DCPIV

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Exactly yet the overall point isn't about booking a morning and afternoon tour and hoping one is not SOL, I'm hoping if this continues there are simply longer/better options to choose from.  Perhaps after a four hour morning tour the driver can drop those who pay off at the beach so you can join the "beach day" tour.  This saves a lot of time compared to needing to re-board the ship only to get off again.  Some have the opinion the status quo is fine the way it is, I'm not one of them and I would imagine there will be more and more complains the longer this goes on.

I suspect that the cruise lines are doing what they can within the confines of the port regulations. When you're talking about a port that allows only "curated" or "bubble" excursions, I would not expect their regulations to allow the flexibility you would like. 

If I'm on a ship sponsored excursion, my passport stays on board. They know where I am and what's going on, and they'll take care of business.

If I'm off on my own, I bring my passport with me. 

Always stay on ship time, but be aware that you may need to keep up with any changes to that.  There is plenty of notice if you need to change your watches, so you should have no trouble seeing it if you keep your eyes open a little bit.  As @cruiseguy1016 mentioned, look at the clock on the way out.  The app shows ship time, as well.

Just FYI, if the Captain changes the time, it's still "ship time."  Whatever time the ship is on is "ship time." Don't get confused between terms.

It used to be that ships almost never changed ship time when crossing time zones in the middle of an itinerary, but they've been doing it more and more in recent years.  Just keep your head up a bit, and you'll be fine.

55 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Good to know…. we’re sailing on Oasis and they seem to have a lot of restaurants which makes it sound like a good value, especially with only 3 port days. 

Sea day lunches are something of a hidden value in the UDP.

Yeah, they don't seem to send those out automatically, anymore. I have no clue why.

I believe there's an automated function to request (but I might be thinking about Celebrity).

21 hours ago, vjmatty said:

So I’ve been looking at this package and wondering, is it truly unlimited in that  there is no limit on how many meals and restaurants during the whole cruise? Or is it like a virtual punchcard for 3 meals a day times the number of days in your sailing?

No punch card. Knock yourself out. We've gone to two spots in one night before (not complete meals, of course, because--geez).

However, do note that certain restaurants aren't open for lunch on port days, and Johnny Rockets might be the only open for breakfast (and I only learned about that recently).

We typically buy excursions through the ship for that very reason.  There have been exceptions, but they are rare.  Yes, the line loves us for it, and they will show their love when they hang around for us should something go wrong.  I figure it's cheap insurance.  After twenty-six years (and counting) of cruising, all the money we could have saved by booking our own would not be worth being left behind on our own even once.

We've been on a number of cruises where the ship has waited on passengers who were late returning from excursions sold through the ship. One particular one was during a Panama Canal cruise.  Many of the excursions went into San Jose, and there happened to be protest that happened in town.  Traffic was a total mess, and a number of passengers were a good 90 minutes or so late (like Edge this time).  If you went in on your own and got back before all the the ship excursions returned, way to go.  If not (and some didn't), kiss your Canal trek goodbye.  The next stop was on the other side.  I hope those folks could find a place to stay in Cartagena.

We've never been late, but we've had a couple of very close calls where the horn was blowing before we even got back to the room to drop off our stuff.  I wasn't terribly worried because we had bought the tour through the ship.  Had we not, I might've been making diamonds in my shorts.

5 hours ago, dkjretired said:

All it takes is once. Also, check you tube, one of the favorite pastimes of many is watching the runners at the pier.

Yep.  That's us.  It really is something to behold.  We're going to be cruising with a friend who never has cruised before.  One of the stops is Cozumel, and we let her know about the runners.  Senor Frog's ought to open up a transportation service and get a little extra profit off the cruisers that spend too much time there!

9 minutes ago, CruiszBug said:

But honestly? We got better service just by stopping at the bar on the way and bringing it with us. You may end up waiting far longer to get your drink if you order it from your waiter. That has been our particular experience....

I completely agree.  It can be pretty hard to flag someone down in the first place, and then it's quite a wait.  I've often brought my cocktail into the dining room (and I've also been known to step away for a moment and return with one).  Bars are fairly quiet during dinner, and Heaven knows I could use the extra walk.

22 hours ago, ch175 said:

Is there something about covid that makes it more contagious on a cruise ship or in foreign ports than it is in a school or in my home town? Especially when 90+% of the ship is vaccinated versus essentially 0 in the schools last year.

