CruiseMelissa

I've experienced the debarkation process many times in US and European ports and have gotten good at estimating a reasonable flight departure time for debarkation based on distance to airport and ship arrival time. I'm wondering if there is anything to keep in mind getting off the ship in Yokohama and going right to Haneda? Google Maps shows it's a 20-40 minute drive. Are there factors other than that and ship arrival time I need to know about when considering flight times? Are Haneda security lines especially hectic? It would be early on a Monday morning in August, if that helps. Thanks!

We sailed Freedom last year, we got to the terminal around 10:15 and boarded shortly after 11. I don't remember what our check-in time was. Does it still open around 10? I've read that the earliest check-in time in the app is 11:30, 11:00 for key/suite guests which makes me think it opens later? Unless they're letting people check in before those times?

Yes, this is correct, kind of. Freedom 12 year olds could go to Adventure Ocean, Explorer they couldn't, the cut off was 11.

Great idea, thank you!

I saw that this was an option on the Celebrity site, that you can allocate some of your OBC for extra tips for staff. Do you happen to know if they give you a printout or something that you can give the crew member? I love physically handing them an envelope and expressing how much we appreciate them.

Love it, thanks!

Thank you!

Can you mix and match from both menus on any given night? Or do you have to do all four courses from the menu you choose?

This is exactly what I had thought going into this, but there were days where the room steward couldn't be found. I think it could be the case sometimes that now that they're doing more cabins, they're spread out more and aren't as easy to find. I also realize, writing this, that he didn't give us a business card with his name/number on it the first day when we met him as we had received on all of our other cruises. Maybe an oversight? Or maybe this is gone too? We've never used it, it felt so intrusive, but now that the housekeeping line and app don't work to get extra towels, it might be handy?

Great question but I haven't seen anyone yet say that the app request was actually successful so I'm curious if you'll get an answer. I called for towels and they never came so I didn't even bother with the app on Explorer.

Thanks, this is very helpful. I really enjoyed reading your write-up on last year's cruise and even booked the excursion you took in Akureyri based on your experience. It was such a great recap of your adventure!

Got it, thanks!

Just to clarify... if the numbers are high, is it not offered at all? Or, are you saying, if the numbers are high you wind up waiting a long time with the other "elites" and it's really not that great of a perk?

Sailing on Summit next month to Iceland/Greenland with two tender ports. For the Elite and above priority tendering, do you get a special ticket you have to retrieve beforehand? Show up to the tenders and just show your room card? And in the benefits list it says "tender priority service, where available". Does that mean some ships won't offer priority tendering for Elite and above? Or just saying that sometimes tender boats aren't used on a cruise? Thanks!

I didn't realize how much trash we accumulated either before with two cleanings but this time it was noticeable. We have kids, and kids can be big trash producers, so that could be a cause? Again, nothing that had me running to cancel our future cruises, just an observation.

I honestly hope she did have time to relax, that they all do. I didn't mean that in a snarky way... in any job, if you find a more efficient way to do what you're asked, and you get it done early, you should be able to have extra time to yourself. We were fine with switching to a morning clean, I'm just sharing caveats others that are "team 1x a day cleaning" may not have thought of. And our new one started the day he left and was a direct replacement for him. She flew in that day and had to jump right into his routine which seemed like a big ask. He gave her great notes and it was a pretty seamless transition for the most part.

When RC announced going to once a day room servicing I kind of shrugged it off and bought into the whole "well, that's what hotels do". I just got off my first cruise since the change and now I want 2x a day back as much as the original protestors. A few main reasons: 1. It was one of the things that made cruising more special than land-based vacations. 2. I didn't realize how much I loved the interactions with my cabin attendant twice a day when they were in the halls around my cabin. Some knew our names, all greeted us and wished us a great day, etc. Now that they're spread out over many cabins, these interactions aren't as frequent. 3. Cruise cabins are MUCH smaller than hotel rooms and feel dirtier so much quicker. Yes, we don't spend much time in there, but the time we DID spend felt more claustrophobic with the beds unmade, towels on the bathroom floor etc. 4. "You can always call and ask for more towels, etc." - tried it, asked for bath towels, they never came. 5. The garbage cans are teeny tiny in the cabins and I didn't realize how quickly we accumulated trash and had it overflowing. We had an interesting experience with having two cabin attendants on a 7 day cruise as our first one left mid-way through to head back home. He was excellent, asked when I wanted my room clean, was easy to find during both of his "shifts" if we needed something extra, etc. The second seemed to clean all of her rooms in the morning and was never seen in the evening at all. I don't know how normal this is, but it wasn't something I had heard of before. More power to her, if you can get your work done in half a day and relax the other, why not? It just meant that people that preferred evening cleans and/or needed to find her in the evening, couldn't if that's important to you. I know this is a divisive issue and "Royal needs to make up for the money they lost in the pandemic", I just thought I'd share some insight on my flip-flop. It won't stop me from cruising Royal which is what they know and why they did it, I'm sure.

I meant the RC shuttle from Venice to the port. I booked the transfer through my travel agent, we had the choice between 9am and 11am.

LOVING this review, we're doing this sailing on 6/25. Did you get a feel at the shuttle bus stop that busses leave as soon as they are full? We also have 9:00 tickets and I'd love to get to the ship as early as possible, wondering if the earlier you get to the People Mover area, the earlier bus you'll get on and can depart? Keep the updates coming, it's fantastic!

I have more tender questions... 1. If you get to the distribution and they're currently handing out group 4, can you ask for a later group like 12? Or do you have to take the next availabile? 2. Somewhat similarly, when they call those with tender ticket 8, does that mean anyone with tickets 1-8 or just 8 and if you had an earlier # you are out of luck?

12:35 on a Sunday, in the summer so most likely one of the worst times to be there, lol. Do you still think 3 hours to just get through security? That's a good piece of info to have....

Flying from Venice to the US via Paris on Air France. We'll have carry on luggage only. If we check in on the app, can we bypass the check-in counter and go right to security like we would for a domestic flight in the US? I'm trying to gauge how early we need to get to the airport. We've taken many international adventures but never had the luck of only carry-ons so this is new to us,

I've seen the news on that, I hope you get back home safely! Did you get the feeling if the flooding wasn't an issue you would be able to change your transfer time if you wanted to?

Well that's an interesting scoop, I'll need to look into that!

Taking Explorer next month from Ravenna and booked our flights with Air2Sea. We also booked a transfer to Venice airport when we embark the ship. I assume because we used A2S they know what time our flight is and will assign us a transfer time based on that? I also know they really, really pad your departure time because they don't want to be responsible for you missing your flight. Is there any flexibility there? We are checking in for our flight online and won't check bags so I'd much rather sleep a little later and not wait at the gate for four hours. Yes I know things happen, better to be safe than sorry, etc. etc. 🙂 I'm just asking if guest services will let us take a later bus if we ask or if it's set in stone based on flight departure time.