SHIP TRAVELER

Yes, even without big BC status (sticker) or a drink package. The server asked if we had a package, we said no, he took our drink orders. When he delivered we tipped and he came back when he spotted us in the casino on other days. We were playing 25 cent video poker. I doubt if we could have gotten premium package drinks but we just wanted beer.

I found my own age limit for snorkeling from a boat. After an hour plus of activity in the water, I had a hard time getting up the bare bones ladder back into the boat. My DH had to boast me up. It is embarrassing to hold up the line. That said, there is 70 and there is a more fit 70 so it would depend on how often you snorkel and swim. My snorkeling in public is limited to walk in situations these days.

You can bring on two bottles of wine (750M) on embarkation day to help with the first night drinks if you like wine with dinner. Your room steward or a bar will give you wine glasses to carry the wine to dinner. You can't tote the bottle unfortunately.

We are planning a group (16) meet up to watch the Super Bowl on board the Allure on Feb. 12, 2023. We have no idea where the game will be shown. I hope there will be an inside venue with lots of seating. On Celebrity there is usually a party with tailgate food and some games but we do not know what to expect or where to meet on the Allure. This would be on embarkation day so we need to plan our meeting spot before leaving for the ship because everyone is traveling separately. Does any one have prior experience with watching the Big Game on an Oasis class ship? Thanks in advance.

We have been struggling with this issue for a group of 7 couples. We booked with multiple travel agents. At one time (5years ago?) we could link the same size group on line you clicking a link reservations key after signing in but that is no longer an option. Now each persons travel agent has to contact RCL and have a note added to the remarks on their reservation that they want the link. Even this has not worked yet but we are working on it. Some of the TAs do not want to waste their time on hold for such a trivial issue. It should be obvious that if someone will give you their reservation number they are approving the link. Technology makes some things worse instead of easier. Our cruise is mid Feb. so hopefully we can get us linked so that we can have a table for 8 and table for 6 next to each other under the same waiter for early traditional dining. We like to swap tables and seats during the cruise so that everyone can visit and be heard.

I loved the soups in Luminae. They did not always sound good but some knocked your socks off. Also they were hotter and tasted fresher because of the small pitcher system of serving. This was totally different than the mass production available in the MDR.

On the last couple of Celebrity cruises we have been on there have been free drinks in the casino when you are playing. I think higher level players probably can get free drinks at the bar. If you have casino status on Carnival, you might want to see if Celebrity's Blue Chip casino club would accept transfer status. I know that there are some comp sites that help you transfer status from land casinos and other cruise lines. Enjoy.

I found the full rack of $5 promo chips daunting to carry around so I asked for and received most of it in larger denomination $ 25 promo chips. These were easier to carry and use on multiple days. We stored them in the room safe. We did get our entire $550 in promo chips all at once on one visit to the cage. When I had run through the $100 in reds, there were enough promo chips in the dealers rack to cash my $ 25 promo chips back to $5 promo chips. I hope this makes sense to those who play table games. I know when I first saw the full rack of chips I could see an invitation to play them all at once (or spill them ) and I like to spread the gambling out over the cruise. They do go fast at $10 Ultimate Texas Holdem in any case.

Funny you should say that. On our last RCL cruise I felt like every dish was a slab of meat (pork, beef, or chicken) covered with gravy with a side of mashed potatoes. Oddly reminiscent of Hungry Man. We are sailing on the Allure and I hope they have a little more of the "fresh cusine" stuff on the menu. Just one persons option, I know my DH loves meat and potatoes with gravy but I have gotten away from it.

You may have to call Blue Chip Club so that they can look up your offer and assist you. They clearly knew that I didn't have the offer when I called so I was given the Casino NET60 discount for recent play.

We have the same luggage. I love it. I thought no one else would have the same purple TravelPro but found out that there are enough of them to cause confusion on the bag claim belt.

Be aware parking situation may have changed. Our usual parking is no longer close to the new terminal.

One big difference is that on Celebrity you have to carry a drink into the dining room. The free drinks are only at certain bars and they are not available at all the first night of the cruise or the night of the Seniors Officers party. You can bring on a bottle of wine per person for you cabin. This is up to date as we were on Celebrity without a drink package in August. I have always liked it that drinks on RCL were available in the dining room and show room even before vouchers.

Thank you so much for the quick and helpful response.

I guess the question I needed to ask about near pier terminal parking is "how long is the walk and how long did it take you"? Is there a good sidewalk or did you have to walk in the street?

Thanks for the Review. We are going in Feb on the Allure and have just realized that the new terminal is not near the old terminal and therefore EZ parking our old "go to" is not the best option now. My DH was wondering how much you paid for the south lot if you can recall. Also when did you reserve the South lot? It looks like some of the other places are now charging for shuttles so this is a new world to us. We have not sailed out of Galveston in a while so any parking hints from any one are appreciated.

I got one outside of Elite hours on the Solstice in December from a very friendly bartender. It was a Cosmo which is my preference. It looked exactly like the ones I got at the Passport bar. I did say Classic but didn't say small. It was small and very tasty. I think they need to exclude the Martini Bar like they do the World Bar if they don't want to make classic drinks. That would save confusion and nasty interactions with bar staff.

