Hutcha

Nice room, but a big difference between X and RCL's suite service. Especially if you're comparing it to a newer X ship that has The Retreat.

We just got off of Anthem also. We were asked for a 10 in the specialty restaurants and Coastal Kitchen. Have been asked on other ships, so I didn't think much about it until I did the survey today, and saw the question about crewmembers asking for a score.

What bothered me was constantly being asked if I wanted a dining package. At our muster check in we asked where we could go to make reservations. The lady that checked us in said she could do it for us. She then tried to sell us a package. When she found out we already had one, she told us where to go to just make reservations. At the Key lunch, we were asked. In Costal Kitchen, we were asked, as well as every day just walking around the ship for the first four days.

6 hours ago, cruisinfly said:

I recommend telling your friend that they'll enjoy the cruise a lot more if they pony up the money for a drink package. If they are big drinkers to the point that they feel the need to smuggle booze into their cabin, they will really enjoy unlimited booze as part of the drink package. Their booze will be easily available all over the ship at any time with waiters to serve them. It's stress free, relaxing, and they'll get to try other drinks to break up the monotony of cheap whiskey. Heck, they can try even better whiskey!

 

On my last Cruise, I was enjoying the hot-tub with a drink in hand when a lady next to me expressed that she was tired of having to go back to her cabin to top-off her boozy beverage and wished she would have had the drink package. (Yes, drinking and swimming, that's the dream, right?)

I didn't use to have a problem buying the drink package. That was until the price went to $700pp for a 7 day cruise.

On 5/18/2024 at 3:00 PM, cruisinfanatic said:

link?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GQBCHLT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1 hour ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

I did and I still stand by what I said.

Please show us where diamond gets any of these benefits.

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

Really?

Here's the list of The Key benefits:

 

• Priority access during The Key designated arrival time (to be communicated via email). Other benefits may apply at specific ports.*
• All diamond level get to board the ship first?

• Carry-on bag drop off with delivery to your stateroom. **
• Where do you drop all of your carryon bags, so they will be delivered to your room?

• Exclusive welcome lunch in the Main Dining Room featuring The Key signature menu.***
• Dimond gets access to this lunch?

• Access to the fast lane at onboard activities (activities vary by ship)and private time at the Flowrider*.
• ???

• Priority departure at tender ports of call from ship-to-shore.
• There's a diamond lin for tenders?

• Dedicated seating at shows in the Main Theater, Aqua Theater, Studio B, and Two70.****
• Separate seating area for Diamond?

• VOOM® Surf & Stream 1 of Device high speed internet per person who purchases the package.
• Internet package for the entire cruise?

• On debarkation day, enjoy an exclusive á la carte breakfast and choice departure.
• Also this?

 

Diamond gets most of these?  I don't think so.

I used the shampoo bottle kit off of Amazon. Comes with a funnel and bottle seals. Packed them in my checked luggage and it went through with no problem. Took wine bottles (with wine) in my carryon.

I did Icon in March. The UDP credit was per venue / per day. I was traveling with a D+ couple that thought it was just $20 per day, and had to confirm it with the staff. 

• For venues with a la carte pricing, you’ll receive a $20 food credit — with the exception of Izumi in the Park, where you’ll receive a $10 food credit. Credits can only be used once a day.

The way I read this, and the way it was implemented on my last cruise, each venue has a $20 food credit, and it can be used daily. I also came to these boards to clarify this question before our cruise.

2 hours ago, ah33919 said:

Icon originally $69, today it's  $39.

My 3/9 Icon is down to $31

The drink package is still insane though. $1350 with tip for two people.

Is the $20 limit per day, or per day / per restaurant? IOW, can I have lunch at JRs and then go to Playmakers later?

Has anyone used it yet? We have it on our Mar 9th Icon sailing.

Shuttles are good if it's just 2 or 3 people. Anymore than that, and it's best to look at alternatives. Uber, rental car, private van.

Definitely book 6 and 2. Get the other 2 UBP and having any drinks anywhere on the ship will be covered. Including having the genie deliver drinks to the room. Without the UBP, the genie can still deliver drinks to the room, but they'll be out of luck around the ship. Do not consider getting drinks at a bar for free and passing them onto your friends. That's a no no. 

