Gquie

Me and my partner are experienced jetskiiers so we were weary about doing a follow the leader with RCI. We're more used to just going wherever we want. That said we found the experience to be great and we had a blast. We stayed near the front of the pack so we got to build up some good speed and found the guided tour to be a lot of fun.  I would avoid the back of the pack because we noticed that the few stragglers behind were often told to cut straight through the "course" and meet up with the pack effectively cutting short their experience.  It was significant enough to notice. Of course if that's your fancy and you just want to get a taste of it without worrying about being too slow for people behind you then stay at the back. If you're near the front or even the middle you will be expected to full throttle it in order to keep the pace consistent for the rest of the group.

There is an instructor that leads the course and one at the back that makes sure everyone is following the course and to ensure there are no issues with any of the jetskiiers.  Hope you guys have fun. 

The timeline and the ship that this happened on sounds like it was the Atlantis cruise. I have friends who attended this cruise along with other Atlantis cruises' of years past. I don't mean to paint with a broad stroke but it's no real secret what types of things people try (and successfully) carry on board. I'm not surprised that there was a heightened level of security/scrutiny. 

I'm not saying that I condone what happened to you OP as I believe everyone has a reasonable right to privacy and respect and how you were treated was not respectful, but is it possible that someone wanted to cause trouble for you and issued a fake tip to cause all of this to happen? For them to say they had intel on you sounds like someone might have told them something.

3 minutes ago, Mikew0805 said:

For your sake, I hope it changes, and you can go to Coco Cay.

 

I personally enjoyed sailing through storms, the couple times that I have. I like that type of weather, especially at night.

It's weird but I'm like this too. Always look forward to at least a bit of mild weather to keep things interesting. We've sailed through thunderstorms before and it was thrilling.  I was surprised at how not rough the seas were either (maybe because we were on Allure) but found it a nice gentle rocking while watching Mama Mia.

As part of the "me generation" I can attest that the majority of the folks in my cohort are very much entitled and don't appreciate that rules and policies apply to them. I cannot tell you how many times in my day to day that I hear the phrase "oh it won't happen to me" or "I'll talk my way out of it" or "it's fine they'll wait for us" or even "we can have another drink we'll only be 5 mins late". 

While I'm not saying that I know exactly the events that transpired here that caused this couple to be late, I have to say that even if it happened at no fault of their own, the rest of the guests onboard who were able to make it back on time should not be punished or inconvenienced either. A delay for whatever reason has downstream impacts that someone has to pay for in the end and the more the cruise lines enforce the all aboard time the more people will build the travel time and contingency time into their port day so they can get back on time. If this happened to me I'd think to myself "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" 

I have to admit that I was amused by the video but I'm also surprised at how well this couple handled the situation. There didn't seem to be any meltdowns or panicking and they seemed fairly composed. If I were to wager a guess I'd think that they fully expected this to happen and were already mentally prepared for it. 

Does anyone know if soda water (club soda) is free? I always buy the coke package but found that on my most recent cruise I ordered soda water more than I did coke or the syrup drinks. 

 

I also went to the bar a couple times to order a club soda and they didn't even look at my card for the package. 

Compared to the $100 zipline that you get to go down once at Labadee, this price is a pretty good value. "Compared to" being the pejorative words here... 

25 minutes ago, Orsino said:

 

Thanks for the great info. What time would you recommend getting to the cruise terminal for people who have The Key? We board on Sunday. 

 

Thanks

So you're on the sailing right after we get off. Lucky!

We arrived at around 10:45am. With Key you're directed to the suites "line" which is basically no line and then once you clear security you're brought up to checkin and then the suites waiting lounge. The whole process took less than 15 mins. When you get to the checkin lines make sure to tell them you're key as there was no sign telling us which line we should use. The agent then directed us to the diamond checkin line which also basically had no line up. We waited until about 11:30ish before they started boarding pinnacles and then suites, diamonds, key all boarded at the same time. There are some refreshments you can have while you wait but if you don't want to sit in the lounge for too long then I'd say go at around 11am which will give you time to clear security, checkin and get your sea pass cards, and then you should probably only need to wait about 15-20 mins before boarding. 

