Pen1993

We're just a little over 2 months before sailing on the ROS for the Honolulu to Vancouver trip. I hope you don't mind providing input on your overall experience from last year. Were there plenty of activities and evening entertainment scheduled during sea days? Did you experience any of the specialty dining venues and how were they? How were the cabins and bedding comfort (though we will have an ocean view on deck 3 midship). Was the ocean crossing smooth or choppy? If you still have your cruise compass from that trip, have you posted it anywhere online to share? Would love to see what the days were like. Any good tips and advise on this trip would be greatly appreciated! Pen

Hmm. Ok. But I started a new thread yesterday that folks are free to use or ignore. Called "Viking Star Review - Fresh and New".

I've been curious about Viking Cruises for the Mediterranean since they announced the launch of the first of their three ships and I just looked into a promotion for 15-night February 2017 sailing on the Viking Sea for two at $11,126, including airfare+transfer and trip insurance, in a veranda stateroom–but they expect final payment by December 2015. 11k is a lot of money for us to tie up for a year and a half. Though we've only sailed a few times we enjoyed the opportunity to lock-in our rates early while paying in full 90 days prior to sailing and in the few times we've sailed we enjoyed the opportunity to lock-in our rates early while paying in full 90 days prior to sailing. And I'm not sure this is such a value.

So, after reading the reviews and all the posts on this thread to determine a "midline" from which to draw a fairly decent idea of what to expect with this company's foray into ocean cruises, I decided not to pursue it as an option for our family Mediterreanean cruise in 2017.

It's wonderful to come to CC and get a lot of insight that helps in our decision-making. Sure, there are those tangents that some people get into while others tend to border on the nit-pick but this site is still a great source providing that one considered the information gleaned from here with a pragmatic approach.

The ship looks lovely but if I have to barter my first child to do this, I think I'll wait to see if they iron out the kinks in their SOP's. I love the idea of a truly inclusive package but when I keep seeing the "you get what you paid for" I cringe a bit.

Thanks for being part of my decision-making!

Hahahaha! Oh, dear!...brought me to tears! That was a good one! :)

Okay so I'm on a Mac and I've been trying six ways to Sunday how to get the pics to come up and I noticed that if I just "copy image" it doesn't allow for me to paste it (the option is greyed out) but if I copy image location and used the add image icon above this reply window to paste the location, it works.

Ooops, it seems to be having issues with picture uploads.:confused:

I was just on the IOS in March and on the Freedom Class ships, there was a group fitness room with wood floors and mirrors that you can use providing that a class isn't in session. There is also an open area adjacent to this which has carpet and mirrors specifically for those who want to do their own mat or floor routines. But they have mats and wet wipes to disinfect them if you don't want to haul added equipment with you. Pictures attached. :)

Does anyone have any photos or vids to share for any Deck 3 Cat-G Oceanview Stateroom or Deck 2 Cat-I Oceanview Porthole Stateroom? TIA

A little curious trivia. What is on Deck 1?

So far, all I can see are schedules up to the end of 2016. We're planning on taking the kiddos for a Western Mediterranean cruise. Does anyone have any rough idea of when the Fall 2017 sailings will be ready to book. I'm not sure when the 2016 schedules came out but assume they come out at about the same time? TIA!!

I love this thread but I am just now learning about these WOW cards. Our first cruise was on the Liberty and was listening in on a conversation at the Cafe Promenade. I heard him mention these WOW cards and how much they seem to mean to crew members but didn't really think much of it beyond that, considering the WOW overload I was already experiencing as a newbie cruiser. We just sailed last month and we were never provided with these cards. I would know because I kept every piece of paper I got from the cruise (LOL). Next time, I'll have to check with guest services and pick up a few. There were some extraordinary folks during our IOS cruise and regret that I was not able to do this for them.

Oh my! Hahahahaha!

