CruisingWalter

Nope because the San Juan sailings don't start till December 6. If the information is correct, the repositioning will be announced in Mid-March, so not the same day as the Southern Caribbean itineraries.

Thursday.

Honest question for those of you who sailed in Australia. How full were the ships? From the little information I was able to glean, it didn't sound like the sailings in Australia were sailing full. Just curious for those who actually sailed the ships in Australia, were the ships sold our or sailing light?

No itineraries announced, nor will they be for some time. But Tamika posted this on Facebook today, Brilliant has her mermaid. We are thrilled to unveil our Brilliant Lady Mermaid to the world, continuing our tradition of inclusivity. Our fourth Mermaid (who was just painted while in dry dock) celebrates the cultures of Southeast Asia and was beautifully brought to life by artist Janice Sung.‘Brilliant Lady’ symbolizes living meaningfully and purposefully. With her unwavering gaze, she reminds us of the boundless potential within each one of us to overcome obstacles and achieve greatness. This is the completion of our story across the fleet. The full expression of every part of ourselves brought to life in our four ladies: Scarlet - to explore and immerse in your bright and passionate side. Valiant - to live boldly and courageously, and to take charge. Resilient - to have strength through adversity and to rise up to challenges. Brilliant - to live meaningfully and purposefully. ABOUT THE ARTIST Janice resides in British Columbia, Canada, where she crafts art fueled by a multitude of influences. Drawing inspiration from the enduring allure of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the refined intricacies of Japanese and Chinese traditional art, as well as the rich diversity of fauna and flora, she endeavors to produce pieces that are both enchanting and enduring, transcending time with their captivating essence. All reactions: 37Stacey and 36 others

Celebrity cruises is adult centric. Princess is adult centric. Oceania Cruises has the most inclusions like VV and the food is superior. Much smaller ships at 1250 and 650 pax maximum.

Last thing we saw was Q4 2025 for Brilliant Lady's arrival, but it's all conjecture until they actually put her back up for sale again. We all knew the Resilient Lady was going to be cancelled because there was no way they could go through the Red Sea right now. But I was honestly surprised at this turn of events. I can't wait to see what these 10 and 11 night itineraries are!

Get with your First Mate, this is going to be an amazing Winter 2024 - 2025 season! I'm going to try to get one of those longer itineraries myself. Resilient Lady will now reposition to her new temporary home in the Caribbean from Athens, where she’ll be sailing 7, 8, 10 and 11-night voyages from San Juan, Puerto Rico — visiting St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Colombia, and Dominica — which will be available to book on February 29th. "It's Official, Resilient Lady is coming to San Juan".  

Gunbae. If you get a dinner reservation and get seated near the window for sail away, it's a nice spot. Otherwise up on Deck 16 with a glass of champagne.

The price differences between those two categories is typically nominal. $200 or less for most sailings unless the Central is about sold out.

Those could very well be port holds from when Brilliant was originally supposed to be sailing. Port slots are purchased up to 3 years (or more) in advance and since she was supposed to sailing already, spring 2025 slots in LA make sense. VV would have purchased those slots at least a few years ago. The last tentative word we got from VV was the end of 2025 for Brilliant Lady to launch. Until VV actually releases a schedule showing Brilliant in LA, I would not get too excited yet. We're supposed to see new 2025 itineraries anytime now.

Because they run the risk of catching the edge of the channel if she simply turned right. Much safer to make the 270 spin. If you watch when some of the larger ships spin in the turning basin, you'll notice they don't just spin. They tend to slide their ships away from where Scarlet sits as they make the spin, whether she's docked there or not.

Ditto to above. Leave the Bluetooth on.

That's totally true, after almost 20 years we rarely read anything anymore. 🙂 But that's one rule we've always remembered because it can bite you in the butt with the cruise line who decides to enforce it when you show up.

It's literally the first thing in Royal Caribbean's Travel Documents FAQ. "The passport must be valid for six months after the day your cruise ends...

You have to call. If you use a TA, they can take care of it for you. Another great reason to use a TA, especially those who don't charge you for their services.

You have to consider the source. I get a LOT of great cruise information via TikTok from specific sources. Once you know who the good sources are, you follow them. Some have even built incredibly successful businesses via TT as well. 🙂

My advice is to skip The Key for now, it's pretty easy to get around. On Embarkation go to the Aquadome Market instead of the Windjammer. I particularly liked the Feta Mediterranean and GNGR Asian stations. Or go back to the Surfside Eatery for some really fun comfort food. I didn't have a chance to actually eat there but my friends onboard were raving about the hot dog cheese melt. 🙂

In general most cruise lines are not enforcing check in times. VV is one of the few that still does, so you should be fine showing up early. Maybe check out of your hotel right at 11 and head over to the port.

In the U.S., if you book directly with RCI and you see that the price has gone down, you call RCI and ask them to price adjust. Remember that it has to be your specific category that has gone down. Inside, Ocean View, Balcony and Suites have many categories within them, when the prices drop, it may not affect your specific category. If you book with a travel agent, they can check very quickly if your category is eligible for a price drop and either make the change themselves or call RCI for you. No clue what happens if you book through an online clearinghouse website. As others have noted, the rules outside the U.S. may be different.

In the beginning of the embarkation process, VV lines up all guests in 'corrals' outside the terminal in accordance with your check in time. Those corrals typically start out going to 3:00p. I would not show up much before 2:30 or 3 if you have a 4:30p check in.

It's the same rule for all cruise lines. 6 months after sailing date for all cruises, yes including closed loop cruises. VV can issue an exception, but are not required to.

It was a cluster in January. It didn't automatically connect at all or offer the premium upgrade. Then when I did get the premium upgrade it took 2 days for Sailor Services to get the charge removed.

The CDC declared the national emergency over as of May 11, 2023. There is no legal requirement for social distancing or any other protective measures beyond what the cruise lines already do. You're sailing with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers along with those who have not kept up with their boosters. You're right back to where cruising was before the pandemic. What you're describing is not shocking or different in any way to our almost 20 years of cruising. If you cruise you accept that there is a risk you may get sick due to crowding or unsanitary practices of any number of guests. It's no different than flying or taking a land based vacation. We took 6 cruises over 3 months to end 2023 into 2024. The only thing we got was a cold on our very last cruise in January. We stay up to date on the boosters, we do the best we can with sanitizers and such on board. But cruising is back to normal and has been for some time.

It's YUGE compared to the pools and vibe at the Bimini Beach Club. It's more of a destination than Bimini with all the food stalls, multiple bars and that massive, massive pool. That dual level bar is 'next level' if you will. If you really enjoy good music and a party vibe, you should like the pool. No floaties like Bimini, but it's a great pool. We were not there long enough to see if the DJ gets any sort of a party vibe going but it would not surprise me. The beach is fully man made with a private lagoon so it's a very protected water area. The cabanas are MUCH better at Hideaway than those twigs at Bimini. 🙂 The standard cabanas are close to the main pool while the swim up cabanas are further away. Two completely different spaces, you're going to like Hideaway more for some things but you'll like Bimini Beach more more for other things. I would definitely give Hideaway a shot and see what you think. Thanks for the kind words!

Independent travel agents should be able to book most any cruise. If you're talking about one of those vacation specialists from the actual cruise line, no they will not be able to book Royal Caribbean cruises.