21 minutes ago, zooma said:

 

Thanks so much for your review. Would you mind elaborating on about how long you spent at Chops for lunch?

Happy to help! We boarded at around 11:45 and got to chops at around 12 after a bit of walking around. Because the service was a bit slower than normal with all the key members we were there until about 1:30. It was a nice relaxing paced lunch and we didnt feel rushed to get to our room but we did notice a few couples beside us that left earlier than we did by about 10 minutes give or take. 

1 hour ago, cre8tiv said:

Thanks for sharing your Actual Onboard

Experiences with the Key. Like you... it was incremental for us to UPgrade and we re looking forward to it all! 

9 minutes ago, Ralphinsc said:

Awesome review, Gquie! Thanks!

Happy to review/help! 

Currently on the Oasis and have Key.  So far the experience has been great. Loved the ease of check-in. When we got to the terminal all we had to do was tell the person manning the lines that we were Key and she told us that because we had Key we would be considered Diamond and could use the suites line. Breezed through the line which was essentially no line but felt really bad for everyone else in the huge lines to check in.

We were boarded right after Pinnacles and headed straight to chops for our lunch which was great. The ship staffed extra at chops to handle the increased traffic from Key and the wait for the food to come was a bit long but not unreasonable.

It seems the staff are now very aware of the Key program and it is enforced rigorously. Flowrider/Zipline Key sessions have a sign that is posted visibly that say "exclusively for Key guests". We love the flowrider but previously having to line up with 20 people deep really dampened the experience for us but this time there were 4 Key guests using flowrider and the hour that we had the session was way more than enough for us to get our fill.  The instructor staff were great as well since there were only 4 guests they actually spent a lot of time with each of us to teach us the proper techniques and would encourage us to go again and again.  

When we got access to our room a printout of all the special Key reserved times was waiting for us on the bed which outlines the specified times and dates for all Key reserved activities. 

Whenever a non-Key guest tried to line up they were politely advised that the sessions were for Key guests only and that they could use the starboard side Flowrider but of course there were line ups of around 10-15 people each. Guests who tried to sneak into the Key session were directed back to the other Flowrider.  Key guests will be given the standard blue bracelet plus an orange bracelet to signify to the staff that you have Key.

Reserved seating at the shows including the Aqua Theater were great. Key guests are provided the same reserved section as Suites guests and it was enforced each time.  Reservations are still required but once you're in we felt like they had blocked off the best 3 rows for Key and Suites.  We did get a few glares from other guests who saw that our seapasses were the regular non-suites one but at checkin they put a black "Key" sticker on our seapass above the Coca Cola logo to show that you have Key to the staff.

I wouldn't hesitate to purchase Key again. The experience was great and really elevated the last few days for us. Since we were going to purchase the VOOM surf & stream the incremental cost was acceptable for us. We don't have kids which made our choice a bit easier.

Happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Booked on Oasis in Feb and am considering the 3 night dining package. The last time I was at 150 CP was 3 years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. Im sad to hear that the experience has kind of gone downhill.

I looked at the menu in the cruise planner and see a few options that look good. Does anyone know if I'm allowed to order more than one dish like in the MDR? or are we relegated to ordering 1 app, 1 entree, 1 dessert?  

I remember 3 years ago at 150 CP I was encouraged by the waiter to order whatever I wanted. Not sure if that's changed.

Was available in terminal 18 but was just a separate much shorter line for global entry. No machines and was manned.Still helped shave at least 30 mins of standing in the regular line.

Personally I never even had a chance to feel unsafe in Falmouth. We were on a Dunns River Falls excursion and we boarded the bus inside the compound and never got off the bus until we reached Ochos Rios. Just looking at Falmouth from the ship I never really had an overwhelming desire to see it.

I'm booked on a Western later this year that stops off in Falmouth and I've already decided that I'll just stay on the ship. If the itinerary changes to another port I'll be thrilled.

