Royal Caribbean secrets (merged)

[Cincy-David]

[quote name='dolfandude']8 pillows? does your DW sleep on the floor??????:D[/quote]

No, but if you line them up next to each other and cover them with a sheet it is close to having a pillow topper. We are hoping that the Radiance has the new bedding in November and this won't be necessary. The only part of cruising I don't like is the bedding. When you are used to a 19" pillow topper with memory, it is hard to sleep on that crap they call a mattress.

Dave

[Catpaugh]

[quote name='TXRed']I discovered that you can order from the child's menu at dinner! LOL....one night there was absolutely nothing on the menu that appealed to me...we had eaten on Cozumel and I wasn't really very hungry..and my tummy was churning just a tad....but wanted 'something'..however I did see a child eating spaghetti and I thought now THAT sounds and LOOKS GOOD. I asked our waiter if there was any chance of getting the spaghetti.. but no red sauce...just olive oil and garlic and basil..he said of course. Several at our table asked for it the next night.[/QUOTE]

I was on a cruise from san juan to aruba and I got soooo sick that night and the next day (some of the crew even got sick, had high winds) I couldnt eat a thing. The purser saw me and brought me some meds and I didnt even ask for it. I think I was green or something...lol The second night at supper I couldnt even think of eating, so the great guy that waited on us brought me a small bowl of lemon sorbet and then ask me how I felt, and when I told him it sat well and I felt better, he brought out a HUGE bowl of it...lol said he didnt want me to be hungry. I thought that was great.

[KC_fn]

You really can order more than one entree in the dining room (or more than one appetizer or dessert).

[Chromehead]

I am a die hard Mountain dew drinker and I had forgotten to pack some and I knew that they didnt serve Pepsi products on the ship. One day the ladie that cleans our rooms ask how I was doing. I told her better if I had a Mountain dew, but I cant find any anywhere we were on the MOS. She laughed, That night after Kareokee ( Spelling sucks) i came back to the room and there was 2- 2 liter bottles of sparkling Mountain dew. OH Yeah,

Its my coffee... lol she got a awsome tip. That was must expensive Mountain dew. So I quess just be nice. Its gets you a long way.

[4merlurker]

They close off the elevators for the muster drill so if you or a traveling companion MUST use an elevator grab your life jackets and go down early.

~Connie

[sandy38]

[quote name='KATHYMAC68']Here's my tip for people who have the RCI Visa Credit Cards:

You earn double points for any RCI purchases. That includes the onboard purchases. So we take about $3000 off the card in the casino and just use that cash to pay off the card when we get home. Thats an additional 6000 points on our card for discounts on our next cruise!

Just that alone gets us a $50 onboard credit for the next trip!!!![/QUOTE]


Oh, I love this one! What a great idea.

[chuckncole]

Bring your own mini Bar, ( or huge bar) Stopped by Costco in Miami. Picked up our higher end wines that they charge triple for on the ship or dont have and put them in our suitcases. As well, mixers, water silver patron and belvidere... Still we had a huge bar tab but it was nice to have happy hour in our room with friends.... cabin attendant brought us Ice and Glasses and cleared out their things in the refridge.
(yes you can bring your own on board.) even from port. be descreet and you will have no hassles. styrofoam bottle crates work well!!

[BethCarp]

[quote name='TXRed']I did see a child eating spaghetti and I thought now THAT sounds and LOOKS GOOD. I asked our waiter if there was any chance of getting the spaghetti.. but no red sauce...just olive oil and garlic and basil..he said of course.[/QUOTE]
Yep. My waiter also brought me Caesar salads and shrimp cocktail even if they weren't on the menu. Always ask your waiter if you want something not on the menu.
[quote name='BillOh']If your a CA member and not a gambler, you can take the coupon for $2 worth of slot tokens and get $2! There were 2 coupons in each of our CA coupon books. They don't have tokens so they just give you $2. That was a free $8 and we didn't have to gamble :D[/QUOTE]
Now I would have taken that $8 to gamble. You never know what you could have turned that into. ;)

So how do we get cash in the casino? Is there a limit to how much you can get at a time? We would love that because we like to get cash as we need it. See, this is a secret to some people. :p

[petesweet]

[quote name='BethCarp']Yep. My waiter also brought me Caesar salads and shrimp cocktail even if they weren't on the menu. Always ask your waiter if you want something not on the menu.

Now I would have taken that $8 to gamble. You never know what you could have turned that into. ;)

So how do we get cash in the casino? Is there a limit to how much you can get at a time? We would love that because we like to get cash as we need it. See, this is a secret to some people. :p[/quote]

We got $2,500 last trip. Could have gotten more, but decided not to carry too much cash on the way home. Will get more next time, though. If they ask what you plan to play, just tell them the slots, and then stick a quarter in on your way out. They don't keep up with you. That was 5000 points on our RCCL Visa. Every little bit helps.

[petesweet]

One more thing: You can take out as much as $2000 a day.

[petesweet]

OK - so math is not my strong point. That little withdrawal from the casino earned me $50 OBC, not $5.

[wrp96]

[quote name='LynneL']
BTW, when we went on the Explorer friends had gotten instead of AMEX paper travelers checks the option of putting them on an AMEX Travlers' Debit type card (they thought it was the same thing but easier to carry). When they went to the purser's desk to get some cash off it they were directed to the ATM machine, which charged a fee. My friend went back to the desk again to explain she was led to believe this was the same as T.Cks. & you never pay a fee when cashing a traveler's check. Employee said the ATM would be how she would have to do it. So she paid the fees when she wanted $ (removing it all at once would have negated the idea of the security of not carrying cash) & no one ever said anything about the casino.[/quote]

If you look at the fine print on those Amex Traveler's Cheque Cards, they specifically state they aren't allowed to be used on cruise ships. The ATM would've been the only way for her to get money off that onboard the ship.

