reaton

I live in New York and felt like I won the lottery when I was able to secure a spot through the local health department (online registration). First dose was last Wednesday- and despite having a concerning medical history, I had absolutely no side effects. Win! Interestingly, they had us sign up for our second shot appointment right then, so that we were already counted in terms of allotted shots. 

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I was excited about Samba, I was just so surprised about the stand alone price that I began questioning whether it was a real Brazilian Steakhouse experience.

we went to Samba a few times on Allure. Is it Fago de Chao, no. But it is pretty good. We tried everything the first night, then made specific requests the second time we went. As with any Brazilian Steakhouse there are some entrees that are better than others. 

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Must be some BIG carry ons!  😉  My carry on is wheeled as well, but always seems too packed for more than one bottle of wine.  Guess I need a bigger one too.  🙂 

luckily that trip we were driving, so I could have as much suitcase room as I wanted. I usually try to limit my carry on to one outfit for dinner, a baiting suit, drugs, Electronics and jewelry. 

10 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

That's a lot of carry on weight!  😮 

roller carry on size suitcase. No weight to carry at all. 

11 hours ago, zeppgirl said:

I assume it will be post, since we are going December and it's supposed to be this year.  I'm still unsure...playmakers I thought was more of a bar?  I didn't realize they had much food as well, especially not sundaes!  That's pretty cool.  We would definitely do Chops and Giovannis.  I think with Izumi, $35 was included?  I don't remember the exact amount, but I don't think hibachi was included, just part of the price.  The other Giovanni's seems to be a pizza place so all in all if you're trying to get the most value and want to eat high end, there aren't too many options.  Still on the fence because I could eat at 2 restaurants the whole time but like trying new places.

we’re going in August so I will try to leave a review of the updated food offerings. From what I read, Giovanni’s should be like it was on Allure but with an expanded pizza menu. More like fine dining Italian that includes pizza on the menu than going to the local Pizza Hut (but i could be wrong).
 

Playmakers is a bar, but they have a pub-ish food menu. I’m excited to see if it is the same or different than the oasis class. I wouldn’t eat there for dinner- but lunch or a late night snack would be an option.  

Izumi hibachi is included for 1 protein and 2 can be an up charge (or included). They did finally add to the fine print that it is actually included so you can point to that if there is confusion. 

On 1/8/2020 at 1:53 PM, zeppgirl said:

Really helpful to know as well- thanks!  We'll be on the Freedom. Will have to see their options for dining- just getting started and luckily it's really early so I can keep checking on the prices.  Just don't want to miss out.

are you on Freedom pre-drydock or post? We’re going this summer and all the old restaurants are still listed, but my understanding is there should be Johnny Rockets, Playmakers, Chops, Izumi(hibatchi and sushi) And the new Giovanis. I figured the package would be worth it with the new restaurants. 
 

it has also been our experience that you can go anytime the restaurant is open- not just sea days for lunch. We would go to Johnny rockets just for ice cream sundaes after hot port days. Also, if you we’re looking for ice cream I’ve heard good things about the sundaes from Playmakers. Remember you could go to an early dinner, see a show, and be able to use the package at playmakers for evening bar food. 

On 1/9/2020 at 6:43 AM, twangster said:

In theory they are supposed to take two bottles and give them back for the second leg.  

 

I had two in bottles in two different carry on simply because four bottles in one carry one was too heavy.  Security never said a word but I did have an email response from Royal stating I was allowed four ready to go in case they thought I was breaking a rule. 

we had the same experience on Allure this summer. DH has 2 bottles and I had 2 bottles. Incidentally, he also had 12 bottles of water and I had 12 bottles of pop. We had no issues. I was prepared to show documentation of the b2b but no one ever asked. 

I believe all US sailings you have to get off the ship. I’ve heard of sailings where people didn’t, but they weren’t originating at a US port. The letter you receive will detail a location of where to meet on turn around day and at what time. You are then given your new sea pass cards and escorted off the ship. The letter will detail anything you need to bring with you- I think we needed passports (or other similar documentation). You are escorted off as a group, may meet with a customs officer on land, then escorted back on the ship before other passengers. 
 

we noticed that when returning to our room we had to use our old sea pass card as the new one didn’t work until the rooms we “officially” open. 
 

we did mention to our room steward that we were on a b2b and not to worry about our room on turn around day- they have so much to do we didn’t really need our room tidied that morning. 

