RlrCstr

Steam and sauna are off of the locker areas and are free. No paid day pass needed.

4 hours ago, Colorado Babe said:

Thank you for posting about your experience.  I was on the Adventure for a B2B in February and will also be on her again this Sunday.  I look forward to sailing on her again as my experience was a very good one.

I have sailed on Adventure several times. Love the multi-deck mini-golf course.

I will be sailing this coming Sunday also. Looking forward to it. 

Congrats on joining the Pinnacle Club. 

As others have said, it is sort of up to the LA on the ship when you get the 700 points.

What ship is that?

When do you get the 700th point? If near the beginning of the cruise, you might get some of the extras on

that cruise. If near the end, it might not be until the next cruise.

For internet, on some ships, you get the code when you check in on shore before boarding. On other ships, it is in a letter from the Concierge that is in your cabin.

On some ships, you will be invited to the cocktail party and/or lunch on the 700th cruise, on some, not until the next cruise. Some ships have a nice dinner, some do not. All again depending on the LA and that person's supervisors.

When you are brought up to take the picture, you are handed a replica of the stratum. You will notice it is made of plastic and easy to hold and not drop or break. The real one in crystal is much heavier, and will be sent to 

you, along with the certificate and directions to get your free cruise credit.

I have sailed with other Pinnacles that did not realize that they were also to receive the regular "every 70 points" crystal block. You also get this--AS WELL AS the crystal stratum that will be sent to you. Some LA's will tell you this is not true, but I assure you that they are incorrect. Do not let them ship that to you, as you will not receive it. The block is delivered to your cabin--not given to you at the Top Tier event. 

Again, welcome to our club. 

On 11/9/2018 at 9:39 AM, CntPAcruiser said:

 

That is awful news. This class of ships (Voyager) and Freedom-class have some of the best locker/sauna/steam facilities in the fleet. I suppose it's only inevitable that the other ships will have their nice free facilities refurbed out of existence. Very disappointing.

 

We are on Adventure in January '19---someone please tell me they haven't already destroyed the facilities on there in the recent refurb.

I was on Adventure last week and all facilities are still there and in good shape.

The first day the steam room had a problem, but several complained that it kept shutting off and whatever had to be adjusted was, so the rest of the cruise was fine. Some thought that the dry sauna could have been a bit warmer,  but most found it to be fine.

Plenty of towels and the shampoo dispensers were always full.

Renato Arana boarded Liberty today in Cozumel and takes over on Sunday, 30 Sept.

I have taken the Royal bus from Hobby several times and have never made a reservation to do so. I just showed up in the baggage area in the morning and talked to the Royal representative there. She (same lady each time I have done this) always took my reservation number and told me where to be to line up to get on the bus. A few days into the cruise, the charge would show up on my account.

To get back to Hobby, I made a reservation with Guest Services.

It has never been a problem for me, or for others that I know have gone this way.

After reading some posts on here, I decided to try one of the shuttle services. I found them by Googling "Shuttle vans from Hobby to Galveston." Compare prices and availability, as those vary from one company to the next.

I have never gone with Uber, as it has always been the most expensive option for this particular trip.

I am sailing on Liberty OTS in a week, and will be doing the same.

(I also agree that it is time for a different TA, since this one does not seem to be on top of all parts of your reservation and not communicating with you.)

Happy sailing.

I am sailing on her right now. We just left Bermuda, and are on the way to Nassau.

Wonderful ship. Great crew.

I did a day thru RCCL over to Nevis about a year ago. The boat trip took about 45 minutes each way. We then got in mini-van cars that held about 10-12 people in each. We drove past the House but did not stop. We went to a couple of forts, etc. -- two of which had become very upscale hotels -- and walked around the grounds some. We then had lunch (very good) at a place right by the beach and had a couple of hours to go in the water.

I know that most on the tour thought that there was no need to go to two different hotel/fort places as they were similar in what you could see and do.

The beach was very nice. Better than the usual ones on St. Kitts.

