buddylover
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Posts posted by buddylover
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21 hours ago, Host Clarea said:
Kindle paperwhite works great in the sun. Not very useful for web browsing, but perfect for reading a book.
Thanks for the tip - but I 'upgraded' to a tablet.....now out of luck in the sunlight!! Boo hoo!!
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21 hours ago, Host Clarea said:
Kindle paperwhite works great in the sun. Not very useful for web browsing, but perfect for reading a book.
Thanks for the tip - my older Nook and Kindle were both paperwhite as well and I was able to read in sunlight.......but I 'upgraded' (LOL) to a tablet (for the other functions) - BIG mistake, can't be read in sunlight!
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I have purchased Pandora in both places......they have some only sold on the island that you can't get at home either!!
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I have an e-reader too, but they are hard to see the screens in the sun on deck, so I also bring paperback books to read on deck in sun.....ughhh....and those we always leave behind in the libraries as well!! Some ships have better stocked libraries than others!!
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2 hours ago, Schoifmom said:
I really think that it's all about expectation management. If you are honest with yourself about what the Elation has to offer (yes, it is one of the smallest in Carnival's fleet) and are willing to take it as it is without constantly comparing it to the behemoth, you will be fine.
Smaller ship =
- Smaller crowds
- Easier to navigate
- Fewer "wow" factor amenities/activities
- Easier to find a quiet place to just be the 2 of you!
While what you are saying sounds 'logical' - it doesn't work that way unfortunately. We did a B2B (or side-side) cruise in September. Got off a huge, beautiful brand new ship (NCL Bliss) onto the CCL Inspiration. I have cruised a fair amount but never on the older smaller CCL ships. If anyone could attempt to "Manage expectations" it was my husband and myself.......but SORRY, it doesn't really happen that way. Yes, smaller crowds, fewer 'wow' factors, smaller to navigate etc.....but that doesn't make up for the smell of mildew all over the ship, the old bathroom with the soft squishy floor in the shower, the suite we paid more for being lesser than any balcony cabin we've been in on any other CCL ship. We were way below underwhelmed and sorry we had booked that additional few days. And being 'seasoned' cruisers and knowing it was an older smaller ship did not do much to erase the reality of it.....sorry, but it was a disappointment even beyond our ability to "manage our expectations"!!
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1 hour ago, wl2cruise said:
No, Because of California's environmental laws.
If "environmental laws" were the reason then NO OTHER cruise lines would be sailing out of California.....this does not make sense!
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Nice and honest review. We are going on Mariner in early Feb (on a 4 day)......can't wait to see her!
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I always bring a 6" fan with a cheap extension cord. I pack it in my checked luggage and have never had an issue with confiscation. Works great - on all cruise lines with no issues!
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36 minutes ago, Sbjefm said:
We are booked on a cruise out of New York next May and will be flying in the day before. What is the best place to stay that is not going to cost a fortune and is decent?
There is a wealth of information under the "Ports of Call" section of CC....or ask the question there for more responses.
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43 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:
Both of the deck 6 staterooms are more centrally located, however being on deck 6 you are lower and don't have as good a view as from deck 7. I'd probably go with deck 7, even though it's close to the end of the Promenade.
Great advice....completely agree, and all due to the noise factor. However, if you are a "late nighter", the noise may not be a problem on deck 6 either (but may be in the morning if you like sleeping later).
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19 minutes ago, Robo1098 said:
I think I am actually in the minority. I actually feel like there is more storage in the Oasis and Allure cabins. Nooks and shelves around the desk area that I found handy are gone in Harmony and Symphony. I found the one larger closet easier to use than the two smaller closets. I also found the colors and décor warmer on Oasis and Allure. This is just personal opinion though.
I am with you completely on all your thoughts. We liked the decorating better on the Allure than the Harmony (especially the common atriums etc), and more storage (set up differently) on Allure. We made sure we had a balcony cabin with the bed by the balcony instead of by the closets (which makes a difference as well for access). OP, you will like the Allure just as much, if not MORE!! Very minimal additions on Harmony that for sure are NOT worth an extra $1700 IMHO!! Have a great cruise!
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On 8/26/2018 at 6:55 PM, Joebucks said:
I learned that even the smallest and oldest ships offer a great vacation. I was scared to death of trying out the fantasy class.
LOL......and we learned EXACTLY the opposite. We tried Fantasy class for the first and it will definitely be our LAST time!! The "vacation" part (ports) was fine, it was the 'sea day' that did us in on that old smelly (mildew everywhere) ship. Even the cabin, we stayed in a suite and it was smaller than any regular balcony cabin that we frequent on all the other ships....not 'our cup of tea'.....an expensive lesson we learned!
