cmmarch

This will be my first attempt at a live review so please be gentle! I tend to be a scatter brain so don’t be surprised if I jump around in my thoughts!

 

I am Chris (46) and my husband is Brian (44). We booked this cruise way back in March of 2016 so we’ve had a very long wait and lots of time for me to obsess over every little detail. I’m the planner. Brian just humors me and follows along.

 

We originally booked this cruise as a B2B with the cruise before but some work commitments at Brian’s job didn’t allow that to happen.

 

We have our first aft balcony booked. We will be in JS 1394. We had our first JS on our last cruise aboard the Allure and now we are hooked!

 

Brian’s mom passed away unexpectedly in August of this year so we’ve had some pretty difficult months leading up to this trip and we are really looking forward to just getting away and relaxing.

 

We are on our way to the Milwaukee airport for our 10:50am flight to Orlando. We had planned on staying 2 nights in Puerto Rico before the cruise but with all of the uncertainty with hotels we switched our flights to Orlando and will then fly to PR on Saturday morning. We are from Wisconsin and flying to PR the day of the cruise just wasn’t something we felt comfortable with. I’m still nervous about flying from Orlando the day of the cruise but our flight is scheduled to get in to PR at 10:15am so there is some time for “worst case” scenarios.

 

We have reservations at the Hyatt Orlando Airport. We’ve stayed at this hotel one other time and really like the convenience of being right at the airport. We plan on heading to Epcot tomorrow. The forecast is calling for rain but we’ll make the best of it.

 

Our itinerary for the cruise:

 

We are beach people so expect to see lots of pictures from the beach! The only thing we really have pre-planned is the Trikes in Aruba.

 

Brian recently built a home bar in our basement and we love to host parties. Brian enjoys making drinks and coming up with new ideas so we plan on going to the distillery in Curacao. We’ve allowed extra room in our luggage for the alcohol we will be purchasing!

 

 

Don’t let the Raiders sign fool you! The rest of our household are Packers fans [emoji6]

 

We are just about to the airport so I’m going to end this now and I’ll report back once we get to Orlando. Vacation has started!

 

 

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Thanks for reporting and have fun! We are on AOS with this route in December so looking forward to your posts.

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I’m on the AOS right now, and the last time I️ sailed her was in February 2016. There have been some significant improvements. Carpets have been replaced everywhere - except the cabins I️ believe. There is a kids water slide and play area, and there is a huge water slide as well. I️ can say with complete confidence that the mattress onboard are horrible. I’m thankful I️ brought my own air mattress [emoji106].

I️ hope they change the mattresses during the next dry dock - it is needed.

Overall the ship looks great, and I’m having a fantastic time so far [emoji41]

 

 

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Wow! How did you pack air mattress? Take up a lot of space. Any toppers for the terrible mattresses?

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Thanks for this update. We are booked at La Concha late December so glad your reservation was good.

Enjoy your cruise.

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We got upgraded from a family inside to a family balcony on the Harmony Oct 2016. It was really exciting. We were Platinum C&A.

Did you have upgrade preferences checked on your C&A profile?

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We have been on 6 cruises with Rccl and have had 2 free upgrades, first from ocean view to balcony the balcony to owners suite.

We always book direct and have received phone calls about 6 weeks prior to cruise asking if we want complimentary upgrades.

Curious, do you have "upgrade preferences" checked off in your C&A profile? Do they only call if you have checked that area off? I know it is unlikely to get upgraded but great that you got free upgrades.

Thanks.

Hi - any reviews on De Palm Island Aqua Park excursion. We will be in port in Aruba in December. Never been before but will have kids range age 10-21. Is it worth spending the day there? RCCL runs an excursion. Thanks.

They are sending out emails, but if you are not getting them, just keep checking your Cruise Planner. And Cruise Critic.

 

 

 

You should be on your Roll Call. Someone "always" posts on your roll call. ;)

Thank you

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Buy now. If a sale in the future is better it is easy to cancel and rebook at the cheaper rate. Personally I don't think there will be any better deals on drink packages, excursions etc on Black Friday.

I haven't seen much price movement but might be because we are sailing over Christmas. Got the deluxe drink for $44 plus gratuity weeks ago and saw the refreshment go fro $26per day to $18 per day but dining and excursions don't move - can you get email notification not do you have to check cruise planner all the time? Hard to keep it all straight

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If you’re a crown and anchor member, set your account preferences to do not upgrade. Otherwise, you might be given an upgrade with your consent.

Question, I believe our preferences are set to upgrade only if all (2 other reservations linked to ours) and ours stay on same deck(booked on 9 in JS and 2 interiors) or up one deck. My thought was that only "upgrade"scenario would be to a GS on deck 10 and others to higher category up a deck(?). I know it is unlikely but am I missing something by leaving preferences in tact?

My understanding based on set preferences is that all 3 cabins in my group would have to move in order for them to "upgrade" us without asking - in other words better category?

