jcc1025

We were on the Radiance shake out cruise in April out of LA and sailed on her in 2001 to Alaska, One of our favorite clases and tours. With all the windows and beautifal Alaska views you are in for an amazing trip. Don't forget charges for phones, something we have done before. Not sure what your excursion picks are, but Whale watching in Alaske is unbelivalbe. Radiance is a smaller ship but one of our favorites, You are way ahead of almost everyone in your planning. Have a great cruise and post back with your experiences.

Its a very nice stop with some good shops, resturantes, and bars. We do the golf cart tour often and like the stop. We live here and make the day trip to Catalina every so often.

I do the same and at the end of the cruise if there is a specific bar and group I always tip extata. I do this in cash as ai understand the ticket tips are shared amound the shift as it should be, but the cash tips go into a jar at the bar and are shared amound the bartenders at that time.

We agree with the others, no problem in getting reservations. We have done the Ultimate Dinning Package on Allure for seven days as well. Also agree that Giovanni's is the best. We are not big meat eaters and Chops is good but the first time I went to Giovannis's i decided to try Osso Buco for the first time, now I always look forward to going back and ordering it. I look at the menu and say I should get something else, but in the end always order it. On the Oasis class ships the same thing happened with the 150 Resturante, is clearly one of the best and most interesting meals we have had on sea or land. From the cucumger mantini and salt tasting to the menu is is outstanding. And we have also done. Chierf's Kitchen a few times and would highly recommend it if you are interestd in a food/wine paring option that is outstandin. Its a little pricy but worth it, after all your on vacation.

Your best hope is that testing will not be required. We have done a b2b on Liberty out of Galveston and if you have to get a test during the turn over, unless you have a day in port it will be almost impossible unless the other cruise line accepts these at home test and I don't think any of them do. We loved our b2b but would never do one that require a ship or stateroom chage. Royal was great on ours and we look forward to more in the future.

This one is kind of hard. We live in Long Beach and the area where the Long Beach Cruise terminal is located is on a peninsula next to the Queen Mary. There are no hotels or retail spaces other than resturants within walking distance. There are lots of hotels and good resturants across the marina on Shorline drive but this is a high tourist area and there are no big chain retail store near by, although there would be some small convienciene and liquer stores in the areas within walking distance. Walking distance to the larger retail location you mentioned would be well inland and require some kind of private transportation to get to the pier on sailing day.

It was the TA I talked to that does these cruises that gave me this information. Maybe she misunderstood that we wanted a free cabin for the tripel occ., we actuall only want a on board credit t use for group activities. While I ususally book my own single cruses through Royal they have a policy that you have to use a TA if you are trying to book a group larger than four cabins.

Thanks, we are not trying to get a free berth for the thiple occ. or any cabin. We understood we could also get a on board credit equal to the average size cabin booked by the eight or more. We would rather have the on board credit to do things like host Chief't Tale or shore excurisions for the group. Thank you for the response. going to call Royle but wanted to see if anyonoe had had the issue of a triple occ. not counting toward the eight.

The issue that the TA, who does a lot of these, said is that since its a triple occ. that they don't count that cabin. I will call Royal directly to check it out but just wondered if anyone else has run into this issue. Tanks for taking the time to answer. Happy sailing.

Since I almost always sail in the Caribbean I go for Red Stripe, to support the locals. Also will always try some local beers when on shore and try things I can't get a home and again to help the locals.

We are planning on booking a large group of eight or more cabins for a birthday celebration next year on Allure. We understand from both what is on the RCCL site and information we heard from a friend that if we booked more than eight cabins there were some extra benifits and rebates from Royal. Yesterday I began the process and in talking to a TA she informed we that if a stateroom had more than two people in it that Royal did not count that cabin toward the group number, that they only counted cabins with two passengers. This sounds strange to me, but lots of things that sound strange to me are in fact true but wanted to see if anyone here had done these booking and if this was in fact the policy. We have eight confirmed cabings but one has a mom and two childrend and the TA said it would not count towad their discound/rebate policy.

We have used the RCCL card for years. You get points for each dollar spent and double points on all purchases with Royal on while on the ships. I know there are better cards out there but since cruising is our go to trip we use this card. We put alot of payments on the card and pay it off each month. So far we have gotten two free cruises and used it to discount others. Again for all my fellow financial friends out there I know its not the best but is is the one we have chosen to use and like it.

This is on our bucket list.

What a great question. Really made me think after so many cruises and really every one was memorable but if we had to pick one it would be our 12 day on Brilliance in the southern Mediterranean. Loved the ports, mostly the islands, Crete, Roades, Malta. A couple of days in Barcelona prior to sailing. We usually sail with friends or family but my wife were on it alone and that made is a very special trip as well. Alaska is a close second.

Yes and then for those who give good personal service I take some cash and tip them. One of my pet peves is hearing people who come up with one or two anecdotal experience or two which I some times think they are looking for during a cruise to justify to themselves and others why they didn't tip the service staff. Would always love to ask them about their company or job and how they are perfect in every customer experience. This is at the top of my pet peeve list on cruises.

Their issue, and I am sure some passengers would try it. You get two on your card, she is at another bar or just at the end of the one you are at and also orders two, then you take them to your two friends who did not buy the package. In all cases the actions of a few that always want to try and get away with something and scam the system causes everyone else to pay. When I ran a store before debit cards people would get so mad when we asked for id to take a check. They would tell me that the check was good and I should take it. My reply was also that we write off over $2 grand a month in bad checks and if I ask any of them if the check was bad they would guarentee it was good. So its always a few that end up making the honest ones pay.

I know, too many people take this stuff way to serious. Your on for the drinks, I have a 8 year old grandson who will be sailing with us who will be D+ so we can share his as well.

LOL

Thanks for the review. We have sailed Allure three times and are planning on going out again next year out of Galveston. We were on a couple to the test/shakedown, what ever the current desingation is on a couple of ships out of LA. Not many people on board so had time to get to know a couple of the bartenders very well. They were all great as usual and we also noticed the staff shortages, like most place on the mainland. One told me they had over 2000 crewmembers not return so filling all of those positions and getting back up to speed is understandable. Will not stop people from complaining on these boards but they are working to get back up to speed. Glad you had a great cruise on a great ship.

Mind also told associates not to request a specific rating. Then they put so much pressure on the results that associates did not always follow the directions.

We have had members mention this as well. Like all companies they use these to mesure customer satisfation and in some cases the responses are tied to some kind of reward for the associate or group. One thing that we have learned from talking to crewmembers over the years and from being on the management receiving end of these types of surveys is, if you had a specific crewmember who did a great job, get their name and call them out on the survey. They ger recognized and in some cases rewarded, but it also goes a long way toward them being sure of getting a renewl on their contracts.

This is brilliant.

Exactly, then don't buy it, make the calculations on your use and make a business decision.

What is the cruise price compared to Royal?