IWORK2CRUISE

We were on Rhapsody when this assist occurred.

Apparently, the Defiance was on the last leg of a Pacific circumnavigation.

It was very fortunate for the sailors that we were able to assist them in their time of need.

My husband was taking pictures near two of our ships engineers who were remarking that it was a wonderful sailing vessel, well equipped to handle many conditions (as long as it had a mast.)

The sailors were taking our pictures as well.

Later that evening we spoke with the captain who indicated that in his opinion it could take up to 10 days for them to reach San Francisco, CA.

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In my case it didn't have anything to do with either point conversion or inventory. The LA just stated that I was wrong. There was no list checking or further conversation.

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We are among those who did not receive our 1st crystal ship block on the cruise.

It was a B2B on Brilliance of the Seas and we should have had ours on the first week. I was actually excited as this was our first visit to Europe and I thought it would be a nice memento.

We approached the Loyalty Ambassador, who was busy catering to cruisers who had many more points than we will likely ever have, and told that we were wrong.

Well, I was pretty sure that if we passed 140 points we earned a crystal block but I didn't want a further confrontation. So, I contacted C&A after we returned and we were sent a crystal block.

We once sailed on Jewel of the Seas for Halloween. We didn't think that it would be as festive as it was. We had packed some Halloween t-shirts. Well, many went all out and there was a costume parade all around the pool deck.

One of the most clever that we saw was a group traveling together who went as a box of crayons.

This will be our 7th cruise. Our first 6 were with Carnival. Five of them were great, but the last one, well let's just say we were very disappointed. So, anyway... we are now booked on the Jewel of the Seas in March. We are so excited. :D

 

What is different about the two cruise lines? What is better and different about Royal Caribbean (as in comparison to Carnival). Anything about the Jewel we need to know?

 

Also, we are going to St. Thomas, St. Croix, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Grenada-- any thing you consider a must do or must see in these ports? We have been to St. Thomas several times and St. Lucia once, but would love to hear others' input. (I will be checking out the ports of call section for this too, but for those who don't post there...)

 

Thanks!!

Welcome to Royal Caribbean. Jewel of the Seas is a lovely ship that I hope you enjoy.

Since you have visited St. Thomas before, you might consider taking the ferry over to St. John. Trunk Bay is truly beautiful. You can take a taxi/bus/van to Havensight right from the pier parking area to catch the ferry.

I always try to keep the weight down and it always wants to go up.

In all of our cruising, our dining requirements have gone down.

Once upon a time there were midnight buffets every night and we didn't skip any of them! We also attended every meal in in the MDR.

Now, we attempt to eat in a similar fashion to dining at home.

I like dessert and my husband likes breakfast pastries and biscuits. Hmm, I also like biscuits and gravy once in a while.

The buffet can actually be helpful or harmful.

When we have lunch or dinner there we load up on salad first, then whatever else.

So, some days we overindulge and some days we restrict our urges.

Also, I (and sometime we) skip meals while cruising. No need for lunch if we know the dinner menu is quite appealing.

Yes, it is vacation and some calories don't count but as we are getting older the extra calories tend to take longer to burn off.

Nice paid upgrade!

 

I have an interesting one. In over 2 dozen sailings with Royal I had never been upgraded once. Then all of a sudden I get upgraded on Allure this past spring break from a D6 to a JS....I am like WOW...awesome:D So I already had the same exact D6 cabin booked on Oasis for this past June...AND GUESS WHAT..YEP...upgraded again into a JS. Both of these prime time sailings. So what are the odds of being upgraded twice in a row from the same exact cabin...sounds like a lucky cabin to me...and makes me wonder if they look at upgrading certain cabins overs others.

You are very lucky!

My husband is always up very early and goes to take pictures of sunrise and start walking.

I do wake early. Earlier than at home, usually! I go for coffee, walk laps around (usually) the upper deck, joining my husband. Then I go to whatever stretch class they have. Sometimes, they have another free class after that, too.

Then, back to the cabin to freshen up and head to the Windjammer for breakfast.

Sometimes, we have balcony cabins and if that is the case then once or twice we would have early room service.

As some others have mentioned, it is always amusing to see the people staking out lounge chairs early in the morning.

Frequently, it is the husbands and some actually sit there for a while until it is time for breakfast. Oh, the chairs that I could poach! Ha, ha!

We had an over night stay in Oahu a few years back and some international travelers had an early flight on the final morning. They were able to be cleared the day before.

It my be worth a call to RCCL to clarify.

my dw won a free cruise when we were on the Jewel when we booked they gave us our first choice also (oasis) and only had to pay $300 it upgrade to balcony. They told us that this cruise would not count toward our cruise status even though we paid for upgrade because of winning it at bingo but we will still get all the on board perks of being platinum. congrats on your win and booking and enjoy

The time that I won at Bingo we also had to submit 3 dates and got an ocean view on Oasis during the Diamonds in December. We got zero points for this cruise instead of double points for Diamond members sailing in December.

We were told that if we had paid for an upgrade we would indeed have received double points.

It wasn't all that important to us but might make a difference to others.

