rakes5

If you paid with a credit card, check to see if they offer any benefits that may pay for some of the airfare costs.

22 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Regarding using Global Entry while my memory is fresh:

 

This is the first cruise that the entire family had Global Entry. I had our Global Entry cards ready to prove that the entire family

 

This is also the first time we were at a port that used Mobile Passport (a free app that's like a poor man's Global Entry).  I had the Mobile Passport app open and I submitted an immigration application so that we were ready to go with either Global  Entry or Mobile Passport. 

Two lessons learned about Mobile Passport. 

We recently entered the US at FLL, from Grand Cayman, with our daughter, who had never used Mobile Passport. I showed her how easy it was to use by entering our information. When we got to the lines, they had separate lines for Mobil Passport and Global Access. We saw that the Global Access lines were much shorter, so, we went that way. However, we had to use the self serve kiosks, where you scan your passports, and we got a weird error message. Because we had checked in with the Mobile Passport app, we couldn't use the Global Access kiosks, because it recognized that we had already checked in. So, we had to go stand in the longer Mobile Passport line. Our daugher, who just went to the regular line, was waiting for us as we exited. Lesson learned - you can enter all of the information for Mobile Passport, just don't submit it until you've decided which method you want to use.

Second, we experienced not being able to submit with mobile passport at FLL. We found two issues. One, we used the ships internet, during our cruise, and our phone were connecting to the ships wifi, but not internet. So, we were unable to submit, because my phone was trying to use wifi. I simply had to turn off wifi, and then I could submit. The second issue was another time, when I not being able to get cell service at the terminal, even though others around me had a good signal. I have an iPhone, and when I looked the control panel, I saw my data icon was not green, so it  wasn't connecting, so I turned it back on, and it still didn't connect. Turning my phone on and off solved the problem. Maybe I just wasn't patient enough, because I was standing the mobile passport line. The lesson learned - beware you may have issue submitting in security, so try your phone before you exit the ship.

Royal almost always puts in the planner, that you need to take a photo ID with you when getting off the ship. But, that is usually in case something happens when your in port. Only rarely have we been asked to show the ID by port security when entering the dock area. Usually your seapass card is all that is needed. When you board the ship, your photo is linked to your seapass card when they scan it.

19 hours ago, mahdnc said:

This is what we missed most about having to cancel this trip. We have been on Calabaza many times in the past, and won't be back until March 2020. We tentatively booked the Jan 31, 2020 Silhouette, but Calabaza is already fully booked then.

It has been rainy, and cloudy and getting colder here in Chicago. Above normal temps, but still not like where you are. Enjoy every day.

Still anxiously awaiting the birth of our granddaughter, so we perk up every time the phone dings.

Thanks for your posts, we are enjoying following along with you!

On 12/16/2018 at 1:30 PM, ecslady said:

Juat off the Dec 9-16 cruise, and we had Select Dining.  we made all our reservations online well in advance and had no issue.  We rotated through all 4 dining rooms, eating at 3 of them twice and the 4th one only once on the seven day cruise. Enjoyed the 4 separate dining rooms. 

 

We did speak with some people that had traditional that were assigned to one restaurant but wanted to try the others and It was difficult unless you wanted to eat very late.

 

I believe they used the restaurants on deck 3 for traditional, but select was in there also.

Just curious if you took advantage of any of the exclusive items. We have traditional dining, and not sure if we want to request a move for one night.

Without knowing for sure what the regular menu items are for the night we ask to move, what if we just all like the regular item menus, and don't select any of the exclusives, or may just one. Is that worth going through the trouble of moving for one night???

I know it is subjective to each person, but was there any one of the 4 traditional restaurants that stood out as either your favorite or least favorite?

Their web site http://www.musicsoupband.com/ doesn't list upcoming events, but does have  a way to contact them

1 hour ago, travelingla said:

 If anyone is interested - -they are now released!

Don't see them at Royal's site. Are they elsewhere?

WonderMan3's live review posted one of the daily's  (see below), and one of the activities was TIMEPLAY: A social & Interactive Entertainment and gaming experience like no other. Timeplay will take you thorough a series of engaging and addictive trivia and skill based games in a high energy competitive game show, Play the 5 minute teaser for free, we know you'll be hooked!

So, is his replacing trivia, and at a Fee????? Or is it just something else.

Did anyone do this?

2 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Th

Just curious...

My DW like to upgrade to the premium package, because she like a martini (or 2)  , but she also like getting the Évian water.

Noticed the aluminum water bottles. I know ❎ is trying to reduce plastic consumption. Does anyone know if Évian was available as part of the premium package, or did that not pertain to the first few sailings?

We recently saw this at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Towel Tracker Vending Machine

This is worse than the Robot Bartenders on Royal.

On 10/25/2018 at 10:56 AM, Turtles06 said:

 

 

Thanks for the reply.  I don't want to start a whole OT discussion, but I wonder what the legitimate purpose is of having those digits of your stateroom number on your sea pass card.   (No modern hotel key cards that I've ever seen have the room numbers on them, for good reason.)  On any given ship, only a small number of cabins have the same three final digits.

I wondered about this before too.

Having the numbers there has come in handy a few times, when we weren't sure of our room early in the cruise. 

Don't get excited, this no longer applies:

But, a number of years ago, we were cruising, on a Royal Caribbean cruise, with our kids, who were in another room. I happened to pick up a phone by one of the elevators to call their room. All you had to do was dial something, and then their room number. When I did, the last name showed up on the display. The room number was also displayed on the cards.

I thought to myself, if someone found my card, all they had to do was go to a phone, dial a few room numbers to figure out our room number. Recently, we have noticed that they no longer display the person's last name on the phone display.

