happy cruiser1234

I also I have different pricing on my select pricing for my April Brilliance cruise vs my January 2017 anthem cruise. For some reason the anthem pricing is cheaper

Strange. Maybe they are offering a bit of a discount if you choose to buy early. Or perhaps the prices will come down. Which would be nice :)

There's a discrepancy in the drink package price from my March cruise this year and my March cruise on Harmony 2017.

Ultimate Drink Package (Allure March 2016) is $97.47 CAD per day

Ultimate Drink Package (Harmony March 2017) $93.80 CAD per day

Not sure why the price would be cheaper on the Harmony. Just thought it was odd that there is two different prices.

We are taking our kids and grandkids on a cruise this summer. When we booked the cabins, total of six, we had to book an adult in each cabin. Were you able to book the kids in a cabin by themselves?

 

Thank you!

Yes, as Bob and others have replied, Royal will allow you to have the kids in a separate cabin as long as they are directly across the hall or beside your cabin. I did give it some thought as to booking one adult in each cabin so that we could bring 4 bottles of wine instead of 2. However I don't want to take the chance that Royal would move one of our cabins and we wouldn't be together.

I mean; I've gotten loungers on my regular balcony before by asking the room steward so surely....? And if there are a group of us wouldn't it benefit the wait staff to visit us? Here's to hoping! It is a leap of faith but we've got 4 cabanas so we will have our own party regardless.

4 Cabana's!:) Now that will be a fun time! Sounds like you will have an amazing week!...My sister and her hubby booked an Aft. Balcony beside us. We're hoping the dividers open up so that we can have one big balcony.

We spoke to two separate Customer Service Reps at Carnival and both confirmed that they would have loungers on the Havana Extended Aft balcony's, so surely they would have them in the Cabana's also.

BTW, love your quote! Words to live by!

I know this is none of my business so please forgive me for being curious.....

 

You're two decks away from your teenage girls with them being booked actually IN the Havana area?

Actually there are two Havana Inside Cabins on deck 7. (7457 & 7448)....The kids are there and we are around the corner in the AFT cabin. Just a few steps away. I feel the same way as you about the kids being so far away from us. Even though they are going to be 15 & 18 at the time of sailing, I still wouldn't want them to be too far from us.

Thank you for the reply Zephyrfox and Rosethorn. I guess we will have to wait and see! I know we will have a great time regardless of the outcome. The ship looks amazing! I'm so excited about the Southern Caribbean itinerary! :)

Hello,

We just booked an Havana Ext Aft cabin on Vista for March 2018. Also booked a Havana inside cabin for our teenage girls. Now, the more i think about this location i'm worried that it will be noisy and not very private. We booked centre Aft. on deck 7.

After 5pm when they open the Havana area to everyone, do you think it will get loud and crowded? Does Carnival close the pool at a certain hour? Or is it open all night?

We Love having a nice quiet balcony where we can stare out at the ocean but i'm thinking that perhaps the Havana Cabana cabin would be a bit quieter? :confused: The thing that concerns me with the Cabana Cabins is that we would have to keep our curtains closed most of the time while inside the cabin, because people walking by would be able to see in.

Which would you choose?

We are trying to decide on which cruise to book this summer. My husband, 2 daughters (ages 15 and 19) and I have been on several Carnival cruises and we all agree we love Carnival Dream and Breeze. I would love to try something different this year since it is our 25th anniversary. I have found 2 cruises that are available the same week. One is the Carnival Magic and the other is the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas. We all love Sea days so the ports are less of a deciding factor, although both cruises have some ports that are new to us so that's great. My husband loves the hot tubs and I think he would really like the Allure because it looks like it has a lot nicer hot tubs. The girls really like the atmosphere of the pool deck on Carnival, especially at night. They love to dance and although I don't get out there with them I love watching them have fun. I have tried looking up you tube videos of the Allure to show them what it is like. But they are still not convinced. My husband noticed that the Allure seems to feel less like you are on the ocean and more like a city. And the girls have noticed that there seems to be less teenagers and more older people and less of a party atmosphere. I'm sure that the age of cruisers depends on the time of year. We usually only go to 1 or 2 shows during the week and we usually eat in the main dining room at night and try to avoid the specialty restaurants due to the added cost. I think the girls might try flow rider, zip line and rock climbing once but mostly we all just like to lay by the pool and relax. We all like the look of the Solarium but my youngest is a few months from being 16 (even though she looks older than her 19 year old sister) so I don't know if she will be able to spend time with us in there. Any advised from those of you who have cruised on both lines would be appreciated. :)

Allure is amazing! You will not be disappointed. The shows are fantastic. We took our kids who are not yet 16 into the solarium with us last year. They look 16-18 years old and they act very mature. I would say as long as they are quiet and mature no one would care.

