griffy116

This has happened twice to us and each time upon check in at the pier to re board, your Passport it is taken and a sticker with your cabin # is placed on your PP. Near the end of the cruise, we were called down by Deck # to the dining room and picked up our PP's. I believe the last time this was done was during our Transpacific and we received it back upon arriving in Lahaina as it was our first entry to the US. The first time was during our TA from Barcelona I believe. I always make a photo copy of our Pass Ports.

Never been on this itinerary, but we've had this same done as above quote. It's entirely done for your convenience because of clearance/entry requirements for the country you are visiting. While it's not been done in the past with Canada, it could very well be that they have changed the requirement and they have every right to do that at any time. If they ask you to turn it in and you don't, you won't be uncomfortable...you'll be left behind at the port.

If this is a big concern, why not wait to arrive at the port until close to the time cabins are ready? When they announce cabins are ready, the WJ and all the eating venues empty out. You would be able to drop your bags in the cabin, go and eat comfortably in a/c. Sitting and holding onto a table after you finish your meal is frowned upon by everyone, regardless of their age.

I usually have some snacks I've bought after I go through security at the airport for the flight that don't get eaten so I bring them on the ship, where they don't get eaten. It's embarrassing to see the long table of food confiscated at some of the ports that people bring off the ship in spite of being told not to take anything not pre-packaged. There's not a day that goes by that on some cruise message board people don't talk about how they took baggies with sandwich meat, made sandwiches and took fruit off the ship.It's not like they don't have food and snacks at these ports. I can't imagine anything more unappealing (or unsafe) than lugging meat around in my beach bag for hours. A can of nuts or pre-packaged pretzels is one thing, but it's not like you have to hoard food on a cruise ship and need to haul off every bag of chips to your cabin.

On our Med cruises, we chose late dining because of coming back to the ship later. By the time dinner was over, we were so pooped, we pretty much went straight to bed to get some sleep before starting another very early day. On our upcoming cruise we started out with MTD at 6, but waitlisted for the early traditional seating at 5:30. We were notified that we now have the Traditional Early dining. While we would prefer 6 or 6:30, we are usually back on the ship in the Caribbean in enough time to clean up and get to dinner early, then we can change clothes, scatter out and everyone gets to do what they enjoy in the evenings. If we do late dining, a few of us will have broken down and gone to get something to eat around 6 and we aren't hungry by dinner. We get together at dinner and discuss what everyone's plans are for the next day, what we did during the day and head out to each enjoy our night. No confusion on what time we are having dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday, etc.

We usually have to travel in late June/early July. Right now we are all suffering from the usual allergies. By mid-way through the 7 night cruise, we are free of the allergies and feeling great. We've occasionally gotten sick with a cold after we get home, but I feel more vulnerable to getting the cold germs on the planes than on the ship.

Since you are Diamond, you will have access to the Diamond lounge. In addition to the free drinks each night between approx 5:30 and 8:30 (hours vary by ship), you should be able to switch any canned drinks there for Diet Coke without any problem whatsoever. Also, you get 3 free drinks loaded onto your Seapass card to use during the same hours as the Diamond lounge is open. These can be used for your rum and Diet Coke drinks. As Diamond, when you fill in your personal gift preference check Diet Coke and a can of it will be waiting in your cabin when you arrive.The "gift" isn't much, but at least that give you a canned Diet Coke to start off your cruise. We took our first cruise on Celebrity last year and as Diamond, enjoyed the Elite perks. One of the things we really appreciated was the easy access to CANNED drinks. On RC, you usually get fountain drinks. Canned drinks are harder to come by.

I bet it would have something to do with "Haiti is desperately poor and negotiated the rights to the vendor area as part of the agreement to let Royal set up camp there so that hopefully at least a few of their citizens can eat dinner."

 

I find it obnoxious too, but then I think about all that Haiti has faced and is still facing, from Columbus wiping out most of the population to the colonial destruction of all of its trees to the fairly recent earthquake that devastated the country, and somehow I can't find the capacity to be irritated at these people for trying to earn some money. I'd be doing the same thing if I weren't incredibly fortunate to be a financially-comfortable citizen of a staggeringly rich country.

