The Big Booper

It was a nightmare!

Interesting. Ken and Paulette did self-disembark at 6:30 AM (one of the first) and were thru in 10 minutes, per his thread.

Not a good way to end the trip.

But then, TA's where the ship has been away for some months are always the worst, no matter what the port. FLL was better then Miami for us on our TA's. Customs people always take longer since the ship must be carefully checked over. One reason why we stopped with the TA's.

Saving the best for last

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

 

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

Yeah, the sun finally came out.

I can see how the constant grey can wear you down. When we are in London I expect it. But not on the Allure/Oasis.

I wonder how the disembark at FLL was? After all, this is the normal port for the ship and they should know what to do here.

When I heard about the dry docking of the 2 bigguns' I said " Maybe we should fly over to Europe, stay a few days, and then take the return Western TA back to the US." We had second thoughts and instead booked the Jewel's Coastal California in late summer of 2015, going to an area we had never seen and sailing on the only Radiance class ship we had never been on.

Based on what went on during this TA we made the right decision. Except things appear to have been even more scrambled up then we anticipated. The interactive TV system had always worked well on our previous 4 Oasis/Allure cruises and I wonder what caused it to go flooey on this trip.

Oh well, we had not even planned to be on Oasis in Jan 2015 and had only booked it so as to go with 2 couples we know who called us in late September and asked us to go with them, great pricing. I assume that all the construction will be finished by then.

We took the Explorer out of NY to the Caribbean several times. If St. Martin was the first stop we never got in until noon or so. That is normal. If there is a propulsion problem that would account for arriving 1 PM, an hour later then in years past.

I've been following this thread and the other live reports closely, since I will be on the Oasis in three short weeks. I'm genuinely sorry for those of you who don't regularly cruise on RCI, because it doesn't sound like you've had a "typical" Royal Caribbean experience. I think the reasons for that are many, with the primary culprit being an overly ambitious dry dock and on-going construction, but also numerous issues with preparedness of staff and their inability to adjust to a cruise and weather that are out of the norm. Although I can understand the reasons, that isn't to say that I excuse RCI from responsibility or give them a free pass!

 

I have never heard good things about the first cruise after dry dock on any cruise line, which is one reason we avoid the cruises right before and right after, but I do think the closures and construction on Oasis are excessive. Hopefully RCI will learn some lessons from this first-ever Oasis TA and dry dock, and avoid repeating the mistakes when Allure goes in for her make-over next year.

 

Chloe Kitty, I've sailed on five different mass market lines, and I've found that RCI does some things better than others and there are some things they need to improve. In that respect, RCI is exactly the same as Princess, HAL, Celebrity, and Carnival. I understand that RCI has fallen well short of your expectations on this sailing and are deserving of criticism for many things, but I think to say they don't care about their passengers' comfort is an unfair exaggeration. I could say the same about every line I've sailed with, including your preferred (based on your signature) line Princess, if I compiled a list of things that had gone wrong or weren't to my tastes.

Agree 100%. The so-so service on this TA is not the usual high quality service RCI gives. And we have cruised on all lines except Costa:eek:.

Regarding Internet speed, in the past others have posted that the fastest speeds have been up in the Viking Crown Lounge area. Is this still true? Going to bring a fast tablet and/or laptop on the repo.

RCI is committed to keeping 2 Oasis class in Port Everglades by agreement. Howsumever, there will be an Oasis III and IV...

Ummmm.......we're taking the Nov 1st 2 week repo on Ex from Cape Liberty to Port Canaveral but we moved to Florida July 2013...so we have to fly from PBI to EWR...the day before the cruise of course.

We've never missed a cruise but we usually fly in the day before if a long trip.

The main complaints seem to be centered around

1. Boarding in Rotterdam and Southampton and

2. Customer service on the ship.

The passenger loads on this class ship are greater then any other cruise ship afloat. RCI has it down pat when sailing closed loop trips out of the purpose built terminal at Port Everglades, runs like a smoothly oiled machine in that spot which the pax will see at the end of this trip.

From what others say on this thread, a large portion of the front desk staff rotated over to the Quantum in Europe and the replacements are taking a few days getting up to speed. Also frustrating.

Plus large parts of the ship are still being re-built.

Sounds like somebody didn't think everything thru and planned too much stuff to be done in too short a time frame.

I wonder what will happen to Allure in 2015 when it goes thru the same cycle?

Goody, another "Live" to follow. Plus we'll be joining the ship Nov 1.

Next week, Oct 27. GGG Sale

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

Oct 27, 4 days out. An empty cabin generates no revenue and the company has to pay a pct of the tip guarantee to the cabin attendants.

<edit> One assignable cabin at this rate, all others are guarantees. Go for those and you might get real lucky. This is for insides.

6 Oceanviews.

Bring hiking boots.

Oasis doing 5 night for $299

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

Wow! What week? Tuesday Special? Is that the stub period for itinerary changes?

I'm sorry to read about your knee issue, hope it heals properly. At our advancing age, not good.

I like the concept of putting photo links in rather then the actual photos, makes scrolling a lot faster and easier. Really enjoyed the pictures and the availability of the exif information is a plus, on Flickr.

