toolworker

How does the basic/free wifi do with Zoom, assuming no hardware or satellite problems.

So if this had not been labeled a Mindful Living Tour, would you (or anyone who took another Mindful Living Tour) have known there was anything different about it?

Some excursions on our upcoming Encore cruise are designated "Mindful Living Tours." The description includes "As an extension of Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil, this Mindful Living tour is designed to deliver an experience that contributes to mind and body wellness." What is the added experience on these tours?

How does the on-board shorex cancellation policy actually work in reality? Booking our first Seabourn cruise, I see some unexpected differences from other high-end lines. For example, most other lines have a fixed on-board cancellation policy such as 48 or 72 hours in advance for a refund. Seabourn says that after three days prior to sailing there may be a cancellation fee, we can't find out the amount until we get on board, but it could be up to 100%. A phone agent said we'd probably lose the whole cost. So we're leery of booking anything before we get on the ship. How does it actually work? Are there some kinds of excursions that normally don't have cancellation fees, and some that charge 100%?

J.W. Marriott at Copacabana. Good location. (They must be giving cruise lines a good deal. On a recent Viking cruise to Venice, the included post-cruise was supposed to be on a hotel in Giudecca, but got changed to an inconvenient island out in the lagoon which Mariott calls Isola Delle Rose but I renamed Elba. But I digress.) There were 5 of us, spending two nights there. One couple had one night plus transfers included, and booked the previous night on the hotel website. The rest of us didn't and booked two nights. The AAA and Senior rates were much cheaper than doing it through Regent, and we got better rooms. And somehow some of our bags wound up with luggage tags from the couple with included transfers, and went on the bus. 😉

At the end of our 20 days, we and our traveling companions have done a number of Zooms, mostly without problems except for those discussed above. Bandwidth has rarely been an issue. There have been a few glitches with the ship's wifi. We're anchored now at Great Stirrup Cay with 4 - 5 bars of BTE, and free 4G data from T-Mobile.

That's the way it was in Rio too.

We're signed up for this excursion. Destination Services wasn't real helpful about details; can anyone here help? How heavy are the tubes that we have to carry on the hike? One of us is small and concerned about the size and weight. What provision, if any, is there for leaving valuables? Shoes and other things we want on the walk but not the tubing? Is there any secure way to take a camera or phone that isn't waterproof?

I turn the sprayer to the wall too, at least until the water gets hot. Hard to wash oneself that way though, so eventually I have to turn it back. And yes, the rainforest heads are low flow. In an A1 - A3 or B1 - B3 cabin there's plenty of drawer space with the addition of that cabinet in the bathroom. The hanging closet is a problem. There's an overhead light a couple of feet back from the mirror, so it doesn't create a shadow. But you're right, the mirror rim lights aren't bright enough; I shave mostly by feel.

Some friends came aboard, providing the opportunity to compare the new Veranda bathroom (left) with the tub and shower configuration (right) in the B4 and A4s. They are unhappy with their cabin's lack of storage space. We've got lots of space. The only difference is our cabinet where their shower stall is. And we are happy with our shower, with one exception. The holder for the telephone sprayer in the B4 shower (top right photo) has height and tilt adjustments. The one in our luxurious shower doesn't. In the cradle, its spray is horizontal. It hits me right in the face, and sails over my wife's head. So it can't be used much with both hands free. But the rainforest head does adjust. Huh? There are also some issues with the closet. There's not enough space for all our hanging stuff, even after removing the two fluffy, luxurious space hog bathrobes. Access to the left side is blocked by the night table. And if both occupants are trying to dress for dinner, the narrow space between the bed and closet makes for some interesting interactions.

Update: Ravi, the Internet Manager, phoned in response to my mid-cruise evaluation complaint about the internet problems. He said there were two causes. One is that in some Caribbean ports there is local interference with the satellite signal. Two of these ports are St. Kitts and St. Vincent. This is exactly consistent with that second Zoom of mine. I was on with a good connection from 10 am, but around 11 am, as we were docking in St. Kitts, Zoom disconnected and couldn't reconnect. Another cause, according to Ravi, is that in some spots at sea there is no satellite footprint. In other places the only available satellite is either slow or flaky. Apparently the Lesser Antilles is such an area. That's consistent with my experience over the past days. Ravi said we can expect none of these problems for the remainder of this cruise back to Miami and our next leg to Quintana Roo and Central America. So I am back to endorsing Riviera's wifi for Zoom except for those two kinds of problems. If they reoccur I'll post an update. And from now on when I board a ship and plan to schedule Zooms, I'll ask the Internet Manager if there are days to avoid.

After 6 days on Riviera, I give the internet a fail. I was able to Zoom a couple of times on the first two sea days; the second time disconnected after an hour or so. After a day in port, when everyone's internet time is crammed into the evening, it feels like ten years ago. And that's when it's up, but in the last couple of days the ship's connection to the internet has been unreliable. Sigh.

I was just talking to someone on a luxury cruise ship. Their tables have one support and the height adjusts.

We ordered breakfast in the room today. It was delivered just fine - but there's no place in a Veranda cabin to eat it. Just this cute little table, and a hassock and small sofa to sit on. It might not have been any better before the refurb. But I've had shipboard room service where they roll in a cart with a top that serves as a table, and warming drawers. Amazon has a folding card table for $28. I'm tempted.

