drk

On the Equinox last month we had 2 bottles in one of our bags and no one said a word.  Probably could have had 2 in each bag and gotten through.

We are just off the Regal and had the Plus package.  Went to the Gelato place and asked if I could get a 2 scoop gelato ($4) instead of the big $10 included dessert and was politely told know.  Makes no sense.

I have found that if I put a cruise on hold on HAL's site I will get an email and often a phone call from a PCC who I can use as my contact if I so desire.  The holds just expire so no obligation to book, etc.  Also if you put yourself on the list via the website to receive notices of special sales and promotions you will also get email(s) from "your" PCC.  Hope this helps.

Enjoy your reports.  Any word on adding the Grand Dutch Café to the Zuiderdam?  Thanks.

Got my upgrade accepted yesterday for the 6/13 sailing on the Jewel.  Bid $145 to move from an OA outside to an MA club mini suite.  Minimum bid was either $100 or $125...been a while so not sure exactly.  3 days ahead of cruise for notification by email!

16 hours ago, martincath said:

My fellow Canadian may be answering from the perspective of us local residents and thus answering correctly for themselves, but inadvertently misleading the tourists! Us Canadians do still need to complete ArriveCAN but of course we are already inside the country! For you tourists flying or driving in before cruising, the FIRST ArriveCAN entry needs your hotel entered, not the ship, and your mode of entry at that first border crossing on the date and time you expect to get here.

 

ArriveCAN is not smart enough or invasive enough to know where you are when you enter the data - so you absolutely can enter your cruise info, pier location etc. now - but that's wrong as you first have to get across the border... If you complete it for your cruise before you get on the plane/drive across, you will be refused entry! At best, they'll make you fill it out again with the correct details so you better have the App and phone data rather than a paper printout from your desktop at home... at worst, no entry to Canada for you are you are not compliant with current regulations.

 

Every time you 'Arrive in CANada' you make a separate trip entry - the app only holds one live trip, so you must get over the border first before you make the second entry for cruising. Otherwise the app simply overwrites any future trip whenever you make a new entry.

 

Both of the above visitors should choose an Air entry (or land if driving), on the date and time they expect to enter Canada, with the pre-cruise hotel as the requested destination address. Then after you get to the hotel, use their WiFi to add your next trip - a Marine Cruise, entering Canada on (date and location of your first Canadian port, expected time of arrival).

 

It's super-quick on the second and subsequent trips, because all the travelers you entered the first time are stored - ID and Vaxx status doesn't change, so literally all you have to do is input the new trip date, destination, and then add people from your list.

Very helpful post.  Thanks you.  My question is once you are in Canada and are departing Vancouver on a cruise that ends in Alaska and has no Canadian ports is a second Arrivecan trip entry needed.  Thanks again.

1 hour ago, WCB said:

Report #32   Saint George's, Grenada   Tuesday - January 18, 2022   Sunny & warm   83 degrees..... Part #1 Of 2............74 Pictures

 

Well, we knew the day would come that one of these islands was going to impose and enforce restrictions regarding going ashore.  Today’s port of Saint George’s, Grenada was the one.  The notice in the When & Where stated that unless you had an HAL tour or used a government-approved taxi, we would not be allowed to go anywhere.  This was also the same message we had yesterday, but later in the morning, it had changed, and independent folks could go for a walk.  We had hoped this would be the case here as well.

 

Grenada is a small island with 120 square miles of lush rain forest.  It is 21 miles long and 12 miles wide.  It is often called the Spice Island, since their main export is nutmeg.  These trees are grown in the mountains, as well as cinnamon, mace, bay leaves, cloves, turmeric, and ginger.  Having been here once many years ago, we purchased little woven baskets filled with samples of all of these spices.  Growing conditions are perfect, since this island sits 12 degrees above the Equator.  No wonder the heat from the sun was so intense here.

 

Two other islands – Carriacou and Petite Martinique also belong to this island group.  The population is 90,000.  On September 7, 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused extensive damage to these islands, wiping out most of the nutmeg trees.  The capital of Saint George’s had much damage, taking it years to recover.  The National Cricket Stadium had just been completed, but was destroyed.  The Chinese government came to the rescue and helped to restore the complex in time for the World Cup Cricket competition in 2007.