You can set up a custom white balance and use it for indoor pictures, gets rid of the yellow-orange cast on the non-flash shots. I use the white sheets on the bed as the target and it works for the cabin and most of the indoor areas on the ship when no daylight is available.

Royal has pricing like that on Freedom right now plus solo rates at 150%. $329 for Inside Nov 9.

It's not just Princess

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

Freedom is an 8 year old ship with an older design that has been doing the same runs for all 8 years. I know, we were on it June 2006.

The Regal Princess is a brand new ship with a totally new design and should be priced much higher since all prior Princess ships built from 1996 on look the same inside, until the new 2013 Royal Princess sported the same new design that the Regal has. Look how RCI is pricing the all new Q class as well as the Oasis class. No $400 per week cabins there.

This is reflected in the share price, RCCL has soared while CCL plc... hasn't.

Lots of ships call at CocoCay. Grandeur, enchantment, freedom. RC also rents it out to Carnival ships occasionally. :D

Didn't know that. We were on Majesty a couple of years ago on an impulse cruise since we were in Florida seeing several clients. Booked it 10 days out for a decent price, mainly for Key West and Nostalgia. Aside from that Majesty trip our last 7 private island stops on RCI/=X= have been to Labadee.

Still, the salient point is that RCCL spent BIG bucks to upgrade Labadee while CCL plc has not spent much upgrading their only private island for Princess. You gotta spend $$ to make $$.

Less than 12 hours we'll be at the port in Ft. Lauderdale and will truly let you know if the $159 (+) tax for 4 nights in a deluxe balcony with $200. OBC was worth my time aboard the Island Princess. I'm going to forecast my results and say it was worth every penny. However, I will be honest and let you know. Always hoping for the best no matter what line I sail. I can do the same when sailing on our girls' trip in March aboard the Enchantment. About $420 each for 3 in a larger OV accommodations vs. a deluxe balcony for about $227 each (two to the stateroom). Either way a get-a-way from the real world is awesome! Stay tune... for an honest opinion.....;);)

That is a good deal and the Panama Canal ships are the best that Princess has IMHO.

$40/day per person can't be beat. And a balcony to boot! Plus OBC.

One has to tender at Coco Cay ~ one of their private islands... BTW: I have no problem doing a tender if the island is worth the stop and IMO all cruise line's private islands are worth the stop (at least once). :D:D:D:D

We don't go ashore at Coco Cay any more, nowhere near as nice as Labadee and not worth the bother. Also, I believe that only the Majesty stops there on a regular basis now. When most of the ship is off at Coco Cay we enjoy the quiet day at the pool. I've always liked these days, and it is a perfect time to walk around taking pictures of the empty ship with no pesky people getting in the way of the shots.:D

We now live in Boynton Beach so sand and warm water is not a novelty.

Princess has only one option and that is Princess Cay; RCI has the wonderful Labadee where even the Oasis class can dock with no problems, hell both of the big girls can dock at the same time.

Google it, maybe not a misspelled word.

Nope - typed habachi into Google and I got loads of references for hibachi, none for habachi.

OMG - they totally misspelled it! There's no alternate spelling. Too funny! I wonder how long it takes to fix it?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Anybody over a certain age remembers from decades ago Japanese products being sent over here with English instructions written by Japanese technical writers who didn't really know English. Still lives on.:D

Anyways I still love these two reviews and we will be getting on the ship Jan 15th with 2 other couples. Hopefully most of the kinks will be worked out.

You have to tender to coco Cay as well

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

Yes. When we do the 4 day Majesty which includes Coco Cay, we get off at Key West (our main port) and Nassau and treat Coco Cay as a sea day. Other then that all our RCI and =X= cruises go to Labadee.

Loving the pictures so far. We stopped at Vigo in 2008 on the Indy TA from Southampton to Fl.

Oh, one more thing.

 

You think that TV programming is bad on RC? It's worse on Princess. :rolleyes:

And on Princess the TV set is ... just a TV set. No interactive features like all RCI ships have in the Radiance, Voyager, Freedom, Oasis or Quantam classes.

Not to mention my particular bugaboo with the 4 Ruby class ships, they carry the same passenger load as the 5 Voyager class ships but are 20% smaller. As far as I know, Princess has not managed to repeal the basic laws of physics, even if they subbed in Sheldon or Leonard for Capt. Stubing.:)

And you have to tender to Princess' private island, unlike Labadee.

RCI may cost more but you get what you pay for.

When we feel the need to do something different from RCI we usually choose Celebrity, a superior product to both RCI and Princess. And an occasional Disney.

Why is Princess forced to practically give their cruises away at times? I saw an ad for 4 nights on the CB (inside) for $159 + taxes. Hell that's cheaper then staying at home here in Florida.

The only mass market line with an older demo then Princess is HAL.

 

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

 

Remember that the point I was making was that EVERYONE should be compensated for being on a ship that is in the midst of construction and not quite ready for prime time.

And THAT is the key point. With all the partly finished areas intruding on the comfort of the guests, I could see some OBC. Contact Miami if no help from the front desk during the crossing.

All cruise lines give perks to their frequent travelers. On CC, all the cheerleaders say that their line has the best perks but, assuming that you have gone on all the different lines, you would be in a good position to know for sure.