Thisguylikestocruise

Doing a Greek Isles cruise on Odyssey in September. Looking forward to this blog! 

3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

It looked like total chaos as we were leaving the MDR after early seating last month. I wouldn't even call it a "line", it was more like a crowd that extended back to the elevators like you mentioned.

Yeah it was mess, there was 2 lines, we were in the reservation line. They gave us a card with a time written on it saying come back before closing. When we returned the line grew longer to the elevators.They took us downstairs where Johnny Rockets staff were trying to figure out how to help. I remained calm but others were clearly frustrated and hungry as it was getting late. This was Super Bowl cruise with a lot of families onboard from Brazil, and a lot of children overall. It was the complete opposite experience the year before, where they took us immediately to a table each night. 

Been on Wonder twice. First time MTD was great, second cruise line was to the elevator and long wait times. Not sure why there was such a difference. 

Now that I have a new password the cruise planner is still not working. Constant error messages. I’ve never experienced so many and such frequent glitches with any large company like this before. During Black Friday sales it took 2 months to get cruise planner refunds, and a portion of the refund was taken from the paid off cruise balance, causing overdue balance notices for a paid on full cruise, which risked cancellation. 

My password quit working. It was saved on my Apple keychain so I know it’s correct. Had to make a new one, now I can log in. 

Website and app are down this morning 

Don’t know if it would fit well in the elevator, through hallways, doorways or under the bed.  
 

If he’s small enough and has some upper body strength maybe you could use the wooden slide boards that amputees use to transfer. 

Cruise planner purchases are all frozen. It won’t allow me to cancel anything.  

1 hour ago, Jetdriver787 said:

“Out of an abundance of caution!” 👍 the very phrase I predicted the company would use, yesterday. With over $50M sunk into this venue, I honestly feel for the company, but once travel insurers started to baulk at coverage, the writing was already on the wall. It’s been a tough few years for this  industry and hopefully the situation will improve soon, 

Hopefully Haiti gets a stable government and citizens can live a safer life. I’m sure cruise ships will return once the gang situation is under control. 

On 2/17/2024 at 2:41 PM, trafaelwyr said:

 

Same here.  On Liberty, I would use their workout area for about an hour or so - really loved the fact that the treadmills faced forward instead of to the side - and then head off to the men's locker room to use the steam room and sauna.  The sauna was nice and the steam room could get pretty hot to the point where I could only be in there for about 5 minutes.

Steam room is more tolerable if you put a towel over your head when you walk into it. The hot steam hitting the face and eyes makes it more intense.

44 minutes ago, euro cruiser said:

Part of the confusion arises because there are two completely different areas where cruise ships dock at Civitavecchia, about two and a half miles apart.

 

Berth #25, which is usually where the biggest ships are located, is over a mile north of the Largo della Pace entrance/exit.  You are not allowed to walk from this berthing location.

 

The rest of the cruise berths are out on the spit, near the fort/southern entrance/exit (Varco Fortezza).  You can walk from here into town, there are marked pedestrian walkways.  The furthest out quay is #13 north, from here to the train station is about one and three quarter miles on foot.  The closest in one is #12 south, from here to the train station is about one and a quarter miles on foot.

I’ll be on Odyssey in September. Royal Caribbean usually sends an email a couple weeks before the cruise with terminal information and directions. I’m assuming it’ll make it more clear what to do. 

13 minutes ago, BBWC said:

We were there last October. The shuttle pick up was at the port side of the Fort (see map).

 

We were docked about the farthest away from town, but walked all the way to the  Fort. The pedestrian walkway is clearly marked. Nobody tried to stop us.

 

 

Wow that’s where I originally was planning on going, which is very convenient next to our hotel. It’s confusing because the port website and google maps say the shuttle is at Largo Della Pace. The YouTube video I watched recently showed it was by the fort, and google maps also says it’s by the fort. Maybe both locations have free shuttles to the terminal. 

Looks like you’re correct, the official port website says Largo Della Pace.

https://civitavecchia.portmobility.it/en/largo-della-pace-service-center-port-civitavecchia

20 hours ago, Hlitner said:

It has been a while, but we have previously walked from our pier to the train station.  Depending on the docking location that can be about the same distance as walking from Largo della Pace (have done this too).  Not sure if they still let folks walk through the port (we will be there next month and might check it out).  

 

Thanks for posting about the 6 Euro bus. I do not recall that option (in the past) and it sounds convenient.  I guess the devil will be in the details (i.e. how often does it really run).  We still miss the free bus to the fort.

