Sox Fan Cruiser

Food is really subjective. I’m glad you found it to your liking.

A little of both. I do think more people go ashore than I let on but yes a lot of people hang out on the loungers. You really can’t stay at the marina deck for too long as the current is usually pretty strong (where we were). In fact I swam with my flippers to make sure I was okay. And you do NOT need to bring your own beach towels. They are provided in your room, up on deck and at the marina platform.

We always stay at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. We love it! 9 of us will be staying there March 24the before getting on the Apex. I splurged and booked the penthouse suite since it’s my hubby’s 60th. 🤪

Back to more questions: During the day, I wore flip flops. And I HATE wearing flip flops. No need to ever even wear sneakers on the boat. I only would put on sneakers to go ashore. I did pack dress shoes for dinner but I bet you could wear sneakers (not flip flops). You do need closed toe sneakers for climbing the mast or taking one of the tours of the ship. Dressing for dinner is a lot more relaxed. I wore short sleeve polos for dinner. (I guess that was it for questions) I know I commented on the food already but you will definitely not go hungry on this cruise! Breakfast is usually around 7:30 - 9:30 but there is a continental breakfast in the Piano bar starting at 6am. It has some pastries, tea and coffee for those early risers. The breakfast buffet is huge and has a lot of offerings. They have typical American food such as pancakes and sausage and eggs. But there is also many more selections include pastries and cheese and a cold fish dish and yogurt and fruit and and bunch of add ons. I usually stuck with yoghurt with fruit, honey and nuts. Lunch is from noon to 2pm with a different theme each day (Italian, Mediterranean, Oriental (?!!?!) for example. There are many different hot and cold dishes in accordance with the theme but then some other non theme items for a variety. And there was always lettuce and salad fixings with a few dressings to choose from. Then there was "Afternoon Snack" from 5-6pm in the Tropical Bar. They would set up a couple of tables and have a soup, some sandwiches, maybe something like a pasta dish plus fruit as well as cookies and brownies. Dinner started at 7:30 (which would cause heart palpitations for some "big ship" cruisers 🙂 ) but you didn't have to go then. It lasted until 10pm so we would go for cocktails at 7:30 and then hit the dinning room around 8:30. It was typical restaurant fare with a fish dish, steak, vegetarian, and one more. Appetizers were also the normal items and there would be a couple of desserts plus salad (after dinner) and cheese plate. They had examples of the entrees out for display in the piano bar so you could see them before you went down for dinner. Any other questions, i would be glad to answer.

{breaking this up so I don't lose it} It is definitely windy up on deck at night when we are sailing. Maybe a little cool too so bring a light sweater. But honestly, other than the first night because it was New Years Eve, there is nothing going on up on deck at night. A few times we thought the event they were holding in the tropical bar would have been better up on deck. We would go up there and walk around but we were the only ones. I think there could be spots that are less windy than others. We didn't find the "classes until the second to last day of the cruise. In the tropical bar there is white board with some things to do. They had a knot tying exhibition but there were two people who attending. To step away from the specific questions for a second... We felt that they act like all the passengers are returning guests. And there are a lot of them that are. The cruise director doesn't really provide ANY information to the passengers about anything going on. The daily newsletter is 1 page and doesn't really explain anything. We didn't know about the classes. We had no idea how dinner worked. We had no idea about the ports and what were beach stops and what were actual towns. We learned to just go with the flow, so just be aware. With only 200 passengers, everyone knew each other by the end of the cruise. As with any other group setting, some folks are friendlier than others. But for the most part, everyone gets pretty chummy as the week goes on. As I've said a few times before, there really isn't much to do. No one hangs out in the library and I barely saw anyone even sitting in the piano bar. Most people are up on deck during the day and in the Tropical Bar at night. In fact there is only one event each night that starts at 10pm in the Tropical Bar. So if you want to be social, you only have one thing to do to do so. But it does make for forced socialization and so everyone is doing things together. Another side note... Everything is presented in three languages; English, German and French. The daily newsletter is in all 3 languages, the safety video is in 3 languages and every announcement is 3 in languages. And there are more passenger languages as well. Beside those three we heard Italian, Russian and a few others we couldn't recognize. For someone learning German, it was great chance for me to practice!! Early in the cruise, folks with like languages tended to bunch together especially at meal times, but as the week progressed, folks started to mingle a lot more.

