Mick B

Dare not tell the wife about the floods. She already thinks the cruise is jinxed since they took the Brilliance and swapped it for the Enchantment. Anyway, I have just emailed RCI to ask them if the ship will still be going from this port and how can we get to it by Bus/Taxi if the roads are flooded etc. Can't wait for the reply. And, yes, if all is back to normal and the Bus is running, I will post here what the procedure is as I believe they have a limit on the size of cases and you can pay extra for them which is what I am going to ask at the ticket office. You would think that the one bus going close to a cruise port would cater for tourist with suitcases. I would even think that they should put on a bus with extra luggage space and maybe charge a bit extra for it - even if it only runs on cruise days, it would be nice. At least Barcelona has both a good bus and train service from the city centre to the airport. I know Barcelona is considered the cruise capital of the med and that is probably why, but come on Ravenna, at least try and do something better for cruise ship passengers! Mick.

Hi all, with less than 2 weeks to go to our cruise from Ravenna, RCI have now got back to me with an update for transfers. Here is what they said... Dear Mick,Thank you for contacting our Customer Service Department regarding your upcoming cruise.Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean for your holiday, we offer tons of experiences that we hope you enjoy onboard!Please be aware that the transfers we offer are from the Bologna Airport, Venice Marco Polo Airport or the Venice City Centre to the port of Ravenna. We don't have transfers from the Ravenna Citi Centre.We would recommend checking options for public transportation, taxi or Uber services beforehand to avoid any issues on boarding day. Well...We are actually flying in to Bologna, but the night before and I now have an hotel booked for the night and train tickets to Revenna sorted for the morning of the cruise. I have managed to find a bus from Ravenna to the port for a few Euro's, but if Royal had informed me of the transfers from Venice when I originally asked them then I may have opted to fly there on the Saturday before, but because they didn't we chose Bologna as a fail safe. I have suggested to my wife that we could go back to Bologna Airport on the day of the cruise and take the transfers with RCI from there to the ship, but he has told me that she does not trust them as on our last cruise transfers were cancelled at the last minute. It was much simpler when the ships left from Venice. A couple of Euros on that overhead train, but sadly those days are gone. Which brings me to my next point. Why then if Ravenna is going to be the home port for cruises around the Adriatic, hasn't something been put in place to give customers the facts about getting to the ship beforehand, instead of just a couple of weeks before when we have made alternative arrangements. I have also been to my TA several times about this too and all they can say is that I should be fine with the local Bus! I will be writing a review about my cruise upon return in June and I will also let you all know about any issues with getting to the ship, so that I can help anyone else in the same boat (ignore the pun!). Mick. BTW If anyone is on the Enchantment on 29th May and they want to meet me for a good old laugh, then I will be the big ginger/bald/grey brit on deck with the Kraken-colada! and possibly... also at the Schooner Bar for the oldies music quiz!

Hi, Sorry, all of my cruises were booked sometime back and it now seems after checking on Royal's booking site that you can now select MTD without paying the pre-paid gratuities. Things have changed and I was not aware, so thanks for pointing this out. Sorry again if I have mislead anyone, that's not what I want to be doing here. Mick.

Hi, Not sure what the rate is as my wife sorts it all, but if you pay your gratuities in full beforehand then you pay slightly less than if you pay at the end of your cruise. I think you save around 4% and like I said, if your room steward or some other crew member goes above and beyond in their duty then you can always slip them an envelope with some dollars in it at the end. That way if you have had an excellent cruise then the right people get your money. But if service is bad, then don't tip any extra and you have saved 4% and this way you avoid going to join the long queue at Guest Services wasting your valuable cruise time when you could be enjoying your holiday with a beer!. Unless its really bad and you really want to remove them. We have never had to remove ours in over 25 cruises and some have been better than others but with no cause to complain that much as most things can get sorted if you keep calm and speak to the staff nicely. BTW Paying up front pre-paid gratuities also entitles you to My Time Dining and I do believe you cannot get this service without paying up front. So you save on gratuities and get a meal in the MDR at the time you want to eat too! Mick.