When the genie contacts you, they will probably tell you to have the other 2 board with you.

Get specialty dining to cover all nights for the other 2. The genie will be able to handle reservations for the whole party that way. You don't want to eat MD when you're Star class.

Consider putting the other 2 in a sky class suite. You say you don't care about CK, but it's the best place for breakfast, and their dinners are good too.

The genie will pamper you and take care of all of your needs. They will decorate your cabin, plan in cabin dining, plan an in cabin party, have drinks and treats delivered multiple times a day, have a standing order for Starbuck to be delivered every morning, reserve the best seat for shows, and so many other things.

3 hours ago, ajusaf said:

Good to know but that’s weird especially if u want food brought to you room and any time that’s free but snacks from fridge aren’t is weird 

I think they are trying to avoid people stocking up on the packaged snacks and taking them home with them.

On 10/6/2023 at 5:34 PM, ajusaf said:

How long less than 30 minutes or more ?

Yeah I get crazy when dealing with long bus rides especially if they drive crazy and all.   I’m ok if it has AC and bathroom inside 😂

I'd say 30-40 mins, in the beginning, because that is the "tour" part. On the way back it's three 7-10 min rides to the different stops.

On 10/7/2023 at 7:25 PM, Stem to Stern said:

@HutchaWhat brand are the toiletries in the yacht club suites on Seascape?

It is indeed Med. I liked it. I thought the bottled products were better than the dispensers they had mounted in the shower.

22 hours ago, ajusaf said:

Regarding Dunn’s waterfall. How long is the ride there from the pick up point and is it a nice ride or nasty bus service?   I was thinking of doing that excursion but that u drive a dune buggy to the waterfall area

It's not a long bus ride, and it's a nice air conditioned coach. I think the excursion you're referring to also involves the same type of bus, and it just takes you to the dune buggies and then the falls.

41 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

well, cr@p. Both my dad and I are screwed.

Were there any wheelchairs available at the peer? I wonder.

I don't remember if they had them in Ocho Rios. I'm sure they must have.

A note on the elevators. They are frustrating. Wait times have been fairly long, but never more than 5 mins or so. My keycard and wristband never worked for priority, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of having them reprogramed. Carly's would occasionally work. When scanned the display would read "VIP - Select floor". Once selected, it would tell you what elevator to get on. We never noticed any "priority" with this service. Even when being escorted off of the ship by a butler, the elevator still stopped at all of the floors, on the way down. As @morpheusofthesea noted in a review, by the end of the cruise, frustrations showed. There were several busted call pads that I noticed on the last couple of days.

Assorted Dumplings. Very good and flavorful 5/5

Herbed Gravlax Salmon. Loved it. 5/5

On the first night, Arthur the Maître D ask if we had any special request. I asked if it was possible to get beef wellington one night. He gave me a side eye and smirk and said "I think I saw someone mention that on FB." I'm pretty sure that's where I got the idea. He said he would check with the chef, and the next night he said to let him know which day we would like it. All three of us had it tonight. I was a little worried how the chef would pull it off, not knowing exactly what time we'd come in. He ended up cooking the puff pastry and mushroom separately and then wrapping a perfectly cooked filet with it. It was really good.

Today is Ocho Rios. We have breakfast up at the pool deck and kill a little time until our excursion meeting time. Today, we are doing the Dunn's river fall tour that has sightseeing and lunch attached to it. There was a lot of standing around before getting on the bus, but the tour was definitely worth it, though the sightseeing was a little lame. The climb up the falls was longer than I remembered (I was 30 years younger), but it was not strenuous at all. A photographer follows your group up, and takes video and individual pics along the way. You can pay $40 at the end, and they will email you the edited video of the group and your personal pictures. It was well worth the $40. On the way back, you stop at a beachside resort for lunch. It was a very good meal. On the way back to the ship there is a short stop for shopping. We didn't get off of the bus.

I don't know what it is about Ocho Rios, but I've seen pics of long lines to get back onboard before. The lines were definitely real. There was a long line, leading up to a choke point on the pier, before you could break loose from the crowd and find a YC rep. It took us about 30 mins to get back on the ship, and it would have been longer if we couldn't bypass the last part of the line. I think a part of the problem is that they only have one crew member per screening station. This person runs the x-ray, metal detector, and searches bags that they want to pull aside.

