mconthehighseas

Thank you, sunquest!

Another thanks for this thread! I had wondered about the toy lending program since Fisher Price is no longer working with Royal Caribbean; glad to see that this is still available.

According to the spreadsheet, Mangesh's email should be : "VI_Concierge@rccl.com"

In the past, Enterprise's Galveston office was open on Sunday, and would provide free transportation to the pier. The website shows that they are open 8-1 on Sundays, but it's a good idea to give them a call directly.

http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?gpbr=0618&bid=004&cnty=US

There is a Whataburger on I-45 at the El Dorado Blvd exit, which is 2 exits north of NASA Blvd.

There are some hotels in the area that cost less than the REsidence Inn listed here: http://hotelguides.com/texas/nasa-space-center-tx-hotels.html

We have a small child, and I don't think he has the attention span or patience for an all day excursion. I am considering a private guide, so we can go on a shorter tour, and we can turn around to go back to the ship if our little one starts to get cranky. The ship excursions all go to somewhere else in addition to Altun Ha, and I think that won't work.

That said, I was told that the roads to Altun Ha are very rough, and that it might not be a good idea to go there with a little one, even if we bring a car seat.

Has anyone done something like this? If you have, do you have a guide you can recommend? And did you like the experience?

I am also considering going to the Belize Zoo instead. If anyone has done a tour there?

To add insult to injury, in addition to offering us poor service, RCI are now discriminating against customers of selected nationalities, including UK citizens, with offers that clearly state they are only for American and Canadian customers. In other situations this wouldn't be legal, surely?

 

I really don't think they want our custom any more! :eek:

They have deals on their UK site that are only for UK and European customers and deals on their US site only for US and Canadian customers. I don't know about the legality, but I believe other companies do similar things.

No, 30 minutes is fine. Just because you sat in a chair for a while it doesn't mean it is YOUR chair for the rest of the day. If you are just going to the restroom, fine. If you are just going back to your cabin to quickly grab something you forgot, fine. If you are just going to grab a sandwich than you bring back to eat by the pool, fine. But if you are doing something that takes more than 30 minutes (playing bingo, taking a nap, enjoying a longer lunch, surfing the net, etc.) then GIVE UP THE CHAIR so someone else can use it. When you come back, you can find another chair.

The exception to this is when the pool is so crowded that you are concerned that you might not find a chair when you get back. But I think that anyone who is worried about getting back within 30 minutes (after all, some people move slower than others), should just let the Pool attendants know their plans, so they can help them find chairs if necessary when they get back.

If they got up early enough to reserve lounges, they were up early enough to sit on them. If only one person was the early bird, he could have stayed behind to hold one or 2 extra chairs. Reserving 11 chairs, even on a large ship, is just rude.

I think those of you in the UK are getting the same kind of service over the phone that I experienced years ago here in the US. The people on the phone would just repeat what was on the website, without doing any further investigation to see if it was correct.

I now deal exclusively with our TA, and let her sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Thanks for the pdf file, racerx.

It looks like RCL is not planning to put a Royal Tots Nursery on this ship. Can someone confirm that?

Thank you Shelton! Those Vision itineraries beat the ones out of Galveston by a mile!

Waterbug, there is another thread on this site written by a woman who took her 18 month old on the Liberty. It's here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1972039

If you look through it, there is a picture of her son playing in the infant area of the H2O Zone. Liberty also has a Royal Babies Nursery with activities for infants and toddlers, but you would have to pay extra for most of those. Her thread has a copy of the flyer that describes the nursery, tells what times it is open, and when you can sign up to use it. There are activities outside the nursery as well where parents or other caretakers are expected to be present.

If I have a chance, I will go back to find the exact posts with the info you are asking for, but in the meantime, take a look, because she has lots of recommendations that you might be interested in.

I would much rather have a "middleman" deal with it than myself.

They will get the same results and I don't have to sit on hold with RC for 1.5 hours...

Not only does a TA deal with RC for us, she gets better service from RC than I would just picking up the phone.

But if you know someone by name in the RC office, that's a good way to make reservations as well.

Let me join the chorus of thank yous! This is the same itinerary as ours, so I will let others on my roll call know about this :)

As far as being overwhelmed by the ship, it is pretty easy to get around. And there will be maps and models at each elevator to help you figure out where you are, and how to get where you are going. Also, they will hand you a map as part of your check in package before you even set foot on the ship. Once you get settled in your cabin (and people will direct you there on the first day) or a lounge or restaurant if your cabin isn't ready when you board, take a look at the deck plan to get yourself comfortable.

Not sure if it will got to the consumer site or not but I do see the 11/13 9-night sailing on Liberty from Galveston in the system now like it is bookable for anyone, not just TA's

 

 

 

 

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No prices yet on royalcaribbean.com; what a disappointing itinerary!

Same tired itineraries. (

This is a huge concern of mine, but at least we have a good ship.

I suspect that if the Carnival 10 day cruises next year to San Juan do well, then Royal Caribbean will be more willing to rethink the ports.

Not totally convinced that all of them do , based on how much they charge for single supplements, but here is the article:

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2014/04/cruise-ship-cabins-for-singles_slideshow_slide_9

I don't understand why it's taking so long to release the Anthem sailings. They already know what it's going to be doing. What's the hold up?

They may be waiting for confirmation from one or more of the port's authorities. Or they may be changing their mind......

Here is the page on their website where you can contact Beliken.

http://www.belikin.com/contact_belikin.html

I didn't see anything about a brewery tour, but it never hurts to ask.

Your Cruise newsletter has the phone number for the ship's agent for every port you go into. Take that number with you. If you find you are running late, call that number or have your driver do so. They will alert the ship that you are on your way. If there is a problem, they will let you know what you can do.

I have been on ships where they have held the ship as long as they can waiting for passengers. I regularly take private tours and have never been left behind. (And I have never had the ship held for me!) I don't do this in ports where cruise ships rarely go, but places like Roatan and Belize rely on cruisers, and the guides know they need to get you back in time.

The people you hear about being left behind are not the ones on private tours; they are the ones who went off on their own and didn't call the ship.

You may want to consider getting a private tour or driver to pick you up in port once you tender in. You could do a beach day or go to the Belize Zoo, and you can return to the ship when your baby needs to, not after all the places that the excursion has to take people. That way you can be on your baby's schedule, and not on the bus driver's.

A lot of people have a negative view of Belize, because the part of the city by the port is not very comfortable for people to walk around. But outside the city, the country has put a lot of effort into protecting its wildlife and forests.

To the OP: I saw that you are booking the Ben & Jerry's SWEET Room to get access to the Concierge lounge. You need to double check that your ship allows that access; not all do.

I would hate for you to give up a balcony and then not be able to get into the lounge. Check out this post from an older thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34311039&postcount=3

Great news! Now I can start planning! :)

 

Ditto!

Mariner and Navigator will be strickly Asia

 

Voyager and Exporer will be Aus/NZ with a few Asia ports in the Mix

 

Radiance will be Aus/NZ and South Pacific.

When do you show Navigator moving to Asia?

I show it in Galveston through Nov 2015