I would ask at the Excursion Desk on the ship about the House and Museum before booking, maybe emphasizing that those places are of interest and import to you. They can then advise you if the current tour will do those stops, or not.

Enjoy Nevis. Beautiful island.

We plan to take a couple of UBERs to the ship from our hotel, and arrive at about 11:30. Will they drop us at some "special" place?

We also plan to take a couple of UBERs from ship to EWR. When should we call for the UBER? We plan to leave the ship about 9:00. Have any of you had difficulty getting an UBER at the Port?

I was on a cruise on Adventure a week ago. I was able to find a Uber driver that would take me from a hotel near EWR, and the cost with tip was less than $20. But---the driver told me that he could not pick me up, but didn't say why other than he couldn't pick up at the port.

I tried to get Uber once I left the ship and no Uber would accept the trip back to EWR. I tried several times and had no luck.

I was already out of the terminal and had to get to the airport for my flight.

Luckily, a couple had a car service there and they offered to let me share with them. Cost me $45, including tip to get back to EWR. That driver said that Uber is not allowed to pick up passengers--something involving the taxis and their contract with the port.

While that may not be accurate, I do know that I was not able to get Uber to come to the pier for me.

YMMV.

Also--when you do the online check-in, you can download a photo. However, even though I had used that same photo for another cruise, at this port they said it wasn't a good photo and they quickly took another one. Not a huge issue.

Have a great cruise.

I have stayed onboard on many of my Caribbean cruises.

I also did it on one-half of my most recent back to back Alaska cruise, but that was also because it rained all week.

As others have said--it is great to have the entire ship without very many doing the same things.

Loved it.

Keep in mind that it is a LOT of meat, so don't load up on the sides/salads/etc.

How long was the bus ride from Progresso, please? Cost? I might sail Vision on a short cruise just to see Chichen Itza again.

The bus ride was about 2 hours. Before C.I. there was a stop at a store to buy souvenirs.

At that time, they gave us the lunch. It was a ham and cheese sandwich, a bag of chips,

a stale chocolate bar (I didn;'t see anyone eat more than one bite of it), and a bottle of cold water.

We then went to the ruins (a short ride from the shops).

At the ruins there are Many vendors, some of them not easily taking 'no' as a reply.

They were at the gate in as well as on the grounds of the ruins.

I donot recall the cost of the excursion.

We had a couple of hours there, and then the 2 hour ride back.

The Vision is now going to Yucatan (Progresso) with an excursion to Chichen Itza which avoids the ferry ride and is cheaper than the one from Coz. We’ll be doing that in a couple of weeks.

I sailed on the Vision in November and did RCL's tour from Progresso.

It was the first to leave in the morning and was the last to return. Made for a full day.

But it was completely worth it. Wonderful trip. Bring a hat--it was sunny and there is almost no shade there.

A special place---definitely go.

Is there a free steam/sauna in the spa area? Thanks

There is no spa on this ship, so no sauna or steam. The 'gym' is a few basic machines only.

The lunch was very good. The beach was nice.Nevis was beautiful and I am going back there again this Spring on another cruise that has a port day in St. Kitts.

However---

From the Royal Description of this excursion:

"Important Notes:

• Guests with mobility issues should not select this tour.

• Consider physical fitness and medical history when selecting tour"

This is worth noticing. There are MANY steps/stairs--and most of them are not even, as they are made of stone/rock.

We had a few on our tour that had walkers or canes, and they missed most of the plantation buildings, etc because of all of the up and down of the stairs.

In Bar Harbor we toured Acadia National Park, had lunch at Asticou Inn, and walked around town in the port area. In Halifax, we did the Segway tour. I didn't realize the Titanic museum was right there and it was closing by the time we got to it.

Bar Harbor--take Ollie's Trolley to Acadia.

Halifax. For Titanic buffs, a little farther away, but a do not miss, is Fairview Lawn Cemetary. Then downtown, the Maritime Museum/Titanic Museum. After that, take the boardwalk walk back to the ship along the water.

