Tin can

Online for us always if booking direct, its straight forward and hassle free. Great cruises and I wouldn't sail with anyone else but every time I have picked the phone up to actually talk to someone it has ended in hassle and frustration for quite simple questions and issues.

If you hear anything about what they may be doing during the refurb and could let us know that would be great. Have a great cruise 😀

The cruising experience is fabulous with Royal in my opinion but anything that involves phoning and speaking to someone at the call centre or anything involving IT nearly always goes wrong. I have to mentally prepare myself that I have to have a slice of the bad to get the good cruise and it shouldn't be like that.

We are going to use the train and it is very simple with either a change in Bologna or Ferrara. I'm quite looking forward to it to honest and seeing a bit of Italy.

Always open but manned by the concierge only at certain times and with the bar staff for drinks in the evening. Continental breakfast will be laid out in the mornings, can be nice and quick if going on an excursion and quiet if your looking to get away from the crowds.

Yes I guess you are right, I wonder why they bother then with the process. My maximum bids were for Grand Suites which I didnt win but then on the FB group for the cruise, which was pretty much sold out, lots of people won minimum bids for interiors to balconies. For this to work there has to be movement up the chain but if I'm not moving from my JS to a GS for a maximum bid then where do the balconies go that have to move for the interior winning bids. Perhaps I am over thinking this 😀

You have done well, I have put in maximum bids a couple of times now and not won the upgrade. In fact I have put bids in at nearly every level and not won those either so I have no idea how the algorithm works but whatever I am doing its not working for me 😀

😀 you would cause massive upset if you tried to say that England had any hand in Scotlands nation dish haggis. It would be like me saying mac n cheese or the hot dog for example was given to you by the Canadians.

Apparently black pudding, or blood pudding as I believe it is known in the States, came to the UK from Europe and apparently was a favoured dish of the Romans. We can take no credit for this delicacy 😀

The last time we did the sushi making class we could eat it at the end and stay in the restaurant as long as we liked to do so but we couldn't take it with us. We would have liked to have taken some for our son but they were very strict about this and not sure why to be honest.

We got an email for our August cruise. Same later 7pm departure from Ravenna and then losing an hour in Kotor and Corfu, no changed ports though. All a bit strange, it must be linked with the 7pm departures from Ravenna.

From researching an Alaska cruise its seems there were no enrichment programmes or naturalists on board Ovation. I have read a few compasses from the last season so maybe this is only for the one way cruises.

Doesn't bother me what people wear (or don't) in the case of no socks by your man with the backpack, but you would not see that replicated on a UK cruise. As my previous post I saw people turned away from the MDR over the summer on Anthem for wearing shorts. As a side issue Its been a while since we have cruised from the States and that queue for the MDR is just a world away from the four deep lines we saw on any night in the MDR let alone formal night.

For whatever reason its a bit different here in the UK. I saw people turned away from the MDR on Anthem in shorts over the summer.

If it is Cadiz in Spain I'm surprised they haven't made it a revenue cruise to Europe and then you could have stayed on to give a hand 😀

Thank you for taking the time to post that really useful information it is appreciated.

My friend lives in Singapore and is from the UK like myself. I can't remember which ship he sailed on from Singapore but I recall him saying that about 30% were Expat Europeans and Australians and that English was the first language. He said the casino was full to bursting but the bars were fairly quiet and the Asian food was excellent. Guest participation in anything organised by the Entertainments Team was very high irrespective of whatever it was and whilst it was different to his UK/US cruises he had a lot of fun.

Thank you for that, do you think public transport in and out of NY would be an issue on Easter Sunday which is when the game is on at the MSG.

Thank you for that, it is really appreciated. Limited service at weekends has got me thinking as we arrive on Easter Sunday next year and have tickets for the Knicks at MSG so getting there and back from the hotel is something to think about. Thanks again for your reply.

We are staying a few days in NY after our cruise from Cape Liberty and are thinking about stopping in Jersey City and using the PATH to get into Manhattan. We have stopped in Manhattan a few times before so thought it might be a nice change, there's a couple of Hyatt hotels that look nice with views of NY and its easier to get to from Cape Liberty and back to Newark from for our flight home to the UK. Buying tickets looks a bit complicated though, I'm guessing it could be really busy and I have some probably misplaced concerns about safety. Any words of comfort from any locals would be very much appreciated 😀

I've always wondered if this interpreting changes the passenger dynamic during the cruise with people boarding and leaving at different times.

Apparently Cadiz is where Explorer is going for her dry dock in February, without passengers though I assume 😀.

Our first cruise was on Enchantment back in 2001 so looking forward to following along.

Just out of interest as a UK website booker why aren't suites included in the US refundable deposits terms and conditions. Can you price match on suites from the US?

I don't think they would either. Its stated as a mechanical dry dock but lots of rumours that there may be some smartening up passenger side at the same time. I'd be very surprised personally if the dry dock included a Playmakers but that was what somebody was told apparently. That would be great if you could report back.