On 11/29/2019 at 5:48 PM, ryanbarckley said:

Someone in my roll call just pointed out that this comes up under “entertain” in the app for my Jan 5 2020 cruise on Anthem. Day 4 is our San Juan day. I was confident that nothing was changing until I just saw that, it at least makes me question it a bit now. 

On our last Allure trip it took months for the correct itinerary to be available in the cruise planner-and we hadn’t had a itinerary change. It kept saying Rotan when that wasn’t a possible port. Could just be the cruise planner being unhelpful. 

Our first cruise with Royal was a b2b on allure. They often won’t recognize your loyalty change within a cruise, but someone above is absolutely right the b2b is two different cruises. When we embarked for the second cruise, we went to the loyalty ambassador and she was able to update our status manually. She then affixed a sticker to our cards with the new status. 

We were on a b2b on Allure starting the 21st of July. We had the package for both weeks. My husband, who often orders a 12 ounce filet, ordered 2 6 ounce filets in Chops (for research purposes I’m assured). There was absolutely no problem or issue. We dined in Izumi hibachi 3 times. Once at the beginning of each week and near the end of the last week when 150 was not as awesome as we had anticipated. On the last visit, the waiter said there would be a $10 upcharge for ordering a combo (you we’re allowed to create your own combo and filet and filet was a common answer at the table). We assumed he was talking to the couple to our right as they had the 3 night plan and we had not been upcharged on either of the other 2 nights including 1 on that sailing. When we got the bill we were surprised at the charge ($20). When we asked the hostess, who was amazing and consistently went above and beyond, she brought it to the restaurant managers attention who removed the charge from the bill.

In all, I would say this speaks to the great inconsistency in implementing the Unlimited dining package (as it switched over from the ultimate package).   

I asked the rink staff specifically about this on Allure a few weeks ago. I had read a similar article before going about advanced times. They did not have advanced times as they had no ice time available for it. There were 3 open sessions. The first was during the middle of the day on a sea day. It was packed. They divided the time into 4 half hour sessions- and despite arriving 40 minutes early, I just made it into the second session. The second time slot was right in the middle of our dinner time (7 pm) so I didn’t go. The last was at 5 o’clock on a day we visited Labadee and had a 530 all aboard. I arrived early, but wouldn’t have needed to. Between some people just returning, some people being at dinner, and the novelty box already being checked, there may have been 50 people that showed during the whole time. My husband, who isn’t as much of a fan, even borrowed skates and came out. Since I had my own skates, I was also able to get onto the ice a little early. That was nice. It was however right after practice for the ice show and it was not fresh ice. However, having hocking playing kiddos, I would recommend you find one of these “during dinner” times. I would assume they may be frustrated with the pace of the sea day session. 

We drove to the port, so I figured I could have all the packing space I desired. I also didn’t get to skate much this winter as a respiratory infection right after Christmas made breathing nearly impossible for a month and then I was limited in outdoor activities for some time there after (we live in the north east so skating is an outdoor seasonal activity). This made skating on a ship an extra novelty (inside AND in the middle of the ocean) and totally worth bringing skates for. I doubt that will be the case in the future. 

Is Izumi Hibachi an option with the +1 (I’m sorry I don’t have a cruise planner yet for the cruise we just booked so I can’t look that up)? On our last cruise we had the unlimited package so we got to try all the specialty restaurants. On that particular cruise, there were a number of large groups having special events in those restaurants. For example, the night we dined in 150, there was a party of 22 and 3 parties of around 10 a piece. Our entrees and service were definitely not as amazing as they had been in the past (and I would like to think it was because of the added stress to the kitchen to service a group of 22, than it is an overall decline in the quality of the specialty restaurant itself). I don’t know if this is a trend or was just a unique sailing. I say this because waiter in another restaurant mentioned that it is difficult for the specialty restaurants to provide exemplary service to that many big groups. 

I recommended Izumi because by the nature of hibachi, this was not an issue at all either time we dined there. Also, it gives a nice difference to the type of restaurant if you are already dining in chops once that week. 

