MNfamilycruiser

A friend of my daughters asked about booking a RC cruise - he lives in Amsterdam. If he was to book directly through Royal - would he go to the UK website?

What is different in booking from Europe vs. the US? Meaning if I was to explain how it works - what might I not realize/know about? I am familiar with booking here, and we use a travel agent - but would have no idea what to recommend for him.

In order to book a stateroom, at least one person in the stateroom has to be over 21?

I don't know how fast they sell out, but our son got us that "excursion" for our anniversary.. I'm pretty excited.. It's the little things...:p

I was thinking about these too :D- but we have OBC to use up - we might wait until we are onboard.

Thanks for taking the time to share, we are on EOS in 2 and a half weeks. The Park Cafe looks good, will definitely try there!

Are you on the October 30th sailing? We have a couple of unofficial meets set up - come join the roll call!

Hi Linda!

 

We will be on this sailing shortly after you - November 13th! :D

It's just a quick cruise to hold us over until Adventure again in January.

 

Hope you have a great sailing!

Hi Larra! Yes we added this one as a quick getaway too - looking forward to it :D I have been enjoying all the good reviews like this one to help while waiting - there isn't much planning to be done.

Good luck OP. Hope your bag is returned.

 

I painted multi-colored circles on our luggage. No one has luggage that looks exactly like ours. ;)

We tried the ribbons on the handles, but we noticed pretty everyone else had too. :(

Yes - whatever you can do to make yours unique :D

I have never seen ribbon with a pattern like ours - most just used a plain color.

It seems like it was more common when we first started doing it - I have rarely seen any ribbons these days. Or maybe we a just travelling to different areas? It was especially useful when we all 4 travelled and had more bags to search for.

Our luggage all has the same brightly colored and patterned grosgrain ribbon tied to a handle - very easy to spot, and hard for someone to accidentally pick up. It has worked really well for us for years now.:D We have never even had to replace one of the ribbons.

You can also make the change on your reservation. Please see the attachments.

 

dining1.JPG

 

dining2.jpg

Doing it myself on the website didn't work for me - I made one MTD reservation for one night, then when I tried to make one for the next night it removed the first reservation. I ended up having to call - the site was useless:rolleyes:

Enjoying the report -we will be on Friday, October 30th :D

Reading these reports helps me wait!

Was the craps table busy? My husband likes to play, but on some cruises it has been empty and that was no fun :-(

 

Looking at the Compass here...I see the Junior Cruisers' Curfew of 1:00 am for Guests 17 & Under.

 

I guess we ignored that too...

 

It was after 2:00 am when we went to bed.

 

And we had to set an alarm...because we had to wake up to get off the ship the next day.

I believe the curfew is for Junior Cruisers who are not with their parents :D

Waiters and sometimes even cabin attendants know your specialty reservations. On Allure in 2013 we had late dining and our attendant was doing the turn down around then. He asked us one day," I see you are dining at chops tonight, Can I do your turn down then?"

 

 

On Freedom, we had Chops reservations for 45 minutes earlier on the last night. Our waiter said he saw we were eating at Chops the next night and thanked us for allowing him to serve us and to have a safe trip home. We told him We would probably come back before the end of dinner and have one last drink with our table mates. As soon as we arrived the drinks were there and he knew not to fuss over anything else. A pleasant experience.

Thank you for answering my question :D

I might still tell my tablemates (if we had any - many times even though we asked to be at a big table we have been by ourselves. Maybe they thought our teenagers would be too much ;) )

Someone previously asked the question - but it didn't get answered. I thought the MDR knew if you had booked a specialty restaurant? So they know ahead of time that you are not coming.

On our last cruise our wait staff asked how we had enjoyed the specialty restaurant when we returned the next night - so I assumed they got a list of some sort.

Since we usually get in at least a day ahead, I would say it starts when we check into the hotel - so not until whatever travel from airport to hotel is done.

