ajtaylor29

I second other comments that you should try to do private excursions in the med if you can. Taking the ship excursions will involve a busload of people, which is slower and harder to get around and see the sites. You spend valuable time loading and unloading the bus! We've been several times now and almost always book private excursions. We feel like we get to see more and beat the crowds, especially if you're headed to a tourist area. BTW, you might try looking on the ports of call boards here for advise of others who are doing this same route. I always find great tips and advise there! Also, look for a roll call for your sailing?

I just came back to add - once we shift to daylight savings time this weekend...the ship time may be the same as local time now?!? Why can't we just keep time the same?!?! It's so confusing.... 🙂

This makes sense! I had always heard that it was the captains decision that's why it varies from ship to ship. Don't know why it would be his/her decision but that's what i've heard?!? Aruba/Curacao - they WERE an hour ahead....once we realized that we did have to contact our excursion company to adjust our arrival time with them.

We were on Symphony the end of January! He waws NOT our room steward, thankfully!

Which is important to remember because the time in ports will be different (Aruba and Curacao) so if you've booked private excursions you need to make sure you coordinate the local time vs. ship time!

We just did this itinerary in January and had a great time! I'm not always a big fan of the shows, but i loved Hiro and Hairspray!! We also saw 1 comedy show late night, and the ice show, enjoyed them both!

A couple of weeks ago there were a lot of cabins in all categories. So, they must have sold a bunch and now getting pretty full!

The good news for us is that this cruise now shows up again on the website! SO, hopefully it was just a glitch in their system and we're back on track! Now i have to worry about no hot water - what have you done to me?!?! 🙂 That would NOT be good....let's hope they have everything worked out before we board. Interesting that you're going to have so many ships/choices sailing out of LA. This is our first west coast cruise out of LA, so we're looking forward to a new ship and itinerary for us. We live in TX so often sail out of Galveston but usually fly to Florida. We still occasionally do a Carnival cruise (usually because of the itinerary) so hope you enjoy your Firenze cruise. We've done Alaska twice on Carnival ships. I pretty much love every ship I'm on, anywhere and anytime! Haven't had a BAD one yet....although definitely can rate some better than others!

oops

wow, that's amazing!!! so, yes they still sell it! i buy in giant bottles then pour it in to my travel size bottle!

well, everybody's hair is different, so i have no idea if this would be good for you or not!! But - i have very fine hair so most conditioners add weight to my hair and any style i try quickly falls flat! I use a product called Infusium Pro 23, it's a clear (looks like water) leave in product that helps untangle but doesn't weigh my hair down. I've used it for years.

My hair care routine is pretty easy BUT i have a certain conditioner that i have to use or my hair will not be good!!! So, i always take a carry size bottle of conditioner. The other products work fine for me.

😮

What does this even mean?!? i'm old i guess.... 🙂

We're booked on the April 12th sailing of Navigator OTS out of Los Angeles. The ship is currently in a scheduled dry-dock and this cruise is the 1st one upon the ships scheduled return to sailing. As of 3 days ago, it looked like there were approx 200 available cabins (including all categories) I know because we've been stalking the website because of our Royal Up bids!! Anyway - as of this morning, this cruise no longer shows up on the website AT ALL. I think it's pretty unlikely that it sold out in 3 days. The only explanations i can come up with are either A) the website is messed up and it will correct itself any minute or B) some delays are becoming evident in the drydock and they're anticipating having to cancel this cruise....??? I hope this is not the case, but wonder if anyone else has any info? Am i just being paranoid? We've never had a cruise cancelled, but we've also never booked the 1st one out of drydock and i know these things happen some times.

We just got off a couple of weeks ago and my husband played video poker in there (but i played vp in the regular smoking casino because, you know - vaping.... 🙂 ) but i'm pretty sure there was not a craps table in there. maybe roulette, bj, one other like texas hold em....someone else should confirm this for sure as i only walked thru a few times so i wasn't really paying much attention.

hmmm, what was the negative feedback? Celebrity is already non-smoking in the casinos, right? So, they introduced vaping as an option to totally non-smoking and got complaints....i can imagine why?!? in RC's case they would be taking away some form (smoking) which i think would be met with cheers?!

