the_dylaness

I put "first" in quotes because I sailed Legend OTS in January 2002 but that's basically a lifetime ago, and irrelevant. I notice lots of people talking about all the various things they had to book first thing onboard, or on the cruise planner in advance. It feels a little overwhelming, frankly. I then recently read an account of a passenger who did NOT know to book "all the things" in advance and was rather criticized by many CCers about this. I do not want to mess this up, so, please advise- WHAT do I need to do in advance, and what can wait until we are onboard? If it is helpful for providing advice, we are Diamond (due to status match with Celebrity... no idea if our kids get any status on RCCL, they are probably Classic or maybe Select on Celebrity but they don't issue numbers) and in a Star Class suite. TIA!

My TAP flights were booked directly with the airline, not through any cruise or other travel agent option. I tried to chargeback on my American Express Platinum... charge too old.

One of my Haven sailings was with my mom and my daughter who was 7 at the time. She picked up very quickly on the difference between the Haven and the rest of the ship (not the passengers, just the vibe.) I'd get asked questions like "Do we have to leave the Haven to go to XYZ?" or "When can we go back to the Haven?" Our next cruise was on a different line and she asked me "Are we going to be Haven guests?" The contrast between the relative quiet (most of the time!) in the Haven vs the rest of the ship is really obvious. On Celebrity, like someone said, not too many people running up and down the halls yelling and screaming so it is all fairly reasonably quiet, most of the time.

Yes, on Reflection/Equinox other S-class ships the suite rooms are scattered around, MOSTLY in desirable areas (excepting the deck 12 Sky Suites underneath the Oceanview Cafe patio which are noisy and horrible.) Luminae is a few decks away but I did find it superior to the Haven Restaurant on frankly every count. The Haven Restaurant is fine but slow as others mentioned, and the menu is the same every. single. night.

Run, don't walk. Our October 2020 one-way TAP flight from ORD to Barcelona was cancelled (unsurprisingly, and I understand and accept why, I just waited on them to cancel so I could get my money back as we obviously were not going on our TA cruise...). I did not get my money back, despite hours on the phone, many requests, etc etc etc until December 2021. Yes, that's right, 15 months later. I also ONLY got it back as early as I did because I finally opened a Twitter account and waged war on them, essentially spamming their account, retweeting my posts (most of which were something like "Hey TAP you cancelled my flight more than a year ago and I'm still waiting on a refund? Please send my money back, confirmation code ABCDEF") to WaPO Travel, cruise sites, Portugal travel sites, etc etc. When they'd make a post like "Come see the beautiful beaches on TAP Air Portugal" I would write back "I'd love to book a trip to a beach ANYWHERE but since TAP Air Portugal stole all my money for 15 months I can't go anywhere, please refund me, ABCDEF...". It took about 5-7 days of this and I got my $.

We had done all of the passes (for 5 of us) online but there was no internet access for us in the building so they had to work around it. I don't like having all this stuff just on the phone, too unreliable.

Sorry just realized you HAVE sailed the Haven, so I told you some things you already knew... I would really base it upon your desire to try X and probably who you are sailing with (my kids do like Celebrity but there is definitely more for kids to do on NCL and bigger kids club, not necessarily better, just... bigger.)

Hi- Yes, I have done both, although I will say that my Retreat sailing was with only my husband, and my 2 Haven sailings were with husband + kids... They are really, really different. The actual Haven area itself is much nicer in my opinion than the Retreat on an S-class ship (can't comment on E-class.) There is a private pool, etc. The Equinox Retreat area was just really a hot sun deck on the top of the ship, not much going on. This was January 2020 so maybe it has improved since then. The Haven has its own bar which I liked, and its own restaurant which is nice but not nearly as good as Luminae in my opinion, if nothing else only because the Haven restaurant menu is the same every day and Luminae changes. Are you going with a friend, partner, kids, family... This may influence your decision as well. Overall NCL ships I find to be a bit more crowded and a bit wilder. The larger ships have great water slides and such which are fun for kids. I would not take an NCL Haven cruise without my kids- I'd prefer a different line that is a little calmer and perhaps, for lack of a better word, a little classier. I honestly can't remember about priority boarding for suites on X but I think so (surely Googleable...) on NCL Haven the boarding process was not only expedited but also nicer- a lounge with snacks, etc., compared to non-Haven rooms. If you want a big, fun, busy ship with a calmer area to head to and a changing menu in the dining room isn't an issue for you (if you eat a lot of meals in specialty restaurants, let's say) the Haven is a good choice. If you want a little bit quieter atmosphere, better (in my opinion only) live entertainment, and a pretty darn good suite-level restaurant, then X.

