Cruisefanatic71

Loved following you in your Alaska journey. I am also looking forward to doing this exact itinerary on the Radiance in May 2024. Your review has definitely gotten the excitement going and I can't wait to see Alaska for myself. 

We are doing a Northbound Alaska trip on Royal Caribbean from May 17-24, 2024. We were wondering on clothing to bring since we figure the weather will still be a bit cold for us since we live in Florida. Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated. 

I wanted to inquire if anyone has used Viator for their Alaska excursions when in port? What was your experience with them? Was it easy to navigate pickup or meeting locations for your excursion? I usually either do a self guided tour of the port we sre at or I look for private tours at the port. I have been looking at the Viator website and they have some excursions that I am thinking about purchasing. Thank you for all your input. 

We spent ot of time at the Duck and Dog Pub after dinner to not only people watch but they had a pretty decent beer menu for me to enjoy. 

Following along...I will be on this cruise and ship next year in May. Looking forward to your experiences before, during and after your cruise. 

On 9/12/2023 at 7:13 PM, Von & John said:

Do you have a price range for the room?

We are pretty open on pricing. Don't really have a issue with pricing, just want to be as close to the port as possible. 

We will be flying in to Vancouver in May 2024 for our 1st Alaska Cruise. We are looking for hotel options that are close to Port for the night before the cruise. Thank you all innadvance for your recommendations.

I can't remember if you are able to take a pill organizer to hold prescription medication or if you had to bring the prescription bottles with you. Tha k you for your input. 

We are heading out on the Adventire of the Seas on Saturday. We have booked the All Access Ship Tour. Is there a dress code for this? Is shorts, t-shirt,  close toe shoes or sneakers enough or do you have to wear long pants on the tour? Thanks in advance for all the information.  

My wife does not drink alcohol so I was looking at getting her the refreshment package for our upcoming cruise. She likes to drink hot chocolate at times on the cruise. Is this also included in the package? And would she be able to get milkshakes at Johnny Rockets with this package? Thanks for your input. 

22 hours ago, blue_water said:

Yes, Callwood is in the west end of the bay, maybe a 5 minute walk from Myett’s…

Thanks for the info. Our group likes to go to distilleries and breweries when we are in ports that have them locally. 

We will be in Tortola in August. We have a cruise tour to Cane Garden Bay. How close is the Callwood Distillery to the beach? Is it a walkable distance? We are interested in stopping by the distillery while we are at the beach area. Thanks in advance. 

I will be following....I want to do this trip in the near future. 

On 7/3/2023 at 10:04 AM, HWeb13 said:

 

It has been a long weekend.  I am back to continue my trip report.

 

We woke up the next morning in Barcelona, albeit a little slow.  It is hard to explain to a 2-year-old what jet lag is.  She was wide awake at 3 am.  We got around and headed downstairs to the lobby in the Adante Hotel.  The rest of my family looked like they were dragging on energy as well.

 

We went to the closes metro stop and purchased our tickets to Sagrada Familia. 

 

I had booked our timed entry tickets for 9 am.  We arrived at the metro stop and made our way up the stairs where we were rewarded with a stunning view of the structure.  We were shadowed by the massive church. 

 

We walked around the building to the entrance and were directed through security.  I had downloaded the audio guide prior to arriving at the church but the rest of my family had yet to do this.  There is wifi at the entrance to download the audio guide that comes with your ticket if you forget to do this prior as my family did.

 

 

It was hot outside, even at 9 am and the kids were restless.  We made our way into the church and admired the architecture.  Architecture is not a huge passion to me, but this was impressive. 

 

 

The inside was beautiful.  After about 30 minutes inside, the kids were starting to melt down, so we headed out to the back left.  I think we were there for about an hour in total time.  I know that much longer could be spent at the attraction, but an hour was long enough for my family. 

 

We then headed to a café right next to the church to get a coffee and pastry.  My dad at this point wanted Mcdonald's (I know right?) so he headed there.  

 

We met back up by an outdoor table and finished our breakfast.  We then hopped back on the metro to head back to the hotel to head to the cruise.

out

 

 

The metro is easy to use and efficient.  We arrived back at the hotel.  Check-out was at noon so it was now about 11:15. We had plenty of time to get packed and check out.  There is a taxi stand right in front of the hotel, so we grabbed two taxis and away we went to the cruise port.

 

The port was less than a 10-minute taxi ride from the hotel and soon we were handing our luggage off to the porters. 

 

We did purchase “The Key” mostly to get priority tendering as this cruise had 3 tender ports.  At the terminal, however, it was not busy, and we did not need priority embarkation.  We were immediately shuttled through check-in and were on the ship in about 10 minutes' time.  

 

We booked this 7-night cruise on Enchantment of the Seas as we were intrigued by some of the smaller ports such as Portofino.  We knew Enchantment was older and smaller than Symphony, which was also doing a med cruise, but we wanted to go to Portofino and Genoa. 

