runner2013

We're leaving on Liberty this Saturday and I just received at text from RC saying there will be a U.S. Customs inspection when the ship arrives Saturday morning. Boarding can't begin until it is completed, therefore check-in for the trip will take place between 12:00pm-3:00pm. They also ask no one show up at the cruise terminal before 12:00 noon.

Hmmm hope things are o.k. :rolleyes:

My stylist spritzs my hair to get the most curl in it, then takes each curly strand and cuts it separate - there's a certain point in the curl that is best to cut and depends on if you are wavy or spiral or kinky. It can take a long time the 1st couple of cuts - which is why its so expensive i guess.

 

I discovered all this almost by accident - I had wavy/frizzy yuck hair and started reading naturally curly blogs - discovered that by deleting ALL silicones and sulfates my hair just got healthier and curlier [i'm a curly twirly] I never use a hair brush, only a wide tooth comb when wet with conditioner on it and wash maybe 2x/week.

Naturallycurly.com is a good place to check out the process.

I haven't used a hairbrush in years. I don't think I even own one anymore:p

I also don't 'wash' my hair every day and avoid sulfates and silicones. My hair looks so much better without them.

My stylist cuts my hair according to the Quidad method and it my shape and curls come out great every time.

It is amazing how our curls will really do whatever they want, and the sooner we accept it and go with it, they reward us by giving us a beautiful head of hair.

The cruise i'm leaving on this weekend dropped over $100.00 after I made the final payment. I called my TA, she got RC on the line, they wouldn't honor the price drop but offered me an upgrade instead (oceanview to balcony) for such a good deal I couldn't pass it up.

Our best buys, after final payment bookings, were at the 6-8 week mark. I have seen some really good deals at the 1-2 week mark as well. If we are booking after the final payment, I put price checkers out for the cruises we are interested in then they email me when the price goes down. (no I cannot post any information on here on how) It's worked really well a few times for us.

Would you mind if I emailed you reguarding the price checkers?

Thanks

I am one of those impacted. We booked this cruise 8 months ago. I did a lot of planning and we had high hopes for a fun week. Then came the oil spill and late arrival of Navigator. We boarded a little past midnight Sunday. Monday night at dinner they informed us the cruise was officially cancelled and the ship was not leaving Galveston. We decided to at least stay on board for few days before driving back home to Spring, Texas an hour and a half away from Galveston.

 

Three things happened Tuesday that really impacted our decision on what to do next.

 

The first was, as I suspected, they began shutting down the hot tubs and pools. Navigator uses salt water and the water is changed out frequently. They could not refill them when docked port side with the oil in the water.

 

The second was the announcement that we had until 6 pm to get our cars out of the parking facilities, including all private cruise parking lots, or else we would not get access to our car until Sunday. This meant we could not stay on board day by day and leave when we wanted.

 

I will get to the third item shortly.

 

Once they made the announcement about getting your car, we left the ship and went to our parking facility and confirmed that access would be closed until Sunday. We then went to find an alternate parking facility. There was none available that we found. Hotels would not accept liability for cars unless they were registered guests. City of Galveston parking has essentially daily metered parking lots which you must pay at least twice a day or else they would boot your car. So our choices to pay for a hotel room to allow us the option to go day by day, leave and drive home, or stay om board until Sunday. We went back to the ship to think through our options. That is when the third item happened.

 

It was 2 pm and we were not immediately allowed back on board., We had to wait in the terminal since they were moving the gangway. That was done for cleaning the ship of oil. So we then had to worry if we decided to leave the ship, would we hit another delay of missing our window to get our car because they were not just allowing you to go on or off the ship at any time.

 

We decided that since the last report was the ship was there for the week, the pools were going to be shut down, and we had been to Galveston many times and sightseeing was not really preferred over just going home and relaxing there, we decided to leave. We got off the ship a little after 3pm. We stopped along the way home for dinner. We got home a bit after 6pm due to rush hour traffic Tuesday. It was then we found out they ship planned to sail the next day to Cozumel.

 

At some point you have to call it. I asked my wife if she wanted to go and take the shorter cruise. We discussed and decided we were already back home and it didn't make sense to us. Yes, it is essentially a free cruise to Cozumel. But we already had a full refund. We were not out money and we will cruise again in the future. We had already decided what we would do instead for the rest of the week. Had we stayed on board, we would have enjoyed the cruise to just Cozumel. But the lack of car access until Sunday and the fact we were previously told in no uncertain terms the ship was not leaving meant we had to decide if five more days in Galveston was how we wanted to spend our vacation time. That answer was no.

 

I am very happy for those who had flights and no option to leave that they get a shorter cruise plus the full refund. Especially the families with children. For us, we made the best decision we could at the time. Stuff happens. We will enjoy our time together a different way and thanks to RCL, we are not out any cost of the cruise.