That is interesting. We plan to set aside about two weeks for this trip to take advantage of a few days in Honolulu before embarking for the island-hop. Are these 4-5 sea days an issue? I think I would enjoy extended sea days myself and assume that like other sea-days we've experienced on our modest two previous cruises on the Caribbean, the crew puts out a lot of activities to entertain everyone. Or is that not the case?

I think we're leaning towards the spring itinerary. Our lucky friends rent a home in Kauai every April/May and suggested that these are the best times in the island.

Thank you for the insights so far. FYI for those who may also have some feedback to share, that we consider ourselves, price-conscious, active, yet laid-back in our cruising style. :)

Oh my! That is a WOW! :)

Oh, yes, I noticed that some are set up as northbound or southbound. We are looking at Radiance's roundtrip Vancouver itineraries

I have to admit that I am a bit biased with less than a handful of sailings in our back pockets and friends' shared experiences of other cruise lines to compare to, but we really like RCCL. We are considering a Hawaii cruise (if not Alaska but that will be another thread) in the spring of next year and would like to know what your thoughts are on the itineraries and the Radiance. Would she be a smooth ride to the islands? One thing that surprised me is the rather limited number of sailings to Hawaii. Is this usual for RCCL or have they just not posted a complete listing just yet for the next year? I suppose we could check out other cruise lines but the reviews seem hit and miss as with our own friends' feedbacks, and the Norwegian that has a year-round sailing in Hawaii seems to be on an overall reviews seem more along the lines of "Meh." Still, though this may not be the right forum for an alternate cruise line option, which ship would you take, as I realize that it may be more practical for us to sail out of California than Vancouver which means opening up other possibilities.

TIA!

We are considering an Alaska cruise (if not Hawaii but that will be another thread) in the next year and would like to know what your thoughts are on either of the ships. It is likely just going to be a trip for myself and hubby. We're in our 40's and enjoyed sailing on the larger Freedom Class ships. I am leaning towards the Explorer because of its promenade style interior and the updates being rolled out during its revitalization this month but not sure about the centrum layout of the Radiance along with its other features. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The ones I am most interested in that are going in during the revitalization are the Flowrider, virtual balconies and the dynamic dining restaurants! Thinking of an Alaskan Cruise with them in 2016!

Our family, a group of 8, just came from an IOS 5-night Western Caribbean cruise and our MDR waiters really got on well with my parents. Our waiters were Filipinos as are we. I'm not sure how it came about, but I think my dad was being nostalgic and was joking about how it's a shame they didn't serve Filipino food there. Next thing I knew, our head waiter wanted to know what our favorite dish was and he can have it ready on "Specials" night which we understood to be lobster night. I asked if he was kidding and he kept saying no so we played along and said we wanted "kare kare" which is a traditional food in my country with beef, bok choy and string beans, in a peanut sauce base. The following night, there it was! He wasn't kidding after all and my parents were very appreciative and equally delighted!!

Hi there! I hope you don't mind another POV. We just returned from a sailing with RCCL on the Independence of the Seas on a 6-night Western Caribbean Cruise (March 22nd). I sailed with my hubby and two kids in two staterooms. In addition to that, I helped my parents and my sister with her son book two more staterooms.

I am hoping that CC will post my reviews soon as I delved into the planning process a bit and perhaps you can take a peek at that when it comes online. What I found that really helped us is that we booked over a year out during a WOW promo in December 2013 which included a 50% redux on deposits and $200 OBC on the two staterooms we reserved for us). This gave us a full year to plan and strategically save money every month until the final due date plus we got a bit of "free cash" to start out with.

Booking early also helped us watch the airfares closely to see which promotions offer the best price. We live in Idaho so schlepping to Florida is never a cheap affair and flying during spring break? What were we thinking?!? We took the red-eye from Salt Lake so that's something to consider. Also, if flying is one leg of your itinerary, choose "low season" to plan your trip.

