karen s

I cruised to Bermuda out of Cape Liberty in late August b/w two hurricanes in 2010...a little bumpy...but a fantastic cruise!!! Bad weather is always a risk no matter when you cruise....but a cruise is a cruise no matter where it takes you :)

If you've got a cabin you like at a price you're happy with from an easily accessible port, I wouldn't cancel.

I haven't cruised enough to get any points or any status. I really don't care, I just enjoy cruising.

*Like*

When I see posts like this I think back to my first cruises and my balcony-less cabins...I was thrilled, cuz...heck...I was on a cruise!!!! How can anyone complain on a cruise!!?? :eek: Or care about my cruise-mates' status...I didn't even know what that meant...best to go back to those times ;)

Thank you guys for all the feedback! I'm so excited for my next cruise for sure. I was leaning more towards Navigator too because of all of your valid points but I think you guys have pretty much helped make that decision. ;)

 

When is the best time to buy on RC for better deals or is it like any other cruise line?

 

Any other advice to give a first time royal cruiser?

There's no "smoking gun" answer on when to buy. RCI has so many WOW sales that you can't keep up with them all. Just purchase when you're comfortable with the cabin/price. I always shop for a specific cabin/itinerary/dates and hope for a price drop prior to final payment. (After final payment you can't get On Board Credit for a price drop, just a possible upgrade if available). But if not, I am satisfied that I got the cabin I wanted and don't fret about the price; personally I wouldn't have booked it in the first place if I wasn't.

Parking is a breeze in Galveston if you're driving in. Have sailed from there a few times. It's a set price based on the # nights of the cruise paid in advance, with a shuttle the 100 yds from the parking lot to the pier.

Good luck!!

The new Concierge Lounge on Brilliance is spectacular!! So roomy with a great view. Brilliance also has a private gold card passenger seating area in the Windjammer, so you don't have to fight the crowds for a seat. It was a life saver when traveling with my 91 yr grandmother in a wheelchair last October.

And as with all suites, you can order MDR dinners for room service if you so desire. Plus, priority tenders, priority embarkation/disembarkation, spa/excursion/specialty dinner reservations available with assistance by the concierge, business services, and almost daily sweets in your suite :)

I agree with most of the other posters....go with the Navigator first. Especially if you're driving distance to Galveston. It's got the updates from the refurb without all the "Smart Ship" bells and whistles of the Quantum class. It will give you more of a feel of RCI and the majority of the RCI ships.

Besides....no one has ever sailed on a Quantum class ship yet, so not much to compare it to just yet.

Have a great cruise no matter what ship you choose!!

I am fully confident that our room steward will take care of it....I just hate to make him/her do double the work is all. :o

I tried to pre-arrange my 2 college-aged daughter's and my Christmas sailing cabin arrangement on Explorer to have the beds apart but have been told by C&A that now all cabins will be set up with both beds together and there is no longer an option to request them apart prior to boarding.

C&A claimed that it would make cabin availability faster, but I just think that's a bigger burden on the stewards to have to remake them if requested once the passengers are on board....

The agent said it was just a start of a brand new 10 min check in procedure to roll out in the next 1-2 yrs. To begin their goal to have a 10min pier to cabin embarkation -- beginning with the Quantum Class ships: there will be reserved check in times that you select when checking in online from home, taking your security photo from home and uploading it to your reservation, and then check-in via I-Pad with check in agents wandering about the terminal to verify you are the same person in the photo you uploaded, hmmm...

I then asked what if passengers showed up earlier than their reserved check in time would they be turned away and asked to wait?? He said no, they could still embark outside the reserved time. What??? Doesn't that just blow the whole 10min process out of the water?? He said no, it would still work.

Good lord....what's to come??? :eek:

Would you tell me more about this? My family is also planning a 2016 Alaska cruise, but we will be very limited in our choices of dates. How much time is there usually between when itineraries are announced and when they can be booked? Thank you.

I was able to book our July 2014 Alaska in March 2012. We had 9 folks in my group, ages 9-71 and my family had specific cabins/ship/itinerary (Radiance Southbound in GS 1060 and TFS 1054 with an interior for my college age daughters close by), so as soon as I was able to snag those cabins on a Radiance SB in the summer of 2014, I grabbed them!

We didn't want to be herded around like cattle on a cruise tour, so we made up our own. We all met in Anchorage, spent the night there and the next morning took the train to Denali. We stayed at the Denali Crow's Nest cabins for 2 nights during which we took the 8 hour Denali tour through the park (arranged with the Nat'l Park Service) and took the train back to Anchorage the next day. After spending another night in Anchorage (in the Embassy Suites), we took the "Coastal Friday" train to Seward. Overall, it was a great pre-cruise trip.