[bikn4fn]

[quote name='KC_fn']I don't know if this is true on other ships, but on Mariner, look for the Peek-a-boo Deck. This is a little-publicized spot on Deck 11 from which you can watch the goings-on on the bridge. Not quite the same as a tour, but probably as close as I'll ever get, and it was fascinating.

kingsgirl: Being nice MUST be a secret -- so few people seem to know it anyway. :D[/quote]

My BIL recently had a balcony right behind the "flying bridge". He would sit and watch. One day he was using his binoculars and the crew spotted him. They turned off all the displays and he wasn't able to watch for the rest of the cruise.:p

[celle]

[quote name='Cincy-David']No, but if you line them up next to each other and cover them with a sheet it is close to having a pillow topper. We are hoping that the Radiance has the new bedding in November and this won't be necessary. The only part of cruising I don't like is the bedding. When you are used to a 19" pillow topper with memory, it is hard to sleep on that crap they call a mattress.

Dave[/quote]

We cruised on Radiance early in June this year. She had the new bedding then.

[1excitedcruiser]

If you pick out your favorite bar, tip the bartenders really good the first couple of nights you'll notice your tab at the end of the other nights is "less" than it should be.

[cruiserbryce]

[QUOTE]If you pick out your favorite bar, tip the bartenders really good the first couple of nights you'll notice your tab at the end of the other nights is "less" than it should be.[/QUOTE]

we have done this and it really does work...on Liberty in May we spent a lot of our drinking time at Boleros and tipped the bartenders well...by about the 4th day our tab was quite a bit less than we assumed it would be;)

[dolfandude]

[quote name='chuckncole']Bring your own mini Bar, ( or huge bar) Stopped by Costco in Miami. Picked up our higher end wines that they charge triple for on the ship or dont have and put them in our suitcases. As well, mixers, water silver patron and belvidere... Still we had a huge bar tab but it was nice to have happy hour in our room with friends.... cabin attendant brought us Ice and Glasses and cleared out their things in the refridge.
(yes you can bring your own on board.) even from port. be descreet and you will have no hassles. styrofoam bottle crates work well!![/quote]
So you're saying that the let you bring the tequila on board?:confused: Or you snuck (sic) it on board?:confused:

[chuckncole]

[quote name='dolfandude']So you're saying that the let you bring the tequila on board?:confused: Or you snuck (sic) it on board?:confused:[/QUOTE]

We checked it with our luggage as we did not want to carry 2 bottles of cranberry. 2 bottles of margarita mix 12 bottles of water 1 5th of belvedear. THey scan everything... So we did not consider it sneaking,,,,, we got our luggage unpacked,. set up the bar.....

[CruisinMermaid]

This is going to be my first time on RCI so not sure if this works but on other cruise lines I've tried, if you're travelling with a large group and share a dinner seating, you can ask the maitre'd to fix up something special for your group for dinner. One of our cruise mates asked for a special home made dinner request and they had it for us the following night.

[Loveynj]

[quote name='PhoenixCruiser']We have won 3 times at bingo, not the jackpot (like my neighbor who is sailing in Hawaii right now :D ), however the total was over $600.

###[/quote]


The first cruise I ever went on.... I played "win a cruise bingo" on the Adventure.... I won...woohoo.
I got a 7 day balcony cabin on another cruise. all i had to do was pay air fare. then on the free cruise my mom won the jackpot bingo.. split with 5 other winners but hey....we were on a roll.
Too bad I dont have that kind of luck In Atlantic City...

[eisco17]

[quote name='Loveynj']The first cruise I ever went on.... I played "win a cruise bingo" on the Adventure.... I won...woohoo.
I got a 7 day balcony cabin on another cruise. all i had to do was pay air fare. then on the free cruise my mom won the jackpot bingo.. split with 5 other winners but hey....we were on a roll.
Too bad I dont have that kind of luck In Atlantic City...[/QUOTE]

How does bingo work? Do you have to play all week long to be in the big drawings? Are the prizes spread out or are the big ones only on the last day? Do you have to buy special cards (that are more expensive) for the bigger prizes?

Thanks

[kingsgirl]

[quote name='tterryj50']How can you forget to pack?[/quote]


I swear to God we really forgot. We realized later on when we meandered back to the room and saw luggage being [I]taken away. [/I]

We just got caught up in ship activities on the last day (which was a sea day for us) and never even thought about it.

[WowItsMarissa]

[quote name='danya83']

Each Deck has it's own art theme if you get lost (I just realized that on Mariner...may not be a secret though!)

[/quote]

Wait, really!? I didn't know that. Does this apply to all voyager class ships?

[WowItsMarissa]

[quote name='KC_fn']I don't know if this is true on other ships, but on Mariner, look for the Peek-a-boo Deck. This is a little-publicized spot on Deck 11 from which you can watch the goings-on on the bridge. Not quite the same as a tour, but probably as close as I'll ever get, and it was fascinating.

kingsgirl: Being nice MUST be a secret -- so few people seem to know it anyway. :D[/quote]

Oh yeah! The Peek-A-Boo bridge is what they call it on the Explorer! Deck 11! It's right by the Solarium and during all the times I've gone there to read, make phone calls, or see what Captain Ryan was up to, I never saw a single soul...except for one of the ship's singers, but that was it.

[tsj04]

What is the "flyng bridge" and "peek-a-boo" deck?? :confused: