reallyitsmema

This site has some great pictures that should answer your questions.

http://www.voyager-class.com/virtualtour/aftbalconies/aftbalconies.html

We have sailed in 1688 twice and would again in a heartbeat. The walk is not as bad as some make it out to be. We were back and forth many times during the day and to us, it really wasn't a big deal. It is also very quiet back there since you will have very few people walking past your cabin door.

You can see them on the deck plans, they are pretty close.

So, no extra for 2 balcony cabins in 2004. and none for JS back in 2002.

 

So I am right, I did get robbed. Now it seems children get the Status of their parents for going forward under the new rules. Even though I paid for extra cabins in the past, I don't get double (even suites and balconies) and they don't get extra as they will get just as many credits as it I had stuffed us all in one cabin!!! Not that I hear we can do that on the new Oasis ships as I hear they aren't big enough for 4 now lol.

 

I guess they can stay home now they are old enough. I am not paying for cabins on future crusies if I don't get the benefits. Having paid for 2x 7 day cruises on RCL in fairly dleux cabins (D1_+ M and Cx2) and only getting 2 credits I have spent much more than those tho racked up 10 cheapie 3 day M cruises lol.

Many, many people have paid for a cabin for themselves and one or more for their kids, you aren't the only one. No cruiseline is going to give you more credits because your kids are in a separate cabin.

Well, that's what I was told by C&A this morning. They used the same formula for everyone.

Try putting in 4, it should tell you 29 days.

I am not doubting what they told you, it just doesn't seem accurate.;):D

The way C&A arrived at the points is they took everyone's current number of cruise credits..........multiplied by 7 and then added 13.

 

So, some got more points and some got less points based on their current cruise history.

 

Going forward it will be actual number of nights sailed and doubled if in a JS cabin or above.

Just commented on the other thread but I don't think this is the case on all level. A gold member with 4 credits has 29 points now according to a conversation I had this am with someone. 4 X 7= 28 and they got 29 not 41.

I would also look to see if 1388 or 1688 are available. They are D1 that are a larger cabin with a sofabed plus a larger corner aft balcony. We have had 1688 twice on the Mariner with our son who was a teen at the time. No problems with 3 in those cabins at all.

Have never seen whales on a Caribbean cruise but we did just see whales two weeks ago on our NE/Canada cruise.

I got an unbelievable deal on Crown Royal on one of our cruises. I wish I could remember the amount I paid, but a liquor store in Grand Cayman sold it to me for waaaaaaaay less than here. When I got back onboard, my uncle was green with envy. The ship has a sign saying they will match any price we pay, so when I went into the store to grab some gum, I noticed their sign showed a higher price. I took my receipt to the clerk and he couldn't believe someone sold Crown Royal to me so cheaply. He said he was sure it was a mistake but here I was with the receipt and they would certainly honor it. He said he knew the shop well (right in the middle of town). Anyway, he agreed to sell for the same price. I was immediately elevated to my Uncle's favorite niece, since I bought it and gave it to him when we got home as a gift. Don't forget to hang onto the receipt if you luck up on a deal at one of the ports, as the ship will match the price for same brand liquor/same size. I buy loads of Christmas gifts from the liquor store and since some of our family doesn't drink, I get them to carry part of the liquor off the ship and through customs. On our upcoming cruise, the none-drinkers will not be going so I'm looking for new "liquor mules" for this summer :D (LOL).

You can go over the limit and just pay a duty. We bought 4 liters on our Jewel cruise last week plus got a free 375ml of Sheridans for buying two. My DH reported to customs as we were told to and declared exactly what we had. They signed off on the form and we paid no duty, we were fully willing to if asked.

Just be careful with the old information in this thread. It is from 2006 and 2007 and Art's Shuttle isn't even in business anymore.

Excellent news report! So much better than CNN. Well done Paul!:)

This thread has me nervous about what balcony to book. We are looking at the Jewel and I currently have 7172 on hold. I have read good things about it and also one that didn't like it. Any opinions? What about noise from the bar below?

If any of you are sitting at home bored tomorrow, turn on CNN. They are running my story at 12:45ish EDT. I won't be in the studio. The camera owner and I will be doing the interview by telephone.

 

By the way, the You Tube video has now gone over 2,000,000 views and is currently the #1 most popular video on You Tube. :eek:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43sg-Ytt58

Just set the DVR.:)

I'll keep that in mind for the future. You are obviously an honary member of the polite police. I hope we can have breakfast together soon. I'm sure it will be a blast.

 

I guess the good news is, you're less than 1400 posts away from a big reward. Congrats! Keep working on it.

Polite police? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, you gave yours, I gave mine.

As far as the comment on my post count, I have no idea what "big reward" you are talking about. I post an average of just over 3 posts a day your average is more than double that in your short time on cruise critic. If you don't like my opinions, put me on ignore.

Agreed. It only came off that way. And that's about all I can go on.

