d1k

What about Empress of the Seas? It's a tiny ship and amazing service.  Very love boat like.

Thank you every one.  We watched some ship videos based off our recommendations and I think we are going to try Mariner next.

3 minutes ago, BNBR said:

Oasis because it'll ruin everything else for you.

 

And you are WAY overthinking "reservations" for shows being a bad thing.  It's awesome.  You don't HAVE to have reservations, you can go in standby all the same.  But it's nice to be able to just walk in earlier and grab the best seats, stress free.

So what does the reservation do?  Just get you in early?  I saw on another thread people were upset about a new cast coming in and their reservations getting moved.  What was that about?

Hi,

We are trying to figure out which ship to try next. We picked Empress for Cuba ( but got canceled).  We decided to go with the 50% refund and assumed it would not be our thing.

WE LOVED IT.  Every single second on this ship was perfect. Our teen had a blast too.  We never waited in line, we could decide on a whim what to do based on the Compass.  The small size didn't bother us at all.

We are looking for a June 2021 sailing ( I know these are not out yet). We will book Empress again if it is available but want to start looking at you tube videos and stuff about other ships.

We do not want to make reservations for shows-- that is too stressful.  We will have a 15 year with us.

What ship would you recommend and why?

On 6/15/2019 at 2:49 PM, swimmom1 said:

Does anyone who recently sailed have a copy of the compass? Thanks all

Which ship are you asking about?

Okay......Thank you.  I haven't heard the word virgin in so long I didn't know it was still used.

But if I want a frozen drink no alcohol vs one with......how do I make that clear when I order?

One is covered--- one is not.

I purchased the  refreshment package ( the non alcoholic but has the coffee and other drinks without it).

If I want to order a drink that is covered under that package what do I say?

If I want to order an alcoholic drink to be billed to my sea pass--- how do I order that?

I'm on the June 10 sailing......just got this from my TA...

 

12 minutes ago, Ms BumbleBee said:

Just received this:

 

Dear Guest, 

Today, the United States government shared that educational and recreational (or people-to-people) travel to Cuba is no longer permitted and you may be wondering how this affects your upcoming cruise. Please know, we are assessing what these changes mean for all of our future Cuba cruises and we kindly ask for your patience. We promise to share an update with you and your Travel Partner by tomorrow, June 6th, at 6:00 PM EST. 

Thank you for your patience, we will be in touch soon!

Sincerely, 

 

Aurora Yera-Rodriguez

Director of Guest Services

Royal Caribbean International

Thank you for posting this.  I haven't gotten anything but at least I know what to expect now time -wise and can stop eating my feelings.

Did that come from RCL or your TA?    We haven't heard anything yet...we are on Jun 10 sailing.

I have Menieres and we are booked on first trip.  I am getting a little worried because I am having an episode right now that has lasted 4 days.    Wobbly, wobbly, wobbly.   I am debating on wearing my hearing aid on the cruise too.  I don't want to worry about messing with all the settings etc since I am so hyper sensitive to high noises.   Any suggestions?

We are traveling at the same time on Empress with a teen.  We were scheduling with FerTours but they shut down.  We debated picking another private tour but had the same concerns about the cloak and dagger.  We ended up booking an excursion with the ship to be safe.

23 minutes ago, Granny DI said:

Just emailed our TA. Told her if Cuba is removed from the Veendam we are out.

Final payment isn’t until October so have time for things to play out.

If we had that option I would be bailing too.  We are 50 days away so we have already paid in full.

40 minutes ago, pbenjamin said:

 

If I were to bet I would wager that your June cruise will take place as planned.  They haven't announced anything specific yet and in the past it took a while to come up with new regulations and when they did that they didn't take place immediately.  Further, there was a grandfather clause that exempted things that were already booked.  I don't have a dog in this fight and it's easy for me to suggest that you remain calm, but last time I did and it worked out OK.  

 I am hoping against hope that you are right.  I either want Cuba or my money back.  I know it doesn't work like that but we would not be on this ship without the Cuba destination.  So many other ships we could have spent that money on.

We have been booked on the Jun 10 sailing for a year.  We were booked with Fernando and ended up booking a ship excursion when he closed down.  I didn't realize this could get darker.

It's our first cruise and I am feeling trapped and devastated.  If we were on a big fun ship I would just roll with it but this is going to be such a bust if we can't go to Havana.   I want to throw up.  It's bringing back all the reasons I have never cruised.

Thank you so much for this review.  We are first time cruisers  in June 2019 who want to go to Cuba.  We have friends who are saying we made a mistake by picking such an old ship but your review makes me feel like it is a good starting point for us.

Were there many kids or teenagers on the ship?  

1 hour ago, 37645 said:

Just the soda package is available in your cruise planner. Are you looking at the beverages section? It should be in there. It is on mine for Nov 2019

My only options are Refreshment,  Classic Soda + Voom, Bottle Water Package, and the Cafe Card.

Weird huh?

We are cruising in June 2019.  I want to buy my husband and kid the soda package but the only one we see includes Zoom.  Will they offer just the drinks at some point or will I be forced to get the internet package?

I am getting nervous. We are booked on the Jun 10 ( 5 day cruise) It feels like everyone before and after us is getting canceled.