jcc1025

6 hours ago, sowhat said:

Please supply the  information for which Royal Caribbean ships have shore side power connections retro fitted to them as I can not find any details

 

The Eueropen Union has required that all major ports use tie in power for ships by the end of this decade. Several already are in pllace so guess any RCCL ship that wants to sail in Europe will need to be set up. Miami has also installed them and are in use for cruise ships. The port at Galveston is working on getting the lines installed into the new RCCL termial to support plug in power. 

Oldest was in 89 on Nordic Prince. Newest and favorite would be Allure but will be on Harmony in September so she will be the newest at that point. 

Even if you sign up after and you provide the dates and reservation information from previous cruies they will give you credits once you have signed up. 

On 6/12/2024 at 2:26 PM, lovelife said:

Well heck. It used to be for an oceanview. Did it change?

Sorry, no you are right but we always book balcony so anything without one is consiered inside to us. Our bad and I understand the difference just didn't occur to me. 

We have used the points for cruises a couple of times in the past and also for on board credits but never though a TA. We would book the cruise for a balcony then use the credits for a cruise against the curruent cruise. The value they give you is for an inside cabin and you have to pay the difference for the upgrade. Again not sure how this works with a TA but we have done it a couple of times for 7 day cruises. 

One of the best use to be when Royal docked in Ocho Rios Jamaica befor the move to Falmouth. They had a long dock and you could watch the pier runners trying to run to get back and being met by the drug sniffing dogs at the end of the pier near the ship. We use to book our room just to make sure we were on the correct side of the ship for that locations. 

20 hours ago, philpcruiser said:

Yup, possibly.  So who anteed up the cash to pay for this.  Private investors?  Government? What were they thinking?I 

As I understood at the time it was a goverment project since the old pier was not really used and in poor shape and every cruise guest had to walk by it on the way to the city. I visited there and can atest to that. There is also a concert venue they can use for music or festivals. It is still pretty new, hasn't even been open a year so I think they are still filling in property's.  I watched them build it on that site, backfilled much of the ground. A way better improvement from what was there before. I believe RCCL is planing on building a private (cruise ship pasangers only) area on the island across from the docks. 

• So sad, we sailed with him a couple of times and he was special. Condolences to to whole RCCL family for their loss. 

We have sailed RCCL for a very long time and in the early days they used to sell a nice wood binded book with a tropical theme with all the dirnk recipies in it. We still have ours and break it out every so ofter for special occasions. 

On 5/27/2024 at 10:24 AM, philpcruiser said:

Regarding the port area: it appears a lot of $$$ was spent on upgrades/improvements recently.   However,  from looking at the area on the Nassau web cam, it appears that a large area is still not opened.  Reason?

Probably the lease cost to rent a spot there. I watched it being built was amazing given that it was an old dock. I think the building on the end looks to be designed as a resturant but my guess the cost to get those propertys is high and that would be why its not full yet. 

As previously poster stated, Sunday is doable but all things need to go right. Would need to walk off. LAX can be busy on weekends so you might make it but not without some stress. I hear you about Long Beach, guess the word is out becuase all the flights have jumped in price. We live about 5 minutes from there so we just suck it up and take the easy in and out. Its the old value/convience decision. Good luck with what ever you choose. Enjoy the cruise. 

On 5/12/2024 at 2:40 PM, txjim09 said:

Never saw it when departing Galveston, hope they got smart!

Been sailing out of Galveston for several years and, while not my beer of choice it was always availible on the first day on every ship we sailed on. 

I did some reciently for a September cruise and it took a couple of weeks or so for them to show up in our planner. 

We always book as close to an elevatore as possible and have done so on Liberty many times. We never have heard any sound from the elevator. As others mentioned they are a seperate area and so several walls between you and the elevator. 

We have had this issue is another port were the hote had a two night minimum stay. But when we went to one of the hotel booking sites like Booking.com we were able to get a single night. On another occasion we also called the hotel directly and they booked us a single night. Enjoy your stay, we live in Long Beach and she is a fun experience. 

