kearney

A year ago we sailed out of Tampa and met a group of delightful Germans. They were on a Back to Back cruise... the next week the ship was headed to Europe. They purchased inside cabins for a low rate... particularly given the length of the trip. They would sail from Florida to Europe in the spring and back again in the fall ... for less than the cost of airfare and they had a great cruise. The thought of a transatlantic crossing sounded appealing... and I found a great itinerary and great fare and was close to booking... but I just needed to get an idea on airfare to get an idea on total cost.... well as I recall when I first looked a ticket from ATL to Ft Lauderdale and back from Copenhagen... was around $3000... just checked again and it is $2600 per person... I just can't justify spending that much on airfare...oh and this is coach tool. I

Looks like Liberty is now underway heading to Miami. Ironically I see that two of Carnival's ships (Valor and Freedom) are still heading towards Galveston. I wonder if they are reconsidering this plan.

I was unaware of this new policy. We have sailed on about 15 RCCL cruises and were wondering if we should consider other lines. Does anyone else have a similar policy? Thanks

Seems to me this would encourage waiting until the 90 day period and if you do so, just go with the best deal at the time. Just pricing cruises to say Alaska... relatively last minute cruises seem a touch cheaper than ones next year... why book in advance... unless you desire particular cabin location.... am I missing something

Captains usually do a good job of keeping the ship out of a hurricane. I will say that the two times we were supposed to go to Grand Cayman there was a last minute change.... once it was because of a hurricane and the other was heavy winds. You tender to shore there so if the winds are strong, they likely will not go there. It has been a few years, I don't think they have a pier. Not sure if they will replace that stop with another... they did not do that for us... just a sea day.. I remember one cruise when we were being chased by hurricane Dennis.... we had to go around Cuba to head towards Miami.... when we woke up in the morning and checked the navigation channel on the TV, I swear we were going faster than the top speed the Captain had told us the ship could do. I speculated that they must have been throwing stuff off the ship to increase our speed. Well we successfully out ran the storm. And it made a good story. I have a tendency towards sea sickness... but had no problems on most of our stormy sailings..... We had a great time regardless of the weather... so much to do on the ship.

Loved the info in the blog, very helpful. We did Hubbard Glacier early in the season and at the time there was quite a few calving incidents... I suspect that calving activity depends upon the time of the year, and temperature. We lucked out when we went in May... we were told it was one of the only times the crew had been able to see the top of the mountains...

I asked on their facebook page, around March 6... they first said about a year before... that was obtuse so I told them I was planning on booking something... then they said that they would begin revealing itinerary by the end of this week so around March 10...

Also a frugal RC Diamond cruiser trying Celebrity for the first time. We will be on Equinox in Sept. I am wondering what the hours are for the cocktail reception. Also, what are the specialty restaurants and what are the extra costs for these. On boarding day do these offer special prices on night one, like on RC ships? We are so used to the routine on RC, are there any special entertainment areas we should be aware of? Thanks a lot

We have a routine when we sail. We like to dine at a specialty restaurant around sun set on the first night.... one with a view. alas Oasis class has only one specialty restaurant that has some sun set ambiance... and that is the Solarium Bistro. First night specialty restaurants tend to be quiet vs other nights, so it is a good night to have dinner and enjoy sun set. We enjoyed the dinner we had on Oasis, as I recall it was light and healthier than say a big steak, and it was very quiet, no wonder they are experimenting with fee structure. It is a bit far away from the bars and other dining options... so it may be forgotten as an option.

If you wait until you board you can try to get a deal for dinner on the first night. You might see if you can get it for half off.

Wow I had no idea. I guess I never checked the port cams this time of year. The town seems small for so many tourists... what is it like when there are this many ships in town?

I like to periodically look at port cams for various ports. Today I noticed 5 ships at St Maarten. I can't recall ever seeing so many ships at this port. Three of them are RCCL ships - Oassis, Anthem and Navigator. Is there a storm or construction at another port... eg did hurricane Matthew damage one of the other ports. Just curious. I haven't looked at the port cams in a few months. Thanks

I would agree with avoiding buffets... windjammer and the breakfast buffet in the main dining room.

Really you were compensated for Noro virus? We sailed on NCL a few years ago... first my husband got sick so I stayed with him... lost almost two days... then near end of cruise I got it... quarantined again. Missed most of the stops... I gained a new appreciation for a balcony cabin (at least you can look at something when stuck in the cabin) and a bathroom with a tub..( to place all the dirty towels and sheets -- we were really sick). We were actually charged for medication.... later they credited us for this... but no other compensation. Honestly I did not even consider asking for it... since you can get Noro virus anywhere. However, if you get it in a hotel... likely you aren't even there when it hits you.. so people dont associate it with hotel or restaurants.

