LIVE from Radiance Apr. 21, 2023 - The Panama Canal - Canal au Niveau de la Mer

[lovelife]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Should have showed them @little britain(post) thread, where it was okay the week before on the very same ship you are on now.

 

Pretty lame on Royal's part.

 

I would have got up and not signed it.

I did show them to the concierge and he called  the restaurant manager who said no, absolutely not allowed. Since DH was forced to pay for his, we are going to Giovanni's tonight to give his BOGO to someone who can use the free meal.

[little britain]

11 hours ago, lovelife said:

Just to let you know this did not work for us. We are on Radiance now.  Booked and paid for one Giovanni's dinner in advance like you did and then advised them two would be dining using a BOGO that day one evening. After the meal they brought a bill for $57 for the second guest. We explained we were using a BOGO and the manager came over and made an embarrassing scene saying that isn't allowed and we have to sign the ticket. This morning I advised the concierge of the situation and he agreed that pre paying is not allowed. I have done this many times in the past also but this time it  was not allowed.

Sorry it didn’t work out for you when  it did for us the previous week. Twice! Change of management perhaps and you got a jobs-worth! .   I wonder what would happen if you refused to sign 🤔

Edited May 8, 2023 by little britain

[firefly333]

6 hours ago, little britain said:

Sorry it didn’t work out for you when  it did for us the previous week. Twice! Change of management perhaps and you got a jobs-worth! .   I wonder what would happen if you refused to sign 🤔

I'm solo and booked night 2 hoping for it to be turned into bogo and a 2nd meal booked later in the week. I'm ok if they want to cancel and rebook if I get 2 meals out of one. So far i havent asked or gotten a bogo but next time i cruise I plan to try it. 

[Seville2Cabo]

Just FYI to everyone on the ship, the couple we were on the ship with just tested positive.  

[orville99]

29 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Just FYI to everyone on the ship, the couple we were on the ship with just tested positive.  

I would imagine that someone tests positive post cruise on every ship and every itinerary that has sailed anywhere in the world post restart - just sayin'

[Seville2Cabo]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

I would imagine that someone tests positive post cruise on every ship and every itinerary that has sailed anywhere in the world post restart - just sayin'

I agree - Assumed someone in our group would get it.  I got it after our last cruise.  Just a public service announcement if anyone not feeling well, and they care, they may want to test.  

[Seville2Cabo]

Just a short review and comments about the cruise.  There were four of us and all had a great time.  We had 10 night dining package and Chef's Table.   The other 4 nights we ate in Windjammer.  Lunch on sea days was either in MDR or Windjammer.  Breakfast was usually room service. - Only bad item was the minestrone soup, everything else was good to excellent.  Service was excellent.

 

We met a large number of crew member that were getting off the ship either in LA or Vancouver for end of contract.  They all said they were taking another contract.  I was told there are about 50 that are going to the Serenade for the World cruise.  We had zero complaints about service

 

We did the all access tour and it was worth every penny.

 

We have been on long cruises before, but never so many sea days.  Usually our long cruises are Med and a lot of ports.  (We had 2 TA's and one TP canceled due to Covid).  I must say, we have never seen this many mobility challenged people on a cruise. I guess this was why the gym was empty.  Usually no more than 4 or 5 people on the gym and we went every sea day.

 

Our only complaint (other than the WiFi) was about other passengers.  People using FaceTime with the speaker on, including in Specialty restaurants. Kids crying in restaurants and parents doing nothing.  People walking slow (usually mobility challenged) in the middle of the hallway and get pissed if you say excuse me and try to get by.  Sorry, but if you walk slow, move to the side.  On 2 occasions I thought there was going to be fight in the Schooner Bar with people fighting about seats for Trivia. 

 

Our friends were in Next Cruise and a Pinnacle came in and demanded to talk to some one and that they were Pinnacle and should not wait - the Agent told them to make a reservation like every on else.  I saw too many cases of passenger being ugly to crew

[twangster]

Notes from the bar...

 

Over the course of the cruise I sometimes found myself one on one with a bartender.  I asked them some questions, different bartenders, different nights.  

 

Summary across the bartenders from my unofficial survey.

 

1. From newbie, Gold, Platinum, etc. to Pinnacle who are the most demanding or difficult?  

 

  A. Diamond.  - They get their first free drinks and act the most entitled with them.

 

2. What region is best for tips?

 

  A. USA instant answer.  Second place to Australia but usually it's a tip at the end of the cruise more commonly than per drink, when a tip occurs.  Europe distant last place.  

 

3. Who tips the most? 

 

  A. Instant answer without hesitation... Pinnacle. 

 

4. Gratuity on CAS drinks?  

 

  A. Before the 4/5/6 CAS drinks there was not gratuity given by the ship to the bar staff for the 3 voucher drinks in the old system.  It was expected as part of the job.  Now with the 4/5/6 CAS vouchers bar staff get the same gratuity per swipe compared to beverage packages.  

 

5. Do you share tips?

 

  A. Depends.  It's an arrangement worked out between the team for that bar or shift.  Some pool their tips, some choose to go individual and keep tips for themselves.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by twangster

[lovelife]

12 hours ago, little britain said:

I wonder what would happen if you refused to sign 🤔

To the brig perhaps!

 

Update: When arriving at Giovanni's last night to give away DH's BOGO, the manager must have thought we were there to address the situation further. He came over and told us he had already removed the charge from our account earlier in the day. I'm  guessing the suite concierge must have told him how POd (or is it PdO - anyway I was mad) I was.

 

We are staying on for the next cruise and I had pre-booked Giovanni's for that one also. I canceled it.

