Colorado Ken

1 hour ago, EmQ-CA said:

We did notice the vibration on our last November Thanksgiving cruise.  We were on 9 mid ship and felt the vibration only on the first day/night.  It seemed to help us sleep better. 😄

Cruised a B2B in November 2021 on the Silhouette, one week in a veranda in 7194, and another in a SV  9305.  We had not cruised for several years, but didn't remember the vibration we experienced on this cruise.  On the second leg of the cruise I observed a different output from the azipod on the starboard side,  Only saw that for a few days.  I wondered if the vibration was because we didn't have many passengers.

Cruised a B2B in November 2021 on the Silhouette, one week in a veranda on deck 7, and another on a SV on deck 9.  Virtually no shade from the hot sun in the SV, and when it rains it has virtually no protection.  For us, it is very unlikely I will do a SV again.  It does have a spectacular view when you can enjoy it. 

I believe that would depend on where you were brought up at if it was commom place or not! :cool:

I also believe this is a large part of the differing view points. If I had been raised in a large city where I was exposed to the more elegant settings I might be more prone to want to dress up.

However I live in a community where there are no successful restaurants catering to the upscale diner, many have tried, all have failed. I don't own a tux, suit or sports coat. Rarely have I eaten in the MDR, as I don't want to be judged by the fashion police that will be offended by what is considered appropriate by 99.99% of those in my community. :eek::eek:

Southern for us also. We have done all three, and will be doing the East and West the next few weeks on Navigator. Next year we have one Southern on Celebrity, and one Southern on Royal booked.

We have a B2B cruise in OCT/ NOV. How common is FOG at that time of the year? :confused:

Well... Adam Goldstein at RCI - you know, that guy who's title says "CEO" - calls it their dress code. And I think what he says counts for just a little bit more than what you say. ;)

 

 

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As the cruise line CEO I am confident that Mr. Goldstein has contracts cross his desk on several occasions weekly if not daily, and fully understands the importance of the wording on those. When he makes the decision to change the wording on the cruise compass as well as the web page from SUGGESTED to required or mandatory, then that is when I will see this dress code differently. The few times I have gone to the MDR for dinner I have not observed the t-shirt, shorts issue again perhaps it is because I generally go for the longer cruises and appears to be an older group. For now however my wife suggests I stop trying to change the fashion police opinion. :D

I just have a real problem with the difference between a suggestion, and something that is required. If I show up to a restaurant that states a coat and tie are required then I get the fact that it is a dress code. Royal SUGGESTS what we wear, if they wanted nothing but coats and tuxes then they would require that. If I follow the line of thought that a suggestion is a demand then the next time my waiter suggested I have a glass of wine with my dinner then I guess I MUST follow his suggestion, and drink what he suggests.

I don't wear t-shirts, shorts, caps or anything of this sort in the MDR, but I don't feel that those who equate a suggestion with a dress code should force me to wear what they want. If they want to wear a coat or tux, it makes no difference in my experience, and I am sorry if it makes them deathly ill to watch me in my Dockers and a nice shirt. The last time I looked the ship is owned by Royal Caribbean, if you owned it then by all means you could set your standards on your ship. :eek:

We sailed the Panama Canal last year and no one had an issue when I showed up in a nice shirt and Dockers on formal night. Some on this board will have an issue, but those who I dined with had no problem. So many can't make the differentiation between a suggestion and a rule. If I show up to a restaurant that says a suit and tie are required, then it is cut and dried. Royal has a SUGGESTED attire, that many think is a rule.

If you feel like wearing a tux, do so. If you feel like wearing a jacket and tie, wear it in good health. If you feel like looking like a slob, more power to you, just don't think you're going to sit at my table! (Let the flaming begin!!!!)

 

Elvis

I wasn't aware that people had the power to determine who was allowed to sit at their table. I always thought that if you didn't like the location or your table mates that it was your option to move. :eek:

It is odd how they differ from cruise to cruise. We are booked on a B2B in OCT and NOV this year. First roll call is dead like yours, second is real active. :confused:

My first cruise I used Choice Air for my flight. They originally had me arriving the day of the cruise, which I was not comfortable with. I contacted them and got the flight changed to one day earlier. We drove 200 miles to the airport and boarded the airplane, with no issues. However at that point the captain announced the flight was canceled because of high winds at out next scheduled airport. Unfortunately we were at the back of the plane so all of those ahead of us were at the ticket counter trying to rebook. My father worked for the airline industry for 30 years so I knew enough to go to a different airline, and they honored my ticket. The downside was I would have to fly to Las Vegas, then on to Miami. We did get to Miami nearly 20 hours later in time to catch the cruise shuttle. We were exhausted and did not make the dinner the first night.