I think it depends on the new cruisers interests. If they are active, like participating in sports... consider trying the flow rider, the zip line, the climbing wall... look into basket ball and check out the gym. (I am a old fart so these are not of interest to me). If they are into food... look into one of the specialty dinner packages and check out Vintages wine bar. If he is adventuresome... investigate the on shore excursions. If they just like to relax... well bring your allotted two bottles of wine on board and sit out on the balcony and look into the spa offerings...If they like entertainment... check out all the shows... but consider going to Quest and the Marriage Game which are always very entertaining. The comedy club fills up quick so get a reservation in early for the club, most other shows you can get in even without a reservation, you may need to wait a bit.

The nice thing about RCL cruises is that there is something for everyone. You might even check out an art auction... just for fun or get a tour of the ship.. There is an all access tour for about $150 that you could send him on... if you think he is interested in the bridge and engineering aspect of the ship... he might enjoy that. Oh and there is a trivia pursuit game that goes on at the Schooner bar if he is into that.... you might even win a key chain!!

Hope this helps

We did the inside passage a number of years ago in May. We hit unusually nice weather. the ship was the Radiance. I can't speak for NCL ships but the Radiance class is perfect in my view for an Alaskan cruise. you have great views of the outside from most if not all of the public areas... and when you are sailing the passage you dont want to miss a thing, so it is nice that even at the main elevator you can see out. We have been sailing the caribbean on the Oasis class ships and while I love the class there are limited views outside the ship. Radiance is one of my favorite ships.. have fun

Isn't the cruise a chance to get AWAY from the election?

 

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Exactly! I was telling DH we should plan a cruise during the election to get away from it. If I thought it was going to be broadly broadcasted across the bars in the ship... I would not want to go. Bad enough that they have CNN on the ship... but at least I can turn to another program :(

Sorry to hijack but this is our first time on a cruise (first ever vacation actually) so thank you for the detailed post.

 

Does this mean that if we want water or soda with a meal we will be charged for it? Even if the place we are eating is not a specialty restaurant? If so, I'm wondering if there is somewhere we can buy a case of water and some apple juice for our kids to leave in our room?

Yes soda at any restaurant is an added charge. Tap water at dinner is part of the service. I am hoping others will post an answer to your question about juice. You can not bring water on board... there is a package that includes bottled water, see the link below it goes through the alcohol and non alcohol packages. I think I have read something about getting small milk cartons from the windjammer to have in your room... but I am not sure about juice boxes.... Perhaps another cruiser can provide more info on this topic...

You can get orange juice, not fresh squeezed, at breakfast... in either the main dinning room and windjammer... fresh squeezed is extra. FYI at lunch time the windjammer have, iced tea and things like lemonade, kiwi drink of some sort.. Fruity... one of my few complaints is that these are watered down. But since I am in a perpetual state of attempted weight loss... that does not bother me all that much.

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

And as long you don't have any "man overboard" situations during your cruise where you circle for hours and hours and hours looking for the waiter or room attendant who leaped because he couldn't take it any more .. or the drunk college girl who leaped after the fight with her boyfriend .... then you should be fine!

You must have been on the October 2015 cruise where the guy decided to leave the ship early... I can't recall what time we arrived.... but I think it was closer to 7:30 or 8.

I don't like spending the day before the end of the cruise trying to figure out how I am going to make the flight. I was on one cruise were there was an issue with customs arriving ontime.

Has anyone tried "Old Heidelburg" which is on W State road 84.... west of the Crown Plaza hotel. It looked interesting.

I have another idea for your first night. Because of the design of the Oasis class, there are few views of the ocean from public areas such as restaurants. We ate one early evening at the Solarium Bistro. First of all there were few passengers there, so we had a lot of attention. Also you can see the ocean from there, so it was really nice to have dinner during sunset in a restaurant that was very empty. One of the cheaper specialty restaurants. I honestly dont recall the meal... just remember it being more health oriented. I just like the atmosphere and it was a nice way to start the cruise

I think that they may set up the sofa as a bed for the full time. If that is the case... it will be tight quarters for three adults... Can anyone verify that they keep the sofa open as a bed during the day?

We have been on deck 11 and 12. My husband had knee surgery and the diamond lounge is on deck 11, so this was convenient for him... especially since our cabins were located near the aft elevators.

When I first booked the cruise I did not realize that there was a price change as you went up to higher decks. So if price is a concern... perhaps two cabins on a lower deck. Could your son have an inside cabin? One idea would be to see if you could find one with a view of the prominade that would be better than an inside cabin.

