livylotte

That’s bad ☹️ And not fair. I’d be peeved too. We nearly booked the Dubai leg but the dates didn’t work for us. The new alternative (if it gets picked) sounds amazing, they probably aren’t offering you anything because they are going to put the prices right up. All the same - you should have been given an option to sail from Dubai.

A no brainer for me - it would be Immersive Africa for me. Sailing round Africa is a once in a lifetime - what’s the point of making that journey if you can’t get off the boat. The Greek isles can be done any time.

Barcelona The Cruise Port is very close to the airport. Straight off the plane and into a taxi and you are at the port within minutes.

Disappointed with those Indy sailings. Just 1 low season 12 night itinerary and the rest are short breaks. Where’s the Med? And the next longest - 9 days isn’t going to get us very far. Sorry, RC but a cruise from rainy UK into rainy Northern Europe isn’t my idea of a summer holiday. I don’t think this will appeal to UK cruisers, especially not if the prices are high as expected. I’m seriously thinking of 2 weeks in Marmaris 🤪

The majority of my cabins are aft balconies and I always pick one of those if available - even if I end up paying more than I would like. If there are no aft balcony cabins available, I pick a guarantee balcony. My thinking is that it’s aft or nothing. I don’t mind where they put me. I haven’t had a bad guarantee yet. All have been central and not near lifeboats or anything noisy. And the cheaper guarantees help balance out paying more for my aft indulgences 😜 Never been given an aft guarantee yet though..

And then there will be another sale ..

Gosh that’s a bit steep. Could do with a new liver 🤪 £80 per person will do the trick. I have noticed recently that waiters in the main dining room aren’t so eager to keep the wine flowing. Dragging heels and snails pace come to mind. When another glass eventually appears it’s always half full. I’ve never got past 3 (half) glasses of wine at dinner - chance would be a fine thing. Give less and charge more. It’s business I guess.

We’ve been cruising on RC for years and recently sailed (Caribbean at Christmas) with our 3 adult children. All 3 were appalled at the food and couldn’t believe how non existent the evening entertainment was. I guess over the years standards have been slowly slipping so we hadn’t particularly noticed it. No complaints re alcohol price on that cruise though - RC had a special deal for the UK cruisers. I think it was £43 pp including grats. We will keep cruising with RC but very much doubt DCs will again. Never sailed on Anthem but not because of the reviews - sailing from Southampton on RC is overpriced and cold half the time.

Explorer has fond memories for me and although we didn’t eat there much the main dining room is my favourite of them all. The crew were the best and despite windjammer being the tattiest I have ever eaten in the food was the best.

Trinidad any day of the year - stay onboard ship. Definitely don’t wander around anywhere.

We’ve been on a sailing with a white night - but I really can’t remember which one. It was Europe/Med for sure.

Recently off Rhapsody and we thought the food was very bland. Opted for Indian whenever it was available and even that tasted bland. I wouldn’t say the Indian food on Royal Caribbean has ever been ‘hot’ though. I’d say most of it is pretty mild. However, we do have a lot of curry at home so my tastebuds may be a little immune 🥵

I wouldn’t rush. Your rooms won’t be ready and the Windjammer will be like a cattle market. If you board early, there won’t be much else to do apart from sitting on the pool deck. Spend a nice relaxed morning in Rome. Enjoy breakfast at your leisure and enjoy the opportunity to stay in bed late. This itinerary is all about the ports not the ship and you need to preserve your energy 😋

Yellow Fever jab knocked DH for six when he had it. I was fine but he sloped off to bed with a fever and literally slept for 2 days. It was pretty scary but we were young and I left him to sleep it off. 35 years later - would not go anywhere that requires this jab.

Just tell your cabin steward when you get on board.

Cleaning the room once a day is fine by me but as long as clean dry towels are readily available. Like most folk, we have more than one shower a day. Probably 3 times a day on a cruise. I would choose mornings for the clean, it's nice to come back from excursions to a nice made bed.

