BananaMama66

Thank you for this @OysterD!!  Looking forward to your review as we will be doing this same itinerary next month. Cheers 🥂 

Thank you @Stockjock for taking the time to do this great honest review!  I have really enjoyed the commentary and the photos. 

Thanks @ByThePond for taking the time to report! 

Hi @CDNPolar! Welcome home and thank you for taking the time to report back about your eSIM travel experience. It is helpful information. 
 

I hope that the eSIM challenges didn’t take away too much from your vacation and that you had a great time. 

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

There are web browsers (Opera) and password managers (Dashlane) that have built in VPNs. They may not have all of the bells and whistles of the better paid VPNs, but may be suitable for the infrequent user.

Thanks @Fouremco.  I will check out Opera and Dashlane as I definitely fall into the category of infrequent user. 
 

To @Yowman’s point, it seems like any online presence (VPN, PayPal, Amazon) is a risk these days but it’s almost impossible to avoid having an online presence. I guess it’s the price we pay for the convenience.

Apologies to the OP for the “thread drift” away from the topic of eSIMS 🙃

Thanks very much for this @cmich068!  It’s a relief to know that WhatsApp will work for us with our eSIMs.
 

I have considered a VPN but we don’t really travel frequently enough or use public wifi regularly so haven’t gone that route (yet).

It would be great to hear back about your experience with the eSIMs. I hope it goes smoothly for you and that you have no unexpected charges from Rogers. 
 

Americans and Europeans are fortunate to have such a variety of service providers to choose from that offer more competitive rates and better service than we get here. 
 

Have a wonderful trip!

LOL! I appreciate the clarification. Since we still have a land line plus cell phones, I think of “home number “ as the land line number.  More research required but it’s fun to learn new things!

Thanks CDNPolar! I didn’t pick up on the detail about using your home number rather than the cell number.  

15 hours ago, cmich068 said:

Wifi Calling will work outside Canada as described on this thread if you are a Rogers or Fido customer.

 

Bell, Telus, and their discount brands block the use of Wifi Calling outside Canada, and while there are some ways around this if necessary it won't work for what is being described here - using wifi calling via a foreign esim. 

cmich068, can you please share the “ways around this if necessary” that you mention above. We are with Virgin Plus (discount brand of Bell) and will be using an eSIM for an upcoming European trip. We were hoping to use WhatsApp for the rare occasional call (e.g. restaurant reservation) but now I’m wondering if that will work. 
 

Thank you in advance and thanks to all for this helpful, informative thread!

We stayed in a Deluxe Porthole Verandah on deck 7 on Apex last fall. The room was the DPV furthest aft and we could hear the bass from the later shows being performed in Eden. Otherwise it was a very quiet cabin. We are early-to-bed people so if you tend to go to bed later (after the shows at Eden are over), then you probably won’t have a problem. 

DH and I dined in Blu on Edge in September and there were tables by the curtain in the “back-to-back” configuration at that time. 

Thanks so much hrhdhd!  I never would have looked for the hairdryer in the bathroom. They are usually in a drawer in the the desk/dressing table.
 

I promise, no duct tape on the hair dryer (yuck - the residue). The rubber band idea mentioned earlier by bama4cruisin may be my go to solution. 
 

Thanks for the helpful replies. 

Thank you bama4cruisin!  My hair is medium length and I style it as I dry so prefer to have a dryer that will stay on. I like the idea of the heavy duty rubber band!

Can anyone please tell me 

(1) are hairdryers provided in all staterooms on Edge class ships?
(2) if so, are they the kind of dryers that you have to hold a button in place to keep the dryer running?
 

We are trying to pack carryon only for our upcoming cruise and it would save space if I didn’t have to bring my hairdryer. 
 

Thanks in advance for your help!

I don’t know and wondered the same thing myself.  The Guest Services rep made it clear that this was what they had been told in regards to the port fees for Halifax. For comparison purposes, we checked the port fees for next year’s Snowbird Migration cruise and they are almost $100 per person more than what we paid for this cruise so I don’t dispute that the fees may have increased. 

Regarding the non-refund of port fees for Halifax, the explanation that I was  given by Guest Services is as follows (and this is their explanation which I had to ask the rep to explain to me twice):  originally the itinerary was to be all Canadian ports (Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Saint John) followed by US ports. When the itinerary was changed and we were going to Saint John after visiting 2 US ports, apparently all of the port fees charged went up in price. 🤔. So the amounts that we all pre-paid for port fees were not adequate so RCCL made up the difference. When Halifax was cancelled and the port fees refunded, RCCL decided to keep the money to make up the shortfall that they had to pay to cover the increase in port fees. 
 

I am curious to hear if any other Cruise Critic members have ever heard of this or had this happen to them. 
 

And thanks Dragon for the excellent review!

BananaMama

Thank you for doing this review- I have been following every day and am enjoying it very much!! DH and I will be taking this cruise in August and are also fans of the Wente Cab whichwe discovered last year on Summit. Can you tell me if it is still availableby the glass or just by the bottle? On our last cruise, the price of aglass of Wente Cabernet was such that it was included in our Classic Package - we are hoping the same is true this year.

Thank you in advance! Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

We just got off the Freedom Trans-Atlantic last Sunday and there was definitely a 70's party. A few of the guests dressed up for it.

The drop-off location for this tour is the Placa de Catalunya, very near the Hard Rock Cafe. This is at the top of La Rambla and our hotel (Hotel Continental) was a very short walk around the corner from this drop-off spot. Hope this info is helpful to others considering this post cruise excursion. Cheers,

BananaMama

We have booked the post-cruise Barcelona City & City Center Transfer through RCCL. We would like to know where the tour bus drops us off at the end of the tour so we can determine if it is within walking distance of our hotel or if we should take a cab. Can anyone who has taken this excursion recently please let me know where the tour ends (for example: Placa de Catalunya, Las Ramblas)?

Thank you very much in advance.

BananaMama66

On Allure last month, the Central Park tour was free and lasted approximately one hour. On the Eastern itinerary, the tour took place at 9:30 am on the first sea day.

Did you make it to Vintages at all? If so, was the lovely Gemma there?

We were on Allure in November and hoped to see Gemma again at Vintages. The current manager there, Jerome, informed us that she had resigned from Royal Caribbean a few months ago. She was lovely and fun and will be missed!

We are presently on Allure on our first week of B2B cruises. At the consecutive cruisers meeting this morning, the Guest Administration Officer informed us that several guests had contracted gastrointestinal illness during the cruise. So that is why the OP observed the extra sanitation procedures. Also, we were advised that the ship would require sanitation tomorrow once we dock in Fort Lauderdale. We were told that boarding tomorrow is delayed until 1:00 pm (including for consecutive cruisers) and that staterooms will not be available until 3:00 pm tomorrow. So for those boarding tomorrow, just be prepared for a delay getting on the ship and getting to your stateroom.

BananaMama

Thanks Carol, as always, for your reply!

Cheers,

BananaMama