whyrlygig

We typically leave $10 per person at dinner. Sometimes more if the service is really exceptional.  Quick lunches and casual places might be more like $5 per person. 

The last few cruises we have had to chase down our invoices.  We have not been receiving the emails without begging for them several times.

An occasional nap feels like a luxury.  It's especially nice after a full day in the sun to refresh before evening plans.  

We have always found the food in the dining room uninspiring.  The past several cruises we used it for breakfast only.  The food jammer we have given up on altogether.  We don't cruise for the food but I wish we didn't have to spring for the specialty dining to get a decent meal.  

Odyssey because of the unique activities available, ship layout and really good dining options.  

Gratuities are part of the cruise culture and everyone knows it.  One doesn't have to like the way it works but taking it out on the hard working staff just makes you a really awful person.  

Its always been 1 - 1:30ish.

Muster.  Drink (or 2 or 3).  Lunch.

Emed is so simple and easy.  There is no need to stress.

I simply called and they said IT would have to fix it.  The next day it was fixed.  

It's really a gross practice to put the trays in the hallway.  It's rarely done in a tidy manner and the last thing I want to see is someone else's half eaten food before i've even had breakfast.  

About 8 days.

We are book for Mariner in March and sincerely hope our Labadee stop gets changed.  There is so much unrest there is no way to guarantee our safety at this point.  

Before covid and now, for us, 99% of having a great cruise is about attitude and making our own fun.  

I have a small battery operated fan that I have been bringing for 20 years.  No problems at all.

My experience as of late is 10days.  

9 hours ago, suizas said:

I am certainly aware of the political unrest in Haiti but is it true that Labadee has been taken over by the Haitians? 

I think its a good guess but I doubt there is any proof of that.

Each and every time we have tried to schedule a test at CVS (3 different locations) they cancel the appt the day before.  We gave up and have been using home tests instead.  

47 minutes ago, hackwid said:

I am not going to debate this post with anyone.  This is my opinion based on 324 nights with Royal and also having sailed 4x since the restart on 3 lines.  We were not originally booked on Odyssey for the Xmas cruise.  We were on the Mariner originally.  I watched the rates at the end of November tank for the last 3 cruises on December.  We were able to move to the Odyssey for half the price of what they were selling it at.  So clearly it was a calculated effort by Royal to fill the ships.  We saw the ability to book Odyssey disappear the first week of December.  Clearly they sold at their capacity limits.

Everyone had to test 2 days or less before the sail.  So what we know of Omnicron is that 2 days Is too far out.  How do we know that?  Because several people were already infected when they board which is why we had to go back to Fort Lauderdale at midnight to drop those 9 people off.  Full on hazmat suit crew rolled their saran wrapped luggage off the ship.  It was pretty surreal.

So Royal says - yes we still only take 5% unvac'd.  But, we had 3600 people.  So when you increase capacity that high- you also increase unvac'd amounts.  This is my first gripe about the cruise.  So they took away the areas that vac'd could be without a mask- which is fine.  But, they ended up taking some of that room and giving to unvac'd because they had so many on board.  So for shows the unvac'd had the balcony of the theatre on deck 5 and also they got 25% of the theatre area on deck 4.  So what that meant was vac'd people had to sit closer in the areas left for us.  No distancing.  Now yes we were masked; but, the unvac'd got to spread out.  We did not.  Royal claims that everyone must be masked.  So what does that mean?  Well they have signs and occasionally make an announcement during the Captains report.  But, I saw not one single employee enforce mask wearing. So you had people with them not at all. Under chin. Under nose etc.  Getting on elevator with no mask.  It was very frustrating because everyone knew there was an outbreak and so many just didnt care.  The 70's disco party was played on the tv and half of the guests were completely unmasked on the dance floor.  All dancing close to eachother.

