Russ Lomas

Is this something where you sign up for a limited number of spots, or are they onboard to create special items for the MDR?

I will likely just use my Tokina 11-16mm and Sigma 18-35 when I join the world cruise So many other toys, but also, money could be spent on another cruise.

I have not seen him since the Bella Cruise. Looking forward to chatting with him again. I will likely bring two short really heavy lenses (non-mirrorless) so my camera will be bigger and heavier. Keeps us boys with toys in shape.

Boys and their toys. Some boys really like their big toys. I never invested in the long lenses. A few short ones which are excellent, but really heavy. The new mirrorless cameras do photos just as well and are so much smaller and lighter. Too bad I invested in the full size camera and lenses, because it is so hard to give up after a large investment. I will be bringing my full sized DLSR with a couple shorter lenses to the leg starting in Southampton. I will have to chat with him again when we board. I am sure there will be days though where I leave the full sized camera on the ship and just venture out with the camera phone as well.

If you know how to actually use a "real" camera (DLSR), then there is no comparison to the creativity and quality of the photos compared to a phone camera. Phone cameras have come a long way in a short amount of time, but there is no way a $1500 beats a $3000 camera if the photographer knows how to use the DLSR (not just putting it on automatic and clicking - using shutter speeds, ISO, depth of field, aperture - are all things that camera phones simply do not do (yet).

I think you will love most aspects of it. Took a few days to get used to it and figure out how to effectively navigate the app. Theoretically, it is great. It worked fantastic to purchase things (or put them on your account if you had the Plus or Premier package). Couple of times my wife's Medallion would not register at the bars, so they happily just gave me 2 or 3 drinks on my Medallion all at once (against the 15 daily limit for alcoholic drinks), and at no time did they not let us order multiple drinks on a single Medallion. Getting drinks delivered to the pool deck was not good. They use the Medallions to track you, but they are only so accurate and the server walks around calling your name. Also, multiple times I ordered and nothing showed up for an hour on the pool deck, sometimes it never showed up though the app said it was delivered. They need to fine tune this, but it is a great idea. Much quicker to go to the bar and order your drinks. As for ordering to your cabin, it works flawlessly. By the way, take a look at the drinks you can order on the app. There are hundreds of them (great for trying a new drink or 2). Enjoy your cruise. We will be returning to Princess in the future for sure. We also will continue to travel with RCCL, assuming we can find reasonably priced cruises (which have been few we have seen for when we can travel lately). Worked pretty well, flawlessly for us. Only issue was on day 1 when they set up my wife to open both our cabin and the kids' cabin at guest services. Went to the cabin and it would not work on either cabin, nor was it even showing her "on the ship" when she tried to charge a drink to it during dinner time. We were going to go back to guest services the next day to rectify this, but we tried again and it worked flawlessly. Maybe it just takes time for the system to register changes?

On our Princess cruise last week, some things were very different, in a better way, to handle this. They have a screen about 10" diagonal on the wall outside your cabin. When you get within 3 metres or so of the cabin, your cabin door automatically unlocks if you are wearing your Medallion. It was also programmed so that it automatically opened our kids' room if we went there. When the door unlocks, is shows your profile photo on the screen on the wall and welcomes you. There are 2 buttons on the screen at all times. One is to "request cabin service" and the other is do not disturb. Whenever we left the cabin, we hit the service button and whenever we were in the cabin, we hit the "do not disturb" button. Problem solved about the cabin steward disturbing us when we were in the cabin. He got an idea after a day or 2 of when we were out to dinner or breakfast, checked the screen to see if we were in or out, and then quickly cleaned it while we were out. Never saw him in our cabin (only in the halls), but the cabin was neat and tidy 100% of the time. It was like walking into a brand-new cabin every time we entered. Other cruise lines need to consider a similar method.

Just came back from our first Princess cruise after several cruises with RCCL after they switched to once per day service. It was so nice, always walking back into a tidy and clean cabin once again. Doubt RCCL will bring back twice per day service (unless you pay extra for a suite), but it was one of the things that made our Princess cruise feel much more luxurious than our more recent RCCL cruises.

Too bad. Grand Turk is 1000% better than Nassau.

Awesome seeing a man who is not afraid to lug around a real camera nowadays. Phone cameras have come a long way, but will never replicate a DSLR. Assuming the photographer has a good eye for the shot.

Is that Joff (CD) in the photo? I heard he was the CD on the World Cruise. Enjoyed his personality years ago when we sailed with him. If so, do you know how long he is staying aboard?

I did mean to say March, you are correct. It was Friday, March 13th, 2020 exactly. We remember because it was Friday the 13th around 5 or 6 pm, and we were in the Detroit airport about to board our plane to Florida when Trump made the announcement and the RCCL email came moments later that the cruise departing the next day.

The first day RCCL released the pricing on the mini-segments, they were very, very reasonable (less than $100 Canadian per day). They went up quickly after that. The one we booked was 3 times as expensive, days later. Keep watching to see after the itinerary is selected, if they permit booking of mini-segments (not sure why they would choose to sail so empty when they can make revenue by letting more passengers on for the mini-segments and keep their crew busy as well), because pricing may be decent when (if) first made available for booking. Relatives of ours had driven all the way from Canada down to Fort Lauderdale just before Covid. The Covid shutdown was announced on February 13th, and they had the "pleasure" of watching their ship come in on the 14th and then sail away with crew only that day. Cannot imagine how that must have felt for them or for you if you are there watching the Serenade depart without you.

