Lady_Jag

Oh yeah! No self service laundry on Royal either. Also, our bathroom shower on Royal had a curved door that allowed me to get clean without being molested by a shower curtain.

There were also trash cans on board.

And no afternoon tea, like on Carnival (my favorite sea day activity).

Embarkation/debarkation for our Royal cruise were the worst ever, and Port Canaveral is usually my favorite home port!

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I was thinking of asking a similar question but for a different demographic actually! I have an 8 year old and i wonder if RC's kids program is as good as Carnival's. Their sale (that ends today) looks pretty lucrative and I can cruise for the same price for a balcony on the two cruise lines with totally different ports.

See my reply above. My 8-year-old LOVED the kids club better than Carnival AND Disney!

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I am a platinum Carnival cruiser and just took my first Royal cruise (Explorer of the Seas) over Christmas with my hubby and daughter age (8). We had a wonderful time! I've been meaning to post a review/comparison, but have just been too busy since our return. Anyway, here are my impressions:

Food - Carnival is better. Royal's food is edible, but bland. Hubby and I found that it lacked even basic seasonings like salt. Ice cream on Royal was cheap, had a gritty, ice crystal texture, and was available only certain hours.

Ship - LOVED the RCI ship better than any other we've sailed! Ice skating, roller blading, plenty of fun activities, movie theater (albeit very small) sports court, ping pong, and of course the iconic rock wall.

Activities/Shows: Royal is better in this area. I'm not much of a show person, but the ice skating show we saw on EoS was awesome! Plus there were a variety of games and activities for everyone and parades down the central plaza (my hubby's favorite part of the ship!) we had Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve, and even Midnight Mass, as well as daily morning Masses in the main showroom. We were never bored! On Christmas morning, Santa paraded down the promenade to the ice skating rink, where he met the kids and gave them each a wrapped, age-appropriate gift. (DD got headphones.)

Kids club - DD loved the RCI kids club more than any other cruise, including Disney! I don't blame her - the counselors actually interacted with the kids and played age-appropriate games with them, instead of just supervising/babysitting the kids. There were 700 kids on board!

Service: Service was okay on RCI, but lacking a certain sincerity that I enjoy with Carnival. I would make eye contact, smile, and say hello to various Royal crew members in passing, and would get barely even a nod, if I got that. There were 1-2 exceptions, of course, and no one was RUDE, but they staff didn't seem quite as friendly as on a Carnival ship.

Cabin - We booked sort of last minute, and wound up booking an OV GTY on Royal. We were upgraded to a balcony! The location was great, and I'm not one to look down my nose at an upgrade, but I think Carnival cabins and balconies are a little nicer. For one, the cabins are bigger. For another, the balconies we've had on Carnival have been more open with better visibility. The balcony we got on deck 6 was enclosed, like the cove balconies on the lower decks of the Dream class ships. Also, the bathroom on Carnival is bigger, although I love that Royal has actual medicine CABINETS in the bathroom instead of open shelves. Royal did not give us any of the convenient samples like toothpaste either.

Amenities - I LOVED that Royal trusts its passengers with things like pool towels, golf balls/clubs, ping pong balls/paddles, etc. throughout the ship. I always find it annoying that Carnival makes you "check out" these things on your S&S! Granted, the towels on Royal are not high quality, but if your need a towel or 2 for the pool/spa, just walk over to the table and grab what you need! Also, hooray for Royal for having their hot tubs open 24 hours! One nuisance with Royal, though, is that it was so dang hard to find a free drink! If hubby wanted tea or if I wanted some ice water, we had to trek to one of the rare drink stations on the Lido deck and hope that the server there had what we wanted sitting out. There were no drink machines like on Carnival, although there were Freestyle Coke machines if you purchased a special mug to lug around the ship with you.