Hi all, I will be on the Enchantment at the end of the month and this will be our first cruise since the change in both Cleaning and Dining policies have changed and I will let you know what I think afterwards. In the meantime, I can only suggest the following... Pay you gratuities up front as you get them at a cheaper rate and if a employee excels and you want to reward just him, then slip him an envelope at the end of the cruise with some cash in it). As for cleaning the room, well, my wife and I had been saying for some time that somethings got to give at some point and then Covid came along and we both thought more would be lost than just a reduction in cleaning and a change to the menu in the MDR or a slight increase in Gratuities. There are also lots of things C&A members get given that could have be taken away, but haven't. So we prefer the cleaning of the room to take place in the morning when we have got up, had a shower and gone out for breakfast and/or ashore etc. If it is going to be a sea day and it is known that the weather is going to be bad then some time in the Gym may be called for to burn off that food, but remember, there are normally showers and fresh towels in the Gym for you to use, so you really don't need to return to your cabin for a shower if you can avoid it. Now, if its going to be a sunny sea day then that may call for a dip in the pool etc. Now you will need a shower probably in your cabin, but... if you know in advance that this is what you are going to do, then you can always explain this to your cabin steward the day before and ask him to supply some extra towels for you to use and I am sure he will comply as he will want to do almost anything reasonable to please you in the hope of getting more gratuities from you at the end of your cruise. As for the cleanliness of your room, some of you won't like this, but try treating your room like you would your own house, it is your room for a week or two so get unpacked and keep everything nice an tidy if you can. I know if you have young kids with you this may be hard, but we should all try a little harder to treat things on the ship like we would if we were at home. At the end of the day, things in the world have gone up (no use trying to point the finger as it is what it is and we can't change it) and we just have to make the best we all can of things. Cruising is still one of the best options for a holiday when you take into consideration all the things you get such as food, entertainment, leisure/sports and if you are Diamond or above with C&A then free alcoholic drinks too. Has anyone seen the prices for a week at Disneyland lately or what it now costs to stay in somewhere like NYC for a week when you have to pay for a hotel, city tax, food and shows. It is no wonder so many people are choosing to cruise! Some of the nice C&A perks may also be a reason for repeat cruising too of course! Please, just enjoy it and make some new friends and enjoy everything cruising has to offer. We don't know how lucky we all are. Mick.

Hi All, Don't forget as Diamond members you now get 4 free drinks per day to use at almost any bar at any time (except Bionic and Rising Tide IIRC) and these are limited to $14 which means you can have the drink of day cocktail and anything else on the shelf within the $14 limit instead of a small selection between 5pm and 8pm (when you wanted to get ready for dinner!) There is not another cruise line that offers this sort of perk that I can think of and it is possible if you are not a big drinker and don't buy the drinks package then you can actually drink nearly $400 worth of drinks on a 7 day cruise alone for Diamond members and $490 for Diamond Plus members. Don't forget the welcome aboard meeting and other top tier events throughout the cruise too that give away free booze!. I say let the rich have their grand suites (if that keeps the prices down for the rest of us) and let the Pinnacles join them in the Concierge lounge as that makes more room in the Diamond lounge for Diamond and Diamond Plus members to meet up for a coffee and have a nice little chat with some nice ordinary people who are happy to be away cruising and happy to be part of a great little group called the C&A brigade!. With regard to drinks, if you now use the drinks vouchers at bars, you can normally see what they are doing. If you have any suspicions and really want to test them out, ask for a Jack Daniels (or something like it) neat and see how they react! Don't forget as Diamond members we also get 1 free photo each worth $20, something that can get overlooked, but always worth having some nice photo's taken and we normally try and find a photographer that will take our picture against part of the real ship instead of fake backgrounds, but its up to you, but remember you get a free photo from Diamond onwards and not Diamond Plus as some have thought in the past. Bon Voyage! Mick.

Hi, Its a bit of lottery! Hopefully you will get notification before you set out for your holiday. That way you will know where your cabin is and where your muster for that cabin is beforehand. If travelling into foreign countries for cruises like we do from the UK, then our phones are off due to roaming charges so any updates on our cabins during this time are not going to be read. Hopefully under those circumstances we would find out at the cruise terminal as our set sail passes would be now wrong if things have changed. What has happened to us in the past is that we have bid a low bid to change from our interior and had not received anything prior to boarding so had gone to guest services to find out only to be told to wait until around 4pm. The problem with this is that the room we had booked had opened up and my wife had likes it and then the luggage had arrived so she wanted to unpack and get on with enjoying her first day of the cruise. I went to guest services and asked them to cancel our Royal Up as we were now happy where we were. I have 2 bids on my next cruise which is at the end of May on the Enchantment. RCI swapped ships from the Brilliance which we had a interior on the 8th floor and now have an interior on the 2nd floor so I have bided the minimum for a balcony and also a extra space ocean view. I do not expect to get either and my wife is not too bothered, so again, if we have not received a upgrade by the time we board and the room we have opens up and my wife liked it and the cases arrive, then I will go to guest services and cancel the upgrade as we will not waste time moving rooms late on in the day. If RCI wants our money (and I would expect they would as everyone else seems to want it), then they need to start sorting this program out so we know in advance (or at least a few days or even at the port) what our room is going to be. I know they probably wait for things like cancellations and people missing the ship, but I have just tried booking a balcony on this ship for my cruise and there are over 20 of them on 1 floor alone still available and with just 3 weeks left to go I can only assume these will be the rooms the Royal Up program moves people to. I will let you know if anything changes before I leave, but I won't keep my fingers crossed. Mick.

