first time cruising

Silver moon

This will be our first silversea cruise. We will be in a silver suite and I notice there is a coffee machine in the suite. Also realise that we could have cup of tea delivered in the morning so the question is could the coffee machine be swapped for a kettle and tea bags or better still keep the coffee maker and have a kettle. Many thanks in advance.

This will be our first cruise with Silversea. We have a suite on deck 11 port side. With doing some research, I see smoking is allowed port side on deck 10. Guess my question is has anyone experience staying on deck 11 and found the smoke an issue. Many thanks.

Hi, we are planning a cruise from Lisbon to Athens for March  next year. Could anyone help that may have used the option of Silverseas arranging flights as part of the cruise package. We will be flying from Australia and nervous about airlines used and routes taken. Thanks

Hi, husband and I are booked on Explorer of the seas from Seattle to Australia departing 5th October. Could anyone please explain the way the five night dining package works. The prices quoted are in Australian dollars. Five night package $131.25 per person which equals $26.25 per night. On the web site it says that $35.00 is put towards a la carte dining venues. So does that mean we pay and extra $13.75 on top of the $26.25 if for example we dine at Chops which costs $48.75. I do hope this question makes sense to some of you very seasoned travellers with Royal Caribbean. Thanks

We sailed with Princess 30 nights from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles in March this year. It was a wonderful cruise with so many great ports.

We have just spent 30 nights on the Emerald Princess and the entire cruise we had to go to a 4th or 5th choice before they had a wine available. It was very frustrating and each wine waiter told us a different story as why there was a lack of wines available. Not sure if it is a deliberate ploy by Princess to make passengers buy the more expensive wines by not having the more reasonable priced wines available. There was no wine card or BOGO.

We have a balcony breakfast included as part of a three for free promotion. Anyone know if we could pay the extra and change it to a ultimate balcony dinner? Thanks

We had our first suite experience on Radiance of the Seas earlier this year. Our concierge was JD (job done) sorry can't remember his full name. We did not receive a email from him and we certainly were very under impressed with the service we received. He seemed to have his favourite passengers and for some reason we were not one of them. On one occasion we stopped for a quick drink in the club at 4.30pm before we changed for formal night. My husband had dress shorts, polo shirt with collar and leather sandals. JD told him it was not appropriate dress so we left. After dressing up we went back and at 7pm a guest from the Royal suite was in the club in baggy jeans, basketball cap and sunglasses and JD was running around sending his staff to find the special brandy the guy requested. We loved our first suite experience and have booked a suite for an upcoming cruise on Explorer of the seas. Hope we get to experience a positive concierge experience next time.

We have a late flight back to Australia next April, I contacted Travel lodge hotel at LAX and they gave me some very good information for their day rate. Think this will be the way we will go.

We were in an owners suite for a cruise in April this year. Breakfast was in Chops. Reserved seating at the theatre but none by the pools. It was great having the reserved seating in the theatre and would have been appreciated by the pool as we never managed to get a seat in that area. Embarkation day we were virtually whisked to an area of the dining room which had a special area prepared for lunch. It was wonderful with buffet set up and could also order off a menu. Drinks were served and there were several officers welcoming us aboard. During our cruise there were several functions for suite and diamond plus guests. Each night we went to the concierge club for a couple of drinks before dinner. Did not have any advantages for tender ports. In fact as we queued in the sun to get back on board from Bora Bora the captain and his wife were even further back in the queue. We gave the captain extra brownie points for that as I'm sure he could have pulled rank and jumped the queue.

Thank you for your post. We are platinum with Princess but have never sailed in a suite with them. We have a cruise booked to sail 30 nights in a suite coming up on the Emerald Princess. I have been worried reading the reviews on the Emerald but feel happier after reading your positive review. We recently sailed on RCL Radiance of the Seas in a suite and it was a wonderful experience. On that cruise, there were several "special events" for suite and Diamond plus guests including lunch on embarkation day. Could you please advise if there were any events for suite guests only?

Thanks for your replies. I think the hotel for the day sound like a good idea.

We finish our 30 night South American cruise in San Pedro and fly back to Australia at midnight the same day from LAX. Although Princes do not mention a transfer with sight seeing to the airport was wondering if anyone can help with information if sometimes this is offered. Thanks

i have found a video of this cabin but trying to work out if the balcony is fully covered or partially covered. Can any one please advise me. Thanks

Just a few thoughts on our first cruise with RCL. I will post a review when I get over the jet lag! We are not loyal to any one cruise line. Have sailed with Oceania, Cunard, Holland America, Carnival and 57 nights with Princess. We rate Royal Caribbean as up there with the best. We found the food, entertainment, service to be of a high standard. We sailed in an owners suite on deck ten and it was lovely. Had an issue with our suite being flooded due to a burst water pipe and had to vacate our suite for 4 nights. Management did their best with the situation (some of the customer service workers could do with some more customer relationship training) but all in all in the end did not spoil our holiday. The highlights out weighed the negatives but I will outline both in my review. We met many loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers and can see why they stick to one cruise line.

Thank you for all your helpful replies. I might get a few bunches from the local supermarket and see what happens. Not a huge expense if they are taken from us.

taking our first Royal Caribbean cruise from Sydney in April. I love to have flowers in our cabin but they are very expensive to buy from the ship Radiance Of The Seas. Is it allowable to take flowers on board with us? Any other tips on sailing with RCL would be appreciated. Thanks.

When we were on the Island Princess two years ago, we could purchase cans of beer and small bottles of champagne at happy hour and get the same amount for free. It was a great system as it allowed us to purchase six of each at a time and take them back to our cabin. Is this still allowable on the buy one and get one for a $1. Thanks

I am having trouble accessing the Princess website. Looking at emerald princess R406. Can't find any information on this cabin. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for answering the kettle/coffee maker question. Excited to read your review and will be first thing I check each morning for further updates. We board our first ever RCL cruise and Radiance of the Seas in April.

Did you have tea and coffee making facilities in the owners suite?

We will look forward to your report. We are sailing on Radiance in April.

Looking at booking 19 day cruise from Sydney to Hawaii in April this year. Looking through previous posts I found a list of perks for an owners suite eg gratuities covered, beverage package, Nespresso coffee machine etc. looking at the website it does not mention any of these extras. The only cabin available is 1562 which shows it is a connecting cabin. Any feed back on this being an issue and any hints about this cabin would be appreciated. Thanks

Just wondering what options other than the buffet will be available on embarkation day. Thanks