 

Hank

I was under the impression cruise shuttle pick up and drop off was near the fort, where the small kissing statue is. I watched a recent YouTube video where they boarded a bus there that took them to the terminal. Is it in Largo Della Pace instead? 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2996702-just-off-voyager-of-the-seas-with-cabin-9234-pictures/#comment-67062004

37 minutes ago, livetravelcruise07 said:

We are going on Voyager in May, so I am really happy to hear that you had such a good experience on Voyager! I have heard many negative reviews on this ship, so I am glad to hear yours is so positive!

Same, I’m booked for February and was a little nervous reading the overwhelming many negative reviews. I expect it to be smaller and older than ships I’ve been on, but I’ll still enjoying staring at the ocean sunsets like always regardless of the ship. 

12 minutes ago, nanseev said:

For years, I’ve steered away from Royal’s spa - mainly because I’ve read so many people comment on the average experience plus the brutal “hard sell” after the spa experience - and I’d rather spend my extra money in the casino 😂.  I’m going on Wonder (Eastern Caribbean) soon…and really contemplating booking a couples massage for my husband and myself.  We are NOT spa people regularly, so I think I’d be happy with “average.”  But…what’s the best type of massage to get?  There’s different options for massages, and don’t know if one is better than the other.  Also, is 50 minutes enough, or is 75 better?  Is is better to book ahead of time, or cheaper if I wait for a Port Day special (open to any day since we’ve been to the ports numerous times, and I know port days are less expensive than sea days).  Trying to get the best value if I splurge on this. Thanks!

We just did a couples aroma hot stone massage on Wonder 3 weeks ago. First massage on a ship. Have had several on land previously, with mixed results.
 

Day 1 at 2:30pm was $271 including tips for 50 minutes. It was the perfect amount of time. Wife and I agreed it was the best massage we’ve ever experienced. Head to toe massage and very relaxing. I have chronic back pain so the heat from the stones felt amazing. I told them medium pressure and that’s what I got. 
 

The spa employees left the room after the massage and came back a couple minutes later for the sales pitch. I simply said no thank you, no product sales today. And that was it.

Not unique to Roatan. Wait times in the U.S. are just as bad sometimes. A person can wait hours in an ER waiting room or for ambulance transport. 

He’ll have plenty of time to hide under beds in prison 

14 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Note to self, people are weird…

 

What did you do when said cameras etc were discovered? 

It’s not just individuals. I worked for a company that had cameras and microphones in the break room to monitor conversations. 

Noticed on my recent cruise there’s a lot of parents that let kids roam around unsupervised. They need to realize it’s not a daycare where everyone gets background checks, there’s thousands of strangers onboard. Parents normally wouldn’t let small children walk alone in a city, so why do they trust a cruise ship so much. 

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Multiple thoughts: 

 

- I'm with those who question how a person could get under the bed. 

- Even if he did, what kind of chance was he taking?  It's possible the guests would come in and take a long nap, trapping him for hours.  And what if an angry father or husband caught him?  

- While this guy is a serious weirdo and creep and deserves what's coming to him -- firing, for starters, I'm not getting worked up over it.  He's one idiot; let's not make assumptions about the other crew members.  

If it’s anything like horror movies, there would be a trap door underneath the bed he could use to enter and escape from. 

41 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm trying to figure out the logistics of that though.

Does he hear the shower running in a cabin then sneak inside? Or does he pick up on patterns of certain cabins and stay inside when he knows the passenger is coming back for a shower?

He'd have to have all that staked out pretty good to avoid getting stuck under the bed for hours on end.

Maybe he was caught but claimed he was cleaning under the bed and got stuck. The passengers were probably thinking their stateroom attendant was extra thorough cleaning their room. I don’t understand the logistics of it otherwise. 

12 hours ago, link99 said:

The attendant was also hiding under the bed watching people as they were in the shower.

This is going to give me nightmares 

We were told three weeks ago on Wonder MTD without reservations started at 8:15pm. They gave us a business card with 8:15 written on it, and were told to come back then. It didn’t really make a difference if you had reservations or not. Both lines got mixed together and were sent to deck 3 for overflow tables. Johnny Rockets staff were filling in as MDR waiters since it was overcrowded and the line was out to the elevators. Your only option is the 5pm table or 8:15pm-9pm. Anytime in between that you won’t just wait in line, in my experience you get turned away.