LuCruise

16 minutes ago, rrraydon said:

I just left the cafe. I spoke with a different guy this time. You CAN get small lattes, macchiatos and cappuccinos for one punch each on your card. It’s Refreshers and Frappuccinos you cannot use your card for. 

Glad it is straightened out and you can get most items as expected.  That makes sense and more in line with what others have said or followed.  Its shows you to not always trust the crew as they often don't know themselves.  Thanks for reporting back.

9 hours ago, rrraydon said:

Forgot to mention…while strolling the promenade earlier I stopped at the cafe to get the 2 coffee cards I ordered. They only had me down as ordering 1 card (they’re cheaper if you purchase online prior to sailing, $31). So calls had to be made and what not but we got it settled. Anyways, he informed me the rules of the coffee card have changed. Used to be you could get refreshers and frapps with the card, they just took off 2 punches for those instead of the one punch. Not anymore. With the cards you can no longer get those at all, nor can you use them for macchiatos or cappuccinos. Well what the heck is the use in buying them then?????

What?  We've used the coffee card a few times (If memory is right, including on Liberty).  The only restriction we had was not allowing Frappuccino's, but everything else was allowed. That's ridiculous if not for macchiatos or cappuccinos.  Things like iced coffee were 2 punches and anything over a small was also 2 but otherwise allowed.

2 hours ago, cruisinfly said:

Uber and Lyft should work well. Not sure what the price difference are, though.

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

No Uber has worked fine for us in the past and although we have used other services the last time it is probably what I would use in the future.

Thank you both.  We have time to figure out Galveston as not until next December, but definitely paying attention to these posts and taking notes.  We are a family of 4 so perhaps for us, an uber would be better anyways.  Glad to hear uber is a reasonable option.  Will look closer in terms of cost though.

Seems like most of you  use some sort of shuttle. Is there any reason not to just use uber (as long as you order a large enough one for your luggage situation)?  This assumes flying in the day before (IAH for us) and then needing transportation to a hotel (not sure at the moment if near the airport, near the port, or somewhere in the middle).A shuttle seems like a lot of coordination beforehand (but flights often change/delayed, etc...plus need to estimate time to wait for luggage, etc)

8 hours ago, kj_connections said:

Also curious, why does everyone hate CATS? I'm going on Oasis very soon...

I enjoyed it, and even saw parts of a second viewing. For me, I read the story beforehand and listened to the music (as I enjoy music more when I know the songs). Give it a chance and ignore other people's thoughts. 

Really enjoying your review.  Your vacation to me is the ideal vacation as it covers my two favorite holidays:  Disney park and a cruise!  What could be better?

We were last at Disney in Aug 2022 so aside from Tron, the rides were there.  Magic Kingdom is my favorite park...and favorite ride is Haunted Mansion.  You can ride it many times and notice something new each time.  We originally had plans to go to Disney World in Aug 2020 but obviously didn't make it but also had Pop Century booked because of the Skyliner.  Star Wars land is pretty impressive at Hollywood Studios (and I'm not even a Star Wars fan).

Enjoy the days at Disney before your cruise (and hopefully you can get your chair fixed quickly).  

Broadway

Mamma Mia on Allure (but I'm biased as I love that musical and have seen it many times)

Hairspray on Symphony is close second.

Aqua Show

Aqua 80 on Oasis

Ice Show

I don't remember ice show names but the one on Wonder is my favorite. 

Symphony close second.

In House Show.

Flight on Symphony.

Haven't been on Harmony (yet) to add it to the mix of candidates (but I did love Grease on Independence, which is also Harmony's Broadway show).

Have been on both, and first comment are both are great and you can't go wrong with either!

But I agree with others, that if given a choice and both are in your price range, then I'd choose Symphony.  As others commented, Independence is similar to Adventure....similar layout but it's more stretched and there's an extra pool .  It has Grease, an ice show and other headliners (I forget their other in house show offhand).    

Symphony is Oasis class with more restaurants, and additional things like zipline, dry slide, Aqua theatre and Boardwalk, Central Park (which is lovely and not on any other ship).  Solarium is beautiful (esp at night).  Also I found the decor and decorations a "wow".  And last, it has Hairspray and Flight, which are great, plus Aqua show (so unique) and Ice show. The ship is spread out so I don't remember crowds being an issue, but I can't comment on My Time Dining.  (Personally we prefer traditional as there is no wait but that's us).  Symphony is bigger though so you have to be ok with walking a bit more to get around.  Rooms are also more modern.  One other difference is for Symphony, you pre-book your shows (which spreads out crowds) so you have to be ok with doing some pre-planning.  (They do have stand by but no guarantee you'll get in).

Let us know what you decide.

It's one of our go to hotels as its a bit less than Embassy Suites, but it's just around the corner from the area with Publix, Total Wine and great restaurants. Hotel is standard...no complaints.

6 hours ago, Socal404 said:

We stayed there in March. We had no complaints. We don't walk well, so didn't check out the area. Good breakfast included. They do have a company that provides transportation to the port for $15 per person with credit card or $12 cash. My suggestion is pay the extra $3 and DON'T do the cash thing. The guys on the bus, who didn't speak English very well got very confused about those who paid cash. They didn't know who paid, and who didn't. We were at the port within 30 minutes. Very easy.

Thanks so much for the feedback. Good to hear from personal experience that you were happy with the hotel.  We typically take an uber to the port as we are 4 and like to go on our own time, but will keep it in mind in case we go with the shuttle.

Just read the post above mine and sounds like you were referring to an uber.

15 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

We are all flying into IAH on Saturday, April 6th - one day before we board. I booked a large room that con hold up to 5 people at the Home2Suites in Galveston a long time ago, so I got a great rate! ... 

