scotlady

Hi. Rebooking a February cruise to a later date and I noticed they now have Category CB - Connecting Ocean View Balcony. They charge more for this than standard balcony. What is the difference?  I’ve never seen a cruise line charge more for rooms just because they connect. I am mostly wondering because I would like to get two cabins next together that allow for opening up the balconies,  but I’m not sure whether you have to book a CB category in order to do this or whether they really are just charging more for connecting rooms now. 

15 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

 

* Our opinion and observation only...one thing truly unique about the Freedom sailing out of San Juan, Puerto Rico is this: We enjoyed watching, at each sailing, many young girls celebrating their Quinceaneras (sp), dressed in beautiful long gowns.  During one sailing alone, we saw 36 young girls getting their formal pictures taken along with all their families...all dressed to the 10's...nice.

Bonsai - that is one thing I also loved about cruising out of San Juan.  The families were dressed up so nice - especially all the little girls!  

In general, thought Freedom was a great ship.  We are cruising her again in February 2021-  looking forward to her "amplification".  

And I love Puerto Rico - been there on a couple of land-based vacations too. 

Just a note to ptf2009 - no, not all of our PR citizens speak English, though it's very common.  I think it never hurts to know a few courtesy words in Spanish for those who prefer that language.

We did a Christmas cruise on Liberty two years ago, and I was likewise disappointed. No special items on the menu, really.

They had a "Christmas Cake" - OMG - it was literally so hard that you couldn't cut it with a knife. As a side note - both the food and service were pretty consistently bad on our cruise - so much so that I started to wonder if they let all the experienced crew take the holiday off?  And as a point of reference, I've been on three non-holiday RCL cruises and had good to great food each time.

Also, the decorations on the ship weren't very exciting.  A couple of trees here and there, but nothing much.  

I guess I was expecting something special to celebrate the holiday - maybe a little music or something at dinner? 

Anyway, based on our experience, we wouldn't do a Christmas cruise with RCL again.

And I think a couple of you might be, maybe, a little harsh in your comments to the OP?  I didn't read anything in the post about them saying their Christmas was entirely ruined - just that they wouldn't do a Christmas cruise on RCL again....

12 hours ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

You definitely need to plan for extra time boarding in San Juan. Traffic getting to the pier is HORRENDOUS! 

Yes, we've been to San Juan a couple of times, so I remember the traffic.  That's one of the reasons we are staying at AC Hotel in Condado - less than three miles from the ship.  Which means we should be there in a half hour to an hour 😄

11 hours ago, JasonMason said:

...I could tell you an absolute HORROR story about cruising out of Galveston... to make a looooong tale of woe easily digestible, do yourself a favor and plan to arrive at the port as early as possible. To say nothing for the flight delays, the traffic between IAH and Galveston almost caused us to miss the ship - this was back in 2014, but I'm virtually certain we were the last passengers to board Navigator that day. 

JasonMason - we have a few of our own horror stories from Galveston.  Not so much on the traffic, though.  Ours were delays getting off the ship because one of the stops had been Roatan, and apparently there was major drug activity there, so the checks getting off delayed everything.  Took us an hour an a half to get clear of the ship.

This next cruise we are taking is out of San Juan, though - sounds like very mixed reviews there - some experiences, some not so much.  Guess we'll see!

Well,  sounds like it wouldn't be too long a wait if I get there by 7 a.m.  Truthfully, even on vacation, I am usually up by then.  The morning walk around the deck is one of my favorite cruise ship traditions.  It is nice seeing the ship without 4000 other guests roaming around.

2 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Beverage packages do not include beverages from room service.

Oh - that's right.  Well, It didn't look to me like there was any way to get it even if you were paying for it, anyways.

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Last week was always quiet at 6 AM. Same 5-6 people there all week.

Hmmm,  up at 6 am kind of contradicts the whole "vacation" thing.  I love my coffee, but don't know if I love it that much!

Yay - 30 days till we leave for our Freedom cruise out of San Juan!!!

Just curious regarding Cafe Promenade - it seems like when we sailed on Liberty two Christmases ago, it was always jammed.  I would love to have a cappucino in the morning (have the beverage package), but how long are the lines around 7-8 am?  Does it get better later in the morning?

And I am assuming you can't get a specialty coffee brought to you by room service?  When I looked at the room service menu, I didn't see any options for that.

Maybe a large bribe to our cabin steward?  I really love my coffee 😁

So - I am usually in the early boarding camp - but we've always cruised out of Galveston, where there really isn't much to do other than hang around the hotel or walk along the ocean.  

But - this time we are cruising out of San Juan (30 days!).  We have a beachfront hotel in Condado, so really torn between relaxing on the beach or getting on early to take photos all around the ship, which has been my routine for every cruise I've been on.  

I noticed a couple of people on this thread have cruised out of San Juan - is it really crazy (like Galveston) if you show up 10:30-11:00?  

And one other thought - the ONE thing I stress about on boarding day is having my luggage lost - had it sort of happen on one cruise - comes 8 pm and no suitcase - I only found it by peaking down all the crew hallways/staircases and grabbing it myself!

But unfortunately, from my experience, I don't think getting on earlier makes much of a difference as to when you get it . . .

I can only speak to Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston. 

Some of the items listed above were offered, such as the milk & cookies and Santa stuff. 

