minn0315

Embassy Suites is great! Unlimited alcohol drinks for two hour in the evening. A great cooked-to-order breakfast. All included with the hotel. Cab ride is reasonable. Everything was superb in March on our cruise from SJU to southern Caribbean!

Is VOOM free for grand suite and above guests on those ships with it? Starting with the new suites perks May 1?

This is my standard reply to drink package questions: We were on Navigator in December and Adventure in March. On both cruises I purchased the Premium Package. $49 per day plus the 18% gratuities.

If you have two glasses of a decent wine at lunch, $12 each, then two glasses of wine at dinner, that equals $48. So for only four glasses of wine in a day, you have basically broken even. Hardly a drunk package.

Also any drinks before lunch, after lunch, after dinner would be gravy. I have also noticed that the alcohol per mixed drink has decreased, with many bartenders measuring to the drop. So while you could have 6 mixed drinks in a day, the alcohol content has seemed to me like 3 on land.

i DO print out and carry the Guest Ticket Booklet. On page 10 it lists your onboard confirmations; i.e. specialty dining booked and paid for; drink packages booked and paid for; Broadway shows, Comedy show, Aqua show that you have confirmed reservations.

There is also listed the excursions that you have booked and paid for.

If there is ever a question you have hard copy proof of all of your booked and paid for activities.

When traveling in a Grand Suite or above, or you are Pinnacle, you have complimentary cooked to order breakfasts at one of the specialty restaurants. Or, on Allure and Oasis, the Coastal Kitchen.

On our last two cruises on Navigator in December and Adventure in March, I had Eggs Benedict every day, first in Chops, then in Giovanni's Table, respectively. Excellent! The eggs were cooked perfectly and the Hollandaise sauce was spot on!

Thanks to everyone. The phone call does it.

Thanks.

My DW, SIL and DN are sailing on Allure May 15, 2016. I thought I would give them a gift certificate for on board credit for those little extras.

I went to the RCI website and entered all of the information. When I clicked on purchase, my screen stated that the RCI website was not secure and would not let me complete the purchase for my internet safety.

So...can I just give the ladies cash that they can deposit with GS on the first day as a credit to their account from day 1? (They each have credit cards on file for onboard expenses with RCI - not cash accounts)

Thanks for any help.

It may not be girly, but my girl, my wife, likes any liquor with DIET sodas. We macho guys don't for diet soda...

I always get the Premium Package. It works for me. The mixed drinks on Adventure last month, a simple rum and coke or gin and tonic, was $8.26 including the gratuity.

The drinks are so weak that I never got drunk or embarrassed my wife. So you may think six or seven drinks is a lot spread over a whole sea day, but the weakness of the drinks has to be considered.

For those who do drink wine, most good glasses of wine are $12.00 or more. Two with lunch and two with dinner and you are within a buck or two of the daily package cost. Any alcohol before or after is "free" with the PP.

Regarding the number of devices: If you plan to use the Royal Online Lounge with the regular desktop computers and printer, that counts as one device.

We had a two device, 1 iPad and 1 iPhone, plan earlier this months and had to log off one of those devices if we wanted to use the computer lounge to print our airline boarding passes.

20% off Premium Package offered for our Allure sailing 5-15-16. On the cruise planning page now.

DL is deck 14 with windows. Sometimes it spills out into the Viking Crown Lounge. CL is on deck 9, no windows.

We were on Adventure two weeks ago, 3/5 - 3/12. When my wife went to the pool deck early, before they had pre-stocked the suites loungers between decks 11 and 12 with towels, she got the big blue towels and had to have her seapass card scanned. She then returned the towels and was rescanned so at not to be charged. This happened nearly every day of the cruise.

When leaving the ship at ports there was a tent with RCI employees immediately upon exiting the ship. They too scanned cards for towels to be used for shore use.

Keep your packing light; no need for beach towels from home. Bon voyage!

You may have seen national news that our MSP airport consolidated 6 security check points down to 2 check points. Lines extend out the doors and some security times are up to 90 minutes!?! We had Pre Check and went through in 3 minutes.

We did enroll in TSA Pre Check last year and went through the fingerprinting, interview and $85 for five years.

