LAatl

Thank you so much for your review and pictures, really enjoyed it! Can you tell me what time the dining room opens for breakfast on disembarkation day? I couldn't see anything about breakfast times in the Compasses you posted.

the dining room wasn't open disembarkation day. They had pastries coffee/tea/water in the theater where C&A members can wait

How do we find out about the Crown & Anchor party?

 

 

We then went to the Crown & Anchor party (BTW, the person who scheduled our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet planned very poorly because they made the party at 11:15 at a different part of the ship when the C&A party for previous cruisers was at 10:45 and went on for at least an hour so we couldn't go to both and since 7 of the members of our family were C&A members, we went to that party.

You'll get an invitation in your stateroom the first day.

Dear Mrs. LAatl,

 

Could you please also send me the link of the .pdf compasses as I will go in April. I do not know how to email you privately on this board.

 

Thank you,

email me at lori.ainsley@gmail.com and I'll send you the link

Thanks for your very thorough review. I am sailing on June 1st. Do you know how much the laundry service is?

Tuesday they give you a laundry bag and it is $25 for all you can fit in the bag. Or there is separate prices for individual items and I don't know the prices for that.

LAatl -

I'm sailing on the Oasis in May, on the Eastern Caribbean Itinerary, but a guy I work with is going the following week on the Western. He isn't registered on the Forums and I was hoping to send him .pdfs of your Compasses, but they don't display for some reason. I was wondering if you would mind emailing them to me or sending a link to them if you possibly posted on another site? I would normally private message you, but apparently they have turned off that functionality at this time(?).

 

Thanks so much!

Brandi - bcgturtle / at / yahoo

I sent you the link...let me now if you get it.

I tried printing an reviewing your compasses, but they printed out pretty dark. Just wondering if you remember seeing anything advertised for a sale in the Coach store towards the end of the week. I know this is something they used to do (from merchandise not normally on display) but I can't tell if it is still included anywhere in the activities lists. Thanks :)

I don't remember seeing any of the coach items on sale, but, again...I wasn't looking for that. They always had something on sale in the Promenade...but, I don't recall seeing Coach items or a sign regarding a sale.

Can someone please clarify on this? I am going in April also and it is currently listed at 385. I had not budgeted to buy this for a while but I will have to buy it now if the price is going up.

 

Thanks.

From What I understand, someone cruising in May got an email that the package was going up to $442. I'm on the RC site today and I'm not seeing anything about it on the site.

If you have the 'all-inclusive' package (which they are now raising from $385 for the week to $446 for the week), then you don't get to keep the glasses. If you purchase the shots each evening, you do. They also have a sale in the promendade the last full day by the British Pub, selling their martini and shot glasses.

We will stop to see you again. But in the meantime can you tell us about the issue with the parking arrangements at the port?

 

I personally love karaoke and will definitely see if the Allure has the same venue where you can sing along with the band.:cool:

firstly, I'm pretty sure the ships are identical except the names of certain places. As far as the parking...we brought a rental car down and were supposed to park at Premier Parking's main lot. The three vehicles got calls the day before the cruise and were told we needed to park in the overflow lot. The next morning, we pulled in and it's a fenced in area behind a club with no signage...just people in uniform. We presented our receipts and told that they didn't care what my email from the company said, we had to pay 8 more dollars. I got on the phone with the manager and was told that I was free to call a 'higher up' and if they said it was ok, we wouldn't have to pay more. The shuttle was already there and the people were getting on.

Then we were told that we had to leave our key in case they had to move the cars. I said I was uncomfortable with that and was told, again, if I wanted to park there, they needed our keys. The three cars left the keys (I didn't realize that the valet key was the key fob, and not the key as it was a rental). I locked the car and gave her the key. When we got back the following Sat., my car was where we parked it (because although they could enter the car, they couldn't start it) however, it was unlocked and our firearms (that we drove down with and couldn't bring on the cruise, so we left in our glove box) were stolen from the car. There was NO forced entry, the pocket on the back of the front seat was ripped from them trying to find other things and the idiots left an open bag of gloves and a candy rapper that the police took into custody. After getting off the cruise and spending 3 hours with the police filing a report and going through the interviews, the police said that it was either an inside job or best-case scenario, they left the car unlocked allowing someone else access...since one of the workers admitted that he unlocked my car and was in it after we left and may or may not have locked it again.

