zanydoc

I’ve been on all 3 of these ships with my teenage son and I’d pick Harmony. Great Ice show, Aquatheater show, and Grease. Nice variety of restaurants. Many things to do! It’s fine if you plant yourself in the Solarium-he can still come find you and touch base and you can eat lunch together in the Solarium Bistro. As mentioned by another cruiser-Wonder only has 1 Flowrider, just FYI, with very long lines. It is a nice and new ship, but not worth the extra cost, IMO. Have fun!

Yikes! That is one helluva Bluetooth speaker! No thanks-

I bid on several Royal up suites on our upcoming cruise. If we get one, are the benefits the same as if we had booked a suite? Thanks!

This makes me very happy! I absolutely hate it when the servers come around near the end of the cruise asking for 5’s on the surveys. We cruised on 2 different lines last year and their servers didn’t do that. I’m so used to it occurring on Royal, I didn’t realize it wasn’t the norm. I hope this is a fleetwide change.

They can go into any clubs or casino on the ship, but won’t be allowed to BUY alcohol themselves. I don’t believe Brilliance has any “clubs” but I think Viking Crown may turn into one with a DJ late nights. Most ports, however-the drinking age is 18.

Dadgum! I wonder if you could bring it on board like soda? Has anyone tried to?

Thanks for your reply! Although, booooo! I’m sorry to hear this information as it foils my big plan, haha. Oh, well 😊

Hello everyone! Are non-alcoholic beers included in the refreshment package, or only mocktails? I was thinking about getting this for my husband who has decided to continue on his dry January kick. We are both Diamond plus and I would rather jump overboard than see him use our drink vouchers for non-alcoholic beers, 😂 We’ve never gotten the refreshment package before. Would this be a good way to go and then I can utilize his vouchers for my own debauchery? Lol! Also, what NA beers does Royal carry? Thanks!

That is indeed great news! I sincerely hope she is successful.

What an interesting thread this has turned out to be! First of all, kudos to your pal for trying to quit smoking. I don’t know about the health benefits of vaping over smoking, or it’s effectiveness at helping smoking cessation, but at least it’s not as offensive smelling to bystanders. I get her desire to not be around other smokers as she is trying to quit and it reeks. I’m not a smoker, but have noticed that on the larger Oasis class ships that there seems to be a smoking area outside on deck 5 or 6 starboard that generally only has a couple of smokers around at any given time. If she doesn’t get the approval, maybe she could check out vaping in that area instead of the heavily populated casino or pool deck?

Thank you for your observations @allisonb22. I had no idea about the Jewish holiday at the end of January or the whole no Saturday/Saturday restrictions.. All of this information was very helpful and thanks to my fellow CCers for chiming in. Also, I too had some disappointments on my Wonder sailing last November, mainly related to the fact that there was no ranch dressing or coconut ranger cookies to be found in any venue until the last day of the cruise, Lol! Seriously though, I found the Wonder to be a beautiful ship, but in November there was a noticeable lack of staff for a ship that size which adversely affected dining and bartending service at all of the venues. My husband was disappointed in the Flowrider protocols on this ship as he is an avid stand up rider and they did not have times for advanced stand up flowriders only. He wished that they would have had different times allotted for the “newbies” to learn stand up vs. letting them learn during the advanced stand up. Anyway, I know this sounds silly to some, but they don’t have this issue on other ships with only one Flowrider. We still had a great time and my husband lived through it 😁, but I understand about having expectations based on your previous experiences with Royal and the disappointments that come when they are not met. Loyal to Royal, but have ventured out on NCL and Carnival this past year as well-still like Royal the best!

Good advice! But too late, I’m afraid-the cruise sails tomorrow. Hopefully we can get it all done at the terminal. I tried about 5 different photos with my husband and all were rejected. Maybe he’s wanted by the feds, lol!

See you tomorrow! Dress warm!

