Miamia65

Maybe you are right, it is odd that they have removed the explorer info from the website and left the quantum info there, they are also promoting the dining on quantum on instagram and have not released the deployment in china yet .... I would definitely go on her if she comes to Australia....

thanks for sharing your 3+ weeks on the World, loved your travel blog and photos..

Just saying, in case it offends but Orient Beach is a nudist beach. We aren't offended by these beaches, however when we pulled up at the beach this guy deliberately turned around to show off his bits..... thought you might want to know this!

Hi Denise

Loving your review, you mention a few posts back the ability to order flowers. There was a flower cart on Oasis in December, we cruised B2B on 7 and 14 December and purchased a bunch each week. It was located on the promenade between Boleros and the first shop/opposite Starbucks. I didn't notice it but my daughter did - she loves flowers LOL. Definitely easy to miss....

Cabin 8520 on rhapsody is a RFS, we had this cabin in October 2012. As described but other poster you can sleep 8 people, 2 in main bedroom which has wardrobe, vanity and shower/bath/toilet, lounge area has a double sofa bed and then the 2nd bedroom sleeps 4 singles has a walk in robe and shower/toilet.

It is an awesome cabin for families

Agree with other posters, port side for sailaway but starboard side for all caribbean ports.

There are some secret decks, deck 14 forward port side - go to deck 14 port side of ship, walk all the way to the front of the cabin hallway and there is a glass door that takes you out to the "sun deck".

Also at the aft of decks 11, 12 and 14 - some instructions follow the cabin hallway on both sides (port for sailaway) and you will find a glass door and a small balcony.

Robbo

Even if you link your bookings, go to guest services during the 1st cruise and make sure that they are aware that you are a consecutive cruiser.

We did not change cabins, but I understand that if you do, you will need to pack up anything that's in drawers etc into your luggage. The staff will move your luggage and anything hanging in the wardrobe for you.

I might get flamed for saying this, but Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach are nice places but not as great as our beaches.

On the changeover day between cruises, after it took almost 2 hours to disembark (not the fault of the cruise line rather customs officers), we caught a taxi to the beach - it was a nice day but very windy, most of the malls are a fair distance away. Then when we got off the ship after the 2nd week, we hired a car from Fort Lauderdale airport, so caught a taxi and then drove to Miami - you will need a Sunpass (like a govia card) prepaid otherwise you get charged extra, it was about a 30 minute drive to South Beach which was OK and then we went to the mall area which was similar to broadbeach / surfers mall on the Gold Coast but much longer. The area is populated by cubans which were really nice people but parking was very difficult. We eventually found a carpark building which was good because most of the streets around South Beach has parking but only for residents.

Our next destination was Washington and our flights was 9.30pm the night of disemarking so we thought we would check out Miami. The driving was easy and americans drive much faster than the speed limit so you have to keep up!!! Sorry you might have been to the USA before so jut saying!

I have posted about this on other threads, we did a B2B on Oasis in December last year, similar problems and we had the "in transit card" - we tried to skip the line of people waiting to get to either the baggage claim or the customs line but kept getting told to stay in in the line. Very frustrating. Thanks to a gentleman called Craig who is a serial B2B cruiser, we knew that it would take at least 2 hours to get off the ship as the cruise line cannot control what the customs people do. Funny thing also was when we arrived at the customs counter, the people in front of us had their luggage etc and nobody checked their handbags or anything and when we presented the "in transit" card the customs officer check our handbags/backpacks .... seriously we were getting OFF the ship for the day.

One thing I did notice when we disembarked and embarked on changeover day was that the ding thingy actually did 2 dings which indicated that we were B2B and although we had to go through security getting back on the ship, we walked straight past the check-in counter and went upstairs to the setpass scanner, the ding went twice and they stopped us to take another photo for the next card.

At the consecutive cruiser meeting we filled in a form for the 2nd weeks bookings for comedy shows and headliners but guess what - no bookings in the system for the 2nd week, so that was a waste of time!

We picked up our seapass for the 2nd cruise on the friday morning from guest services (we cruised on oasis which leaves on a saturday). We had to take both sets of cards, the 1st weeks cards to disembark and the 2nd weeks cards to embark. To be honest it's really not worth the hassle and I did discuss this with someone from guest relations.

On a related topics, we also used the luggage valet when we got off the ship, after the B2B. Which meant we didn't have any luggage, so in theory should have been able to fast track through the line again and go straight to customs, but NO same story, we had to join the line and wait for people to get downstairs to the luggage collection area and then line up again in the customs line.

When I spoke to guest relations after the changeover day and I asked about disembarking when using luggage valet and explained how long it took on changeover day and would it be the same, was told NO you can just walk down to the customs counter. The staff did advise that in the past they had escorted B2B and luggage valet users off the ship but it was at a pre-designated time and the service wasn't well used so they stop offering it.

Good luck with your complaint I hope that you get an outcome for future cruisers, BUT like I said I wouldn't bother next time.

Nassau - do not go on the ferry, catch a taxi to Atlantis or to other parts of Nassau. We got caught out with this operator and after waiting in the terminal for half an hour the guy took us to the ferry (it was a large water taxi), we then had to wait another half hour for them to fill it up with people and then it wouldn't start... it eventually started but I was surprised we made it.

