Luna

On 1/10/2020 at 6:51 PM, JSR said:

I have had good luck on RCCL cruises getting to inaccessible areas (Suite deck with stairs only) by asking for an officer at guest relations and getting an escort to use staff elevators. You would be surprised how many there are tucked away that go to in accessible locations. 

That's a great suggestion.  I may give that a try if the lift to the North Star isn't working.

On 1/2/2020 at 7:55 PM, lenquixote66 said:

On the Anthem last month the elevator got stuck with people inside.I guess it has a lot of problems.

Oh my goodness!  Not my idea of a good time.

On 12/15/2019 at 4:38 AM, rucruisn2 said:

There is an elevator to North Star, but when we were on Anthem it was broken, sigh.  So i watched my husband go up in it.  Oh well.

With a little luck, maybe the elevator will be repaired by next December.  😉

Thank you, Bloodgem.

We are booked on the Anthem of the Seas for late next year (2020).  I've watched videos of the North Star and would like to try it, but I use a walker (rollater type) and cannot climb the stairs up to it.  Is there a way to get to it without climbing the stairs?

This October will be our first time needing special requests since we started cruising in 1995.  I use a CPAP and O2 at night and so will need an extension cord and distilled water.  I'm glad I came upon this thread as I was unaware there is a special form to fill out, or even a Special Needs dept. at RCCL.  How do I go about getting this form?  Is it available online?

 

I haven't read all the posts, so I apologize if any of this is redundant, but I'd like to share our experience with a Lanai cabin.

 

We were on for 30 days on the Hawaii/South Pacific itinerary. Because we had several sea days there were a plethora of passengers wanting to lounge on the lower promenade. Even on port days, some of the scenery was so lovely that there were still a lot of people lounging (us included, after returning from excursions). We knew we had loungers that were dedicated to us.

 

During the day, even with the lights on, you couldn't see inside the glass. We tried, even putting my nose up to the glass, I still couldn't see anything. On the other hand, if you do go with a lanai, keep your camera handy. One day when DH and a friend, also on this cruise, and I were viewing photos we'd taken, I looked up and saw dolphins frolicking. Grabbed my camera and started filming.

 

One final thought, some will tell you there's less storage than in a regular, outside cabin. This is true as there are no drawers in the desk area. I remedied that by using one of our carry on bags for underwear and just kept it under the desk, out of the way.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past spring and had a cabana on the observation deck. When I booked my cabana (through HAL), I requested a first choice and 2nd choice cabana for a 2 week b2b cruise. We were warned that they couldn't guarantee our choice and that we should check with the cabana attendants as soon as we boarded. We went up there as soon as we dropped off our carryon bags in our cabin and, sure enough, there was a reserved sign on the cabana that had been our 1st choice. I introduced myself to the attendant and he escorted us to our special spot. Good luck. I hope you have the same good luck in getting the cabana of your choice.

In my experience, there's not a very good vegetarian selection in the Lido - it's kind of hit or miss.

However, the dinner selections in the MDR are good. I let them know the first night I'd like to select from the separate vegetarian menu, which is quite extensive. Be forewarned, the servings are a tad larger than the regular menu items. Your waiters also know what will be on the menu the next night, so, if there's something I really like, I let them know I'll choose from the regular menu. It was nice to be able to have that choice.

This is distressing news, indeed. Thank you for letting us know, Trisha. I am praying for Jane and Tony and hope that they can find some small comfort in the care shown here by friends on both CC and FB.

D'rena

Oh, Trisha. I'm sooooo happy for you! Now I understand why you wrote, "I believe in miracles". You deserve this! And, you know Virgil will be right there with you. It's happening so soon, too. You barely have time to pack your bags! Enjoy that salt air!

D'rena

Thank you for your report. I'm glad you had a good cruise and enjoyed the Veendam. We did V of V 2 years ago and DH just told me last week that, of all our cruises, that was his all time favorite. Guess we'll have to do it again.:D

DH always gets a beverage card. He's able to get cans of diet coke both in the Lido and in the DR. He also uses it to get his mid-afternoon coffee and my Chai latte. Regular beverage card, not the signature one.

I strongly suggest that everyone print out the first page -- we have been asked to show them to get into the terminals at Ft Lauderdale, San Diego and Seattle a couple of times.

And Boston.

Hey cruz chic, we had our cabana experience on Noordam, too. We enjoyed it so much that we've already reserved a cabana on Nieuw Amsterdam next March. We also enjoyed watching the attendants chase out potential "squatters" (after politely explaining the area, of course).

We never tried to use the cabana outside of the stated hours. We usually go to the dining room for breakfast, which doesn't open until 8AM. After breakfast, we'd go for our walk, then pick up our books and whatever else we wanted with us for the day and head up to the cabana. Sometimes we'd order lunch from the limited menu and other times we'd go down to the Lido. My favorite part was the strawberries and champagne every afternoon.

This is important because generally speaking they are usually up there for a couple of cruises based on the attendants I have talked with.

