Hoopster95

1 minute ago, Ret MP said:

And, the minimum wage is for entry-level folks.

Just now, Ret MP said:

Never said it was!

Please quote the Maritime Labor law and the minimum wage for the typical crusie ship worker.

That is all I ask from everyone on this thread.

1 minute ago, BennyandBo said:

"Other hotel services $7.00". LOL. Yeah, the salary Royal Caribbean wants us to pay, so they don't have to.

Then your cruise would be $3000 per person instead of $699 for an interior

6 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I don't know how accurate this is but it was posted on another cruise social media board.  As fare as their pay, ?????

 

This is not their guarantees salary

1 hour ago, teddie said:

What I truly *would* like to see are a happier and a more engaged crew. 

Great comment.

I assume you've only sailed on the larger ships?

I spent 25 days on Rhapsody in Feb/Mar... superb first name basis service. Superb staff and crew. They loved everybody and everybody loved them. You get to see them and actually talk to them everyday. Absolutely the best crew in a very long time on RCI.

Oh, and while Symphony & Harmony had 1 day stateroom service, Rhapsody still had two.

Of course, now that I post this, someone on the Haifa cruises will post that I'm wrong and that everything is different.

I can say this with 100% certainty, and has been said for years on this forum:

RCI - Really Consistently Inconsistent

Before anyone else on this topic makes one more post, I would like them to post exactly what a cruise worker gets paid, what law states their pay scale, and what these "gratuities" actually are.

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Not necessarily the ports (but could be) - maybe the routes to/through them. 

Thanks for clarifying. This is partially correct. Any port HAL goes to, the largest Royal ship also goes to. Some current smaller ships (NCL & Oceania come to mind) also visit Prince Rupert & Wrangell. The most interesting port HAL has done in the past (and only 3 times pre-Covid) has been Port Alberni within Vancouver Island, where only the smallest of cruise ships could've gone. It was the Maasdam.

https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/video-port-alberni-welcomes-the-first-of-three-cruise-ships/

As far as route, only (most) ships sailing from Vancouver go through the Southern portion of the inside passage. All Seattle based ships, including HAL, head out to the Pacific Ocean and also miss the Southern portion of the inside passage, which is roughly Vancouver to Prince Rupert.

Green is the full inside passage from (most) Vancouver based cruise ships.

Red is the route that Seattle based cruise ships follow.

They both do the inside passage in Alaska, the northern portions depending whether they are visiting Juneau, Skagway and/or Ketchikan.

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Here's another comment re smaller ships vs larger ships

 

This is Juneau port photographed from atop Mount Roberts. 5 ships in port. 4 (the maximum amount) are docked. What is the ship out there with tenders running back and forth?

Yes that's a HAL ship. The smallest ship will likely tender.

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

 why we cruise HAL (Holland America) for Alaska  - being smaller ships, they can go places the larger ships can't go

I’m just trying to learn…. What exact ports does HAL smaller ships go that Royal larger ships cannot go?

56 minutes ago, twangster said:

Now that I'm home with real internet this is my first opportunity to look back at some of the pics in this thread.  Ugh.  I have a pet peeve about crooked horizons and boy did I post some crooked horizon pics going through the canal.  🤣

twangster, you are, and have been for years, the number 1 reviewer on these boards hands down. Your explanations, information, pics and videos are always first class. Being critical myself with my own review photos I personally didn’t notice any issues with your photos. Phenomenal review again and truly appreciate your time and effort putting these reviews together. Back to lurking 😉

27 minutes ago, alaska2023 said:

Does anyone have experience with connecting balcony rooms on Quantum? Don’t want to switch rooms, since my kids will be in the connecting room, but interested to know if we’ll be missing sofas. What’s in place of the sofa, aside from (obv) the door? A chair? Or just a bit of extra open space? No big deal either way…just curious.

I found this answer in 5 seconds by typing the following into my google searc

"quantum of the seas connecting balcony"

3 hours ago, jlewisrn said:

I’m so frustrated. Are there more tickets available when we get on the ship? 