Just now, Balsam12 said:

So basically, you used Royal Caribbean fuzzy maths and came up with $400. 

 

Even with discount, two bottles of wine will be  $100 or more. 5 daiquiris would be $70 with gratuity, and 4 beers at least $42.

 

That leaves $11 to cover the "drink of the day here and there".

 

I'm not disagreeing about the package not being good value for some people... I'm saying I don't believe your story about $400.

I’m sorry your disbelief is not the point of this thread. Perhaps we can move on now?

Just now, Balsam12 said:

So you've spent $177 + 2 bottles of wine, which would be a minimum of $50 each + 18%, so $118. That's $295 so far. That leaves $105 out of the $400 you spent over 14 days. You had a day where you "drank whatever by the pool"... let's say you cut loose and had 2 cocktails each. Not knowing which ship you were on, I'll go with $12 per cocktail + 18%, so about $55. Now you have $50 left for 13 days between 2 people.

 

If that's what you call normal, then the beverage package is definitely not for you, and I don't know why you're even looking at this thread.

 

Each to their own, which is why people need to make their own decision on the value of the package. I've posted many times, but to recap, with 3 or 4 alcoholic beverages per day, I come out in front... you don't have to be rolling drunk for the whole cruise to get you money's worth.

Wow. We brought 4 bottles of wine on board with us. 2 additional bottles were purchased in specialty restaurants. If you have a dining package they come at a discount. I had 5 daiquiris and the husband had 4 beers one day by the pool. There was also a drink of the day here or there.  I’m sorry I didn’t realize you needed an organized list for my experience to be valid.

My point was that many people assumes you should have the beverage package and that is not always the case. Just a different point of view. 

I was reading the thread because we plan to book another RCCL cruise and want to stay on top of the current prices (since you cannot see those until you have access to the cruise planner). 

34 minutes ago, BND said:

I just don't see how this is worth it for most people, even at less than $50/day.  We have never spent enough to justify it.  As an example, we just got back from a week on Carnival Pride.  Their drink package is comparable in price, but you can't use it on their private island which was our longest port day (although it rained/t--stormed and we got back onboard early) and after 1 week, buying what we wanted when we wanted including specialty coffee, wine, cocktails and soda, we spent a whopping $ 236 for both of us.  So, that's about $33/day for two people, or $16.50/day per person.  I drink more than DH so my daily was closer to $20, but still.  The package is such a huge moneymaker for the cruise lines.  For every person who is convinced they drink more than the package value, there are probably 25 others who don't get anywhere near it so of course RCI is going to push it to what the market will bear.  

 

I also don't get the mentality of not wanting the bill at the end.  If it's less, why wouldn't you?

I completely agree. We just got back from a b2b, so 14 days. I was skeptical of the price of the deluxe package so we decided to try this time without it (and it never got below $48 per person per day). We spent $400 in total for both weeks (including $137 in liquor to bring home and $40 in bow ties and a new purse). We brought on water/soda/wine. We bought a couple bottles of wine while dining in specialty restaurants and had a day where we drank whatever by the pool. We drank in port. We don’t normally drink much soda or any specialty coffees. I also brought my Britta water bottle that I use at work. So glad we didn’t buy the package. For us the fact that you have to drink that much every day was a sticking point. After having the beverage package on other lines, I know I run into drink fatigue especially on a port intense cruise. I also don’t drink a ton at home regularly, so there’s that also.

Also, tangentially, I wondered last week as we pulled away from Labadee, what happens if you miss the ship on a cruise ship private island. Could you fall asleep somewhere on Cocoa Cay and miss the boat? Then what?

On 8/6/2019 at 4:09 AM, Esprit said:

Thank you for that. Very reassuring as we are on Allure for a B2B this October and my first time on a mega ship!

We did a b2b with this sailing as the last week- the service was AMAZING! That was probably the best part of the b2b was getting to really know some of the staff. 

I would also also agree that Samba was awesome. The filet is second in my mind only to Chops. 

