Welly9

We have enjoyed the Chefs Table twice, Loved both times!

Loved the wine selections which was paired and food was great. You meet and chat it up with the group that sits with you. 

Still friends with a few of them. We did one BC on the Jewel and one AC on the Symph.

1 hour ago, Deeliteful said:

Its funny, the English do their Cheese plate after Dinner, and us North Americans (Canadians) do it before. Notice how its in the classics? it use to be in the Desserts, uhmmmm I had a chat with the F&B Mgr ;O)

Great trip, excellent pics! Like I shared earlier, we are on her (the Xplorer lol) in March 2nd voyage after her Re vamp.

Is this the last cruise for the Xplorer before she gets refurbed>?

Sailing in March, apparently the 2nd cruise out from her return. 

Plans for the ABC islands?

Son is playing hockey in Nottingham, EIHL.

On 1/9/2023 at 8:16 AM, Nashna said:

I'll be sure to let you know.  I hope it is a great option as I now have about 14 people from my Edge cruise going to Avila when we dock.

How was it?? thanks

4 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

You'll need a land taxi.   Water taxi doesn't go that far.

👍🥂

water taxi or land taxi to Mullets from cruise port?? and cost?

thanks 

Every ship, not just RCL, has its Pros and Cons...but many like to gravitate to the -ve and post such!

Just enjoy, have fun and be happy... 😁

BTW we are on the Xplorer OTS March 18 too, 8nts, be our 2nd leg of our 'side by side' vs B2B, as we will do the Harmony the week before. Looking fwd to both!

On 10/30/2022 at 11:11 AM, ckrobyn said:

The minimum bid was $300.  I bid $330 - In Canadian dollars, so that would be roughly $235 USD. I paid double, so $670 CDN which would be about $480 USD.  

 

CK well done, and how was it??? and Missed you on the Explorer out of LA, was on Nov 28th

Seen the sharks, a few times, mainly around South Beach and the floating bar, they wait and lurk for the drunken swimmers 🤣 no but serious they do swim around the shallows, bait fish are plenty there. But like I always say as a fisherman too where there are the babies or smaller ones, there are the mommas and papas near by! 🤞

Our fave ship, has to be the Jewel!

Service, Food, the ship layout, staterooms and condition!

6 minutes ago, Buffett fan said:

I'm so disappointed in RC - I've been trying for hours to book a beverage package and am getting the same error others have mentioned.  I've tried accessing on the app, but the price is still showing at $72.99/day (not the sale price they are advertising).  I called the helpline and left my number for a return call.  I also tried calling Crown and Anchor and spoke with someone, but the only price they could see was $72.99/day. 

 

I always brag about RC and have had so many of our friends sail with us in the past - but recent dealings have left me underwhelmed.  Very disappointing and frustrating. They need to do better if they want to maintain their "Loyal to Royal" cruisers.  There are certainly other lines that are MUCH easier to get in touch with.

I hear ya...I didn't see sale prices either on the app...only on board pricing

2 minutes ago, kimberlym4 said:

My app showed the sale price.

Where did you find this

Plan my Cruise thru the website is 'Gone Sailing...' for a while now, I see its a RCL issue...

However thru the App, only pricing im seeing is the onboard $ and no BF sales?

Anyone else??

She is great, I just checked she was on our last cruise

Fun fact - piano guy at schooner was just ok, but once in a while, she would show up and jump in the schooner later at night and kill it! She made the show!

I think she was on AGT or talked about it or auditioned?

18 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Some more info re. last years timing

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-cruise-deals

Good Post Researcher, 

Q - I cant remember exactly how many days before the cruise they stop add ons to purchase for your cruise? I kind of remember its 2 days? 

Stopped in Kusadasi, early summer no isues with no visa, have passport or copy with you, we did a private excursion and back at the port we wandered around, great spot, 

We used our COR for our Rome/Greece/Turkey cruise May 10, we had our propoer Dr letter, plus our PCR +ve test, with in the 90 days and had no problem at check in, they checked dates, looked at the forms, and said enjoy your cruise, (we did not have a test the day before) we are dbl vaxxed and added a booster a month after having covid, Dr suggested wait for 30 days, so fast fwd, we are heading on another cruise this weekend, 5 nter out of Cape Can, to Bahamas and Labadee, and we are still with in the 90 day window, and will again use same docs and not test before boarding.

Stay away from AC, Stay away from Montreal and or Toronto, as best you can! They are a mess, a nightmare!

