sharktums

Add me to the group that the mask is not as bad as some of you are making it out to be.  I'm at disney several times a week wearing a mask in 90+ degree weather.  Wearing it on a ship will be much easier!  And they play announcements at Disney telling you to keep it on unless you are eating or drinking WHILE stationary.  It can work if people just follow simple rules.  I would LOVE to get on a cruise again and will jump through whatever hoops they want to make it happen. 

^Japanese NHK News station is reporting the 39 new cases.

7 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

What two ships?

 

I was there in mid-November with Grandeur and Anthem.  The only part that was crowded was around the Oasis Pool bar.  Plenty of lounges / umbrellas, no lines at food venues, etc.

Navigator and Mariner.  Totally agree with your assessment as well. 

Actual data point...

We were just there on Sunday with two ships and the island and water park didn't feel crowded at all.  We actually commented that the island would feel empty with only one ship!  Our group did the big slide multiple times and EVERY other slide in the water park more than once along with the wave and activity pools.  Plus we walked around to the beach and giant pool.  Don't stress and freak out now.  It's not worth it,  you'll have fun.  Just be smart about it.  Hit up the low capacity rides first and last.

Thanks for the great review!

Thanks for the review.  We're doing Unlimited Dining on a three day Mariner next month so I really appreciate your review.  Can you confirm you were able to just show up for lunch at Chops on Embarkation Day? I assume on our three day we could do Johnny Rockets and/or Playmakers as a 'second' late night dinner after an early meal at Chops/Jamie's/Izumi?

We made friends (ie tipped well the first day and other random days) with a bartender on Serenade and always asked for cans for our soda package or diamond drink time package because the taste is so much better and he happily obliged. 

In the past when dining with our under 12 kid who would order off the adult menu sometimes they would charge the $10 and sometimes the full price.  If they only charged $10 we would leave a bigger tip. Now that she's 12 we just buy the adult package for her. It really depends on ship, restaurant, and server.

I think it is if you have others in your party that DO enjoy sushi.  I don't eat any seafood, but enjoy the Gyoza, salads, and some of the Izumi's that have either hot rock or other non-fish options.  If no one in your party does Sushi, then it may be worth a pass for a restaurant you'd all enjoy more. 

^Thanks!

You can complete if you have some 'saved up', but I meant more you won't be able to spin and get anything new or if you have a task to spin a stop 7 days in a row or anything that won't be able to happen and you'll have to start over. 

Also a Pokemon Player here and can confirm some of what's above.

- Nothing will spawn in the ocean when you are traveling unless you use incense.

- No stops or gyms ON the boat.

- Using wifi or data you'll be able to play in different ports.

- In some ports I was able to reach a stop or gym from the boat!

- If you have a sea day you will NOT get to spin a stop or gym so be prepared to miss a day on any streaks or research you have. 

Just as a point of reference, we've travelled in decent sized groups (8-14pax) several times and always gotten a reservation booked at one big table all together once onboard for any of the specialty restaurants we wanted as long as we were flexible and either ate as soon as they opened or later at night. 

Longtime lurker, but just want to thank you for the review and as another person who checked the Cabana pricing after your post and also grabbed one for $299 compared to $549 normal pricing!

Thanks for a great review.  I really enjoyed your cultural take on everything, especially as we've visited India, China, and Japan quite a bit!  Good call in booking a land based, independent, Japan trip.  Japan is our favorite place to visit and we've been doing it on our own once a year since 2004, we just love it so much!

Not to hijack, but does that mean Serenade will also have the hot rock?

We often travel in groups of 10-15 people and make specialty dining reservations as soon as we board.  They usually tell us 5:30pm or 8:30pm for large groups. 

Once dining at the restaurant, just let them know that you'll be picking up the whole tab.

I'm glad to read a review of Serenade in Europe this summer.  I haven't seen too much about how she's doing over there and I'm excited to hear such positive reviews of the ship. Thanks!

It was Day 5 or 6 (sorry don't remember which one) around 7pm in 270.  Shorter and less stuff than we have seen on other ships. 

