zeberdee

On 4/14/2024 at 4:51 PM, Miaminice said:

Being one and looking like one are two different things 😉

 

To me wearing a lanyard and looking like a marked sheep as part of a flock definitely belongs to the looking like one category 😉

I don't have pockets (dresses, skirts), so I also don't carry my phone around with me, I use a walking stick and so I only have one hand free.

I need to use a lanyard, it makes life so much easier on board.
 

I have a bag when I leave the ship so no lanyard needed.

Remember some people have no choice if they don't want to have a bag with them all of the time.

I like using a lanyard, I don't have pockets in my dresses or skirts.

I would never put a sea pass or my mobile in my jeans pocket. (when on board, my phone is in the safe).

On 4/3/2024 at 8:24 AM, Northern Aurora said:

Should also mention that in Osaka we docked within a five minute walk to the subway station.  On the first day we simply used the metro to go to the train station to board the rapid express to Nara.  The deer were incredible.  And yes — they do bow for their deer crackers. 

Thank you for mentioning this, it will help me with our planning.

12 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It is a poor policy, sorry but that’s a fact. This can not be the problem of Royal Caribbean. 
If a UK policy won’t cover a destination like Labadee it’s a wonder UK travelers can ever have travel insurance. There is, at any given time, a half dozen or so islands in the Caribbean on some sort of watch list. 

UK travel insurance is not poor, fact!

The UK foreign office / government has deemed Haiti and Haitian waters to be a no go travel area and so insurance companies will not cover cover it.

There is a difference to being on a watch list for unrest and having no proper sitting government and uncontrolled violence and gangs and convicts running amok. 

Regardless of what peoples opinions are about the current situation in Haiti, UK passengers are not covered by their travel insurance to be in Haiti or Haitian waters.

Some people will have their whole policy invalidated if they travel on Royal to Labadee.

Surely Royal should think about this as well?
  

Hopefully there won't be any problems at all in Labadee.

I mentioned the insurance because if you had an accident or became ill either on the ship (in Hatian waters) or on Labadee you may not have cover. 

I take it from the comments, that the American travel insurance companies are still covering trips to Haiti/Labadee and Haitian waters?

UK travel insurance isn't.

We use Viator to book most of our day/half day trips.

We've been on 12 cruises (so far 😉) and have had no problems booking tours.

They have all been very accommodating when we've had changes of itinerary/docking time, a simple email has been enough to amend the booking.

The UK government has deemed Haiti and Haitian waters to be unsafe and advise against travel there. Many travel insurance  companies will not either cover you while in Haiti/ Haitian waters or not cover the trip at all as it includes Labadee/ Haiti.

I'm not sure if its the same for USA residence, but it may be worth checking your insurance policy.  

We've just come back from a trip on the Wonder of the Seas, I loved the  Austrian Streusel bread which was fabulous for breakfast, and the cheese bread rolls for supper.

Hi,

we need to book a private transfer from to port to the airport as we have quite an early flight. 

Could any of you lovely people give me the name of any private transfer companies you have used in the past please. 

Thanks 

Sandi

We are docking at 3.30am,  I checked  what time with Celebrity we could leave the ship. 

I was told by 6.30am.

Has anyone had experience of early docking and how early we can really leave the ship?

many thanks for any assistance/advice.

Sandi

Hi,

can anyone tell us if WOS bathrooms have a nightlight please?

Thanks

Thank you for your replies.

I guess we won't be spending any time in the Casino then.

Have Royal finally seen sense and made Casino Royal non smoking?

My app says Casino Royal is a non smoking venue.🎉

It'll be the first time that we will be able to go to the casino, as the smoke from the smokers side still made the non smoking side smell bad and make your clothes and hair stink.

15 minutes ago, Bead Pirate said:

You can buy a can of pringles (full size) for $7.99. They are in the back of the liquor store...

 

Enjoy!

A can of Pringles is £1.85 in the UK, so about $2.30.  

26 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I strongly suspect ShipGeeks is right.  And small bags of chips are a poor value -- more bag than chips.  I'm surprised they don't buy the big boxes and serve them a handful at a time.  Chips are also space-hogs, which isn't particularly welcome on a ship.  

 

Sometimes we bring a can of Pringles for the car, and half of that ends up left over for the ship.  

Yes, I think we'll just have to bring our own from the UK. 
We find that crisps/chips are hugely overpriced in the USA compared to the UK. 

Hi,

can anyone tell me if you can get bags of crisps anywhere on the Wonder of the seas please?

I read that you used to be able to get them.

We are on the Wonder in January, but Giovani's is not on offer for lunch any day?

We booked a Chops Grill lunch which is now more expensive even with the discount.

Excellent trip report, thank you for sharing the information and your lovely photos.

We are doing this trip next October and have never been to Japan before. 

Like Cruisegirl 1976 said, check your insurance.

Our cruise insurance has cover for missed ports on a booked itinerary.

1 hour ago, little britain said:

@zeberdee Indie doesn’t sail from Italy ? 

My mistake, it was the Explorer. Too many cruises booked!😳

Just thought I'd add my observations after our Anthem cruise out of Southampton ( followed by an Independence cruise a week later out of Italy).

Although the Anthem is a nice modern ship we didn't enjoy it as pointed out by others not nearly enough seating anywhere in the bars or at the pools. It just seemed busy and noisy everywhere. Service at the MDR and bars was very slow. Food choices in MDR were ok but so limited that we went to the Windjammer which we still found had very limited choices. The same dishes were repeated on the different  food stations.

We did find that the shows were ok.

We are not new to Royal but found the whole experience very disappointing. 

Move on a week and our cruise on the Independence couldn't have been more different.

Service was fantastic at the bars and all of the restaurants, it never seemed so busy that you felt penned in. We were able to get seats at all the bars, and the shows were pretty good.

The food choices were also so much more varied, which doesn't make sense?

I would like to point out that this is our opinion and that we are not older travellers.

We will never choose to go on the Anthem again, this ship just seemed low end in service and food.
 

We're  meant to be boarding Sunday 21st  so it's very short notice of the changes, considering most people have already travelled to Italy for this cruise. 

We're in Bologna and have only just had an email about the changes. 

I spoke to rc today and they didn't mention the change of port!

To say it's been stressful today is an understatement.  Having found and booked a car transfer to ravenna.  

I wish rc would be more forthcoming with information. 

I feel for my fellow cruise mates that are in ravenna now and will have to make their way back up to Venice first for check in.