The balcony is nice, but I just dont see it worth paying more for that. If a second cabin is out of the question, you might price out a junior suite. I know it is a lot more than a regular balcony cabin... but if they do keep the bed setup during the day it might offer more room to move around. I have not been in a junior suite... so someone may comment on this idea.

Hi,

 

I was on Allure's September 25th sailing (staying ahead of Hurricane Matthew!).

As mentioned earlier, lobster is available as part of the Fisherman's Plate, along with garlic shrimp and seasonal vegetables. This was on the second formal night (Day 6 for us) and from the "Jasmine" menu.

 

Lobster is also available broiled, grilled or steamed every night under "Celebrate Cravings" but for an additional charge of $29.95. So wait for the second formal night! :)

 

Shari

The lobster tails are part of the fishermans platter but the $30 lobster is a full lobster. When we ordered it the waiter gave us each three tails. Which was nice

You might also investigate this board dealing with disabled travel.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

I am not sure if this will work for you, but we drove to Ft Lauderdale the day before the cruise and stayed at Crown Plaza for about $112 with tax. They charged us $10 to park in their garage. The morning of the cruise we drove to Park N Go where we had reserved a parking spot for about $8/day. (cost goes up if you dont reserve in advance) They then took us to the ship. You might google them to see if they have a handicap van. The other idea would be to first drop off daughter and someone else along with luggage... go back to the Park N Go. They will take you to the port as part of their service. Upon return... you could have someone go with Park N go and luggage back to their location and then come back and pick your daughter and other person.

From Crown Plaza you can see the cruise ships and it is about 2 miles from park n go which is about a mile from the port. The Crown Plaza has a restaurant... kinda dark for my taste, but it met our needs.

Hope this helps... cost of parking at the terminal is about $15/day.

Will be going on our first cruise in January. How do we distinguish what's included (free) vs. what's additional cost in the various eateries? Do we assume if there's no price listed then it's free? I'm not that interested in paying anything more than what's included on this trip for food.

 

TIA!

The cruise compass uses $ to tell you what restaurants are extra. Depending upon the ship the names of specialty restaurants vary. Oasis class the extra cost restaurants are Giovanni's, Chops, 150 Central Park, Sabor, Samba Grill/Solarium Bistro, John Rockets for lunch (breakfast no charge), Izumi (ala cart), Vintages.. tapas ala carte, Sabor ala cart.

My time dining (MTD) and scheduled seating in main dinning rooms, Windjammer, Park Cafe, Solarium bistra at lunch are no charge. There are other places as well

Note if you feel like a prime steak or full lobster while in the main dinning room... that is an extra charge... but usually less than if you ate at one of the specialty restaurants.

Ice cream at the Icecream shop is extra... but there is usually a soft ice cream machine somewhere near the pool area. Iced tea, watered down lemonaide, regular coffee free at windjammer... but specialty coffees are extra. Soft drinks extra along with alcoholic beverages. I am a big iced tea drinker, so lack of free soda is not a big deal for me.

I would search online for copies of the cruise compass for the ship you are interested in and checkout the different restaurant options. You really don't need to go to the specialty restaurants unless you want a more private atmosphere... nice to celebrate a special date. The more you familiarize yourself in advance the less confused you will be when you get on board. I am rather anal and tend to put together a table of restaurants ... list of free vs extra cost... just so I can familiarize myself before I go. Have fun

Some thoughts on specialty restaurants and beverage package:

- Last cruise we purchased a 4 night specialty package on Allure for $90/pp. If I do this again.. I would purchase the smaller 3 night package... and schedule my first dinner on day 2.. then when I get on board I would look for one of the roaming waiters who are trying to sell dinners at the speciatly restaurants and see if I can get a good deal for night one. One couple we were with got Chops at $15/pp vs $39/pp. Another option is to just order a lobster one night for about a $20 upcharge. I like Giovanni the best. 150 Central park was more romantic, but I felt the Giovanni menus had more choices that I liked. Chops is a steak place so predictable. I felt that Chops was a bit louder than I would like and the meals were prepared so quickly I felt a bit rushed there.

- The have a variety of drink packages... which I find too much given how much I drink. I read somewhere that the breakeven point is about 4 drinks... I might average about 3/day. So I might as well buy as I go. We are Diamond members, so we get 3 drinks/day as a benefit. Note tea, regular coffee (non Starbucks or specialty coffees), iced tea and watered down lemonade and fruity drinks are available all say.. Orange juice available at breakfast, up charge for fresh juice.

- There are several beverage packages you might want to research the differences in offerings and pricing