Hi, If you are sailing both out of and back into Bayonne and need to travel from Newark Airport both ends, then I would seriously suggest booking both journeys with the same cab firm. The one in Bayonne I have used is Archies Cabs, sorry don't have the number at hand. If there are 2-4 of you then it may work out cheaper than the shuttle anyway. I have been on several ships out of this port where the cruise line have cancelled shuttle buses on the day of dis-embarkation leaving hundreds of people queuing frantically for a taxi in fear of missing their flights. BTW If you want t tip, the local taxi firms may suggest dropping you off and picking you up just round the corner from the terminal and away from the main taxi rank to avoid hassle. This port has always been (and still is) a pain in the back side for me. It only seems designed for passengers who travel with their own cars and park up and has basically no infrastructure for arriving by any other means. Taxi is the only real way to arrive at this port if you don't have your own car. Hope this helps Mick.

Hi, I am from the UK, but one thing I have learnt over the years though, is to take US Dollars. When I first went to the Caribbean years back, it was to stay on land and my travel agent told me to take Caribbean Dollars (of some sort) which I did and then when I returned to the UK I had to sell them back to the travel agent at a loss as they were good for nothing to me. DO NOT DO THIS! The second time I went to the Caribbean was via cruise ship from the US and I had done my research (after the first time) and found that most (if not all) islands and countries around that area take US Dollars and one reason for this is because most of the cruise ships and cruisers are US and don't seem to want to change their money into what the islands/countries currency is, so the islands/countries have 2 choices, either refuse the US Dollar and have no sale or except them and have a sale. Guess what they did? The other beauty of having US Dollars is that not only can you use them in the Caribbean, not only can you use them in the cruise ships casino, but most importantly, you can use them in the US mainland before and after your cruise and also keep them for the next time you visit the US or sail the Caribbean instead of selling them back to the travel agent. BTW I still have a load from years ago when you got $2 for every £ and looking at the way the UK is at the moment, I am glad I did! Another way (and Cruise ships don't like this) is to have a win in the cruise ship's casino (that use US Dollars) and then ask them to cash your win out instead of having it as onboard credit. Now you can go spend your winnings! I have done this a few times. I would advise against using credit cards - not just due to possible fraud, but also because you get stung for transfer fees (which can mount up over the course of a 2 week cruise). Hope this helps Mick.

Hi, I normally do this... Find a cruise to ports we want to visit. Find a ship that has all the entertainment/facilities we want/require. Find the best time of the year to go and the best price we can find. The whole holiday is a holiday. We normally travel down to London and stay in a nice hotel and go out for a nice meal. Then get the best flights at times that suite us to NYC or Miami and again stay in a nice hotel overnight and go out and have another nice meal. Then get on the ship. Spend a few days at sea enjoying and discovering everything it has to offer, then getting off at just about every port of call and enjoying everything it has to offer. My wife and I are not rich people and work hard and therefore have to make sure that we enjoy every second of every day we are on holiday whilst we can afford to do it and still have our health. That doesn't mean we have to rush around doing everything, just the things we want to do and those can be planned for beforehand by simply spending a little time checking up on what's available during your cruise before you go on it. Off the top of my head in the past I have done the following things at the following ports of call. Done a submarine trip to bottom of the sea at Barbados (via cruise line). Done a Zip Line at St Lucia (via cruise line). Also, done the walk into Castries on other occasions. Done a Helicopter ride to Montserrat from Antigua (via cruise line). Done tour to Nelson's dockyard at Antigua (via local van) on other occasions. Done island tour of St Kitts (via local transport). Done tour to Maho Beach at St Maarten (via local bus/van) Also had drinks at hard Rock Cafe on some occasions. Done the tour to Magens Bay at St Thomas (via local bus/van) Visited the Pina Colada pub in San Juan on foot (not far from ship). Done the Zip Line at Labadee on one occasion and the Dragon's Tail roller coaster on another and just swam in the lovely sea too. In fact the beach at Labadee is one of the best and easiest to reach as the ship pulls up less then 5 minutes from it. These are just some, but not all of the things I have done. I do try to use local transport, not only to save money, but to also support the local folk. I do however, sometimes have to use the ship's tours for things that are just impossible to do yourself (like helicopter rides and zip lines) or where you risk losing your money if the ship cannot dock at the port of call for whatever reason. I would say if the cruise lines prices are only a few dollars more, then book through them as you will get either a refund or a cruise credit if things don't go to plan. I can normally find something new to discover at each repeat port of call. However, coming from the UK, we have only visited the Caribbean about 5 times in the last 15 years as we also get to do Europe and the Baltics (well we did before Feb 2022!). I do try to alternate things to avoid going back to the same places too closely so that I can look forward to enjoying them again. Lastly, anyone who gets on a cruise is a lucky person. You simply cannot find what a cruise ship holiday offers on land. All the food, entertainment and destinations. Enjoy it whilst you can! Mick.