20 hours ago, ajusaf said:

Thanks for the response and I’m surprised to hear that. Even though this time last year I did Divina and Seashore for a total 17 days trips on Bella balcony I enjoyed the food and rooms minus Divina because it was half the size of the beer ship seashore but I didn’t enjoy the boat overall and food.

 

Haven was a better experience but this time around I’ll be able to compare it side by side with YC and will be able to judge it better.  Now the shower in Haven was way bigger and room seems to be wide maybe. I’ll try to post the video here 

Haven.MOV

Was that a forward facing accessible penthouse? Don't know if that's an apples to apples comparison to to the base YC balconies. The YC deluxe balcony was a really good size. It was about 50% wider and longer than a normal balcony. The bathroom was smaller than some Haven bathrooms (I had and Aft facing with a great bathroom), but it is still pretty big. The shower had a bench and plenty of room.

11 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

On Seaside, we had a B2B and reserved a cabana for one day of our first cruise. Then we reserved one each day of the second cruise before the new passengers boarded since we knew that we would not be leaving the ship at the ports (except for lunch on Ocean Cay). There were only 2 YC cabins doing a B2B and the concierge encouraged us to reserve for all days, just like the other B2B cabin had already done.

 

FCFS seems especially tough for the butlers. Our butler would see us each morning when we had a cabana reserved and let us know that he had set it up with towels and our preferred beverages. If FCFS leads to multiple people in a cabana each day, the butlers would be extremely busy up there.

I rarely saw a butler on the pool deck during the day. There was the occasional butler that was on bar waiter duty, but really no one attending to their guests personally. There were pool attendants and multiple bar waiters to take care of you. FCFS worked really well and there was usually at least one open cabana. Being able to reserve is a nice benefit, but I can see it being frustrating to look at multiple empty cabanas, because the people that reserved them decided to not show up or only show for a brief visit. 

Wow! I did not realize that it's been almost a week since my last post. My apologies.

Today's Dailies...

Tonight was Gala night. After a long nap, which I assure you was not alcohol induced, we got ready for dinner. The dress at the restaurant was definitely improved from the previous nights. No one overly formal and the worst I saw was a polo and jeans.

Great snails. Very buttery and a good amount of garlic. 5/5

Williams salad. We took most chances to get some greens in us. 5/5

Blue Cheese Souffle. You have to like the flavor of blue cheese, but I agree with the previous reviews that I've seen. Light, fluffy and flavorful. 5/5

Surf and turf. I did not have a bad steak all week. I'll give a 4.5/5 due to the Caribbean lobster tail. It just doesn't stand up to a main lobster tail.

Crepe Suzette. A very nice, light desert. 5/5

Petits Fours. I'm glad we got this one. A very nice selection. 5/5

We had a late dinner (see previous nap comment), so we did not do much afterwards. We got a few nightcaps, and caught up on some of the shows we were missing from our back home routine. A note on the internet. I was pretty impressed with it. We upgraded to the surf and stream internet. If you do it on day 1, it's $70 for your 2 devices, for the week. It you do it on later days, they prorate it. We had very little problem streaming shows. I'd give the internet a 5/5.

On 9/22/2023 at 3:59 PM, awatt said:

Am confused re cabanas. On Meraviglia you rented them. Not so on Seascape?

On 9/22/2023 at 4:28 PM, Best Cat Mom said:

Is this different on Seascape from Seaside? On Seaside, you reserve the "extra" cabanas with the YC concierge for the entire day. Only one cabin gets each cabana each day and a sign is put on the cabana stating "Reserved."

The only cabanas that had reserved signs on them were the 4 immediately around the pool. I confirmed with the pool attendant that the others were FCFS.

20 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

I would respectfully suggest to you that an hour and half is an hour too long to be away from "your cabana". 

Most would agree that being gone anything over 30 minutes is Chair Hogging.  

Thanks for the input. We were in sight of it, and did go back to occasionally to drop off or pick up something. The rationale I used was, if one were in the pool for an hour, they wouldn't be expected to vacate.