Miscellaneous - We got a BOGO 1/2 off deal through Royal, making our cruise VERY affordable! Labadee was an awesome private port, and lunch on the island was included with our cruise. Johnny Rockets on the EOS was only $6/person extra and the food was yummy, as were the milkshakes and ice cream sundaes. :-)

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Ok... The wife and I both got a great rate offer. Had we booked us in one cabin and the kids in another we couldn't have utilized that so I got one with one child and she got one with the other thus allowing all four of us to go at the same great rate. Wife is platinum so last cruise with just us two we went the priority route so now I'm just wondering if us, as a family, might do the same thing. It was a pretty simple question I thought.

Unless someone at the port is being particularly cranky, you will likely be able to board together with priority embarkation.

My friend and I booked 2 cabins for my birthday cruise 2 years ago - it was my first cruise as a platinum member, but she was still red or gold. When I produced my VIP boarding pass, the employee said, "You and everyone in your party can come this way," and she led me and my friend to the platinum lounge. No fuss, no muss.

Have a wonderful cruise!

I booked my 2015 Alaska cruise on 5/22/14, the day it opened. So probably about 3 1/2 months away. Last year, Carnival was the last of all lines to release their dates.

Same here. I kept calling my PVP because I was first told the rates would open in March, then April, then May. Even though I called to book within an hour or two of the reservations opening up, my first cabin choice had already been booked. :eek: So if there's a particular cabin you really want, make sure you keep checking in.

We did an Easter cruise on the Carnival Legend a few years back when my daughter was 5. (Review is in my siggy.)

Anyway, I was hoping for something special, but other than the terminal employees wearing bunny ears and Easter buttons, there was nothing really extraordinary to celebrate the holiday. In fact, my daughter boarded the ship in tears because she was pulled into the "naughty room" at the terminal and had her cheap plastic squirt guns that the Easter bunny brought her confiscated.

Speaking of Easter bunny, instead of a basket of goodies, he brought DD a plastic sand bucket full of goodies like beach balls, squirting fish, and various other water toys, including the oh-so-threatening pink plastic squirt guns. There were also candies like M&Ms and other sweet toppings DD could add to her ice cream while on board.

Despite the rough start and lack of any acknowledgement of the holiday, it was a really nice cruise!

:D

Each Platinum guest can take up to 5 others who are not.

 

Putting your luggage tag on their luggage does nothing unless the porters orange tag them, so make sure they have an orange tag before heading into the terminal.

My friend accompanied me on my 1st cruise at platinum level. She was not platinum and booked her own separate cabin. At the terminal, a kind woman checking boarding passes and ID noticed my Priority stamp on my boarding pass and directed me "and everyone in my party" to the VIP lounge/check-in.

I had printed my luggage tags and put them on my friend's bags because they also had "Priority" stamped across them. We were 5th or 6th to board the ship, and BOTH our bags were already waiting for us outside my cabin. :D

My next cruise is a family cruise: me, hubby, mom, and DD (age 9), but I am the only one with platinum status. We have 2 cabins booked - hubby and I in 1, and mom and DD in another. I plan to print out my tags again for mom and DD, and hope that we are all allowed priority boarding together, especially since DD is booked in the cabin with mom, who is in a wheelchair.

I'm so glad I booked our Alaskan cruise the second the rates opened up for this summer! I booked ES, because I usually get 1-2 price drops, but since booking in May, the price has climbed considerably - over $300 per person!

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I booked my 2015 Alaska sailing in mid-/late-May of 2014. I called multiple times to inquire, beginning around March of last year and was first told end of March, then April, then May. I am glad I kept calling, as when the bookings were finally open, my 1st and 2nd choice room were already booked. :eek:

I booked the ES rate, but since booking the cruise, the price has increased by over $300/pp, so I'm glad I jumped on it when I did.

