TeeRick

Does this just apply to Spectrum?  Any Pins from another ship get a similar message?

I agree with the decision but I feel badly for the Hattian locals in Labadee that support the operation there.  Some work for RCCL and others are private vendors, tour operators and security.  This will be a blow to them and their families.

You will love Symphony.  We sailed on her last month and had a great time.  Enjoy!

As for Royal vs Celebrity, we sail both.  Normally Celebrity is more quiet as others have said, but I would not assume that on a 3-day cruise.  This brings a different passenger demographic I think.  

Both Celebrity Eclipse and Celebrity Silhouette have sailings from Bayonne this year too.

On 3/12/2024 at 6:40 AM, surgie said:

I have reserved 4 cabins for a July cruise on Radiance (junior suites) for my family and they are all linked to my account. Check in opens on May 28. I. believe I read it begins just after midnight EST. Can I check in all 4 cabins at that time and fill in passport info later? What will I need to know in order to check in each cabin? 

 

If I'm not able to get a boarding time before noon, is it true that junior suites can board earlier or is that just for higher suite levels? We have lunch reservations at 12:15 so hoping I don't mess this up:)

Don't worry about the check in times whatever you get assigned.  You will be allowed to use the suite check in and boarding at the port.

Did you check out the forum here named Cruise/Travel Insurance?  It might be helpful.  Or the best advice is to call one of the insurance brokers like Insure My Trip and talk to them directly about options for your situation and needs.

Well at least on Symphony in mid-Feb the app was very accurate on the entertainment schedule.

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

What do you think would have been the nearest hospital historically? I guarantee you it was in the DR; this situation changes nothing 

MedVac probably to another country close by if the situation warrants it.

It will be listed on the App when you board or even right before.  

15 hours ago, TeamCan said:

 

 

 

We were on the same cruise and dined at Hook's for lunch.  My DH had the fresh-shucked and baked oysters and thought they both were very good.  I had the soft-shell crab, clam and crab chowder. I had never eaten soft-shell crab before, so I'm not sure what to expect, but I thought they were tasty.  The clam chowder was so thick and too creamy...too much cream = too many calories and there were hardly any clams or chunks of crab meat. We both had the lobster roll which we thought was ok. The roll was quite small with small chunks of lobster.  I guess I'm comparing it to the best lobster roll we've had at Luke's Lobster in Portland, ME.  Desserts: cherry pie and decadent chocolate brownie were ok.

On a side note, we also dined at Jamie's for lunch. Food and service was excellent. Starters:the meat plank, calamari were very good. The garlic buns were the best! Prawn linguine also very good. The pan-roasted salmon was very good...perfectly cooked and the portion was huge.   Dessert: cheesecake and mango gelato topped off a delicious meal. Definitely will do lunch at Jamie's again.

We also go to dw's family place near Portland every year so we have learned not to expect any kind of comparable lobster on a cruise, even if it is listed as Maine lobster on the menu.  That's ok and we usually order something else.  

On Symphony we also went to Jamie's and Wonderland in addition to Hooked.  We enjoyed Jamie's the best of the three.  On other nights we dined in Coastal Kitchen which was overall excellent.

30 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Stay on the ship if you are concerned.  But I can assure you that RCCL will put the safety of its passengers, crew, and ship ahead of any risk and if they believe that a direct risk exists at Labadee you would get your wish.  I am certain they are monitoring the situation very closely.

Or some will be concerned that the ship will be boarded by the gangs (like pirates).  😁

2 hours ago, chemmo said:

You know, it is funny but we struggled after our first few days on Reflection to comprehend why we felt Michael’s Club just wasn’t as nice as on our previous S class experiences…Odd as the lounge lay out was better….I guess it came down to service just being that bit less personal owing to the number of suites being served. Certainly not a big deal. Generally no complaints at all around the ship re service, it wouldn’t stop us cruising her again but there was a difference.

I'll take Luminae any day on either Reflection or Eclipse over Luminae on any E-Class ship.

12 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

I posted yesterday about the great time we just had on the ship.  I failed to mention that we had a toilet issue one morning. Tried to push the flush button, and no suction.  Pushed several times and nothing. Told the attendant and it was taken care of by maintenance. We got lucky compared to the horror he endured.  Hopefully he is physically ok...Give the rest of the ship a chance..

This no flush/suction is actually a very common situation - pretty much has happened to me on many cruises and many ships.  But I never got sprayed with sewage!

4 hours ago, chemmo said:

Cruised both.

 

If you are cruising in a suite then you may also find Luminae and the suite lounge busier on Reflection than Eclipse as there are more suites on Reflection.

We have cruised both as well, in Sky suites.  You point out the biggest difference here.

9 hours ago, Cruising89143 said:

Lois, we personally do not see a lot of changes that are negative. We look at being healthy and having the resources to cruise as a good thing and don’t worry about the little things. With having a suite, your room service will be included. Welcome back to X.

Agree.  The question "what has changed" is usually answered on this board mostly with negative comments and negative perceptions.  There are always positive changes too.  IMO the biggest change has been on increased prices.  No surprise unless living under a rock the past several years!

On 3/8/2024 at 3:09 PM, cruisegal40 said:

Totally agree with you on this one.  It's usually the complainers that are the loudest.  Just looking for some more info on her and not much out there.  We were on Liberty years ago and my old brain can't remember a lot about that one. 