Okay, so I'm caught up with life and sitting here watching football. So what better time to run through my thoughts on the cruise. And as TheTwinsMom said, these are just my opinions or observations so if you are reading this, please don't let it affect your sailing. And that word is the #1 most amazing thing about a Royal Clipper cruise, it truly is a sailing. It is magical to be on the ship at night and have the sails up and being on the water. There are no water slides or casinos or stage shows. It's all about being on the water. So much so, that the ship rocks A LOT at night. There are handle bars in the shower for a reason!! And they have boards you can raise on the side of the bed so you don't fall out. And people used them! There are no stabilizers and you feed the waves. Let's go to the questions: Drink prices are VERY reasonable. $12 for two martinis. $3.50 for a beer. $20-$25 for a bottle of wine. But they do charge for sodas and water as well. Not expensive, but nothing is "free". There is a "water fountain" (bubbler if you from certain parts of the country) that you can fill up your empty water bottles from so I guess you could use that. But there also isn't the heavy pressure to drink alcohol throughout the day like on the "big ships". The bar is open but no one is going around taking drink orders. We never even started drinking each day until our pre-dinner cocktails. There were some people drinking all day but it wasn't the vibe. I would not say that there were any excursions that were exceptional. In fact they were more disappointing than fun. There are only a few to choose from. And the ports aren't very exciting either. We hardly went ashore and most of the people that did, came back saying that there wasn't much there. They say that this ship can go to places that the "big ships" can't. My response is that there is a reason that the ships don't come here and it's more than the depth of the harbor! 🙂 They also aren't in port very long. We did two stops most days with the afternoon being a beach stop. They anchor in a small harbor and tender people to a small beach for swimming and snorkeling. A lot of people just stay on the ship and relax. But yes, it's very easy to go ashore and walk around on your own. As other people have said, the times are very flexible. Travel is based on the wind and it make take longer to arrive in port. Some people had ECD but USD was accepted everywhere and you can always use credit cards. As someone stated, Internet is 18 Euros for 4 hours. Honestly, I didn't use all 4 hours because it was too slow to use for much of anything and it was nice to disconnect. We never needed bug spray nor did anyone else that I spoke to.

Back to the original discussion as I’ve taken us off topic. I’ve never been told on Princess, ever, that they wouldn’t open the dividers for us . Every single cruise they have opened them when we asked. I’ve never asked on Celebrity but I was assuming we won’t have push back this trip. I hope we don’t.

Each individual balcony is locked. The firefighter would have to get the allen wrench and unlock each and every balcony one at a time.

I call bullish!t on this. We were on the Star Princes fire cruise and that ship, and many prior to that, had balcony dividers that opened. Firefighters are not running down balconies putting out the fire. They are pouring water from above. In fact the reason for the extent of the fire was because they didn’t have automatic fire suppression (sprinklers) on the balconies themselves. The only room that had damage was one where the cabin fire suppression didn’t work. Princes ships now have fire suppression on the balconies and I make notice when I’m on a ship that doesn’t have it.

Yeah, we just ask the bartender to make them in the bigger glasses and they do. I tell them that it saves them a lot of work. 😜

I promise, I will answer all your questions tomorrow. But one thing I have to get off my chest is that the coffee everywhere is horrible! We were having coffee delivered to our room every morning thinking maybe that would be better and individually made. We changed to tea after day two. Every cup of coffee was undrinkable. In fact, and I know this is subjective, but the food on the ship was really bad. I ate salad for lunch every day. I will not cruise with them again because the food was so bad. BUT, I don’t regret the cruise at all. It was magical. But the food was forgettable. I’m sorry to say this when you have an upcoming cruise. The cruise is still great.

What about the Sky suites with real balconies on E class ships? We have 6 in a row on the Apex in March.

