FamilyCruiserUK

The cruise lines are suffering or should i say experiencing the same as the airline industry..covid shut them down and they had little plan to ramp back up. They had to cut costs during covid and retire/lose crew. I dont think (although dont know how) the airlines and cruise companies expected people to very quickly want to fly or sail. To that end trying to train and hire staff has caused major issues. With the airlines you see it in the papers and is more high profile. Cruising not so much. I dont know what the answer would have been to stop it happening apart from limit sailings and passenger numbers, untill more staff are avilable.

I dont drink anymore, been there done that but i can see why people are annoyed at the costs of the DPs. When the drinks costs more then the cruise costs then you have to ask if its something your happy with. The cruise companies lost huge amounts of money during covid and know people have lots of credit vouchers to use up. So a % of the new money they are getting will only come from the extra spending onboard, drinks, casino, eating, spa, wifi etc. All companies are trying to claw back money and keep profit margins. Just down to what you are willing to pay i guess.

Thanks for letting us all follow along. Some really good information there for those who are travelling soon. Stay safe and safe trip home

Dress shorts as fine. Not sports shorts though.

This is just another example where those of us outside of the US get little in the way of flexibility with RCL. My biggest gripe is the price drop guarantee. In the US if you see it cheaper then change to new price, as many times as you want. In the UK unless under certain booking terms, then nope sorry. Annoying as its the same cruise, ship, same destinations......

Wow no toilet breaks, stand by for children pee on the bus lol. I am soo not looking forward to the bus journey at all. An early start at manchester airport and a long day travelling with the coach transfer.

The 3.5hrs is probably allowing for stops and traffic. Its a sunday so hopefully will be super quick.

Great info. Glad your having a great trip. Really annoyed with RCL via our TA as they only gave us the option of flights to Venice, would have much rather the bologna flights. Ah well just a long road trip!!

Will be following this post as on brilliance in aug. Cant wait and have a Great holiday. Ps well done spurs

Very true. We are always a three, 2 adults 1 child so so we got a good deal this time around but only due to having the CWC Best price guarantee. But yeah most of the deals when worked out come out the same price.

Great info. To add some more as well. For uk children under 12 who have had the vaccine, you can get the letter from their GP with their Jab record. Under GDPR its free so make sure the docs dont charge. That bit of info from my sis who is a GP practice manager. But its good news that rcl accept it as evidence.

Just a quick question. How often do they do the kids sale free promotion? Is this a covid thing or do they do it often?

For us we dress up. We dont cruise that often, maybe once every 18 months but when we do we like to make an effort. But as others have said its up too you. I also think it depends on the ship, and other clientele.

I think this is basically up to royal. You dont need a test to enter Italy but need to test to get on board the ship. Now is this royal being cautious and trying to identify some % of covid passengers to save them having to deal with them, physically and financially or is it the requirements for Italy and other EU countries to impose testing for cruise ships? I got a feeling once the US drop the testing to enter the US then royal will follow for cruises, as long as the EU keep their current requirement of no testing.

A lot of it depends on how easy the toilet paper is to flush, esp when people use handfulls of the stuff. After all the toilet system on a ship, like an airline can only handle the correct type of toilet paper which i assume the cruise companies use, obviously the cheapest version. Speaking of toilets i find the american toilet bowls huge, like dropping a stone in a lake!!! ) Lol

Thanks for that. The little one is looking at the beaches, so will source our own travel from/to the ship

Nice cruise write up and was good to travel along virtually with you. Just a quick one, do you know if its easy to make your own way to the beaches on the greek isles rather then taking the expensive rcl tours?

American bacon or proper english slabs of bacon? 😁

Thanks for the reply. Its so the little one can get her own drink from the machines rather then the bars

I feel for you. Not nice when you do catch covid and not nice when your on holiday. I hope you feel ok and i hope rcl are looking after you and hubby as best as they should. Sorry to highjack the thread but we are going on brilliance in aug. Does the ship have any freestyle drink machines onboard? Hope you test neg soon and dont have any futher covid complications with health and travel.

So glad the uk does NOT require a test to return home. However i do hope they drop the requirement for a test to cruise. We do NOT require a test to enter Italy however have to test to get on the ship, so once the US drop testing to enter i think RCL will follow. The test result is really only valid for that point in time anyway as you can catch it right after or not show symptoms before test. My work colleague tested negative in morning, in evening started to feel flu rough and re tested and was positive..... But i do find it staggering how many people fail to check all the requirements for a holiday and have a lack of adequate insurance cover.

We arefrom the uk. We always use a debt card and never had any issues. Including cruises from america. In fact only issue we had is the hotel trying to put it through as a credit card and not a debt card so they said card was declined. Told them its a credit card and went through first time. We dont own a credit cards.

You can get crisps (uk) or chips (us) usually behind the counter in the park cafe. Although tbh just go to the buffet and have something from there. From cookies to fruit open most of the day.

At last great to see some cruises leaving from europe. Cant wait till aug and our brilliance greek cruise