Engineroom Snipe

8 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

They are all good but I especially liked the teeter tot slide - adorable

Very special because any normal towel would not support the load.

You have a keen eye.

Bryan placed a wiper like blade with a plastic bag to stiffen the board.

Genius.

"Defying Gravity".

😁

19 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Looks like everyone had a fun cruise.  Love it!!

Thank you😊

We had a great cruise until we had to say, "Au revoir."

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I am going to study some towel animal techniques between now and my next cruise in November.

Imagine surprising the cabin attendant on the first day with towel animal staring him in the face on the bed.

😮

12 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Super cute.  Our last cruise we didn’t get a single towel animal and I missed it!

Bryan threw down the towel gauntlet and we were game on!

I had a few cruises that had no towel animals.

We were both thinking all day long about how we were going to take it to the next level.

My wife and I were howling in laughter with his responses to our our presentations.

Just fun.

7 minutes ago, CruisinNole said:

I logged into the website this morning with my password. No problem. I installed the app this afternoon on my Android phone and logged in with the same password. No problem.

My wife has had no problems with her app sign-in just like you.

No rhyme or reason....

🤔

3 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

My old password met that criteria and didn't work

Maybe Royal has had a "problem" and is requiring everyone to create a new password?

🤔

10 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I cant sign in online so it's not just a app problem. I'm waiting for rcl to fix the sign in problem.

@firefly333

Heads up. Royal changed the password requirements. My password worked flawlessly for years until today. I had to reset my password to include a "number". I had capital, lower case letters and a special character but no "number". All I can guess is that they are implementing new password requirements.

Reset your password and Royal has three mandatory requirements, more than 8 characters, a numeric character, and a letter character.

My recent voyage on the Vision was a hoot because Bryan, our Cabin Steward, brought some great towels to life and I appreciated his efforts.

On the first sea day morning, Bryan left us "Mister T." watching some TV.

I made him comfortable in his own custom bed.

Life was as good as it gets with unlimited beverages and snacks.

He even has his own perch in order to get a higher perspective on life.

But as with so many things in life, too much of anything can be a source of stomach and head aches.

And then Bryan created Miss T.

They hit it off immediately and a special dinner and show led to romance.

The next day, along came Baby T. and then there were three.

Family fun arrived on the Royal Caribbean Slides.

Bryan created a unique Teeter Tot Slide. SO COOL!

Every family needs a loyal pet and along comes Pet T. from Bryan.

Baby T  and Pet T get along famously. Pet T gives Baby T a waterfall at his bath time.

At the very end, they want to Stowaway with us but I ask them to stay so they can give joy and happiness to the next cabin visitors.

Bryan, of the Vision of the Seas, April 4th, 2024, embarkation,  THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES!

We had so much fun challenging each other. I will bring a higher game next year.

3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 Of course It also helps if you love the included food there as much as I do.

The fixings bar for toppings is sooooo goood.  The tacos toppings are the absolute best except for the "sour cream" which seems to have separated into water and 'something'. Someone did not tell the preparers to smooth the sour cream so that the water would not separate from the solids and placed it back into the refrigerator.

The guacamole, cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, and everything is soooooo gooooood.

Cuban sandwiches are extremely good.

I have stated, "Why can't the ship not make this stuff as good as Coco Cay."

I would eat that stuff, "Everyday,"

No question, the highlight of my trip for dining.

10 hours ago, Biker19 said:

It was reported on Spectrum and maybe at least one other ship, though that may have been a test/temporary.

Yes, let us put one toe into the water to see if a crab nibbles at it or a shark arrives to bite the whole foot off.

😉

Pardon my typos, getting tired.

Goodnight everyone.

The Enchantment of the Seas in April of 2023 was one of the ships at the time which had turned off the ability to get ice from the Unlimited Soda Machines.  My goodness, all I was trying to do was get some ice and it was a journey.

This is why I distinctly remembering it so well.

I made a very heated response in my Royal questionnaire.

Since then, the soda machine have been distributing ice on my last November 2023 cruise on the Jewel.

1 minute ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Enchantment on the third deck, no cooler. trust me.

Add on, April, 2023, I can quote you the room. I did not even have ice for two days after requesting it on the first day and I posted it on CC.

33 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

On Enchantment you

might have one in the cabins in the stretch section of the ship. On Vision it would be unusual if you had one in an inside cabin. 

Enchantment on the third deck, no cooler. trust me.

9 minutes ago, miyanc said:

It may be in this now 330 page thread, but has anyone booked a gty, been given a room or noticed after 45 day check in that it was a bad or undesired room and successfully bid a royal up?  If I remember correctly we sailed on allure in 22 ( all got COVID only waved at ports from the balcony) when the 45 day check-in yielded a bar code there was something we didn't like about the room and for a small fee we were able to pay for an upgrade.  But that was by calling cs and switching the booking.  

I have purchased 3 GTY interior no view cabins in the past three years. I was fortunate on all three to like the cabin placements.

I did bid on other rooms in higher categories bud none were successful. My bids were slightly more than minimum.

Others have posted you might have a remote chance of switching rooms but the new room must be an identical category to the GTY. With ships filled beyond double capacity in the past year, very few rooms if any are available at 45 days out.

I never called my TA to try and change them so I do not know if he could have helped but again, I was happy with the GTY cabin.

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

 I'm preparing to hear complaints from newbies when their cruise is interrupted and no compensation. 

Maybe some of the newbies do not read CC or know about CC until they have a problem and do a search engine which leads them to this site.

3 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Yes they do.  You can have room service deliver drinks to your cabin.  Not ideal, but they will do it.

