ECU_Cruising_Pirates

3 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

I disagree.   There’s tons of private party videos taken on San Juan PR.   

The earlier posts were discussing drone video of Labadee and Coco Cay. I should have clarified that is what I was referring to when I stated many of those are authorized by Royal.  Of course there are endless amounts of drone videos of San Juan and just about everywhere else in the world but has nothing to do with a cruise ship or privately owned property such as Coco Cay or Labadee.

14 hours ago, GSRDPM said:

I brought my DJI Mavic Pro on a cruise in October 2018 and filmed in Portland, Bar Harbor, Peggy's Cove, St. John and St. Martins. It was a lot of fun. As others have already said, The rules are pretty clear about flying at CocoCay and Labadee. When I fly my drone, I try to get it up and away from people quickly as to avoid intruding on their space and peace (The buzz can scare some people).

 

At Peggy's Cove, the waves and wind pretty much drowned out the noise as soon as the drone was about 30 feet off the ground. 

 

The trip out to the Anthem from Bar Harbor  made me a little nervous as the ship was pretty far away and the wind was pretty strong that day, but she got back safely. I never flew directly over the ship and was respectful to the people around me, letting them know when the drone was going to lift off and when it was about to return. People were genuinely interested in how everything was monitored and controlled.

 

I lost the connection with the drone once at the St. Martins Caves in New Brunswick but the software brought her back to me fine. 😅

 

Here's a link  to the video for anyone interested:

Anthem Cruise to NE and Canada

My uncle has a Mavic Pro 2 and its incredible what it can do and the quality of video it produces. 

Many of the drone videos online are from people that Royal authorized to use them to create marketing content for their website and social media. An example would be the Youtube channel Trev and Chels. 

I would suggest going to Izumi and asking them when you get on the ship and booking it directly with them. We did this class a few years ago on Navigator and we loved it. You make a large amount of sushi throughout the class so it was well worth it. I believe that during our class there were others there observing but just not sitting at the large table they were teaching the course at.

Wow, now I remember why I took a break from these message boards for a while. 

My wife and I often enjoy the specialty restaurants and have never had an issue with children in them. However, if one were to make a scene or be disruptive to others I would hope that a parent or someone in the party would take them out of the restaurant for at least a few minutes as to not completely disrupt others who are trying to have a quieter or different experience than the craziness on the rest of the ship. When we have children we look forward to the opportunity to bring them to those restaurants when they are of an age they will act appropriately and appreciate the experience.

In our experience it should be the kids removing their loud, rude, or overly intoxicated parents from certain situations or venues on the ships! 

We love cruising though! Have a great day!

Homewood Suites. Two minutes from the port. You can wake up and see your ship out the window. Only a few years old I believe so very new and clean.

I am sorry to hear that! We have a beach excursion scheduled for Curacao for our Freedom cruise on the 16th and have not heard anything about it being cancelled yet. Hopefully you can find a similar excursion there or at another port.

That's scary. Stay safe and keep us updated.

Following along! We will be on Freedom in two weeks. Interested in how the embarkation experience is. First time sailing from San Juan.

In addition to the suggestions above, there are often movies outside by the pool at night which are always kid friendly.

Have not done that itinerary but have not experienced/heard of that before. I too would be very uncomfortable with my passport being held for the trip.

Some benefits depend on the port: Even with just a handful of points, there may be much shorter lines for embarcation paperwork where you receive your room key. The cruise I just returned from had a queue about 200 deep for "not C&A at all" and about 75 in "Gold (have cruised at least once before)".

 

You'll be able to get back-credit for the three cruises you've already taken too and it costs nothing but a little time to join.

I agree that the earliest benefit of C&A is at embarkation. Although it is not a monetary benefit, if it saves you some time standing in line and gets you to enjoying vacation sooner that is good enough for us at Platinum.

My understanding is ships are scheduled for arrival and departure at most ports so it is not really within their control to dock early if they arrive early. I’d assume Cuba has some of port authority that controls this as well.

I often watch and listen to the Port Everglades webcam at work and some of the cargo ships can sit off the coast for several days before getting called for their docking time.

It varies widely based on the staff to passenger ratio on any given night. Although we have found that if you order a drink or a bottle of wine from your server on the first night and tip a few dollars, they will almost always remember that the rest of the nights and come to you rather quickly to get your drink order. That has been our experience at least.

Two years ago we did the Paradise Cove excursion and loved it! Seems it has changed slightly though and has also added the "Haitian Village" experience to it. No snorkeling included at the time but if you rent or bring your own gear you can snorkel on your own. Never have really heard of that area being a great snorkeling spot.

I have been on two cruises on the Allure and have experienced some congestion in the Windjammer, but I always blamed myself because I would go at the peak times and I found the Solarium had most of the same choices with no crowds at all. One thing I will have to say is the island setup for food stations is far better than the cafeteria line setup on other ships which makes me want to scream! If you want something in the middle you have to wait through the entire line or risk getting choked by a fellow passenger. Ok, maybe it is not that extreme.

 

Oasis class ships have so many good options for eating but it seems like everyone forgets and goes straight to the Windjammer especially for breakfast.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Exactly how my wife and I feel when we make the mistake of going somewhere during peak times. It's our mistake, not the ships. Same can be said about people trying to find chairs by the pool at noon on a sea day. Agreed service can vary widely but a little planning on when to visit certain venues can go a long way.

I don't find it rude at all.

 

The Windjammer isn't a Michelin Star dining establishment.

 

People would sit in there for hours if they let them.

Agreed! Seems like some people treat it as the air conditioned place to go sit next to the window and watch the waves.

Same issue for me. My wife gets all the Royal emails and I do not get any despite being on five Royal cruises.

On the other hand, I get daily emails from Celebrity... I have never cruised with Celebrity.

We have never had a problem ordering more than one appetizer, entree, or dessert if needed.

Does rolling also work well for men’s dress clothes and ladies dresses? When we drive to the port we usually take a suitcase and a garment bag but we’re flying this year and don’t want to bring both if we do not have to.

We are cruising FOTS in June and Air booked through RCI is American. We are also based out of Charlotte which is one of American's hubs so perhaps that is why?

We are on Freedom in June as well and flying from Charlotte and the airfare was consistently about $5 less through Royal than with AA direct. We booked with royal for the added safety that they will get you to the ship if there are issues with flight.

Agree but to say what the dress code was a couple of years ago is irrelevant as to what the current practice is.

True. However I did not say that it was the current policy. In my experience I have long heard people say it was not enforced. And in my experience I have seen it enforced. That’s all.

I don’t have the vast knowledge as someone with 18,000 posts but please do not twist my words.

Things change greatly in a couple of years.

True, but I bet if you were to go searching back “a couple of years” you would find a thread of people just like us debating the same pointless topic.

I know everyone always says royal does not enforce the policy but on Vision a few years ago a couple at our table was turned away for the husband wearing shorts on formal night so it is enforced at times. While I don’t wear a tux for formal night I don’t think it is too much to ask of people to dress a little nicer for one or two dinners a week in the main dining room. Resorts all around the world have dress codes (that are strictly enforced) for their restaurants so why get all uptight about a suggested dress code on a cruise.

While I agree that the staff members that go above and beyond to make our vacations better should be compensated more and recognized, I think you are discounting the fact that there are many more people behind the scenes that are working just as hard or harder to accomplish the same for you. While you may notice the smile or kind words of your server at dinner, you do not see the dozen or so others that are making that servers job possible. Also, a portion of that gratuity goes to your room steward. Having seen the messes some people make of their rooms while the door is propped open for cleaning, I would say they more than earn their share.