CruizinTigers

Next month will be our 5th RCI cruise, and we've never tipped for Adventure Ocean.

Great info! Thanks for sharing.

I too have been considering the premium package. Seeing your link and recognizing all the possibilities has helped me to make my decision!

Thanks for the info (again) kfleck!! I'm going to share this info on the meet and mingle board for our trip. With your heads up, my wife is going to stop at Walmart now and pick up some glow items to bring on board.

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Everything stated here is true. I applied for the card in order to get the 10,000 bonus points which I intended to turn into $100 on board credit. I got the card about 6 weeks ago. Used it once immediately (to buy pizza). Waited for the first billing period. I received the 10,00 points as promised (plus the 28 for my single purchase!!). Went online and parlayed the 10,000 points into a $100 OBC on my upcoming July cruise. As a previous poster noted, you have to use quantity of 2 when choosing the 5000 point redemption for $50 OBC.

Easy peasy! The waiting is the hardest part (didn't Tom Petty say that?!). I was concerned that I would not get the points in time for our July trip, and had no other future cruise plans (at this point) to apply the OBC to, so glad it worked out for me. If you have a specific trip in mind to use these points, be sure to give yourself 6 - 8 weeks from when you first receive your card to get the points.

Just thought of another question (actually, credit goes to my wife)... were there any theme nights on your sailing, especially ones where passengers dressed up? For example, 70's night, Hawaiian night, etc. If so, were many guests into, or just a few?

Thanks for sharing this, Candeegirl.

We are on the fence still about a drink package. We are considering the Premium package because of all it offers, but the main reason we haven't done it yet is the cost. I'm afraid I'm always going to have this on the back of my mind, and drink way more that I should just to feel like I've gotten my monies worth. Still undecided.

How well does the Coke machine work on board? It seems like it dispenses a good variety of soft drinks, not just soda. Anyone try it?

I completely understand. It's a lot for us to ask of you (to scan all your cruise compasses). Thanks for sharing all the other information. Interesting that there was no smart casual night. I wonder if this is the norm now, or if your sailing was an exception.

All of your information is so helpful. Thanks again.

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Thanks all for sharing these comments. They are putting me at ease, a little! Will just have to remember to cover ourselves in repellent I suppose.

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Yes, it was a great trip! So many great memories!

 

I will see if I can scan and post the compasses once I get back to work. The scanner is better there than mine :)

kfleck76,

Sorry for being impatient, but was wondering if you had, or think you might still have the opportunity to scan and posted the cruise compasses from your trip? If you are unable to do this, can you let us know which days were casual dining? Semi-formal? Formal nights?

Also, was wondering if you purchased any of the drink packages, and if so, how do you feel it worked out for you? How was the service in the MDR, bars etc. surrounding drinks you may have ordered?

I just found this article today about this mosquito born illness. I am now officially worried about our cruise in 30 days since 3 of the 4 ports of call on our trip are listed on the Center for Disease Control's website as having official reports of the disease.

What are others hearing about this. I see nothing on the RCI website about this. Is anyone else worried?

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/chikungunya-cases-double-caribbean-n123606

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/chikungunya-saint-martin

What did you do at your different ports of call? If you took any ship excursions, how were they?

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That would be so HUGELY appreciated if you are able to do that.

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Sounds like you had a great trip! Thanks for posting and fielding our questions.

My DW and DD will be making this same trip in July. This is actually a repeat of the same trip we took three years ago (it was that good!)

Any chance you could post the cruise compasses from your trip. Would be fun to have a peek at the activities we can expect in a month or so.

Thanks!

Any chance you could post copies of the daily Cruise Compasses from your sailing? We sail first week of July, and would love to see an example of a recent Cruise Compass for this cruise.

Sad to hear that this issue continues. I personally will not make any changes to our reservation online at this point. I don't need the hassle of trying to resolve this matter again and again. While this too is a hassle, any changes at this point will be made by phone to RCI. We are considering a drink package. If we choose to do so, I will call them to add.

Hope everyone else gets their reservations straightened out, and more importantly, has a GREAT cruise!

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My family and I will be on the Explorer this July. We took this trip three years ago, and seem to recall that there may have been a special, "theme" night on board one of the nights of our sailing. We were not prepared for it then.

For anyone who sailed on the Explorer recently, or has other experiences, can you tell if there is any kind of special theme night that passengers get into? We will be on the 9 night sailing from Port Liberty NU, to Bermuda and the Caribbean.

Thanks!

So just confirming (sorry if I missed this in the thread), RCI no longer mails us luggage tags, the kind with adhesive that wraps around the handle of your luggage. Is this true? We have to print our own luggage tags, or get them printed for us at the port?

Thanks!