Thanks Serena.:). Will have to keep that one in mind.

 

Another card that we haved save a lot with is the Mariott rewards visa. A 30,000 point sign up bonus (we used for 3 hotel nights) and an annual certificate for a free night at a Category 1-4 hotel. The $129 CDN annual fee is waived for the first year. The first year we used it for about $800 US worth of hotels and now we are paying $129 CDN annually and get a hotel valued at $200 - $250 US per year. Just signed DW up for this.

That one sounds great too! We usually stay at Marriott Hotels so that would be a good one for us too!

For Canadians trying to save money on airfare have you looked into getting the Westjet MasterCard? It offers a $250 Westjet welcome bonus, and a $99 return companion flight annually. It also gives you 1.5% back in Westjet dollars for every dollar you spend on the card. My DH and I both have our own card so we each get a companion flight which works out great for our family of 4. The card does come with a 99/year fee but the benefits far out way the cost.

Are you positive it was a passport that was required, or was it some form of government picture ID like a driver's licence?

We've been to the Bahamas many times on cruise port stops and never had to have our PP with us when onshore. Likely the staff mentioned you must have some form of government issued ID like a PP

It's possible they were just needing any type of government ID, however our kids 12 and 14 only have a passport as a form of ID.

I've read that when we get on and off ship in ports we need to take sea pass and photo ID. Do we need to take passports off ship with us when taking excursions? I really didn't want to take them off the ship. What other types of photo ID have people used? Thx

We usually leave our passports on the ship, however last year in Nassau the crew was telling everyone to bring their passports with them as we were leaving the ship. We went back to the cabin to get them, and good thing we did, because we definitely needed them to get back on the ship. Some people didn't have them and they were sent to talk to a customs officer. I believe the passengers did get on but it wasn't without a hassle.

I thought I would report back with regards to our experience.

There were 12 in our group, first 2 (my husband and me) then 2 more cancelled for medical reasons.

I had to cancel the onboard credits on the one cabin as they would not let me transfer it to my kids. (Adult kids) who were still going.

My daughter lost her passport, she left it on the plane. We tried everything to find it, but Delta found it the next day and it was not in the port city, so RCL would not let her on the ship. Canadians have to have their passport. We tried sending her the copy we had, a copy of her NEXUS card, birth certificate. She flew back home.

Her onboard credit was still on her room linked to her name.

My brother in law convinced the guest services to give him the cash on the last night of the cruise.

My son, the only one left from our family had a great time with his cousins.

Your story brings a tear to my eye. I can only imagine how your daughter must have felt. I'm sure everyone else in the family must have felt terrible also. So sorry this happened to you. Was she able to fly home without her passport, or did she have to wait until Delta returned it to Fort Lauderdale?

Not to worry, the OBC will end up on your account as you accepted responsibility for their charges.:)

Thanks ken!:)

Hello,

Our two daughters ages 12 & 15 will be in their own cabin and they each have $100 non refundable OBC from royal. We have already prepaid gratuities and purchased the Replenish package online.

Will their OBC go to my account since I am the one responsible for it? Or would I need to make purchases with their seapass card to use the non refundable OBC?

Thanks

Hi Serena, sorry I never posted on that roll call. I totally forgot that you were booked on it. We found out a couple days before we left for our Christmas cruise about the possible change.

 

That deal on the Freedom sailing was nice and I'll be sorry to lose it as well if that's what happens.

