coolcruiser777

Is this in Freeport?

- Take your luggage with you as you may not get it delivered to your room

Take your valuables with you because they may be stolen, but luggage is delivered almost always.

- Check you luggage it will be put in you room by the time the ship leaves

This is not always true. Luggage can come at any time.

- Check your luggage so you don't have to schlep it around until your room is ready

Yes, that is highly recommended. You don't need to carry around all of your clothes for an hour or so.

- Take your luggage with you, you can drop it in your room even if it's not ready

This is false. Sometimes they even block the hallways off and possibly your entire floor until the rooms are ready.

- If you check your luggage, make sure you check every 1/2 hour or so, because they just put it outside your door. (this seems oddest)

This is true, they leave your luggage outside your room.

They will most likely just give your group 3 tables of 6.

Vista. because it is a much newer ship...

Newer doesn't always mean better!

We are making plans for our cruise aboard the Regal in November. I know there are two formal nights, but I'm not exactly sure when... If you know when the formal nights will be for the itinerary posted below, please let me know!

This cruise will also be over Thanksgiving, so I don't know if they do anything special for that.

FLL (Sunday, November 19)

Princess Cays

At Sea

Falmouth

Grand Cayman

Cozumel

At Sea

FLL

If you had to pick one, which would you choose? I know they have a lot of the same features and I cannot decide which one to book. I am making my decision purely based on the ship right now.

Yeah, the drive is nearly two hours from Baltimore and DC.

Or they could bring a bigger ship to Norfolk.

I don't think they would want to take a ship out of here, as that would leave yet another port to be used only by Carnival.

I wish Celebrity would come back too.

I like cruising out of New Orleans, but the Vision?

They brought in the worst ship.

I will pass and go with the NCL Pearl.

I would have to agree with you on that one. They are bringing the Gem there (which is a sister ship to the Pearl) in 2019, by the way.

RCCL has stated several times that RD class ships can do in Baltimore. Problem is, they are needed elsewhere.

Here's the bigger problem. Grandeur can not open the casino or shopping in the Bay because of recent changes from the State of Maryland. This goes both ways in the Bay and costs RCCL (and CCL) big $$$. Could not blame either cruise line if they bailed out of Baltimore.

Rick and Deirdra

Once they get to the part of the bay that Virginia owns, can they open them?

I happened to stumble upon these two discussions today... https://goo.gl/q0JEek (I had to shorten the url because it stars it our for some reason... and http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2494217

If the Rhapsody and Grandeur are, in fact, for sale, that means the rest of the Vision class will be down in the Gulf. Since Royal Caribbean has a multi-year agreement with the port of Baltimore, who could replace her? The clearance of the shortest bridge going into the port (FSK bridge) is 185'. Do any ships have a height less than 185'? Radiance class maybe? I would assume that they wouldn't move Majesty or Empress up to Baltimore...

More details (this is definitely the Grandeur):

http://www.qpsships.com/cruise-ship-2400-passengers--s2388

They are responsible not only for service in the MDR, but also the buffets.

 

In the MDR, they are also responsible for table assignments, managing the wait staff, dealing with special requests, etc. We have had several that come by our table each night to see if everything is good. Some also are responsible for the entertainment and some sing. Can't hardly do those things with the condition you referred to.

They also yell at children.

There is usually a ton of children on in the Summer. The best kids club experiences my kids have had have actually been when there are few children on the ship (longer cruises/winter cruises). They can choose what they want to to instead of being confined to a schedule, they can actually form relationships with the managers there, and they can form better friendships with the other children.

If not, they just cram 200 or so kids in a room and put a movie on that every kid has seen at least 100 times. Or, they let them run around like crazy outside (rain or shine).

We are sailing on Regal Princess in November and have two deluxe balcony cabins. I looked and am seeing that two mini suites are less than $500 more total. Would it be worth upgrading from deluxe balconies to mini suites? How would I do so if I decide to?

According to my kids, the kids club on the Summit was "pure torture". They forced my kids to go outside and play during a rainstorm just because "it was a scheduled activity". I can't believe they did that and I had no idea because they didn't let them communicate with me until I picked them up. That was our last ever experience with a kids club.

I know this ship has Coke Freestyle, and I haven't been on a ship with it yet. Are the machines placed throughout the ship (like at every bar or something)? Are there a lot of them? Do you need to use the cups they give you to activate the machine?

I doubt they will ever change the menu- Fantasy is their oldest ship sailing on only short cruises from Alabama. She is nearing thirty years of age!

Update: a new midship staircase was added today.

https://www.ncl.com/cruises/1-night-cruise-from-copenhagen-GETAWAY1CPHWAR?cruiseTour=1&autoPopulate=f&cruiseHotel=1&numberOfGuests=4294953449&pageSize=10&ships=4294959434&cruise=1&sortBy=Featured&from=resultPage&state=undefined&sailmonths=4294953392&currentPage=1&cruiseHotelAir=1&itineraryCode=GETAWAY1CPHWAR

I stumbled upon this... a one night cruise on the Norwegian Getaway from Copenhagen to Warnemunde. Why would somebody ever book this cruise? It isn't even roundtrip. The prices of flights back would be more expensive than the cruise itself. The port taxes are even more than the cruise fare, too! By the time you get on the ship, you get off. I might see a one night cruise being good as a roundtrip on a Friday or Saturday for the weekend, but this is a Tuesday to Wednesday cruise in the middle of May. I am sure there is not a high demand for midweek getaways from Copenhagen to some German town an hour north of Berlin... Why not just add it on to the previous or next cruise?

Hmm. Cup Match.

 

I read that is a huge four day holiday weekend. Thursday thru Sunday. That all the beaches are full of overnight campers.

 

You might want to reconsider that sailing. I suppose it could be interesting. Some might be into cricket.

Oh god... it is too late now. Trust me, it wasn't my choice either. I am sailing with my extended family. This cruise was a done deal in January. There is no turning back now...:o

We are looking at spring break cruises for next year and we have narrowed it down... to ten options. We can't decide what I should book or look into more. We need two balcony cabins. The options above are listed from lowest price at the top to the highest on the bottom.

Things we are considering:

• Where we live (Northern Virginia) and if we have to fly/flight prices (we can drive to NYC or Baltimore)
  
• Where we are sailing out of (if we don't fly, we will have to sacrifice our balconies for a few days)
  
• The itinerary
  
• The ship itself
  
• The price
  

My family and I are looking at Spring break cruises for next year. When we have done cruises not during the Summer, we have always flown to a more southern port, so I have no idea how winter/spring cruises work when they come from the North. My question is that if we decide to go out of NYC or Baltimore for a seven day cruise to the Caribbean during the last week of March, how useable are the outdoor parts of the ship? For example, pools, outdoor activities, etc. I was also wondering if it is worth getting a balcony.

This promotion is honestly terrible. Wait until after May 2nd. The only thing you get out of booking a non-suite is prepaid tips (which are optional)! Booking a suite adds on a spa treatment and that is it.

Package is NOT available for purchase on Ocean Medallion™ voyages.

That is absolutely crazy!