We now get Pre Check every time. However, many airports and many airlines do not participate in the program. Also, many of the responses in this board are from people age 75 or over, who are getting by without taking off belts, shoes, etc., so that should be in your perspective.

Our latest at SJU for our return from the southern itinerary on RCI Adventure we were the ONLY people in the Pre Check line.

Prior to this, and to those of you that previously got random, free Pre Check, those days ARE OVER! Increased security requires vetting of all Pre Check passengers now; pay up or stand in line. Brussels, etc...

We are very loyal to Royal and this has never happened to us.

But the car dealers that advertise here on radio and television make a big point that their sales staff receive no commissions on car sales. They are rewarded by "10s" on the post sale surveys and we have been hounded about giving those tens or they may not be able to make their rent, etc...

Some service on RCI should be given a 12, some should be given -5, if they had those numbers on the survey.

RCI only cares about how much you paid for THIS cruise. The way to get a great experience is to book in Grand Suite and above. Then the Suites Lounge is the place to be, as well as Coastal Kitchen. GOLD card, suites and pinnacles, are the tops now.

Many with diamond and diamond plus got there paying for cheap inside cabins to gain points for nights on board. Hence the overcrowding.

The best perks are for PRESENT high dollar paying passengers....

Two weeks ago today, March 8, we were on Adventure at the C&A welcome back party. The captain stated that Enchantment would be the first RCI ship to Cuba.

I spoke with him one on one about a half an hour later and he again stated that it was his understanding that it would be Enchantment.

Same email in December. Arrived at 11:00 am and walked right on board. It's a ruse.

I also have CPAP and always bring an extension cord. BUT, I do not bring it out until I go to sleep and I put in a drawer when first arising in the morning. Out of sight, out of mind.

I also use a power strip for portable electronics and do the same routine at night. The stateroom attendant never sees it so it is never noticed or taken away.

The simple solution to this is for RCI to add additional electrical outlets on a reasonable basis.

Grand Suite and above and Pinnacle get gold COLORED cards. (Not to be confused with gold status). Not for junior suites, sorry...

They do patrol the Gold Card sun decks and check cards three to four times a day. We have seen many people being escorted out of the reserved area by security.

We encountered some rain two weeks ago on Adventure. I liked the small movie theater, The Screening Room, for a diversion from the rain, deck 2 forward.

Also very quiet bar during the early afternoon is the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 14.

Do any of you remember the episode of the Twilight Zone, that was titled "To Serve Man"? I'm starting to think that cruise ships are some sort of inter galactic version of a spaceship, to which they're fattening us up, to send to space for their dinner. Is Richard Fain really a Martian? Was Matt Damon really on Mars, or is he in on the whole master plan? Is he a Martian too and this is some sort of inside joke?

 

Prime example, the next photos throughout the day to which is solidifying my theory. This was waiting for us in our cabin this afternoon.

 

 

Even though the photo doesn't look that appealing, the thick cut bacon at Chops is delicious. We only asked for one, but our waiter brought us another slice 10 minutes later. Does he know something we don't?

 

 

Owen got the $10 kids meal which included a 10 ounce New York strip steak. When the waiter put it in front of him, the first words out of his mouth were "this is so good I could faint". That's my boy.

 

Lisa and I each had a Caesar salad to start and shared two pieces of bacon. We each had the 9 ounce filet mignon and at that point we were contently full. However our waiter was having none of that. He insisted that we took dessert to go. Hopefully the spaceship is departing at the end of our B2B.

 

I said you're getting food porn, but I didn't tell you that it was edited.[emoji12]

 

 

 

 

 

We found dinner to be delicious and properly cooked. We would make the comment that the romantic notion of a quiet dinner at Chops has long passed. It took a 15 minutes to get the waiter to the table but once your order was placed it was a while oiled machine.

 

 

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Did you think there was too much gratis food delivered to your room? We did not eat any of the fruit plate, none of the chocolate dipped strawberries or truffles. Maybe a little of the cheese. Just too much food went to waste. We didn't ask for it and it was not eaten.

Used to be $15, might be $20 now.

Yes, $20 for lunch.

We found that glass bottles were not allowed around the pool. Instead, beer in bottles were poured into plastic cups. Apparently this is for safety. They don't want people dropping glass bottles on the pool deck and shattering where people are walking with bare feet.