The kids are trying to convince me that they can miss that week of school. LOL...My youngest will be in grade 8 so I wouldn't have a problem with that. But the oldest will be in Grade 11, she could miss a lot at that time of year. Hopefully the school board will have their final decision soon. Please let me know if you decide to cancel that cruise, because if we keep it i would Love to have your cabin!:)

Hi Russ, Thanks for the heads up on the change of dates for christmas break. I really hope they don't change it now. We are booked on the same cruise that Ken is and we got an amazing deal. I would hate to give it up now. :(

Serena

This is really sad. I love Royal Caribbean but having a comfortable bed on vacation, to me, is THE most important thing in my cabin. I can deal with the small space, I can even deal with noisy neighbours, but a rock hard mattress! Come on Royal Caribbean, I hope your listening. This needs to be fixed!

We have sailed over March Break the last two years on Allure, and I'm pretty sure the ship was sold out. We didn't find it too crowded at all. Just make sure you have all your reservations for the shows pre booked, we had early dining so we never encountered a wait for dinner. 90% of the time we just walked up to a bar and got service right away. Just try to avoid the elevators when getting out after a show, maybe walk up one or two decks.

I think the reason the two night sailing felt so busy was because most people wanted to do and see everything in the little time they had. Probably a lot less lounging on that sailing.

Enjoy your cruise! You'll have a great time!

Keep seeing reports of people drinking way to much, falling overboard, violence with a younger cruise group and wonder if social media has Royal as the cruise line of choice for party down. I do know rccl pushes the booze hard when aboard.

With all due respect, have you ever been on a RCCL cruise? Because they are no way classified as a "party down" ship. I have never seen them "push the booze hard". When you say you "know" they do, how do you know this?

Not to my knowledge - and I didn't include it because it's not The Wizard of Oz that would be familiar to a mass audience. The 1902 production was done by L. Frank Baum and a composer friend of his and would be wholly unfamiliar to most. Among the differences:

 

• The Wicked Witch of the West doesn't appear
  
• None of the songs that you're familiar with appear (they're all from the MGM film version so there goes the clue about familiar songs you could sing along to, unless you're familiar with the Scarecrow's major song, "The Traveler and the Pie")
  
• Multiple characters that aren't familiar (Sir Dashemoff Daily, Pastoria, Tryxie Trifle, etc)
  
• The Cowardly Lion doesn't talk, but only does pantomime
  
• Toto is a cow named Imogene
  

I think it's a far stretch to think it's Wizard of Oz when the version that was on Broadway in 1902 is just not the version people are familiar with.

Wow! You've really done your homework, or your really really old!:D.....All kidding aside I think your right it's a far stretch to think it's the Wizard of Oz. All of the clues seem to be pointing toward Grease. That will be more fun anyway!

I agree Grease would be good. Wicked would be wicked! I'm sure whichever show they do it will be upbeat and awesome!

A quick search on google says that the Wizard of Oz was on Broadway in 1902.

Two other clues Nick Weir have given which lead me to believe it might be The Wizard of Oz is the heart emoji. Tin Man wants a heart. Also he said the show should be gr8. Could that mean the "great oz" himself?

The suspense is killing me too! I wish they would just release it already!

Is it possible that it could be the Wizard of Oz? I believe Dorothy's slippers have bows, the storm could signify the lighting bolt. The reference to witches and music everyone knows. Just a guess

On his site, he mentions seeing Bluebeard's castle, Blackbeard's castle, etc. along the way to Mountain Top. Does he actually stop at these places so pictures can be taken? Was the botanical garden worth seeing? The Tripadvisor pictures look like it's not particularly big - I've been to the ones in Bermuda and Niagara Falls, and they were huge.

 

I'm struggling to find anything on Crown mountain, so I'm still learning toward Godfrey. It's hard to decide though!

Yes, he does stop at a look out point so you can see Blackbeard's castle and tells you all about it. But we didn't actually go there. Botanical Garden was beautiful and I thought it was plenty large enough. Totally worth seeing.

My only complaint with this tour was that it was very rushed. But that was probably due to the fact that our ship was 1 hour late getting into St. Thomas. I felt we didn't have enough time at Mountain Top or Botanical garden. And one of the most annoying things was when Godfrey would tell you to meet back at the bus at a certain time, and then another group doesn't come back on time and you are sitting waiting for them. Of course that's not Godfrey's fault.

Godfrey's tour was fantastic and I would not hesitate to book it again.