EatSleepCruise

Thank you for sharing your blog with us.

 

Keith

My pleasure Keith. The wife and I love CC and have used it for years and just recently got up the courage to formally join and share our cruise adventures with the rest of the community here. Almost everyone we have encountered has been very courtesy and helpful! Cruisers are really outgoing and generous folks.

I've sailed every cruise, timeframe in Alaska, and always, my packing is the same. a sweatshirt, sweatshirt jacket, lightweight lined jacket, hat, gloves, an extra pair of walking shoes, t shirts, no jeans. I always have laundry done, and I take 1 bag for 2 people. I do have a decent dress top plus an extra one due to my flying requirements. I usually pack enough for 5 days, extra underclothes. This was all I took for my recent 4 week trip.

 

This week I will be leaving for 6 weeks. 3 more Alaska cruises, then a repo Hawaii 16 day sailing. I also need to take my snorkel gear, swim stuff, shorts, sandals. I probably will have to take a small second bag.

Thanks Budget Queen. That is helpful. The stress of packing was getting to us today as we were trying to get things squared away for day and night time outfits. My wife loves to dress up for dinner and definitely gets all dolled up for formal nights, so trying to figure everything out and get it shoved into our suitcases finally took its toll.

We did not want to chance doing standby, so we booked everything for our 8 night Quantum and our 12 night Anthem.

The booking system actually opens up much earlier than you would think. Our Anthem saling is over 500 nights away and we just did our reservations. We blog about our experiences with the Dynamic Dining system here. We booked Grande twice on both sailings and lined one up so it is the same night as Mama Mia! Always nice to be dressed up when going to a Broadway show.

Knowing how clunky the online reservation system is I am concerned that onboard it won't be anymore organized AND you will have plenty of people who did not book who also are not too happy about the availability of certain restaurants!:(

Yep, Gypsy Ruth does.

 

Or you could check a weather website for average temps for the ports you'll be going to.

Thanks Sheep. We have been checking the sites only for average temperatures. Just wondering if anyone had travel during that time and had first hand experience. Our concern is the "wind chill factor" as I know the "feel like" temperature can be much different than the actual temperature on the thermostat.

147 days to my Quantum Cruise - impressive to watch her coming out of the dock - see more pictures of the float out here

 

Great picture and thanks for sharing the link. We are actually on the QOS the week prior, so now only 139 days until our 8 night cruise!

Does anyone know what the temperatures will be like during the first week of September? We have already got some rainproof boots and slickers from LL Bean that should cover us for the rain.

We are starting to pack today and determining what we should bring, I know lots of layers, has been difficult as we are use to doing Caribbean cruises!

Thanks in advance!

Hi Folks,

Wanted to share with everyone the blog my wife and I have just put together. It shares our experiences from cruising along with tips and suggestions aimed at first time/novice cruisers.

Also, we have reviews of our trips and shore excursions along with a photo gallery.

The photo gallery is a work in progress as we just upgrade our camera equipment to a DSC RX100 and have been learning more about photography.

Would love to hear any feedback folks have about ways we could improve.

See the world one port at a time,

DB and The Princess (AKA The Wife :D)

I checked out the bottom name on the covering over the North Star. Turns out its Gangloff Cabins from Switzerland.

 

I found a pdf document that mentions...

 

The 4 ton North Star cabin/gondola, held together by a framework of tubes, was built by Gangloff Cabins in Switzerland. Upon completion it travels to Poland, where the cabin is coupled to the 40 meter articulated arm. After that cabin and arm are transported by special convoy to the Meyer Werft shipyard.

 

 

 

Great pictures. I was a little skeptical about the North Star when I first heard about it and was wondering if it would detract from the appearance of the ship. Let's hope the experience is worth it!

Hi Diva,

We did Indy in the Caribbean this past January and we liked the ship. We did an Ultimatum Drink Package which includes everything and we found it was a great value for us! The Select package comes with beer and wine under $8. I believe drinks like alcoholic cider are included in the package, along with soda.

As other folks on this thread have said, you can upgrade to a package with up to four days left in your cruise. You won't get any credit for your previous days alcohol purchases. I would feel it out for the first few days and then pull the trigger if you think the package works for you and your family. We bought the package with OBC we had on the first day of our 8 day sailing.

We like to plan ahead of time so we made our reservations now, knowing you can always cancel. I am sure once the entertainment schedule is released that we may have to reschedule, but at least we know we have the restaurants we want to eat at secure....for now!

Hello Everyone,

 

I am boarding IOTS in the next couple of weeks at Southampton and thought it would be fun to ask everyone if you have any tips on what you do first as soon as you board the ship...?

 

I usually head to the spa and get myself a raffle ticket, then go find my dining table for the cruise....finally I find a quiet corner and study the cruise compass with a cold drink :cool:

 

Do you have any tips on making the most of them 'first few hours' before you get given your room key...?

 

Looking forward to reading your replies

 

Lisa xx

We were on IOTS in January out of Florida, so it might be a bit different for folks in the UK.

The first thing we always do when boarding ANY ship is get on as early as possible and take pictures. You can get some really great shots of the public spaces with virtually no-one in them. We usually start on the top decks and work our way down. Are IOTS review links to a photo gallery from this last cruise.

After that, we try and avoid the Windjammer and usually grab some pizza and a few beers at Sorrentos, and perhaps a cookie or too at Cafe Promenade. As you mention above, going over that day's Compass is always a good with a cold drink!

IOTS really needs a Park Cafe!

141 days until we are on the Quantum of the Seas! Can't wait.

Although, we are doing a Celebrity Cruise in three weeks to Alaska, so at least we have that to fill the cruising void!

You get one point for ever night you cruise with RCI and double points if you cruise in a junior suite or higher. The points you earn dictates your level and benefits. Currently, the point system works as follows

Gold 0-29

Platinum 30-54

Emerald 55-79

Diamond 80-174

Diamond Plus 175-699

Pinnacle 700+

Your points for Celebrity do not count toward your cruise points tally with RCI.

There are cross-over promotions when you hit certain levels. For example, as a Platinum RCI cruiser, we now have "Select"status on our upcoming Celebrity Cruise. I think when you hit RCI Diamond that puts you at "Elite" with Celebrity.

Hope this helps! :)

We are booked on both Quantum and Anthem and have found that dining opens about a year out.

Although, we are booked on Anthem for January of 2016 and our dining opened last week, over 500 days away from sailing!

It was a bit hard to get through.

You basically had to go the first screen, click on dining, which then sent you to the "new cruise planner". The top screen, with the two ships said "Sorry, You can't reserve that right now", but when you scrolled down, you could select your restaurant and make a reservation.

We got all 12 nights booked.

All restaurants appear in our calendar and RCI charged my credit card for the three specialty dining reservations we made.

So many errors with the Dynamic Dining system, but I have all the paperwork so we are all set for our cruise....for now, until the show times are released:D

We discuss this on our blog if you are interested.

Wow, thank you for sharing your experiences! It is very helpful. I really am enjoying the planning and anticipation. I could get hooked on this feeling, for sure. :P

 

People are so nice and helpful here! :)

Yeah, I have to admit I have used CC for years before becoming an active member recently! There is so much great information here.

I have pictures of all our excursions, but the wife and I are in the process of redoing our blog, so Dunn River Falls and Grand Cayman are not posted. Check out the shore excursion reviews here at CC to hear from other members about their top choices.

That was one of the pics on the link I posted earlier to Ingrid's web page ! She has some really good pics

I am just seeing Ingrid's site now. Awesome pictures.

I just wished RCI would get it over with and announce the remaining venues onboard!

https://twitter.com/RoyalCaribPR/status/499623666167349248/photo/1

Great aerial shot just posted of QOS on Twitter!

Thank you, kind sir! I am actually in Germantown as I type. haha Small world!

 

I appreciate your help! I will definitely contact you with questions. I am a little unsure exactly what to book for off the ship activities. We will be going to Falmouth, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

 

Enjoy this beautiful TN day!

I highly recommend Dunn River Falls when in Jamaica. I have done it twice and both times it was exhilarating! They bundle it with a bunch of different experiences. Last time the wife and I did the excursion in conjunction with a trip to Mystic Mountain to do the bobsled. It was sort of fun, but a lot of waiting around for everyone on the excursion to do the alpine slide. They also have zip lines on the Mountain, but we did not do those as part of our excursion.

In Grand Cayman, we really liked the island tour as you get to do the main attractions including Hell, the Turtle Farm, and Stingray park. You can also spend time on Seven Mile beach with some of those packages, depending how long you want to stay on the island. You can always taxi it to Seven Mile Beach as well.

Cozumel you can do almost any excursion. Oddly, we have never done anything at the port. One time we did a beach break and another time we just stayed on the ship and had Allure basically all to ourselves.

Enjoying planing the cruise. That is half the fun!

Which packages are you comparing?

The Premium drink package includes bottled water. On our last Independence of the Seas cruise, we easily drank 8 to 10 bottles of water, a day, each.

We actually had the Ultimate Drink package as we are big latte drinkers too and I found the package was worth it. Only service benefit was our bar staff at dinner always had our pre-dinner cocktails on the table when we arrived as he knew we had the package. He would also come by and ask if we wanted refills.

But, at the lounges and bars, having the package was no benefit. Occasionally, you got slower service as they would see the sticker on your sea pass card and attend to other patrons.

We have been on the Legends of the Seas-smaller than Serenade-which was nice, actually had great service, but we like the amenities and different offerings on larger ships

We have been on both Freedom and Independence, and had a good experience on both sailings.

Hands down, Allure has been our favorite cruise to date.

We went in February, so the crowds were not an issue. We never had an problem getting seats at a show or a lounge chair to grab some sun. We spent a lot of time on the Boardwalk and evenings relaxing in Central Park. Never really busy.

We want to try Oasis when it does a unique itinerary outside of the Caribbean.

Here's a review you "don't want to miss".

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1737751

 

Skip

Agreed with all readers, Gambee's review is a must. It really helped us plan our Allure trip last year.

I don't think I have seen it yet, but definitely get to Park Cafe for casual breakfast and lunch. It use to be a great quiet spot on embarkation day, instead of the Windjammer, but now people know to go there and the line is out the door! But, we actually shared a table with a couple who also happened to be from MA and made new friends within hours of boarding the ship.

We loved the boardwalk and would hang there all the time to relax, eat, and drink. See if Joe is still one of bartenders at the Boardwalk Bar. He is great!

Diving show is great and so is Blue Planet, the other main show in the Theater toward the end of the trip. Get there early and try to get seats in the center of the theater.

We did the drink package on both Allure and IOS and thought they were worth the price. I can't even count how many bottles of water we grabbed on IOS. Not to mention iced lattes...oh yeah, and the cocktails!

You can get everything done on this ship with a little advanced planning.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for the up-to-date photos of Quantum! Now with 100 days to go and tomorrow's float out, things are heating up! We aren't sailing on her until next January, hopefully, by then RCI has announced the bars on board! LOL!