I agree with Jim, there is a small bar on the Summit but there are no bar stools. It is like the service bar on APEX. It is crowded in a corner. It is nothing like the real bars on some of the S class ships. One of the odd things to me was the almost total lack of a place to sit a plate and a drink down in the seating area of the Summit. There was a nice cold breakfast buffet but the dining height tables were the size of a cocktail napkin. The larger tables were all very low. This made it hard to eat either happy hour snacks or breakfast. Thank goodness for the Elite Captains Club Coffee house in Tuscan with real tables.

I guess I should have said also that we enjoyed other things about the E class when we were on the Apex earlier this year and we have a cruise booked on the Beyond but not in a suite. We actually want to try the new four dining room concept and the IV. We don't spend a lot of time on the Balcony on S or M class so we think the larger room might work for us. We won't know until we actually try it. We like Eden, the Club, and the roof top garden and some of the special things for Captains Club Elite on the Apex. We are looking forward to another taste. My DH likes the M class best so go figure.

I agree with your comments about the Retreat lounge. It was uncomfortable and lacked atmosphere. I missed the sit down bar. The snacks were nice but not inviting enough to make the trip up worth it during happy hour. We missed easy access to beers from the cooler that we had on S class. To us the Sun deck was way too sunny and sometimes too windy. We got a shady spot one day but there was nothing happening, no visible activity, we might as well have been in the AC in our cabin or on our veranda. There were no people to watch like at the Solarium pool. I know I am in the minority but we used the Solarium pool area instead of the sundeck on most days.

We especially like the Elite breakfast on spring TAs where we tend to oversleep. If you are not up for the buffet chaos and it is already late and closer to lunch the Tuscan is a good stop. It is open later than the MDR, Blu or Luminae sit down breakfasts. Sometimes on TAs where there are a lot of Elite and above, there will be a cold buffet set up instead of set plates off the menu. At any rate we enjoy the Coffee house experience on S class (even sometimes after a hot breakfast just for coffee) because of the beautiful ocean view and the chance to connect with other Elites and the Captains Club hostess.

We were recently in Aqua on the Solstice and we could not get near the heated loungers and the hot room was so hot it melted your skin off if you were there more than three minutes. We were disappointed. I would not pay extra. Many were upgraded to Aqua through the move up program with in the week before the cruise and Aqua was full so that made the Persian Garden overcrowded.

One final post from me about this cruise. I did feel something was off about the Captains Club events compared to my sailing in August on the Solstice. In August, I felt the Captains Club events, at least for Elite and above, were some of the best I had attended. I particularly felt the CC wine tasting was poorly managed with people being made to wait outside in line past the start time, checked off a list or turned away with the hope of being able to attend if space was available. To my knowledge no one not of the reservation list was able to attend but there were at least 30 set ups with the wine already poured where no one was ever seated. The speaker was standing in the wrong spot with people behind him that were not able to see him because of serving stations. There were many talking during the presentation. I feel like if the presenter had been front and center with eye contact this would not have happened. It was kind of chaotic and disappointing. I know that this event does not interest some but we like to meet people and usually learn something from the presenter. Why do they turn people, who did not see the reservation requirement away ,when there were seats and wine that would be wasted. I also though the senior officers party was not well run. The only opportunity to talk with an officer was at the entrance when doing the hand shaking thing. Getting into a conversation in a receiving line makes those waiting to get into the room wait even longer. I had thought some small speech would be made here with introductions, a program type thing, but nothing. There was a receiving line and drinks and minimal passed appetizers and that was it. It was almost not worth the time it took to go up to the Sky Lounge. It did not have a cocktail party feeling at all. These are just my opinions. I don't know where the planning failed but these two events in particular were not up to the same standards as in August where both were very well done and fun.

It was great reading your trip report. We just got home last night following a stopover in Las Vegas. I am glad you joined the slot pull and took pictures of the group. It was nice to meet you. I don't think I have a future as a slot pull host but it was definitely worth the effort to meet some of our CC roll call members in person. And as I think someone said at the time, I think we all had at least one dollars worth of fun. For those interested, we started with $15 and ended with $14 and the top three pullers were gifted free slot play, X hats and playing cards by the Casino host. I must have had my card in wrong because I did not earn a single point for my effort but it was still fun. LOL Phyllis

We did the early walk off with luggage around 7:00 because of an early (10:30) flight. We had some trouble with the app (wifi signal?) but we were able to get an Uber before 7:30 for $50 plus tip. We were at LAX quickly but the construction made the situation inside of the Airport challenging for the driver to get us to the AA terminal. The security lines were long (outside) to even get up the escalator. Fortunately we had TSA and were taken out of the line and up which was good luck. When we got off the ship there were no Taxis at all. There were a few shuttle hustlers trying to fill big SUVs for $30 per head. We don't like to be crowded in so we waited until an UBER took our offer. After reading what happened to others, I think we were lucky to get an UBER for any price. Others did seem to be being picked up by ride share as well but again it was early and those with luggage tags were still on board.