It was many, many years ago, but Hubby and I booked an independent ATV excursion in Cozumel and had a ball. We booked 1 ATV for the 2 of us, and switched drivers about 1/2 way through. We were in a group of about 10 ATVs, including our guides. We went over very rocky terrain very quickly and got VERY dirty! :p Seriously, our faces were covered in dirt, except for the area around our eyes where we were wearing sunglasses. :cool: We had a beach stop that included a light snack and bottled water. It was one of our most memorable excursions in 13 cruises.

Awesome! Thanks everyone! Looks like the cruise is sold out, so I guess I won't be moved. Huzzah!

I booked an oceanview guarantee room a couple of weeks ago for my Christmas cruise this month. Today, I went to my booking dashboard and see that I have a cabin assigned - Deck 6, "Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony!" Sweet!

We weren't expecting a balcony, but I'm excited to check it out. However, I don't want to get my hopes up too high, because having booked a GTY, I know my cabin might change. Then again, we leave in 2 weeks, so is there a big chance we'll get shuffled to another cabin?

Just got off the Vision this past weekend. Like you, this was my first RC cruise.....not impressed with the MTD.....it was just kayos the whole week!! Lines every night, minimum of 30 min wait to an hour!!! We had no choice regarding making reservations before the cruise, only MTD was offered. We showed up the first night for dinner and there were about 40 people ahead of us in the "reservations" line and only a few in the other "no reservations". One of the waiters came out and told us it would be an hour and half before anyone would be seated....:eek: I guess they wanted more people using the Speciality restaurants!$$$ Then we were told we needed reservations :confused: like what's that all about? The reason we had MTD was to eat when WE wanted during the time offered!! No one could explain the 2 lines at all. Like why would someone come to the "no reservations" and get seated before someone who has reservations? It didn't make any sense to anyone. I have completed the survey that comes out after you sail. Ido hope everyone completes it and voices their opinions about it!!!

The ship was full but from the time we got to the terminal everything was lines lines and more lines! If you get an e mail requesting you to show up a particular time than I suggest waiting as late as you can. Everyone showed up to this cruise the same time....it was just a mess. No one seemed to know what they were doing.

This scares me. If it was that chaotic for Thanksgiving, I can only imagine the issues for Christmas! [emoji15]

I guess I will keep my reservations and see what happens the first night. If it's a similar situation, then I'll cancel my ressies for the remaining evenings. Hopefully, Explorer will run smoother, though, as it will be difficult for my 8-year-old to wait in line that long.

We've only had MTD once, and that was on Allure. It was the only way to work in dinner around our reservations for shows so the dinner reservation times were different for each of the 7 nights. I didn't like it at all. It was a PITA to keep up with all those different dinner times.

 

The main reason I didn't like it, however, is that although we reported to the dining room a few minutes ahead of our reservation time each night, on two nights we had to wait 15-20 minutes because another group was at 'our table' and they were slow finishing dinner. One night we could see the people sitting at the table, clearly finished with dessert, chatting and taking their time over coffee while we stood and waited for about 20 minutes.

 

We were a group of six, so it wasn't like we needed a huge table. Just one of the round ones that can seat six, and there were lots of those. We had NOT asked to be at the same table every night. So I never understood why we had to wait for one particular table on those two nights. I also noticed that other pax in the 'no reservations' line were being seated while we waited. Huh??

 

That happened 2 years ago, so maybe it's gotten better now. I can't say since we've never tried MTD again and enjoy having a consistent dinner time each night. Am I a dinosaur? Maybe…:o…not sure how much I'll like Dynamic Dining either!

Judy

Wow, that's awful! There's only 3 of us, so may be I'll cancel the reservations I made online and take my chances on random dining times. Hmmm...

On a side note, Are reservations for shows available on all ships? We sail 3 weeks from today, but I see nothing about show reservations on the site.