Much higher population density and repeated exposure to the same folks over and over again. That's the 

With the vaccination requirements (and the testing requirements for some ports and ships) and lower capacity (at the moment), I agree that we're not talking about tremendous danger.  However, just a little arithmetic lets you know that a ship that's 95% vaccinated with a vaccine that's 95% effective still has potential for a couple hundred passengers to contract COVID and pass it along should a case slip through (and we've already seen a case slip through on the Millenium).  Those that aren't vaccinated are far, far, far more likely to be in that small group.

I'm not trying to be alarmist at all.  In fact, DW and I might very well be boarding Summit in a few weeks.  However, I will be realistic.

Like OP and others who've chimed in, we've cruised with our children numerous times and have had nothing but good experiences.  We started when the were 4 and 2, and they both now are college students.  They got plenty of good-natured attention (whether they wanted it or not). 

Personally, I enjoy seeing children while cruising as long as they behave within "acceptable levels of kid" (excellent phrase, @stinkyenglishteacher).  Of course, I'll say the same thing about adult passengers (who tend to behave outside acceptable levels of adult far more often).

Like a few others, my only real concern is vaccination.  I will assume that you have weighed your risks about that and have made an informed choice.  However, I would be prepared for a little more "judgment" or, at least, expression of some concern as there is no getting around the fact that your younger son will not be vaccinated.  I would expect that will make some number of fellow passengers uncomfortable, even those who have loved on your sons in the past, so it might be a good idea to be ready for that.

3 minutes ago, Bugsy1966 said:

 

The trick to avoid those pesky 'complete your booking' emails is to use another browser (e.g. Firefox, Opera) for your price drop checks/future cruise exploration. Only go back to your usual browser (the one where Celebrity recognises you) when you want to book/manage a reservation.

I just use "incognito" mode with Chrome.

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

If the difference in price between a JS and a GS is roughly the same as what the added GS perks are going for if purchased separately, we will go with a GS, but on Oasis-class ships the differences between the cabins themselves are not worth it if the price difference is too steep.

Thank you for pointing that egregious error.  We must have cruised together before!

12 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

Bottled water, coffees, juices and all the other drinks add up and the packages are convenient.

We've all discussed that a little, but it bears repeating.  When you total everything, alcoholic and not, I use the package at least a dozen times on a port day and a good deal more than that on a sea day.  The more I think of it, the more I realize that we are getting a mighty good bargain.

The UDP really is very nice.  We had the same concern the first time we did it, but it turned out to be a non-issue.  I suppose it helps that we tend to eat earlier and not at the most popular times, as well as the fact that we're fairly flexible with our time, but I'm not really sure it does all that much.

As mentioned, just go to a specialty Maitre d' when you board and hand them a list of reservations you would like.  If you are in a suite, the Concierge can handle it (likely before you even board).  In either case, they do whatever they can to get you what you want, especially after they know you have the UDP.  If they can't, they can't, but that's usually a problem only on the first and last nights (if it's a problem at all).

The buy/cancel/OBC strategy is one we learned by accident.  Even though we had the UDP, we did go ahead and pay for a reservation because we knew we wanted a particular restaurant and time for a particular day.  When we dined there on an earlier night, the M-d' asked if we wanted to make another reservation.  We mentioned that we already would be back in a couple of nights.  He looked to confirm it.  I don't recall if we mentioned that we had paid for that one or if he just saw it in the system, but he was surprised that we had (he knew we had UDP).  He refunded the cost and confirmed a reservation via UDP for the same time, and he did so of his own volition.

Another reason we like the drink package is that it allows the bartenders to play some, especially in the more cocktail oriented bars.  We sometimes will ask them to just make us something (after they've gotten to know us a bit).  Many enjoy a chance to show off, and they know there's no real downside to taking a chance.  If we don't like it, we move on to the next thing.

It also comes in handy at dinner.  We stopped buying bottles and just go with everything by the glass.  Again, you can try what you like.  Have another if you like it or move on if you don't.  Or start with something bubbly and change with each course.  We've always found something by the glass that we enjoy (and they just come around and top you off from time to time once they know you have the package--nice).

I'm laughing at myself a little because it sounds like I'm selling the dadgum package.  I just want to bring up the fact that the package has some less obvious and tangible yet rather significant advantages that you may or may not have become aware of over your sailings.  I assure you I get nothing from a sale. 😉  

It's part of the Deluxe Beverage Package.

Yes, the bottle bundles have been gone for a while.

We're D+ and typically stay in a GS (these days, at least), but we always still get the package. The last thing we want to do on the ship is to worry about where to go to get a drink, what time it is, whether we've used 2 or 3 or 4 vouchers, whether we want to spend the money or the voucher to try something, is the shot of espresso in the middle of the afternoon worth it, and any number of other nagging concerns.