It was a nightmare and my insurance company is trying to recoup the $1760 in loss. They're trying to say that they aren't responsible for valuables taken from a vehicle...and I would agree if my car had been broken into with a broken window or something because that's in the fine print...but the key was in their custody and the key was used to enter the vehicle to steal my property.

We are scheduled for the Allure this September and are planning to drive down as well. How long did it take and do you have any suggestions as resting points or driving straight through?

 

Any help will be appreciated.

I recognized you last night as soon as you came into Chicago's. Thanks for trying...I wish you would have stayed 10 more minutes, as a table opened up after that. I hope you and your wife try to come out to another show. I think you'd like the music. My calendar is on my website and I hope to see you soon!

I recognized you last night as soon as you came into Chicago's. Thanks for trying...I wish you would have stayed 10 more minutes, as a table opened up after that. I hope you and your wife try to come out to another show. I think you'd like the music. My calendar is on my website and I hope to see you soon!

We just got back from the Oasis yesterday. We heard about the bad weather and not being able to dock in Labadee from the staff. We were lucky to have great weather up until the last day; which wasn't that bad. Staff said our cruise was the best overall weather week since October?

 

We enjoyed our cruise.

 

First time in a Central Park Balcony and would not get one again. 1. You can hear the music from the pool deck...while trying to nap. 2. We like to wake up and look outside at the ocean.

 

Saw the comedy show. Good but not as good as our last one on the Allure where we wanted to see them again. Headliner - BF liked him but I didn't. For these ships, you need to start hiring some top talent RCCL. Come Fly with me - Great as usual.

 

Went to Giovannis table - disappointed for the first time. service was not good at all. Went to Chops twice and it was ok.....maybe we have to give these restaurants a break for a while?

 

We didn't hang out in the diamond lounge on this cruise as it was not in Blaze. We stuck to the concierge lounge; which just isn't the same.

 

All in all a good cruise that went way to quick. The weather was great. Counting down the days until Barcelona...

I agree...I like to see the ocean when we cruise. I love sleeping with the door open and listening to the water. Our next cruise, on NCL, we have our first suite, but it's right under the pool area, so I'm hoping we don't hear kids and chairs scraping all day.

I agree about the Comedy show. It was funny, but I honestly thought the opening guy was the funniest. My son saw Come Fly With Me and said it was great. We didn't get to see it.

Sorry you were disappointed with Giovannis. I thought the service was outstanding. Maybe it was because we went at 6 and they weren't that crowded. Chops was where we thought the service was slow, but the food was outstanding. But, I haven't been on RC so these restaurants were new to me.

As for your next cruise...I'd love to do one overseas. Keep us posted on that one!

Let me add my voice to the great review choir.:)

 

I also have a question. Was the free taxi coupon for one way only?

 

Thanks

Yes, the coupon was only good for one-way from the dock to the Forum. They are supposed to charge only $8 for every 4 people so the cost isn't that bad.

Although last time we sailed we went to Ocho Rios....however, I swore I would never go back to Jamaica after that. The port at that time there was no fenced in area to speak of....we were harassed by locals trying to either braid my hair, sell us drugs and everything in between. They didn't take no for an answer and actually followed us down several blocks. I have never felt so unsafe in my life...and I'm from New York...

Like I said in the review...we weren't even planning on getting off the ship in Jamaica because your last taste was exactly how it was the last time we were there. But, since we didn't dock in Labadee, everyone wanted to get off the ship for a bit. I can tell you, that those locals are not allowed inside the gated port area and we felt perfectly safe. I wouldn't have ventured outside the gates though.

Thanks for all your hard work. As previously mentioned, we'll be on Oasis in May & this is really helpful.

 

I'm curious: How did Oasis compare to your NCL cruises?