Thanks all! Makes sense now! :-)

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Sorry, I've never sailed RCI before, and am having a hard time grasping the dining reservation concept for MTD. I'm confused because I have "My Time Dining," but was strongly encouraged to specify our desired dining times for each evening of our cruise. This seems contrary to the concept of MTD. :confused:

So what happens if I make our reservations online now, but then when onboard we want to dine earlier or later than the times we chose? I'm assuming that the reservation thing works something like "Call Ahead" seating at some of our local restaurants, but I'm not sure. I'm used to flexible dining on Carnival ships, when you just show up sometime between 5:30 and 9:00 and ask to be seated - no reservation required.

My puny little brain just can't work out the point of reservations. Can someone please explain?

Thanks!

I know you posted this months ago, but here's what I found from the RCI web site:

"

• Total coaster ride time is approximately 3-5 minutes.
  
• Minimum age to be a single rider on the Dragon's Tail Coaster is 12 years.
  
• Children between the ages of 5 and 11 may ride in the same cart with their parent/guardian.
  
• Maximum occupancy per cart is 2 persons with a maximum combined weight of 360 pounds.
  
• You can take a person along in your cart for free!"
  

Ah well! I can live without afternoon tea service as long as I can still get hot tea. :-). Thanks!

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There is no "required attire", merely a suggested dress code which says suit or tux for men, cocktail dress or gown for women, but we saw very few tuxes and gowns on our recent Explorer cruise. You absolutely do not have to take along formal wear, per sé. You will look wonderful in the alternatives you already mentioned and hopefully they fit in your carry-ons! Makes for a nice light trip. :)

 

In my opinion, the best free coffee on the ship is in the Café Promenade, in large thermoses at the back. You can add a little hot water if you like and they also have various tea bags, and hot chocolate mix. Blow your diet with one of their Cheesecake Pops! OH MY!!! :D

 

Have fun.

 

.

Oooo! Hubby loves cake pops and cheesecake, so a cheesecake pop might make it a struggle to get him off the ship when the cruise is over! ;-)

Good to know about the tea, too - I'm not a coffee drinker, but do enjoy a cup of hot tea! Speaking of tea, is there a tea time on sea days, like with Carnival?

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Thanks all! One more q? - what's the required attire for formal night? Tie? Dress? Or slacks/polo? Trying to keep our bags down to just 2 carry ons. Thanks!

Some of the answers to your questions will depend on your GTY room assignment. This can be assigned anytime from booking until the date of the cruise. For some cabins the 3rd bed will be a bunk style [pullman] bed. Others have a sofa bed. Which category of GTY cabin did you reserve?

 

You used to need to reserve tickets for the ice shows. However, I have read they are now assigned according to your muster station and then there is another show if the other time does not suit you.

 

Have you logged on [or even discovered] My Cruises on the Royal Caribbean website? This is where you can see your room assignment, buy a soda package, etc.

 

Labadee is RCL's private "island.' [really a peninsula] This is one of our favorite stops. Check out the Ports of Call section of Cruise critic for more info on this.

Thank you! Interior was sold out and Outside (ov) was all that was left in our price range. So it's an ov gty.

I'll check out the site when I'm on my laptop. Thanks!

Hi!

I just booked a 4-day cruise out of port Canaveral on Explorer of the Seas last night for me hubby and our 8 year old daughter.

We've sailed multiple times with carnival and once on Disney, but never royal until now. So now what?!?

Need advice on:

1. Any way to determine our GTY cabin #?

2. Reserving shows?

3. My time dining info?

4. Kids club?

5. Labadi?

6. Pool temps?

7. Door decorations? Are they allowed if secured with magnets/twine?

8. Is the 3rd bed a bunk or trundle?

9. Any other tips? (We don't really drink alcohol so don't need a bar package.)

Thanks!

Lady Jag

THESE are what you should be wearing.:D

 

 

Awesome! But do they come in all white?

LOL!

No price drops for me either. We have 2 bowling alley cabins (8K) on the Miracle's June 9th sailing to Alaska, and since booking them in May of this year, the prices have INCREASED by $150pp.

I'm hoping that once the ES promotion no longer applies, we'll see some drops.