kearney

You have to wait until you board to findout which restaurant for the first meal... then you book the other meal(s). We tried a 4 might specialty package on Allure. As soon as we boarded I went to one of the restaurant people... set up in the promenade and booked the rest of my dinners. I had no problems making arrangements when I wanted. I have to say I had my doubts when I signed up... but it worked out well

I have a suggestion for those who are interested in dinner package. Sign up for say 3 dinners... vs 4 or even 5. Make your initial plans for dinner night two. Then when you get on board you might score night one for $30/two at Chops... for night one. We saw one couple get that deal.

Another thought. I found Chops to be a bit more crowded and rushed that I normally see in dinning room. Next trip, instead of paying more for specialty I am going to try ordering lobster or prime steak for extra in the main dinning room. Now 150 central park was very nice and Giovanni was a bit less rushed than Chops. Anyway it is a thought.

Why wouldn't it be returned?

 

It not really confiscated, they direct you to a table. A crew member will inventory and you get it the night before debarkation.

 

If you try to bring alcohol on board when you checkin at the beginning of the cruise, it may be confiscated. I've never heard of that happening in a port.

At the beginning of the cruise you may bring on two 750ml bottles of wine for use on the cruise. At the ports they are usually there to take the liquor and hold it for you.

You know I want to pass on something that I read on CC that I actually did and it helped. The last night I took a photo of each bag as we placed them out side of our cabin. Later when we were looking for bags one was missing and I was able to show the porter the photo. A few minutes later the porter walked up with the bag... the tag had been torn off. So this might also be a good idea on the front end of the trip as well. :)

I had a similar problem last cruise. If TA doesn't have an answer, wait a few days and try again. If I recall they were to be available about 45 days prior to the cruise. When I had a problem they were about a day late or so... but eventually I was able to print them out.

By the way, I purchased plastic cruise luggage tags online. They help prevent the tags from being torn off. Just thought I would mention that.

We stayed at the Crown Plaza. Very close to the port and you could actually see the Oasis class ships from the hotel. We paid $102/night over labor day weekend. Parking there was $10/night. We reserved a parking spot at Park N Go, about 1.5 miles away. If you go online and reserve parking there it costs less than $8/day. I think the earlier you make your reservation the cheaper it is... if I recall it goes up to $12/day closer to cruise time. They valet park your car, so if you have an issue with that you might try something else. I generally note mileage and do a walk around when I pick up the car. They will take you and your luggage right up to the porters and will pick you up on your return.

I did not care for the restaurant in the hotel, but we passed an interesting looking Bavarian restaurant about 1.5 miles west of the hotel... on the same street, called Old Heidelberg. Try googling it. Next time I want to try that. In the morning, near the restaurant is a Duncan Donut and a Wendy's (I think it was Wendy's...picked up something quick for breakfast before heading over).

We dropped the car off a bit after 10am and were through the check in process quickly and onboard shortly after they opened the ship for passengers. Really smooth.

I know you want to stir debate. I am not sure what to do about smoking, but on my last cruise there was someone smoking on a balcony someplace near our cabin. Now I appreciated the need to smoke, but frankly it was really annoying for non smokers. I think that since we are no longer exposed to smoke, even small amounts are now noticeable in a way that was not the case 20 years ago. I have no solution for this but suspect that it will be difficult to reverse.

If you haven't cruised in a while, another change is that you do not bring life vests with you. In fact, they are now kept someplace near muster station. So if you are planning a get together, at least you don't have to first bring your vest back to the cabin. :)

My husband and I were on Oasis in Oct 2015, we went to CATS. I wanted to like/love the show but we left early. I tried to understand why we did not like such an award winning show. The cast was fabulous, the costumes amazing, the set wonderful... Perhaps it was because we sat in the last row, so you could not appreciate the finer details of the performances... or perhaps it was the relatively downer plot ... or perhaps except for one or two songs the music was not particularly memorable (pun not intended). Or perhaps it was the length of the show... I really don't know,but we left early.