This was my first on RC. I've been on several on NCL, but not the same class ship. I can say that I loved the fact that we were at the same dining table and had the same servers every night. And I thought the food was better on Oasis, but just slightly. I'm not a food snob and I'm pretty easy going. I think if I were to rate them, I'd put RC slightly ahead of NCL.

I've been checking back with your review the past couple days, as we were on this sailing, too. That's us, actually, behind you in your Jamaica picture at the tables. :) Also, I'm pretty sure we may have caught one of your songs at rock-a-rokie in the hallway. It caught our ear and we stopped to listen a bit! Great job! Nice review, too.

That's so funny that you're in the pic. I see you behind my SIL. Guess I need to ask if I have your permission or if you want me to pull it down. We had a great time...hope you did too.

Pulling back into dock at daybreak!

I've been on several cruises and I can tell you this was the easiest I've ever experienced...

There is no breakfast served in the MDR and no Room Service on Disembarkation day. However, if you are a C&A member, you can wait in the Opal Theater and they have coffee, tea, juice and water and pastries to eat while you're waiting.

We waited here to give Tony a chance to get in our rooms early since they have so much to do to get ready for the next cruisers that would be there in a few short hours.

By 7:15 we were making our way off the ship and into the docking area. The luggage was very organized into groups that you match with the luggage tags they give you the last day for your luggage. We found a porter who was able to get 11 people's suitcases onto one cart...and we tipped him well, because he waited through the line with us until we got done with the customs people. This was a simple procedure and within 45 minutes, we were finished with our passports and grabbing the shuttle back to the parking facility. This is an amazing feat with over 6,200 passengers on board. I can tell you that as we were making our way through the line for customs, the line behind was getting much larger. So, keep in mind that if you choose a later time (we chose the earliest) this might not be the case.

This was a wonderful cruise experience and although, we may not cruise Oasis class ships again...we'll definitely be back on RC. Now, to research the posts on our next NCL cruise in Sept!!!!

Feel free to ask questions for those who haven't been on board yet. I'll do my best to answer!

This was the after-dinner shooter called the 'safe journey' and it was delicious, as usual!

MIL had the strawberry souffle, BIL had the key lime pie, DH had the apple strudel and I had the pear crisp. I wouldn't order it again...

And here are the boys with Dean and Sidney (best servers ever!)

After dinner the adults went to the casino for our last deposit and then back to the room to go to bed for the evening. After we got ready for bed, we put our suitcases in the hall and that was the last we had to worry about them until after we docked.

We sat outside the British Pub for a while during the day and caught the rehearsal for the final flash mob and the kids got a pic with King Julian.

Then off to dinner...

The lentil soup was great, and our servers brought the tapas plate for everyone to munch on...

Here's the scallop app...

Here's my SIL and niece...

Here's our server, Dean, with my niece...

More food porn in a minute since they only let you post 6 pics at a time...

This was the first day we actually slept in...when I say, 'slept in' I mean 8:30. We met at the MDR for breakfast and then went back to the room to pack. We wanted to get off the boat early and on Tuesday, signed up for the earliest time to get off and NOT carry your own luggage. This info will be left on your bed Monday and needs to be left in the room for your steward by Tuesday. We signed up for the 7:15-7:45 time. The rest of the day we didn't do anything scheduled. Again...there is tons to do on this ship. You get what you want out of this vacation and we wanted rest!

If you choose to leave your luggage outside that evening, make sure to leave stuff to wear the next day and whatever you'll need that night. You don't have to put out your luggage until between 7-11 pm. So, if you like to change after dinner, then wait till you go to bed and put everything else out.

The rest of the day was just spent hanging around with the family until we went to dinner.

This was the Jaffa Cake...

This was the Rum Baba...

Cherries Jubilee...

And the Low-Fat Strawberry Trifle...

After dinner, we hung around the casino bar until it was time for the Comedy Show (Deck 4 mid). Very funny show for those who aren't easily offended. Do not book this show if you don't like swearing and crude humor. Out of the three guys, we actually thought the opening guy was the funniest. I'm assuming he's there all the time, since he wasn't listed on the program as a headliner.