I found a flight from SJU all the way to Los Angeles/Burbank on Southwest for $160, which made for an easy decision to book the cruise.

Don't get those. Get the ones with the metal cable. https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holder-Seal-Steel/dp/B01E4SQNLS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1514580416&sr=1-1-spons&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=royal+caribbean+luggage+tags&psc=1

Agreed. These are the best to get. I have some that are a few years old and they look brand new and they get a lot of use.

I agree on Uber. It can even be set it up to order a trip in advance.

With tip, it was $25 for 4 of us. A little tight with luggage, but we made it work.

This was about a month ago.

It was excellent when I ate there. There are some meats that I don't always eat, so they were great about just bringing me the ones that I wanted.

Don't load up on the appetizer bar, even though everything looks tasty. Save lots of room for the meat, as there is a lot of it.

November 2017 on Vision.

Anyone have any clue on how the sauna/steam setup is on the Harmony of the Seas? Co-ed or separate men's only?

Co-ed, and for pay only on the Oasis Class ships:

Oasis, Allure, and Harmony.

Co-ed, and for pay only on the Quantum Class ships:

Quantum, Ovation, and Anthem.

Nothing at all on the Sovereign Class ships:

Majesty, and Empress.

Nothing on Enchantment, but the other Vision Class ships all do have

separate, free facilities.

Separate, free facilities on Radiance Class, Voyager Class, and Freedom Class ships.

We are yet to sail on Serenade (less than a month now to wait). But we've learned from others on here that the sauna/steam room are separate and located in the respective locker rooms, so they are male only, in the men's locker room, and free. If you do a search, it's possible to find a few pictures online. Sounds like a fairly standard sauna, and a sort of horseshoe-shaped tile steam room. Usually a fairly friendly atmosphere on Royal's ships with the separate saunas/steam rooms. Obviously mostly passengers, but occasionally crew/staff members stop in, for sweating and conversation.

I am on Serenade this week. The steam room is only a "hot and humid" room as there is no steam. The showers have no hot water (this is the 4th day of a 10 night cruise), but they are saying that will be repaired soon (not the steam room, however). Because of that, things are not as 'friendly' as one would hope for, but there is still about a week to go, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that all improves. One nice thing is that the spa is open till 10pm, so there might be possible times to converse in the evening when everyone is at dinner or the shows.

The sauna/steam set up is quite good. A reasonable sizes sauna, probably hold 15 people but never seen that many in it. The steam is a smaller circular design holding 6 comfortably, again rarely seen many in here.

 

On Brilliance there are 4 showers is groups of two, very nice but when we were on Brilliance they were in need of some maintenance.

 

On Serenade and Jewel, on of the shower units has been split to form a separate disabled shower, other than that they are the same.

 

There are plenty of benches and a water fountain.

Hello from Serenade. All of the above is correct.

There are 24 lockers, some of which have keys at the desk to lock.

The first area with the lockers has some bench seating as well as the two benches in the room with the showers, sauna and steam rooms. Those benches are smaller and hold only two people per bench.

So far, towels have been in very short supply. It hasn't been busy yet, but as of tomorrow, this could be an issue and I will have to keep an extra in the locker just in case.

There could be more actual steam in the steam room. The sauna is fairly hot and does heat up more if water is poured on the unit.

I hope that these details help. Ask if any questions arise. I plan to be in the spa for the next couple of days until we reach Iceland.

So, we were last on Vision, and I was surprised at how small the actual locker are was and how much wasted space there was in the men's sauna/steam room area, especially the weird open shower thing off to the side. Our next cruise is on Serenade, which is the same class as Brilliance. I'm curious what the setup is like (hopefully they are similar). Can you describe the layout on Brilliance?

I will be on Serenade in a few days, and on Brilliance after that. I have sailed both ships in the past. They are very similar in layout.

I can write with details, or answer any questions on Monday, 29 August.