^I personally addressed some of the SeaPlex staff issues at Guest Relations and was met with a 'meh' attitude.  One of my other friends was so horrified when they closed NorthStar early right in front of us that she went down to GR where they called up to the NorthStar staff who lied and said they were still there so there was 'nothing they could do'.

My tween had a friend in our group so they didn't do any of the kids club activities.  I did see the tween club several times though doing organized activities and meet ups and they seemed to be having fun and a decent group.  Make sure your kids go the first night to the 'meet and greet' just so they know the options, it's harder to meet up later in the trip. 

Taxi's will drop RIGHT at the port.

^What he said.  Don't expect any videos to work, and there could be issues with large photos as well. 

^&^^ Ovation had the new plastic ones with handle and straw on the May 31 cruise.

^^There was a shuttle to/from the ride share area, but keep in mind it could be a 20-30min ride depending on the current cluster.

^iFly opened up on March 15, Pixels on March 20, Northstar on May 10 for a May 31 cruise.

I was one of the members of this group and I'd love to add my opinion along with my friends here.  I will follow his format!

Who: My immediate party was in two balcony connecting cabins, husband, mother, tween daughter, myself. The rest of us have been described above.

Itinerary: I didn't hate it as much as others in my party, but it was pretty lame that we didn't make it remotely near the glacier or have anything else to do.  I did notice that Celebrity offers a round trip Seattle itinerary that is MUCH better with just a 'courtesy' visit to Victoria and more Alaska time.  I wish RC would offer this as well as the airfare is so much cheaper and easier for us flying from far away to do a Seattle roundtrip option. 

Embarkation: We showed up around 11 and it was a HUGE CLUSTER****!!!!  30min to get into the port to drop off my people, 15min to get back out to the parking lot.  We then just walked from the parking lot to avoid the ridiculousness that was this port. Luckily it seems that we were in front of most of the chaos once we found someone to take our bags as check in was fast and then only about a 15min line to get on the ship.  Again, I get that it's a temporary port, but when you're used to the florida embarkation it was a bit of a shock.

Stateroom: My immediate group has been on Quantum and Anthem, and this class just really does the staterooms right.  Awesome layout, storage, plugs, etc.  Our attendant was fantastic!  We never saw him, and yet our room was always done super fast even with our weird schedules. 

Internet: Yeah, there is not a way to describe how bad the internet was. Oh wait, there is...remember old school dial up? Yeah, like that but worse.  A few things about this...I get that we're 'on vacation' but my husband and I run our own business and need to be connected.  MOST of the time in the last few years this has not been a problem while on RC cruise ships.  Also, they were ADVERTISING this and charging the same as surf and stream on the other ships.  There was NO way to stream, you could barely surf.  Don't advertise and charge the same for a clearly inferior service.  Again, if they were honest about the service and/or charged less it wouldn't have been such a big deal but they were so rude and flat out lying that it was a big turn off.

Service: Yeah, what ^ said.  It was a bit depressing as we had sold our group and friends on this trip and I just felt they didn't get the real experience that we're used to.  We had SEVERAL employees tell us they were leaving in two weeks and so excited to leave.  Maybe that was the problem?  Also, perhaps it comes from the top?  None of us really cared for the captain and he seemed super low energy and uncaring. 

Dining: Ultimate/Unlimited Dining really saved the cruise!  We were able to get reservations for everything we wanted and get to every place we wanted except one time when we tried Izumi for lunch with no reservation and they couldn't take us.  To answer a few questions that we had before sailing I will try to explain here.  

- No double entrees allowed at Chops.  

- Yes you can eat at multiple places in one evening.

- No embarkation lunch at Chops or Jamie's.

- Yes Amber and Oak pub food included. (really good, but had weird, bad service)

- No you cannot get the Jamie's food at Vintages.

- No you cannot get the Fish and Ships food. (Though you would NOT WANT TO, IT WAS HORRID!!!!)

I was really looking forward to the Windjammer after reading recent positive reviews, but found it pretty subpar.  No 'a la minute' cooking stations, no warm cookies, and annoying staff asking for either 10's or to give up your seat!  

We did sit down dining room lunch once as we love the salad bar and while that was good as normal, the rest of the service and food reminded us why we did the ultimate dining. 