On 8/6/2019 at 8:46 AM, twinsmomzj said:

Thanks so much for your review. Can you comment on disembarkation? I was on the Symphony 4 weeks ago and it was extremely quick. We had to stand in the rain for the Budget office downtown to open at 8 AM! We are going on the Allure in 3 weeks and trying to determine the earliest flight time we can make out of FLL. Thanks so much

We were on the same cruise. We left the main dining room at 815 and were to the park n go in Fort Lauderdale at 856 (I happened to look at my watch on the way in and was amazed that it was handled so quickly). 

On 8/2/2019 at 9:51 AM, sellwingri said:

Just adding a small tidbit as I’m on this cruise as well.  At all 3 ports, we docked on the starboard side.  Murphy’s law.....our room is on the port side.

We noticed this also as we were in a port side room. However, the view in Labadee was great!! 

We’re headed home now (19 hour road trip). When we stop tonight (because 19 hours in a car is not the way to end a vacation), I’ll try to summarize some of our observations reguarding specialty dining and the b2b experience. 

Im already missing the steak 🤷🏻‍♀️

No problem 😃We paid $4700 for the cruise itself in a 6D ocean view balcony (2000 for one week and 2700 for the other week). Keep in mind, because of work, I can only vacation during the summer (or very expensive times during the year like Christmas break), so this does influence the price significantly. October would be much cheaper, but unfortunately is not a time we can cruise. The $2000 savings is comparing what we paid to what I found as a Mach booking directly through RCCL. Travel agents can’t always beat the cruise line price, but they should always offer some incentive to book with them (we also got $150 on board credit). 

The dining package was $126 (per person per week), which was significantly less than it was being offered for at the time ($199 I think was the going rate). This was for a random one day only around thanksgiving. 

Just docked this morning in Puerto Rico. 

1 hour ago, cruiseluvr10 said:

Thank you so much for your review and letting us ask questions.

 

 I've read that with UDP there are very limited times available to book the specialty restaurants once you get onboard.  What was your experience regarding availability?  What times were you able to book for dining? 

 

I am also on a B2B.  Would they let you book your dining reservations for the second leg during the first leg? 

We had absolutely no issues making reservations (I had a plan at the beginning of week 1 and we made them around noon on the first day). We were even able to move some reservations around later in the week. Most meals we’ve eaten around 7 pm as that is our preferred time on vacation. 

At the the end of the first week there is a number to call to make reservations. You can also make them as soon as you reboard. Both worked great. We also made chops reservations for the second week in Chops at the end of the first week. 

Thoughts, observations, and tricks We were able to bring 4 bottles of wine and 24 17 ounce soda/water on board at the beginning of the first cruise. No one even asked about it (I was carrying half and dh was carrying half). 

We will not have Internet next week but should have access to WiFi on Wednesday, and real internet via our phones on Thursday. If you have any questions, or need pictures of something let me know and I’m happy to see what I can do

Other additions: Around thanksgiving last year, I scored a great deal on the aforementioned dining package. We also purchased at that time a bungalow on Columbus cove, Dunn’s river falls climb (and vip bamboo beach club, and a 3 reef snorkel by boat in Cozumel. First, the beach bungalow was AWESOME. it was great to have our own space throughout the day. It was located close to the lunch buffet and we were able to bring lunch back to our cabana to eat. We had a cabin attendant who brought drinks and checked in regularly. Interestingly, as I believe so,done asked recently, there were only 2 of us. That left a substantial number of water bottles left in the cooler at the end of the day. We were able to bring them back on board with us no problem.  

Normally, I book private excursions, but because of the time change in Jamaica, I was a little nervous to do so. The ship excursion there was ok. The falls were very busy, but there was nothing the tour operators could have done about that. The beach portion wasn’t great, but that could have been because they seemed to be behind on time (we were pretty late making it back to the ship). 

The 3 reef snorkel had both good and bad parts. I loved that it was by boat (I sometimes struggle to swim out from shore against the current on snorkeling excursions). However, I’m the future I would book this as a private excursion. There were around 50 people on our boat and that made snorkeling in a small area extremely difficult. I lost count of the number of times I was kicked in the head. Overall I loved the idea, just not something I would do with such a large group. 

This coming week we have no ship excursions planned. We will be going to the Lazy Lizard on St. Martin where I have already reserved chairs (and hopefully we will have WiFi at that point). For the stops in San Juan and Haiti we may stay on the boat and enjoy the far emptier pool deck, we’ll see.