Hi, For folks like me who have to fly in all the way from the UK to either NYC or Miami to board a cruise ship to sail to the Caribbean, I would say the following... Getting off the ship at all ports, yes - if possible, after all, you have chosen to visit the Caribbean, but consider these things... Have you been to the port before, and is there actually anything of interest you remember that is there for you to do that you haven't already done? What class of ship are you on? Depending on the ships activities, you may want to stay on at a certain port (whilst just about everyone else is ashore) in order to get a go on things like the Zip Line or Flo Rider (if they are open) as these may be busy on sea days at the start and end of your cruise with fairly big queues which you wouldn't want to waste your time waiting in line for when there are other things to do. You may want to stay on the ship just to get a sun bed (if chair hogs haven't gone ashore and left towels on them) and just get some sun or get a seat at the North Star Bar or somewhere like that (which is normally rammed at other times) and try some new drinks. Perfect if you have a drinks package or are Diamond and above with the CAS. As it has been said before, it is your holiday and your choice. We have sailed into St Kitts several times and sometimes we have stayed on and other times we have jumped in one of those buses/vans and had a trip round the island to that nice mountain top, but again it depends on the weather, no good if its raining. And that's the thing with the Caribbean, the weather, sometimes you just can't predict what the weather is going to do from one island to another and also if its raining then staying on the ship means staying indoors or in the solarium or other covered areas to avoid the rain which also limits the activities you can do onboard depending again on the class of ship you are sailing on. If I may make a suggestion, after spending lots of money on a Caribbean cruise, it may pay you to google each island you are visiting beforehand and see if there is something there that you either did not know about before, or only found out about it last time you were there after someone told you when back on board what they had done there that day. I used to hear all sorts of stories in the Diamond Lounge from people who had stood on a beach with planes coming in just feet above them, so I goggled it and when I went back to St Maarten I was able to get the bus to that beach and experience people being blown into the sea for myself. I am sure every island will have something of interest, even if its just a shuttle bus ride to a nice beach for a few hours. Nice to find a little bar and have a drink, sometimes something not available on the ship. As for Labadee, I have done both the Zip Line and the Roller Coaster which need booking in advance to be guaranteed a place. Not been back to Coco Cay since 2014 so cannot comment on the new stuff there, except from what I see which is that you will be getting off a ship that may have a zip line to pay for a bigger zip line. Getting off a ship with a water slide to pay for a bigger water slide. Its up to you, but I would rather spend my dollars on visiting things like waterfalls, caves, mountain tops, nice beaches and bars. One other thing I would suggest is either get a 12 night or above cruise or if not, then do a B2B with different ports as 7 day or less cruises won't show you the best the Caribbean has to offer. Also, my wife and I are both in our mid to late 50s and although I am in perfect health, my wife is sadly not and gets tired after a few hours of travelling or walking etc, so again, certain factors have to be taken into consideration when deciding what to do at each port of call. If my wife has had a busy day then the next day she may want to stay on board and chill, so planning the right amount of trips verses rest time also comes into play as you get a bit older or are not as well as you used to be. Lastly, dodgy ports of call. I have been lucky in the past to have always found nice people on board to talk to on cruise ships who have been to ports we may not have been to yet and sometimes its possible to either go ashore with them or at least to listen to what they say about the port and take their advice. Crime is fairly low around those parts as some of the islands need and depend heavily on money from tourists, so robbing/killing them is counter productive and is taken seriously by the local authorities. But... sometimes you can get overrun with local people trying to sell you things including rides to exotic beaches which may not be the best the island has to offer. All of this can leave a lasting impression and influence your choice not to get off at that port again. Luckily for me, I have not had these issues, but I have seen other people get taken in by them and also heard stories from passengers later on during the cruise. I hope this helps,. Mick.

Hi, Sorry, no, not all are alcoholics, but if you look at what you have to drink in order to break even with a drinks package over the course of a cruise, then you must surely start to look like heading that way and I bet there are some onboard who when they spend that amount of money on a package are going to want to get either their monies worth or more or are at least going to use the package as a way to try out some new drinks. And this brings us to a possible reason why the Anthem (or any other RCI ship for that matter) is more expensive than other cruise lines offering similar itineries and/or similar ships - the fact that the C&A perks on RCI ships (4 free drinks per day @ $14 a drink for Diamond, 5 for D+ and 6 for Pinnacle) means that the cruise line has to recoup these costs somewhere and I bet I know where!. I have sailed on ships that have more than 50% Diamond members on board where they had to seal off other bars on the ships to act as overspills as the Diamond lounge was practically impossible to get into. Also, in the past I had worked out that they had given me back more $$$s in drinks than I paid for the cruise. I remember saying to my wife at the time that this surely cannot continue as a business model. As far as I know RCI is the only cruise line to offer these perks, hell, last October we were on the Anthem doing a TA from Southampton to Bayonne when we got an invite to a C&A meeting in the solarium where they came round with glasses of sparkling wine as we left port. They were still coming round 13 glasses later and the Isle of Wight had vanished from view. I don't remember much about the next day except there was another get together in the 270 and more drinks galore! This is all before we started using our 5 free drinks vouchers - and I am sure I am not an alcoholic (not on land anyway!). Mick.