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On 10/26/2018 at 10:00 AM, NavarreCruiser said:
I am sure there are many people who are chronic complainers and rarely satisfied. But the Carnival cutbacks are real and do affect many people's cruise choices. Here is the effect it has had on my cruise choices. Carnival cruises I have taken: 2012-10, 2013-12, 2014-14, 2015-11, 2016-7, 2017-5, 2018-3, 2019 and beyond-none currently booked.
I am with you completely......no cruise line is 'perfect', but putting the chronic complainers aside, there have been many cutbacks (including on itineraries) that have sent us to the competition. While we still sail CCL and think CCL's food is better than most of the mainstreams (RCI, NCL for sure etc) to be 'realistic' and call it 'as it is' is NOT complaining. After all, that is the intent of these boards - to disseminate information. Each of us has personal opinions, and to state them is NOT always CCL bashing ! To be a cheerleader "just because" is not a 'fair' take either - have some tolerance for varying and differing opinions. I have learned A LOT from those not cheerleading!!
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No, we have never found RCI to waver in their pricing, including working with their PVP's (or whatever they are called)......their website advertised price IS the price. The only differency you might find is with a TA who can offer you some 'perks' that RCI isn't offering. But then you lose 'control' over your booking if booked thru TA.
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Wow, you all got GREAT deals, we were on Bliss 1st week of October, we paid IN ADVANCE online booking $15 pp (total $45 for 3 of us), but when booked onboard, if we would have waited it would have been $18 pp??? Why such differences I wonder? And I might add, we thought that Ocean Blue is where we would get LOBSTER?? NOT!! The only lobster on their menu was Lobster Pot Pie with pieces in it..... not quite what we had thought....would NOT pay this upcharge again on any NCL ship for Ocean Blue!
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This is precisely why we look for "itinerary" first, then ship "second". Saying that, we too, have visited some islands several + times, but we have tried to see a new place or two each trip. On just a few (the Oasis Class as they ONLY do typical Eastern/Western itin) we have purposely chosen that particular cruise Just for the ship.....and we have always gotten off the ship in each port anyhow and just walked around or gone to a beach! But to us, "itinerary" is the first consideration in choosing where we go, and we have now been to most of the Caribbean, so venturing out to different places in the world and mixing it up!!
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51 minutes ago, BNBR said:
I think it's more than obvious that the survey means something.
I know the maitre d creeped you out, but clearly he was trying to make you happy. I appreciate that effort a lot.
Yes, I certainly understand the motive of the Maitre D', but to be hunted down was wayyyy 'above and beyond' normal and quite embarrassing. The effort that should have been exerted was NOT to make sure we rated him 'highly', which clearly they had not earned, but instead to correct the problems in his dining room, which NEVER occurred. One would 'think' that if we returned he would have put in a ton of "EFFORT" to make sure our table was served in less than 3 hours....and that NEVER happened. I would have "appreciated" that EFFORT the MOST!!
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On 10/19/2018 at 2:36 PM, BNBR said:
If this were true, the waiters wouldn't be begging the guests during the cruise to make sure they leave good marks.
You would think this was true......on our Harmony OTS cruise we had very poor MDR service, told the Maitre D'....no improvement, but lots of PR/visits from Maitre D'. When dinner stretched to almost 3 hours, we decided NOT to go back to MDR.....can you believe that the Maitre D' went hunting all over ship for us (found us in Mexican Rest)....how embarrassing, but he begged us to come back to MDR....we gave it a try the next night....SAME LOUSY SLOW service so that ended our dining in MDR. Next night, we ate in buffet. Guess who found us in buffet (the Maitre D' AGAIN). We were beyond embarrassed and creeped out. He offered FREE dining in specialty restaurant which we declined and he BEGGED US to give a favorable "excellent" on the survey????? So the survey must mean something 'internally' when rated low, but we have NEVER heard back from RCI...and we wrote a volume on that particular survey (including names). But to the pedestrian pax, I don't think the survey was meant for them to call/email or contact the pax, but to 'monitor' internally issues....MAYBE (fingers crossed) our survey responses make a difference to them????
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On 10/16/2018 at 10:55 AM, cfr70 said:
Yeah, choosing the word Radiance was merely a coincidence. I bet they didn't even know RCCL was using it!