I've only been to Jamaica twice and I never felt unsafe but it's just not a country I'm particularly interested in exploring.

Same preference for starboard side.

Any idea of what the views are of the port side when docked in these ports? Usually when I get back to the cabin I'm on my balcony for the sailaway so I never actually got a chance to see what the port side looks like :(

Hello,

I just booked my first trip on the Harmony for a Western Caribbean itinerary for later in Dec. I've sailed the Allure twice always on the starboard side and loved that it faced the pier. I like watching the pier runners and when the workers remove the gangway. On my most recent Allure cruise back in April we visited Labadee, Falmouth, and Cozumel and the ship always docked on the starboard side.

This time I'm booked on the port side of HOTS and I'm wondering if it will follow the Allure precedence where it always docks on the starboard side? Right now I can't get a cabin on the deck I want on the starboard side for HOTS. Are the views from the port side in the above ports boring? (subjective I know...) Ideally in port I like to see some of the port not just water.

Thanks!

10534 has the bed by the bathroom.

Thanks for confirming!

I agree about 11154, but 10543 is an inside and I don't know if those follow the same rule.

I'm sorry I actually made a typo. The room is actually 10534 which should be oceanview balcony

Thank you for confirming 11154!

Sorry to dredge up an old thread. My friends and I just booked on Harmony for November and I just wanted to confirm our bed placements.

We have staterooms 11154 and 10534. Going off the "formula" it should be:

11154 = Bed by the balcony

10543 = Bed by the bathroom

Am I right?

I've done an inside on Adventure and loved it. I need pitch black to sleep really well and it delivered. I didn't find it overly small. My main criteria is that the room is clean and the bed is comfortable. I travel light so I dont need a ton of space for my things.

That said my other half demands balconies and wont do any category below that. So.... balconies are all we do :p

Im with Gloworm2 and with you TinyPinkBug. File the claim and I hope you get something back. Insurance companies are a blood sucking drain on humanity so you should milk them for all they're worth because they wouldn't hesitate to milk you.

One unfortunate thing I experienced on a recent RCI excursion booking I made during the above mentioned 20% discount period was on the ship I received a call in the morning telling me that due to lack of participation one of my prebooked excursions had been cancelled. They refunded the amount as OBC and offered to rebook me on a different excursion at full price.

I explained to them that I didn't think it was fair that I had to pay full price for a different excursion since I booked during the 20% off period. She hummed and hawwed for a bit before rebooking me on a similar tour and then refunded me 20% of the difference.

So just a word to the wise, if you book something on discount at RCI and they cancel it through no fault of your own, you'll be asked to rebook another excursion at regular price unless you complain.

Just came off the Allure as well last Sunday and I noticed this as well! It was around 11:30pm and I headed up to the cantilevered hot tubs just outside of the solarium and when I got there it wreaked of it. My partner and I were wondering the same thing how whoever smoked it got it on board. We are familiar with the smell of MJ (let's just say that) and it was definitely MJ we were smelling.

Just off my cruise and wanted to confirm that I was successfully able to use the Global Entry queue when exiting Port Everglades terminal 18.

Just told the folks working there that we had Global Entry and we bypassed the entire line into a very small queue for global entry. Only about 5 minutes had elapsed since we stepped onto the gangway and to the time when we had cleared immigration and exited the terminal. Wonderful program.

Wow that must have been scary. I know I get upset every time I hear the Alpha, Alpha, Alpha call. To think someone has had a medical emergency while on a cruise is very distressing. Thank God for the top-notch care available on cruise ships now. Hopefully the Indy passenger will be OK.

I was on the Allure yesterday and as I was walking back to my room from the wind jammer the loud speaker went off saying Alpha Alpha Alpha. She repeated it a couple times and gave a location on the ship. I was wondering what that meant!

I'm absolutely no RCI expert, but I figure that RCI would be crazy to turn down any changes that would make them more money. If you were trying to make a change to reduce your amount owed I'd think that's where RCI would enforce such a "no changes" policy. lol.