jwakeli

As a human being id hope that the management of the lines would take care of their workers, I'm not close enough to that industry to know for certain, but I'll be naive enough to assume there's teams of people in corporate offices trying to get those who want to go home, home.

However, I can feel empathy for the workers on board who are scared, lonely and miss their families, many of whom are not making any money for being there, some who are quarantined in their windowless rooms.  Can you imagine being stuck inside a windowless room 24 hours a day? Here in Canada a few years ago there was a big scandal when many prisoners were put in isolation cells for no good reason, because it causes all kinds of physiological issues, I know these workers are in more comfortable settings than prison, but in some cases the room isn't that different.

These are human beings, like you and me, no one forced them to be on the ships but in many cases they are there because in developing countries getting paid such low wages still is an opportunity to provide for their families in ways no other job would for them.  To have that taken away and then be forced to remain on a ship would definitely feel scary, frustrating and confusing for anyone... sure they may not know or have confidence in what their corporate office is trying to do for them, but I am not going to begrudge them for expressing the emotions they feel.

Its a messy situation, these times were living in.

I just went in and cancelled mine for my now cancelled march 30th sailing, feel more at ease doing it myself.  

13 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 This is only your fifth time on Royal and this will be your Emerald cruise? You must’ve had some extremely long cruises before this?  ... or been in suites for the other cruises.? 

 

Dan

I think I got my levels mixed up, what ever the next one after gold is is what I meant.

On board today, sailing 5 days.... so far quite an experience... our youngest son (4 years old) came down with a mighty bad fever about an our after boarding so rushed him down to the ship doctor... no word yet on cost but they were phenomenal, luckily I have pretty good health benefits at work and through my Visa that should cover it, just glad hes doing better (and not contagious so not confined to our cabin).

This is our 5th cruise on Royal and our Emerald promotion cruise, still a long ways off from Pinnacle but slowly but surely.

Our oceanviewroom was a GTY cabin, fairly happy with it, older ship so smaller room but nothing to complain about, still cozy.

Staff on board really seem to enjoy the ship.

Off to dinner, will post more later.

Forgive my ignorance on this one as I'm sure it's been asked before, is there a supplement charged for studio rooms?

1 hour ago, rinse82 said:

Thanks for the review.

 

We have been on Allure twice but will be on Oasis for the first time on November 25th.  We love Allure so I'm sure we'll also love Oasis.

 

Junior Suite on deck 7.  Will be our first time taking three kids (4 yo, 1.5 yo twins) 

Awesome! We really wanted a junior suite but our sailing was packed so just did a balcony room, turned out to be just enough space so worked out.

I forgot to mention in my review that using the luggage porters saved us a good hour wait in line for customs (could have been just one of those days and a one off but the line was enormous) spring for the porter if you can though helps with having kids who dont like lines haha

9 hours ago, fla33023 said:

Hi - what's the age of your oldest son? We're taking my 8-yr-old on her first cruise and I'm thinking she'll love AO too. She loves group settings like summer camp and her after school program. That is so awesome to hear about your little one having a great time too. What a great feeling that must have been! It's all about the kids! 

My oldest is 6 and he absolutely loved it, he thought it was going to be like going to school when we talked about it so he was a bit skeptical at start, once he went once he was begging to go back as often as possible.

On 10/29/2018 at 8:52 PM, Gatordad815 said:

Thanks for the review-we will be back on Oasis for our 2nd family cruise next week with our similarly-aged kids (5 & 3) and are very much looking forward to it! We loved it last time. It was nice to read your trip was great-particularly the nursery staff welcoming and accommodating your 3 year old!

 

Just out of curiosity, can I ask which ship the Carnival train wreck cruise was on? As Port Canaveral is our preferred port (by far), I’ve looked at Carnival Breeze several times, but so far have resisted the urge to book it....

Hey there, sorry for the delay in replying..  we were on the Fascination last November... it mainly was some security issues we had on a tender in Belize and some food quality issues... so shouldn't be an issue on Breeze. I am more than confident it was a one off and wouldnt steer anyone away from Carnival.. I just feel more at home on Royal is all.

1 minute ago, reallyitsmema said:

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.  Just so you know, Royal Caribbean will continue to allow your child to be grouped by ability, not age.  They also make exception to the toilet trained policy, even when he is ready for Adventure Ocean.  Here is a link that explains all they will do.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising

Wow I never came across that page, thanks for sharing with me, was worried they were strict with the age policy when planning... he's the life of the party so we like having him interact with other children.

Just completed the Oct 21st sailing on Oasis, with my wife and 2 kids (3 and 6).. some quick thoughts;

- Food was considerably better than I remember from 3 years ago, definitely better selection than our last cruise on Adventure.

- My time dining was a breeze to book and utilize, would recommend making reservations, seen long lines in the non reserved line every night.

- our waiters, room steward and generally all staff on board were mind blowingly awesome, gracious and kind.

- My oldest son loved Adventure Ocean, the AO team had him well engaged and he wished he could stay there 24/7!

- My youngest son is 3, however he has Down Syndrome so is not yet potty trained, much to my surprise and delight the nursery staff welcomed him with open arms even though he was above the age limit... they loved having him there and he loved it too. (They were so accepting of him and accommodating that it made us so proud to sail with Royal).

- Got a pretty bad sunburn in Labadee, but discovered Nellie's beach is so much calmer and less rocky/shelly than the main beach. Third time in Labadee so it is getting a bit tired for us.

- Jamaica was great! We did a day pass at Jewel Runaway Bay because weve been pondering doing an all inclusive there and wanted to test it out.. would definitely recommend it! Great service, food was outstanding and so much for kids to do ($99 per adult and $50 per kid including transportation).

