The Fun Researcher

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?

56 minutes ago, gerif said:

I agree. Will be sailing X for the first time in many years soon and I was very disappointed in the Elite perks. We are doing early dining so would need to go find a bar to grab a drink and carry it to the dining room. Never used the laundry service on any cruise, never even used the laundry room on lines that have them. 
 

We had  cruised a couple of times on X but as soon as we turned Diamond received an email welcoming us as Elite, so they knew. 

The good thing is, Celebrity is a great product overall. 

I would be interested in trying their newer ships.  We did the Equinox (Solstice class) again in December and while food and drink was good (on par with Royal) it was just sleepy compared to what we're used to with Royal.  It was the week before Christmas and I think they were maybe putting in a lot of effort planning for that next week and kind of forgot about us. 😄 (Just a guess.)

We were Platinum or Emerald (can't remember which) when we sailed Celebrity in 2017.  We were Select back then.  Since 2017 we became Diamond on Royal.  We were automatically upgraded to Elite on Celebrity.

Having said that, Celebrity has pretty poor perks for Elite compared to Diamond (and above) for Royal.  The happy hour is right overtop of dinner (unless you eat late).  You can't order elite drinks from the MDR, so if you want one you need to leave your table, exit the dining room, and find a bar.  The laundry can be nice but we've never used it on Royal or Celebrity.

Maybe some of the perks will be of some meaningful benefit to you, but it's almost useless to us.

The 4 drink vouchers and the 24 hours of wifi are far above any of the Elite benefits on Celebrity

Hopefully the late 8 can eventually look back at this and find some humor and adventure in it all.

The sting of getting burned from their somewhat risky decision is probably too fresh. 

46 minutes ago, TexanSailor said:

There is no requirement for the underaged passenger to purchase any package at all

Thank you!

If there is one adult 21 or older in the room with one other guest under 21 can you opt out of a reduced drink package completely for the underage person?  ...or do they still make you get the refreshment package?

I remember when Royal didn't have this rule and all passengers could purchase drink packages separately.  To combat sharing (and increase profits) they now require both passengers over 21 to purchase (or refreshment for 2nd)  However if one of the two guests is a minor then they aren't able to share alcohol due to underage.  Does Royal still force a drink package on the underage guest?

If you use conditioner you will definitely want to bring you own.  No guarantee they can get some for you as it's not a standard item offered.

The blow driers are the cheap hotel variety and will get the job done but will take a while.  We bring our own but it did trip the breaker on the Quantum class ships once.  Our fault...  If you do bring one, I suggest the low heat setting and full fan setting as the heat is what uses the most energy in a hairdryer, not the fan.

17 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm all for independent tours, but I'm not sure I'd do one in a place that isn't an everyday cruise port

Agreed.  We almost exclusively use 3rd party options (both for cost and variety), but we also fully know the risk, sail primarily well visited Caribbean ports, and are willing to deal with the consequences if we were not able to make it back to the ship.

6 hours ago, twangster said:

Tendering operations with any other private boat or in this case the local coast guard boat could simply be a violation of company policies. Attempting to transfer guests with unknown and unproven private boats is very risky.  It may require rope ladders or other apparatus to account for differences in vessel height.  The local coast guard vessels are probably not designed to be dual purpose coast guard / tender boats.    Attempting to transfer guests between any vessel other than approved and known tender boats has tremendous risk associated with it.  The local coast guard personnel may be excellent mariners but that doesn't mean they have a lot of experience attempting to transfer guests between their craft and a passenger vessel. 

Exactly, port pilots have died in that process of boarding/disembarking cruise ships.

Regarding this couple, the thing that struck me were the comments that they weren't sure they wanted to board the ship now. After all that trouble by them, and NCL to meet back up.  That's straight up pouting, and not taking ownership.  Suck it up.  You made a mistake.

We're also sailing Liberty in June (5 night bermuda)

We always plan around 1pm.

Not sure how often you've cruised, so this might be advice to others, but remember not to check EVERYTHING in your bags with the porter at the pier.  It's not uncommon for luggage to be delivered after dinner time on the first night so you might want to keep a set of dinner clothes/shoes and some toiletries with you in a bag or carryon.

56 minutes ago, lolaletu said:

HI:   We just got booked cabin 8415 for 4/8/24.  We did an inside guarantee and thats what they gave us.  Does anyone know if you can see anything out in cabin 8415?   Thank you

No you cannot.  It's in the upper left of the photo below.  Not a bad location though.  Easy access to Central Park on your same deck

It is a connecting cabin.  Hopefully you have no noise issues from neighbors next door. Not normally something to worry about but you never know

2 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

There are so many great options in Cozumel that I don’t see the need for this.  Now if they put one in Falmouth or Costa Maya I’d be interested. 

They definitely are filling a need in Nassau with the beach club there, but yeah there are already quite a few good options in Cozumel for all inclusive beach days.  Love that about Cozumel.

Now, don't get me started about Nassau... for being the busiest cruise port it sure is SORELY LACKING in choices for good excursions, especially all inclusive beach days. (and especially for families.  Some of the few options are adults only)

No, not on the Quantum last summer.   ...and not only that, but we had preordered the winter blanket (from the gifts section of the cruise planner)  and they were out of those too. That was a bummer because they were going to be a nice surprise gifts for quite a few of our group of 14.

Always love more options!!!  Having said that, if the price is excessive we're perfectly fine staying with Nachi Cocum, or trying Paradise beach.

Dan

10 is the biggest table we've done on Royal, a couple of times, but they can do it.  Great advice above.  Nice to see someone planning ahead.  Leads to better odds of an enjoyable cruise.👍