Cruising89143

Horizon now named “Ori” is under tow and on the way to Aliaga breakers. She has been laid up for a long time.

I stopped reading the reviews a long time ago. Our cruises have been great since the restart. Crew has been outstanding. Working hard to ensure a great guest experience.

Between April 2020 and May 2021 we had six MSC cruises booked in the YC as we wanted to try the product. Unfortunately Covid canceled all of our cruises. We took it as a sign to put that decision on the back burner. 🙂 Their U.S customer service was horrendous.

Agree, you can see the red here on the Wonder that is hidden under the waterline on the bulbous bow.

Yes, Los Angeles/San Pedro did in fact change.

Both are great cruise lines but RCI definitely skews towards more families which their ships are designed for. Both offer similar service in bars and restaurants. Suite accommodations/perks on X far exceed RCI. For us the main differences would be: No smoking allowed on X inside of the ship. Casino included. Only one announcement per day on X which is the Captains update. Less kids as ship design is not focused on families.

No, but I suggest showing up about fifteen minutes prior to the show.

FYI that on the Navigator reservations are no longer required. It’s now first come, first served.

I like this design. Probably would not book it as we still prefer a traditional balcony but a much better design than Celebrity.

Isn’t that the truth. Especially the new World Europa.

And next year one can also add the new “Icon of the Seas” to the list that will have a mix of both IV’s and traditional balcony staterooms.

Agree. I have seen plenty of places with signs proclaiming that they proudly serve Starbucks coffee. Nowhere near the same. I suspect that this will be the case in this situation.

November can be a great time here. The summer heat will be gone and the evenings are great. We love both Shag and Nat Reed’s art. We have a good number of pieces in our home.

Hey JC. We do live in So Cal. Palm Springs to be exact. When we were still living in Atlanta, we purchased a vacation/retirement home here in 2015 and moved out here permanently in late 2017. It came down to my old home state of FL and Ft. Lauderdale or PS. PS won out. Don’t hang out here as much. Not the same as it was ten-twelve years ago. 🙂 Good to see you here.

Since five out of your six cruises was good you may want to try another RCI ship. The entire industry has had challenges since the restart and unfortunately some of those issues have crept up on some sailings. We have had some really great cruises on RCI and some that did not live up to expectations. It happens. Also, look at some other cruise lines. I know that you do not like the idea of giving the RCG family your money but Celebrity is a great cruise line. We are not fans of Carnival or HAL and NCL is okay but they invented the term “nickel and dime” in our book. We may try the new Discovery Princess next year but it seems that they too have issues. Good luck with your decision.

First, hope that you feel better. We picked up this variant about three and a half weeks ago. Thank goodness for Paxlovid. First cruise ever was thirty-six years ago on the NCL Starward out of Miami to the western Caribbean. Loved it and it hooked us. No lido dining or room service back then and all three meals was served in the MDR at either main or late seating. Doors to the MDR closed fifteen minutes after the scheduled start. Don’t be late and you dressed properly or were turned away. Midnight buffet if you got hungry. First cruise on RCI was in 2001on the Majesty OTS out of Miami. My favorite RCI ship is the Navigator. Have seven cruises on that ship including three just after she entered service almost twenty years ago with a few more booked. Perfect size. We still enjoy RCI but also like Celebrity. So we have thirty-six years of cruising and stopped counting at sixty cruises. A lot has changed over the years. Some things for the better and unfortunately some things for the worse but overall it’s still one of the best vacations out there.🙂

Love this. Look forward to my Starbucks each morning.

Covers the RCG group. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27944-royal-caribbean-to-drop-pre-embarkation-covid-19-testing-for-short-cruises.html

It’s what I expected to start. Walk before they run. If this first phase goes well then I think they will relax the rules for longer cruises.

By the way, you can watch her sail away today. She should be leaving at any time. No sound and not the best cam but it does give a nice view of the ship.

It can be tough. We decided back in March to cruise again (locally) and not worry about the virus. I don’t like testing but we do it. We use the home proctored tests but I will be glad to see it end. We canceled a cruise/land trip to Italy in May as we did not want to deal with all of the testing required to cruise and fly back to the U.S. Luckily for us United and Celebrity were great to deal with. In the end we did not lose a penny for canceling.

We use Amex for everything and we do not spend just to chase points. We pay our charges in full each month. We used to use the Delta Amex but when we retired and moved west from the southeast we changed airlines and now use United more now due to United being stronger with more flight options out west. We added a new Amex that gives points for all types of travel. Works great. I also have a United card by Chase but seldom use it. Amex usually has deals with both RCI and Celebrity.

Agree. Much easier for the smaller lines with fewer ships to move faster. 😉 I’m sure that some of the lines that have ships placed all over the world and still need to figure out which ports/countries still require testing. I think that we will start to hear more next week.

Yes. March was our first time back on RCI in nine years. A total of four cruises on the NV since then. They finally placed a ship out here on the left coast that we can easily drive to so we decided to try them again. We had cruised on this ship right after she entered service out of Miami and really liked it. RCI did a nice job with the refurb a few years ago. Staterooms/suites are showing their age in some areas but overall a great ship with a hard working friendly crew. We still prefer Celebrity but we’re still keeping it in the family. 🙂 I think that you will enjoy the experience.

That sounds bad. Very bad. I can’t imagine.