We live in Long Beach and so were happy to see Royal come back so we didn't have to fly to Texas or FL.. Understand the the port choices are limited and we have been to all them several times but at this point with ships like this we find the ship is the destination and we enjoy sea days but also enjoy port days in Ensenada since we usually don't leave the ship and have the decks and pools all to ourselves. Just provides for a good three or four day get away for us. We have never sailed this class and so like the idea of getting to see a different ship and signed up for the first cruise out in October. 

We had done a couple of thanksgiving week cruises in different locaitons (med. and carr.) and they had the decorations up on both cruises the week of Thanksgiving. 

1. We live in Long Beach, those are great months to sail out of the west coast ports. Will be warm and sunny all the time. Here we can get a marine layer in May (May gray) and June (June gloom) that can block the sun, still warm enought just not as much sun during those months. 

9 hours ago, pcur said:

The specialty restaurants compete for the Unlimited Dining Package buyers, as they are guaranteed income.  People that want a single reservation still have many, many options for dining at their restaurant of choice.

 

My sister and I like (because she's fussy) to get the UDP.  I book us for lunch the first day, pay for it, and we have the charge reversed when we show up on Day 1.  I also hand over our list of reservations we would like to make for the rest of the cruise, with a tip, and our specialty lunches and dinners are booked by the time lunch is over. I would like the convenience of doing it in advance, but having them made around noon on embarkation day is plenty early enough for now.  

 

Even if you don't eat lunch in a specialty restaurant the first day, it's open for you to ask they make your reservation(s) for the cruise; you don't have to wait until dinner time.

Agree, we do the same thing, the we have a list of our desired reservations and the first thing we do when we get on board is to visit a resturate and make all of our reservations. Occassionally we might have to move a half hour or so but not often. I would like to do it on line also, but from a business standpoint I get why they do it this way and its not a big deal for us. 

This is just an opinon from a service business point of view. If they allowed the package people to reserve a spot ahead of time it would take up all the key slots. Then people who only want one night would look, see the time slots were all full and not purchace the dinner. So they would lose that business. They already have our committement to dine in a specialy dining spot and so would lose possible additional revenue. My feeling is that block out individals slots for single dinners for each night so as to not upset people who might dine one night and like it and decide to do additional night. We have never had an issue getting a time within a half hour of our desired time when we book on line with the UDP. I know some will not like the idea but if it was my business our yours I think you would do the same thing. As long as you book your reservations early, that is the first thing we do when we board we have never had a problem. 

The pricing yesterday for the Ultimate Dinning package was a little over $300 per person, this is for an 8 day cruise. The Drink package was $72.99 per person and that is the lowest I have seen in the last couple of months. 

We live about 5 minutes from LBX and about 25 minutes from the port. The number of delays due to fog in Long Beach is very small. I work down near the port, can see the ship from where I work. Delays due to other ites, like customes or passenger issues can come up. I never use the highway to get downtown to avoide that traffic and use surface streets regardless of the time of day and it is never more than about 30 minutes to the airport from the port so an 11:45 flight should be easy. 

22 hours ago, BND said:

Of course, if they have custody/guardianship, then it would.  It appears that isn't the case.  I'm guessing Royal for some reason assumed the grandparent was the parent.  

Well since we have the same last name, live in the same house they may not have known that I was the grandparent. We have actually had this happen more that once. Not really a big deal since he didn't get any of the perks that go with our status. More of a funny souvenir than anything else. We are now Diamond+ and going again this year so will be interested to see if he gets upgraded, lol. 

8 hours ago, BND said:

That shouldn't have happened unlesHes he lives with you as a minor.  

He does. his mother and him live with us, so we have the same address and I was paying. But they didn't extend the rating to my daughter, I assume since she has her own account. 

4 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

If your kids have cruised with RCI, they should have a C&A number. If you are Diamond, for instance, then your kids should be Diamond also. Call C&A to verify that your kids have numbers and that their status is the same as yours. Their perks on board will be different than yours (no BOGO glass of wine for instance) but they will have several perks that apply to the younger cruisers.

Kind of a funny experience. We are Diamond and purchased a cruise with us for our daughter and 6 year old grandson on his first cruise. When we check in, my daughter is Platinum and she was looking at the sea passes, this was when they had a status in bold type on the bottom of the card. Hers says Platinum and our grandsons says Diamond. Since I purchased the cruise he got our status. Didn't really make any difference except now he has the sea pass as a souvenir.