We try and do some relaxing/sightseeing the day before, so that counts. Also the muster drill doesn't impact my mindset at all. If I have been on the ship since 11 am - drinking, eating and relaxing my vacation is started :D We typically have tours booked or other things scheduled so the muster drill falls into that category for me.

When I go to the web site all I get is a blue bar across the top, scroll down to some pictures on the right and a twirling circle on the left. I can't even log in tho' there is such a heading. What is a hymn page, please? Bob, yes that's what I mean and I see how you accessed it. Thanks, I'll try it.

hymn=home I would assume

eBags has the packing cubes on sale 20% off :D - sorry it ends today :(. Use code CUBES

 

The Triple Coconut Mojito! From the menu: Malibu coconut rum, coconut water, and a rim of desiccated coconut are three more reasons to enjoy this Cuban classic.

 

This is the only lounge on board capable of making the Coconut Mojito...

I am happy you posted about this one - you showed the drink menus earlier, and I saw this drink - the description looked really good :D Planning on trying one!

I've been thinking about your parents. I think they could really enjoy themselves on EOS.

 

Here are some reasons why...

 

For anyone that has mobility issues...I think this is a great ship. First..it isn't that big. You don't have to walk a lot to get anywhere on board. Second, there are only two elevator banks and there are at least 6 elevators in each bank. There was never a long wait for the elevators...and the elevators were generally close to where you were and where you wanted to be.

 

The ship itself is very CRUISE ship like. It's light and bright...and virtually everywhere you go, you can see the ocean. It's very connected to the outside world. There are many, many places to sit in the air conditioned space and just relax and enjoy the view.

 

I say this in contrast to some of the bigger ships that are more focused on a promenade design, where people who are already fans of cruising may appreciate more than people that who want to feel more like they are on a cruise ship as opposed to a floating hotel.

 

There are many entertainment opportunities. The music/entertainment on board was very good. It's easy to not have to entertain yourself but instead to be a bystander for entertainment or participate in something that could be more or less active.

 

I like the 4 night cruise, because you get a Sea Day. Everyone should experience at least one day to just be able to hang out on the ship and enjoy on their first cruise.

 

The private beach day is a handy dandy port for a first time cruiser. No planning required. There are golf cart like vehicles that I'm sure could be used to help passengers with mobility issues.

 

Nassau isn't my favorite port...not by any stretch, but there are several things to do right at the port area for anyone that wanted to get off the ship for a bit. There are places of historical interest...a bit of shopping...some food interests...all within close proximity to the port. And ship tours to many of the local interests.

 

I would also recommend the exact type of room that we were in. But be on Deck 7. It is ridiculously close to the elevators. It is midship (more stable). You can easily see in the Centrum and then decide which direction you want to head depending on what might be going on there.

 

They could even stay up there on Deck 7 to observe some of the more "party" like events in the Centrum. Sometimes, it's fun to observe such things from a distance and then decide if you are up for going in.

 

It isn't a balcony room...but honestly...the use of balconies can be hit and miss depending on the weather...and the large window of this room and the fact that the window in at the very edge of the ship makes for excellent view time from air conditioned comfort.

 

Also...it is as large as a balcony room.

 

Also...if you wanted to give them a special treat, there is Chops on board this ship. I enjoyed Chops a lot on Allure. I say the location of Chops on the ship and again...it's a lovely dining room and would be a wonderful experience.

 

Overall, I would recommend this as a first cruise for your parents for sure. There are many choices, but not so many to overwhelm and also not such a long cruise...it's long enough to have a good vacation but not so long if it turns out they don't really enjoy cruising.

 

Which. Has been known to happen.

Yes... I agree

The 4 day cruises on Enchantment are Monday-Friday - returning to port on Friday. To me these are far less likely to be "party" cruises than the 3 day Friday-Monday. The exception would be if you chose a spring break week. Then even 5 days are likely to be "party" cruises.

