kyrie

1 hour ago, CruisinNole said:

We won't be able to make our 11:00am boarding time. Brilliance and Serenade are fogged out of Port Tampa! Latest word is that the ships probably won't dock until 1 or 2 pm. I feel for those passengers missing flights --- on Thanksgiving weekend, no less. She was our last cruise before the lockdown as well and this cruise and one in March, are rebooked (and rebooked and rebooked!) from 2020 and 2021.  I will definitely try to post pics of the daily planners. A lot of activities have been loaded on the app. I believe you can view our cruise on the app. 

Oh No! I believe it. Super foggy here in Tampa at work today. It was a nightmare coming across the bridge at 6am due to the fog. But it will still be a great cruise for you! Do post what you have! We have a big group. Most especially I need the email to email the maitre'd of the specialty restaurants directly about our cruise group. We all have UDP and it's too big a group to do on my own. The weather should otherwise be beautiful for you! 

In exchange let me tell you about a lovely secret in Cozumel. there is a place called Thecabanabeachclub at the end of chakanaab. Custom cabanas (very inexpensive) great food and full access to chakanaab. Diving is about 100 feet away and massages come to you! Enjoy 

I'm jealous and can't wait to sail! She's one of our favorite ships. Small, comfy and great crew. 

On 11/15/2022 at 12:27 PM, CruisinNole said:

We've cruised on Brilliance around 10 times. It's our favorite Royal ship. We'll be on her in less than 2 weeks. She is older and doesn't have all the bells and whistles but we like the size of the ship. She was our last cruise before Covid lockdown so it will be interesting to see her condition 3 years later. 

I'm hoping you are on her now! We sail in a few days on Dec 1. If you are there can you send me pics of the daily planners? I'm trying to plan a group for 30 people that are sailing. Thanks! 

29 minutes ago, Cayman Turtle said:

Friends of ours are also boarding on the third. You’ll all have an amazing time!

We are boarding on the 3rd as well! 

21 hours ago, Cayman Turtle said:

Tapas for dinner at Vintages. We ordered the 5 plates (Dali Select) and added in an additional plate of the stuffed peppers. We were able to substitute the olives for crab croquette. Dessert was also included. 

Vintages has a menu on the allure? I'll hae to try that. Looks yummy

If someone would be kind enough to post the teen activities/days times I'd be hugely appreciative! 

Following. Have a great time. Still debating unlimited dining for our Sept 3 on the Allure so please share about restaurants and food! 

On the serenade early december with my two kids ages 10 and 12. Both were vaccinated. Only 60 kids under age 18 on board... and 2 were mine/vaccinated. 

On 12/29/2021 at 5:03 PM, smplybcause said:

 

I've seen people sharing a room with a positive person have to test negative twice in 24 hours to be released. Not sure if that's everyone deemed close contact or not. 

Hold on... if they are staying in the same cabin as the positive they are being let out and about on the ship? I'm an EM doc. That is NOT how quarantine works. All immediate contacts quarantine. Seriously is this what they are doing? 

We are on the Jan 3 sailing too

good to know. does anyone know if the boarding with the key overrules the "assigned time" for boarding or is this just gone?

On 9/16/2019 at 11:46 AM, mkh103 said:

I feel this takes away from the people who over the years have achieved a certain status by staying LOYAL to the line.  Why stay LOYAL now when you can buy the perks?

Ill way in on that. The perks are somewhat different. We are diamond plus. But we have two 8, 10 year old girls who love doing the activities and like front of the line or reserved time for this. It is also nice to have someone take your carry on luggage and to do the meals at the embarkation/debarkation. Yes, we get priority access to shows already. But we barely go. For us it is the other perks. So we do the Key. Now, once we hit Pinnacle perhaps it will be different. Also when we cruise without kids.. and no, I'm not doing the flowrider, we don't do the key. Does that help? 

I just realized I read your question backwards. 🙂 That's the answer to do both. We also like the perks of being loyal like the concierge and the unwritten perks of their help. We will stay loyal for that reason. 

Sailed on it as a kid. I think I was 7. Great ship. Tiny compared to today's floating islands but I learned to dance on that boat! 

Just back from the Ovation July 26. Bing Bai was our concierge. She was wonderful! 