So our stateroom attendent came in the room 2x a day.  He went down with Covid on day 3.  So a new person had to take on additional rooms which meant the quality suffered.  Some nights there was a knock on the door after 9 asking if we needed anything cleaned.  It got to a point where we just had the guy come in once because we felt so bad for how overworked he was.

We did not go in the dining room at all.  We had my time dining scheduled and the line was so long on the first night.  We went and checked out the dining room space and tables were on top of eachother.  We just did not feel safe that close to other people so we went to the windjammer the second they opened and/or did room service.

Here is my honest feeling about capacity.  I have done 3 other cruises before this and capacity was half or less.  I believe that when Royal increased capacity they did not directly address how they would still maintain distancing.  So they cut off tables in bars and there were not enough places for people to be so they stood on top of eachother.  When they made the rates so low it seems like a lot of large groups ended up on board.  Families that were 25 people deep.  There was no concessions made for these larger groups and they just came in a room like they owned the place.  They ignored the 6 person limit on the elevator and honestly just didn't seem to care about protocols.  

We sat at the port in Curacoa for 6 hours.  Why could they not pick up the provisions they needed?  They could have left it on the dock and had no communication directly and just picked the stuff up.  Because of poor planning they were out of cocktail mixers on day 5.  They had to take alcohol from the store- which made them sell out of plain vodka and rum- because they did not properly plan for the amount of people.  Did the crew not get the memo on how many would be on board?

Speaking of the crew- ask yourself this.  If you were crew and had a sore throat would you work thru it or gladly see if you get in quarantine for 10 days?

What about passengers?  Would you willingly want to go to medical and lose your balcony room to be inside on deck 3?

So when you look at the numbers- realize that most of them are crew which the cruiseline has to report and there is an incentive for the crew to get tested.

But, as a passenger unless you have more severe symptoms- why would any willingly get tested?  So I believe the actual number of people infected in 10 fold.

Finally - it became obvious that they were trying to get people to spend more time in their room.  I can understand it.  But, the activities they did offer were subpar.  Having sailed 324 nights on Royal - the blame falls to them on this one.  They increased capacity clearly without a plan.  They didnt compensate for spacing and distancing.  By the end I found a lot of the crew surly, defensive and clearly exhausted.  We tried to keep to ourselves and have a decent attitude.  I wish Royal would learn from this and pull back.  But, we were told the New Years cruise has even more people on it then the Xmas cruise.  That is a receipt for disaster that I wish they learned their lesson from on our cruise.  I know that we will hear reports from these larger Royal ships of higher numbers and it can affect the industry and ports willing to take these ships for awhile. I wish Royal was honest and told these media outlets that they in fact are not enforcing mask wearing.   That their crew was overworked and outnumbered and just did not seem to want to make people comply.  I know this is full of negative things.  While the ship was new and shiny- sadly the actions of the people made it seem like we were on Carnival.

I am sorry to hear of your experience.  When we went on Odyssey  in September the capacity was just 827 ppl and they were so careful that we really did feel safe.  It was by far my favorite ship.  If however, I experienced what you did I would be sorely disappointed too.  Frankly now I wonder if I should cancel our March trip on Mariner...

I just can't imagine a steward doing something so bad that we would ever have their minuscule gratuity adjusted.  This could affect their employment!

Emed makes it super easy and you can definitely share a test with your spouse.  CVS has canceled our test appts 3 times (multiple stores) for this Friday.  In our area all locations seem to be having serious staffing issues.    

You can purchase the "sharing beverages" separate of the package right?  Like a fishbowl margarita or a bottle of prosecco.

We noticed the hint that something was changing on the planner mere hours after we booked last month.  I have yet to be notified about the change from royal.  No cabin assignment either.  When I have called Royal, they tell be my Allure 9/25/22 will be moved to Wonder and that it is still out of Ft Lauderdale and no itinerary change.  It cannot be in two places at once...  

In Cozumel recently we snorkeled in the rain.

My experience last week, they will not seat you with anyone who isn't in your party.  They also left adjacent tables intentionally empty for distancing.