Tin can

Not sure why but when we didn't pay our balance on a cruise we couldn't now take, booking from the UK I just accepted my deposit was gone and rather than waste an hour on the phone trying to cancel I let it ride expecting the instant cancellation. We instead got reminder emails and after two weeks a call from Miami (bearing in mind we are UK based) from a very polite guy enquiring if we had forgotten to pay and would I like to do so now. I explained the situation and he wished me well and hoped to see us again on board soon. Whether this has something to do with UK booking conditions somehow I don't know but it was very unexpected. I won't however rely on this happening again and I always pay balances well before time!

They cared in Southampton over the summer and we saw people asked to wait outside if they were early. I guess we shall see what Cape Liberty is like in April.

I'm guessing the priority is full suite guests, pinnacles and then junior suites.

Thats a very good point that I had not thought about before. We are cruising on Anthem over Easter (expensive) in a junior suite so hopefully we will have a good chance of booking CK.

You're right, just checked the compass that I saved and the casino is shut when it arrives in Victoria and then that's it apparently no gambling on the last night.

There is lots of availability at Blue Lagoon on their website but the boat leaves at 8am so no good for the 12pm arrival of the original poster. Good point about Nassau being busy with land visitors and possibly why Margaritaville and the Hilton didn’t open for day passes.

We are doing some research into an Alaska cruise and from reviews I have read its been mentioned that the casino opening hours are sometimes restricted as the ship doesn't get far enough away from the coast for them to be able to open. There is definitely gambling though as I've seen it on Youtube videos, if they can get it open I'm sure Royal will do everything in its power to do so 😀.

We are on the same cruise. You can go on the website and book independently for an 8am visit but of course we don't arrive until 12pm so I'm not sure how you would get there. Like you I noticed a large number of the ships excursions are sold out and most of the resort day passes are sold out as we wanted to go to Margaritaville. Its seems strange as apparently only three ships in port that day.

Thats good to hear, my experience recently in the DL has been the complete opposite unfortunately.

The same for us, all our future cruises are showing the Key under a VIP passes page. This would imply that there are passes other than the Key going to be added. I just have a horrible feeling that with the overwhelming popularity of the drinks vouchers something is afoot with the Diamond Lounge. It won't have escaped the bean counters notice that a piece of prime real estate isn't being as used as much as it was when the majority of us are around the ship using the vouchers at any time of day. Hope I'm wrong.

Online for us always if booking direct, its straight forward and hassle free. Great cruises and I wouldn't sail with anyone else but every time I have picked the phone up to actually talk to someone it has ended in hassle and frustration for quite simple questions and issues.

If you hear anything about what they may be doing during the refurb and could let us know that would be great. Have a great cruise 😀

The cruising experience is fabulous with Royal in my opinion but anything that involves phoning and speaking to someone at the call centre or anything involving IT nearly always goes wrong. I have to mentally prepare myself that I have to have a slice of the bad to get the good cruise and it shouldn't be like that.

We are going to use the train and it is very simple with either a change in Bologna or Ferrara. I'm quite looking forward to it to honest and seeing a bit of Italy.

Always open but manned by the concierge only at certain times and with the bar staff for drinks in the evening. Continental breakfast will be laid out in the mornings, can be nice and quick if going on an excursion and quiet if your looking to get away from the crowds.

Yes I guess you are right, I wonder why they bother then with the process. My maximum bids were for Grand Suites which I didnt win but then on the FB group for the cruise, which was pretty much sold out, lots of people won minimum bids for interiors to balconies. For this to work there has to be movement up the chain but if I'm not moving from my JS to a GS for a maximum bid then where do the balconies go that have to move for the interior winning bids. Perhaps I am over thinking this 😀

You have done well, I have put in maximum bids a couple of times now and not won the upgrade. In fact I have put bids in at nearly every level and not won those either so I have no idea how the algorithm works but whatever I am doing its not working for me 😀

😀 you would cause massive upset if you tried to say that England had any hand in Scotlands nation dish haggis. It would be like me saying mac n cheese or the hot dog for example was given to you by the Canadians.

Apparently black pudding, or blood pudding as I believe it is known in the States, came to the UK from Europe and apparently was a favoured dish of the Romans. We can take no credit for this delicacy 😀

The last time we did the sushi making class we could eat it at the end and stay in the restaurant as long as we liked to do so but we couldn't take it with us. We would have liked to have taken some for our son but they were very strict about this and not sure why to be honest.

We got an email for our August cruise. Same later 7pm departure from Ravenna and then losing an hour in Kotor and Corfu, no changed ports though. All a bit strange, it must be linked with the 7pm departures from Ravenna.

From researching an Alaska cruise its seems there were no enrichment programmes or naturalists on board Ovation. I have read a few compasses from the last season so maybe this is only for the one way cruises.

Doesn't bother me what people wear (or don't) in the case of no socks by your man with the backpack, but you would not see that replicated on a UK cruise. As my previous post I saw people turned away from the MDR over the summer on Anthem for wearing shorts. As a side issue Its been a while since we have cruised from the States and that queue for the MDR is just a world away from the four deep lines we saw on any night in the MDR let alone formal night.

For whatever reason its a bit different here in the UK. I saw people turned away from the MDR on Anthem in shorts over the summer.

If it is Cadiz in Spain I'm surprised they haven't made it a revenue cruise to Europe and then you could have stayed on to give a hand 😀