Thank you. You voiced my opinion. People seem to think this is RC's private island. It isn't. It is a leased portion of Haiti. These people live there. This is THEIR island. They lease this beach portion to RC. They have virtually no opportunity to make a living. They are confined to the marketplace. They don't follow you to the beach. They aren't hovering over you at the BBQ. I ALWAYS intentionally go to the marketplace and buy something handmade. It puts a little money into someone's pocket to feed their family. Pushy and aggressive? Sure, but they are also desperate for a few dollars that we easily pay for a drink on the ship. The only way RC gets to lease that place is by allowing vendors a CONFINED area that you are under no obligation to visit.

Never had a problem with the food quality or the temperature it is served in the MDR. We enjoy the meals and the service. We sailed on Celebrity and RC last year and we found the food on RC equal in quality to Celebrity. We had heard for years that Celebrity's food was better. Haven't sailed with Carnival in MANY years.

Oasis in March we could use the CP perk for lunch for 2 at Giovanni’s, Sabor or Johnny Rockets.

We haven't ever had a CP balcony, but this is the same thing we have been told. Gives you the choice of these three, plus a bottle of red wine and gaming lesson. We double checked.

you can change or cancel this onboard at reception if you want and pay cash to your cabin/waiters

staff do not know if you have cancelled/changed this (posted by someone else)

There is a list of those who pre-pay and are auto-paying. They DO KNOW!

I cannot imagine a reputable TA giving this advice. As to the bottled water, even when we have the Deluxe package, we leave the bottled water on the ship. The water gets warm quickly and I don't want a thermal cup to carry around... and I can buy an ice cold water for about $1 in almost every port we've visited. Also, I can't imagine anything more unappealing than a sandwich with meat and cheese I've been hauling around or worse a boiled egg. We consider it part of the experience to get snacks or meals in the ports we visit. I came across a big tin canister filled with bottles of various soft drinks in one of the ports. At home, I would never choose an orange soda but it was hot and these ice cold drinks were DELICIOUS and sure hit the spot. I don't want to miss out on the delicious foods in restaurants where the aroma is too much to resist. You can get a snack in any port too if four hours is too long to wait to eat and have something really nice and you don't have to eat at a 5-star restaurant. It's really inexpensive.

I don't think you'll find people disagreeing that it would simplify things to include it in the cruise fare. Unfortunately, it isn't. When a family of 4 book an inside cabin, they are booking a cruise with tipping guidelines for all passengers, not just U.S. passengers. While it may not be the custom in European countries to tip, it is the custom on most cruise lines, including the one they booked an inside cabin for 4. I listened to my American son in law complain about paying tips on his child for years and he would stiff the crew with tips...and I would add the money so that the entire crew, making the cruise special not only for him, but for his child would get their tips. When I book a trip to Disney at a Disney resort, I do the research to know what is included and what I'm expected to pay for at the resort. When I went to Europe, I did the research prior to the trip to know what was included. You can't say "they don't expect" because it's right there in the basic FAQ's for the cruise line. What they are saying is they don't like it and don't want to budget for it.

Individual plastic bags from the cleaners.

Same here. That and some Downey Wrinkle Release and we're good to go. I've tried the rolling and I hate it. Sorry.

We took my parents along on several cruises. They had an oceanview balcony cabin. One used a walker and we got a wheelchair (rental) for the other one. There are numerous tours around the islands that they took with some of us going along where they got to see the island, then back to the ship. It was also a great help to have the wheelchair to get them to the shows and dining rooms. There's a lot of walking, even on the smaller ships if walking is difficult. On a Hawaii cruise with Royal Caribbean, we took a whale watch excursion and my parents stayed behind on the ship. When we returned, my Dad had seen a whale while sitting on their balcony. We had helped them choose their lunch from room service before leaving the ship and the waiters not only delivered it but set it up on the balcony for them. They wanted to stay in the promenade cafe one day when it was time for us to leave for an excursion on one cruise. We wanted to help them get to the cabin, but a Royal Caribbean staff member heard us and volunteered to personally take them to their cabin when they were ready to leave. How incredible is that?? Having the wheel chair also made it possible for us to take them off the ship and let my Mom do some shopping at the ports. You can even rent a scooter to use but there were plenty of us to help push the wheelchair.