BUT - much less holiday charm than we were hoping for overall.

Not as many decorations as I was expecting.  One tree on the promenade.  And decorations in the main dining room along the divider between decks only went half way around and quite a few of the lights didn't work on them.

Also, entertainment was definitely lacking.  For instance, there was never a piano player during dinnertime.

We got lucky a couple of nights when a couple of piano-playing teenagers took over and gave us a show, but no entertainment from RCL.  The evening shows were also cut back way back - all but one show were the same 4 singers, just singing and dancing to different types of music.  The only other show was a very old, stale impressionist. His most recent impression was from the 70s, I believe.

And regarding the holiday meals - whatever you do - do not try the Christmas Cake!  It was so hard you honestly couldn't cut it with a fork.  

It's entirely possible these problems are limited to the Galveston cruises - which is why I wanted to emphasize that this was on Liberty.  It was also our first holiday cruise, so hopefully not typical . . .

Hi, we are booking rather late for a March cruise, so choice of larger cabins is limited.

We like the look of the Ultra Spacious Oceanview, but 2 questions:

1) It looks like there are a couple of very different layouts for these cabins.  We would only want one that has the nice open layout, not the one where it is chopped up into separate living room, bedroom, bunkbed room (I know 8500 has the chopped-up layout).  Does anyone have pictures or experience with 6200, 6500, 7200 or 7500?

2) We went through Costco, and it let us book one of these - but does RCL still generally have a policy of  reserving these for larger groups (there are just 2 of us).  I don't want to risk booking a cabin that they will bump us out of.

Thanks for any and all advice.

Hi,

Norwegian has a free airfare sale right now on a cruise we are interested in.  Does anyone have any experience with what airlines they generally use from either Boston or NYC?

Thanks for the answers. We have checked out luggage storage near St. Mark's Square - seems to be plentiful and cheap, but it would just be simpler to be able to drop off the luggage early - hopefully we can.

See you on board, Cruisecat!

Hi,

Trying to figure out logistics for our luggage, as we will be staying the night before on Murano.

The day of the cruise, we plan to walk around St. Mark's Square area for a while before boarding, but of course there is the question of what to do with the luggage.

Official embarkation time is 2 pm - how is Silversea and/or Venice for getting on earlier?

Some cruises we have been on will collect luggage earlier than the actual embarkation time.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Hi. We are thinking about spending a day at Bouka beach or somewhere nearby. I can’t dine any information about renting beach chairs and umbrellas for the day. Does anyone know where a good place to do that would be and any idea of the cost?

Thanks, good to know we won't be out of place if we dress up.

We went on a RCL cruise at Xmas with family (yep - never again!) and there were more jeans than dresses in the dining room.

I checked with my TA - she called Silversea and they show my reservations as confirmed in their system.

Hopefully, everything's ok.

Hi,

When I look at my booking on line and click on my dining reservations, it pops up a message that "The activity may have changed. Please see the Maitre D' onboard for additional information."

Has anyone seen this message before? I hope there isn't a problem - I hopped online 120 days out when the booking opened because I really want to dine at La Dame.

Absolutely not! You will fit right in.

 

We’re like you and love dressing to the nines. On our 9-day Athens to Rome voyage a few weeks ago, one-third wore tuxes, one-third dark suits, and one-third dark sport jackets with dark slacks.

 

 

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Stumblefoot - thanks for the info. I think DH will either bring a tux or his nicest black suit. We really do love dressing up once or twice during the cruise - especially since cruises seem to be the only time we get around to taking nice photos!

I think we are on the same cruise! We only have the one formal night, the day we are at sea. As much as I also enjoy dressing up, we are re-thinking it for this cruise based on previous experience. DH will be wearing a black suit, no tux. I am not sure what I will be wearing as of yet. Our last SS cruise, we were the ONLY ones on the ship in formal wear (it was an 11 night Caribbean sailing) on both formal nights. That has made me reluctant to get as dressed up, and to pack the extras for this upcoming cruise. Especially since it is only one night. Also, we are staying in Venice for 3 days and in Athens for 4 pre and post cruise, so dragging around extra luggage is a serious consideration for us.

CruiseCat - ours is the September 6th cruise - is that the one you are on? If so, great! I wonder if the destination - Caribbean vs Mediterranean has anything to do with number of guests dressing up?

I did already tell my DH that he is limited to two Hawaiian shirts since this isn't a Caribbean cruise - he has a whole wardrobe of them :D

Hi, we are on the 10-day Venice to Athens cruise in September. So far one formal night is listed.

Yes - another dress code question - but kind of the opposite of what most people want to know.

We like dressing up and I am wondering how many couples still do a long gown/tux combination?

Or would a long gown for me (already have one picked out :D) and dark suit for DH be best?

I know the trend is towards more casual, but has it gotten to the point yet where we will be out of place if we go actual formal on formal night?

Hi. Taking the Silver Whisper Eastern Med/Greece cruise in September. Wondering if someone could tell me what time the main show usually is in the evening?

Hi,

Not sure whether to post this here or on the ports board?

Has anyone taken the Silversea excursion to Lake Bled/Lujbljana? Looks like time will be tight to do those two sites, so thinking about going with the ship's tour.

Sorry for the late reply - was out of town.

DC Cruiser - Thanks!

Jolly Jones - because my husband and I don't share well :D