As a former smoker and current vaper, i'll weigh in with my 2 cents on this very sensitive subject.. First, i totally understand the questions and frustrations from non-smokers as to why they won't change the policy. My big question is why won't they ENFORCE the policy that smoking is only allowed while playing?!? Years ago (when i still smoked) i was shocked and disappointed when they outlawed smoking on the balconies. Outlawing that forced me and others to 2 areas on the whole ship - either pool deck or the casino. Pool deck was great during good weather and/or while sailing, but the main go-to place was the casino and we smokers would congregate in there from the minute we got on the ship. It was NASTY (but there I was as it was the only place to go)....This still happens (non gamblers hanging out just to smoke) but nobody does anything to enforce the rules. Now that i'm a former smoker, i'll admit that the strong smell really bothers me. I hate having smoke blown in my face and/or ashes spilled all over the machines. However, i am sympathetic to the smokers since there's really nowhere else for them to go. My situation is also complicated because as a vaper, i can only vape in smoking areas. I know many non-smokers feel that these should be lumped together, but please remember that my vape discharges NO smoke, very little smell, disapates quickly, etc. But in order to enjoy my vape i have to play in the smoking casino. If they would outlaw smoking in the casino but allow vaping, most everybody would have a MUCH better experience, the smell would be gone, and most smokers (i think) could tolerate this rule because they could vape while gambling then go out to the pool deck for a regular cigarette. I doubt this will happen but imo it's a viable solution.

Just personal opinion here, but we've tried JR's several times and i just don't think the burgers are very good...?!? Some times it's nice to have a change of pace and a burger sounds good, but then it's just ok....i don't think i've ever tried the milkshakes, tho and i hear they are great!

I don't remember any balconies called "sunset" balconies so i'm not sure....? is that what they're called on RC's website? We were just on Explorer last fall and didn't notice that room type. Best advise i have is to look up deck plans on a site like cruisedeckplans dot com, there you'll get a detailed description of each cabin and cabin type.

Hmmmm, i'm pretty sure they didn't leave us that survey but maybe they did and i lost it in the shuffle!? I know people love them and that's great, i'm just one person and i save RC money on blocks/cost them money on other things!!!

I just don't understand the allure of these blocks i guess....and i had no idea they were selling on e-bay?? (or maybe i should say "offered" on e-bay....does anybody really buy them for $100 or more....?? Hubby and I just received our first blocks on Symphony last week. Ok, they're pretty. But, what am i going to do with them when i get home?? I already have cups, t-shirts, koozies, hand sanitizors, drink coolers, lanyards, masks....all with RC logo on them and most sitting on a shelf in the closet (well, except for the koozies, we USE those!!). We love Royal, and we do appreciate the gestures to thank us for our loyalty, but i'm trying to PURGE at my house and don't need more stuff that we won't use!!! Also, those things are heavy and i didn't need to extra weight in our suitcases since we were flying home. So, we returned our blocks to guest services where they were VERY happy to get them back?! So if anyone is anxiously awaiting your Symphony block and you receive it this week - you can thank ME!!!! 😁

We took a short 4-day cruise on Voyager in December and it was my least favorite casino experience at sea yet. Very crowded, weird layout. There's a whole side of the casino walled off that was apparently a high-limit area when it was in Asia that is now just empty (which leads to the rest of the casino being so cramped). I'm sure at some point they'll open that up which will be a big improvement. The day we boarded we found: 3 ANCIENT single line games by the bar that were turned off. And, 5 new-looking super star machines against one wall that were non-operational. I think they had just been brought on and they hadn't had time to get them set up yet. We found a host and complained about there being zero video poker on board....they didn't seem too concerned but later that night they "turned on" the 3 by the bar. My husband played there some, but i love playing multi-line games so for me there was no vp at all. I played blackjack and a few slots. Saved me some money that weekend! I'm sure by now those machines are up and running.

Hubby and I are video poker players and we've been on many RC cruises. Usually, they will have several SuperStar machines, which play a variety of single or multi-hand games. Then they will have a few single line games. Usually some on the smoking side and some on the non-smoking side. Pay tables are bad. We know better than to play on a ship but we always do!?!? Superstar machines have straight poker, super times pay, ultimate-x, spin poker. And most will have jacks or better, bonus poker, double double, deuces wild, etc. The usual games. Rarely we see triple double.

We just got off Symphony this past Sunday. 2 couples both in owners suite so we had CK available to us all week. Everybody is different so this is just my opinion - but we love CK and avoid the MDR (it takes too long and often the food is just so-so). So on our 8 night cruise, we never went in the MDR or Windjammer. We ate breakfast in the Solarium once. (smaller scale buffet assortment, but we love the ambiance, smaller crowds, etc.) Multiple days we had room service breakfast (very good and i love coffee in the morning on my balcony!) One lunch at El Polo Fresh one dinner at Chops one dinner at Hibachi Grille all other meals at Coastal Kitchen I think the quality in CK is very good. I only had one meal (fish) that i didn't love, but other nights i always found something i liked. I agree with someone's comment that the menu is getting a little tired, it's time for them to update it. All other meals we had were great as well. Honestly, we had no problem finding plenty of great food on this trip!