 

I have always tipped on the last day of the cruise (the day before you debark). That said there was one time I didn't tip. I never ever ask them to get my lunch so all I ask them to do is ice the water. They didn't even do that. I told them that was all I wanted from them and he even admitted that he didn't keep up on that. Generally the service I've had has been really good.

We asked if they were both going to be there for the 2nd leg of our trip. One was, one wasn't. That was why we tipped at the end of the 1st leg as well as at the end of the 2nd leg. Because we were the only ones up there every day except one on our 21 day trip, we got some pretty exclusive service. Oh, there were days (only a few) where there were several others up there, but, most days, it was just us. If we had an excursion on a port day, we'd drop our stuff in our cabin, then head up for our cabana when we got back to the ship. Retiredkid, you're going to love the experience.

We had a retreat cabana for a 21 day cruise last January. It was really a b2b 10 and 11 day, so we tipped the attendants after the first leg (because one of them was reassigned to another area) and again at the end of the second leg.

We stayed there 4 years ago when it was Holiday Inn, and again this year as Wyndham. The best thing about this hotel is the free shuttle to Seaport area, Horton Plaza and the zoo. It's also near the HOHO trolley stop and SEAL tour boats. The worst thing about Wyndham was that they seemed more interested in selling us on their resort offers than in customer service. We were very disappointed in their customer service. Also, be aware that their soaps and bath products are highly scented. I spent our first night there having asthma because of it. We had to go out and buy something from CVS at Horton Plaza as the hotel was unable to supply us with unscented products. Now, I don't have a problem with all scented products, but theirs, although it smelled lovely, immediately gave me asthma. When I went to the front desk to explain the situation and request some unscented products, the young woman actually shrugged and gave me a "what do you want me to do about it?" look.

I had arranged 3 M&Gs for our 2012 Voyage of the Vikings cruise. I went to the front desk and asked the person there the names of the officers I wanted to invite. If they've changed their policy, she may not give out the names, but, it doesn't hurt to be able to send invitations. I was pleasantly surprised that any showed up. The captain came to the last one.

We never, ever had to "patrol" our lounge chairs. Once, in 30 days, we had someone using my chair (smoking a cigar - ugh) when I wanted to be out there. I went out and politely asked if I could use my chair. If we weren't there (on an excursion, at the pool, or whatever), we didn't care if someone else used them. In fact, we gave permission specifically to a Canadian couple to use them after chatting with them one day and finding out they preferred sitting on the lp, but often had trouble finding chairs.

We were on this 30 day cruise with friends who had a balcony and she preferred to come down to the lp to sit with me and people watch. She'd come down and cup her hands around her eyes and put her face up to the door to look in to see if we were there. She said she could barely see in even that way. We tried looking in and could only see in when it was dark outside and the lights were on inside. Not a problem. We simply closed the drapes. Hey, we do it at home..........

As far as dining in room, we've only ever ordered room service breakfast if we had an early shore excursion. One thing that HAL has that some other lines don't - that handy high/low table. We found there was enough room for us both to have breakfast at it, but have never had dinner in our room, for our own reasons.

One thing, though. The chair pads were supposed to be picked up every evening, usually around the first seating for dinner. That didn't always happen. Sometimes we were using them when the crew was collecting (we always choose late seating for dinner), other times not, they just didn't get picked up. Now, they wash the deck down early every morning at sea (didn't hear it, though). If the chair pads were out, they got wet and didn't dry until much later in the day. After a couple of mornings of wet chair pads, we decided to take matters in our own hands. There is enough space between the drapes and the door to the lp that we could stow the chair pads there. So, when we'd return to our cabin after dinner or after whatever evening activities there were, we'd grab them if the crew had not yet collected them. They were out of the way behind the drapes, which were closed anyway.

I agree with lazy1 (hi, back at you, Jane). For the right itinerary, I'd not hesitate to book one again.

Our lanai experience was on the Rotterdam. I'd read where some people complained about the lack of storage, but we were on a 30 day cruise and found plenty of room for 2 people. I used my carryon bag as a "drawer" for our underwear and stowed it under the desk. The rest of our stuff fit nicely in the closet and on the shelves.

What I loved about our lanai was that, if something was going on outside, I could just grab my camera and run out and take pictures. We went to Hawaii and Tahiti on that trip and I was able to get pictures of dolphins and whales. We also had assigned deck chairs. It was nice knowing I'd be able to have a place to sit and read on deck without having to go searching.

:D Ididarod (sp) Dog Sled Race is supposed to be this week but they don't have enough snow!!!! :D

 

Because of that, someone posted on Facebook that they should probably change the location for this year and run it from Buffalo to Boston:D

Once you put your money in the machine to start it, you push the "soap" button and soap will be dispensed into your wash.

But, Sail, today's truck day. That means spring training isn't far behind. It *must* be spring. We're leaving in late March for a cruise to Hawaii. It can't come soon enough for me. I even told my DH I won't complain about the heat :D

If you are a AAA member, you can purchase foreign currency at your local AAA office in advance of your cruise.