Twibes

I'm just going to take a stab in the dark here but guess that it will initially be so popular, you'll have to sign-up perhaps in advance before even cruising just to get a time slot. I wouldn't think 1 fan would be enough on maybe a 7 day cruise for a few thousand people to try. I hope I'm wrong though, because I'm game! :cool:

OK I have to admitted I am almost in a panic because I read the cruise air section. Can someone please tell me they have arrived on time to go on cruise using choice air. We could not afford air fare booking through airlines (upper $3000-$6000) per person) vs choice air for total of $1200. That is going from Kansas City to Barcelona one way. Maybe I don't know how to book airline tickets or something. We don't fly except once every few years and usually state side on southwest. We are flying out on a Wed for a Sun departure. PLEASE PLEASE let me hear some postive stories!!

 

Christy

Christy,

We're on the same cruise as you in October and we also used ChoiceAir! We leave the 25th but arrive the morning of the cruise as well. We're confident all will be well and we only paid $479pp from Pittsburgh!

I'm with ya GaNavy! I'm already to roll and still 3 months to wait for Liberty!

We love sushi and were wondering if Izumi is really good. The menu looks great. We are not snobs about it but is the sushi and sashimi worth it on the ship? Fresh tasting.The prices don't seem too high with a nice selection? Is it open for lunch?

 

Grandeur in August to Bahamas.

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You're in luck. We were obsessed with sushi on the Grandeur in November, it was excellent. These two pages of my review have the photos and comments about Izumi, hope they help!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1940705&page=3

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1940705&page=5

We sailed on Grandeur out of Baltimore this past Nov 2013. We simply put a bottle in each of our carry-ons. So two people = 1 bottle each in the cabin basically. No problem going through security at the port, they looked at them, and kept going.

This was the first time I ever looked at this thread, luckily saw this last page and thanks, it was exactly what I needed to see. Unfortunately I'm booked on Liberty OTS for this Oct for a Trans-Atlantic, if Jeromes on a break I guess it's a crap shoot who on board will fill in for him. Good post though thanks :).

Desmond cracks me up. Seeing that photo of him reminded me of one thing that to this day I cannot get out of my head (Sailed Grandeur on 11/13):

As he calls for people to signup for bingo he repeats, and repeats, and repeats... "WINNER WINNER Noooooo Chicken Dinner!"

Great photo review! The shot of the ship as you flew home was neat but depressing. Looking forward to Liberty this fall.

I 2nd that, a lot of people are outside for this, me included on the Nov. 8, 2013 cruise. It was cold, so bring a jacket!

I 2nd that. The hot rock.. it has beef and chicken that cooks on the rock in front of you. Also included with that are the vegetables to make it a full course meal for one.

I posted a half decent review of Izumi with photos in my LIVE thread a month ago.. if you are interested, check out this page and the next.. good photos, and I'll say this. Two people dining is only about $20!! IN some of these photos on my review, I ate enough for 4 people just because it was so darn good... and it only cost $40. Amazingly cheap and the best restaurant, in my honest opinion.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1940705&page=3

Great review TY!

Call me crazy, but I'm trying round 2 in hopes of seeing Cococay! Just booked this cruise again on Feb 28. Anyone ready for another adventure?

Do you remember what time the dinner seatings are? I heard they were changed to 5:30 and 8:00.

That's correct!

I was on Grandeur of the Seas and saw your ship leaving Nassau, we were side by side... Quite a sight!

I could not find this thread the other day when I posted Granduer pics from Nassau (made a new thread). Feel free to use those pictures for yourself / vacation album. Thanks for this review. Fiancee loved seeing Izumi and can't wait to try it.

Thanks! Photos from LMaxwell are here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1944014

The photo with lifeboat ropes dangling, you can see me looking out over the pool deck railing!

Great pics! That lone head on the top pool deck railing in 2nd to last photos with all the lines dangling is me! Great shot !

I have a question about Key West customs. Since Key West was your last port and you had to go through customs did you have to go through customs again in Baltimore? !

We did the usual in Key West, walk up to an Officer holding your passport, he looks at you, and says have a nice day.

Once back in Baltimore, yes we had to walk through the customs desk but literally all we did was hand in the customs declaration form and walk by him. No real delays or worries once you're back in Baltimore.

Thanks again Twibes for the great review. I admire your restraint in dealing with your extreme issue and I'm delighted that RCI has offered your compensation. I wish you well on your future cruising.

 

You have set the standard for how to handle a cruise experience that is less than perfect and I commend you for it.

Thank you! I hope to run into you on a cruise sometime, the earlier the better! ;)

This was our first cruise, and what a treat it was. Everything about the cruise exceeded all of our expectations, with one slight exception with the customs process leaving the ship to go into key west. Later in the cruise we went to a Q & A session with the ships officers, and the hotel manager apologized and promised that it would be done differently in the future. (too many folks needed to get off the ship for excursions and all lined up for customs in the same spot an hour ahead, lots of butting, no crowd control, and some tempers flaring). Once the customs agents finally started, it did go quickly)

 

The food in the MDR and the WJ was good to great, and the service by all the dining staff in both places and by our room steward was the best I have ever experienced. There were so may events on our at sea days that sometimes we missed things we really wanted to do in order to do something else.

