Goodtime Cruizin

In the minority ... but, but, but ... having a hard time wanting to go to a place where people are still risking their lives to escape.

 

LuLu

I some what feel the same, but have come to realize that there are many other islands that have very corrupt Governments that we have visited.

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It can take many minutes, and even covering miles of distance to stop a ship. They don't slow or stop like a car.

You mean they don't have anti-lock, skid free, ocean brakes? If not, then I agree they need to step it up. :D

Are crop pants casual or smart casual as long as the blouse is decent (no tee shirt).

Well first, there really isn't a 'smart casual' any longer that we've experienced. And of course each to their own, but I personally wouldn't wear a t-shirt of any kind to the MDR on a RC cruise. The wife wore nice slacks, ankle length on our first night, which is typicallly the most casual night of the cruise due to the potential of late arriving luggage etc.

On another note, we did, as well as others, wear our Halloween costumes on the 31st, Sat night. It was a fun night in the MDR. :D

I'm done with Chops. While many have had great experiences, not so for me. The filet is good to go, but the 6 oz & 16 oz strips are not desirable. They're 3/4" thick and are the same streak that is served in the MDR. The upcharge to basically eat the same steak just doesn't work for me as the Texas Road house has a better steak

Actually there are several threads about this. The overall comments were, with the exception of the short bahamas/ carribean cruises that they would hold to the no last minute discounting. However, based on what I have seen online in the last two months. Including the crossing. His statement seems to be mostly hype because There have indeed been many discounts.

 

Thats what I was talking about and that was my personal experience that I was sharing.

 

I was originally worried because it truly did start to look like the best pricing for the new structure was to book the second the itenerary came out. (something I just cant do) fortunately based on what I am seeing, I am starting to believe that there we still be some aggressive last minute prices.

I would have to respectfully disagree. While there have been some price drops, I have not witnessed any drops that go below the original prices when the itineraries were introduced.

there's totally nothing wrong with hawaiian shirts, you're on vacay in the caribbean?! If you're worried about dw leaving you over a hawaiian shirt, you might have bigger issues?

this!

Do we need to make reservations beforehand for the Ice Show - is it an every night event ?

No reservations needed. There are a total of (4) shows.

Monday @ 2:30pm & 4:30pm

Saturday @ 2pm & 4pm

Guests are encouraged to attend the shows by muster locations which are identifed in the cruise compass. We went twice and there was never a seating issue as each show was only about 75% full.

I love hearing the "BOING" when I embark the ship. It reminds me that I'm about to have another Goodtime!

I wish we had embarked there instead of Barcelona. We didn't get our 'Sea Day' until after five days of running around on each port day. Getting the Sea Day after two days would have been much more satisfying! :)

Purchase online prior to cruise = pay up front for 7 days

Purchase on ship = pay with on board credit or seapass account and one must pay for 4 consecutive days. Having said this, there have been recent reports that one can purchase for fewer days than 4, depending on the ship

Does anyone have some recommendations for great drinks on the Independence? Also are some bars better than others for service and drink quality ?

We experienced great service last week from bartenders and servers. As far as drinks per location... IMO...

Boleros for Tequila drinks

Champagne Bar for Martinis

Pool Bar for Rum drinks

At inital sail away, the Olive or Twist attempted to charge me $25 cork fee to ice down a bottle of Champagne that I brought on board. I felt this what not their policy and the bartender was mis-informed, so I walked off. But they had great service at night.

Last week it was just a Blue Blazer & open collar for me. I didn't even pack a tie. Personally, I think I fit in just fine for a Caribbean cruise. I most likely would have done a suit & tie for a European cruise.

I suspect that changes are forthcoming only because the size of the ships now being introduced to the fleet. With larger ships, there are many more Suites. Couple this with the ever growing quantities of diamonds and diamond plus. Space to host such groups are going to be a premium.

With MTD, you must schedule your eating around either of the 2 traditional times, .....you pick which show you want to attend.

6:45pm is a great time for MTD as most shows start @ 7pm & 9pm w/ late shows @ 10:30 & 10:45

The shows sound great! Any idea what time they are as I want to do my restaurant reservations and don't want to miss the shows

Thanks!

Typically speaking 7 & 9pm. We like booking our MTD around 6:45pm.

Hint: Due to the high count of the masses entering the MDR at Early & Late seatings, there are lines for the Photographers stationed just outside the dining rooms. But if you arrive for pictures around 6:30pm, it's a breeze! Most of the photographers are just standing around. But @ 7pm, they pack up and move into the dining rooms to take pictures at the tables!

Ugh I just saw this--it's January 2016. I think the first cruise post-drydock is 2/7/16.

This is correct. We'll be on the 2/14 Cruise.

Are you allowed to get shots of liquor like rum and tequila with the drink plans?

Yes. You will not have an issue.

No post

While there is no corkage fee charged in the dining room or your stateroom, you can not expect to bring a bottle to a bar and ask them to serve it to you! They are in the business of serving drinks for money...I can bet if you were to bring your bottle to a public area in your own bucket of ice and bring your own glass you wouldn't be bothered. In fact I have done this several times.

 

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I agree. But all I requested was them to place it on ice. We were to return for sail away and pop the cork ourselves. We did not ask for them to serve etc. just ice it down. But it all worked out just fine as we enjoyed the balcony of a GS and all was good!

Looking forward to seeing the new Liberty after the January dry dock changes. We'll be sailing on Feb 14th :D

So my wife and I along with some friends just got off Freedom of the Seas (Oct 25 sailing). Some observations from our trip are below and I'm interested if others have experienced the same. I'll preface my observations by saying we previously cruised RCI in 2012 (Freedom of the Seas) and 2013 (Oasis of the Seas). Both times we had great experiences with different groups of friends. In 2013 on Oasis, my wife and I both had the drink package (packages were not available in 2012). This most recent cruise last week, I alone had the drink package and several of my cruise-mates had the package as well. Overall the cruise was good but we had some major disappointments with the level of bar/drink service. There was a marked difference in just the few years since our last cruise:

 

-In the MDR, the drink waiters were NOWHERE to be seen. With the drink package it was almost impossible to get an alcoholic drink at dinner, never mind more than one (e.g. multiple glasses of wines with each course or a pre-meal cocktail then wine). We were even buying the occasional bottle of wine. It was extremely disappointing given the table next to us seemed to have beer/cocktails waiting for them before they even arrived. I can't help but assume they didn't have the drink package (more tips) versus the folks at our table. It left a very bad taste in my mouth and forced us to actually leave the MDR to get a drink a the nearby R-Bar and bring it back into the MDR on several occasions. I'll add that our waiter did his best to facilitate but even at his prodding we wouldn't get service, there seemed to be too few drink waiters who were uninterested in taking our orders. Maybe we just got a dud drink waiter in our area but it made us not look forward to our MDR meals.

 

-Around the pool, I noticed much of the same thing...very few waiters to take orders around the pool. The ones who were there, seemed equally uninterested in taking our order.

 

-All the bars in the pool area had no menus...this was a very obvious change from my previous cruises where you could always bet on a colorful menu to give you ideas for yummy pool drinks.

 

Overall, the drink package was still the right move for my friends and me but we couldn't help but be bummed feeling they had our $400 and were doing their best to cut liquor costs by cutting back server staff, trying to limit the liquors we drank, and providing disincentives to drink/bar staff for waiting on us by creating two drinking classes...those without the package (who obviously are higher value to servers due to direct tips) and every other poor sucker who paid the $400 thinking it made more sense.

 

Unfortunately I think RCI has achieved their stated goal of pushing cruisers to the drink packages (e.g. higher profits) but at the expense of customer service.

 

Has anyone else had similar experiences, I'd be interested to hear? Thx

Actually, we just got off the Indy yesterday and our experiences were completely opposite. And we had the Premium Packages. We ordered direct from the bartenders and also waitstaff at the pool, and the evening shows/venues. We never had any issues and found the drinks satisafying and servers assisting us greatly. Our bar server in the MDR was always on hand as well. I think it's possible that we had MTD and we were 'tweeners' between the early & late seatings. As such, I don't think there was too much pressure on our bar server. I even gave her a Wow envelope at the end of the week.

We did experience an absence of a bar server on the Liberty last fall at dinner, to the point that we started carrying in our own drinks and also let our head Waiter know that we expected better service. He delivered. By day 4, the bar server was meeting us at our table!

Hope your next cruise is better for you. But I truly do not think it had anything to do with having or not having a beverage pkg.

Definitely following this thread! Sailing on IOS In a few weeks. So everything on the Cafe Promenade is free (already included)? If not, what is? I'm mostly excited about this coffee that's at the back of the promenade now...calling my name when I board!

Specialty coffees come w/ a price, but regular coffee is free as are the desserts and the sandwiches. All of which are pretty good!

Ditto the Ice Show. There are 4 showings, each is scheduled by one's muster location. It's the best I've watched so far.

If possible, go to the Quest show but it's adult only.

If specialty restaurants are in your budget, we did the Mystery Dinner @ Giovannis as we enjoyed a nice dinner w/ theatre as well.

If going to St. Martin, I would think the kids would enjoy the jets flying in at Maho Beach

If San Juan is on the itenary, the kids might enjoy the Forts! We didn't land til 4pm and by the time we walked there (shopping along the way) it was closing at 6pm, so we did not tour it. So go there first, then shop! BTW Cafe Puerto Rico is highly recommended for dinner and close to the ship.

An Ice Scuplture was created on the pool deck 12 on Thursday early afternoon. The kids would enjoy this as well.

Agree w/ eating at the Cafe Promenade the first day and also suggest that you either wear or pack swim suits in carry on bags and hit the pool early on boarding day as the pool isn't too crowded.

Enjoy your cruise.

I am flying first class and the baggage (up to 3) are free of charge. I don't see any mention of this for the luggage valet.

 

Can you notate a first class flight and not have to pay the baggage fee?

The supplied form asked questions such as,

Confirmation#, Flight #, Seat #, Airline Loyalty #, Seat # etc. I would believe that if you flew 1st Class & your luggage is included in the fare, then there would not be an airline charge for the luggage. Although the service fee from RCL for the Luggage Valet is $20pp.