Hi, Being UK based, I can tell you this much, for some reason (whether it be blamed on the weak UK pound verses the Dollar or the war in Ukraine and/or just extremely high port costs at Southampton), it is actually cheaper for us to fly to Europe and board a ship in Italy or Spain than sail anywhere out of the UK at the moment - and that is what we are doing this year! A cruise in May/June on the Enchantment from Italy and a cruise in October on the Symphony from Spain. The other thing to bear in mind at the moment is that it looks like all cruises out of the UK are on the Anthem. Now she is a fairly newish ship and is one of the larger ships too. But apart from Dodgems, Flo Rider and the flight sim which all seem to be aimed more at the young (as try finding older people with no medical issues that can get insurance cover to use them), plus there is no golf, no ice skating or ice skating shows, so jumping on ships like the Symphony is a better choice both financially and entertainingly too. Plus the weather is normally better the further south you go from the UK, but not always! I had actually booked a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Anthem back in 2021 but this got swapped for a UK only cruise due to covid restrictions in Norway. This brings me onto something else now... Tourism, I know some places are overrun with tourists like Venice which doesn't need ships coming and going, but Norway, can they really afford to ban cruise ships if the tourists to those places only come via ship. What next! will Alaska ban ships too?, Key West was on about it too not long back IIRC. In a world where so may people are constantly on TV news saying they don't have the money for things anymore, would they really want to risk the loss of any further revenue from lack of cruise ship tourists if that's the main (or only) income they are likely to receive? Of course, the other option (and it is starting), is for new cruise ships to run on renewable energy. problem is where do the old ships then go? (Caribbean I suppose!), and who pays for the new ships, sorry how much more will I have to pay for a voyage on a newer ship? Finally, if countries are thinking Climate change issues with ships, then surely with it being cheaper and a possible better cruise for me to fly from the UK to ports in Europe to sail as opposed to sailing out of my own country, then what is that saying about my carbon footprint? Hell, its even cheaper for me to fly from the UK to the Caribbean and then do a B2B cruise out of Florida (have you seen how cheap some of those cruises are?) than sail from Southampton to the Canneries. I am not made of money, so what money I have will be spent on things like ports of call and class of ship/entertainment etc. BTW I am D+ and not an alcoholic, so at least I don't have to spend money on drink packages, but just think about the cost to people that do? And think about the cost for restaurants like Chops Grill?. If you are not careful (unless you have enough money not to care), cruising can and is starting to become something the average working class person is not going to be able to afford to do on a regular basis if you want all the trimmings. Mick.

Hi, Yes, you can normally order more than 1 main. Unless they stop that too. However, sometimes finding something else on that nights menu that goes with the lobster may be difficult or not very pleasing. Simply not bothering and ordering something else entirely would be my choice, unless my wife orders a lobster and gives it to me. She doesn't like them and doesn't see the appeal like I do. Another thing here is if you normally like say 3 lobsters then going to a sea food restaurant on the ship (if it has one) instead and then paying for all their lovely sea food may now work out cheaper than paying for 2 additional lobsters! Again a win for RCI. Mick.

ref the Lobster tails... Just before the new year when I last cruised, on Lobster night you were given 1 lobster tail but the waiters would soon be round to offer 1 or even 2 more if you wished and I always had 3, not because I am a pig but because 1 or 2 simply didn't fill me up the same way any other nights menu would such as the lamb shank. Now, RCI are limiting the free Lobster to 1 tail per person and then you have to pay $$$ for any extra. To me, this now makes having this meal null and void (as explained above), so I will now choose something else. The point under these circumstances is that for roughly the same price as ordering a second lobster tail, you could now order a chops fillet steak which would only be a few $s more, but be more filling and therefore, more worth the extra money. Just my opinion here, but just watch this space as more and more passengers either chose not to have the lobster and pick another dish off the menu, or pay for a chops instead. Maybe this is Royal's master plan, who knows! I wonder too how many couples are going to order a Lobster tail just to give to their spouse and then order something else as a main instead. There are always ways around things if you try. I bet the waiters are not going to try to stop you doing this given that this event is normally on the last night and that is when the waiters are hoping for those envelopes from you with any extra gratuities inside! Mick.

