perfect match

Another great Gambee review! And this time I am actually getting to read it as it is being written!

I am really enjoying your excellent pictures, as always. I am also enjoying your detailed written review. I learn so much from reading your reviews, but I have so much fun reading them, too.

I can't wait to see what you did in Grand Cayman, although I think I can make a pretty good guess. I just returned from spending a week there, and I had some really fun adventures during our stay. I'm pretty sure you will have some spectacular pictures. :D

Donovan, thank you very much for taking the time to post this review and all the pictures! I was really happy to see it since we are sailing this same itinerary on the Indy in April 2015. I will be following along to hear about the rest of your trip. :D

I was very happy to save $400.00 on our April 2015 Indy cruise. Kept our aft balcony cabin, no problem applying the discount. :D

I'm ready to watch for pink boas and fedoras! Maybe even a Gambee sighting along the inlet. :D

Our best friends just got off Royal Princess this morning. They are feeling pretty sad right now, watching their ship sail off without them. :( We were just off the Ruby this time last year. At this point seeing her sail just brings back great memories. :cool:

Chris, hope you have a great cruise!

Excellent review, Mike. I am very glad I decided to follow along. I will be back to read your closing thoughts, and maybe find out when your next cruise will be.

I am all caught up and ready to sail with you tomorrow! Looking forward to a virtual cruise on the Allure. I am going to have to book a real cruise of my own on either the Allure or Oasis sooner rather than later, but until I do, I can't wait to sail along with you.

The pictures from the top of the Hyatt were awesome, as was the "pink fedoras" picture!

Great review so far, Mike. I loved your Allure review, so I knew when I saw that you had started this one, I had to read it even though I have no plans at present time to take this cruise.

Your pictures are awesome! I especially liked the ones of the Port of Miami. I love watching ships sail from there on the webcam, but your pictures gave me a much better look at the area.

I hope you are able to get your computer straightened out, and that you were able to salvage all the files, etc that you need. I do have to say, though, that your computer breakdown happened at a good time for me. It allowed me to get caught up before you were able to post the rest of the review! I am looking forward to reading the rest! :D

You're only watching the webcams on Sunday? You do know that you can watch cruise ships on webcams EVERY day, not just on Sunday! :D

What do you mean, I'm obsessed? :confused:

866-562-7625 is open 24/7. at least here in the US

Thanks! Now I know I can call right away if I see a price drop. I think it is probably way to soon for that to happen for us at this point, but it doesn't hurt to check.

I have marked the link for the weekly flyer, too. Thanks, Clarea, for posting the link and the info on what day the new prices are posted.

It seems like each cruise line does things differently, so this is all very helpful to this RCI newbie.

On our recent Freedom 7 day cruise we went from a center hump E2 on deck 7 to a JS on deck 10 near the hump for less than we originally booked the E2.

 

Booked at $1099 pp then a couple of drops before final payment brought it to $999 pp. One month before the cruise at 2 a.m. On a Saturday morning, the JS's went from $1599 pp to $1049 pp. I could not dial the phone fast enough. Now of course we are totally spoiled.

 

Cathy

Are you saying you could call at 2AM on a Sat morning? I am a night owl, so I am often looking around that time. I didn't think you could call then, though.

Deck 6 is the worse, set back in the ship, there is a deck right outside your balcony and then about 40 ft until you get to the edge of the ship.

 

deck 7 has a large balcony and a window out the side of the ship to see to the side also just not out the aft. There are metal beams to look through also

 

deck 8 you still have to look through the metal beams to see the wake

 

deck 9 is the same but less distance to look through the metal beams to see the wake.

 

deck 10 has the best view,

 

So what I'm saying, if the other decks were available first I rather have one of those.............no way would I ever take an aft on deck 6 though with that deck right outside your balcony.

 

So if 7 corner's, 9 corners or 10 corners were available, I would take one of those before any aft on deck 8.

 

Also keep in mind the corners have less metal beams to see through the aft balconies in the middle of the decks. So you want a corner for sure. deck 10, 1690 and 1390 views and balconies are nice though.

 

Don't go away from the corners on deck 9 or 7 though, corners or nothing on those decks.

Thanks for your help, Jimbo. I went ahead and completed our booking today before the hold ran out. The only aft cabin showing up was 8712, unfortunately not a corner aft, but still aft. I went ahead with it as our cabin selection. I figured if we decide not to stay there I can always switch cabins as there is still plenty of time before we sail.

I found some pictures from one of the suites in the middle of deck 8 in the cabin reports thread. While I don't like the obstructions, DH and I both think we can live with it, especially since we know in advance what we will be getting. I haven't had a chance to look for trip reports, but will do so in the near future to see what info I can find there.

I think I need to go add a new cruise countdown to my signature! :cool:

Great info in this thread! Thank you to everyone for your contributions!