Awesome! I KNEW it had to be somewhere. There you go, OP. Now you can see what makes up your balance.

Wow. I was so expecting to go to the Celebrity website and show you where you can see the history that makes up your current balance. It's very simple on Princess to see that. But you are right, I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know if Celebrity provides that information?

I do plan to do a larger write up this weekend but can answer this. I'll give you my experience since I've only be on one cruise with this line on the Royal Clipper. Not sure what ship you are on. First of all there are not many excursions in each port as there are with the "big ships". The cruise line is proud to say that they can reach into ports that the big ships can't. But that also means there isn't much to do in these ports! Again, not a bad thing but this cruise is MUCH more relaxed and we weren't running all around. Some ports have 2 excursions and others may have 3-5. But that's it! And the experience is VERY low tech. There are binders on a desk for each port with a piece of paper and you sign your name. That's it! Then you get "tickets" in your cabin the day before. Funny thing is that you never show your tickets to anyone. They have a list of those signed up and they check you off. Not sure what the point of the ticket is! 🙂 They are very low key excursions. We were never in port for more than a few hours as they did two ports every day. Some were just beaches where you could go ashore and swim or snorkel. We only did a couple of them and they were either catamaran snorkeling or a "taste of" for the location. A lot of people just stay on the ship and relax. And on the ship they have the marina platform where you can swim or use the paddle board and such. If you give me your exact cruise, I can give you more information on any ports that overlapped. I also have all the activities sheets that I'll scan if I get energetic.

We just wrapped up a beautiful day in St. Lucia and are heading back to you now!

I took a picture. Hopefully it will load.

I’m excited to answer your questions but since you sailing in 2 months I’ll do it when I get back. I’ll also have better answers for all ports after the cruise! Bring ‘em on!

Random thoughts from being on the ship for a couple of days: There isn’t much to do AT ALL on the ship. But that’s a good thing! It’s to relax. But bring things to read and do. The ship rocks A LOT when sailing at night. We love it but be prepared. If you get sea sick bring stuff for that. You pay for every drink including sodas and bottled water. Although the prices are reasonable. There is a water station where you can fill up your own. The key card is only used to unlock your door or get on/off the ship. They just ask room number when you order something. There is PLENTY of food. There isn’t a 24 hour buffet but they feed you 6 times a day if you want, including mid afternoon and late night snacks. Internet is bad. It’s nice to get away so don’t expect to always be connected. It cost 18 Euros for 4 hours. Make sure you log off when not using. The first night they seat people with like languages together to “force mingle” but after that you can sit whomever you want including just two of you. Breakfast and lunch is seat yourself. They take your passports as the beginning of the cruise. You are without it until you disembark at the end. Be up on deck for the first night unfurling of the sails. If you are new to the Royal Clipper, it is amazing. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

In NYC right now and heading to Barbados today to get on The Royal Clipper tomorrow. Post questions and I’ll try to get answers. We won’t have much internet but will try stay in touch.

White parties started in the gay community. You were encouraged to get creative and dress all in white however you choose to. It’s moved more mainstream but I don’t think the creativity part is stressed enough. Especially on a cruise ship. Again, except for gay cruises. People pack steamer trunks to carry all the outfits necessary for 7 days of daily (or more!) theme parties!! 🤣

I heard that they do "Pirate Night". But nothing official came from the cruise line. We get on the Royal Clipper on Saturday and have not heard anything and aren't planning to pack anything special. "Theme Nights" are not really my thing.

I love Princess but there is no way I’m driving that thing out of my driveway with that wrap still on!! 😂🤪😘

And you’ll get to the ship faster. They usually wait for a bus to fill up before leaving.

They will send you all the information you need about 2 weeks before sailing. We sail exactly 2 weeks from today (on Royal Clipper) and got all our docs on Thursday. Be patient, they will come. I didn’t know that embarkation doesn’t even START until 4pm. So I have a whole day before we get in the ship. When I spoke to them about two months ago, they said that they hold off until bout two weeks before because things are still changing so much with Covid and other things.