 

I am watching the Galveston cruise cam and RCL just moved away and is departing. Bon voyage and happy cruising to those on board!

Very well said..

Very sorry you lost out on your trip, but as you said, you get another one in the future. :)

Hi all,

I'm just looking for thoughts about the recent cancellation of the trip from Galveston due to the oil spill.

From what I read on RC's face book page, originally they cancelled the trip on the 24th, giving a full refund of the cruise price, a 25% off booking for another cruise and told the passengers they were welcome to stay on the ship for the week while docked. If people chose to go home it was o.k. too.

The next day they said they would be sailing with a different port of call and people wishing to come back could do so.(and they all still get the above mentioned concessions no matter what)

Many people who chose to go home seemed to be writing in complaining it wasn't fair and they were upset about the decision to sail after all.

What do you all think?

Me personally, while I do feel terribly for those who chose to leave and won't be able to take advantage of the trip, they did choose to go while others chose to stick it out and hang around.

Is it fair to those to left, should they be angry? :confused:

Good info..

Thanks for your help..i'll make sure to look into it further when he moves up.

WHAT? No chocolates on the pillow????? :eek:

 

Actually, I clean too-heaven forbid something happens and the police/firefighters have to enter the house!

Yes! Heaven forbid a fireman run into my home because it's burning to the ground and sees an unmade bed or dust bunnies:eek:

Hi all

My bf and I are both Gold level status. He has several more points than me from previous cruises so when he moves up to the next level I will still be at Gold.

My question is when he moves up if there are any perks he can use right away eg: obc, etc, will I also be eligible for them or do I need to wait until I've accrued the points as well?

Thanks for your help.

Does anyone else turn into the Tasmanian Devil several days before they leave for a cruise? I'm flying out this Friday afternoon and along with my packing I've started doing laundry & cleaning my house so it's nice and fresh when I come home. :p

Thanks Karen. Thats just what I was hoping to read. While I love to lie in the sun my bf is fair skinned and worries about getting burned all the time. I'm excited to use the adults only pool which has the closed dome over it. I read in another post it does actually keep some of the sun out so it will be nice to spend some time with him having a drink and not stressing about the sun. taking all the regualar sun precautions of course:cool:

I've noticed over the years that certain posters on Cruise Critic seem to make it their sole purpose in life to put other people down, and criticize them. No matter how innocent the question, they find it necessary to be rude and condescending. If someone asks a simple question about flying in the day of the cruise, the Negative Nancys (NN's) will insult them and say that it's a stupid idea and they hope the OP misses their cruise (how rude). If someone asks if a certain outfit is appropriate for formal night, the NN's will say that they wear shorts to dinner and anyone who dresses up is an idiot. If someone is new to the boards and asks about things most of us already know, the NN's will say to use the search feature and stop bothering us. I don't know but I kind of feel bad for the people in the "real" lives of these folks who are always so negative about EVERYTHING. It's difficult to be around people like that, I think. I'm not talking about people who respectfully disagree with a post, I'm talking about the insulting, rude, nasty posts that certain people write on here. Easy to do when you're hiding behind a computer screen I suppose. :rolleyes:

 

After being on CC for nine years, I finally had enough tonight and put someone on ignore, and will do that again in the future if I notice a pattern of negativity from other posters. Yes, it made me feel better knowing that my little corner of CC will be less antagonistic.

 

People come here looking for advice, and more often than not, at least one or two people on each thread manage to be rude.

 

If you can't say something nice, or at least helpful, why bother posting? Just to hear yourself speak and get your post count up? :confused:

I haven't been around here too long but I have noticed there are some people who are never happy. So be it. I'm not going to let those few NN's ruin the otherwise fun, and very friendly time i've had using these boards.

For me, the good definately outweighs the bad on here.:D

No matter how hard I try, I end up eating more than I had hoped I would:p

I'm in a dilemma...I have only ever cruised Carnival and have only ever been to Mexico when I cruise. I am looking to book but can't choose between RC navigator of the seas or Carnival dream. Carnival has Belize-Honduras-Cozumel itinerary. RC has Falmouth Jamaica-cayman islands-Cozumel itinerary. They both leave on same day which fits my schedule perfectly but one leaves from Galveston which is closer to home the other leave out of New Orleans, which is only a few more hours out of the way. Which itinerary is better? Please help!!

I'd say try Royal. I love their ships. Tons of things to do for adults and children.

Change is good. :)

Has anyone here ever gotten into an arguement or nasty exchange with another CC member on the general boards, then booked a cruise, headed to the roll call board only to discover that you & your nemesis are on the same cruise?

 

How would you handle it?

Would you try to smooth things over on the roll call or onboard the ship or just ignore them on the boards & ship?

I had an 'awkward' exchange on here reguarding a question I posted a few weeks back.

