ACEMommy2008

19 minutes ago, Spurschick said:

We are praying this one goes ahead. We have had 8 cancelled so far😪

 

This is the poker cruise so if this is cancelled we will have to be shifted to next years poker cruise and it’s not always on the same ship so I’ll have to see what we will be shifted to.

We chose this one I replace a canceled April one. Because of the FCC offer, we were able to go from a Brilliance interior 5 day to this Oasis ocean view balcony 7 day!  We are really trying to be optimistic, but we also recognize that we won’t be able to come close price wise if we wait until after it cancels. However, we really don’t want to cancel and postpone then see that the cruise does go. Such a tough position to be in!

Any tie breakers?  I have one for TA being correct and one for TA being incorrect. 

We have an Oasis cruise scheduled for November 29. We see the writing on the wall and are hoping to lift and shift. We used an online TA and in speaking with them today, the rep explained that the itinerary that we wish to switch to must be the exact same as the itinerary we already have booked. I was under the impression it just had to be in the same area (Bahamas, Caribbean, etc). Is anyone able to clarify this for me?  

My husband and I stayed in an OV cabin that would have slept 4 (the beds pulled down from the ceiling).  I will tell you that it was tight with just the 2 of us and I couldn’t imagine trying to fit two other people (and their things) in that cabin with us. If you can pack very lightly and will literally only be using the cabin to sleep, it might be doable. 

But for what it’s worth, we loved the ship. Yes it was small and had zero frills, but it was my husband’s first cruise and was perfect for whetting his palate for further cruises!

What if you had to view the video prior to boarding and then at check in you are given your muster station....You have to then appear in person at your muster station and receive your seapass card from the crew member assigned to your muster station?  

We’re booked on the April 4 sailing on Brilliance. We originally booked an interior cabin for $1100 total for 2 (spring break). On Friday I looked at the website and a balcony room was now less than that, so I called and sat on hold for 2.5 hours and they upgraded us to a spacious balcony for no additional cost. 

1 hour ago, Btank said:

I upgraded our cabins last night, and went out this morning to download the updated luggage tags and cruise docs with no problems.

 

    --bruce T.

 

Thanks, I’ll keep checking for a couple of days. I know they’ve been slammed with other matters, I can wait!

Thank you, I’ll call!  We sail April 4th.

We were upgraded from an interior room to a balcony, yesterday. All of our cruise docs and luggage tags still have our original room

number. Will these eventually change or is there something I must do to get them changed?  Don’t want our luggage getting lost!!

5 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

You cannot get a price drop after final payment. All you can do is look at a higher category and see if it has dropped to the price you have paid. Then you can ask for a “free” upgrade to that cabin. (If it’s still a little more, you can opt to pay the difference). 

That’s what we got for our April 4 Brilliance sailing. We had originally booked an interior cabin but I called and was able to

upgrade to a spacious balcony room for no additional cost. 

11 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Awesome

 

I'm on deck 10 so I doubt I would give it up unless for a free balcony. 

 

You did good 😁

We went from interior deck 9, to balcony deck 10!  Worth a try if you have patience to wait on hold. I got a lot of cleaning done today while waiting lol. 

We are sailing April 4-9.  On a whim, I looked on my TA’s website and saw that a balcony room is now less expensive than the interior room we had booked. After a short 2.5 wait on hold, we were granted an upgrade to a superior balcony room!  Worth a check!

28 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Please take any proof from your TA that you are supposed to have this OBC.  Sometimes it doesn't appear and you have to go to Guest Services and have a chat.  🙂 

Oh, great idea!!  Thank you!

Ok thank you for easing my mind!

We booked our cruise through an online TA. Part of the promotion was $50 on board credit and our choice of an additional $50 OBC or $50 Amazon gift card. We chose OBC. Should I be seeing that OBC in my cruise planner on the Royal Caribbean website?  For some reason I thought last time I cruised, the OBC was available on the cruise planner to use to book excursions, specialty dining, etc. 

Does anyone have a muster station map or location list for Brilliance of the Seas?  Specifically looking for where R05 station will be.   Thank you!

85 til Brilliance of the Seas!

2 hours ago, MandyMooToo said:

 

We have cruised the bigger ships and will be on Allure next month but I like all ships!  We were on Brilliance in February and had a blast so I expect to do the same in March.  Just had a few concerns after reading some reviews that were not very positive.  I would say we will be more connected to the water and have a much more intimate cruise in March than September.  Thank you for the response and for the review.

The first cruise my husband and I took together was on Empress, in April 2018. Like you, I also was apprehensive after booking, reading all

the negativity. However, once aboard, we fell in love!  The smaller size made for less crowds and a more relaxing atmosphere, exactly what we were looking for!  Funnily enough, we are booked on the Brilliance for April 2020. Your thoughts?

Hi. Does anyone know if Jack Daniels Honey/Jim Beam Honey is available at the bars?  On Empress they were not. Also, is iced tea available as a mixer at the bar?  Again, it wasn’t that way on Empress. My husband had to first go to the drink station and fill a glass with iced tea for the bartender to make him the drink he likes. Thanks in advance!

I've never heard of tea as a mixer but I am intrigued! Might have to try it.

Plain tea is ok. It's better if it's mixed with Arnold Palmer tea or peach Snapple!

If he was just fobbing you off and saying "get it somewhere else" as he did with the tea, both are inexcusable lapses of manners.

I'm leaning towards this being exactly it. It wasn't just the one bar with the tea. Every bar we went to was met with 'you'll have to get that yourself'. Off putting, but we decided not to let it ruin our trip.