I think on a cruise ship you need more up beat and perhaps shorter shows. That is just my opinion. I was so disappointed that I did not love the show and felt really bad for the cast who were obviously talented. The reputation is now widespread, so I would not think it will actually be 'sold out' when you get there. But I do suggest sitting close so you can get into better than we did, sitting in the back row.

We have had a promenade view on Freedom class and found that nicer than a regular inside cabin. That would be less expensive than a central park or boardwalk view. It will be on a lower deck and more in the middle of the ship. Not a bad location if there is a lot of rocking of the ship... not usually a problem. This would be a nice compromise. They would have at least some view. The Promenade has the parade and other fun stuff going on to watch.

If you did want to spend more, the boardwalk view would also be good people watching... and depending upon location you do have a bit of a sea view. I have noticed that as cabins get closer to the end the prices seem to go up... better view of the aqua show and ocean.

Thanks everyone for the info. I never realized that ocean view balcony had different pricing based on deck. When I used the older version of the website I just did not notice price difference. Now I know better. I like to be near the aft elevator, since my husband has walking issues.... so frankly any deck would do. So now I know I can save in the future.

I wonder if this has something to do with the lifeboat accident on Harmony. could they be reviewing the lifeboat equipment on various ships... I believe Norwegian had something similar happen in Bermuda just a month or so earlier. It will be interesting to see if all ships go through something like this

The design of their site is fairly new. It looks like they are pricing it by location but the prices are actually just like they used to be, by stateroom category. If the same category that you have goes down in price before final payment you should still be able to get prices drops unless it is a sale for "new bookings only" which they seem to have a lot these days.

Okay cabin class does make sense. But I swear that when I booked in the past an ocean view balcony was the same price regardless of location... when I looked on the website. I can't believe I overlooked that... being as cheap as I am :)

I missed your update. Glad it worked out for you. My husband's case was such that I had to purchase cheap shirts and cut them to be able to dress him while keeping the shoulder in the sling. Later, when we went back to the doctor I ran into someone who also had surgery and they did not have to be as strict about keeping it in the sling.

His shoulder is now great... wished his knee was doing better.

Okay I am having rotator cuff repair on 9/6 and will be out of work for a little bit. Follow up appointment is 9/21. So I decided what is a better way to recoup with a little get away.

Just booked a cruise for 5 days on the Majesty of the Sea.. think this will make me feel better and the price was really nice too..

When are you planning to go.... I would allow two months before you go.

My husband tore his rotator cuff and had his shoulder immobilized for two months. He had to sleep in a recliner... could not move his shoulder at all... could not shower... I used baby wipes to clean under his arm. Now he had a bad tear... so I would check with your doctor.

FYI back in summer of '14 my husband fell over something in the back yard tore his quad muscle. We did not realize how bad it was.... he fell again a month later and tore his rotator cuff. He had surgery 1 on his quad muscle in Jan '15.... in April we took a 5 day cruise out of Tampa knowing that in May he was having his shoulder done..... well doctor said he needed to do more work on the knee... so in December '15 we planned on his third surgery of the year... and so in October we took a cruise on Oasis, knowing that we was going to be laid up. Infact he was in a cast up to his ass for two months... and we scheduled our next cruise for Sept 16... He is still recovering

I can not stress enough that if you know the tear is bad... allow at least 2 months before your cruise... or take plenty of friends along to help. It is possible that you will not need to be as immoble as he had to be... as I recall he had two or three tears.

I hope all goes well for you with surgery and your planned cruise

Okay, I need help understanding something. Just signed up for another cruise while on Allure. We have sailed 15-16 times on RCCL and have never done this before. I am under the impression that if there is a price drop they will match, if before 90day full payment period. Okay fine.

I usually book over the phone after doing a number of mock bookings using the website.

Something seems to have changed. Sometime in the last two months the pricing on the website has changed. It used to be that you would select, say balcony... then select say deluxe ocean view and you would see a series of cabins on various decks.. all with the same pricing. So if you had signed up with next cruise... it was easy to see if their had been a price drop.

Now when you hit ocean view balcony, the next screen gives you a choice of bow, aft or midship... and the pricing can vary by section. Once you select the section of the ship you want... the next screen shows different decks and again different pricing.

Flash forward say two months... lets say they have a great sale. I go back into the website but all ocean view balcony's on the aft of the ship on say deck 11 are gone but their are plenty say on deck 9. Will they match the price or will they allow me to change cabins..? not sure how this works.

I worked in marketing for 40 years.. from that perspective I think what they have done is positively brilliant and should improve profitability by charging more for popular locations. But from a customer perspective they seem have removed a benefit of next cruise program. If there is no real way for me to get a price break I might as well hold off, book later and take a chance on precise cabin location. Am I missing something here? As I have said I have not used next cruise before. I usually book less than 2 months prior to the cruise so I pay full price then. I pick a cruise based on getting a good price, ship and destination. This time I paid a few hundred more than I usually do anticipating that I would likely get that back if I just paid attention to the sales. The extra $ is really not that big a deal, I just spend less on the ship.... Just wondering 1) is the change I noticed new or did I somehow miss the pricing differences by deck and part of the ship and 2) if it is new any ideas on how the price matching will work going forward for those who signed up on board.... sorry for the long message hope I am clear

I don't think you can go wrong with either choice. I love the Oasis class ship, but I prefer the eastern caribbean vs western.... 8 days is nice too. The Oasis is such a unique design, really worth experiencing. But it gives you something to consider in the future... by then there will be even more features.

I think your kids would like both ships, there is so much to do. RCCL real has focused on families... again you can't go wrong.

Once you choose, don't look back and think 'did I make the right choice'. You will enjoy it.

More views of Ocean from public areas.... e.g. bars, restaurants etc. Oasis class is so internally focused you need an ocean view cabin if you want to see the Ocean. I would also like a real promenade deck like smaller class ships and if they can't add more ocean views... add a Viking lounge with panoramic views. I love the Oasis class but without more views from public areas, the design is only practical for Caribbean where there is nothing really to see... Less desireable for Med.

The 30% off would be a good deal if the base price had not gone up. I keep track of a few cruises I am interested in. The base price on some cruises jumped quite a bit while others only went up slightly. You need to establish the price you are willing to pay and the look for a deal that lines up.

That's the bad thing about e-mail, it costs nothing to send. If no one books via a direct e-mail link there is no incentive not to send it again.

 

Back in the day of mass mailings there would be research, what was the percentage of people who replied vs the number sent out. Then do a color change, font change, wording change and look at the percentage again. Once the "perfect" design was found then mail would go to everyone. 1,000's of people would be employed by it directly, 100's indirectly.

 

Now, a cron job is ran on some computer somewhere and when the date ticks over millions of emails go out. It costs Royal fractions of a computer cycle, who cares if anyone replies or if it generates any income.

Hit unsubscribe, in theory this should remove you from these emails. Also check your profile on C&A.

I was temped to book reservations as well but was concerned about trying to reconcile spending later and there is not guarantee when you get on board... if you cancel the reservation it could go to someone else assuming people are on some kind of a wait list. If there is not wait list, there is no need to book in advance. anyway that was my thinking.

Okay, I finally found a shot with the shadow revealing a stick, now I understand :)

Love the photos. I can see you in the shots, how does this camera work? I thought it was a small drone, but when I googled it ... it looks like a remote. so I am confused... but fascinated.

Did you, by any chance, sign up for one of the dinner packages (3-4-5)? I want to know how you handled making reservations when you got on board... did you run into time problems regarding reservations?

I have started packing a small battery votive candle to use as a night light. I like packing in advance, but one problem is that I end up over packing :)

Keep in mind if you are in a suite, RCCL gets the premium for that suite, not sure staff sees much of that. If you can afford a suite, you can afford to tip as appropriate for services that deserve tipping. Also if you don't get that level of service no tip.