Clarea,

You wrote, "If you're on a ship with a Freestyle Coke machine, you will have over 100 flavors to choose from. If not, then you will only have about a half-dozen flavors to choose from." We will be sailing on the Explorer OS. I assume that since this is one of the last ships to be renovated, that I probably does not have the Freestyle Coke machine. Do you, or anyone who may be reading this discussion know for sure what is on the EOS?

Thank you!

Thank you, everyone, for your amazing feedback and commentary on this topic. Your remarks have been extremely informative and thought provoking, most importantly, helpful.

I do have a few questions...

1. With the Select, Premium or Ultimate packages that include wine by the glass, can you use this to order wine with your dinner in the main dining room, and if so, can you order any wine you want (obviously not by the bottle but by the glass)? We usually buy a wine package and have a glass or two with dinner every night. I'm wondering if the wine by the glass that comes with these packages can be ordered in the main dining room.

2. With the Premium package that includes cocktails, are these pretty much any cocktail, including the "drink of the day"? My DW and I typically would partake in the drink of the day (at least one a day), and wonder if this would be included.

3. We are not much in the way of soda drinkers, but wondering if the fountain drinks include any other (premium) fountain soft drinks like special ice teas, lemonades, etc?

Your comments have us seriously considering the Premium package for the two of us, but we're still mulling over the cost (nearly $1000 for the two of us on our 9 night cruise).

Thank you again!

Let me start with an apology for yet another "drink package" post. I've searched these boards and never really got an answer to what I was looking for, which is how do other passengers feel about the value of the various drink packages offered by RCI. I realize this is totally subjective, and really depends on your personal habits and desires. So I don't expect anyone can tell me if a drink package would be a good value for me, or which one is the right one. I would however appreciate comments from recent travelers who have purchased a drink package on your cruise. Are you glad you paid for this package, or do you have any regrets for doing so? Did any purchase a drink package part way into their vacation, and if so, how did that work out. Our up coming cruise will be 9 nights, so with the extra nights it would be even more expensive for us.

I would love to hear from others who recently cruised and purchased a drink package - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Thanks!

My family and I have cruised with DCL five times, and RCI nearly as often. Just a few observations about the two:

1. Both have excellent food and service

2. Cabins on DCL might be a smidgen nicer, but over all comparable

3. Disney entertainment and children's programs are the best on the sea, IMHO. But RCI is no slouch, and might be a close second in each category.

4. The biggest difference between the two lines (again IMHO) is price and the company that stands behind it. Any comparable cruise (same duration, same destinations, same cabin type) will be significantly more expensive on DCL. As an example, I priced a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise last July for both - each left from Port Canaveral one day apart, went to the same islands, and same class cabin. DCL was well over $2000 more. As far as the company behind the cruise, from personal experiences with both, I feel that Disney is totally unsympathetic, not caring towards their loyal patrons. All they care about is their all mighty dollar. RCI I find to be the complete opposite - will go out of their way to make the customer happy.

5. Our last cruise was with DCL and feel a tremendous drop in quality, customer service and the amenities while on board. We used to feel like sailing with Disney was a magical experience, and worth a little more in cost. Not so based on our latest cruise. We have a cruise upcoming in July with RCI. Will judge then if they too have a drop in quality (meaning it may be an industry trend) or whether it is a DCL issue.

Hands down, I would recommend RCI. If you've never done DCL and have small children, I'm sure you (especially them) will enjoy. I wouldn't discourage from doing it once. But three days for me is too short, and losing the balcony and more time - it's a no brainer for me. RCI all the way!

You make a lot of excellent points.

I too have always used a TA for my cruise vacations for many of the same reasons you mention here. For my upcoming trip, I decided to try to book it all myself over the RCI website. In hindsight now I wish I hadn't. As you point out, the RCI website is not very good (I'm trying to be polite). No problem booking but once I changed one thing, the website recalculated our fair and dropped the promo we booked under. Suddenly my outstanding balance was $1000 more!! In all fairness, RCI corrected this for me, but this was after hours on the phone and emails. Now I notice last night that the website show us owing $100 more than our receipt which was emailed to me. So I can look forward to another hour on the phone with them to try to fix that!! AGHHHH!!! If I had used my travel agent, I'm sure she would have handled all this for me.

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Thanks everyone. Not going to expect much, that way I won't be disappointed.

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My family and I will be on the Explorer this Fourth of July. It will be the second day of the trip, and a sea day. We're wondering what, if anything to expect in terms of Fourth of July celebration. Last year, we were on the Disney Fantasy for this same occasion, and were a bit disappointed in their celebration (more like, lack thereof).

Just wondering if anyone has any real insight into just how RCI will handle this.

Thanks, DEIx15x8!!!