RC official words on it still say "suggested." I do think it has always been that men wearing tank tops was not allowed. That's about it.

Take a cheap watch and set it to ship's time when you leave the ship so that you don't get left behind when the ship leaves. Some of the ports are on a different time zone so looking at a clock at a bar might cause you to be wrong about what time it is and you could miss the ship. Your phone will auto correct to the time zone. A cheap watch will keep you on ship time.;)

We happily tipped on both of our Med cruises. We used private drivers and guides for our group of five and the service we received was absolutely wonderful. There are so many examples I could list of how they took care of us in such an exceptional way that this post would be too long if I listed them all. I would go again with any one of them and happily tip again.

If a cruise were port intensive, I don't think the ship would bother me. We were on Celebrity Equinox last year. This was our first cruise on Celebrity. The ship was pretty but we did find it far more "sedate" than RC and lacking in the activities, which is why we booked our upcoming cruise with RC on the Allure. We found the food and the service was pretty equal.

We do auto-pay and let it go to the cc. We've never deducted a cent from the auto-pay and would never think about doing it. We also give extra cash to the cabin attendant, waiter and asst. waiter on every cruise. Taking the tip from the cabin attendant, waiter and assistant waiter because of a thermostat problem??? WOW! What did the thermostat problem have to do with the cabin attendant, waiter and assistant waiter? I would ask who does that, but we already know the answer.

I carry a cheap watch which stays on the night stand at night. I also use it when we are in port and keep it on "ship's time" since that's when the ship leaves port and I don't want to lose track of time and have the ship leave without me. I ask for a wake up call on the phone. Works great. Sometimes, for a wake up call, I use the room door hanger and put it out the night before with a time for coffee to be delivered. Nice way to wake up.

Really recline and foot rests equal First Class.

 

$500. might get a flight to California (but not 1st class) but going international....

 

For realistic fares you might try http://matrix.itasoftware.com.

We thought we did well by finding flights for a little over $800...economy. $500 and you want to stretch out? Let us know if you find it.

From before VOOM, we would all have dinner together and discuss our individual plans for the next day. We also easily found "favorite" places where we tended to stay when out by the pool. We would leave messages on the cabin phones if plans changed. There are house phones all around the ship you can use. One of our group on a cruise tried walkie-talkies and it drove us and them crazy because it just wasn't always reliable. We've purchased VOOM this time.

RC knows what's said on this and other sites like this. There's one on FB where they brag about how the scammed the RC system and plan to bring their own booze, one person buys the package and four adults share it, sit and openly drink from a fake suntan lotion bottle they smuggled alcohol onboard in and more. These folks scamming the system are creating more and more rules and as soon as they find a loophole or way around it, people trying to honestly go about setting up a drink package that meets their needs get screwed. I'm sure there will be additional changes to the packages and the rules because of people that go to great lengths to show that the rules don't apply to them and like to brag about it and encourage others to do the same.

When we first started cruising, we took the formal gowns, shoes for each outfit, two outfits a day...one for the port, one for every evening, a few extra for lounging around. jackets, shoes and accessories for everything. The more cruises we went on, the less we carried. Now I see people that carry everything from rolling coolers, hammocks, box fans, hair dryers on stands, their own pillows and sheets, coffee pots, french press, their own coffee and tea, food, their own towels, inflatable mattresses for the beds, gaming systems, pop up picnic table for their balcony, and more,..and these are people that don't have children with all the extras necessary for taking a child... for a 7-day cruise. I don't get it, but if they want to pack it, carry it, haul it, that's their decision. I only have to look for ONE piece of luggage to be delivered to my cabin and I don't spend the first day and the last day setting up and breaking down what becomes a camping site inside the cabin.

We do a lot of research on the private vendors we use and we always, ALWAYS come back with at least 2 hours prior to the ship sailing. That gives us time to spare if there is traffic or a breakdown with the transportation.