Thanks for the information on the drink package and prices - your thought process and decision is exactly like mine - we have been completely "dry" before this cruise for various health and diet reasons - but want to splurge a bit on this cruise. We have never purchased a drink package before - but a 3 day cruise with one day being Coco Cay seemed like the perfect time to enjoy it.

I am looking forward to seeing what you had in Coca Cay - and how it was :D

Has anyone used packing cube? Did you like them? I am thinking of getting some for our trip in February. Just curious if others have used them and they were helpful.

Love them! Each member of the family has their own color. We bring extras to start putting dirty clothes into until some empty out.

We just keep our things in them when we unpack - they can be put in drawers or stacked on shelves. Really good for hotel stays too.

Also very nice if TSA goes through your bags :)

We are pretty much cruising newbies. We took our first cruise on the Wonder last year and are cruising on the Allure in November. I've read an over the door shoe organizer is a life saver, magnetic hooks for the walls (for hats, swimsuits, etc), pop up clothes hamper for dirty clothes. What have you found are your must haves for your cabin that make your life easier?

The over the door shoe organizer was good with 4 of us in one room, I don't think I would bring it with only dh and I.

Pop up clothes hamper will only work if you have the floor space to put it - depending on how the closets are situated. I seem to have too many shoes to be able to use it in there....;) We use packing cubes and I bring extra. We start packing dirty clothes into those - then they are ready to be popped back into the luggage at the end.

We made use of the magnetic clips for the first time last cruise - to Alaska. Information that was important for everyone (travelled with our 2 kids) to see and to keep track of went up on the wall. I will definitely use those again.

Just your opinion, would you want your kids paying for you. When we went to WDW they paid for a four day pass, honestly my DW is against paying for them but they haven't been on a cruise, have had a real vacation in years.

I think it would be great - especially if you said it was for Birthdays/Mother's Day/Anniversary etc.

Looking forward to more of your review - we are a little more than a month away from boarding. :D

I thought TA provided OBC is returned to your credit card. Laura got back $2 on her last Freedom. :rolleyes:

Yes - we use a warehouse club TA and our unspent OBC was refunded to the credit card we used to book the cruise.

Not comparing ships, just asking in general what the differences and consequent preferences are between the two lines. The only comparison I consciously made was to see what the cost difference might be on similar itineraries from nearby ports between the two lines.

 

Regardless we're booked for the Anthem and not changing, I was just asking to satisfy curiosity more than anything.

 

Edit** I wanted to add that I'd be very hesitant to try anything different at the moment as the standard has been set, and going with a different line would leave me worrying if there will be any disappointment. But you also never know if you never give it a shot, hence the thread.

When you pointed out the big price gap - comparing the RC cruise you have booked with the Carnival cruise you priced - we were trying to say that it might not be so much a difference between lines as is a difference between newness of ships and itinerary (Alaska, Europe vs. Caribbean etc.).

I would go ahead and try the cheaper Carnival cruise some time - there might be a point when that works best for you. We are doing a quick 3 day cruise on an older ship - something many people avoid - just as they avoid Carnival. But that is all the time my husband can get away - so we are going to enjoy it for what it is and NOT compare it to our cruises.

I was curiously poking around today during some down time, and couldn't help but notice a pretty huge price difference between Royal and Carnival. I've only cruised 1 time and just very recently, have another booked with Royal on the Anthem next year. The price we're paying for our upcoming cruise seemed a little steep, but close to fair enough, but then I saw the price of an option with Carnival.

 

I was just wondering, from the perspective of someone who has experienced both, what is so different that would explain such a cost difference? I understand Carnival is a more casual style with more of a party vibe, but is there a noticeable difference in quality of ships/service/amenities/food/etc that makes the expenses so different?

 

I'm pretty intrigued, largely because of the cost, to give Carnival a try in the future if time/money permits.

How new was the Carnival ship you looked at? That makes a big difference I believe. We have never done any of the newest RC ships and will likely wait until they aren't "new" anymore. ;)

On the 3-day last month, they had pork twice and beef once. Don't recall what they did for the 4-day.

Thanks :D