After the show, we went back to the cabins since we were spent from a busy day.

Today's towel animal...

Basil was the theme for dinner in Cozumel. This is one of the best dinners we had in the MDR. Lots of food porn for this night! We ordered the Summer Fruit Medley, Cream of Mushroom Soup (my FIL hates mushrooms and loved the soup so much that they bought the cookbook (only available in the dining room and if you are a C&A member, there'll be a coupon in the booklet in your room) and the Arugula and Pear salad

For the main course, my son & his friend both ordered the Beef Short Ribs and Shoulder (and proceeded to order 5 more pieces of shoulder each!...AHHH to be 16 and have a high metabolism!!),

my son's friend also order the Orecchiette Pasta (He won!) and my husband ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Everything was delicious and I do remember that the after dinner shot this evening was the chocolate chip cookie (I believe it was creme de cocoa white, frangelico, butterscotch snapps and bailey's) YUM! and then dessert will be the next post!!

I missed something from day 4 Falmouth...that evening was when they had rock-a-rokie in Dazzles from 9:30-10:30 pm. They ask for people to get up and sing (like karaoke) but the band backs you. This is a lot of fun to do and to watch. There was no one really there, so I ended up singing 3 songs. My son and his friend also sing but claimed that their voice were hoarse from yelling at the pool and arcade earlier!

This was the view from our balcony of the beautiful sunrise...

We knew we had an early excursion that morning, so the night before, we all agreed to get room service for breakfast. I can tell you the coffee is EXTREMELY STRONG. So, I opted for the hot tea (which didn't get sent up with the original order, so I had to call down and have it sent up). We ordered scrambled eggs and bacon (the eggs are edible, but not made from eggs in a shell), pastries, juice and milk.

Then went to the gangplank (deck 3) to go ashore. We knew we had experienced lines in Jamaica, so we went down early and 'Brian' said we couldn't wait right by the exit because the Captain hadn't cleared the ship to go ashore, and asked us to go to a 'common' area like the Promenade. We explained that we couldn't wait in a long line since we had to meet our excursion at 8:30 on shore and it was almost 8. He promised we wouldn't have to wait long. I joked that 'I've got his badge number if we miss our excursion.' I can tell you that just before they made the announcement that the ship had been cleared, Brian came up to Deck 5 and found us and told us to come down so we wouldn't have to wait. That's customer service!

We went ashore and there was still a few minutes to go to the bathroom in the little shopping area (pretty clean compared to some others I've seen in ports) and here's a pic of the huge lollipops in one of the stores...

We did the 'unlimited beach snorkel' and it was fine for beginners. I would have rather done scuba (but only 3 of the 11 are certified) or taken a boat to a reef, but, again, we had to take into consideration that there were 8 other people with us and needed to do something everyone wanted. The tour cost $32 p/p and we had to walk about 10 minutes from the ship to the beach area. It was fine for what it was, but you didn't see some of the beautiful colored fish you would out deeper.

The excursion lasted about 1-1/2 hrs (although the tour operator said we could stay in the water longer if we wished, but his part was finished). They provided the equipment, but the three of us brought our own mask and snorkel because we preferred to use ours. We knew we wanted to walk around Cozumel in the shopping area and so we went back to the ship so everyone could shower off all of the salt water. The facility had a shower to rinse off, but we would rather use shampoo and body wash.

Please take note that when you do an excursion, you are expected to tip the tour operator. This is not included in the fee that you've paid for the tour. Bring a little cash with you. They don't expect much, but it's nice to tip a few dollars per person.

This was the view when we walked back to the ship the first time. Look at the cute little ship next to ours!

After cleaning up we took our coupons (from the shop talk the first full day at 9 am in the Opal Theater) and went down for the 'free taxi' to the Forum Shops. Now, when our group of 11 went to the taxi stand, I can tell you that the coupon stated that the 'free' voucher was per 4 people and the cost is usually $8 for every 4 people. We had 9 people since my MIL and FIL decided to stay on the ship. There was a woman standing alone at the taxi stand and we asked if she's going our direction and offered to have her ride in our large taxi. We gave the driver two coupons and thought the rate would then be $2 per person for the two additional people (one from our group and the woman). I came upon this figure using the math I had learned in school many years ago. Now, I may not know the new 'california math' (don't mean to offend if you live in CA...please don't slam that comment) but the driver told us that it would be $8. Instead of standing and trying to argue in a different language, we agreed and drove down to the end of the strip.