Edited May 8, 2023 by lovelife

[c-leg5]

On 5/7/2023 at 11:36 AM, lovelife said:

Just to let you know this did not work for us. We are on Radiance now.  Booked and paid for one Giovanni's dinner in advance like you did and then advised them two would be dining using a BOGO that day one evening. After the meal they brought a bill for $57 for the second guest. We explained we were using a BOGO and the manager came over and made an embarrassing scene saying that isn't allowed and we have to sign the ticket. This morning I advised the concierge of the situation and he agreed that pre paying is not allowed. I have done this many times in the past also but this time it  was not allowed.

Did you pre- book during a sale? That hasn’t been allowed previously but you can generally cancel that booking and rebook using BOGO.

[orville99]

39 minutes ago, lovelife said:

We are staying on for the next cruise and I had pre-booked Giovanni's for that one also. I canceled it

When we do B2B cruises, we always go to one of the specialty restaurants (or to the suite concierge) and pre book for the following week. Usually you can do that after noon on the day before your last full day on board - ie. Friday afternoon for a Sunday TAD. 

[c-leg5]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

When we do B2B cruises, we always go to one of the specialty restaurants (or to the suite concierge) and pre book for the following week. Usually you can do that after noon on the day before your last full day on board - ie. Friday afternoon for a Sunday TAD. 

+1

[lovelife]

31 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

Did you pre- book during a sale? That hasn’t been allowed previously but you can generally cancel that booking and rebook using BOGO.

I did, just as Little Britain did and was allowed. They did not give us the option to cancel and rebook. Just another episode of RCI: Royally Consistently Inconsistent.

[lovelife]

22 minutes ago, orville99 said:

When we do B2B cruises, we always go to one of the specialty restaurants (or to the suite concierge) and pre book for the following week. Usually you can do that after noon on the day before your last full day on board - ie. Friday afternoon for a Sunday TAD. 

Yep, we are just no longer interested in going back there at this time.

[c-leg5]

15 minutes ago, lovelife said:

I did, just as Little Britain did and was allowed. They did not give us the option to cancel and rebook. Just another episode of RCI: Royally Consistently Inconsistent.

I was told several years ago you couldn’t use the sale price.

 

Not sure why you couldn’t cancel and rebook up to the deadline, but we don’t wait until dining we do it when we board. 

[little britain]

5 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

I was told several years ago you couldn’t use the sale price.

 

Not sure why you couldn’t cancel and rebook up to the deadline, but we don’t wait until dining we do it when we board. 

Define a RCI “sale” price?!  I book on line. My price paid may end up cheaper than onboard price due to fx fluctuations… that’s not my problem.   
On the other hand RCI have had my money for that restaurant booking for 6 months so they are in credit!

[c-leg5]

41 minutes ago, little britain said:

Define a RCI “sale” price?!  I book on line. My price paid may end up cheaper than onboard price due to fx fluctuations… that’s not my problem.   
On the other hand RCI have had my money for that restaurant booking for 6 months so they are in credit!

Let’s just say I bought one seat at a low price online and they were not going to allow BOGO so I cancelled the one seat.

 

I am not that bothered about specialty dining. I have done more specialty since Covid than the previous 20 years and that is only because MTD has been such a mess.

[teddybear231]

Just seeing this now, I was actually in Panama City on April 28th! We visited the Miraflores visitor center the day before on the 27th (we were probably there at the same time), what a small world! It's amazing to see it from this point of view, thank you for all of the photos!

[Eldaph]

I am not sailing to Panama but I am sailing to Alaska on Radiance. I really enjoyed all the pictures you took, thank you for sharing. 

[njkruzer]

Question.  I saw a utube video today from someone I don’t know, who stated testing is required for Columbia. We're on the October transit somhave been following this one. In April I know we got an email from Royal that said no testing required.   We're fully vaccinated, and will get a booster before we travel,  so we're ok.  Just want to know what was needed on your trip.

[twangster]

37 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Question.  I saw a utube video today from someone I don’t know, who stated testing is required for Columbia. We're on the October transit somhave been following this one. In April I know we got an email from Royal that said no testing required.   We're fully vaccinated, and will get a booster before we travel,  so we're ok.  Just want to know what was needed on your trip.

 

Perhaps they meant Nicaragua?  Or it was outdated information.  

 

No testing was required for this cruise.  

 

Passports are required and IIRC they must have six months validity.  Other than that there were no unusual requirements.  

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by twangster

[njkruzer]

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Perhaps they meant Nicaragua?  Or it was outdated information.  

 

No testing was required for this cruise.  

 

Passports are required and IIRC they must have six months validity.  Other than that there were no unusual requirements.  

 

Thanks.  Figured it was outdated info.  Our passports have more than 6 mos, so no problem there.  

 

Again,  it was a great thread

[The sea calls my name]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:34 PM, little britain said:

I find the ability to change to outside the 2 day window depends on the ship personnel. On this sailing I have moved my day 2 Samba to day 8 so will see what happens.  So long as they have the money banked by day 2 they should be able to accommodate any changes.  Depends if they want to be awkward or on booking numbers! YMMV. 

I think it varies from ship to ship and reservation desk. We went to Giovanni's on day 14 of our recent Odyessey of the Seas TA at 6:00 pm and asked if we could use my BOGO. her exact reply was",sure I don't see why not". It was money in the bank for them because if she said no we were headed to the WJ.

 

[twangster]

A few weeks after our transit and they are doing some much needed maintenance on one of the Pedro Miguel lock chambers.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/panama-canal-maintenance-aims-extend-015009778.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

 

A rare look into a mostly dry lock chamber.

 

📷: AFP

 

 

[The sea calls my name]

On 4/25/2023 at 12:00 PM, Another_Critic said:

 

3,617 drink vouchers per day = 54,255 total for the sailing.  😲

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by The sea calls my name
dublicate