Returned from FOS 4/24..only one oddity

[onthewater51]

Wife & I are back from the Western Caribbean on FOS (both in our mid 50's & it was our 6th cruise w/ RCCL) 4/17-4.24.

 

Im not going to re-hash the usual such as food, entertainment...too subjective. The ship is spotless, the staff & crew very friendly ...and the weather spectacular.

 

No complaints whatsoever, but thought one thing was odd. I wondered if others felt the same...

 

It seemed to us that the times set for certain entertainment venues was curious at best. Specifically, the new Big Outdoor Screen, which we really enjoyed on Princess.

 

It was rarely used this week. The main movie time was 7pm, which left out the main dining time people, & for us 2nd seating folks it meant missing the ending of the movie & sitting poolside in nice attire. We never got to enjoy it & had been looking forward to it.

 

We also thought the same about the indoor screening movie. For ex, they played a kids movie MegaMind, at 11:45pm...seemed odd.

 

It was a packed cruise with 1400 under 18yrs due to Spring Break in the US, maybe thats why. I just wondered if others felt the times were an issue for them

 

Other then that, we had a great time...did 2 excursions; the ATV Jungled Adventure in Cozumel & Dunn River Falls in Jamaca via Falmouth.

 

 

If anyone has a specific question I'd be happy to respond. And for those of you about the sail on the FOS...have a safe trip & enjoy..you'll love it.

 

Bob

[2kiddomommy]

Thank you for your thoughts. I, too, find the timing odd. I'm sailing on FOS in June with my husband, DS4 and DD21months along with our extended family. I know some of the group are looking forward to the outdoor screen (we have a couple of movie enthusiasts), but we are scheduled for the early seating for dinner. We'll have to see how that shakes out....

 

Now to the reason I'm responding..... My husband is a Jeep guy and I really wanted to go on a Jeep tour in Cozumel. I noticed the minimum age for this excursion is 4 (according to the RCI website)..... I was hoping you could speak to this- even though you took the ATV tour. I was thinking they were similar in venue.

 

Specific questions:

Did you see the jeep tour at all and could you explain it at all?

How did you get from the port to your excursion? (taxi or shuttle bus?)

Could a 4 year old go on the ATV tour that you took? (if we did this tour it would be my husband, my son and me- we'd leave the daughter with grandma).

 

AS for Dunn's River Falls.... could my young family handle this, or is it really more older kids?

 

Thank you for your insight!

[AeroBaldness]

Wife & I are back from the Western Caribbean on FOS (both in our mid 50's & it was our 6th cruise w/ RCCL) 4/17-4.24.

 

Im not going to re-hash the usual such as food, entertainment...too subjective. The ship is spotless, the staff & crew very friendly ...and the weather spectacular.

 

No complaints whatsoever, but thought one thing was odd. I wondered if others felt the same...

 

It seemed to us that the times set for certain entertainment venues was curious at best. Specifically, the new Big Outdoor Screen, which we really enjoyed on Princess.

 

It was rarely used this week. The main movie time was 7pm, which left out the main dining time people, & for us 2nd seating folks it meant missing the ending of the movie & sitting poolside in nice attire. We never got to enjoy it & had been looking forward to it.

 

We also thought the same about the indoor screening movie. For ex, they played a kids movie MegaMind, at 11:45pm...seemed odd.

 

It was a packed cruise with 1400 under 18yrs due to Spring Break in the US, maybe thats why. I just wondered if others felt the times were an issue for them

 

Other then that, we had a great time...did 2 excursions; the ATV Jungled Adventure in Cozumel & Dunn River Falls in Jamaca via Falmouth.

 

 

If anyone has a specific question I'd be happy to respond. And for those of you about the sail on the FOS...have a safe trip & enjoy..you'll love it.

 

Bob

 

My wife, 15 yo daughter & 13 yo son were on as well. I think you are accurate that the Compass was planned more around the kids than the adults. To further confirm your opinion, we literally saw them for dinner, excursions and briefly when they woke us up upon their return at the 1am curfew (the only night we were even close to up at that time was on the Cozumel night after we saw The Quest, which was awesome BTW). My wife and I never lacked for things to do on board. We had the early dinner seating, so we got to enjoy several rounds of music trivia in The Schooner Bar, I did the finish the lyrics game in On Air during the first night and get roped in to playing Prince during the 80s Video Dance Party on the Cozumel Night. My wife and I thought the Once Upon a Time show was the most enjoyable show we saw in the Arcadia (the one earlier in the week (can't recall the name) and the Magician were good too. We walked out on the piano guy (Glenn something) after a few minutes as it wasn't our thing). The best show of the week was the skating one, IMO. We also took in the guitar guy in The Bull & Bear a few times. It was rocking in their on a few nights and dead in others, but he played a great range of songs to get the crowd going. And finally, had a few drinks up in the Olive & Twist listening to the Piano and Violin duo. The violinist was fantastic and the atmosphere up there was great too. (sorry so long, probably should have started my own thread).

[jty1220]

Do you know which pier you docked at in Cozumel?

[ryano]

Do you know which pier you docked at in Cozumel?

 

RCI usually ALWAYS docks at the Internation Pier when in Cozumel.........Its about a 4 mile ride via taxi to the "downtown" shops...6.00 pp each way if I recall correctly

[Paulxyz2004]

Wife & I are back from the Western Caribbean on FOS (both in our mid 50's & it was our 6th cruise w/ RCCL) 4/17-4.24.

 

Im not going to re-hash the usual such as food, entertainment...too subjective. The ship is spotless, the staff & crew very friendly ...and the weather spectacular.

 

No complaints whatsoever, but thought one thing was odd. I wondered if others felt the same...

 

It seemed to us that the times set for certain entertainment venues was curious at best. Specifically, the new Big Outdoor Screen, which we really enjoyed on Princess.

 

It was rarely used this week. The main movie time was 7pm, which left out the main dining time people, & for us 2nd seating folks it meant missing the ending of the movie & sitting poolside in nice attire. We never got to enjoy it & had been looking forward to it.

 

We also thought the same about the indoor screening movie. For ex, they played a kids movie MegaMind, at 11:45pm...seemed odd.

 

It was a packed cruise with 1400 under 18yrs due to Spring Break in the US, maybe thats why. I just wondered if others felt the times were an issue for them

 

Other then that, we had a great time...did 2 excursions; the ATV Jungled Adventure in Cozumel & Dunn River Falls in Jamaca via Falmouth.

 

 

If anyone has a specific question I'd be happy to respond. And for those of you about the sail on the FOS...have a safe trip & enjoy..you'll love it.

 

Bob

 

 

It´s great to hear that RCI seems to do the big screen much better than Princess. I always thougt it was annoying, blarring and flickering away all day.

[time4u2go]

RCI usually ALWAYS docks at the Internation Pier when in Cozumel.........Its about a 4 mile ride via taxi to the "downtown" shops...6.00 pp each way if I recall correctly

Grrrr....I wish they could get access to the dock closer to the main shopping area.:(

[AeroBaldness]

RCI usually ALWAYS docks at the Internation Pier when in Cozumel.........Its about a 4 mile ride via taxi to the "downtown" shops...6.00 pp each way if I recall correctly

 

Ride was $7.00 total for the (4) of us and took less than 10 minutes to get there. Might have taken 15 to 20 on the ride back with so many people returning at the same time.

[Debde]

I think you are accurate that the Compass was planned more around the kids than the adults.

 

I'm going to guess that any of the Dream Works themed ships, expecially when the kids are off from school will be geared towards them.

[AF-1]

Debde, I think you have something. With Freedom of the Seas competing directlely with Disney in Port Canaveral, the movie screen, dreamworks, etc, gives royal a competitive edge.

[onthewater51]

Thank you for your thoughts. I, too, find the timing odd. I'm sailing on FOS in June with my husband, DS4 and DD21months along with our extended family. I know some of the group are looking forward to the outdoor screen (we have a couple of movie enthusiasts), but we are scheduled for the early seating for dinner. We'll have to see how that shakes out....

 

Now to the reason I'm responding..... My husband is a Jeep guy and I really wanted to go on a Jeep tour in Cozumel. I noticed the minimum age for this excursion is 4 (according to the RCI website)..... I was hoping you could speak to this- even though you took the ATV tour. I was thinking they were similar in venue.

 

Specific questions:

Did you see the jeep tour at all and could you explain it at all?

How did you get from the port to your excursion? (taxi or shuttle bus?)

Could a 4 year old go on the ATV tour that you took? (if we did this tour it would be my husband, my son and me- we'd leave the daughter with grandma).

 

AS for Dunn's River Falls.... could my young family handle this, or is it really more older kids?

 

Thank you for your insight!

 

Well....we booked the excursions thru RCI, and the company was strcit about rules...Only 1 person per vehicle, 16 & over w/ driver license AND THEY CHECKED EVERYONE...ALSO..NO open tow shoes..no one w/ the following: pregnant, back probelems or knee problems...

 

No way a 4 yr old copuld do it..these were single seat ATV's...it is very rugged & bouncy....even if you could he/she would go flying off...ALSO...expect to get VERY Dirty on this excursion...it was a blast!