Hi, I wouldn't tell your wife its a small ship either. BTW a say a small ship, but its still slightly bigger than what the Titanic was! And I certainly wouldn't tell her that either - especially if you are crossing the Atlantic of all places! With ref the Chops, I think it depends on your loyalty status, my wife and I are D+ and I am sure there is a BOGOF offer at Chops but only on the first couple of days. Like someone said here, you can order Chops food at the MDR for basically half the price. In fact now the Lobster tails are roughly the same price as a steak (for any additional ones), you could instead order a Chops on Lobster night and get a lot more value for your money. As for the Inspection, I could guess that this is the US Coastguard coming aboard to inspect everyone's passports before docking, just to make sure all is in order. If anyone know differently, please correct me. Mick.

Hi, with ref to Miami, Some time ago we had a B2B on the Liberty and we kept the same rooms. We were able to get off at Miami with our sea pass, go to the South beach for the day, then return to the port and show our sea pass card at the terminal and explain we were on a B2B and they let us skip the line and re-enter the ship. Not sure if this is still the case now though. If you do keep the same room for both parts of your cruise, then it may be worth nipping to guest relations before arriving in Miami and ask them what the procedure is for either staying on board (I am sure they used to let guests stay in a designated part of the ship until lunch) or how to re-board if you get off without having to go through all the boarding stuff again. BTW Rhapsody is a small but really nice ship. We had done several cruises on her when she was based in Venice. Enjoy! Mick.

Hi, I will be on the Enchantment at the end of May. Originally I booked this holiday on the beautiful Brilliance and had booked an interior room 8641 which was the last cabin aft in the long corridor at the rear of the aft lifts so would be nice and quiet. However, RCI switched us to the Enchantment and have given us room 2133 which is close to the engines. I have stayed down here before and it is a good location for getting to the rear lifts for things. RCI have just offered me the Royal Up options, so I have bid the lowest amounts of £70pp for an Ocean View Balcony and £50pp for a Ultra Spacious Ocean View cabin. Let's see if any of these gets excepted. I didn't pay a lot for this cruise, so under these circumstances don't mind paying a bit more for the chance of getting a better room. On my last cruise which was on the Anthem doing a TA I had an inside cabin (which is what we wanted due to possible bad seas). However, I did bid for a balcony at the minimum, but it wasn't excepted by the time I boarded and my wife loved the cabin we had in the end so we cancelled it at guest services just before 4pm. There were loads of rooms available during this cruise (as I spoke to staff about them), but no-one at guest services tried to contact me to see if I still wanted to pay for an upgrade. I thought they needed as much cash as they could get from us! I know I cancelled it and it may have been possible to have got a balcony if I had waited, but like I said, once my wife saw the cabin we had booked, she did not want to move. Perhaps if RCI or whoever does the Royal Ups had moved us before we got to see our cabin, then we would have moved and they would have made £££s from us. As it happened the weather at the start was stormy, then sunny, then foggy then sunny again, so I don't think we missed anything special. I will let you all know what happens on my next cruise. BTW I have another cruise on the Symphony in October and that is a GTY and they have given me room 10133 which is at the front port side. It looks like there is only one room next to me and a blank space on the other which is the same for the floors above and below. Not sure if this a crew/ship thing. Anyone know what this is and how it may affect us. If its going to be bad then the Royal Up may come into play. Mick.

Wow! is that true that you can move cabin after a royal up. I believed that you were stuck with the cabin they gave you. I suppose if there is another cabin in the same category in a better location that is available, then guest services may allow the move. As I said before, one of the main reasons we choose an interior is the cost, also if we know the sea is going to be rough, also if there is nothing to see (if we are on a TA for example) and lastly, because on some cruises we will be getting off the ship at every port on every day for most of it, so won't be spending much time in the cabin to enjoy it anyway. I must admit it was nice being in the junior suite with the extra width of the room and balcony and having the bathtub and don't forget the doorbell - and coffee machine - and access to coastal kitchen on Quantum and Oasis class ships and queue jumping on boarding day, but it really does depend on what the cost of this is compared to an interior. Although the coastal kitchen was lovely and the food was great, but so is the food (or at least it was) in the MDR. We never used the bathtub as we were too busy enjoying the ship, so again it all depends on what you are going to do in the time you spend onboard. I know there are some nice perks too with Grand Suites upwards, but if you are Diamond upwards with the C&A program, then you also get some nice perks too. Again it comes down to what you prefer or can afford. Mick.