Taxis are about $10 each way, worth the extra $$$. If you want to see Atlantis book through the cruise line otherwise you really can't see the resort as you either need to be a guest there or on an organised excursion.

St Thomas we went on a catamaran to a beach about 1 hour away from the port and swam with turtles. Quite a busy spot, coral reef was ok.

St Maarten - definitely go to Maho (Airport) Beach - search this beach on youtube and allow 2-3 hours. If you want to experience the aeroplanes taking off, go in the afternoon. We hired a private taxi for 5 hours and went around the entire island both french and dutch sides. It was worth the $$ I think it was around $300 for 6 people. Also good duty free prices in St Maarten right at the port, I purchased caribbean rum for $30.

We will also be cruising on Quantum out of China, great news for the Asian region of the world.

In December we cruised on Oasis, there was a very large group of chinese on board, we had a D1 cabin on deck 8, most of the cabins around us were occupied by chinese passengers - they already love cruising so this may very well be a good decision for RCI.

Sorry to read that americans are upset about this, but as I have said on other threads on this forum, you are very very lucky to have the number of ships operating out of various ports in the USA.

The Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal is getting an upgrade, we here in Australia are hoping that bigger ships than voyager class will be able to come to Australia, homeported here would be even better.

Definitely on my bucket list, can't wait for the bookings to open up!

I am turning 50 next year so am planning a cruise in October, I don't care what the itinerary is I just want to cruise on Quantum of the Seas .....

Ok now that most of the fleet deployment has been released/announced, how about we guess where the heck Legend is going.

Hopefully Legend will be coming to Australia and home-porting in Brisbane …… any other thoughts?

Not sure how old your kids are but Royal Caribbean has a new sale where kids cruise for $25 per day - in the same cabin as adults as 3rd and 4th passenger. I did some searching and on same of the cruises the pricing indicates that the price for 3rd and 4th is the taxes only, ie. 12 nights to south pacific on rhapsody was $187 each.

I think royal caribbean does entertainment much better than the other lines, voyager is an awesome ship as are the smaller ones. We have been on oasis of the seas and she is an amazing ship. From what I have read they are "family friendly"

Other posters comment is important too, have you joined the Crown and Anchor society of royal, you get points per night for loyalty. Its easy to join via their website. All of the cruise lines have loyalty programs but if you stick with one line because you like them then your points accumulate with them faster.

MicCanberra

Oh yeah really good point, that's another great option with 28degrees card.... loading cash on it. I like that.

here is a recent story...

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/cruise-megaliner-explorer-of-the-seas-to-be-biggest-ship-ever-based-in-australia-20140407-368r7.html

Sorry I should have been clearer in my response. You can use a visa debit and withdraw cash from an atm in NZ and because the aussie dollar is better you won't lose any money. I wasn't suggesting to use the 28degrees card as it is a credit card for cash withdrawals, rather for credit transactions - only because it is a more cost effective credit card without the usual international fees.

Acknowledging also that if you do multiple cash withdraws using a visa debit you will get multiple international transaction fees, so try to limit the number of transactions as well OR use the 28degrees credit card and pay it off when you get home to avoid interest charges.

The Aussie dollar is better than the NZ dollar, so if you use a credit card or withdraw cash from an ATM in NZ you shouldn't lose any money, in fact your will probably make money.

We used Aussie dollars in Vanuatu, so that just leaves New Caledonia and depending on what port you stop at you may need different currency.

We took USD on an RCI (sister line to Celebrity) and just used it to pay the account at the end of the cruise, but based on how much you might spend often it's not worth bothering as all of your onboard expenses are charged to your room and you pay at the end, so if you get a 28 degrees master card with no annual fee and no international currency exchange fee you can minimise the currency exchange costs. Even if you purchase USD in australia through a broker you will get charged a conversion fee and depending on the exchange rate on the day it all adds up.

bugger! thanks Merion_Mum.

we've been on rhapsody before and didn't take any notice of the dividers!

We are going on rhapsody in november, does she have glass dividers on the balcony between cabins and can they be opened?

taking my daughter on rhapsody in november for her hs graduation / schoolies cruise.

and here is the press release about explorer, it has a paragraph about the month-long refurbishment ..

http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/download-press-release/1090/

Flowriders will be a big hit in Australia, both Voyager and Explorer are getting them. Voyager is going into drydock later this year and Explorer early next year, so Aussies will love the extra activities when explorer arrives later next year.

We are all hoping that one of the 3 ships deployed to Australia will stay all year round rather than just half of the year. Although there is a rumour that Legend is also coming to Australia and will homeport in Brisbane.

Lots of talk on the Aust/NZ thread about Explorer

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2020427

Sailing for Europe 2015 are posted and open on the RCI website.

 

No indication where she goes from October 2, 2015 in Southampton indicated.

RCI just announced by email to C&A members in Australia, that Explorer of the Seas will come to Australia in late 2015 to join Voyager and Radiance OTS. We are very excited, bookings open in the week 29 April.

I've never had my carryon weighed by QANTAS either, it must be random or if it looks heavy.

yes definitely. the freestyle machines also have other drinks like flavoured water.