[onthewater51]

My wife, 15 yo daughter & 13 yo son were on as well. I think you are accurate that the Compass was planned more around the kids than the adults. To further confirm your opinion, we literally saw them for dinner, excursions and briefly when they woke us up upon their return at the 1am curfew (the only night we were even close to up at that time was on the Cozumel night after we saw The Quest, which was awesome BTW). My wife and I never lacked for things to do on board. We had the early dinner seating, so we got to enjoy several rounds of music trivia in The Schooner Bar, I did the finish the lyrics game in On Air during the first night and get roped in to playing Prince during the 80s Video Dance Party on the Cozumel Night. My wife and I thought the Once Upon a Time show was the most enjoyable show we saw in the Arcadia (the one earlier in the week (can't recall the name) and the Magician were good too. We walked out on the piano guy (Glenn something) after a few minutes as it wasn't our thing). The best show of the week was the skating one, IMO. We also took in the guitar guy in The Bull & Bear a few times. It was rocking in their on a few nights and dead in others, but he played a great range of songs to get the crowd going. And finally, had a few drinks up in the Olive & Twist listening to the Piano and Violin duo. The violinist was fantastic and the atmosphere up there was great too. (sorry so long, probably should have started my own thread).

 

 

Glad to see you're in agreement w/ the times...and yes..the violinst was outstanding. A pleassure to listen to

[onthewater51]

Grrrr....I wish they could get access to the dock closer to the main shopping area.:(

 

 

There was plenty of shopping at the pier w/o taking a cab to town....just depends on what you're trying to find I guess.

 

BTW..if you're looking for little things for gifts that arent too costly...Cozumel was the least expensive place on our itinerary.

[time4u2go]

Debde, I think you have something. With Freedom of the Seas competing directlely with Disney in Port Canaveral, the movie screen, dreamworks, etc, gives royal a competitive edge.

Of course Disney has a movie screen too, and a few of their own costumed characters, so I'm not sure that it's an "edge" for RCI.;)

[yummymummy99]

Glad to see you're in agreement w/ the times...and yes..the violinst was outstanding. A pleassure to listen to

 

Aerobaldness - we were on the same sailing and agree re the shows and music - Schooner bar was great, Bear pub place also very good with variable crowds etc!

 

:D

[HB Cruiser]

Aerobaldness - we were on the same sailing and agree re the shows and music - Schooner bar was great, Bear pub place also very good with variable crowds etc!

 

:D

 

Was Kory playing in the Schooner Bar? He was funny as heck.

 

Tim

[39august]

There is no way a 4 year old can do Dunn's River Falls. It is a slippery, steep climb. There are deep holes as well.

[AeroBaldness]

Was Kory playing in the Schooner Bar? He was funny as heck.

 

Tim

 

I doubt this was him. This guy was real quiet and reserved, but could WAIL on the guitar (and was still able to get the crowd going with songs like Sweet Caroline). Man I want to be back on that boat :(

[HB Cruiser]

I doubt this was him. This guy was real quiet and reserved, but could WAIL on the guitar (and was still able to get the crowd going with songs like Sweet Caroline). Man I want to be back on that boat :(

 

No way was this Kory!

 

He did everything in his power for audience participation. He was great.

 

Tim

[onthewater51]

I doubt this was him. This guy was real quiet and reserved, but could WAIL on the guitar (and was still able to get the crowd going with songs like Sweet Caroline). Man I want to be back on that boat :(

 

 

There were 2 guitar players on board who looked similar. Igor had a mustache & played mostly in the Schoonar Bar, though the 1st night in the Champagne Bar...I nerver heard him sing though...it was all instrumental, light jazz, etc.

 

The guy who played in Bull & Pit (or whatever the name :) had no mustache & sang....He used a drum machine and other backgrounds for accompanyment. Does that help? (Pardon my spelling...broken keyboard)

[Cmh382]

Awesome cruise! I did the Cozumel jeep and snorkel tour with wife, son, daughter, sister in law, and brother in law. Absolutely loved it!

[AeroBaldness]

There were 2 guitar players on board who looked similar. Igor had a mustache & played mostly in the Schoonar Bar, though the 1st night in the Champagne Bar...I nerver heard him sing though...it was all instrumental, light jazz, etc.

 

The guy who played in Bull & Pit (or whatever the name :) had no mustache & sang....He used a drum machine and other backgrounds for accompanyment. Does that help? (Pardon my spelling...broken keyboard)

 

It was the other guy, not Igor (who was very talented too, caught him playing the piano and guitar at dinner one night). I was responding to the question on if it was Kory, which we rested on that it was not.

[proudpatriot07]

Someone sent me the Eastern Compasses from week before last and I thought the same thing about the movies. The Harry Potter movie was on at midnight of a port day... after a port day that is not something many folks can stay up to watch because those movies are kinda long. I really do want to watch a movie on the big screen and maybe the screening room, but if it's at midnight... not happenin'.

 

Hopefully once the screen has been in place for a while RC will see how many people are attending the movies at these times and maybe adjust?