Hi, I always give my wife an option, she can have an interior room and have 2 cruises a year or have a suite and have just 1. She always chooses an interior. Sometimes I will select the cheapest option which is a GTY and hope that when we get it, it is in the right place, if not, royal up becomes an option only at that point. It also depends on the class of ship. I have actually upgraded from an interior to a junior suite for next to nothing on the Anthem which then allowed us to eat at the Coastal Kitchen every night, which we did! However, I would not consider paying for a suite on a ship that is old and doesn't have anything on it worth paying an upgrade for. I know I sound tight, but we are not rich, but love cruising. Being based from the UK we also have flights/trains/hotels to pay for too which can sometimes add up to almost the price of the cruise. I normally check the plans for the ship and pick somewhere that is slightly aft/midship and near but not next to the rear elevators, and in the middle of the ship to avoid sway as much as possible. The main reason is so that it is easy to get to the main dinning room on foot at busy meal times without waiting forever for a lift. From near the back the longest distance to walk is to the theatre for a show, but that is normally only after dinner, so we would simply walk from the dinning room through to the theatre which sometimes is on the same level. My wife's health is not too good, so we normally find a cabin that is quiet and not under anything that is going to keep her awake like the kitchen, theatre or running track. I see on some ships that they have suites under the running track etc. I don't know how noisy that would be and wouldn't want to pay to find out. Also some ships have promenade view rooms above the pub - not too bad if you love being in the pub till midnight! Again, depends on the cruise, but an interior is great for transatlantics too where there is nothing to see for days on end and it is more stable. Afterall, if you want to watch the sunset, you can always go out on deck and watch it. I must admit a balcony is nice in places like the Caribbean, but again, it depends on the price difference. Sometimes a balcony can be cheaper than a ocean view room and sometimes a balcony can be double or triple the price of an interior. If I really would want a balcony but the price is too high then I would book an interior and then go to guest services and see if there are any balcony upgrades available either on day 1 or day 2 or if I see anyone get kicked off or miss the ship. The cost of an upgrade on the ship can sometimes be far far lower than the difference displayed on the website. Another thing to think about is the C&A points scheme. If you want to get to Diamond then booking suites is a good way to do it. We are currently D+ and probably will be for the next 20 years, so I am not going to spend money on trying to get double points just to get 1 extra drink and access to the Coastal Kitchen on Quantum and Oasis class ships as like I said before, we can have 2 cruises a year in a interior and still collect the same points as having 1 cruise in a suite. We have done 25 cruises with RCI since 2008 and are very very happy with where we are in the loyalty program. It has taken a long time to get here, but we have enjoyed every single day on every single ship we have been on and so far, have never had any major issues. I hope you can see my thinking behind this. Like I said, we are not rich people and we love cruising. BTW we do also sometimes spend money on trips from the ship to places that we want to visit that we cannot do ourselves, so RCI does get a bit more money out of us that way. Mick.

Hi, Some years ago we pulled into Marseille, sorry a cargo/parking lot a few miles away on the outskirts and had to cross a busy road and catch a bus into and out of the city centre. This was back in 2014 on the Liberty. I will be calling there again this October on the Symphony and according to their excursions, I cannot see any shuttle buses mentioned. There are several trips and the cheapest is around £33 for just 2 and a half hours and another for £54 which lasts 4 hours and is in Italian language only (in a French port from a US registered ship that is sailing from and back to Barcelona, Spain! - go figure!). I am sure the local buses were quite frequent and only cost a few euros, so that may be your best option. If anyone has been since and knows differently, then please advise, as I for one, would like to know too. Mick.

Hi all, 2 things here, Firstly ref GTY rooms.. I have booked these in the past and even have one coming up in October on the Symphony. Normally with these RCI will issue the room number to you a few months before you sail. With that information, you can check the ship plans on their website and check out where on the ship you will be housed. You can also check whats above and below you and how far from the lifts you are or if you are at the very front or very back etc. If you are not happy with your GTY location, then you could try the Royal Up as just about anything else will be either the same or better, so you have nothing to lose!. BTW I have checked and I am happy with the GTY room on the Symphony they have given me so I won't be using the Royal Up for that particular cruise. Secondly, the Royal Up program... As long as you are not going to be bothered by what surrounds you or where you are located (inc noise) then go for it, but, remember, once accepted, there is no going back to your old cabin. Like it has been said already here, we are now at full capacity on most cruises, so the choice of the best spare rooms to upgrade to will be limited and probably based on how much you bid and you may not be informed until you have boarded or even as late as 4pm on boarding day. Again, if you don't want to be at the very back or very front or too far away from the lifts, then I would suggest not going with the Royal Up, but instead, you could approach guest services around 4pm and ask them if there are any upgrades available and if so, they normally tell you/show you where they are before committing, so now you can make a choice of staying where you are or paying a small fee for a guaranteed better room as opposed to the Royal Up where you may pay even more and then get a room that is above the pub or with an obstructed view etc. I know the cruise lines have to make some money, but the Royal Up program does not sound like it is the best option for some cruisers (especially those prone to sea sickness or not too good on their legs) who could probably use the money for other things. Like I said, go to guest services and see what rooms they have. There is normally someone who is late/misses the cruise or cannot travel at the last moment due to some other issue. Sometimes, as a result of people missing the cruise, their rooms may be taken up by a Royal Upgrader which then frees up their original room which may be in a better location than yours. You may have to wait a day or two for such a change to register at guest services, so if nothing is available on the first day at guest services, try again the next day or the day after. I have moved from an interior to a balcony mid-cruise when the people in the balcony were kicked off and arrested, and that room change didn't even cost anything as I had complained about the state of the room I was originally in. So you can get a better room without forking out loads of money! Mick.