- Cozumel is always a favourite for us, we always feel very safe there so we typically rent a veichle for the day and explore.

Overall this cruise was a much needed vacation and completely validated my "Loyal to Royal" attitude, we tried Carnival last Dec and it was a trainwreck (my opinion only) so was so glad to be back with Royal again. 

7 minutes ago, puggylicious said:

We will be visiting Labadee with a 2 year old and a 4 year old.  Is there a Splash Zone sort of area for that age group?  Also if there is any information about the Adventure Ocean on Labadee I would appreciate it.  I posted this question in the Private Island section, but thought not as many people would see it.  

just got back from an Oasis sailing with a 3 and 6 year old, they loved the stop in Labadee! Chose Nellie's Beach as there are less rocks and sharp shells at this beach (if any) compared to the other one.

my oldest did the adventure ocean on board but not at Labadee so can't help with that one... I saw some stuff about a character tour though. 

There are a bunch of rental agencies in the area with free shuttles to the cruise terminals:

 

 

http://cruiseportcanaveral.us/car-rental/

Thank you sir

We've done it a couple of times and it's about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive, depending on where you are starting from. So if you want to board the ship ASAP, I'd be on the way no later than 8am.

Were in a similar situation in a few weeks, is there a car rental drop off closeby-ish? There's 5 of us (3 adults 2 kids) so I was thinking of dropping them all off at port and then dropping the car off and coming after.

Thanks for the update on Home Trust Back log. We have not heard from them yet and was beginning to wonder... We'll just keep waiting I guess.

 

dp

When looking at replacing my Amazon card with no fx I tried going with these guys but never heard back. I ended up getting the new Scotia passport visa, no fx and lots of rewards... loving it

Just heard from Celebrity that both my brother and his wife were killed in the accident.

 

 

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Sincere condolences to you and your family, such tragic news.

We were on the nov 12th sailing, no fcc for us (according to carnival). So looks like were stuck with flights to nothing in particular. Ugh.

Do you mean that flight is the Choice Air flight?

 

We are currently booked on the AoS out of SJ in December 2017. Trying to decide where to fly from (we live in London, Ontario). We've flown out of Buffalo in the past and had a good experience with that. Don't mind flying out of Pearson if the price is comparable. Figuring out the flights is probably the worst part of vacation planning for me.

Hey there - i would imagine it's the choice air flight. But air canada vacations uses it for their packages with the same guarentee choice air does when you book through them. We looked at Buffalo too but couldn't find any direct flights.

Hi Josh

 

Curious as to your airline and if you had a direct flight or connecting and was it out of Toronto? We have Adventure booked for March 2018 but we are worried about flying in the day of the cruise.

 

Have a great time!

Good morning! We had a direct flight from Pearson with Air Canada. It's soooo hard finding a flight to San juan so flying in the day of was our only option. You should be fine flying in same day as long as it's a direct flight. Would recommend using the air canada 930 direct flight as its their air canada vacations flight so majority of the passengers on the flight are on your boat so they guarentee them arrival for the ship.

I was worried too but then saw flight history for that flight, it's only been delayed once in the last 2 years and it was for 20 mins.

On board now, boarded yesterday, arrived at the airport at 4pm, was on the ship by 445. Very efficient port for afternoon check in.

Some quick points;

- ship looks fantastic, we've only sailed Oasis class so was expecting ship to show a little age, but overall it's in pretty great shape.

- were in a corner front of ship Oceanview (the one with two windows) and it's awesome, so much room. Mattress feels new, couch is definitely old but it's a couch and I'm in the Caribbean so I don't care lol.

- drink prices are the same as they were on my June 2016 Oasis sailing. Not seeing the increased pricing here but maybe in other bars on thr ship? I'll find out as week goes on.

- in Sint maarten now, big fire in Philipsburg, neat to see from this vantage point, but hope all is okay.

- minibar fridge was empty, must be something new they're doing.

- Internet is great, not true voom but works perfect for skype and such.

- dinner at mdr was 'okay' good quality but I didn't really like the first nights menus. But that's subjective, I'm sure others would like it.

That's all for now, the above were some things I was worried about going into the cruise, so hopefully if others had the same worries this helps :)

Anyone out there need any pics or questions answered?

The "Harris Caprock" is a dead giveaway for the old geosync system.

 

Maybe the O3b equipment has been installed, but they are still working to integrate it.

Ah sorry guys, I'm the one who called a while back and posted about this being installed, either they straight up fibbed to me or like Bob said it's not yet activated. All i know for sure is my wife will kill me if we can't skype back home to our kids while away in january.

I think the Trump effect will be opposite, as he will kill the American economy, shut out foreign oil and enable the Keystone pipeline. That would pretty much put our dollar at par or better. (Doesn't anyone remember the Bush years and our dollar going above par).

 

Also, the peso has drop so much that vactioning in Mexico is going to be very inexpensive.

+1 I'd say our currency is majority impacted by oil. It's a catch-22 though. Cheaper vacations but much more expensive commute as gas goes up.

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I hope it drops before February

 

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If keystone gets a hint of being approved you'll see some currency improvements.

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I will post on the 19th once I get on board and can "see" the offer finally, but based on my research I think it is going to be required to use within a year or so.

 

My brother just sent me one he received last time we cruised that gave him 13 months to use it so I assume the T&C will be similar.

Any chance you can also give an update of any updating of the rooms/beds etc?

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Not what I was expecting either.

Give it a few months lol

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Definitely interesting times, dollar was down a full cent overnight, complete opposite effect than I assumed it would take.

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