It is interesting to see the differences in the onboard booking programs from one cruise line to the next. We are currently in the process of booking our first cruise on Royal. I am sure it will not be our last, so I want to be prepared. :D

I would not get an aft balcony on deck 6, 8.

Jimbo, would you say that about aft balconies on Independence OTS as well as on NOTS? I am also wondering why you wouldn't take one of those aft balconies?

I currently have an aft balcony on hold on deck 8 on Indy. I am another Disney cruiser looking to try a cruise on Royal. We already tried Princess and liked it. We will most likely cruise with them again, but we wanted to give Royal a try.

DH got the survey and completed it with a little bit of encouragement from me. I am sure they will not be too excited by our answers since we did almost no shopping on our last cruise.

We did use the "prefer not to answer" option on the questions like income that we felt were too intrusive. The rest of the survey went fairly quickly since we did not have much shopping to talk about.

I was surprised that we got the survey since most of our cruises are on another line not under the Carnival umbrella, only one on Princess and that was a year ago. We are considering Princess again for 2015, that's why we did the survey.

Thank you for sharing your pictures of the Royal. We are trying to decide what our next cruise should be and the Royal is most definitely on my list. I checked out the pictures in your signature and I plan to get DH to look at them as well because I know he will like what he sees. I am hoping that once he sees how beautiful the ship is, he will be convinced that the Royal is the way to go for us! :D

Familygoboston, thank you for an excellent review! I am researching what our next cruise should be and your Jewel itinerary is on my list. That is why I chose your review. Whether we end up choosing to cruise on the Jewel at this point or do a different cruise , I am very glad I chose your review for my research! I've taken notes and set bookmarks for future reference. Yes, I am a planner, I know you understand that.

I have discovered I really want to go to Barbados! That snorkeling excursion with the turtles is exactly the kind of thing I want to do.

Most of all, I have thoroughly enjoyed your wonderful writing style, your sense of humor, all the awesome pictures, and your great attitude towards cruising and life in general. I will be keeping an eye out for your other reviews, so you will be seeing me around.

Nancy

Thanks for all the great info, blue_water! Now all I have to do is convince DH to book another cruise that goes back to St Thomas! The last time we stopped there we went ziplining and I never got to a beach. :eek:

Ziplining was a lot of fun but in my world nothing beats sand between my toes. :D

We did Tree Limin Ziplines! We loved it! We have done a number of different ziplines and this one was one or the best as far as we were concerned.

One of the things that impressed me the most was how good their staff was, and how good their safety proceedures were. Also, their equipment was very well maintained and in great condition.

The actual zips were really fun, especially the last one. It was a yoyo zip. The views were fantastic, too. I am sure you will have a great time! :D

Norris, awesome review, as usual. I will be back to read your wrap up. I always feel as if I were sailing right along with you, and this review has been no exception. Thank you very much for sharing your travels with us.

I once had a landlady who would not accept rent in US$ cash. For every other transaction I have had no problem spending US currency in Cayman.

 

Change will be in CI$ currency with very few exceptions.

 

Major credit cards are widely accepted and going that route might limit how much CI$ change you take home.

Thanks, Drew. I thought that U S currency was widely accepted, but I wasn't sure about places like grocery stores that cater more to locals than tourists. We will be spending a week on Grand Cayman in May, not the usual few hours a cruise ship normally stops for.

We do plan to use credit cards for the larger purchases, but do the smaller ones in cash. If we end up with some change in Caymanian currency, I guess I'll just have to find some way to spend it before we leave.....or maybe that will be a good excuse to plan another trip! :D

I know most tourist attractions on Grand Cayman accept US dollars. How about the grocery stores?

I imagine any change would be in Caymanian currency so we will be planning on having small bills.

Update: Back home and thought I'd report. We booked the Deluxe Stingray City Sandbar Tour onboard the Cayman Explorer. It was fantastic! Husband and I both loved it and will certainly do it again, given the chance.

 

BTW, the temp. was 80 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. :D

Thanks for coming back to let us know how your tour went. Glad you had such a nice day. We are looking forward to visiting the stingrays in May. I know I will love it. I just hope my husband does, too!

Great videos, Norris! Loved your dolphin, Tilly! Wouldn't mind meeting her myself some day. My DH would like the chairlift. I'll have to show him that video.

I am very happy to have you on board! I think you have made an appearance in all my reviews and so now I grant you Platinum Status! Have as many free internet minutes on your home computer as you wish!

 

Welcome.

 

Norris

Enjoying my platinum minutes on my home computer. Spending some of them to continue following along with your excellent review. :D

I have been looking for information on this tour, too. I found it listed on RCCL also, I think. I was not able to find a website or any other information on it. We are going to be staying on Grand Cayman for a week this trip, so booking through a cruise line will not be an option for us. If it is available to us, and if it has a decent route it could be a good option to get around. I sure hope someone will come back here with some information.