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maddie mom

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Posts posted by maddie mom

    Average passenger mix and homeports

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    A comment on another thread got me to wondering, how much of any given sailing is made up of locals, versus out-of-towners? For example, what percentage of passengers onboard Liberty are from Texas, in any given week? Or what percentage onboard Anthem, is typically from the New York metro area?

     

    The comment that got me wondering about it, referred to the vibe of each ship, and how it varies. Some of that is attributable to the crew, of course, but it got me to thinking about how much the homeport, and the people from that area, play a role.

     

    When we sailed on Anthem a couple of years ago, the cruise director often addressed the crowd as being "New Yorkers", when obviously not everyone was. It made you wonder how many actually were, though.

     

    I've only been on one cruise, so far, where the CD said anything about the makeup of the passengers, by country, and that was on Princess. Incidentally, it was then that I learned that yelling out "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!" is how you identify the Australians in the group. Lol

     

     

     

    There were many Texans onboard the

    Liberty April 29 cruise. But according to the Captain there were also 39

    Countries represented by passengers

     

     

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    Choosing Liberty out of Galveston, worth the "hassle"?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I’m actually looking at the Liberty out of Galveston for 2020, to celebrate our 50th anniversary. I see it’s an older ship, being launched in 2007, so I hope that’s not a problem. I heard the ship had some updates in 2016, though. As for seeing Galveston, I would never try to fly in day of cruise. Too many variables that could go wrong. I generally fly in one to two days prior. Anyone have good hotel suggestions in Galveston?

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Forums

     

     

     

    Courtyard Marriott

     

     

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    Tipping Bartenders and Beverage Package

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    We will be cruising on Royal Caribbean for the first time in Feb. We have only cruised NCL in the past. We always buy the beverage package but also like to give certain bartenders an extra tip from time to time if we get exceptional service. Does RC have you sign for every drink when you have the beverage package so you can add an extra tip for the bartender? Or do we need to bring cash for tips?

     

     

     

    I don't want to get into a debate over whether tipping is necessary. We like to do it because we feel we get better service and get to know the bartenders better that way. Just looking for info on how things work on RC with the beverage package.

     

     

     

    Just got off the Liberty two weeks ago. Noticed the bartender shorting

    Our pours by not even getting I full jigger. Took his name and reported him to service desk. For the price of the package at least be fair with the pour.

     

     

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    How To Get Better Bar Service?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Our last Royal Caribbean cruise was in 2013 before drink packages were popular or maybe even available (I don’t remember). Bar service was quick and readily available from what I recall. Our last three cruises have been on Norwegian with the included drink packages. The bar service has definitely gone downhill in my opinion on Norwegian from what I assume to be from the fact that a majority of the passengers have the drink package. The bar service is slow, the lines are long, hardly any servers walking around the pool deck, the quality of the drinks aren’t as good, etc. We are coming back to Royal Caribbean soon on Allure of the Seas and we bought the drink package. I was hoping that some of you could chime in on your experiences or tips on how to get better bar service? Does tipping extra make a noticeable difference in service and quality of the drinks? If so, how much and how often do you tip extra? Any other tips or tricks? Thanks in advance for all of your help.

     

     

     

     

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    I'm at LIBERTY to review her. April 29 sailing!

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Sunday Funday

    The Galveston port is much improved in the last few years. We could sit around the hotel playing on our ipads or we can sit at the port playing on our ipads. We chose the latter. Hotel Galvez does a good job shuttling guests to the port. You sign up for a time, show up, get loaded and you’re off for the longest 10 minute drive of your life. 15 if you have to stop to let the carnivores off to get on their rust bucket (I kid, I kid.) Once there, it’s the usual chaos of tackling a porter and then getting in the door. We were through security and checked in with zero wait. We got there around 9:30. Once upstairs, we nabbed two front row spots so we could jostle to be among the very onboard. The seating areas are by levels with Pinnacle and Suites closest, followed veryclosely by Diamond Plus.

     

    Part of my cruise fun is the anticipation. I tend to engage on roll calls and social media since no one in my real life wants to hear me obsess about a cruise. Oddly, fellow cruisers DO! While getting stuck on Candy Crush, a fellow cruiser who was also posting here and various places recognized me and the giant next to me from descriptions and introduced herself and her husband. Well, we hated each other so much that we hung out ALL WEEK LONG. And the really crazy part is they live 5 minutes from us and we’re having dinner together tomorrow (the Friday after we got back from the cruise.) This is part of the charm of cruising. If you want to meet people, you can. If you want to have a quiet getaway and stick to your group, you can. Be as wild or as boring as you want. After about 2 hours, it was finally time to board.

     

    The next tradition is the mandatory pinacolada at the Pool Bar. This is a requirement and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Unless you’re under 21. Then you can’t. nanner nanner nanner. We had great pool bartenders this trip. Fortunately, we usually do. The guys at the pool bar really have to be outgoing and relaxed or they will be utterly miserable. They did not disappoint. We headed to the Jammer for lunch. A great benefit for suites is being able to have embarkation lunch in Giovanni’s. If you’ve been on a Royal cruise, you know what a cluster the Jammer is the first day. If you haven’t, imagine a horde of sheep wandering aimlessly from station to station since they haven’t figured out that the food on the right side is the same as the left. Jammer food is fine. You’re not going to starve but you’re not going to give it a 5 star review on yelp.

     

    Rooms open at 1 pm. We’ve had incredibly good luck with luggage arrival. This one was Numero uno. It was sitting outside the room at 1 pm. SCORE! I love getting the room done and unpacked asap because then I feel I am ON VACATION. While I do this, the thing I married takes an opportunity to lie on the bed and look at the inside of his eyelids. Once this is accomplished, it’s back to pool bar for some happy time. We sneak back to the room pre muster because we like to time it so that we’re not the first ones there and standing around for 30 minutes. We’re not late, we just prefer to wait for the signal and then slowly make our way from deck 10 to deck 4.

     

    Sailaway was great weather. I do miss having the live band at sailaway but I can live with the DJ. We managed a quick change so we would be Suite Lounge presentable and headed upstairs. The SL on Liberty is quite nice – large, all windows with a nice seating area outside as well. We enjoyed some pre dinner drinkies with the new BFFAW (best friends for a week) and then headed to Sabor. So….much….food. I enjoy their presentation and I find the venue on Liberty wonderful.

     

    From dinner, it’s just a short roll into the casino. Yep, we’re fools. And we remained relatively foolish all week. Don’t judge. We happily spent the rest of the night donating to the Symphony of the Seas building fund.

     

    Still to come – Sea day. The first sea day just might be my favorite day of every cruise.

     

     

     

    Sailed on Liberty April 29. Love the ship

     

     

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