At our first port of call there were several HUNDRED passengers waiting to get on board because they had travel issues, again it was high winds across a huge area of the US.

For me, there is no way I am going to roll the dice. :cool:

If we are set to using the main dining room on a cruise, but for one reason or another decide to use MTD for an evening, is this allowed?

Only caveat I would say is that if you do decide to use Miami is to avoid the cruise line transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. We chose Miami for the cheaper fare last year, but after waiting over two hours on the bus before the drive would depart the port I swore never again. I don't think the passengers who were traveling internationally could have made their flights as they had less than an hour to check in and get to their flight. Repeated pleas to the driver made no difference.

Ken

I appreciate hearing the positive reviews, thanks. The information and photos are very helpful. There are still consistently negative reviews being posted about the food & service on the legend and advice not to choose this ship. Therefore, we are somewhat concerned and worried. We sail in February and are hoping that it's not going to be as bad as the reviews state. It's hard to ignore them when they all say the same. All of your positive replies and information to this thread have helped, thanks - just wish there were more positive reviews about the ship being posted.

HVL

We did the Panama Canal from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale in Nov/December of 2013.

Absolutely no complaints about the food or anything. A spectacular waiter for MTD.

We were in one of the new Balcony rooms on deck 6, and were more than satisfied with the accommodations. We had an excellent room attendant, that I felt went above and beyond.

Your experience may vary as I heard others complain. We however are pretty easy to please. :p I think people who had a bad experience are more prone to doing a review than those of us who had a great time. That is the third time we cruised on a ship in that class, and by far this was our favorite.

I would book again with out a hesitation.

I guess I am part of the crazy group also. We have a cruise scheduled February on the Allure, and just finished a Panama Canal cruise the first part of December 2013. I broke down and booked a B2B out of Galveston for October 2014. I thought my wife was going to kick by back side when she caught me looking for a 2015 cruise.

Not unusual at all for me to look at my reservations on Royal, or drop in here to look at cruise critic. I didn't sign up on cruise critic until a few months ago, but have been a lurker for a LONG time. :cool: :cool:

On 15 night Panama Canal cruise in November 2013 we got gifts several nights. Caps, totes, and others. It was a C & A cruise though. :) If memory serves me there were over 1300 C & A cruisers Platinum and above out of the 1800 passengers on board.

Bigger memory cards don't always seem to be the best option. When I got my D800 it came with a 64 GB card. I can't get it to read on my computer that I do my pictures on. I have to connect it to my laptop and load the pictures on a flash drive to move the pictures. I have no issues with the 32 GB or smaller cards. I also take a Epson card reader that stores pictures on a hard drive. This gives me one more level of backup when I travel. I have never had a failure on a memory card, but have helped friends with theirs because they never format the cards when they move pictures. 8 or 16 GB will work for most of what I do, it all depends on the dead horse JPEG or RAW. The D800 consumes about 100 MB per picture when I record RAW and JPEG. If I am doing exposure brackets for HDR it really eats up the card capacity. As many posters have stated, buy a card that is fast as you can afford. You won't be disappointed. :)

It depends on the cruise we are on, and what we intend to do before and after the cruise. On our February 2013 cruise to the Southern Caribbean, I took a Nikon point and shoot and an Olympus TG-1 for the beach and snorkeling excursions. On our Panama Canal cruise November 2013 I will take the Olympus and a Nikon D 300 with a 18-270 lens and a monopod.

A downside for me on taking the DSLR is that I carry it in a camera bag that counts as a carry on aboard the flight.

As many have pointed out, I am a prime example of an average photographer, and regardless of what camera and lens I use, I only get good pictures, not spectacular (well perhaps one out of a 100) :D.

We took a tour of Costa Rica a few years ago and many of our fellow travelers were getting great pictures with their point and shoot cameras because of the zoom level and composition.