LXA350

If you like smaler ships and are less into the mega ships you can go for the 5 night Serenade followed by the transatlantic. Otherwise I would suggest to spend some time in Europe first and then go for the Odyssey transatlantic might be the best option.

It is realistic that you will make it, let's say you are in the Car by 07:00 and with a worst case scenario you will hit traffic, you should be at the airport by 08:45 and if things go smooth somewhere between 08:00 and 08:15.

Most important is good preperation by arranging transport before with a reliable company that will be waiting for you at the Pier.  Of course if you are flying Business Class / hold a frequent flyer Status card that enables you to use the fast track at the airport this will help you to be less stressed as well 😉 

4 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Just a quick question. If you are in a Sky Suite I know you get Luminae as a restaurant but can you go to Blu as well?

Just curious.
BTW we love Murano’s. 

As far as I know you can eat at Blu, but it's subject to availability and priority is given to Aqua Class guests.

If they changed it for RCL looks like it will very soon happen to X if not already the case. I think it's a bad decision not only because of COVID but also before regarding other viruses that can spread, such as Noro. Also given that X is to be ocnsidered more premium than RCL it would be worth while the consideration that they would abolish completely the self serve concept.

One of the scenarios, it could be a repeat of the Day 1 menu.

Vision Class and 2 Radiance Class Ships (Radiance + Brilliance) have curtains in the walk in showers and all other classes of Ships have doors / sliding doors.

The buffet used to be one of the main points of concern from where viruses could spread, hence absolute shame that the Cruise break during COVID was not used to think of new concepts.

To keep things simple and +- simmilar than before they should have just gone for the serving option that the food will only be served by staff members. I doubt it involved significantly more costs, it would just require better crew planning etc. Further, it would also contribute to less food waste as it would encourage people not to load mountains of food onto their plates that they will not eat anyhow.

Given that the result is back to where we were pre COVID just less than 1 year before operations started again (- Singapore) qute a disapointment and a bg time missed opportunity to avoid future outbreaks of viruses on board.

A big opportunity was missed, RCl and other cruiselines had enough time to think of new concepts that would not require more staff than before, however reduce food waste and the risk of spreading viruses. Nothing  was done and we are back to where we were before and just a matter of time before we have the next noro outbreak etc.

Even when looking at the past with Noro outbreaks etc, the buffet should not be self serve. Ok, obviously RCL and the other cruiselines will do what is best economically however disapointing to see how they did not want to take any lessons from COVID and implement at the buffet for instance to ensure cruising to become safer going forward not only against COVID. Hence, a big oportunity was missed to evolve and revolutionize the Buffet venue eperience.

It's to early to know, but looking at the current trends Japan will eventually open up as well by around summer +- however with China / Hong Kong I am not so sure. Then again, who knows how COVID develops etc, hence longer term planing is still not possile especially in these regions of the world, hence a Plan B sure is not a bad idea.

4 hours ago, vac4fun said:

I will, I am high risk, and you can test negative, and still end up catching it on shore.

It is a choice to do so or not, but for my safety and that of my grandchildren at home, who are too young to be vaccinated we will do so every time we go into indoor spaces.

This is the way to go, its really not a big deal wearing those masks and it prevents you from getting sick and others.

6 hours ago, asnaleah said:

We were in a RS on Silhoutte, did not get a credit towards our dinner at Sushi on 5.

so Raw on 5 is excluded from the complimentary speciality dinning that is included in some suites?

What about for Suites that have Speciality dinning included as part of the premium perks, do they also have a maximum credit they can use per visit to Raw on 5?

Depends what kind of food you are looking for. You have chefs from various Asian countries on board, hence you can ask if specific dishes can be prepared by them for dinner at MDR fo you if you pre order for instance. On the buffet, the most authentic dishes you would find are the Indian dishes.

The Chef's choice they could really enhance away, better don't give anything than those plates of useless stuff which just creates food waste.