We did Indy twice before and have a cruise booked on her in 2025.  Great ship and crew!

As for reviews, I approach it this way.

1) I look for the consensus comments (good or bad), the more specific the better.  The consensus or trend has to be from a number of reviews on different recent sailings.  I never listen to a single cruiser - some just have an axe to grind.  Highly subjective general comments on things like food are not anything I pay much attention to.

2) As a long-time member and poster here on CC, I sometimes give more weight to comments from members who I "know" from this board and have previously respected their opinions.  In fact some I have actually met on cruises.

3) no need to listen to me!

30 minutes ago, ChelleDean said:

Do you still have to check in on the app 90 days ahead of time if you have a suite?  Will it have any special indication when checking in?

We had a suite and checked in on the app later (maybe around 30 days out?).  No special indication.  It will still assign a boarding time.  But you can ignore this on the day of the cruise and go any time.  There is separate suite check in and you can avoid the lines.  

32 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

I've actually booked all 4 shows plus the comedy show.  

 

Following advice here, I did not book their last showings (in case of technical/weather issues).

 

The shows lined up nicely for me with early dining, so that made me happy.  We have Hairspray Day 1 at 7:45pm, 1977 Day 2 at 7:30pm, Hiro Day 4 at 8:30pm, Comedy Day 5 (for the adults) at 8:30pm, and Flight Day 6 at 8:15pm.

 

There were late shows, but 10:15 and 10:30 are a little late for me for show start (I'm an earliesh to bed and earliesh to rise person - I turn into a pumpkin at midnight or so, but don't want to be "hyped" or "excited" and then immediately trying to sleep.  A wind down hot tub or book reading or drink is where I live after 10pm...

Unfortunately Hiro was cancelled two showings on our cruise due to high winds and seas (off Aruba).  We missed it!

15 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

Hi everybody,

 

     I woke up this morning, and all my entertainment options were available for my late May 2024 Symphony cruise.  Happy booking!

 

 

You will enjoy Symphony.  Don't miss the ice show!

We were in Labadee just recently on RCCL Symphony.  It was business as usual.  It was safe and enjoyable.  

On 3/4/2024 at 5:02 PM, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

Hiro was very good. Albeit a little longer than I felt it needed to be. It's about 50 minutes and it was cool, but honestly felt like I could've seen it all in about 25-30 minutes.

 

Didn't make it to Hairspray, but did see 1977, the ice show and that was FANTASTIC!  I'm not a big figure skating enthusiast, but to sit close and watch them was really impressive. Great music too!

Totally agree about the Ice Show!  Sit up close and don't miss it.  We found that Hairspray was a bit long and dragged on in spots but overall good.

Hiro was cancelled twice on our cruise due to high seas and winds so we missed it unfortunately.

On 3/5/2024 at 6:44 AM, FionaMG said:

 

 

@leisuretraveler223, I hope you don't mind if I reply to this, since we did go to Hooked one evening.

 

@mets123, we went for dinner and although we didn't try the lobster roll, we had a great meal. The restaurant itself is really nice too and we had an absolutely outstanding server. Her name is Pupae and, if you do decide to go, ask if you can be seated in her section. Nothing was too much trouble for her and she patiently explained all the dishes to us (it was our first time at Hooked) and made sure we understood what we were ordering. She also explained to us how to eat the soft shell crabs, which were something we'd never had before. We told her we wanted to share everything so she set everything out in the centre of the table for us.

 

Dinner menu. I think it has more items on it than the lunch menu.

 

Here's what we had:

 

Soft shell crab:

 

Maryland crab cake.

 

Fresh hand-tossed salad:

 

Captain's platter. We were offered a choice of halibut or salmon for this one. We chose the halibut and it was really good.

 

Royal platter:

 

Desserts: Coconut cream pie and lemon tart. We were too full to eat these in the restaurant and Pupae got them made up for us to take back to our cabin to eat later. They weren't great tbh. The coconut cream pie was ok but the lemon tart lived up to its name and was far too tart for our liking.

 

All in all, it was a very nice meal. I really liked the Captain's platter but found the Royal platter to be just a bit too much fried stuff for my liking, so I'd definitely not choose that one again.

We had the Captain's Platter (with Halibut) and the Royal Seafood Platter.  We found them both pretty good but not the best we ever had to be honest.  

A few weeks ago on Symphony, we dined in Hooked and also had Pupae as a server.  She also was a server in Coastal Kitchen for the lunch shift.  Very nice lady!

I have never seen a Concierge list.  Just targeted questions like yours answered by somebody currently or recently on board.  By the way, the Diamond Lounge is now known as the Crown Lounge.  Diamonds can use the concierge, but may not be allowed in the lounge during happy hour on certain ships and sailings if a certain threshold of D+ and P's are on board.

12 hours ago, roupa said:

As a D+ and casino prime, I appreciate the perks but fail to see the need to visit the “elitist” HH in the crown lounge.  I love the Viking crown lounge for its view day and night, its peaceful atmosphere, a cocktail, and music. Beverages and snacks are abundant ship wide.   I truly enjoy getting to know/make new friends, but the HH conversation seems too focused on comparing / competing #s of cruises and how many comps received.   Too much one-upmanship competition for me!

By the way, some “crown lounges” are now in one-window or windowless rooms. 🥴

Why elitist?  Just loyalty members of similar cruising experiences swapping stories.  An easy way to start a conversation and make some new cruise buddies.