I have heard things about making any kind of change on-line "re-pricing" the cruise. You can be sure that if my cruise was paid in full and I received some notice of a balance due I would be on the phone ASAP. Email is great for many things and opening a chain of communication to keep as a record can be helpful, but going right to the source is also advisable.

I do agree that the IT department needs to improve. Why something as simple as adding a dining reservation or excursion should or would change the price of a cruise is unacceptable.

One other thing you need to know for late flights - the airlines (especially Ft. Lauderdale) will only let you check your luggage I think 3 hours before your flight - keep that in mind when hurrying to the airport......

This is true.

We once scheduled a post cruise "shore excursion" because we had a later flight. LOL, the excursion was cancelled and we were dropped at the airport via the RCCL transport. For a fee $$.

Fortunately, I thought to contact Delta via the courtesy phone in the airport and we were able to get on an earlier flight. That is a gamble and we were quite happy to have "won."

Since then, we always rent a car if we have a late flight. It has always been cheaper than the RCCL transfer for 2-3 and allows us to do whatever we want.

One other time we arrived at FLL with under 3 hours and discovered that our return flight was on the delay board. They almost didn't take our bags and I had to point out that our original scheduled time of departure should prevail.

I never had the opportunity to try a WOW sale before and I must say that apparently, I wasn't missing anything.

I happened to price a 4 day cruise the other day but was not ready to book. Now we have the WOW sale so I looked again.

No difference in price and no OBC offer.

So, what is the WOW?

21 days until Rhapsody!

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I don't know of any NCL ship that has casino on deck 4.

In fact I don't know of any NCL ship that has cabins on the same deck as the casino.

So I don't understand what you are talking about.

I do know that Dawn has 4 cabins right near the casino on deck 6. We met people who chose to stay there because they were a party of 3 and the public restrooms were right nearby.

http://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/dawn/decks/2/6#tab_detail

We make it a port day and go off on our own to explore. They usually do have something for B2B travelers to enjoy. When we were in Copenhagen we got off early and walked all around before returning for the B2B luncheon served in Portofino.

At some point you must disembark. Usually you can return right away if that is your choice. You should receive info in your cabin near the end of your first cruise.

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Platinum does indeed have priority check-in.

However, as someone already posted, that does not mean priority boarding.

We usually go early and have not found the wait to be too long.

This does somewhat depend on the embarkation location. I only have experience as Platinum in FL. It could be different in Europe.

We love cruising and we love Hawaii.

We are about to sail for the 3rd time on Rhapsody of the Seas from Vancouver to HI.

We love those 5 sea days just as much as the HI Island stops.

1st time we flew home after the cruise. 2nd time we had 2 nights on the North Shore of Oahu. This time 3 nights.

To each his own? If I could do the same every year, I would.

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When we went to Alaska a few years ago we had an inside cabin on the Sun that we loved.

First of all, the cabin itself seemed quite large.

Second, and what many do not consider is that if you sit on your balcony you only see one side.

We enjoyed the entire upper deck of the ship! There was so much to see that we were just in awe. We found a few comfortable places to sit by the rails but were also free to roam about and really see the seals, whales and eagles.

The one afternoon that it rained we were very happy in the Observation Lounge.

We saved a lot of $$ and would do so again.

TA can not give a lower price on a cruise than what NCL has, it is in the contract with those Travel Agencies......The only thing a TA can give is some additional OBC which comes out of their commission.......If a travel Agent quotes a lower price than what NCL lists, then they will lose their contract with NCL.

I thought that was true until I booked the Epic last year.

In the past, I have always booked right through NCL.

I "think" our prior PCC may have retired as I could no longer reach her. When I considered booking the cruise and was about to call NCL, I happened to receive an email from a travel partner (one of our airlines)that offered a pretty good rate and extra bonus points.

Next, I called NCL and gave my Latitudes # and the desired ship and date.

The price was higher and I questioned it. I was told that sometimes travel partners have booked blocks and the prices cannot be matched.

I went back to the travel partner and booked the cruise. I saw a price drop later and moved from inside to balcony, through the same travel partner, while still monitoring the rate on NCL.

I made out better.

Again, I always thought that dealing directly with the cruise line was the best. I now know to check multiple sources.

Blessings and condolences to you and your family.

I hope that you go and enjoy your cruise.

We had a Disney trip planned when my father passed away. It was a few weeks after the death, and while I was not feeling excited I thought of how he enjoyed hearing about our travels.

I am on the Gem right now in Nassau, Bahamas as we have missed the private island due to horrible storms and heavy waves. We will be leaving tonight and heading back to New York in hopes of getting ahead of the storm that is forming.

 

All the officers and crew on board have been very accommodating to all the guests.

 

I applaud the crew onboard this ship as they really go out of their way to accommodate the guests and make sure they are having fun and that they are also safe.

pixiedustdawn,

It is nice to read about someone who has had their itinerary altered and is not complaining!

More people should remember that safety comes first!

Please enjoy the rest of your cruise!

I believe they are doing "inter-porting" while in Europe.

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We sailed on Epic 12/14/2013 and there were many Christmas trees and decorations.

The put up a ginger bread village in the dining room while we were onboard, too.