nimbex1970

Thank you, and like you.. I have to leave from a small village, then to Anchorage, then to Seattle and off I can go from there, so this information helps me plan. Appreciate it.

So to clarify, one can cancel NCL airfare up until final payment which is 90 days out? I'm doing the Viva TA in april 2024 from SanJuan to Lisbon and I live in Alaska, so the multiple legs of the journey could be very challenging to be at the whim of the cruise line. Booking my own may be best.

I kept getting disconnected from ship wi-fi and many of my messages never sent. The vroom desk, on deck 4 tried for a bit to help, but they gave up. I don't know if it was my SIM card as its quirky form an Alaska account, or what, just wanted to share my experience. So many folks don't have issues, but it was a challenge to keep our group communicating unless wi-fi was purchased.

out of curiosity, did you complain? If so, how was it handled? This push for a 10 on the survey was a bit much IMHO, but I understand the pressure they are under.

We did checked as I didn't want those stinkers to mess with any credit cards in my wallet and carry-on bag. I don't really know if this is a thing, not stating it's true, but it was my concern.

yup, easy peasy. Just download the app.

Absolutely she can, the question is if her room card it set up for the charge for the dinner. If not, nothing wrong with providing her with cash to pay. We just got off and there were two 14 year olds at the hibatchi grill in Izumi. I was curious and watched, they paid with cash. So I looked at our bill, and surprisingly yes, you can. I did not know this. I put the tip in cash.

just a legit birth certificate. NOT a copy or the one with the foot prints on it. you order it from your local city hall or through vitalcheck.

Having traveled extensively this year, I have found the cruise ship cleaner than hotel rooms. I stay at 4* and above and had to call housekeeping to wipe off a 1/4 inch of dust in a room recently (I'm allergic). The two 7-day cruises so far have been very clean rooms. I'm sick getting off the WOS this past Sunday, (respiratory stuff). So with 7k passengers and international flights, I'm going to get some funk, it's likely. Norovirus is my big concern because of icky folks and the sanitation stations don't prevent it, just handwashing.. so as a nurse, I'm a touch crazy with washing my hands. Point is, only we as passengers can avoid the worst stuff by handwashing or masks.. and I choose not to mask on vacay.. so I'm sick.. it's not the cruise ship's fault. I had a mask option. Only you can protect you! They can only do so much. One icky person doesn't hand wash and watch that mess spread like fire. Own it OP, and have safe and healthy travels through your own practices.

I would say to myself, "ick", clean it up with toilet paper and take a closer look around. If everything else looked ok, off to have a drinkiepoo

@OCSC Mike, My home is in Orlando, we could definitely use a Playmakers! Too few sports bars that are not dives, not that I mind the local dives either.. but that would be epic!

which ship are you sailing please.

Loved playmakers, the style of venue, multiple TV's great affordable food options and excellent service! Wish I went there more to try out the rest of the menu. Oh and to add, on night one or two I ordered room service wings; the bbq and the buffalo, and they were both VERY decent! A nice suprise! We loved all the food, but the MDR, so all and all, a great foodie ship.

Unfortunately, I am in agreement with the MDR. I am NOT against RCCL at all, had the time of our lives on WOS and highly recommend it! Dinning however, I will pay for the specialty restaurants when I do another RCCL, which in my opinion is the intent when you choose to deliver a subpar product. I believe the shrimp to have been precooked prior to dinner, then recooked as they were so tough, but I'm just throwing out guesses. I won't do the MDR ever again, well maybe breakfast, but the added price of the specialty restaurants could lead folks like myself into some serious price comparing with other lines. I hate to see that happen, but for us, it's what we will do.

I see your point completely. With the head waiter trying to fix what he couldn't (poor food execution), I just felt like an ass pressing any further as it was obvious the kitchen was just overcooking the shrimp. My family was already uncomfortable and were not happy I spoke up. I had already ate pizza after dinner for the past few nights and thought it would be a quick fix, instead, my complaint turned into a "thing", and that wasn't my desire. With so many other options out there, it made no point to me, to press it further. Why be frustrated on vacation? I went to playmakers and ordered chicken wings a bit later and they were excellent! Very pleased there. Just wanted to share my experience, which I hope was not shared by anyone else. Thanks for the feedback, I would have recommended the supervisor as well, had I not been aware of my family being uncomfortable with it all. Just unnecessary.

it didn't WOW me at all, but I thank you for the help with that!

we were 45 days out when the shows were available for the app booking on WOS, this really seems hit or miss, not a standard for other ships, but consistent with WOS.

yeah, there was salsa and fried mushrooms there which is different, not much else. You may prefer the park cafe, as it's a great place, this is just a new, non busy option with ocean views , lacking from the park.