 

There were a few tours here which included water sports, island drive, best of Grenada, river tubing, and highlights.  The prices ranged from $50 to $130. 

 

Now, here’s the thing…..we were not allowed past the guards after weaving through the terminal shops.  The only way out was to hire a taxi driver, or pay an escort to walk us through town.  Neither option was acceptable to us.  And from what we saw, it was not working for the other passengers either.  We don’t get it, when any of us are allowed to go all over the island, taxi or not, the virus would still be spread or picked up by locals.  It should be all or nothing.  So it boils down to money and the local taxi union, which we have witnessed in many other places around the world.  We have seen barricades thrown in front of the mini vans as they tried to leave the port in Vanuatu. In essence, we were being held like captives unless we did it their way.  So, we turned around and headed back to the ship with all the rest of the grumpy guests.  Lucky we have such a nice ship to spend the rest of the day onboard.  We had gotten a notice from HAL this morning that this port will be substituted once again on a future sailing.  Perhaps by then, the restrictions will be lifted.

 

Back on the ship, we ran into Barb on our deck in the elevator lobby.  While we were chatting with another couple, we spotted a hazmat team of four crew members coming down the hallway with two guests, luggage in tow, heading towards the aft section.  The carpets and walls were being heavily sprayed as they passed by.  Oh no…..it must be Covid, and they were going into quarantine.  We discovered that area a few days ago while we were attempting to go to the aft elevator using deck five.  The fire door was closed with a note saying crew only.  So we assumed that was the Covid area for passengers.  It would be confirmed later by asking our waiters.

 

Here’s another strange thing….all aboard was 3:30pm, however, no one would be allowed to leave the ship after 2pm.  Those on tours could come back after 2pm.  Since we were on the wrong side to watch the pier activity, we went up to the jogging deck to watch the gangway pulled in.  Four officers were standing there waiting for more guests.  Eventually, they arrived but not until 4pm.  They must have been on an HAL tour, or they would have been left behind. 

 

We are now headed northwest to Saint Kitts, another new island for us.  Hope we are not turned away again.

 

We had tried to get reservations for the three of us in Tamarind this evening, but were told there was only one space left.  What?  We are still trying to figure that out.  So we made it for tomorrow at 8pm. 

 

Tonight’s dinner was good with the best tomato/bell pepper bisque.  Each of us ordered a different entrée – one lasagna, alternate chicken (very moist and tasty), and pot roast with mashed taters, as Barb always says.  So far, we have been happy with the daily choices.

 

By the way, the Pinnacle Grill has been opened on sea days for lunch from 12 to 1pm, but always closed on port days.  And the photo ops are everywhere, every day, and every night.  To be truthful, at times they can be a bit over-the-top with pushing their services.  We prefer to seek them out instead.

 

One other small thing we found out was concerning the Jacuzzi on deck five forward.  It is reserved for the staff, not the guests, which we figured.  More than likely it would be used when the ship is docked, or else they might be blown overboard.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

Thanks for your very informative reports.  We will be aboard Sunday for your next leg.  Any word on passenger size next week?

My wife's friends refer to those jar gripper pads as "rubber husbands"

I'll second Jordan Peterson and we also enjoyed Gilly & the Girl.  Our favorite headliner was Lyndsey Hamilton.  Saw her several times and love her voice...also a very nice lady.

Can you check to see if the mens and womens changing rooms in the gym/spa still have saunas?  Thanks and enjoy.

Yes John...aka villager70...thanks so much for taking time out of your short cruise to give us info on the post drydock Jewel. We're among the lucky ones on the TA leaving tomorrow.

Will be looking for your reports Bob as we are on the TA following your cruise.

We are also on the TA. I find it interesting that the new cabins being added are not available for booking on our cruise. In addition they do not have the new specialties available for reservations. Hoping that they are just hedging their bets and minimal work will be going on during the TA.

This was one of the reasons that we changed our cabin from 9076 to 7676. We love the aft anyway and 9076 is right below what was the Concierge lounge but is now a new cabin...also across the hall was the library which is also being converted to a cabin. Didn't want the annoyance of construction noise if they were still working on them especially since the cabins are not available to book yet.

Still expecting a great cruise.