 

Thankfully we did not have any of Tim's AC problems. We were all the way in the front on deck 4, and although our mattress was fine, we had a hard time sleeping thru the storm we went thru leaving Key West, quite a ride!

 

Cant wait to sail Royal again. :)

 

Mike & Jan

I'm in agreement with you two also, great cruise minus my little A/C (Well it was kinda a big issue lol) issue.. I forgot to mention the Key West incident, didn't want to dwell on complications that normally happen but it's a good point.

In Key West, due to weather, we were shortened on our stay as well as docked on the military base which guaranteed you a 15 min each way trip, AKA 30 minutes round trip to get passed security and into the town. Taking that into considering, we had about 4 hours to be in Key West, maybe 5 if you push it, all the while subtracting that transport time from your visitation time.

Unfortunately, once docked, there were multiple trolley's outside with no cards, signs, nothing to say where they were headed or where the sheep should organize. Inside the ship, the line went from outside the theater, through the casino in a zigzagged direction, then extended far beyond that into the ship. Confusion and aggravation was high but, we got through it. My sympathies went out to multiple handicap shipmates who had difficulty with the trolleys or getting where they needed to go. From what I heard they did not fair well in Key West :(.

Again though, great cruise, literally no complaints what-so-ever aside from A/C and as stated multiple times, Royal stepped up to the plate and I was pleased with the response in the end.

My concerns initially with being on a smaller ship: GONE! As Mike and Jan said, we were NEVER bored. There were always at least 5 things going on every 15 minutes that you never were lost for activities. Grandeur was the perfect size and I'd gladly try her again.

Oh, and one last thing in regards to our Record setting MEET N MINGLE. Take a good close look at this table:

This was the WINNING'EST Table I've ever seen lol. Featured on the immediate left is SPANKY, the leader of the table fixers. Just kidding, but seriously, they must've won 20 T Shirts, 2 bottles of liquor, and a free cruise for Pete Sake. Every time the Cruise Activities Manager pulled a ticket, these bastards took home gold. There will be a re-match Spanky & Gang! You're not out of the woods yet!

I apologize, I don't recall who asked about Escargot, but I came as close as I could to that info on the dining room menu board!

Escargots

IZUMI - The Very Best at Sea

Shown: Tuna Seared Tataki, Salmon Lovers Roll, and something with beef on it :)

Last Formal Night

Our Towel Visitors

This is WRONG!

 

You should be compensated for the "current" cruise not a Future Cruise. The product you purchased was not delivered and you should be reimbursed for part of the fare.

Now if RCCL wants to go above and beyond to get you to cruise with them again they can additionally offer you a future cruise credits.

I agree, they should've simply compensated partial the amount paid for THIS current cruise. Then again, the marketing genius of customer service I guess, force them to try round 2 to gain the savings. It's like a coupon that requires you buy 5 of an item to save .40 :cool:. Again, I don't hold a large grudge against them, and I can tell you first hand that the Guest Relations Manager (Lourdes) is amazing at her job. Her ability to calm even myself down and make me walk away feeling like I just had 3 drinks, priceless. She deserves a WOW hands down, I'm sure her job this cruise wasn't easy. Again though everyone, this didn't ruin vacation, I still made the best of it and each cruise always ends up better than the last!

Here are a few more images during the last day or so. The internet through my tablet made for SLOW typing and posting so, I'll try putting up things I missed below.

Food for thought: I'm fairly young, at least I try to be, but the seniors on this cruise that I met all had purchased the premium drinking package. (You all reading this after getting home today know who you are lol!) I'm impressed to say the least. Not only could they out-perform my own abilities at a gathering / bar / event, they also stayed up twice as late as we did. I could not hang with these folks, they're champions, heck they performed better than the Steelers this year and that's worth something right! Kudo's to the Maniacs on Grandeur, I'll have to train thoroughly for the next dose of fun.

TOWEL MAKING 101

I call this strapping young man "Captain," for the hat he wore his entire cruise. I had serious competition with this fellow, but was proud to share the ship with him. 3x my age and still living the life. His white polyester suit was purchased for him by his wife for .35 cents, and he had it cleaned for this cruise in honor of her memory.

I am so sorry that you had to endure a week of hot weather inside your room. I hope the problem is fixed soon. I do believe that RCCL should compensate you for your discomfort and am glad they came through for you. The bright side of this is that you will never forget this cruise because of the a/c problems, that's a plus. I also want to applaud you for keeping a good spirit during this whole ordeal and not talking mean and vicious about RCCL. Things do happen unfortunately it happened on your cruise. You have done a great job of keeping your cool and enjoying your cruise even though you had problems. It speaks a lot for your character. Also you have done a great job with the pics and review.

 

Again I'm glad that RCCL tried to satisfy you.

 

Sharon I

Sharon, thanks very much for those words! As sarcastic and humorous as I am, I do mean well for people. I just try to have a good time, let loose, and get some laughs. If you can't laugh at something, then you're bound for misery right? RCCL wasn't solely responsible, and even if not the 'best' compensation, it's more than worth a little aggrivation while on vacation. I'll gladly try again... just a different area of the ship :p.

Deck 7 Forward =