Oh come on....at RCI, not only is "Radiance of the Seas" the name of one ship, but it is the "class name" for other ships in that category (like "Jewel of the Seas etc)....Of course CCL KNOWS what the names of their competitors ships are. Well, thankfully they are going to pull the Victory out of 'service' for this refurbishment....we were on the Victory a year+ back when CCL pulled a real 'fast one' and decided to refurbish the Victory while AT SEA.....what an awful experience.
CCL never notified ANY PAX of this complete overhaul of cabins while AT SEA. Although we had a brand new cabin on our sailing they were then working on the balcony cabins ABOVE us....24/7 (as they claimed to be 'behind schedule') they hammered, sawed, drilled and WORKED ABOVE us...you have no idea how LOUD it is to have pallets of material dropped onto a metal floor right ABOVE you, day and night! So at least they are putting the Victory into drydock this time (and most likely NOT touching the fairly newly refurbished cabins....only the water park, restaurants etc???
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Hands down.....any Oasis class ship over ANY Vista class ship!! We've been on Allure and Harmony and Vista.....OMG, Vista was the WORST ship we've ever been on.....no more Vista class for us...more pax, more crowding, less common space and horrible theatre space.....just awful. We LOVED both the Oasis class ships, they are our favorite ships to date....and OP, your daughter will have the time of her life, there is soooo much to do on an Oasis class ship. :D
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Is the theatre on the Horizon still a 'multi purpose' room with movable seats and a flat non-tiered floor? I had been told that they were making corrections to the Horizon after all the complaints on the Vista, are the theatres the same on both these ships? If so, they are truly a BIG mistake in design.....you will need to get there VERY early (as the capacity is reduced compared to other ships as well) and sit where there are no poles blocking your view of the stage (which is few and far between). Very disappointing feature on these new huge ships!
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It may have a sofa or it may have a pull down. It may depend on the type of room and ship you are on.
Generally, if the cabin is a 3 person cabin there is only a sofa which converts to a twin bed.....if the cabin accommodates 4, then there is both the sofa/sleeper and a 'pull down' bed from the ceiling above the sofa. If you are 3 pax in a 4 pax capacity cabin you may be bumped. We travel frequently with our son, who is full grown, and he finds the 'pull down' bed to be far more comfortable and larger than the sofa bed....so whenever possible we try to get a 4 person cabin for the upper ceiling bed with the hopes we won't get 'bumped' out.....so far no problems getting bumped and everyone was happy (and more comfortable)! :p
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The only time I can eat dinner at 8PM is when I am traveling in Europe because of the time difference when my body doesn't get hungry until that late!
We will only do YTD and wouldn't cruise on a ship that didn't have it!
We go early and usually stick with the same wait staff for the whole cruise so that they get to know us just as if we'd have had early assigned dining.
We like having a table for 2 at meals unless we meet folks on board with whom we'd like to share. We don't like eating with strangers. We tried that waaaay back on our first cruise and it didn't work out well at all!!
WE like tables for 2 as well, but in YTD you are less than 12" from the tables on each side of you - more like eating WITH your neighbors. You can hear all conversations and we don't like that set up at all!! Prefer an assigned table in MDR for 4 that only seats the 2 of us - and we never have a problem getting that set up!!
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[quote name=firefly333;57125933
I wasnt complaining other than the fact I think the CD should know the rules for the ship he is on. It wasnt a big deal' date=' just saying the CD was not knowledgeable. Telling me to go read the form because he didnt know the rules out of Galveston ... oh well. He wasnt a memorable CD in other ways too.
I hear the one on Vista is really good, so Im looking forward to having a good CD next cruise.[/quote]
Agreed, the CD should know the 'rules' of the port he/she is sailing in and out of.
YES, if the CD on your cruise (the Vista) is Matt Mitchum, he is the BEST of the BEST!! While the CD was great the Vista (to us) was our least favorite ship of all times.....crowded, closed in (no windows - just more cabins packed on a ship the same size for a higher pax count but few 'ocean views'), an abomination of a theatre (lots of obstructed pillar views, movable seating making it a multi purpose room on a flat main floor making viewing the stage hard from anywhere but up front, yuck!), comedy theatre WAY too SMALL for the crowds and long lines waiting to enter way before showtime (clogging the narrow, dark hall for other pax going elsewhere).....are just a FEW reasons!!
How do the libraries get stocked on board ship?
in Royal Caribbean International
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Thanks, will take it under advisement......but "different strokes for different folks". I find the font easy to read plus I don't read this on anything other than my computer (never on a mini screen phone and don't have an ipad).....LOL!! Is this better for you??