We walked along, and vendors pop out of stores and tell you to come get your free charms since they see you are from the cruise ships. They really are free, although they like for you to browse their stores. Only buy silver that have the imprint .925 in it. Otherwise it's probably not real silver. My SIL bought a beautiful bracelet with Pearl inlay and the tanzanite is worth the trip. There's only one mine in the world so when it's gone...it's gone. I usually get one ring each cruise but decided not to this time.

We did stop by the Cariloha store to get bamboo sheets for my son. We bought ours last year and LOVE them. They keep you cooler and you slide right into bed. They are worth the money. The store in Cozumel sold the twin size for $99 and in Jamaica they told me $139. Plus, in Jamaica, she said that the prices would be the same in Cozumel. I knew that this was more than Cozumel would be so we waited...luckily! They will ship them home for you for free so you don't have to bring them back to the ship and pack them.

We walked for a while and then stopped to get drinks and chips and salsa. And then took a cab back to the port area. We walked around the shops there for a while and then went back on board to clean up from walking around in the hot sun.

We were able to find time to shower, lay down for a while and then meet the group at the British pub and talk with them for a while before dinner. I'll get to that review in a bit, since they only allow you to post 6 pics in each review.

Day 5 is the 2nd formal night and we got all cleaned up and went to dinner in the MDR. I know a lot of people look forward to lobster night...and I usually do...but I was so intrigued by the menu I decided to go a different route. My son ordered the lobster/shrimp dinner, but also wanted steak so he ordered a strip steak on the side.

I didn't get pictures of all of the menus, but I can tell you that the ones you find on CC are not the same as the ones we had. The theme nights are the same (i.e., basil, saffron, etc.) but the menu itself is different.

I ordered the 3-cheese tortellini which was amazing!

and my husband got the thai chicken.

My son's lobster was bigger than I've had on NCL...

Here's the dessert menu...

I had my first baked alaska (on my food bucket list)...

And my husband had the ivory mousse...

After dinner we went down to the Guest Services desk in the Royal Promenade to get the Free Taxi Voucher from the dock in Cozumel to the Forum Shops. NCL docks right near the Forum Shops (for those who haven't been to Cozumel, there's a long row of shops starting at the Forum shops and going down the road. The Forum is 3 miles from where RC docks...so they were giving out a coupon between 6-7 pm for free taxi for 4 people to the Forum Shops). We were at dinner at that time, so we had to go to the Guest desk and get them.

Then we went to Dazzles (2-story club aft deck 8 and 9). This is a SMOKING club...just so you know and the bathrooms are outside. Quick note about the bathrooms...on most decks the women's room is on the starboard (right) side of the ship and the Men's is on the port (left) side. This is different on a few of the decks.

Dazzles was having a live band and had a 50's and 60's dance party with a twist contest. I've mentioned before that I'm a professional singer and was definitely born in the wrong era, because I love music from this period. My son and his friend got there too late to enter the twist competition with me, but they danced with me (shhhh, don't tell their friends!).

After they finished their oldies show, the band took a break and came back with 70's music. We stayed for a while...they were very good (Muzik Vison) was their name. They had horns and each person took turns singing.

Later that night they had the Unexpected Boys (a Frankie Valli tribute quartet). We didn't see their show, but caught them when they sat in on day 6 with the rockie-okie (which I'll get into later)

We had an excursion early the next day in Cozumel, so we went back to the cabin and went to bed. Just a quick note...I'm not sure if I mentioned in an earlier post...I always bring a nightlight to put in the bathroom of hotels, etc...there's no regular plug in the bathrooms. However, the top light stays on very faintly at night and we didn't have a problem seeing in the dark, but it wasn't so bright that we couldn't sleep with the bathroom door open.