Engineroom Snipe

One must use discretion, I too have cruised many years. Fortunately, I have not experienced the lows of "portable water systems" onboard a cruise ship. There are no absolutes and one must feel comfortable with the situation they are in at the time.

@ckmommyThank you for taking the time for this review. My last trip on the Oasis in September had more dishes than I have remembered in the past but it seems you had much more in the hallway. On the Enchantment in April of this year, if I left my table unattended in the WJ for more than two minutes, everything was gone. My wife and I had to take turns guarding the table. Completely different from your experience and the occupancy was full.

It is the new "Jimmy Buffett Memorial Cruise Calendar" where it is always five-o-clock somewhere and no one counts the days in a month. 🤣

Number one, I hate to hear that someone gets sick on a cruise because I know how much we all look forward to enjoying our cruise. Thank you for being so considerate to self-isolate. There are many who would say, "Full speed ahead" in complete disregard of others. I wonder if your meal trays were put on a high priority cleaning schedule since you told them you were sick and self isolating? Was the crew aware that you were not feeling well or was this a regular practice during your cruise?

This is a great way to work your way back to the ship while still enjoying the local flavor. Start further away in the beginning but make sure you are local for two hours before the last gang plank. If you want to imbibe a bit onshore, make sure that you migrate your bar every half-hour closer to the ship. Many ports have local hotpots very close to the ship just for these jaunts. You have the most important fact in your head already, DO NOT BE LATE FOR THE SHIP! DO NOT BE A PIER RUNNER! Other than that, enjoy your cruise. 😁

International airfare is a big wildcard combined with having to book a hotel for the day before in case something happens to your flight. This is a HUGE consideration when going anywhere let alone overseas. I understand your concern.

Like Charlie Brown, on the Charlie Brown Holloween Special, "All I got were rocks.." Join the FERS crowd!

You are very accurate. I made the mistake of not adding the caveat that the cruise must be 15 days or longer. But when the bell tolls for the 75 or 90 days for shorter cruises, the toll keeper wants the contract to be honored WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS. I change my verbiage, "NO OBC FOR YOU! (please look and carefully examine the exact dates how these words will affect you, look for the exact amount of dates that your cruise is, compare it to the exact amount of dates included in YOUR specific contract, and possibly contact a lawyer or experienced travel agent to elucidate your misunderstandings of the contract. So, I agree with you, the contract holder and its wording is VERY important and do not assume anything) Does anyone understand how stupid and complicated the contract is for the amount of money one is paying? You make a terrific specific point on how one must almost be an expert on contract law just to book a cruise. If something goes wrong, the cruise line is completely held non-responsible and you are free to vacation elsewhere, "Good day Sir.." (Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). I love cruising. I have cruised for more than thirty years and this is just getting ridiculous on trying to understand the rights of a cruise contract. A perfect transition into the haunting season that occurs during this month. 😱

Worth it to buy a moderately priced watch that you can set to ship's time. So few people use a standard stand-alone watch nowadays. I got it. We all have cellphones and smart watches which are directly linked to cellphones. I have a watch which is independent of any time source except to what I set it. Much great advice on this post to set your stand alone watch to ship's time before you leave and set a timer for one hour before the gang plank is removed. Sometimes, simple is better and more reliable. When you get back onboard the ship, you can take the watch off until your next adventure.

The payment bonds are due on RCI borrowing during the epidemic. "NO OBC FOR YOU!" Read the fine print on your cruise contract. You can then contact me after two hours of reading and know you have no rights except to pay for your cruise and enjoy it. If you want to cruise, they own you after final payment which is now 120 days before your cruise on cruises 5 days or longer. Anything else is goodwill or weakness from RCI. 😏

I would send up a signal flare but it did not seem to help anyone on the Titanic. One ship in the area thought they were just doing fireworks for entertainment of the passengers.