Now if they could just come up with ink that doesn't rub off.

Seems we have to get at least one new card, sometimes two, as security can't read it when we are getting back on board in ports.

We have been told that it is a combination of some sunscreens and chlorine, which I guess someone thought weren't common items on a cruise. 

On 10/21/2018 at 10:51 PM, pizzalady1 said:

Here is one that a CC member built http://natix.net/cruise-image-generator

This is great. But I wish there was just a blank background for non NCL/RCCL Cruises

You have to use the X in the corner. Hard to see in this example, it's a light grey against a black background. ❎

Took a while to find this thread with the new Cruise Critic. Though if I posted, it might do something to make it easier to find later.

Looks like Royal is having a cruise dedicated to this. You can enter, or get more info here. https://healclinics.com/healcarecruise/

*The 2019 12th Annual Low Carb Keto Cruise sets sail to the Bahamas and Florida for eight days out of Cape Liberty, NJ on May 31, 2019. The Royal Caribbean chefs do not provide a special keto or low carb menu, but will accommodate special requests for butter, whipping cream, etc.

Actually, the Symphony Cruise is called the 50th Anniversary Cruise. Rumors are going around there might still be a Presidents Cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Saw this on another thread

I think this is an excellent idea. We are on a back to back sailing in March, concierge class in an accessible cabin. I understand this will have an infinity balcony. I am making an assumption that the bed will be by the bathroom, as this is the way they are usually set up. At this point I have not seeing any photos of these cabins. We will be on deck nine. If anyone has the opportunity to post some pictures of these cabins it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Check out this post to see about bed locations on Edge

You should be able to tell from the deck plans if you zoom in

We had to cancel the Serenade TA from Copenhagen to Boston in 2016. Was hoping to book for 2019, but the prices have skyrocketed. Assumed same itinerary in 2020, so was waiting patiently to book 2020 as soon as available, Now I wonder how Serenade will get from Europe to west coast. Could be an interesting journey.

Recently we went to a breakfast hosted by our travel agent, for all of their Diamond's and up. A representative from Royal was there, and it was brought up that a new level was coming.

Everyone at our table said sure, we've heard it before. None of us believed it.

It sounded like an additional lower level, and not between Diamond Plus and Pinnacle.

Is it possible???

Also one suggestion.

While there is more than one terminal at Miami, from our experiences at Miami, the terminals are long.

We've always boarded at the last terminal (not sure of the number, but it is the westmost terminal, closest to downtown Miami, but the road takes to you to the east end of Dodge island, and you drive back west). The porters will take your bags anywhere along the drive in front of the terminals, but the entrance for passengers is at the very west end. The drivers like to pull over at the first opening, but then you might have a far walk to the passenger entrance. Not a problem for most, but if you concerned about mobility issues, look for the passenger entrance before getting dropped off.

Have a great trip.

Here is a picture. The passenger entrance is to the left, the luggage drop-off is the whole drive to the right.

If it's like the Xpedition, then snorkel is provided, but scuba was available at an additional cost.

We did a crawl on a new ship, and had a lot of interest, as I'm sure there will be with the Edge..

There were 10 people who volunteered their cabins, and 30 other people who wanted to view (so 40 total)

The organizers printed just 4 copies of a route, and told everyone they had to follow the map, and not just skip to visit one or two cabins. I have been on other crawls, where some people just wanted to see a couple of the larger suites, and all of a sudden there was a mass of people in a few cabins.

They divided the ground into 4 groups of 10. The first group were all of the people showing their cabins. They left first, and all 10 people went to cabin 1. The owner of cabin 1 stayed there, and the nine remaining people went to cabin 2. The owner of cabin 2 stayed in their cabin, and the eight remaining people went to cabin 3, and so on, until the owner of cabin 10 goes to their cabin alone.

The other 30 people had been separated into 3 groups, assigned a group number 2, 3 or 4, and one person from each group was selected as the leader of that group, and given one of the the maps. They were told to wait 5-10 minutes after the group before them left, and to follow the map. It was up to the leader to hold up the group if they caught up to the group in front of them. So group 2 waited 5-10 minutes after the owners left, and went to cabin 1. By then, everyone was gone from cabin 1, so it was only 11 people visiting a the room at a time. Not all 10 people had to crowd into the room at once, just a few walked in at time, and it only took a few minutes to see each cabin. Only the larger suites took more time to see, but more people could enter together The organizers started on a higher floor, so we could walk down stairs, and they were able to put all of the people that needed to use the elevators in the last group, so they stayed together. We did have an owner's suite at the end, which was on a higher floor, so we had to take elevators up one time.

The organizer waited until all of the groups left the meeting place, and then went to the 1st cabin. They viewed and waited a few minutes with the first cabin owner, then they locked up the first cabin and went to cabin 2. There, the organizer and the cabin 1 owner were able to see cabin 2. They locked up cabin 2, and the three went to visit cabin 3, where they picked up the cabin 3 owner, and so on, until they all got to the last cabin.

This way, everyone got to see all of the cabins, and there weren't a lot of people in one cabin all at once. I was in the third group, and got to see all of the cabins in less than an hour, and 40 people got to participate.

I know this sound complicated, at first, but it wasn't at all.

If you click on the < > it will expand the menu. The third icon, with the arrow pointing down lets you download the entire brochure into a pdf document. Then you can open and zoom in easily.

I think it also depends on which terminal you use. Our last few times at Ft Lauderdale, we have been at terminal 18, which is what the Oasis Class ships usually uses. There the Global Access line was the same as those using Mobile Passport. In Miami, we were told that there wasn't any special line for Global Access.