Plus, it's nice not to have the bar tab at the end of the cruise. 

In the end, we might come out ahead, and we might come out behind. The truth is that we've never really kept close count of how much we've had on our cruises. 

And that's exactly the point. 

34 minutes ago, DHADEN said:

Our first concern when we are doing/planning a B2B is to make sure we can get the same cabin for both legs. 

I open two tabs and set up the website that shows ALL AVAILABILITY of cabins (it's the website that is the scanner of the seas); then I start putting in the filters I want - Cruise Line, Ship, Destination, Number of Days, etc. 

Find two in a row that you can book the same cabin and PRESTO - then go to RCL website and book. 😉😎

Hope This Helps.

We did a B2B where we had to change rooms, and it was very little effort. The crew handled everything beautifully. Everything that was hanging on the closet got moved to the next closet. We had to put everything else into luggage, but that really wasn't much (and it's not like it had to be packed like we were heading home). We just left everything on the bed. We might've spent 30 minutes, total, packing and unpacking. Everything was moved while we did all the B2B formalities. 

Don't get me wrong, now. I much prefer not having to move, but having to move is not going to keep me from doing a B2B.

On 7/1/2021 at 10:03 PM, rajacks said:

I'm wondering if the experience with the sushi class is different on ships with Izumi vs. those without.  Any insight on this?

 

Ruth

We did it on the Empress in 2017, and there certainly was no Izumi on her. They set us up in the lounge. We had a ball. 

All the ingredients were prepped and pretty much laid out. It was just a matter of assembling the rolls, cutting them, and eating. Plenty of laughing, too. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. 

You can piece it together by looking at a particular ship or departure port (or both). If you get lucky, you might even get the same stateroom, but it's no big deal to move if you don't. 

I've also always been fine with the tap water on board. Just refill a bottle or bring CamelBak or something like it. 

15 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

Totally agree with this.  I'm getting out of the shower, and my brain says my leg should be stopping, but it just keeps going down.  😉

Bingo.  It's a little disturbing, especially if there's a bit of motion while underway (or because of that third cocktail before getting cleaned up for dinner).

I agree with the others that it's a skewed perception.  In addition to the factors some have mentioned, I expect it's also a matter of those in suites talking more about being in a suite.  I don't mean that they are bragging, but the perks and other features are something to talk about when talking about the cruise experience.  It's not like you'd say "I went back to the room and didn't see our butler because there wasn't one because we weren't staying in a suite."

We pretty much sail in suites, these days.  We've spoiled ourselves.  My first cruise was our honeymoon.  We didn't have a balcony (because it was the Monarch of the Seas, and she only had balconies for a few, much more expensive rooms).  That's how we did it for the longest time--just an "oceanview" room (or whatever it was called).  When we started taking out kids cruising, we would be either in a family oceanview or in two adjoining rooms. 

We moved up to a suite when, while planning a cruise with our kids, I did a little arithmetic and noticed that the two adjoining rooms were a little more expensive than a Grand Suite (RCCL).  Well, that did it.  We got spoiled on suites.  In fact, I'm about to take my first Celebrity cruise as a solo in a suite (DW is doing her own girls' trip).  I actually expect that I'll very much enjoy the benefits, especially the butler.  It'll be nice to have someone to handle certain matters (DW and I often would split duties of running for coffee or bringing a bite back to the room or whatever).

All that said, we did a 4&5 night B2B in an oceanview room in 2017, and we had a ball.  We missed the room and the perks of a suite--no doubt about that--but it also was nice to know that we don't need the perks or the room as much as we just enjoy them.

8 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

DW agrees with you. We got to Port Everglades at 12:15 and we were on board in 15 minutes, at lunch 10 minutes later in Luminae. Fastest terminal to cabin ever recorded.

That is music to my ears.  Thanks!

1 minute ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Port Everglades does not open, we were told, until noon. To allow returning passengers to depart and not come in contact with arriving passengers ? We were assigned the latest boarding time any passenger can be assigned, as we booked 48 hours prior to sailing. Let us just say that Celebrity is very accommodating to its suite  guests. DW flipped out when she saw how late, an hour before departure time. She called Celebrity directly and was told that Zenith and Retreat passengers can arrive any time from noon on. My kind of cruise line.

Thanks.  I had heard that, and I appreciate you confirming it.  I recently also got a late check-in time, but I'm also in the Retreat and would prefer to get on board instead of puttering around town just to kill time.