bcarney

Just off Breakaway, my wife had $35 or so credit and they pulled her out of the disembarkation line for a 10 minute refund process. Mine had $18 or so and they didn't pull me, I assume I'm not going to get that back.

Heck, I have a hard enough time getting bar service in the dining room AT ALL, much less using Diamond drink vouchers in there.

On 4/12/2019 at 8:06 PM, Frankmac said:

Thanks for that but what I really meant was do they actually have draft beer or is it, as you say, only on some ships?

THey'll have draft beer, but on some ships the selection is very VERY limited.  Rhapsody had only Heineken and Newcastle.  That's it.  Some bars had many more taps, but they were all serving just Heineken.

10 minutes ago, Thesandman12 said:

You skipped MDR, Windjammer, and paid dining, where did you eat? or did I misread

poor typing on my part.  I meant to say "we skipped the MDR and did paid dining..."

On 4/6/2019 at 10:17 AM, Big_G said:

 

Sitting at TPA after getting off her this morning. We were a little leery because we haven't sailed this class in 20 years. The ship was in great shape. We ate dinners in Chops, Giovanni's, MTD, and the Windjammer. Chops and Giovanni's was excellent. MTD food was good but loud. Service was pretty good except the one waiter that asked for a 10 before taking our order. The Windjammer food was good as well as the service. We just came off Harmony two months ago so we were impressed with the crew interaction with passengers. It was almost like old time cruising. The WIFI was a pain. Speed wasn't a problem as much as dropped connections. The DL and SL were not overcrowded. We wouldn't hesitate to sail her again.

We were on the same cruise as you.  We skipped the MDR and dine paid dining and the Windjammer, and to be honest, we'll likely go that route from now on.

Service from bar staff was fabulous. Food was good.  Staff except, wifi not.

We'll be sailing on her again.

Wait 15-20 minutes and you'll be able to get back in.

I was trying to figure out what he possibly meant....

I should have explained better. My wife manages to pack our items and the 2 kids clothes into just two pieces of luggage (defying many laws of physics, IMHO). If I brought a tux (or suit, etc) it would add an additional bag that we'd have to pay to transport to and from the cruise. No thanks.

Like you say, why not?

Because it saves me $50 in luggage fees by leaving it at home....

Would anyone have any recent pictures of the Diamond Lounge

And Suite Lounge on the Adventure Of The Seas ??

Are D+ members permitted in the Suite Lounge ??

 

TIA :):halo::halo:

Here is the Diamond Lounge as of Nov 25, 2017. Besides the interior area, it has a section that is outdoors and overlooks the sports area.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AmEFZaZ67kD-iNJR3CoLU-wQ_Rmaug

Thanks for the report. Who was the Cruise Director?

I was on the came cruise as the OP. The CD was Elvis Pinto, he'll be onboard until Dec 16.

I could probably be talked out of my Adventure as I'm on track to get another one of those in 2019.

I don't suppose you'd consider selling that one, would you? Adventure is our favorite ship, we've been her 6 times. I'm on track for 140 soon, but somewhat unfortunately that will happen on our 11 day on Serenade next fall. Would love to have a crystal ship from Adventure instead. Would you consider selling it?

In that case, I'll be curious as to people's opinion of him. He was our Activities Director on Jewel back in 2014 and shortly after that I heard word he was going to become a CD. I have no doubt he will/probably is, a good one. We had Carly something as our CD that week and I think she was under the weather and not at her best, but clearly Elvis was better suited.

He was AD on Rhapsody last spring when we sailed on her, and he was CD on Adventure when we sailed a week before the OP on this thread. He seemed a little "toned down" on Adventure. We'll be on Rhapsody again this spring and will likely see him again onboard that ship.

Having said all that, we are going on the Escape out of NY with dear friends next year. Since we wanted to go on a 7 day cruise to Bermuda, which RCI does not offer, we chose NCL.

FYI Royal has a number of 7 night sailings out of New England to Bermuda, on Anthem, Serenade, and Grandeur.

Last week we did the "Treasures of Barbados" tour through Glory Tours. They were very professional, even to the point having their own check-in desk at the pier - no wandering around looking for someone holding a sign. The van was immaculate, and the driver very knowledgeable. I highly recommend them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NY90q9AqtFovcIH32

Here are some photos (hopefully the link will work) from our FO cabin 8000 on Serenade of the Seas.....