Sure enough, that person was in my roll call. :eek:

I've let it go and made no mention of it in the roll call. Life it too short. Things can sometimes be misinterpreted in a post.

It's all good:cool:

How many days until your next cruise?????? Hopefully it's soon, as I know we all enjoy time spent on the open seas.

 

I only have 78 days until my cruise, and I am already getting ancious to go. I wish it was sooner, then the time on the cruise would just crawl so it seemed longer, lol.

4 more days and I fly to Ft. Lauderdale. 5 more days and I'll be on Liberty!!!:cool:

My husband and I are getting ready for our 3rd cruise in May, the first being our honeymoon and second with our son and DH's sister a few years ago. While we are gearing up for our upcoming trip, I keep thinking about things I will do differently this go around. What will YOU do different on your next trip?

 

Here's a start to my list:

1) Go to the muster drill. Somehow we skipped out on it both trips before and managed to not get kicked off of the boat. Not risking it again.

2) Tip room service. I knew about the included gratuities but (not having been on CC) didn't realize you were supposed to tip room service. Now I feel like a cheap tourist and hope they never spit in my food ;)

3) Visit the straw market in Nassau. Our first cruise stopped in Nassau, but we were so consumed with planning our wedding that I never researched things to see and totally missed this.

4) See a show onboard. We skipped all the shows so we could party a little more both previous trips. Guess it's time to see what all the fuss is about :o

I will stay up much later at night this time around, even if it means taking a nap in the afternoon before dinner.

Like another poster said, I will definately bring a bottle of wine and my bf and I will sit on the highest deck we can and watch the sunset. It was amazing last time and I don't want to miss out.

I will climb the rock wall no matter what !!!

I won't worry if I look all right compared to everyone else. (I dress appropriately but tend to overthink it).

One last thing, I will stop and take a deep breath, taking it all in. and just be thankful i'm even there to begin with.;)

We don't even both trying to print out the tags. We just get them from the porter at the pier. You may just want to bring a pen..

Hi all,

My bf and I will be booking a trip for Feb 2015 on Serenade leaving from New Orleans La.

We've been on Freedom,are leaving on Liberty this weekend-Yay- and will have done Brilliance from Boston by that time as well.

I'm curious what people think about Serenade in comparison to those others ships.

We are both in our mid-late 40's, traveling without kids, are very 'go with the flow' types and won't be upset if things happen while on board and we need to adjust. While we do like to be active and use the gym we are also quite happy just relaxing by the pool or having a drink in a quiet setting on our balcony.

We looked at some of the bigger ships like the Oasis and Allure but seem to be drawn to some of the 'smaller' ones for some reason right now.

So while I know everybodys idea of a good time is different, and different things make different people happy, i'm just looking for your thoughts, good and bad.

Thanks.

I know this has probably been discussed already, but where on this site can I find hotel recommendations? We are sailing out of Port Everglades in November, having taken advantage of some of the good deals for Canadians recently advertised. (booked a JS for only about $150 more than a balcony! Can I get a WOOHOO?!) We haven't sailed out of Fort Lauderdale since our first cruise on the Enchantment back in 2005, and where we stayed pre-cruise was way too far away from the cruise port for me. Any one got any suggestions? 1 day pre and 2-3 days post cruise, with a pool, not too cost prohibitive. Thanks!

I know I could spend a lot of time gooling this, but the CC's know all the best places, and this is much faster!

I know you don't like to Google but I find it's pretty quick. I pull up the pier on a Google map and then just do a search nearby for hotels. Then I can compare it recommendations from others.

I'm a people water too. Sometimes my bf and I will watch a couple and then give them a funny 'life' based on what we see. :D

Not being mean, it's all in fun.

I'm sure there will be people checking out my shoes, as well as my dress and purse, etc. I don't mind. I do it too and sometimes get some cute fashion ideas from it.

I'm going with the flats and wearing them proudly...

You don't need a liquor store for wine. You can buy wine just about anywhere. Walmart, Target, grocery store, convenience stores, gas stations, etc.

That's great.. hopefully there is something close to the Springhill suites that is open until 11:00pm or later.

Thanks!

Hi,

I'm looking for info for shuttles. One that goes from the Tampa airport to a hotel near the cruise port, and back to the airport when the cruise ends. Also a hotel that will shuttle us to the peir the day of the cruise.

Thanks

Hi, we're flying into Ft. Lauderdale next Friday for a cruise on Saturday staying at the SpringHill Suites. Are there any liquor stores open late we could perchase a bottle of wine to bring on board?

Thanks. :)

I forgot to ask one more thing.

I'm guessing I should bring the most current info from the travel site I use to show the RC rep in the hopes they will match whatever perks may be offered at that time ? eg: free prepaid gratuities or obc