Nope, with 5 pax we were in steerage since we were paying for everyone 🙂

Yes the 2 bedroom ATS are not inexpensive... we switched to mid-January (kids will miss 4 days of school, they'll be fine) because the NYE sailing we looked at was almost 17k for the ONE bedroom ATS. WHOA!

I would agree with you but with flights all full and sold out these days I doubt FBC is going to pay for you for a hotel for the potential DAYS it could take to get seats on a plane home (better chances if a smaller party, we were 5 including 2 children) and don't you want to get home when you want to get home?

Yes, baggage drop off line was about an hour in itself. We had prechecked in online, had prepaid bags etc.

No, it really isn't. Our flight was 11am and 757 am arrival (sorry didn't see your second post when I wrote back above) and we had only the actual boarding window to spare. NOT enough time. Plus we were bumped forward in a couple of lines d/t children <14, had we not had that I actually do not think we would've made it.

At least. We were AT FCO at 757 and made the start of boarding by 6 minutes with no messin' around. NO room for error.

It's your call, but if you're checking luggage, I'd strongly suggest bumping that up just a few minutes...

I can see where this would be a REALLY cool cabin for 2 pax (a couple) if mobility/stairs aren't a problem. I guess I was just kind of surprised there weren't more family friendly options on a line that clearly seems to gear itself towards families... on Celebrity we are used to booking 2 balconies, no problem, but seems like there should be some non-stratospherically-priced options for families of 4-5 to stay in the same room, maybe there are and I am missing them. Anyway we booked the 2 bedroom ATS, I am very excited!

Not challenging you but curious to know what is better… please elaborate!

I was 25 on my first Celebrity cruise… still enjoying it some years later 😊

While these are certainly a "step up" from a balcony or OV room... our TA tried (lightly) to sell us this and they seem very popular. I can see how they'd be appealing for a couple... but for the four of us (two school aged children included) it seems like it would be loud and not have a lot of privacy. The bedroom walls do not go to the ceiling and the only curtain appears to be sheer... am I missing something here about why this is popular? I would like to have some privacy with my DH on a cruise, kids safely tucked away elsewhere...

Can't speak for RCCL but have done similar things on other lines... it's fine. They don't care who sleeps where but "capacity" and lifeboat considerations often mean you can't put 3 in a double room even if it's a baby. Just sleep where you want.

Thanks! We are obviously pretty new to RCCL. Is there an advantage to CK versus specialty dining?

We disembarked the Reflection on June 13- 3 adults, 2 kids. We had Civitavecchia Shuttle Express waiting to pick us up and take us to FCO. Our flight was 11am on the dot. We went to disembark about 640/645 and were on the ground (carried our own luggage) by 650, met our shuttle shortly thereafter. We arrived at FCO at 757am. We did not make it to the gate until 1004 am for a 1010 am boarding. Not as much since COVID but I used to fly a LOT and even with kids, we are pretty practiced and know where to go/what to do. I have CLEAR, Global Entry, etc so this is not like I was a bumpkin who never flew out of a foreign airport before. With one BRIEF (3 minute) bathroom stop AFTER security we were still hustling to make our boarding. We had been promised a reasonably full breakfast (I talked to the concierge directly about this- adults can wait but kids need to eat!) in the Elite departure lounge which was NOT the case, so I waited in line so long to get sandwiches for my kids (they missed breakfast) that I was really pushing it on boarding time. FCO was an absolute zoo. (We departed from O'Hare for contrast...) I would never fly out of there with less than 3 hours before my flight and even then it was clearly close for us. The shuttle company told us we could take the 8am shuttle, not 7am, and I pushed back and I am glad I did- there is NO way we would've been on our flight. We were even pushed ahead of the big line in a couple cases due to "bambinos" <14 years old... if they had not been there I do wonder what would've happened, we'd probably still be in passport control.

I used FBC for the first, and last time in June. I spent 17 hours on the phone with them over a 6 week span to fix THEIR problem. Never, ever, ever again.

On Reflection starting June 3, the room service folks left the room so quickly it was almost hard to get a tip to them. We do usually tip 2-6 dollars depending on the size of the order but it seemed VERY clear they weren't expecting it. We learned to have the tip IN HAND when the door opened so we don't miss them. I think it is not expected but just an extra nod if you prefer.

Are reservations required for Star Class pax or only Sky and Sea?