I saved a huge amount by going through Elmendorf AFB Tickets and Tours to pre-purchase our train tickets. Pre-purchase is a must!! We took Gold Star Class from Anchorage to Denali (Glass top cars, free bar service, outdoor viewing area) and Adventure Class (standard train car) back to Anchorage and the next day, from there to Seward. If I had to do it over again, I would have gotten the Gold Star Class for the Anchorage to Seward trip - breathtaking!!

What was great about the Anchorage to Seward leg (besides the views), is that anyone boarding the ship dropped their bags off (as long as they had RCI luggage tags) at a special loading area and they were loaded on a truck and driven to the ship. Voila! We didn't have to do the bag drag for the short walk from the train station to the pier. It's about a half-mile walk.

I booked all our excursions privately: Amazing...and I mean AMAZING...whale watching in Juneau, nothing in Skagway (we were done with trains by then so we just hiked to a lake close by, beautiful), nothing in Icy Strait Point (other than the zip line, there really isn't a whole lot there, a sea plane tour of the Misty Fjords in Ketchikan, and a 5 hour city tour of Vancouver for post-cruise. If you want specific companies we went through, just ask. They were all great. And other than rain in Juneau, the weather was fantastic!! The Misty Fjords weren't misty at all :D

A note on flying out of Vancouver airport - give yourselves plenty of time (at least 2 1/2-3 hrs) to make it through security/customs. We flew Delta, so the lines weren't too bad. But the United lines were super, super long. My mom and sister and her family flew United, and they barely made their flight at 6am after getting to the airport at 3:30.

We all preferred the SB because of the opportunity to see interior Alaska pre-cruise, make our way south through the interior passage, and then have a much shorter flight home. Long flights home make post-cruise blues so much more intense. :(

Our itinerary looked like this:

Mon - flew to Anchorage

Tues - 8 hr train to Denali

Wed - 8 hr bus tour of Denali Nat'l Park

Thur - 8 hr train ride back to Anchorage

Fri - 4 hr train to Seward, board ship

Sat - Hubbard Glacier (cruising)

Sun - Juneau

Mon - Skagway

Tues - Icy Strait Point

Wed - Ketchikan

Thur - At Sea

Fri - Vancouver

If we would have had more time, I would've spent a couple more days in Denali to be able to hike some of the trails.

Whatever you choose, you will certainly enjoy it, we all sure did!

Good luck!!

Karen

I met a couple on my recent Alaska cruise who, on a previous Alaska cruise, did the "Laundry Excursion." They found a local laundry mat at one of the ports and took their laundry off the ship to wash themselves...just a thought...

My family considered the Laundry Excursion in Skagway, but due to customs restrictions, couldn't take large bags off/on the ship...so we did the wash and fold special with our C&A 50% coupon. Well worth it.

I sailed with my 91 yr old grandmother last October on Brilliance out of Boston. I prearranged with Special Needs for assistance for embarkation. She rented the wheelchair from home so that she would have it throughout the trip and airport travels. Since it was "ours" she could use it onboard throughout the cruise. We were also able to have a bath chair delivered to the room prior to arrival through the Special Needs department. There is no additional fee for any special needs requirements that we ever encountered.

RCI is very accommodating -- they had a team of folks at embarkation and debarkation waiting to assist, I'm sure whether you made pre-arrangements or not. We tipped them each time. Your tip amount is totally up to you.

As far as when...when going up down the gangways...other than that, we could handle it on our own. But they were ready to assist as long as we needed.

Have a fantastic cruise!!

You have to do the posting off your own back so buy an internet package is only way to make it work

 

 

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So dancinman66, I have to ask, are you really on the Rhapsody from 17 April-12 June 2015???

To the OP - concur will all other posters, if you want to post "live" it will cost you an internet package. If you want to post after the fact when at home at no cost, then a Youtube video or other method is your best bet.

The OS balcony on Radiance is smaller than the OS on Navigator - but we are talking degrees here. Even though the "old" OS layout had a smaller balcony to give more room to the bed area it's still big. I would still take it over the GS larger balcony to get the nicer room perks.

I disagree - other than a bit bigger cabin at the expense of the balcony, the room perks between a GS and OS are the same on the Radiance. GS and above suite perks are all the same.

I have stayed on an OS on Navigator and GS and OS on Radiance/Brilliance (both before/after upgrade). The perks are the same - but if given a choice on the Radiance, I would go for the GS....lower cost, larger balcony....which is a plus on an Alaska cruise.

JMHO...whichever cabin you choose, your voyage will be fantastic!!

As often as I have sailed with RCI, I have never been offered any sort of military discount...and I'm active duty going on 26 yrs of service...guess I travel on much too popular sailings to be able to get one :rolleyes:

Nonetheless, I am happy with the prices I've paid without a discount or else I wouldn't sail with RCI. If I ever did get a bonus, then it would be just that, a bonus. :) Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised one day.

Have a fantastic cruise!!