One thing that has not been mentioned is immediately when you board the ship go to deck 4 in front of the Attic (Comedy/Nightclub venue).... or upon stepping into the Promenade immediately ask a staff member where the Show reservation desk is.  Normally there is a desk there with RCL staff adding show reservations for cruisers for the whole week. Also, if you are tech savvy and know the RCL app, those same shows will be available from the app the day you board.

I've recently been on both Symphony and Harmony (Jan & April 2023)  within 3 weeks last minute booking, with all shows showing "sold out" on the cruise planner, and yet I had reservation to ALL shows the day I boarded. Not only that, I attended Columbus twice, Grease twice, the water show twice... standby line was no problem finding seats within 15 min of the show starting. By the way, I only had a very late boarding check in time (2-2:30pm) because of my very late booking of the cruise, and still got all shows reserved once on board without a single issue even though most of the ship had already boarded before me.

@jlewisrnBreathe ...  relax

On 1/24/2023 at 11:56 AM, hp_slash said:

Does anyone know if they operate the North Star while sailing through the Endicott Arm?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2661933-ovation-may-13-24-live-in-alaska-wlots-of-photos/page/32/#comment-57577120

On 1/12/2023 at 10:36 AM, drumexpert510 said:

Dinner was at Izumi, great chef, server and company. 

I’m sitting at the other table in your Izumi photos lol!

For those of you that remember me on these forums…. Hi! Sitting here at MIA in the lounge awaiting my flight, and I thought I myself “I haven’t lurked on CC boards for months… maybe I should see if someone posted a live review”. Lo and behold.

I feel compelled to post for the first time since Covid. Hey drumexpert great job with photos. Did you happen to go Jazz on 4? If not, you

missed a genious percussionist! They were Argentinian and that drummer needs to be discovered for a record label or major artist. 
 

You focused a lot of your review on food…. I too had the UDP and also agree with your positive opinions at all venues. In my opinion this was the best ship by far for food since even before Covid. All specialty dining was above average compared to previous sailings. I always stay away from Jamie’s … I sailed this time with 1st time cruiser so we tried everything regardless of my preconceived notions. Jamie’s is normally mediocre at best, but even this venue was great here on Symphony.

I’ve often compared RCL dining to Oceania because of my few experiences with Oceania  regarding amazing elevated food… both times in CP150 could’ve been on Oceania. Absolutely top notch foodie quality awesome meals, beyond tasty exceptional and just great service. The beef tenderloin and lobster thermadore were exquisite. CP150 wins on Symphony as the best dining venue hands down.
 

I cant be any more positive regarding the specialty dining on this ship this time around. Very surprising as I’ve always experienced various hits and misses no matter what sailing. 

Anyways, good to see you had a great time drumexpert.

13 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

Some people can never stop complaining.

9 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

If you have to resort to personal attacks, then perhaps you need to step back and take a timeout. There was no call for that. I happen to enjoy stormy times aboard a cruise ship, including rain, wind and fog. 

 

We're not talking about your own personal liking for cruising in rain and fog... page 1 of this thread is about having a Canadian port involved for Alaska cruises, and how a waste of time it is for people to have a Canadian port involved in any Alaskan sailing.

Ignorance, and evidently arrogance, certainly is bliss isn't it?

19 hours ago, Gatordad815 said:

Does anyone know what the obstruction is on this cabin?

Here is 7606. This would be the same as 7206 on your side of the ship.

Note the cabin is placed dead center in the middle of 2 of the larger white support davits which hold up the lifeboats

In this photo 7612, and thus 7212 on your side, is facing directly in front of the white davits dead center of your view.

When I look aft from 7606, I see the white davit that would be in front of your balcony. If you can move to a room number that is dead center to two of the davits that would be best if any are available

2 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

Some people can never stop complaining.

You have zero value on this thread, so you have to resort to a comment like this.

1 minute ago, dswallow said:

A trip on a Quantum class ship through the inside passage in a rainy season would still be an awesome trip, even if it didn't stop at a single port.