I would be absolutely shocked if option 2 was picked, but stranger things have happened. Option 1 sounds like it would be a great add for those who are on for the entire segment reaching ports that very few people would have been to. Really sucks for those on the mini-segments though.

I saw one appealing cruise for March 2026, but when I reached out to my travel agent, he said there were no group rates on that sailing offered. At the prices asked on the RCCL website, it is a firm NO from us.

I think that would have been a great option for them to offer provided people choose itinerary option #1 (Africa) because it would arrive in Cape Town on the 27th. If option #2 was picked though (Africa and Greece), then it would arrive in Cape Town on something like the 20th, making that cruise a full week shorter than booked. RCCL has cut a day off our booked cruise on us previously and basically said we will move you to the new shortened one with $50 OBC. Not sure how that would go over if they said they were cutting a week off your cruise from Dubai.

Not always true. There are many cabins that are designed for 5 or 6 out there. Well, not many, but some. This is what we used to do as well. Great if you can get a Kids sail Free and have 3 or 4 kids in the cabin and the discount applies. Managed to book a few of these family oceanview cabins that hold 6 in the past where all 4 kids were free (pay only the port fees and taxes) - but they do jack up the price of the 1st two guests, so it is not as good a deal as it may seem. Even if you use a travel agent, they have to call in themselves to book these cabins that hold more than 4 people. But the great thing about using a good travel agent is they do all the legwork for you and know the ins and outs of doing this.

We were on Odyssey when it was running at about 20% capacity. It felt kind of eerie with that few passengers and having crew outnumber us 3 to 1. Not sure if I liked it at the time, but when we sailed her again at full capacity 7 months later, I realized how great a cruise that post-Covid start up one was. We paid for our cruise, but the price was amazingly cheap. Nobody we talked to could believe we were actually FLYING in an airplane and then nuts enough to go on a cruise for a week when Covid was still a huge issue. It felt absolutely amazing after 2 years without a vacation to have that experience with our family. Plane was empty. Hotel was empty. Beach was empty. Ship was empty. Kind of felt like we were in the movie "I am Legend" or in the tv show "The Last of Us" - minus the zombies of course.

It was. We booked Brilliance for cheap. They moved us to Independence. Then, when Odyssey did not go to Israel, they brought it to Florida. We were on its 3rd sailing ever. 750 passengers on board (right after the Covid restart). That was a real different feeling on that cruise and will always remember it. Still, I am looking forward to trying the Radiance class.

We are on Adventure for the 1st time this New Year 2024/2025 cruise. Had it booked before and were in the airport on Friday the 13th to board her on the 14th. While we were in the airport, they made this announcement about something you may have heard about before (COVID-19), and shut all ships down the day we were supposed to board. Let's hope this time is much less "Adventure"ous Thought I may see you on one, but from your list a few posts back, it looks like you avoid high pricing times when there are tons of kids on board. As a teacher, that is the only time I can travel. Excited to experience the Radiance class for the 1st time on the Serenade. Had the Brilliance booked but they bumped us to Odyssey. 14 ports in 15 days for us on our segment, so likely the same as yours in terms of being busy.

I love the larger ships for the big shows and the flowrider, but as I age, I think the smaller ships with less kids and better port options may be in my future.

This will be our 1st time on a Radiance class ship. I expect our Northern Europe segment to be pretty full due to the time of year it is sailing. Not sure how many kids will be on it, but obviously a lot less than on the bigger ships with all the bells and whistles. I will miss the Flowrider, but the incredible ports will more than make up for that. It will just be a different type of cruise for us this time (plus we are leaving the kids at home for this one)

We said the same thing when we sailed Odyssey in July 2022 after the Covid restart when ships were not sailing at peak capacity (like Icon was not). We were packed on Odyssey in March, and it was the most crowded ship I have ever been on (spring break). Let's see how Icon does if they are sailing at full capacity for March Break this year, then we will know for sure. Back to the Serenade, which we have never been on yet, I keep seeing all these posts about how the ship is about 70% full. It would be nice when we join in Southampton, but being summer, I will expect it to be close to sold out.

Well, making the 11:33 am flight will not be an issue any longer. Spirit just cancelled our 11:33 am flight and moved us to a flight at 8:20 am. Thanks, Spirit. We are price watching other airlines to see what flights they offer that are doable and reasonably priced. There are 4 or 5 flights we are watching but the price is about 3 to 4 times what we paid for the Spirit flights. For now, we are holding onto our Spirit flights because they will likely change things 5 or 6 more times before we fly with them in 6 weeks. They may even come up with a decent flight. If we see a fair price on a different airline (Delta, AA, or United) that is more reliable in terms of not switching things every few days, we will book that and get a refund from Spirit.

Question to all those out there who read this and have an answer for us based on personal experience. We booked a 3:24 pm direct flight out of IAH to fly home. Spirit just changed it and added a layover and booked us on our first flight at 11:33 am from IAH. Is this doable at all, or will I need to call and get them to move us to a later flight? Problem is the only later flight due to layover added will not get us into Detroit til after 11 pm and we still have a 3 hour drive home after that, making work and school the next day tough.