Cruising89143

Miami has a lot going on with new terminals. They will be taking that title back. Not crazy about either port but Miami is building. I read that PC is looking to add another terminal over the next two to three years as well. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/03/msc-breaks-ground-on-new-miami-cruise-terminal/ https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/28b-royal-caribbean-portmiami-deal-gets-green-light

Mailed mine in three weeks ago. It arrived in two days. Expedited. Check was cashed the day after they received it. Hoping to have it back within the next few months. You can check the status online….https://passportstatus.state.gov

General routine maintenance. Nothing special. It will only be in dry dock for about two weeks. I was told that this was the only shipyard available since the ship is on the west coast. A good amount of travel time to and from Singapore.

It will be in dry dock. Heard that from several crew members last month. The ship will be traveling to the Sembawang shipyard in Singapore which is why it’s has the month of March zeroed out for cruises.

We had MSC YC booked five or six times but all during Covid and all sailings were canceled due to the pandemic. We were anxious to try them but after having to deal with their customer service reps in FLL trying to obtain refunds we changed our mind. Incompetent and downright rude. I have read that one should stick to the YC. We found the same situation on the Norwegian Bliss just before Covid hit. We loved the Haven but outside of the Haven, the ship was a zoo.

My source was a UK travel site that attended the tour where Bayley was present and spoke. It was posted on an RCI group on Facebook. I’m not linking it here as it might be in violation of CC.

It’s been packed on our last four or five cruises. Personally I will take the R bar or the Viking Crown. I’m not a fan of sweet cocktails. It has a nice atmosphere.

Read an article this morning that stated Michael Bayley alluded to a possible seventh Oasis class ship after Utopia on the media tour of the Icon yesterday.

We were back on a few weeks ago. Food is gone in the Bamboo room. Drinks only.

They can want all day long. The O class does not tender. That leaves out Catalina Island and I have doubts that it could fit into Ensenada or many of the Mexican Riviera ports if any at all. Cabo is a tender port. Also, there is no current terminal out here that could handle this size ship. Won’t happen for many years if ever. Also, there’s nothing keeping RCI from doing cruises to Hawaii now with the NV.

Not all of us want an O class out here. I like the NV just fine. Was back on an O class in October (SYM) and it reminded of me of why I stopped cruising on them.

There is no charge for the movies on the pool side screen. She is confused and must be referring to the TV in her stateroom.

We were there last year twice on a side by side cruise. The first was the Freedom only which had around 4300 give or take. The next week we were back on the Symphony along with the Independence OTS. The total was around 9500-10,000 with both ships. It wasn’t bad but we could definitely tell a difference from the prior week. It was doable but get off when the ship docks and find your choice of chair/umbrella.

We did this tour some time ago on the EQ. There are a LOT of steps in some of the towns like Positano. Also a lot of walking (Pompeii) and if it’s hot as it was on our visit then it will be even more strenuous.

Unfortunately we caught Covid on our Symphony OTS cruise last October and we had the flight from hell from Miami to Palm Springs. Since then I will only drive to Los Angeles. 🙂 We have turned down numerous offers from X on cruise from Alaska. I remember your adventures of flying from ATL to LAS. Many of us were following your every move.

🙂 You would not know until you tried to accept the offer. We have other offers from MSC and Virgin but we’re not willing to fly for a cruise at this time. RCI sends us offers weekly. Much better than what X sends us weekly.

You cannot accept an offer on URcomped if you have sailed or booked a cruise within twelve months on a specific cruise line and in this case it would be Celebrity. There will be a process where you will have to answer those questions in order to accept the offer. It will reject you if you answer that you have cruised in on X within the last year.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/05/royal-caribbean-reports-q1-2023-earnings-increases-guidance/

Just arrived home from the Navigator today. Room was serviced twice daily, ship was very clean, crew was great as always. Ate dinner one evening in the WJ with plenty of choices. Chops was not that great. Izumi was good but slow service. Jamie’s was great as always. We had around 500 kids on board. Saw no issues. Royal Caribbean is a family line. They don’t even try to hide it. Why do people go on a family focused cruise line and expect something different? We were back on Celebrity two weeks ago and we found that our experience this week topped Celebrity.

Currently on the NV in a JS. Lavazza coffee maker in room. Exact same type machine that we had on the NV, FR and SY in October of last year. All three was a GS.

Add us to the list.

For us it’s Blue Heaven when it comes to Key Lime pie. 🙂

from Orlando it's a long drive down and across...and there are congested roads at times esp thru Sarasota From Orlando you do not go through Sarasota unless you’re planning to take I-4 to I-75 south and the long way around. You also do not need to go across Florida. My point to Jim is that it may be easier to get a flight to one of the other major airports.

Jim, not sure if you want the drive but have you tried Orlando or Tampa? The drive from Orlando to FLL is not bad going down the turnpike.

Agree. Best burger on the ship. As a side note, we decided to dine at Mast Grill on our recent Solstice cruise. The last time that we dined here was back in 2014 on the EQ. Wow how the burger has changed and not for the better either. We were very disappointed.