Keg...thanks for the review. We're on the TA post drydock and in cabin 7676. What balcony furniture did you have and were there any odor issues in the cabin?

Yes, no corkage fee too.

Excellent...thanks for the quick response.

You must be thinking of another cruise line. There are no corkage fees on Royal, and the limit is two bottles per stateroom, no matter how many guests in the stateroom.

Can you bring your 2 allowed bottles into the dining room? Thanks.

Of course you can bring the 4 bottles!

Great thread! I couldn't agree more that the wine by the glass offerings for the packages is completely lacking. Our last cruise was in January on the Constellation and we upgraded to the premium package to get a better selection of red wines. I had read about the sommeliers working with you and offering things not on the list. Not so on our cruise. She provided poor service and did nothing for us. One night after sitting for 30 minutes with empty glasses I went out to cellarmasters and brought us the decent tempranillo they had that fit into the package. Boy did that both light a fire under her and piss her off at the same time. We found cellarmasters had a better list but still had to pay a buck or two upcharge to get the Benziger cab for instance. Just my two cents.

We were in 3144 on the Summit this May. Every night around midnight to 1AM or so noise would begin and continue on and off for about an hour. We more or less laughed it off but one night I went up to deck four to investigate. It turns out the cabin is directly below a public restroom and that's the time of day they did the big cleaning of it. Based on our experience we'd not book 3144 again but would take any of the others.

We too are fans of Jordan. First saw him on the Century in Feb and then again on the Summit the end of May. Would plan our day around his sets! We're back on the Summit in early Oct but it sounds like he will be gone by then.

We are on the 3rd leg of our b2b2b. This cruise we have three Elite drink vouchers per person/per day (except embarkation & Sr. Officer party days) on this cruise. The vouchers can be used in all lounges including the Cova Cafe and the Elite Lounge but not the MDR, Murano's, Michael's Club, and the Martini Bar. Unlike the vouchers we had on our November Eclipse cruise, we can use them only for drinks on the Elite menu and not for items on the Classic Beverage package. That means no bottled water or Riesling and only Chardonnay for me with the coupons.

 

More later from the cruise. I'll be posting on Andy's "questions" thread too.

 

Kathy

We were on the prior 2 legs and wish they had used the voucher system particularly on the 2/15 leg. The lounge was very crowded and service spotty altho it got better as the trip went on and we connected with a couple of the wait staff.

We gave up on Celebrity and Hawaii round trip from California. We just booked Carnival for October for their 15 day Hawaii cruise from LA. We liked this a little more than Princess since the Carnival Miracle does 5 days in Hawaii, and the Princess 4 days. Both are 15 days total. We have sailed Carnival before and have not had any problems. Obviously, Celebrity is a bit more upper class, but they had nothing to offer. We were on the Equinox in December 2013 for 11 days in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico and the food could not have been any worse. Everyone at our table complained about the selection and quality, so going to Carnival may be a welcome relief. We are on the Eclipse for 14 days next month (March 2014) and are hoping for much better. The Equinox is a great ship, but the food was far inferior to what we are used to. December's cruise was our first going back to Celebrity after we reached Diamond status on RC last spring. We are now Elite on Celebrity and were hoping for much better. My wife said if it was our first Celebrity cruise, we probably would never go back. The joke at our table of ten is the head chef was on vacation.

We are E+ on X but equal opportunity cruisers and just did the 15 day Miracle to Hawaii in December and had an excellent time. The longer voyage brought with it a mellower crowd and the food and entertainment was very good. We especially liked the show band which also did sets all cruise in several venues...10 pieces plus a singer!! Very full sounding big band much like all the lines used to have. Have fun.

Great pics!! We have the sister cabin (7003) booked on the Infinity for a couple 2 week trips in 2012 and these are the best pics I've seen of the layout. Thanks.

Man I just returned from a TA on Princess to read this saga. I do love a happy ending since we are shareholders and also have a next cruise cert. with X. Funny that Princess just recently has started allowing the combination of OBC's. Anyway great job to those who communicated with RCL on this...I'm sure it made Linda Buchanon's life hell the past couple of weeks.

Just got 2 nights post cruise in Seattle starting 6/30 at the downtown Sheration 4* for $90 per night.

Gotta love priceline!