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We’re on the Adventure now. We stayed at the Comfort Inn but they developed a water and generator issues while we were there. I’m not surprised they’re canceling reservations. People on our cruise have reported staying at:

 

Casablanca

Olive Boutique

Casa Sol

La Concha

And various airbnbs

Thank you that helps! We have reservations in late Dec at La Concha so I have been curious. Enjoy your cruise [emoji267]

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We’re on the Adventure now. We stayed at the Comfort Inn but they developed a water and generator issues while we were there. I’m not surprised they’re canceling reservations. People on our cruise have reported staying at:

 

Casablanca

Olive Boutique

Casa Sol

La Concha

And various airbnbs

Thank you that helps! We have reservations in late Dec at La Concha so I have been curious. Enjoy your cruise [emoji267]

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Azulann, I believe that is a wise decision! We called the property directly twice since Maria, and were assured they would honor our reservation (made in April). Our TA called them directly for us during the fires here, and they assured him we would not be cancelled. The letter I received today started with ‘Dear Guest’....no reservation number, nothing personal. I responded and called them our on their reason provided.....no response back.

 

Booking at the smaller properties is the direction we will go in San Juan in the future as well after this. We generally do that anyway, but chose Sheraton purely based on location to ship. That didn’t work out so well.

Has anyone stayed at Renaissance La Concha? We are booked for late December so I am curious.

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Azulann, I believe that is a wise decision! We called the property directly twice since Maria, and were assured they would honor our reservation (made in April). Our TA called them directly for us during the fires here, and they assured him we would not be cancelled. The letter I received today started with ‘Dear Guest’....no reservation number, nothing personal. I responded and called them our on their reason provided.....no response back.

 

Booking at the smaller properties is the direction we will go in San Juan in the future as well after this. We generally do that anyway, but chose Sheraton purely based on location to ship. That didn’t work out so well.

Has anyone stayed at Renaissance La Concha? We are booked for late December so I am curious.

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We have not sail on the Adventure yet, however we have sailed Royal Caribbean many times.

 

3. I love Aruba and Curacao. - Aruba if you are looking for a nice 4 hour tour you might check into Sonny Binn's. We have used him many many times in the past. His love of his island really shows. You will get a good over view of the island and also see the baby bridge. Also if you are lucky - he will stop at a local supermarket and you can get local beers at local rates. They also take US $ and your change is in US $. If you want to make that stop - make sure you ask him either prior to or just after you leave the Baby Bridge area. Otherwise you will miss the stop.

 

4. - Royal really does not have discounts, but they do have daily specials. You might also check your cruise planner and see if the all inclusive CD package ever gets discounted. The last time I checked it was somewhat close to $250.00 + but you get every picture that is taken. My youngest daughter normally purchases this package.

 

5. yes, Royal does upgrade cabins. But it seems to be hit or miss. We have sailed with Royal since 2003 and have been upgraded once. We found out accidently - because after I had printed our set sail pass, something made me check out the cruise planner and I saw a different cabin number. My youngest daughter was also upgraded once and they found out at the port, when the lady checking them in could not find their seapass cards.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise. The ship should be nicely decorated for the holidays. One of my favorite times to cruise.

Thank you for this helpful information. I will look into the photo packages further. I am sure there is a lot of info. right here on CC.

I appreciate your island insight as well. Looking forward to Aruba and Curacao and cruising at Christmas in general :)

Has anyone cruised AOS for Christmas? Any thoughts? We are a group of about 15 booked for this Christmas and I have a few questions:

1.) JS on hump starboard side? Anyone ever book cabin there. I have only had insides/OV's in past so looking forward to it.

2.) For booking large dining tables what is best? Particularly Christmas evening (during day will be on St. Kitt's) so MDR for dinner.

3.) What is best not to miss in Southern Carib - St. Thomas, St Kitts, Aruba, Curacao? We run the range in age - pre-teen, teen, early 20, adult and seniors.

4.) Photo packages - this seems like a good time to get some family photos - what are best deals if any for family - all total we have about 6 cabins.

5.) Does RCCL ever upgrade a cabin? If so, how is it handled. We booked through Costco TA.

Thanks for any advice/feedback. Really looking forward to this vacation.

So when do you know when the genesis prenaugural is? I want to be on that ship for its first sailing. Definitely would be cool to get chosen for the prenaugural sailing too, but I just want to be on its first sailing. Has anyone heard anything else? I am going on LOS in 5 weeks and can't wait. Anyone going on this one. How many cruises to get platinum, diamond, and diamond plus status? I am currently gold, but I want to start doing some shorter cruises so I can get my status up. Sandye:p

All I heard at the C&A Captain's party on April Liberty sailing was that bookings for Genesis expected to begin in August 2008. They said that C&A members would get booking opportunity before general public.....with that said they also said (I think???) that they have over 4.4mm C&A members! I'm Gold also..........enjoy LOS we had a fabulous trip!