No Covid testing or restrictions whatsoever on our Caribbean cruise in December. Some wore masks but not many. The Windjammer was the usual rugby scrum and all areas were self serve. I think most people (and RCI) have decided Covid is done. Even the Captain was out and about meeting people. I noticed lots of people coughing and spluttering but when you've been programmed for 2 years to assume that everyone you meet is infected then I guess you do home into anyone clearing their throat within half a mile. There were no announcements re Covid or people being infected. The biggest germ fest was the flight home when it would have taken a miracle not to catch Covid. Me included 😞 I managed to avoid it for the whole of the pandemic and it finally got me - after my cruise thank God.

We were there this Christmas. We didn’t rush to get of the ship because we checked the flight arrivals beforehand. We were lucky in that the day we in port when there were some big planes due to land. We got there around 11.30 am and left at 2.30pm. There were plenty of planes - all landing over the beach. It is too sweeping a statement to say there are no planes, there are lots of planes - you just have to be there at the right time. We took a taxi - and our driver took us there and waited for us. He met us back in the car park at the time we had asked him to be there and he got us back to the ship in good time. We took the water taxi from the area next to the ship and found the taxi man holding up his price list right outside the water taxi entrance. We had a fabulous 3 hours on Maho beach. We are from the UK and a Caribbean cruise is a once in a lifetime experience for us. The beach is lovely. I would say - do it.

Eat at Harbour Lights. The beach at Harbour Lights (Carlisle Bay) is practically the closest beach to the port. They serve the usual cheeseburger or chicken and fries etc. We were there at Christmas. Service was fast so eating didn’t take up too much beach time. Not fine dining but we were all hungry and food was hot. No one had any complaints and for my kids that is very unusual 😋 My advice would be to eat lunch next to a stunning beach and avoid the port area.

When we docked at Barbados at Christmas they were only allowing people booked on a cruise ship excursion to get on the shuttle bus. It was a little chaotic to be honest. Everyone else had to walk or wait until all the excursions had gone. The queue to get out of the terminal for independent folk was longer too. Only 5 mins on the bus but I imagine walking to the port entrance could be a bit of a trek - especially in the heat. To avoid this perhaps avoid the rush and get off the ship a little later.

Never let porters take charge of your bags.

I've requested window seats and never got one yet. I've given up now and am happy to go with whatever they give us. Generally, we've always been ok with our assignment. The only table we didn't like was when it was just the two of us and they put us near the bit where they collect the dirty dishes, squished in next to another table for two with about 2 inches gap between tables. If we don't like our table we just to eat elsewhere. I'd say tables for two are the worse tables - if there are more of us we tend to get better positioned ones.

Which small airline? Generally speaking, we are from the UK and have been to Barcelona many times so have no interest in staying in Barcelona before cruising from Barcelona. Barcelona is the easiest of all the ports we have ever sailed from. The Airport is just a few minutes in a taxi to the Cruise Port. We have never had a problem flying in the same day. There are literally dozens of taxis waiting outside the airport. The fare to the Cruise Port is fixed (sorry I can't remember how much) but it is reasonable. Same goes for the journey home after your cruise. Taxis in abundance waiting to take you to the airport when you disembark. No need to pre book. I would say though - if you have never been to Barcelona it would be nice to stay for a couple of days before your cruise. There is plenty to see and do and Barcelona is a lovely city.

On our recent Rhapsody cruise, every night our waiter always gave DH 2 appetizers. Just DH - nothing extra for anyone else on the table. It was annoying tbh - DH didn't ask for 2 appetizers and DH was embarrassed when the waiter came to collect the uneaten extra plate. The waiter didn't take the hint. DH said it was like the waiter was trying to gain praise (and extra tips) for this. Our DD's were also targeted in a similar way with 2 deserts. It was all a bit crínge.

This is Russian State Advisory.