We're aboard Riviera now in a Veranda stateroom, and pleased with the upgrades. I hate tiny night tables with flat tops that things roll off of, that you only discover when checking under the bed before debarking. Look! Three big drawers, a top about 15" x 15" - and fiddle rails! Also on the desk, and also in the Veranda cabins. 120v, 240v, USB charging port and USB-C port labeled "fast charge." So there's half a pound of chargers and my trusty lightweight 18 foot extension cord that I could have left home. This is the first cabin I can remember with a surplus of drawer space. There's plenty in the cabin, and then the same corner drawer and cabinet unit shown in the PH photos. Lots of useful improvements.

After most of a day aboard Riviera, I am pleased with the wifi. I did a quick zoom about 10:30 last night with only minor glitches. Today, a sea day, three Speedtests produced consistent results - 5+ Mbps download, 3+ upload. (RSSC Mariner wouldn't even let me run Speedtest.) The acid test will be before dinner on a port day, but so far it's better than I expected.

FDR believes that dividing the cabin is an amenity reserved for luxury cruise lines. Cabins on Regent have a lightproof curtain between the bed and sitting area. It's fantastic. I can work at the desk or open the window curtains in the morning while my wife sleeps late. She can read at night after I go to bed. It's like having a two room suite. Cabin size isn't the issue. On RSSC Mariner last month our cabin interior was just 12 sf larger than Riviera's veranda cabins. I wish all the cruise lines had divider curtains.

And enough to zoom. Thanks for this. But in port cellular data is available. What's the speed away from land, before dinner when everyone's checking email? I have been told by several phone agents that it has not. They often don't know (although the last one checked.). And they always mention the expensive upgrade to "more bandwidth" which doesn't give more bandwidth, just unblocks streaming sites so the bandwidth can be further degraded. We had great internet on Viking Sky in October. And as @the more ports the better said, "internet is a huge deal for many people who sail on O." The proof is that there are enough users to drastically affect the bandwidth, as mentioned in several posts above.

@Divetripnow, how was the internet on your trip? We'll be on Riviera soon and are hoping to keep up with our weekly zoom. We do have T-Mobile, with free international 4G roaming, so can fall back on that in port. But we'd rather zoom on sea days - like everyone else on the ship. Sigh.

If you have taken this tour from an NCL or other line, how much time did you actually get to walk around at the ruins? Oceania offers a 9 hour tour to Chichen Itza, warning that "Approximate time at the ruins is 45 to 60 minutes. Travel time is approximately 3.5 hours each way (45 minutes ferry transfer to Playa Del Carmen and 2.5 hours bus ride to Mayan Ruins." I'm wondering how accurate this is. Also how comfortable the buses are that Oceania uses. We've seen a good number of Mayan ruins. This will be our only chance to see Chichen Itza; we'll never come back by land. P.S.: If you comment on a tour you've taken, it would help to know the cruise line. Different lines use different equipment.

That was my experience with the app I used on Scenic last year. I suspect the people for whom the app worked better stayed close to the group and didn't have a lot of disconnections. IMHO they should not put the app back in use until it is able to reconnect automatically without requiring user intervention. Even if that's accomplished, I would rather have the Whisper, for a number of reasons. One is that the app will always require the user to be closer to the guide than a Whisper. Wifi range is at most 92 meters (100') outdoors. Whisper claims up to 300 meters. And of course it reconnects automatically.

If the user gets out of range and the connection to the guide drops, does the app reconnect automatically when back in range? Or does the user have to do something?

It wouldn't let you leave them all unchecked? Sorry about that - it's my first poll. It works on wifi. I started up the app to check this. When connecting, it displayed the wifi calling (telephone over wifi) icon in my notification area. So it's using that feature, and I'd guess it needs to be in airplane mode so that incoming or outgoing calls don't try to use the same feature. After exiting from the app, the icon was still there, so the app remains alive and controlling at least one of the phone's settings. I had to kill the app to get rid of it. And then of course remember to take it out of airplane mode. Not ready for prime time.

I wonder if the folks who liked the app stuck close to the guide. The app I used disconnected whenever I got more than 100 feet or so away. That happened often because I like to take photos. Reconnecting was fiddly and often took a minute or two, despite my technical expertise. So most of the time I was either not hearing the guide or trying to reconnect. Some years ago, on a Rhine cruise that used dedicated wireless units, our tour got to the main square in Bonn. There was a flea market, so my wife and I wandered through it and bought something, hearing the guide all the while. When the signal started to fade, we looked around, saw where the group was leaving the square, and caught up. Can't do that with a wifi app! We have T-Mobile. Free texting and data, $0.25/minute calling, almost everywhere outside the U.S. Some plans include 5 Gb high speed data per month.

We will embark in Rio de Janiero and have the included hotel and transfers. Will our checked luggage disappear from the hotel and reappear in our cabin? Or will we have to handle it at the pier? The rules may vary depending on the port. I seem to remember having to take suitcases from the bus and bring them to the porter with the big cart. But I don't remember what port that might have been.