OP, I see you are in Seattle, I am in Alaska, by the bristol bay and Aleutian islands. Please report back on your experiences as I would love to take my 6 year old on an Alaskan cruise. Living here, I just don't see it worth while for those under 10, so I would love your feedback. Please and thanks.

We loved it because it wasn't the crazy windjammer. It had the usual eggs, two types sausage, pancakes, waffles (with the waffle topping station), some potatoes that changed up, and a display of fresh salmon, fruit and other choices. All this with the usual coffee/tea and drinks station. Plenty of seating, covered, ocean side and open to air. Think half the offerings of the windjammer, but all the basics if you want to avoid the crowds. Try it once and see if you prefer it, we certainly did. Oh yogurt and some other offerings as well as pre-made omelets.

I just got off the WOS, this was not asked. I dont' know if different ports ask different questions. The CDC rule is 5 days from positive wear a mask, if symptomatic wear mask until symptoms disappear. If she has no symptoms, she will pass the questions. Many folks run positive for weeks, its now focused on active symptoms. I hope this helps

In my 50's, 20th cruise only Carnival and RCCL, bringing the adult children who have cruised with me and two grandsons ages 6 and 2 total of 7 of us (first time with young ones, so a bit more focus on our experience with that). 1. Service-WOW what an improvement since January! The bar service was fantastic around the pool decks and lounges, the room attendant was superb, knew all of our names, and helped our group of 7 with 3 staterooms keep track of each other "Miss Carol, your daughter said she went for breakfast and she'll be back in 30 minutes"! The room trashed by the kids was always organized by Roberto without us ever seeing him in action. Bartenders remembered my name and drink, casino staff was so friendly and helpful while keeping me straight at craps and even guest services, where I spent many visits always greeted my frustration with a smile and help. Friendly, prompt and I felt spoiled. (dining room later). 10/10 2. Activities- Now I am old school and hated not having a paper compass, but my time was with the kiddos, so I didn't require it. The adult children used the app on the phone for late night venues. So much to do. Every type of music all throughout the night at various venues; orchestra band on deck 5, country western, a music hall with a pool table, boleros for latin, you name it! Adult comedy was excellent, voices and the ice show phenomenal, I unfortunately missed the taps show. I did want to comment on the frequent concern on booking shows. On the RCL app, at 45 day out you can book your venues as we did. No worries if they are sold out. Many folks like us were no-shows and just wait in line 15 minutes before show starts and you are likely to get in. Several shows repeat, so try not to stress. For the kiddos, there is putt-putt, rock climbing, an outdoor play gym, well the second is on the boardwalk (small one), Water slides, the abyss (non water slide), zip line, ice skating... you get the picture. Note on the yellow and blue water slides, 6yr old grandson got stuck inside, he was wearing a long sleeve water shirt, the attendant said not to wear it next time (took 10 minutes to get him out and he was done with it forever), but he was safe, just scared. 10/10 3. Kiddos- now this ship is really made for families, so here is a small gripe. Mine get up early, like 6am. kiddie pool doesn't open until 10am like the carousel and ice cream opens at 11am. So if you have a demanding 2-year-old who doesn't understand that the ice cream magic place doesn't open for an hour, just avoid the kids water activity until 11am. So we ate breakfast at el-loco, interrupted everyone putt-putt (sorry folks for the random 2-year-old picking up your balls), played in the outside area above the abyss that goes a deck down, then changed into pool gear. We also hit the arcade (think it was deck 15 or 16). FYI, if you are emerald of higher you get 50 percent off the arcade, so you pay 50 bucks and get 100$ in credit. This cannot be combined with offers on the RCC site, just FYI. So we really would have liked activities to open sooner for the young ones. Would really have helped wear them out for a nap. 8/10 4. Kiddos con't- Adventure ocean. Yes, if you have a child 3 and under you need to head straight there to reserve your spots for the cruise. We were given a total of 8 hours for the week, it's 6$ an hour for the little ones. The six-year-old was in the 6 to 12 group and he could go whenever it was open and be checked out by an approved person. Sign-up took 30 minutes for them both. The baby (2-year-old) didn't care for it, still mamma attached, which was fine. They called us 15 minutes after we left him and picked him up, not their fault. the 6-year-old LOVED it and went regularly. On port days they are open all day and take the kids to the windjammer to eat, the young ones there is food brought to them. 10/10 for the adventure ocean experience 5. Dining venues- oh how folks stress over getting reservations and it indeed took some work. Two of the adult children had a 3-night dinning package. Izumi, as everyone states, you have to go there specifically to book, otherwise, there is a kiosk on deck 5 that will book your other reservations. Hit and miss for preferences, but they got into what they wanted. We added 5 of us to Izumi, same-day calling on day 6 at 7 pm and on night 7 we got 2 of us into Wonderland at 7pm, so just check every day. Two of the adults did chef's table as well. Nothing but positive things to say about all the food venues, we hit them all but the coastal kitchen. 