It was nice to have the extra space. Plenty of closet/storage space too.

Thank you!!! We are booked in 8000 for Nov 2018, and we are really looking forward to it!

We were on Brilliance a couple of weeks ago (myself, wife and 16 year old son) in Cabin 8000. It was great for the three of us, really nice having the extra room.

I don't suppose you have photos of the cabin? I can't find any, anywhere.

I'd pick one of the Azamara cruises that goes to southern Asia. That whole part of the world is so alien and strange to me...I'd love to go there.

On one cruise we met a pair of gentlemen wearing kilts, and I noted that the design was from Clan Gordon, of which I am from. It lead to some great conversation.

I'd wear a kilt if I owned one.

LOL, You and I share a travel agent! I asked her this yesterday. She asked you, then emailed me your response. Isn't she great?:halo:

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Would you say that if one had to be able get work emails, that would at least be something that he could count on?

Michelle is da bomb! Great lady to work with.

In answer to your question, I'd say you could rely in your own device 90% of the time, and if it didn't connect to the wifi hotspots, complain to guest services and they should allow you to use the hard-wired machines to access the internet. I had an issue where my credit card company cancelled my card mid-cruise, and I wound up having to use the computer in the Diamond Lounge to do an online chat with customer service. That worked fine when my wifi access didn't work. So at least you have a fallback option.

How much do you tip the Diamond Lounge Concierge? We were just on Rhapsody and he assisted with serving drinks, and gave my kids two souvenirs (rather pricey ones, a model of the ship, and the glass block they normally give Diamonds that hit 140 points, and a cup that said 'Cruising Princess'). I was really perplexed as to how much to tip him. (This was compounded by my credit card company shutting down my card while at sea due to fraud. I wound up having to pay my shipboard account in cash, which left me with very little paper money for tips. I did the best I could, but I still feel like I 'shorted' him).

Just noticed this thread. We are booked on Rhapsody next February. I wonder if they will keep the same route and just move another ship in it's place if it sells. Really was looking forward to getting back to Belize and Roatan.

We booked her for April 1, 2018, and Roatan has been replaced with the Cayman Islands, just as an FYI.

The DL coffee is available 24 hours. I like that the location on Rhapsody is not up in Viking Crown, so you're not stuck waiting for one of the two elevators that go up there.

I think Vision class ships are the last class built to have enough elevators to accommodate the number of passengers onboard. We were on Rhapsody and rarely had to wait for elevators.

I sailed on Rhapsody Apr. 1-8, and my TA asked about the internet service just this morning. This was my response:

I’d call it “adequate”. We were in room 3055 and I had 2 bars out of 5. Some common areas had good strength; others, none at all (Diamond Lounge, poolside, dining room). I used mine for email and web surfing – I didn’t do any video streaming so I can’t comment on that, but I suspect it wouldn’t be too good as there is a bit of lag time between requesting and receiving data.

Also, one irritant was that I had to log into the RCL system *each and every time I used the iphone*. It’s supposed to keep you logged in for 2 hours, but that didn’t work for me. Also, many times I had to select “forget this network”, restart the phone, and then reconnect. It was a pain.

Would I get VOOM again on Rhapsody? Yeah, because the alternative is to go without, and I can't imagine that.

On our cruise two weeks ago I spent a lot of time at the Schooner Bar befriending the bartenders and watching them work. For mixed drinks, or any of the lower end liquors, generous pours were the norm. For the more expensive liquors, Ron Zacapa rum in my case, it was more carefully measured out. This included drinks made by the bar manager of the ship (I forget the exact title).

From my experience, the indian dish is basically the same each night.

 

And it was always veggie, loaded with potato.

 

Very heavy...

That wasn't our experience on Adventure last November. Two different curries daily, with one being vegetarian. It's the "good stuff" that they make for the crew. We had a curry with okra, fish curry, gobi (cauliflower) and pea curry, Biryani and some sort spinich dal, and Rajima (? Kidney bean) curry. And those were just the ones I took photos of! No potato-based curries on the Nov 18 sailing.