 

Anyhoo – We all arrive in Houston at different times, but within a few hours of each other spanning from 11:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. assuming flights are on time. Our plan is to meet at the Marriott in the airport (at the bar, of course) then catch our scheduled car to Galveston. Hopefully we will arrive at the hotel by 5:00. Once we get settled, we plan on precruise-gaming at the Founder’s Bar in the Grand Galvez Hotel. It looks so cool!

 

  
 

Following along. We are strong considering Harmony next December and have a booking (refundable). One question....how are you getting from IAH to your hotel? Is it a shuttle or scheduled uber?

Enjoy your cruise!

Staples we bring on each cruise:

• shampoo/conditioner
• liquid soap (pump)
• magnetic hooks
• fanny pack for me...family uses lanyards but I use the pack in the day to carry phone, suntan lotion, sea pass, etc
• small purse for evening
• beach bag (if have beach days)
• medicine - prescriptions and OTC

4 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We were usually done by about 7:45. Our waiter was very fast. If we ordered two appetizers, he always put them on the table at the same time. I’m not sure if that’s the new procedure or if I was just what he was doing too. Make sure dinner moved along quickly.

 

yes, that time works really well for us too
 

 

I really like that they are adding a third dining option in-between.  5pm/5:30pm is too early, but then we don't like to eat so late (and I wonder how it'll be hard to coordinate with shows).  So a 6:30pm time sounds perfect.  My only concern though...is we like to be relaxed in the MDR.  We don't want a 2hr dinner, but also don't want to feel rushed.  On our cruise on Wonder a few weeks ago, it started out perfect.  Dinner was 5pm, and we were walking out close to 6:30pm...perfect pacing.  The last two nights though I was more annoyed as felt we were rushed and we were walking out prior to 6pm...finished our appetizers and they were brining out our main course right away.  But with adding another fixed dining time, they will have to rush the 1st and 2nd dining times.

We had 5pm dining on Wonder (pretty early).  The servers did mention that if we were not at our table by (I think) 5:15pm, our table would be opened up for someone else.  We always came at 5pm though as we know they have their schedule and server their tables their appetizers the same time, then main meals and then desserts.  It would be annoying for them if someone was off sync from the other tables.

The headliners (comedians, singers, magicians, etc) change cruise to cruise so it's just who you happen to get for your week.  We were on Wonder recently and I quite enjoyed Effectors but would still prefer a Broadway show.  Having said that, the ice show and aqua show were fantastic.  Our week didn't have the best headliners (2 comedians but they were only for 18+ - both the bookable one and the show in the main theatre the last night), and we had some singer that was good, but I missed the additional extra headliner. 

Overall though, I really enjoy the headliners (the one that OP commented on) and it's those that change cruise to cruise so even if you cruise the same ship again, it's nice to have something different on top of the staple shows.  In my opinion. Royal is pretty good in the entertainment field (but I have never been on Celebrity to compare).

Just now, Biker19 said:

Availability of activities may be ship/sailing specific.

Yeah...just nice to see it back on any Quantum ship.

Oh wow...That is the first I've seen of them bringing back rollerblading since covid.  Excited to see!  (It wasn't on Odyssey when we went in dec).

Really enjoying your review.  We were on Anthem two years ago and really enjoyed.  Looks like you are having a great time.

9 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I was on a Celebrity cruise many moons ago and we rode the stage lift.  🙂

Wow. That must have been a neat experience. 

3 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I asked before but no one answered.  Are they back to doing the actual backstage tour or are they still just doing the talk with the entertainment staff?

In Wonder 2 weeks ago. They took us backstage to see where they wait before going on stage, and walked by the actors' dressing rooms. Pretty cool!

We like Hampton Inn Brickell. The hotel is clean with good breakfast and area is nice. It's near the Metro Mover to get around, had Publix around for last minute things, and has great restaurants in the area. For recent cruises however, it's been too pricey for us. We just booked Homewood Suites in similar area as we like Brickell .

Had the same question as our flight home was 2:15pm but the airline moved it back to 11:15am.  This was on Wonder, so Oasis class, on a Sunday morning (but it's spring break time for some schools)

We self disembarked and lined up early at 6am.  They started letting us off by 6:30am (not sure if this is normal or if it was early that day).  We ordered an uber when we got outside and were at the airport by 7:30am.  Our airline didn't even open the check in yet.  So we had plenty of time.  We were worried about it, but luckily everything went very smooth.

On Wonder a couple weeks ago.  We were late for the top tier event (time mismatch between the app and the printed card) so they didn't check our cards when we walked in.  I was surprised as well that they didn't check our sea pass for the Backstage tour (really neat by the way).   We are Diamond so we were joining honestly but I guess others could have joined too even though it stated Diamond and above..

16 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Haven't stayed there but I can tell you that it's walkable to all the restaurants in Brickell.  It's south of the Publix that is on Coral Way/13th street.

 

That Publix also has a liquor store and a pharmacy outside of the store.  A Walgreens is right next door. 

Thank you.  That's exactly what we were hoping.  We looked at another one and although it was "Brickell", it wasn't walkable due to a having to go along a road with no sidewalks to get to the good area.

Homewood Suites itself has a good reputation .

In the past we have stayed at Hampton Inn Brickell before when cruising out of Miami.  When looking a month ago, it was very expensive so didn't book it for our Dec cruise (and now it's sold out).  For the time being, we booked an airport hotel but there isn't much around it.  Today I was looking and saw Homewood Suites Downtown/Brickell.  It looks nice and also seems walkable to the Hampton Inn, where we know there are good restaurants and Publix nearby.  This is just for the one night before the cruise.

Anyone stayed here and has any feedback?

Also, anyone know if the sofa bed is a decent size?

Thanks.