Already have plenty of them, they just walk past the dirty dishes! 😁

Or taking it to a higher level. 😁

RCI has an opportunity to make this subject into an additional revenue stream. Paint a wide yellow band at the bottom hallways where parking and stopping unregistered wheeled conveyances (how about that legalize wording?) is forbidden. First time violators will be verbally abused by staff and fellow passengers (limited to fellow passengers no more than two cabins in proximity to the violator) for a minimum of 15 minutes. A second violation will result in the perpetrator's wheeled property to be towed and subject to an initial OBC deduction for the violation and a storage fee for any property not recovered in 24 hours. Said property will be disposed of at sea during the next cruise if not claimed. Suggested disposal sites can also include Coco Cay where the objects can enhance fish habitats and provide another unique diving experience subject to removing any hazardous parts from the equipment. An Unlimited Wheelie Package is available but everyone registered to a cabin must be enrolled. This entitles the registered users to park in exclusive areas on all decks to include the Windjammer, MDR, and pool areas. The availability of these packages is subject to limitations of parking spaces which will allow Pinnacles to use spaces should all of the packages not be sold out. Sky Class cruisers and above will be provided a Premium Police High Roller Package to include strobe lights, siren, and prerecorded recordings such as "GET OUT OF MY WAY, I AM LATE FOR MY COFFEE AND DONUTS!" or one of my favorites, "I AM PRIVILEGED, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" With great privileges, comes great responsibility. As such, all Packages will come with motion activated tamper resistant wheelie cams. This provides users an addition degree of protection against false accusations and allows additional fines of other passengers who obstruct your path or refuse to give way. Package purchasers will be given the benefit of doubt against any allegations because, let's face it, they are paying extra bucks and RCI has bills to pay. I can see the $$$$$$$$$$ rolling in now.

Also know as "Philadelpia's Pain in the A$$." The parking rules get to the point that your car is towed for just about anything and it is a small fortune and much time to try and get your wheels out of their compound lots. Get the PPA involved on the high seas and they might try to ticket the lifeboats for parking too close to the railings. 😮

Wow! This thread just started on Tuesday. It seems like we have another hot button issue that has made an impact on many cruisers. I see another revenue stream from RCI as they put the "Boot" on strollers, scooters, wheelchairs and anything else left in the hallways. It would be a hoot to see a 100lb yellow boot holding a ten pound stroller hostage for "a release" fee. Do not get me started on the Philadelphia Parking Authority. They would eagerly jump on an idea like that if there was a little bit of payola involved. 😧

On my Oasis cruise in September, I noticed many trays on the floor in our hallway. There seems to be no "sweeps" from what used to be many crew members that would get these items. One very clear memory was walking the 5th floor running deck for almost two hours with my wife. We try to do 6 miles between 8am and 10am. I saw a plate of what looked to be beef tenderloin on the starboard side about midship on an area that would be used to board the boat. We were returning to Bayonne and the sun was very bright on that side of the ship to the poiint there was a reflection from the plate. It had to be from the night before. There was no way anyone walking by would not notice it. I joked to my wife,"One of the officers left it there to see how long it would take for anyone to notice and take action." This was not an idle comment. In the Navy, anyone who walked past a glaring problem signaled to command leadership that something was amiss. Even if we could not fix the problem, we would bring it to the attention of someone who could address it. We completed our walk two hours later and it was still their despite dozens of crew members working on the deck vacuuming water from the deck channels, painting the area, and maintaining the lifeboats. Crew in dress uniforms walked by it and nothing happened. Each day we noticed something small but very obvious. A cup and plate on the aft port side just before the stern wake view. It was there our whole two hour walk. It left an impression on me.