Cafe 270 was good as usual but never had potato chips. I even heard one guy ask about them and was told they would put them out at some point but we never saw any. 

We also did Solarium Bistro one night and it seemed exactly the same as on the Oasis class ships.

Entertainment: I don't really do the ships for entertainment, but love that they've been putting real Broadway shows on them lately (except for Cats!).  Kind of bummed and missed a real show on this ship.  I didn't realize that the Pixels show was the same as Spectre's Cabaret.  I didn't see them use 270 for too many other shows or good activities.  A couple of silent parties, one where the second dj never showed up was pretty bad the first hour!

Sports and Activities: I really wanted to add in on this part.  Everyone we dealt with except the iFly specific staff were really horrible people!  The workers would show up late to sessions and then blame other employees!  One employee complained our whole Northstar ride about the weather and how she really needed better weather and it wasn't fair!  One bumper car session was cancelled (after we had all been waiting for 45min) because they had forgotten to charge half of them!  And they would just leave activities early and pack up! It was soooo odd!!!

Ship in General: This is where I differ from my group.   I LOVE this class of ship!  I just want one with great staff and awesome clientele which I feel we haven't gotten to experience yet.  It's so beautiful, modern, seems more high end, has amazing activities, etc. 

Ports:

Juneau - We just did our own thing here, walked around a lot, ate a lot, and donated to the Juneau Raptor Center and got to meet one of their awesome birds.

Skagway - We did the best private tour ever here!!! We used Beyond Skagway and just had a blast.  Request Sam as your guide/driver and prepare to have fun.  We saw four bears just feet outside our very nice van and amazing scenery.  We did the sled dogs, panning for gold, emerald lake, lunch, Yukon/Alaska sign, view points, etc.  

Glacier Day Sightseeing - Oh wait, nope didn't get to this.  Also in the past they've usually fished out some ice and done a carving or let you touch it and they didn't do that either.  I get that it's a 'safety' issue, but the captain just didn't seem to care or offer anything else.  Why couldn't we stay in the prettier area longer as we were scheduled instead of high-tailing it out of there?!

Sea Days - The outside passage is definitely rougher.  Rained on both big outside passage days and had some high winds and waves. Nothing too terrible though.  For those making Northstar reservations I would avoid the out and back sea day, as one full day of those were cancelled due to weather. 

Victoria - This stop is obviously a legality.  We walked from the port to downtown and it was nice and everything but couldn't help but think why don't we just do a quick stop here and do another Alaska port like the Celebrity ship does! Seriously, we were there like 8am - 6pm then idle back to Seattle.  The Celebrity ship pulled in around 5:30pm and still makes it back to Seattle the  next morning just fine. 

Casino: We did some VERY light playing in the casino, only on low limits tables. They were allowing smoking in part of the casino.  The staff weren't super friendly and lost out on some money from our group by not letting us continue playing on a low limit table. 

Debarkation - After the cluster that was embarkation we decided to do self, pretty early.  We walked off at 7am, walked the 1/2 mile to our car and were in the car by about 7:30am so that was a nice end at least.

Overall, it's a cruise, it's still MOSTLY better than being at home, but I live in Orlando and frequent Disney quite a bit and wish that some of those amazing cast members trained the Ovation employees.  Also, I really don't want to sacrifice ship for itinerary but I know sometimes that is necessary.  I would love to see this ship do a better Alaska itinerary similar to her sister Celebrity line. I prefer Seattle to both Vancouver and Anchorage so a nice roundtrip option would make this a no brainer.  I also prefer this ship to the Radiance class.  What would I recommend for others?  It really depends on your personal preferences, who you are traveling with, and what you want to get out of the vacation. 

Hope this helps, happy to answer random questions!

It's been really helpful following this, even with the poor internet (which we have prepaid for!).

Did any of you have Unlimited Dining and visit multiple restaurants or get multiple entrees in one night?  Was the pub included?

Thanks again!

Thanks to Hoopster and the others contributing to this thread.

Question - Do any of you have the unlimited dining plan?  If so, have you been able to use it for food at the Pub? Able to visit more than one restaurant a night as advertised? Order more than one entree?

Thanks again!