 

I had been on Enchantment one other time and was familiar with the boat.  We went immediately to the main dining room to have our Chops Grill Lunch which was included with our Key program.  It was a nice lunch and the convenience of not having to fight embarkation crowds in the windjammer was a nice treat.

 

After this, we headed to Boleros to have a welcome drink and wait for our rooms to be ready.  My parents went to do their muster drill and my sister, the kids, and my husband relaxed and enjoyed knowing that we were about to get 7 days on the ship.

 

Our rooms were ready at about 1:45. We were in an interior room on deck 8 aft.  When we got to the room, the wrong keycards were by the door, so I immediately had to go to guest services to get this worked out.  After she printed our new sign and sail cards, we could finally get to the room.

 

Once inside, we unpacked a bit before heading to get Parker signed up for Adventure Ocean and to muster drill

 

Signing up for Adventure Ocean was easy and painless.  Parker loves Adventure Ocean and always asks to go.  My 2-year-old isn’t old enough and we had our nanny so we didn’t sign her up. 

 

The muster drill went seamlessly.  Again, it can’t be said enough how much nicer the muster drills are post covid. 

 

We then headed up to deck 9 to watch sail away.  With a mojito in my hand and the music playing, we watched the ship pull away from Barcelona and start our sailing. We enjoyed relaxing, laughing, and dancing on the deck for a while and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

 

Jet lag was starting to catch up to us and the kids were exhausted.  My 2-year-old was nodding off while we were sitting on deck 9, so we decided to order them room service and then put them to bed. 

 

Our nanny came at about 7:50 and Sean and I headed to dinner in the main dining room. 

 

This night I had crab cakes, strip steak, and cheesecake.  I know there have been endless threads on the new menus so I won’t go over that, but I will say that the food was “just ok” our entire trip.  It wasn’t inedible and there were some good things, but overall, I could tell that it wasn’t up to par with previous cruises.  That’s my only real comment on the food.

 

After dinner, the jet lag hit me like a freight train, and I went straight to bed.  My sister and husband went to karaoke.

 

The next day would be a sea day and I was ready for a day of rest and relaxation.

I was curious about cruising an interior for a Med. Cruise. What was your biggest factor in deciding on an interior. I was looking at a cruise in the Med. but have always only looked at balcony rooms. I have stayed in interior in the past as well as open view and balcony. Thanks in advance. 

I was wondering if anyone may have a picture of the beer menu in the Duck and Dog Pub on the ship? Was wondering if they have any specialty beers or just the normal beers that cruise ships carry. Thanks in advance. 

56 minutes ago, lovestx said:

Are you coming in on cruise ship?  Usually they aren't in St. Croix during hurricane season but perhaps this year is different.

 

I would think that you could find a taxi van (almost all STX taxis are vans) at the foot of the pier and could arrange for him to take you to both places (which are only a few miles a part and both on the Melvin Evans Highway).  Here are the rates I found:

https://www.*****/stcroix/getting_around_stx/taxis-rates/

 

 

 

Yes we are arriving on  a cruise ship on Aug. 15th. At least as of right now that is. We shall see how this hurricane season goes. Thanks for the information. 

We will be in St Croix in August. We would like to visit both Leatherback brewery as well as the Captain Morgan distillery. Was looking on info about renting a taxi for the day to take our group.of 6 to these 2 locations. Would this be doable and if so would you know the rates at this time? Thank you..

We are on Adventure in about 90 days on the 7 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary.  We have never been on this ship and this will only be our 2nd time on a Royal Carribbean ship. We booked it more for the itinerary than the ship. We have 2 connecting interior Promenade view cabins. DW is looking forward to Johnny Rockets on board. 

Following your sdventure as we are also planning our first trip to Alaska in 2024. 

On 2/12/2023 at 3:01 PM, Daycare Provider said:

When will you be in port?   We are doing this tour in April.  I read some great reviews on Trip Advisor.

We will be in port in August. I was looking at getting a cab to get there versus taking the cruise tour. Would love to hear your views of the tour when you return from your visit. 

I take it that the ship is going to reposition soon to Fr. Lauderdale because that's where we are catching it in August so there are no drink limitations. Thanks for the info. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all....

Would anyone happen to have recently sailed on Adventure of the Seas who could provide a drink menu from the cruise? Thanks in advance. 

 

John

I recently took a cruise that stopped at both St. Maarten and St. Kitts. I found it on both islands but I have never seen it at St. Thomas when I've been there.

 

 

 

 

This is my 2nd time sailing on RCI. I usually sail on Carnival but the itinerary was one I haven't been on yet. So on Carnival I am able to purchase up to a $1000 of on board credit per cabin which equates to $500 for the bar and $500 for miscellaneous on board expenses. I was wondering if you can do the same on Royal Carribbean ships also. I use my credit card for all other expenses after that credit is exhausted and I don't really want to pay for the drink package because I drink but not enough during the day to justify the expense of the package. All responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.