10/10 6. Wrist band- there is a snazzy name for it, and I don't know it. Basically at guest services its $9.99 and you don't need to lug your key card around. As I didn't have my husband and his pockets I needed this. Plus my grandson sharing the room with me, constantly lost my card, so I had already been to guest services twice to replace it. Nice lady at guest services suggested the wristband for me and I snatched the sale right up. Well here is the downside; none of the pool or lounge waiters have the scan thing on their person, so I had to take it off each time I ordered a drink, meh. Next up, it didn't work at the casino on the slots for my points or to pull money off my account. Next day, it stopped working.. back to guest services I went. You also cannot use this to exit or gain entrance to the ship.. so anyway a waste of 10 bucks for me, just FYI. 3/10 7. Free internet- I could never stay connected, even when resetting the internet, I couldn't pull up the daily activities on my phone. My carrier is in Alaska, shouldn't make a difference. Went to the zoom desk three times and they couldn't get it to work either, just tried to upsell me to buy the zoom packet. Also what's app did not work for me either. Could be specific to me, however with a group of seven, several of us had this issue, and keeping up with each other was an issue. So for MY experience, I'm giving a 2/10, others seem to have no problems. 8. Announcements- thank heavens, there are so fewer of them selling things, blasting overhead over the jewelry-by-the-inch sale! 10/10 9. The dreaded MDR changes- Ok the "food is subjective" caveat. Sigh, After 3 days of mediocre food, where 5 of us ate and didn't complain about the quality of the food, I decided to speak up. I ordered a shrimp app and a shrimp meal. Daughter ordered the shrimp meal for the app. We both had to saw at the shrimp with the knife and I couldn't chew it, nor swallow it. No one came to check on our apps and put my dinner plate of the shrimp infront of me. I politely said, "The app was way overcooked, can I have something in it's place and would you put my dinner aside for a few minutes?" After explaining what overcooked meant twice, I demonstrated how tough to cut the shrimp was. The waiter then told me I would enjoy my shrimp dinner instead and he left it in front of me and walked off!! No, I wanted to switch to a noodle dish, just noodles. Couldn't find the waiter, head waiter showed up to check on us, I repeated my request for the noodle dish. SIGH, he insisted, despite three protests to re-deliver my shrimp dish and it would be cooked perfect. He proudly arrived, stood over me, watched me barely able to cut it again with a knife. "Sir, may I please have the noodle dish I have been requesting?" Promptly returns with it, stands over me again, and it was really good. So I say this... I then get a lecture on how the wait staff needs a 10/10 on their survey, nothing less. I then informed the head waiter that I understood he was not responsible for cooking the meal, could I just get a second noodle dish for my main entree Then I was lectured that he can only provide one main entrée at a time and I had to finish this first (I can't even make this stuff up). I explained I never ate my app, and the noodles were in place of the app. "Again Miss, when you are finished, you may have seconds". I got up, left the family at the table and left to go cool off. Never to return to the MDR. Next night, only four now returned, the wait staff is all upset I didn't return and again pressure my daughter/son-in-law and 2 kiddos on the importance of a 10 on their survey. My daughter is upset with having to endure this, upset with me for complaining instead of eating pizza again at night because I'm still hungry and a brief family spat ensued. 2/10 for quality, God love the head waiter that did his best with the quality he was working with. Edited to add that this night they returned was the second formal night. The waiter gave the 2 adults, 7 lobster tails as we had a table for 7 total, in attempts to make amends, they really did try That's how I came to know that one could book Izumi and Wonderland day of calling for the remainder of the night because no one returned to MDR. 10. DUCKS- we hid 50 of them, all without tags, there was too much work to do this and the grandkids had a blast putting them everywhere. We were pleased to see a few folks find them. 11. Drink package- My daughter and son-in-law were the only ones with the drink package. Service was great if you had it or not. The value of it is for one to decide for themselves. I think 6 drinks was the break-even price. I didn't have it, bought 4 drinks a day and the bar staff seemed almost apologetic for charging me, lol, they were wonderful So long review and thanks for staying with me! What an amazing vacation and beautiful ship. Always clean, smiles everywhere, and beautiful memories. Didn't upload pictures as there are plenty of the ship out there. We, husband and I have one VV in Nov. booked and two repo Norweigan booked. I would definitely return to RCCL, but this time price comparing the full specialty dining package in the price against the competition.

ah, can you provide an example of the snack? I'm trying to picture what you are refering to

I agree, but I have a mighty taco addiction, lol

I have tried to bring my favorite mighty tacos past ship security, they didn't make it.