@time4u2go

Good to know. I never tried. Do they add a room service charge for the drink?

9 hours ago, SRF said:

Be advised, the bottle is only 375 ml, so 1/2 a normal bottle.

Add on: The standard US "shot" is 1.5 ounces of 40% spirits in general mixed with approximately 6 ounces of soda if it is say, a rum and coke.

The 375 ml will roughly translate to 12 ounces (13.2 ounces if you want to get picky) which gives you 8 US standard shots.

The package includes 4 X 12 ounce sodas which happens to be 8 x 6 ounce servings of soda to go with the 8 US standard shots.

At $45.99 for the Rum and Coke package, it comes out to 8 drinks for $5.75 per drink.

Not bad if you did not want a drink package or wanted something for your balcony since they do not deliver drinks to cabins.

There is a caveat that it should be consumed in the privacy of your cabin but I do not think anyone cares if you take the glass or cup out of the cabin. They just do not want to see you pouring the alcohol from the bottle in public spaces. I.E. Going to the Schooner Bar area at a table with the bottle, the pool deck, dining areas (you get the picture).

This is a nice add-on for Crown & Anchor members who might like a bit more alcohol than their voucher minimum and it can be consumed over multiple days of your cruise.

2 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have found the same thing in Cozumel. I suspect RCI gets some sort of deal to do that just like they do at Crown Bay on St. Thomas. It doesn't seem to matter that it is much more inconvenient for many of their customers.

Years ago, Royal used to give "Ship Shape" dollars for engaging in physical activities onboard. I can't believe how hard we worked for those yellow paper Monopoly style money dollars to exchange for shirts, water bottles, and visors. So much fun and so many memories.

The competition was brutal and some people tried to pull the "New York Marathon via the subway" run. We might have to do ten laps around the promenade deck to get a "Buck".

They would do slow laps, disappear for a while and mysteriously appear during the "last" lap.

I still laugh when I think about it.

"Money for nothing and your chicks for free." (Dire Straits, 1985)

Now , Royal is helping us to get additional steps in as they are consistently ported at the furthest dock.

Now, at Nassau, I think I walk more steps from the gangplank to the exit of the port area than ten times around the promenade on the Nordic Prince.

Where are my "Ship Shape dollars" for doing my exercise?

Come on Royal, "Throw me a bone."

Some typos are better left uncorrected if only to make us smile and laugh as we tend to take ourselves too seriously.

Thank you for leaving us something to chuckle about.

3 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

Just an FYI when sailing from NOLA Royal eats the state sales tax and the last on Carnival in 2019 you could use their drink package, but they charged you the State Tax separately.

 

I am on vacation and hate to read all of the fine print.

Only those who look at the final bill sometimes say, "Where is this x.xx% VAT coming from?" I am still in the United States.

We are used to the foreign islands tacking this on.

Domesticated VATS, they are multiplying everywhere.

The cruise lines can pass them on and keep that price per person double occupancy number looking very lucrative to the newbies.

6 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have never received a military discount on any RCI cruise. I assume they exist since it is an option on the website and people have mentioned getting one like in this thread, but I guess I always pick the wrong cruise ship/dates. 
 

Just an FYI, I have gotten several military discounts on Celebrity cruises. 

In thirty-five years of cruising, I only applied for one military discount on Royal which was worth about 10% off of the cruise but conditioned that with non-refundable deposit. I had insurance and knew, short of something going catastrophic, we would make that cruise. I took it and saved some money.

Maybe once in my lifetime considering my cruise experiences.

TA's pricing is so good that I have never been able to get a price adjustment on any of my cruises to date.

I am hoping this changes because I might have lost my house on a bet about the timeline of the Baltimore shipping channel. I need all of the discounts I can get!

😬

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

OK, I'm still a teenager at heart.  I laughed at this.

🙄🤭🤣

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

You really do need to eat your sandwiches under towels, all of my kids have learned the hard way.

Yeah, they really love the ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo and fresh Jersey tomatoes. We take turns guarding each other as we eat under a beach umbrella....I always carry a loaded flyswatter with us. The ammo is unlimited until I get exhausted.

From Finding Nemo (2003), "Mine,...Mine...., Mine, Mine...."

🤬

13 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

🥹

We don't qualify for this one but frankly, I have never heard of ANYone getting it.  Why even have it ?

As my TA explained to me:

I qualify for LEO, Veteran, and over 55.

I have seen LEO and first responder discounts on a few cruises this past year but it was in the last ninety before embarkation.

I book almost as soon as the cruises are listed on the TA's website. I normally get to pick my room for the same price as Royal's GTY of the selected cabin class.

I get a small amount of OBC from my TA and in most cases OBC from Royal. My deposit is fully refundable until 120 days when final payment is due as part of my TA's contract with Royal regardless of the length of cruise.

If I try to apply the discounts in most cases, the deposit becomes non-refundable.

I am not sure if it would be worth the 4 to 5% savings to lose my ability to refund unless my cruise was within the 120 embarkation period when the full amount would be due upon booking anyway.

If you click discount check boxes for all of the discounts, it normally defaults to 55 plus discount because all of the them are the same percentage and it only allows one discount in most of my mock bookings.

I could click any one of them and get the same discount and the deposit changes to non-refundable.

2 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I would be interested to know why, if the coast guard was willing to bring them out to the ship, the captain refused. I'm not judging the decision as I don't know the reasoning. However, I'd like to know the reasoning.

I was thinking the same thing.

If all of the equipment used for tendering was stored and the anchors up, maybe any attempt at boarding was considered unsafe?

I cannot imagine what would happen if someone fell into the water during the transfer.