Hello! We haven’t cruised NCL in at least a decade and hopefully are setting sail on the Breakaway tomorrow. I had a struggle with checking in my husband and was unable to download his photo, thus unable to complete his check in. My son and I are checked in. Do we need any additional documentation besides our passports to get checked in at the pier? Also on the cruises that I’ve taken with RC and Carnival, there was a “boarding pass” that was required to show at the terminal, but I am not seeing anything like that for this cruise. Am I missing something? Or is this because I was unable to complete my husband’s check in? Please advise! Thanks!

What? Closed toe shoes? I can’t wear my nice dressy flip flops?

Thank you all for your replies-super helpful! One more question…What time are the staterooms generally available? We are very light packers and pack in small carryon roller bags. Heck, after hearing what @BirdTravelssaid about the very casual dining, we might all be able to pack in 1, 😂. My husband is going to be so happy about the wearing of shorts in the main dining rooms. Although it’s allowed on Royal, we still feel like when he attempts it, there seems to be a lot of frowny faces looking in our direction…or maybe Royal cruisers are more uptight? Anyway, I’d love to be able to drop off the luggage asap.

Thanks! So, for just the regular MDR dinners you can show up at any time and be seated?

Thank you, @laudergaylefor your replies! Post pandemic, For Royal we have to do these reservations on the app right after boarding and it is always a pain. I like hearing that we can go to the box office to reserve the shows…or do we actually have a concierge somewhere with the concierge club suite (non-haven) who can make these rezzies for us?

Hey there, NCL Peeps! We are excited to try out NCL Breakaway for the 5 day out of NOLA in a couple of weeks. We have been cruising almost exclusively with Royal for 30 years and we have been on NCL, but it’s been over a decade at least and I was hoping for some helpful tips from ya’ll. Please walk me through the current embarkation process…Do we need anything besides our passports and boarding pass at this point? Do we need to make dining/show reservations when we board or can we just show up for these things every night? If we do need to make reservations, where do we do it? Where are the best places to get lunch that first day? In regards to the free at sea program…With the unlimited drinks package, is there a limit to how many drinks are included? Can someone please post a menu of the included liquors/beers/wines? For the 1 free specialty dining that is included, I did make a reservation on line for the teppanyaki/hibachi restaurant…is it good on this ship or would you recommend something different? We are staying in one of the Concierge club suites with our 17 year old son. Does this include anything interesting or is it just a bigger room with a bigger shower? Are day passes available for the spa on this ship? Are there any not miss shows or activities on this ship that you would recommend? Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide, Happy Sailings, and Merry Christmas!

Thank you for all the replies. My mom decided not to get off the ship in Labadee, so I got off and went over to Nellies beach for a couple of MaiTais, lunch and a little beach time.

They didn’t check on Indy out of canaveral last month-we walked right on about an hour early. I think it just depends how crowded it is and what staff are there. Now that we don’t have to social distance anymore, I don’t see the point of continuing the check in times. I wish they’d go away like the testing.

Hello all! Hopefully headed out on Allure this Saturday for Mom’s 90th birthday cruise and have a stop in Labadee. She can go a little ways with her rolater, but can’t really get along in the sand and definitely can’t go the whole length of the pier. Any advice as to how and where to get her situated in a beachy spot, close to restroom and food facilities? And preferably a bar for me? 😁 TIA!

Hello! What are the current shows available on Allure and do I need reservations? Hopefully headed out Oct.1 for my Mom’s 90th Birthday cruise if my flights don’t keep getting cancelled due to Ian...trying to stay positive by continuing to look forward and plan! 😊

I wanted to follow up after my Indy cruise last weekend...We had a Check-in time of 12:30, arrived at the port at 11:00 and basically walked directly onto the ship after 3 brief stops. First one to check passport/set sail pass and ask if we were fully vaccinated-they did not ask the usual health questionnaire questions. 2nd stop to double check passport and verify room number. 3rd stop to scan set sail pass. No one looked at our check in time or asked to see vaccine card. Easiest check in ever!

They are no longer doing this. Oops, saw this was already answered!