wdw531

My husband boarded his first cruise (and our daughter's first cruise - she was 9 months at the time) thinking that he would probably like cruising but wasn't sure. It was definitely the Grand Suite and suite perks that won him over (we were on Voyager of the Seas and Royal Up'd into the suite). He especially loved the happy hour. We would change into slightly dressier clothes at night and go get a couple drinks before dinner, with snacks for the little one, and there were a lot of grandparent-age folks in there that would absolutely fawn over the baby. The concierge was helpful in several regards, and the priority boarding and disembarkation were a huge help (the concierge walked us all the way off the ship straight to our luggage and then helped us carry it all the way to the taxi line! but that was probably unusual). The last morning breakfast in Chops was also super relaxing. We did 7 nights (plus a night in Copenhagen either end) and it was not enough. Our upcoming cruise is in an interior guarantee, so we'll see if he still likes cruising without the suite perks lol.

On 5/9/2022 at 6:47 AM, colsky said:

It will be great to follow your posts on your cruise, as we are sailing on the Voyager from 31 July.

 

I'm interested to know about the leaving the ship policy, particularly in Stockholm.  I'm sure I read somewhere that you now no longer have to be on a ship excursion, in order for an unvaccinated child to leave the ship.  But, our itinerary still says that families travelling with unvaccinated children must purchase a RCL tour in order to leave the ship at a port of call.  We're in the annoying situation that we have a 10 year old who we are trying to get vaccinated before our cruise, but, according to our research and phonecalls with NHS helplines, a 10 year old cannot get proof of vaccination for travel, you have to be at least 12 for that. So we may have a vaccinated child who we can't prove the status of to enable us to leave the ship!  

We were on the May 1 sailing with an unvaccinated infant. We freely walked off in every port and never had to show documentation to leave the ship or to go to restaurants/shops/etc. The Cruise Planner online did still have the note about having to go on ship's excursions, but I think someone just forgot to delete it.

On our May 1 cruise, temperatures ranged from the mid-30s to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, most days the high was in the upper 50s or low 60s. I have a rain jacket with a removable quilted liner, which really came in handy. On the coldest day, I needed the quilted liner and jacket, a scarf, and a warm hat. I brought gloves but didn't use them. On the warmest days, a thin long-sleeve shirt and pants was enough. Most days, I ended up tying my jacket around my waist during the warmest part of the day but I was glad I brought some thick sweaters. We had fantastic weather with no rain, but I understand that is unusual. Definitely bring comfortable sneakers - lots of cobblestones in every port and lots of walking.

The ship is nicely heated so fine to wear dresses to dinner. I actually was warmer on this cruise in the evening than in the Caribbean where they over-air-condition the dining room and theater, and it was comfortable regardless of whether I wore a wrap or not. There was a huge range as far as what people wore, from tuxes and sequined dresses down to fleeces and shorts on formal night. Same thing on non-formal nights, except suit jackets and nice dresses in place of the tuxes and sequins. A very common look for women was a floral dress or blouse. Lots of sweaters and button-down shirts for all genders. If you wear dresses during the day, those would definitely be fine at night, but you might want to bring something one step up for the formal nights to mix things up. I found I could re-wear things more often on this cruise since I was sweating less in the cool weather than I do on a warmer-weather cruise.

If you're planning to do the rock climbing or ice skating, you'll need pants and socks. The water slides were heated, but we found the whirlpools too lukewarm to be comfortable, and didn't even attempt the pool, though some hardier souls did. If you think you might want to try, bring a warm cover-up along with your swimsuit. The bartenders and lifeguards on the pool deck wore puffy coats since they were there all day, but if you were only strolling through for a few minutes, you didn't really need a coat, if that helps you imagine the weather out on deck. If you are interested in workout classes or the gym, bring workout clothes, and if you might get a pedicure bring flip flops to wear while your nails are drying.

We're sailing on Voyager of the Seas on May 1. We got an email on March 1 confirming that the itinerary was modified to remove St Petersburg and add a second day (including overnight) in Stockholm instead, which also had the effect of moving our stop in Tallinn one day later.

We are choosing to remain on the sailing, but if we wanted to, we have the option until March 15 to cancel and receive a full refund of any paid portion of the cruise fare to the original form of payment, including non-refundable deposits, and any pre-paid amenities refunded to original form of payment within 30 business days.

Our old cruise title "7 Day Scandinavia & Russia Cruise" is still showing in some places, but other places now display "7 Day Best of Scandinavia Cruise." St Petersburg shore excursions are supposed to be refunded automatically, but I haven't seen the funds come through yet. Tallinn shore excursions are supposed to be automatically rescheduled and our new tour information will be emailed to us "in the next few days." Haven't seen that yet either, but it's only been 5 days.

The cruise planner is no longer showing St Petersburg but hasn't been updated yet to show options for the second day in Stockholm, and Tallinn excursions are still on the wrong day. We're watching excursions closely because we are traveling with an unvaxxed infant and under the current rules she can only do Royal Caribbean excursions (although the final regulations for Europe haven't been released yet). Not that we'd leave her behind anyway, but Voyager's nursery doesn't offer drop-off, so if she can't get off the ship, neither can we. Unless a baby vaccination comes out in the next couple of weeks, giving us enough time to get her fully vaxxed before the trip - still keeping our fingers crossed!

We're hoping Royal Caribbean adds some interesting, baby-friendly evening excursions for the overnight (maybe a boat ride? night visit to Grona Lund?). During the day, we have "Stockholm On Your Own" booked for the first day and will probably do the same excursion over again on the second day and just do different things during the "on your own" portions. For example, Vasa Museum one day and Skansen the next day; shopping in Old Town one day and sightseeing the next; etc. We are still very excited for our cruise!

We were on the June 6 sailing of the Splendour and had no problems. We bought two 750 mL bottles of wine (red and champagne) in the Coop store near Piazzale Roma just before boarding and walked on with them in a separate bag, with no questions at all. When we brought each bottle to the MDR, the assistant waiter simply joked, "Oh, you brought me a present!" and then opened the wine for us. The champagne he put on ice for a few minutes since it had been sitting in our stateroom most of the week. We split the bottle of red between two nights, and he wrote our stateroom number on it and stored it overnight. People were not allowed to carry on anything from ports other than Venice, though; any wine or other alcohol was confiscated as they came on board and stored.