Hi, One thing I would recommend, if you can delay your flight, is to delay it by 2 days if you can. If you have not been to Venice before, then 1 day will not be enough to see everything and do everything and you will end up having to leave the city before you have enjoyed it to go to the airport for your flights. My suggestion, and I have done this several times, is to stay in a hotel in Mestre, near the train station. The reason is the airport shuttle buses leave from outside here, so on the day you fly you could go onto the island of Venice by Bus/train/tram and still spend most of that 2nd day there too. BTW your tickets for transport around Venice are normally for 24hr 3 day or 7 day, so if you time it right, you can validate a 1 day pass on the first day in the early afternoon and still be able to use it for most of the 2nd day too. It all saves money! So you could in effect get that no.90 bus or a taxi from the port to Ravenna FS, Get a train to Bologna, Change for another train to Venice and get off at Mestre. You would arrive there by say midday and if you cannot check in till later, they will store your luggage so you can get out and start enjoying the city. BTW there are loads of nice restaurants on the island near the Rialto bridge, but there is also one in Mestre called the Dante on the Via Dante near Mestre Train station. We used to go to it every year and its great value and is normally quite full of regular local Italians and not tourists! And good priced for what you get! We had many drunken nights in there years ago and Filippo the owner is one of the nicest persons I have met in Venice. Hope this helps. Mick. PS. God I miss the fun of Venice, such a beautiful city!

Hi, Not too sure if you can get off with your luggage at the port before. You would certainly need to have made sure any credit owed on your sea pass is paid at guest relations first. Moreover, why should you lose out on part of your holiday because of a simple error of depending/believing in RCI shuttle/transfers. I have met loads of people who have booked these and then been let down at the last minute as they have been cancelled at short notice. As for flights, well let me tell you also, this is the first fly/cruise with RCI where I have had to book my own flights. Firstly, my TA and RCI did have flights but they were at silly o'clock and would have meant not being able to visit anywhere before the cruise. Secondly, we would find out own flights which suited us and then get our TA to contact RCI and add them on as a package for around £20 Thirdly, I found some better flights but my TA/RCI wanted £200 more to add them on with RCI than what the airline was charging for them (A big jump from £20 to $200 for that service). Fourthly, I found some even better priced flights than before but my TA could not find them on their system (even though they were on BA's website on my phone in their shop for them to see), so these could not be added on with RCI either. These flights are the ones I have gone with and which now best suit us under these conditions. I doubt I will be travelling out of Ravenna again anytime soon unless RCI gets its act together here and starts treating its customers like they were customers and not cattle. Back to your issue, I would speak to guest relations on board asap and point out your needs to get off as soon as possible and arrange your taxi for say 7am from the port. You should make VCE by 9am and I doubt the airport will be funny if you should have been there at 0830. IIRC, as long as you have checked in and dropped your luggage off and got through passport control and are at the gate in time, you should be OK. None of this helps the fact that a holiday should be a time to relax and enjoy yourself and your surroundings and not be on edge worrying if things will go pear shaped at the end. Again, talk to guest relations upon boarding, get it sorted and then relax and enjoy! BTW Did you say you were on the Symphony? I thought only the Explorer and Enchantment called at Ravenna. Mick.

Hi, The distance from the port to Venice is roughly over 120km or 80 miles. If your flight is from Marco Polo at 1135am on the day of dis-embarkation, then you will be pushing it! If the ship docks at 6am and you can get off by 7am with a pre-booked taxi, you may make VCE by 9am if you are lucky. Sadly, trying any other mode such as bus 90 to Ravenna FS then train to Bologna and then another train to Venice/Mestre and then a coach to the airport would not be practical/possible in that time limit. I have not yet sailed out of this port and this May will be my first. I have sailed out of many ports, but this one is the one I am looking forward to the least. The main reason is because no-one at either RCI or may TA can give me any details at all of how to get to/from the ship of offer any transfers. I have had to do all the research myself and my whole holiday depends on mew getting things right. I will post details here when I get back in June detailing how things went. Sadly with the banning of cruise ships of a certain size from Venice, this is the port RCI will be using for now which begs the question of why there seems to be little help for passengers that are sailing from it. I have travelled and sailed so many times now and I can only stress that flying back home the day of dis-embarkation can be a mistake. I find it better to spend at least 1 night at the destination as anything is better than having to either rush to an airport or get stuck at one for the whole day due to later flights. If 300 euros is the price to get to the airport then depending on how many of you there are, that's probably not a bad price. Local taxis wanted 60 euros just to take me and my wife from Ravenna train station to the port. Mick.