I recommend you start by waiting for a promotion that offers that 50% redux on the deposit and whatever perks the cruiseline and/or TA offers, hopefully. Then up until the final payment due date, keep your eyes peeled for when the cruiseline puts out another promotion (or even resident rate specials) that is better than the rate you booked at initially and request a price match as most of them offer this. I was able to reduce our rate twice in the course of the year by diligently watching sales.

I know you said you wanted exterior rooms but I found them too expensive, even if we split it–booking an exterior cabin for ourselves and an interior cabin for our teenagers across the hall. The number-crunching didn't yield much in our favor even when we looked at the cost of a junior suite. So as a compromise, we chose two Promenade interior staterooms. RCCL has this feature in the Freedom Class ships. They have large bay windows that overlook the promenade so that it gives you that feeling of having a "room with a view" which is great and the ship changes the lighting to give the illusion of night and day along the promenade.

Also, in researching an option for my bro and his 4 young kids, I learned of family inside and oceanview staterooms that would have fit his group of 5 perfectly. With RCCL, it can't book it online. There are also only a handful of these available on a ship so it needs to be booked early. In the end, he couldn't join us but it would have allowed one to book only a single cabin (that is also a little bit larger to accommodate up to 6 people) making the cost per person lower. RCCL is rolling out their "virtual balconies" on inside staterooms on select ships, including the new ones that just recently came out. Anyways, something to consider.

Another idea: when my parents, sister and nephew decided to join us, Our TA did some creative paperwork by putting my mom in one cabin and my dad in another so that my sister was able to partake of their senior citizen discount.

Once on board, you'll want to make sure the kiddos can't just willy-nilly use their seapass to play in the arcade which could potentially rack up a tab. I've read that some parents disable their kids seapasses to prevent them from purchasing anything on the ship.

Shore excursions add up, no doubt. Even with our family of 4, I had to be really mindful of what we were realistically willing to pay while still enjoying the port-of-call. One thing for sure is that the onboard shore excursions are more expensive than those you can arrange independently. I think, a lot of people will use them out of convenience but I've noticed that RCCL was about 30% more on their SE's than if I were to put it together so I went to Viator or TripAdvisor for useful recommends on things to do at each port.

I have considered waiting at the very last minute to book since there's potentially even deeper savings to fill those cabins but the pickings can get slimmer and, as I found in the case of our cruise, thinking that my bro might change his mind and join us anyways at the 11th hour, the sailing was fully booked by February.

Good luck and I hope I gave you a few more ideas of note.

Pen

Awesome review but hope to get a wee bit more info from you as we sail for a 6n/7d on March 22nd. Would you mind providing?

- Maybe I missed this bit of info in your review but was this a recent sailing?

- Would love to see the Cruise Compass for the trip if you kept them.

- Did you by chance visit the fitness center and check out pricing on the Bootcamp?

- How quickly did they get you off the ship at Falmouth and George Town as we have signed up for shore excursions with independent tours.

- What shows (and/or other noteworthy events) were they featuring on the this IOS cruise?

- Did you take advantage of the ship's internet service? It was slow on our last cruise 1-1/2 years ago but hoping for some improvement.

- Assuming that you sailed recently, how was the crew in general. They should be wrapping up their tour pretty soon before a new crew arrives in another month or so and I'm hoping that they're still has fresh as daisies.

- Do you recall if you had to sign a waiver for each waiver-based venue on the ship or just a single one (e.g., Flowrider, rock wall, etc)

TIA! Pen

Thank you for the feedback. I figured as much on the price but the CP I had spoken to with RCCL seemed clueless. I Hope they do these classes during our cruise or I may have to download some kind of bootcamp video to follow on my own so I can maintain a strength-training program while on the ship. I hate the hamster-mills, though, Thanks for the info. I saw on an IOS Cruise Compass from last December that they also featured something called Gravity Reformer. You (or anyone else out there) wouldn't happen to know anything about that?