neptune18

On 3/15/2020 at 11:34 AM, rtazz17 said:

Hopefully you took the 100 percent refund. You will make out much better then the 125% if you use 3rd party vendor. We cruise every yr for 1000 less then royal site states plus all gratuities paid plus 300 on board credit plus 2 specialty rest dinners for a family of 4. Net savings for us vs going through royal is easily 2,000...... so that 25%would not come close to covering savings going elsewhere.

Maybe I need to switch to your vendor!

I was looking at RCCL Symphony for May and was intrigued by Encore out of NYC to Bermuda. Sailed Breakaway and Getaway and pool/deck space was barely bearable. On a cruise with three sea days that's a deal breaker for me.  Pool will be an absolute zoo. 

So to review:

No Park 150?

No Wonderland?

Everyone hates Cats.

If I only had two it would be 150 and Wonderland.

Wife and kids did this excursion three weeks ago and they're still doing it.

We did the Spoon Food Tour in San Juan and loved it but it's not for young children.

We just got off of Harmony. We did not like Chops at all but loved Park 150 and Wonderland. I would do both if possible but if only one would do 150.

I'll give Random Wind a mixed review. The crew and new catamaran are great, as is the beach stop and Tarzan swing.

Here are our negatives:

1. At about 28 people it felt a little crowded.

2. There was some sort of "grill disaster" where the grill caught fire, burning the chicken so lunch consisted of

bread, rice and salad.

3. Smoking is allowed and apparently the designated smoking place is the only shaded part of the boat. I don't

know how you permit smoking in such a small confined place.

4. Okay, this is a strange one. There was a large family of about 15 on board who held a service for the late

husband of one of them where his ashes were scattered in the ocean after about a 15 minute religious ceremony.

It wasn't a huge deal but it made others uncomfortable as we had to watch while they

understandably became emotional. It certainly put a temporary lull in the party atmosphere. I can

only assume this had to have been cleared before hand and we all felt this was something they should

have done privately, and we, who paid for a premium experience, should not have been part of it.

Spoon food tour, booked privately. Lasted three to three and a half hours. Consisted of about five stops where we had food. It is essentially a walking/history/culture walking tour of Old San Juan with food stops along the way. My 24 and 22 year old sons enjoyed it very much as well.

Do you have any tips in regards to the bungalows? I have two reserved for our cruise.

Get there as early as possible so you can pick which ones you want. We were at the door when the gangway opened so we had our pick. We had no. 5 which we liked. the only ones you probably don't want are 1 and whichever number is the last one.

Few more points I forgot to mention. Flew into Miami and did two nights there pre-cruise because my kids (24 & 22) wanted Miami. Stayed at Hampton Brickell. Nice hotel in a great area. We liked Brickell better than South Beach.

Only had two dinners in dining room with completely different experiences. First, on night two was awful with awful service. Waiter had no personality and couldn't even tell us how the fish was prepared. The second time our waiter (female) was awesome and the food was not bad.

Smoking. I hesitate to bring it up but here goes. Smoking is allowed in an area on the port side of the pool deck. The entire smoking population of the ship must be there because you can't go near that area without literally getting smoked. We sat well forward of that area one sea day and it stunk all the way up to where we were. and it's not just cigarettes as there were always cigars and on several occasions pot being smoked as well. It didn't bother me that pot was being smoked but it was surprising. I guess that area is the Wild West of smoking.

Great ship and crew. Had deluxe drink package-well worth it.

Ate at Jamies twice-excellent, Park 150-best meal on ship, Chops-NY Strip was awful, definitely not prime beef,

and Wonderland-excellent, fun experience and you do not need to be a foodie to enjoy.

Lunches were at Park Cafe and dog house, as well as once at Sabor because kids got it with their Central Park balcony.

I'm not much of a Mexican fan but wife and kids loved it.

Shows were great. Saw Grease, Fine Line, comedy, headliner (Jeff Tracta, singing Trump from last years AGT who was hilarious). Didn't like Columbus. The talent was there but not a great show).

Did beach bungalow and wave runners in Labadee, Spoon food tour in San Juan (awesome) and Random Wind day sail in St Martin.

Ship is beautiful, overall a great cruise. I'm happy to answer any questions.

l

Did Wonderland last night. Great experience, food was delicious. Then comedy show, very funny but long line of stand byes so make sure you have reservations.

Spoon food tour was awesome. Chops was not. Service was terrible and New York strip not good at all. I’m done with Chops. Looking forward to Wonderland tonight.

Not getting into Labadee until 10 this morning which is later than I remember. Gangway opens at 10 and that’s the meeting time for our waverunner tour.

Park 150 was excellent last night. About to do Spoon food tour in San Juan and Chops tonight.

I paid for specialty dinners for several nights for my family. On first night at Jamie’s the hostess sold me a five night package and refunded all my previously paid for dinners. I didn’t pre buy the package because I wanted all my reservations set prior to boarding. I also have T.A. Credits.

As an update, dining room was substantially better last night after I asked to be in different section. Approaching St Maarten now and doing Park 150 tonight.

I have $950 in refundable and $75 in non refundable credit. I assume the $950 goes back on card. How do I make sure they apply the $75 non refundable?

Ship is awesome. Did Jamie’s first night which was great and dining room last night which wasn’t good at all with pretty bad service. Grease and Fine Line were great as was all music and bands. Not doing a live review because too busy with fun and drink package but will check in from time to time.

I've done it many times on Princess.

thanks for the replies

Bought internet access for Harmony this Saturday. I have Royal IQ app on my iphone but can't find it for ipad or Mac. Do I need the app to get online?

Ill bring cash. Thanks.

Anybody know what the fee, if any, is?

Do you need the Royal IQ app to access internet?

Thanks.

My wife and I are in one cabin, kids across the hall on a separate reservation. I assume I can buy the two device package for my son and me and he can log on using my cabin number. Right? Also, if we really don't need streaming is it still worth it to get the voom/stream for the stronger signal?