Would be really awesome when the fog horn sounds off every 30seconds at 3 in the morning...

Or when you stand out on your balcony that you just paid $1000pp and the rain is driving at you at a 45 degree angle.

Or you look out to enjoy the inside passage views and all you see is about 100ft into the fog.

Or Quantum tries to get into Dawes Glacier, but there's so much ice flow from summer thaw out into the channel that the ship just cannot sail all the way in to get into viewing site of the glacier.

Pretty awesome to think about the cost of the flight, the time taken away from another different holiday, hotel cost and other expenses that go along with that.

8 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Would anyone like to guess where this is?

Jamaica? 

Costa Rica?

maybe even Alaska?

If you're playing along, this is in Courtenay, British Columbia... on Vancouver Island.

You know... as one of those ignorant cruise bloggers once said "on that little island that doesn't mean much" when discussing Alaskan cruising and the PVSA a few months back

1 minute ago, Tree_skier said:

I tried the link for some reason it was dead to me. 

Shoot... still opens for me. Word for word cut&paste from two Alaskan residents answering questions to someone wanting to cruise in October

"Help! My 50th birthday is in October.... I wanted to do an Alaskan cruise. There is only one cruise line in October for it. Is this a terrible time to go?'

"October is the start of winter in Alaska. Most activities/tours will no longer be available, waters can be rough due to storms. Personally I wouldn't cruise Alaska past the first week of September."

"I live here and would not recommend a cruise in October....we don't take our boat out after mid Sept.....and even then there are days when it is too blustery, seas too high and weather just too uncomfortable to be outside. I can't imagine they could have enough fool hardy folks to fill up a cruise ship for October......"

"the key word is "fool." NCL knows many people are price sensitive but don't realize October is not really cruise season in Alaska. Money talks so they book cuz it is cheap.

Kudos to the OP for asking about it. Travel in August and celebrate early!😀"

"Thank you all for your suggestions! I will take your advice and skip October and go early!"

41 minutes ago, tottenhamfc said:

You would be surprised at how many Americans think Vancouver is as cold as Alaska.

Would anyone like to guess where this is?

Jamaica? 

Costa Rica?

maybe even Alaska?

Anyone?

18 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

We are discussing ALASKA cruises.  Try and keep up...

Before sunrise, which you will not see because of the cloud and rain, on the day after embarkation the weather will be completely different on the cruise ship than Vancouver.

To keep this discussion on the OP's question regarding Alaska cruising in October ...  the above is the actual and factual point to consider. The other factual point is that the Pacific Northwest is a rain forest. Guess what month starts the "rainy" season? Why haven't cruise lines sailed throughout October in previous years?

https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/ShowTopic-g28923-i349-k13440001-Alaska_Cruise_in_October-Alaska.html

Plenty of arrogance and ignorance in this thread

1 minute ago, BillB48 said:

On my last trip on the Liberty I took a measured length of cord with a weight so that I could measure the distance to the water.  I came up with a height of a little over 50'.....The Canal permits protrusions up to 13' as long as they are 55' above the water.  Is that overhang around the MDR 55???  I really don't know. 

Superb real life info BillB ... thx for chiming in on this 👍

Hope you're doing well 

17 minutes ago, loman said:

I wont being doing that route any more . 

Ill stick with the Oasis class on the Caribbean.

Both my sailings of rough(er) weather and fellow cruisers stumbling right & left as they walked were in the Caribbean. My specific photo above was Harmony sailing out of San Juan heading (heading to Labadee I believe). My Oasis sailing was the Western Coz/Falmouth route... can't remember now which evening the barf bags were out.

35 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

 BC inside passage

I found the photos...

Note as we get closer to the shortest span between the islands you can see the towers on one side in the first photo...

As we get closer and go under, the photos aren't the greatest however you can see the buoys (is that what they're called?) attached to the wires so that they are visible to approaching vessel traffic. They're not that high in my opinion, But I guess they're high enough for the cruise ships (Radiance and smaller?) to get under