'Rusty travellers' by our MofT he is a joke< disgrace comment! Embarrassing! 

Back from Rome, on the Odyssey OTS italy, Greece Turkey cruise, Air Canada.

Air Canada, be it Toronto or Montreal a total Sh!t show. 

Going there, delays, delays, almost threat of missing our connector but made it, but bags did arrive in Rome...Great cruise etc etc

But coming home...we got notices of delays with AC, and possible connectors, what we were notified wasnt what the AC agent in Rome was telling us, she was calling - conferencing with mgr at airport etc, crazy, we finally or thought we finally had things ironed out, tagged the bags, even with Priority great big flourescent tags with the normal bag tags, i see the bags dissappear in the belt...

Board our flight, and off to Montreal...another nightmare, made us go thru Customs twice, Why you ask, cause the 1st agent thinks we are now gonna hop on another flight and go to London England, and even though all docs say London Ontario..😤, ran around that airport, and of course we have duty free wine and oils, and water, but inspect every thing, take the water, an like scolding us for having such items, lmao even though all we were doing was going to our connector...we have an hour to get thru , took us a full hour, they held the plane for us, because of the agent who doesnt know her own Country! One of the last agents says why you here?? i just started laughing and rushed us thru, we went thru 5 checks, 3 agents , 3 or 4 scans...and funny thing is no one tells you anything, hardly speak English lol except for this last agent, he just shook his head! We make the flight to TO, connect to London Ont, go to baggage carousel and hear my name, go talk to the AC agent, oh Sir sorry to inform you bags wont be making it, they just got scanned in Montreal, 4 hrs since we landed there! BOOM...some of these workers, have no clue! I think they do it on purpose!

Delivered the next day, anyway, we got everything, nothing broken, all in tact, BUt talked to the delivery guy, 3rd party courier for only AC, 3 trucks he has going, 7 days a week, full time, 24 hrs, he said to me, your bag is only 24 hrs, I have delivered some 48 + up to a cpl weeks , one lady a year later! lol

there is our National Airlines! 

We stay away from Toronto and Montreal as much as possible!

We mostly go out of Detroit...knock on wood, always excellent service, nil delays, bags never a problem etc etc

LOR negates any testing to board RCl and or fly in US, have to have Form Letter of Recovery from your Doctor, plus the PCR test showing the date of test, get the LOR 10 days and Doc will confirm in his letter.

Save $ on testing, we used it for Rome, getting ont he Odyssey, and will use it again for the Mariner for a Caribbean cruise.

Consulation prize I guess for contracting this stupid virus! 

ohhh geeze, I cant recall exactly a few euros, different sizes, but prizes seemed very good, there were therapeutic oils too, drank some teas as samples, showed us how to make sure the saffron was real, etc were sampled/sipped oils even , tried Turkey candy too lol, 

here is the difference between the shops at the port and the ones at Ephesus, 

fake items at the port are Chinese produced and there u get what you pay for and less.

Shops at Ephesus have bags etc made in Turkey, much higher quality and many items are done local, price is same or better. 

ie A LV bag made by the chinese you will see if you look offset patterns, or bad colours, same type bag made in Turkey you cant see this offset and colours are closer to the genuine item...

You can do both as we did, week ago and was fantastic went to some local stores too grabbed some great local items, real saffron, EVOO, Holy Water, other spices, and rubbing oils...

3 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

It really is a great ship and a fabulous itinerary. It is our first time on a quantum class ship.

In one of your pics, are you wearing a 'poppy' near your heart, asking as In Canada we wear them during a period for Rememberance of fallen hereos/soldiers? I wondered if you were for some reasom during your Turkey stop?

thanks

3 hours ago, FionaMG said:

For the certificate of recovery in lieu of the test, I believe it has to be dated no more than 90 days before the cruise, not the usual 180 days validity period that most European countries are currently practising, so you need to be mindful of that. But if you're within that period then you don't need a test.

YEs we are within the 90 days, just wondered if you had over heard anyone talking about it, or any issues with it etc? but thanks for the feedback! 

Keep up the posts, well done! of course have fun, dotn worry about us! 🤣

We are on after you get back, 16th, been on the Ody and loved it, excellent ship.

Q - when checking in, did you hear or talked to anyone about testing requirements? My wife and I have a Letter of Recovery and our +ve PCR covid test results and understand from all I have read we dont need to test. So just curious if anyone else was in a similar situation?

OH and the dreaded tendering 'boat tickets' I have witnessed 'sh!t shows' during this process before, hope its not bad this time! lol

Thanks...