grandparents with so shuttle costs really add up.  Plus we wanted a few nights before the cruise to tour and stay in Galveston and needed transportation. 

Typically, we rent a minivan that holds 7.  Yeah it's tight in the minivan getting to the hotel, or the morning going to the cruise ship.  However, once bags are dropped off to the hotel, the vehicle works great to have free reign to visit places the day before the cruise.  Galveston just took more work, and cost, for the ground transportation portion of the vacation.

Sorry if some of those are a little out of order. I just did screenshots from the app and pasted them.  It is from the current sailing right now.

Maybe I shouldn't have reset my password.

I went in, reset to the same password I had before, then I just had to look in the cruise planner.  $350 later... I should have just stayed logged out. 🤣

Any resolution to this yet?  I just tried to log in with the credentials I've been using for years and no bueno.

5 hours ago, JJK2008 said:

In years past, many of the cruise lines had really nice pool towels with embroided logos on them. Of course, many of them disappeared. Hence, today we have cheap towels and a charge if you don't return them. 

No doubt, why they think they need to charge for scratchy used pool towels, i don't know.

We've been charged a number of times.  As a family of 5 we've always booked two rooms.  Sometimes we'll check towels out with one room's card and forget and return them with the other room's card.  Fortunately we've caught the charges ($100+)  each time but it's a hassle to go down to guest services to fix it.

On 4/12/2024 at 2:24 PM, danv3 said:

 

Echo that.  I enjoy cruising on X, but the drink vouchers on RCI are 100x better than the "happy hour" arrangement on X.  In addition to being limited to certain bars (and not the MDR), drinks also aren't available on night 1 (because reasons, I guess).

Agreed. 

We solved it on our past cruise (5 nights) by purchasing the "all in" package for the Drinks and Wifi for a very reasonable cost. (I think is was only $300 or so total for my wife and I combined) 

However, our friends who were cruising with us, and were also Diamond, did pay for the "all in" package . By the time they booked, Celebrity was asking $700 or more for it.  They really didn't like how the elite happy hour benefits worked, at all.

The pools are freshwater on Indy which is nice, but I do feel that they have all pools colder than I would prefer.

Covered no. 

Heated?  Yes but that doesn't mean it's going to be 88 degrees or something.  They can choose not to heat it.

33 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I was a special section of the MDR reserved for Diamond and above.  Usually the same MDR menu, but occasionally they would have some special items (e.g., chocolate breakfast items).

 

In addition, free cappuccinos and lattes.

32 minutes ago, doghog said:

No longer. Use to be just a set aside area in the MDR with the same MDR breakfast menu. Less people and better service. More two tops also. 

Thanks.  No wonder I don't remember seeing anything about it.  😄

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

I miss the RCI MDR Diamond breakfast.

26 minutes ago, doghog said:

We do too. 

Hmm, not much of a breakfast person but the rest of my family is.  How does this work?