Does anyone have copies of the menus and which night they are. Would like to book chops but not sure which night. Thanks in advance

Just off Liberty 4/19 Western sailing.

day one: Sailaway dinner

day two: Formal Captain's gala dinner

day three: Venetian feast(Italian)

day four: Anchored in Excellence dinner

day five: Formal Chef's dinner

day six: Surf dinner

day seven: Feast of Nations dinner

*Sorry have only Compasses not menus. We did Portofino on Thursday night as staff at Portofino's recommended skipping that night in the dining room when I went in to make reservations. Mon, Th, Fr are casual dress, Sun & Wed. formal, and Tues. "smart casual".

Portofino's is definitely worth it. Food is a cut above, enjoy.

Any other questions let me know.:)

Great picture of the Liberty at Labadee! Almost every picture I've seen on these boards of Labadee shows overcast skies, though. Is it ever sunny there? Ha ha. (I'm going there in less than three weeks!)

 

Erica

We had a beautiful day of weather there last Monday, 4/21. Nice beaches, good layout, 1st market OK but 2nd bldg aggressive vendors - definitely buy some things though Haiti is so poor. Did not try the zipline but did watch it........pretty cool. Kids liked the aquapark w/water trampolines, etc. Enjoy!

April 11, 2008

This Travel Warning is being issued to inform American citizens of violent demonstrations in Haiti and to urge American citizens to defer non-essential travel to the country. Official Americans are restricted from travel to Haiti. American citizens visiting Haiti should consider departing as soon as circumstances permit. Americans in Haiti should remain vigilant in regard to their personal security, take commonsense precautions, and avoid any event where crowds may congregate. The violence may result in occasional limitation of Embassy operations to emergency services. Americans are also reminded of ongoing security concerns in Haiti, including frequent kidnappings of Americans for ransom.

 

full warning: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_917.html

What does rccl usually do if scheduled stop is their "private island" Labadee? Do they still stop there?

CM, I think the time change depends on your ship. We sailed out of New Orleans, so for all of our ports (Roatan, Belize and Cozumel), the local time zone was the same as our ship time. Docking at 10am with an 11am swim might be pushing it a bit, because it does take about 10 minutes to get from the dock to Chankanaab, then you have to check it, etc. 11:30 or 12:00 would be better.

Excellent! I think that I am going to book Chankanaab Royal Swim excursion direct online through Dolphindiscovery.com and go for 12noon time frame.

I appreciate all of the info. - seems like there will be enough to enjoy at Chankanaab park. I will have my husband go w/11 & 9 year old (Royal Swim) and I will do the Swim adventure w/6 yr old son - as he is not old enough for the "royal swim"........decisions, decisions....can't wait to be sailing!:cool:

We just did the Royal Dolphin swim last Friday at Chankanaab. We booked online and it was $139pp. We paid $15 each way by taxi (for 5 of us) from the ship to the park and back. It was a great experience, but...there were 5 ships in port that day, and the dolphin swim program was running behind by about an hour. We had booked the 11am swim and didn't get into the water until after 12. It was a bit frustrating especially since they tell you to meet at 10:30. It was a great experience overall though, and my kids loved it. Afterwards we ate lunch and my husband and sons did an introductory scuba dive with South Shore, at the end of the beach. They LOVED it, and it was only $65 (my sons are 12 and 14). We drove past Dolphinaris and it seemed to be just a dolphin experience, based on the outside size of the facility, while Chankanaab offers a swimming pool, sheltered cove, a few restaurants, and several dive/snorkel outfitters.

If you book 11am dolphin swim and we dock into Cozumel at 10am - is there a time change? We are travelling via RCCL LOS in 4/08....is there enough time to get us there and checked in?

Thanks for your review of Chanknaab...sound nice. Hoping someone has a review of Dolphinaris as perhaps could try it and then go to Paradise Island too.....we are in Coz until 7pm.

Thanks!

What is the website for Dolphinaris? I would like to look at it myself.

 

Sorry not more help though on your original question....:(

Website gives good overview of facility......I found it after seeing on rccl shore excursion for my sailing that this dolphin swim was being offered in addition to a few at chanknaab........just trying to pick the best one for our kids 11,9,&6! Good luck:)

I looked online and couldn't find any info on Dolpinaris, maybe it's new??

 

You can check out DolphinDiscovery.com for info on the swim at Chakanaab Park though....

Thanks. There is a website for Dolphinaris in Cozumel....what I am wondering is has anyone been there and is one better that the other, location, etc.......

Any experience w/Dolphinaris?

Is it new? RCCL is offering 2 Swim adventures that sound exactly the same but one at Chankanaab & other at Dolpinaris.......each is $149 pp.

Min age for Chankanaab 8. Min height at Dolpinaris 48"(my 6 yr. old is 48" )...I was considering this as he could go w/his 2 older sisters???

Which is better? Where is Dolpinaris in relation to dock?

Pls. looking for best Dolphin advice before I book!!! Help!! thanks!:confused: