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I cant see any pictures.

That's a great souvenir to have scored. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he's on my sailing.

That illustration is cool. What size is it? I'd definitely frame it.

Wow no heart decorations or chocolate indulgences. Ok It's not big deal I just thought being a theme cruise this would be another opportunity to go overboard no pun intended. Thanks for your feedback.

It just dawned on me that we will be on board the Wonder on Valentine's day 2016 (12-17). Are there any special activities related to the holiday? I'm sure there will be some decorations.

Thank you both!

This isn't specific to a cruise but rather a post. Over the weekend I thought I saw a post asking about doing a combo cruise and land. Someone mentioned if you book sea/land you get a park pass. I may have read it incorrectly as I was skipping comments. Does anyone know where that thread is? I've tried searching and looking at my highlighted posts to no avail.

Many thanks.

Thanks! I was planning on trying Palo based on reviews and because we have OBC to use but we could skip it. When you say the Wonder has the oldest Animator's Palate show is that a nice way of saying it's not that great or should we consider ourselves fortunate to be able to experience it before it's gone? :D

I've cruised four times before but this will be my first DC. I opted for a cruise because it's the only way I can deal with the Disney product. Weighing options Disney World vs Cruise; cruise wins! Looking at YouTube videos has me excited to experience their product. I'm booked on the Wonder next Feb for 5 nights on the western itinerary. There will be two adults and two children, just shy of 11 (2 weeks later) and 6. My confusion comes in regarding Animatoor's Palate. Reading blogs they say it shouldn't be missed and to switch nights if there is a conflict. Conflict with what? Can someone enlighten me as to the correct rotation? I'm assuming I'll find out in the cruise docs what our rotation will be closer to embarkation. Any other tips or suggestions are welcomed. Many thanks!

Don't get me wrong we still had fun. Actually by night 5 we were tired. Very port intensive. I also agree with the contributor that said different times of year will determine the demographic. I was on Summit previously in February and it was livlier and perhaps more passengers. I just felt different. The Martini bar was always hopping. The comedian on the adults only show was good and the magician was also great. I've tried Freedom of the Seas on RC and that was quite memorable.

I also forgot to add that check in was a breeze. We arrived at the port a little after three. There wasn't a line to be seen. We breezed through security, got our seapass cards and were on board in probably 15. That was a seamless process.

Nice review thanks! Just 2 comments. How would you feel if you were a cook and someone ordered 2 omelettes and then they said ooopppsss sorry we only wanted one. Food may be free on a cruise but come on lets be reasonable. As far as the demographic goes, I think Royal Caribbean would be perfect for you.

I don't think he should have visibly shown his displeasure. English weren't the couples first language and they said one after initially ordering two but he didn't hear them when they changed. I actually spoke up because I knew the cook thought he should make two. I took the second once after adding more ingredients to it so it didn't go to waste.

I was on the same sailing as you. I thought the show was great and very innovative.

I just got off Summit, and I saw no karaoke anywhere nor did I see listed as an activity.

That's interesting because I just got off the Summit on Saturday and performed at Karaoke one night. I recall seeing it listed in the dailies twice.

Background- Party of 6. Ages range from 36-43. My fourth cruise. 2010 Carnival, 2012 X, 2013 RC and this one. This was my second on Summit, same itinerary. Booked an Oceanview cabin and had classic drink package. I'm not particular about cabins because I use them to sleep in and get dressed. Would it be nice to have more floor space for getting ready? Of course but not enough to justify spending $$ for it. Oceanview suffices. Flew in a day before; stayed at La Concha.

Ship experience-appears to be fairly well maintained but showing its age. Didn't search for flaws so not sure if there are major areas of work needed. Service was noticeably slow at breakfast in Oceanview. We always had to wait and or hunt someone down to get us beverages. Our waiter would see us and not come over. On two occasions I witnessed staff being slightly rude. One; our sommelier at dinner, the other was the guy on the omelet station at the back of the ship. That was directed at a different couple. Again my party was a group of 6. Sometimes you're not sure if you want s cocktail or wine. On Monday the sommelier asks if we want drinks. A few order and he says "does anyone else want a drink? I don't want to keep walking back and forth to the bar". I get it, that's not efficient in the grand scheme of things but it's part of the business you're in. It was just a bit off putting to hear him say what inconveniences him. One morning a couple ordered TWO omelets with everything. Somewhere between getting the first omelet going they decide they only want one but the cook didn't realize that changed and began putting toppings in the second. After it was explained they didn't want the second one he was visibly annoyed by huffing and some frustrated body language. Bar and pool service for drinks was good.

Ports-Of the 5 ports we booked 3 of the excursions ahead of time independent of X and were leaving two open for others in the group to chime in. I didn't want the others in the party to feel like the two of us that are "the planners" were taking over. Barbados we freestyled it and hired a guy at the port. Mistake. He was lousy. I don't care where Tiger Woods got married, Rhianna lived or where Simon Cowell has a house. We did feed the monkeys. That was nice to do when your entire life you're told not to. :-) the island itself isn't memorable.

St. Lucia never fails. Booked Cosol. Requested Yellow Bird and he was as great as he was two years ago. It was a full day. Everyone in the group enjoyed the experience.

Antigua was a nice day. This tour was pre arranged and not as nice as the last time. We had him alter it and just take us to the beach. We couldn't sit in that van any longer. One of the better moments was visiting with a friend I've spoken with but haven't seen in several years due to relocations and traveling. She's the director of tourism for the Antigua and her sister island Barbuda. Turns out she knows my tour guide's mother who owns a shop in the vicinity of the stores near the ship. Small world.

St. Maarten was a nice day. Went to the perfume shop Tijon. I'm not into perfume but others in my group had a great experience so it was time well spent.

St. Thomas. This was a freestyle day; nothing arranged. Some rude folks on that island. They seriously need to improve how they do things at the taxi depot. Went to Coki beach. I had been before and there was some confusion going on and I was over talking with anyone so I went again. Great beach but St . Thomas is off my list of places to return.

Food/Bev-Breakfast is always in Oceanview. For breakfast I have an omelet with a side of meat or either bagel with salmon and some sort of fruit with water. Those are always standard and good. Dinner is always in the MDR and overall the food is good. I notice the food is NEVER hot which needs to be improved. When it comes to buffets my expectations start out low. There are many offerings but there will always be a compromise in quality of some sort so I go in not expecting to be wow'd. If you have the classic package the drinks available to you at the martini bar are a regular martini, apple and cosmopolitan. For the most part I drank margaritas or martinis. The cookies were really good. How can I forget those! Highlights in the MDR were the short ribs, french onion soup, and the chocolate lava cake.

Entertainment-Justin the activities manager and Ken the cruise director were a good time. The house band wasn't that impressive. One night they were playing in Rendezvous to a packed house of 6. I wanted to die for them. I know your performance should be the same for 6 as it would be for 600 but I kept thinking how I would have threw the mic down and left. I'm not a showman. Haha when they were done 1/3 of the crowd clapped. I witnessed this because I showed up early for karaoke under the impression I needed to rush to get a seat. Wrong. Karaoke had a turn out of 25. I performed not once but three times as there was no one rushing to sign up. Shout out to Fiona's Dad, Meridith and the little boy that did the Thriller dance while I sang. Again not much enthusiasm or clapping. Maybe I was awful or older people have a thing against clapping. Tough crowd. They incorporated some of the games that RC does which is nice but again they rely on crowd participation so if your audience is more reserved it makes it tough. I have a renewed appreciation for the activities staff. It would be nice if they did the "week in review" type of thing on the last night. I experienced that on RC and it was a great way to sum up the week and have a great time. They changed the shows to 7 and 9. 9 I'm at dinner and 7 I'm usually waking up from a post excursion nap and getting ready for dinner so we skipped most theater shows. I did see the iMagic show, that was pretty cool.

Overall thoughts-We had a great trip. Food was good, entertainment was decent. We had some fun times. I came to the conclusion that I'm better suited for Royal based on the demographic. There appeared to be a mix of people on the ship but it leans toward an older more reserved crowd which I knew going in. I was told by an employee that they are trying to change that. I'll save the details of the convo because it was a little tongue in cheek and I don't want to offend anyone because the banter won't convey in print. Perhaps I'll return in 20 years if they aren't successful at blending the crowd.

I just got off the Summit (Nov 29 - Dec 6) and Richard was not the CD on my sailing? Wish he was from what you guys are saying. The CD we had was Ken Mills. I will not make any comment on my thoughts here ...:D

 

Looking at this maybe we just missed him on our sailing :(

 

https://twitter.com/richardspacey/status/538799359786500096

That news took the wind out of my sails. *a little pun intended*

I thought the CD was Richard Spacey. Ugh! What happened?

Im so excited. He was my CD September 2013 on RCI FOS. He was awesome. Looking forward to him on the Summit on our sailing on the 13.

If you have the Classic package and order something more expensive, then yes, you are billed for the entire amount + gratuity.

 

If you have the Premium package, then anything above and beyond the dollar limit, you pay the difference + gratuity.

Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification.

Some wise cc members advised to sign in to your reservation on X's website and then click on the history link/tab and there is where you will see the drink package. Sure enough when I followed those instructions I saw it. I am not certain that the history tab was always on my reservation or if it appears after so many days near departure date. It doesn't hurt to check.

Been there twice on Summit. Nothing to write home about but definitely digestible. Atmosphere very similar to a diner. Service was average. It was a nice place to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of the buffet. Paying the $7.00 p/p was a bit high, but I would go back since, I really can't say it was bad, just average.

You're from NY, when is $7 "a bit high" for lunch? Just curious...

LOL -- I find the whole drink package to be a paradox! ;)

 

We have always passed on purchasing the Basic package. We've never (on any ship) had a bar bill high enough to justify that cost. Frankly, we don't drink much, and have access to the Elite lounge, morning and evening. If I want a cappuccino, I usually get it there. However, our last cruise was booked through the 123GO promo, so we got the drink package. After a little research, we decided to upgrade to the premium package -- and that cash outlay turned out to be worth every penny! :cool:

 

Instead of being limited to a couple of cheap wines by the glass in the MDR, we had a nice selection. If we chose something over the package limit, we were just billed for the difference in price. :p

Really? It was my understanding per these boards that X doesn't bill the difference but the entire amount of the beverage plus the gratuity. When did this change or am I mistaken?

There has been a lot of talk about Celebrity drinks packages.

 

I guess this is because a lot of people have taken the option of a free Classic drinks package under the 123 Go promotions. The 123 Go promotion has been running on and off for a long time now.

 

I assume that a large proportion of adult passengers boarding recently have at least the Classic drinks package.

 

I would be interested whether anyone agrees or disagrees with my perception of this promotion:

 

[*]Firstly, this promotion seems to coincide with higher per person cruise prices.

 

Which type of staterooms are you referring to or is this across the board? I booked an oceanview cabin on the Summit sailing in 2 weeks and the per person price was $549 with the classic package and also gratuities paid for us. I booked this 8 months ago. I'm inclined to disagree.

Which port did the orgy happen in?

So, I don't know how else to do this, here is a link to the pictures in full format. It works for me, so hopefully it is better. If you download to your computer you can zoom, etc. Still not great pictures. Sorry.

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/110159638672802058365/StCroixWeekFull?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL7xzPTfg-edXA&feat=directlink

Thanks that is better!

I clicked on a few and they were blurry. Maybe my resolution is messed up.