I have foraged for my luggage on my 2020 cruise just before the big shut-down. Our cruise was out of Bayonne and the ship was only 75% occupancy. We checked in two bags. The bags were checked in at 10:00 am with a tip, properly marked, and before the normal surge of passengers. On previous cruises, they were waiting near our cabin when they opened at 1:30pm. One garment bag (very easy to differentiate from regular bags ) was found at about 7pm after a local search every hour past the time our cabin was opened for use. I even placed special colorful strips on the handles to make them standout from a other grey and black bags used by so many fellow passengers. I first just checked our immediate area of about fifty-feet each way from our cabin and then extended the search pattern each time. I eventually found my last bag on the opposite side of the ship at the stern. It had the proper tag with the proper area attached yet it was in the wilderness, alone, and undelivered on the wrong side of the ship and at the opposite end. I only found it because of my colorful stripping and it being abandoned, sitting by itself, with no other bags around. Since then, I pack a bit lighter. We take all of our luggage aboard with us. I take a personnel item bag, a small roller bag with one larger bag. I can attache all of them together and it is a manageable load. I spent a bit more on luggage and they all roll beautifully together. My wife packs a personnel bag with one light roller. She puts her larger items in my larger bag so we only use one larger bag. She can quickly and easily handle her personnel bag and light roller without any assistance, even up ramps and escalators. Many fellow cruisers look at me in astonishment as I roll my bags with ease onboard. They look heavy but roll with ease. When I get to my room, I have everything in tow and I am ready to start my cruise with no time wasted looking for my checked bags. We all have our idiosyncrasies, I do not like wasting time on my cruise looking for my checked bags.

I would think that any business would like to get as many paying customers as possible regardless of age. I am sure that the business would not like to limit their possible profits by creating a minimum and maximum age of their customers. The business has its reason for doing so. I cannot threaten them with taking away my business from them because they would not have me anyway! 😁

You will value this vacation as a validation of her wisdom. The apple never falls far from the tree (unless 'Johnny Appleseed' got hold of it). I am told I am too old to do things. We deal with these stereotypes and try to change the perception of things. My goodness, sounds like the 60's! 🤣

No argument here. Everything in life is arbitrary. It should be about ability but it is not. Adapt or die. I learned that over 50 years ago. I wish life was so simple and predictable. NOT! 😁

I do not think anyone here takes joy in the fact that you will probably not be able to get them suite access. We have no ax to grind. Most of the posters are very experienced with disappointment over the years learning the "rules" so they can share the truth with you. The suite perks are very nice. Everyone would like to have them. Many of the ships are very full and you have said that all of the suites are sold. This would indicate that many of the suite only accessible venues are going to be full of guests with little wiggle room to try and accommodate non-suite guests, no matter how well intended. RCI has shown an increased effort to ensure that only suite guests have access to the perks due to the high suite occupancy of this past year. There are many posts describing how Pinnacles who used to have access to some of the suite perks are now being denied those perks because of the spaces dedicated to suite guest being overloaded with non-suite cruisers.

This thread is right at the top of hot button lists: 1. Chair Hogs 2. Unruly children 3. Rude and poor behavior of guests. 4. Imbibed guests. 5. Overloading the pools and jacuzzis 6.Shorts and hats in the MDR. 7. Finger licking guests in the Windjammer. 8. Poor elevator etiquette. We as children were admonished, "You are too young to do this....." When we grew, we told our children, "You are too young to do this..." We told our parents, "You are too old to do this..." Now we are older and the shoe is on the other foot. 😉😇🤣

I have a spacious hump balcony exactly where I want to be for a 9 day cruise in November. I was offered to bid on a Junior Suite starting at $100 per person, a Grand Suite for $200 per person, and a 2 bedroom Panoramic suite for $150 per person. I do not need a two bedroom and I wanted a large balcony (about 120 square feet) so the I did not bid on it. I did not bid on the JS rooms because I liked my location and larger balcony more than any of the JS locations. I bid the minimum for the GS since I liked the locations and would enjoy the additional perks (but believe it or not, most of the GS balconies have less square footage than my hump balcony). I really like my original room. so an upgrade would be a surprise at such a low bid. Once you get into bed with your eyes closed, the size of the room does not matter. I have had some of my best cruise experiences (and sleep) in interior rooms. There are advantages to all of the cabins, just depends on your preferences. Always pick the minimum room that you would be satisfied with and never count on an upgrade to make your cruise enjoyable. 😁

You are like a squirrel who has gathered a bunch of acorns running back to his tree. You run the gauntlet of casino and cruise predators trying to take them from you as you do your best to keep them. Good luck! By the way, I never heard anyone regretting their empty pockets on their death bed. 🤣