13 hours ago, luvinthecruiselife said:

We were on the May 13th Vancouver to Seattle sailing with Bing.  She was leaving on holidays once Ovation arrived in Seattle on May 24th.  She will be returning to Ovation.  She is lovely and very helpful.  Her name is Bing Bai and she is from Northern China.

 

 

Shelley

Great thanks! 

Just now, BEENSAILING said:

please post your thoughts. I am in Ovation Aug 2. thanks.

I will. Follow the July 26 roll call for info

Anyone familiar with bai bing? Me concierge to me and I’ll be on ovation when we sail tomorrow. Thx! 

1 hour ago, frank808 said:

On Radiance and saw sign @ Izumi in the Windjammer.  Have not seen anyone post about this key priviledge of reserved seating for dining in the windjammer.  Unpublished perk?  This dining room is just for breakfast.

nice. on it with key 2021. I find radiance takes care of crown and anchor well . I imagine they do the same for key. 

5 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Hey, Bob, you're hot!  😉 😄

 

@Host Clarea

Lol.. whoops, what a typo.

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2659054-key-reviews/

Bless you Hot Clarea! 🙂

are there any moderated key review threads that actually review the key instead of just talking and discussing opinions? This is a real request, not a criticism. If there is could someone toss me a link? Thanks. 

47 minutes ago, frank808 said:

Saw the Key signs for bumper cars and theatres seating.  Also saw the sign to go for lunch on the first day.  Did not see if there was any advantage to embarkation as general boarding was called by 10:40 am.  Did not see disembarkation as we got off a day early in Victoria.

 

Grand Suite guests and higher got The Key added on for free on Radiance.  Friends we just met showed us their sea pass card and mentioned they did not pay for Key but it was on their cards.  

hmmm. that is interesting. We have a 2 bedroom grande suite to panama in 2021. Of course by then everything will have changed. We did do the key on the radiance to "test it" and cause it was cheap. Eh... on those ships not point. We get most of the perks already as Diamond+. For us the "perk" is the front line "fast pass" for activities. Going to see how it goes on Ovation and then decide for the future. We will be on the Oasis in March and I am considering it then. But it will depend on how the Ovation goes. 

Just now, er345 said:

I agree with the FOMO part. When the key was introduced at $19.99 per day I thought there was no way this was worth it. I was shocked by the number of people buying it.  Now that it is $29.99, I find myself reading reviews of people raving about the benefits and I second guess myself. Should I have bought it way back when? Would it have been worth it for my kids to go to the front of the bumper car line on Ovation and not have to wait an hour? Even though none of us use the flow rider and I would never normally eat a steak lunch right after boarding, and we have only one VOOM device purchased at a cheap $10 per day. But the lure of marketing is always calling out to me. I’m still staying strong and not shelling out the $840. 

 

I am one that would happily shell out the $ for suite perks if it was in our budget, so I’m not judging those who pay for perks. 

 

 

Which ovation cruise are you on? We bought the key and we are sailing July 26. I can let you know how it went!

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Does it throw you for a loop that the same cruise the week after Thansgiving can cost twice as much during Christmas week? RCI adjusts fees constantly according to what they think they can get.

It’s called smart business. I and my royal Caribbean shares cant really blame them. 

35 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Question since you are on board.  I see they have the UDP (dining package) listed in my cruise planner.  Thought that was odd given only Chops.  Do they really expect people to eat in Chops every night?  No other a la carte options so what does UDP do for you on Empress?  

 

Chops on Empress is the only one in the fleet I like but I can't eat there every night.  Will probably stick with a BOGO but had to laugh when I saw the UDP for her so wanted to know. 

I’m also curious. We still a lot on the smaller ships like radiance and brilliance. When last we were on the radiance of Tampa we found that almost nobody was in the specialty restaurants. The specialty dining manager offered us a phenomenal deal for the week. Essentially $70 to eat as many times as we wanted. I thought that they were being severely under utilized.

On 7/12/2019 at 8:16 AM, SC_Floaters said:

I used the Diamond Logo from Royal Caribbeans Site, and the mail part of the logo from a website Cruise-Ships.com (their timeline does not work anymore). I put it all in microsoft publisher, update the numbers after each cruise and snip it as a graphic and upload...

Thx it looks lovely!