In general RCL offers the same basic product throughout it's fleet. Hence, the food quality at Windjammer at Main Dinning and at chops which you get on each cruise ship should offer the same quality fleet wide. When it comes to cabins, here the difference starts, sailing on Oasis Class from Harmony and above and all the Quantum Class ships the cabins have nicer decorations including bathrooms. Further when looking at Suites, here all Oasis and Quantum Class ships offer a superior experience compared to the rest of the fleet with Coastal Kitchen, etc.

It depends what you are looking for, is it only the food and the service for non suite rooms, here any ship of the fleet should offer the same standard of service. Hence you can be lucky and get a great food experience on Grandour one cruise and on your next cruise on Wonder a absolute inferior experience which is due to human factors of that sailing, meaning due to quality delivered by crew etc. If you look for a inovative cruise experience where the ship should be the most innovative then you need to look at Harmony and newer Oasis Class and Quantum Class; hence on those you also pay a premium for all the extra innovation found on those ships.

Wouldn't make any sense at all, obviously the answer would be yes 😑

3 hours ago, TeeRick said:

There is no reason for the extra price to be that high- other than the obvious one that people will pay it.

If the whole experience will be really 3 Star Micheline quality then USD 75 is a very good pice considering you would pay on land more like USD 300+ for such a experience.

You will need to check the rquirements closer to your travel date, let's see how things evolve over the next few months but likely 1-2 months beofre your trip you might have a better direction where we are heading but what you will actually will need likely will only be known 1-2 weeks before your trip if situation remains stable and continues to improve.

RCL used to have a dessert sampler plate with 3 different sweets, one of them was a flourless chocolate cake that was so delicious. I asked on one of our cruises if they could prepare this cake for us one evening and they did. 

I was also shocked when I saw it past summer. Here it is not about Save the Waves, those masks give a minimum protection if at all. Also, I have no clue how often the staff members changed them and if the masks were properly worn. All their bla bla health protocol masterplan they created and then such a stupid staff policy by providing them with cloth masks, well done RCL Group once again... Not.

13 minutes ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

My husband and I are just off Serenade where we had a table for two.  We were seated by the window with couples on either side (also at a table for two) that were barely a foot away.  One cannot wear a mask while eating and drinking.  We were at 50% occupancy, but they closed part of the dining room rather than spreading people further apart.

 

And now Serenade is out of service for a bit.......  hmmmm.

Well, based on those reviews MDR and COVID safety = Non existant

Occupancy levels seem not to be an issue at the moment with a lot of people cancelling, hence the experience on board should be very relaxing concerning crowds. If someone wants to go on holiday now anyhow it's worth doing so, but if you are looking for a pre covid cruise experience and are worried that shows etc will be cancelled and not all facilities are available don't go as such scenarios are very likely to happen currently. Being safe on board, if you take the needed precaucions including disciplined wearing of surgical or FFP2 masks (wearing them properly), personaly hygiene and distancing the experience should be as safe or even more so than on land. 

I can speak from a past cruise on Apex some months ago and the basic package was useless. Basic websites didn't load etc. The answer from the IT Support team was that the basic package is not compatible for most websites and applications as they use a much higher bandwith. Well why do you offer such a product at all if it's useless, absolute marketing trick what X is doing here, promoting a perk that is non existent. 

56 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Oh so you thought it wouldn't get to the US? it would just skip us? It was reported it would be a very short time to get to the US, and they were correct.

 

So knowing it was coming you don't let cruise ships  up their passenger's count, you leave them at 50%  or less and see if you can handle that.

 

If you think Royal is handling all the recent sailings and customer's great, then that is your opinion, I however think they could have done a better job at it and if they did all their ships might still be sailing. I'm sure they would agree too, if they had done more there would have been no cancellations.

 

Key Board Warrior?

Really?

 None of my posts are aggressive or abusive....Just my opinion's on an open forum. Either you can agree or disagree with what I post. I'm fine with that, you are open to your opinion's also.

 

But calling me a Keyboard Warrior is far from the truth.

 

 

 

At least some posters have common sense here, thank you so much Jimbo highly appreciated. 👍