Karen

Isn't that the cabin next to RS? The dbl acting slider definitely brought the outdoors in. I think only 2 of the GS 's have that door

 

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No, 1060 is opposite the RS, on the forward side of the elevator. Just a regular slider, but a huge, deep balcony. Great to view the Hubbard Glacier.

And note to others who sail in suites to Alaska - they have terrific binoculars in the room for your use. Just wish I hadn't discovered them on living area side table under the TV on disembarkation day....:o

Karen

My husband proposed in front of a backdrop on formal night :)

 

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I think that would be neat since a photographer could capture the exact moment, but if you have a other family members, then any venue could provide that perfect Kodak moment.

There are many opportunities for a romantic proposal when cruising - either on the beach or on the ship. Whatever they decide, I am sure it will be special and unique. Be sure to give us a follow up!!

And oh, flash mobs are always fun :D

My NINE year old niece got repeated emails to purchase a drink package on our last cruise (she was a 5th person in two room suite with her own reservation number [RCI can only put 4 peeps max to a ressie]). So it's not surprising to me. When emailing the MDR to request a table by the window, they sent back a confirmation with our table number and listed her as age 50 and my college aged daughters as 104...I wouldn't sweat it.:p

Just a point of reference - I am just off the Radiance on an Alaska cruise this past July and sailed in GS 1060, HUGE balcony on the hump. Overall, the GS's have a larger balcony than the OS on the Radiance no matter what cabin you sail in...the OS's on Radiance have smaller balconies as they take about a third of it away for the increased square footage for the bedroom area of the cabin. I learned that when sailing on the Brilliance in an OS and their cabin footprints are basically the same.

I would much prefer a GS on Radiance over a OS simply because of the balcony - and it comes with all the same amenities and gold card as an OS.

Just my opinion. Enjoy your cruise, Alaska is amazing!!!

I would say, give her a sedative and put her on a plane and take her on an Alaska cruise. Tell her Alaska, and that should make her happy, its in the U.S. just leave out the part where you get on or get off in Canada. I suggest the Radiance of the Seas, mid July is best. We did the southbound and it was awesome. Get a nice balcony, because you can't do Alaska any other way. She won't have to swim, even in July its chilly. Its port intensive so she can get off the ship almost every day. You will have to do some excursions since you are going all the way there. Some of the things I saw just took my breath away, or blew my mind. Alaska was the most amazing cruise/excursions. I'm 60. Not too many kids on these cruises because they do seem to cost a bit more, especially the excursions. I really wanted to do it while I was young enough to enjoy it. I think too many cruisers put it off for when they are older. This is a mistake.

I concur with Alaska - just off the Radiance on a Southbound in late July this year and it was breathtaking. So glad I was with my family, to include my 71 yr old mom, my daughters in their 20's, and nieces and nephews in their tweens...there was something for everyone.

My grandmother, mother, and I were on the same cruise last Oct on Brilliance and did not have a tour scheduled (Unfortunately Acadia was closed due to the government shutdown last year, so our tour was cancelled), but loved the port all the same. It was a quick tender and tons of shops/restaurants at the port. It's very hilly (I learned that fast as my grandmother was in a wheelchair), but very scenic. Great Lostah in Bar Harbah!! You will not be disappointed.

Karen

I'm thinking those secret balconies aren't so secret anymore...are they a lot more crowded now that the word is out? Or is it just a CC secret?

We were on the last 2 Explorer Christmas cruises.

 

Egg Nog both with and without the booze is served on Christmas morning.

 

Santa makes a stop at Studio B for the kids.

 

Midnight mass in the Palace Theater or Christmas carols in the Royal Promenade.

 

Ships Christmas Tree in front of the Cafe Promenade.

 

Traditional Christmas Dinner in the MDR.

 

And the Gingerbread village is in front of the Windjammer.

 

Have a great Holiday cruise, we will miss the Explorer as she goes to drydock and other homeports.

Thanks Freo, we're really looking forward to this Christmas Cruise!

A few of the Christmas decorations you can expect to see...

 

Navigator of the Seas

 

 

Navigator of the Seas

 

 

Serenade of the Seas (this was the only ship I have seen the Gingerbread Village. They may do it on others and I just have missed it.)

 

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Have a wonderful cruise...

 

Happy Holidays

Those are amazing photos - thanks so much. Really looking forward to our holidays at sea!!

Karen

We did a Christmas cruise several years ago and we were in port on Christmas Day. There were almost NO shops open, and very little to do, other than go to the nearby beach. We did not care, since for us, it was just time for us to stretch our legs off the ship for awhile and then back to the ship for enjoyable pool time.

 

But for those that wanted typical activities in port, it was a bummer.

Since it's Labadee, we're not looking for any special activities off the ship...just some snorkeling and beach time. I will just have to pass out candy canes to those who need to work on the holiday :p

Awesome, thank you!!

OK, seems to be back up and running...for now. :rolleyes:

Yep, down all afternoon for me, but seems to be back up. Guess they had to re-group after some of their "specials" that ended yesterday.