They actually said that you could buy it at the shop and consume it on board?!?!?!?

I'm not entirely clear about that...I'm guessing no, but that I could buy it to bring home with me. Perhaps with the uncommon liquors they allow passengers to purchase the bottles and leave them at the bar. But then that could be super confusing.

My husband and I just disembarked Empress of the Seas, from a 4 night cruise Miami-Key West-Nassau-Miami. I'd just like to share a few thoughts about our experience for those who are thinking about this ship.

This trip was to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I had paid for the deluxe anniversary room decor package that included a cake. I also ordered chocolate covered strawberries to be delivered on our sea day. Upon arrival in our stateroom, the decor was up and the strawberries were delivered. No big deal, we enjoyed them a few days early. We headed to the Windjammer for lunch on embarkation day. I stopped by the bar to order drinks for us (we had the ultimate beverage package). I like to drink Jack Daniels Honey with coke and my husband, Tito's and tea. I was told that bar didn't carry JD Honey, and I was instructed to go to the beverage station to get a cup of iced tea for my husband's drink. That was a bit off putting but I thought that since it was a smaller windjammer bar, that it wasn't as stocked as the rest of the bars. We enjoyed our lunch and then headed back to our room to see if our suitcase had arrived and to unpack. Arriving there, we discovered that the Chops Grille lunch we had reserved for our sea day was upgraded to the bottomless valley brunch. Great! Maybe a little perk for this being an anniversary trip? Unknown but appreciated!

We decided to explore a bit and found ourselves at the pool bar. I once again tried to order my drink of choice and was told they don't have that liquor, but that I could go and buy a bottle of it from the liquor shop. I chose to drink something else. Once again my husband asked for Tito's and tea and was again sent to fetch the tea himself. At this point we were getting a bit disappointed. I can live with the liquor I like not being carried, it's a small ship and they can't possibly stick everything. But wouldn't it be a smart idea for the bar to keep a couple pitchers of tea as a mixer? Surely there are others who use it. By the second day my husband realized that by asking for Tito's on the rocks would get him a nice serving of the vodka and he added a splash of tea, making his drink stronger than had the bartenders made it!

We arrived for dinner (main seating, Starlight 4). We had been expecting a table for 2, but were met with a table for 8, that was set for six. We picked our seats, sat down, and immediately realized we had a front row view of the revolving kitchen door. (Spoiler alert, no one else showed up to the table the entire weekend and for the remainder of the cruise we sat with our backs to the kitchen door). We were given water and some menus. The waiter came to take our order a bit later and we had to ask to order drinks. Instead of taking our order he told us the assistant waiter would be by to take the order. When the assistant waiter finally made it over to us, the language barrier made the ordering of drinks a comedy of errors. Having ordered drinks, our food started arriving. At some point during dinner, a nicely dressed man who I presumed to be the head waiter approached our table and asked how the food was. We responded that the food was great but we were disappointed in having to ask to order drinks. At the point he pulled out a Chops menu. He was just there to upsell us. I explained that we already had plans for Chops for our sea day. He did say he would mention the service issue to the head waiter. We did see the head waiter speak to the assistant waiter and from that time forward we were asked if we wanted drinks immediately after sitting down.

Our first port of call was Key West. We had a really great time there. We toured the Hemingway Home and the aquarium and of course did some shopping. That night was uneventful, we watched the show Bailamos, and joined the dance party on the pool deck. The next day was our sea day. We went to the endless galley brunch at Chops and it was absolutely delicious. The food and and the company and the service was outstanding. We were on such a high after a lovely couple of hours. Then we got back to our room to find a note stating our excursion in Nassau was canceled. We were refunded our money and offered a 10% discount on any other excursion. Unfortunately, no other excursion that was of interest to us and that fit into our budget was available. That was disappointing and dashed the great feeling we had. We just really started to feel like this whole trip was 1 step forward and 3 steps back. We spent the evening low key and went to the headliner show, Unique 3. It was a great production.

We weren't too excited about our stop in Nassau since our excursion had been canceled. We got off the boat only to pick up some souvenirs for our kids and promptly hopped back on the boat. We took advantage of the empty pool deck and enjoyed a private morning in the pool and hot tub. We lunched at the Windjammer and my husband loved the burgers and hot dogs! We just enjoyed the day together, knowing the trip was ending. We had to pack up our suitcase and have it in the hallway by 10:30. Because we were arriving at Terminal J after departing from Terminal G, no self assist was available. A shuttle was provided to take us to Garage G.

Despite some of the shortcomings, we really did enjoy ourselves. The boat was sold out and never once did we wait in line at a bar or for anything at any time. We did not feel crowded or cramped. We were very pleased with our room location as it was convenient to everything. We were on deck 4, port side, right off the midship elevators. I thought we'd have problems with the late night centrum noise, but it was never an issue. Our room attendant was superb and our room was always tidied and we had towel animals 2/4 nights.

If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them the best I can!

8 days until our 10th anniversary cruise on Empress of the Seas!

My husband and I are also taking a cruise for our 10th anniversary! We are leaving our 5 and 3 year olds with my sister and brother in law. I posed this question on Facebook and multiple people told me I needed to give my sister and BIL limited power of attorney. I was able to get a template online and we will have it notorized before our trip. It is very specific in that I was able to put the exact days this POA would be in effect. I've also filled out a medical POA that gives them explicit consent to make any and all medical decisions with regard to my children.