 

 

 

I was holding them hostage? If they asked I'm sure there would have been no problem letting them by. So first I'm supposed to give them a pass for not opening their mouths and then I'm supposed to read their minds?

 

And, thanks again! :)

Give them a pass? Just because you wanted to chat at breakfast doesn't mean that everyone else had to. As far as "reading their minds" you said they were trapped and had to wait for everyone else, I suggested the polite thing to do was to offer to let them out.

Having a quiet breakfast does not make someone a snob.

They spoke english. They did sort of answer a question.

 

I think it's GREAT if you want to be alone. THEN BE ALONE. That's even possible on a cruise ship.

 

Why didn't they avoid breakfast in the MDR?

 

Thanks! :)

I have no idea why they had breakfast in the MDR, maybe they were hungry. I just do not think they were rude because they chose not to speak during breakfast. They should have been allowed to have their meal and leave when they wanted to. The polite thing would have been to offer to let them out if they were done.

One time I was seated at a table for breakfast in the MDR before getting off at a port. It was a table for eight and there were 4 couples seated at the table, one being my wife and me. It was an oval table in the corner and my wife and I were at one end.

 

So we started talking to the couple closest to us. They had nothing to say. The other two couples were engaged in conversation. Then they turned to the "shut down" couple and they were, well, shut down. So I decided to answer the questions instead of them. The six of us had a lovely breakfast and conversation and the other couple was just ignored by all of us. They were in the corner against the wall and pretty well trapped. So they had to sit there until we were all done. I think they stared at the ceiling the entire time.

 

I just don't get some people.

I don't get some people either, what did this couple do wrong that bothered you? You have no idea if they spoke english, had a hearing problem or just were not morning people. Some people are just shy and do not want to partake in chatter. Many people avoid breakfast in the MDR because they don't want to be stuck at a large table.

I guess I manage to avoid these situations somehow. My partner and I are in our early 20's and we've done two cruises. I haven't had any issue with rude young poeple or rude old people on our cruise. I think there was one or two people who skipped in line but that doesn't bother me, it's not the end of the world. Also to avoid any nasty remarks me and my partner(both males) don't hold hands on the boat or show any affection in public while on the boat, by doing so we're avoiding a potential nasty situation. If we see some people that look snoby in the windjammer we simply keep going and find a seat somewhere else, maybe in a more quiet location or where the people are laughing and having a great time.

You have every right to hold your partner's hand as I have to hold my husband's hand. It is too bad that our society can not accept everyone.

As far as "cruise snobs", we have run into some wonderful people of all ages and some rude people too. Our biggest issue was a couple of kamikaze scooters who liked to fly down the promenade telling everyone to get out of their way. They ran into people's ankles and were really obnoxious. Unless you are walking the promenade at 6am, you are going to have to go with the flow like everyone else.

Hey Janet, I'm still doing my research and i came across a you tube video of a Ben and Jerry "sweet room" which is located right on top of the ben and jerry ice cream palor. Question I have for you is:

 

Is the B&J ice cream free or would I have to pay?

 

If I have to pay for the B&J is there any other icecream on board I can have without paying? I don't want to pay to have extra pounds on the hip

 

 

Meredith

Each person in the Ben & Jerry's "sweet" gets one free ice cream every day. This is compensation for an obstructed view of the promenade, the cabin looks out on the rear end of the cows above the ice cream shop. The cabin is decorated in a cow motif. This cabin also used to get access to the concierge lounge like all the other suites but that benefit is no longer offered. I would do a search in the Royal Caribbean forum on this "sweet". There is a recent thread from someone who hated it, I forget what their issue was with the cabin. There has also been rumors of Ben and Jerry's being removed from the ships but as of yet that is only rumor.

Wow, that is great!!! I can't believe that someone actually knows the family! I can't wait until tomorrow now to see how it turns out.:)

Unbelievable that the camera made it so far and in such great shape. There is another site you might want to post at too:

http://ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com/

It is very nice of you to spend so much time investigating this. I hope you find the owner.:)

I cruised with my mother a few years back and we had a residency rate for Florida. At the time, she did not have a FL drivers license but she had a homeowners association picture ID which she used instead. They did ask for ID at the pier and what she showed was accepted.

I have had a residency discount for MA for a cruise since then. We had used our passports as ID at checkin but were not asked to show our drivers license to prove our residency and still got our awesome discount.

I do agree with the others who say that showing a Canadian passport might make them question the FL residency discount.

How is the rental shuttle from Hertz??????? Debating whether we should use rental shuttle or get taxi.

Great! We have used Hertz shuttle twice before our cruise. We returned the car just after 10:30 both times. The first time, the shuttle was just loading. The driver called to us to leave the bags right by the car and he would come get them. The three of us were on the shuttle with only 2 other people and he left as soon as my husband came out of the building from returning the car.

The second time, the shuttle was full and leaving to go to the ships. The driver said he was only going to the Mariner and would be back soon. There were 4 other people waiting that he had to leave along with us. He was back very quickly.

The drivers load the bags for you though my DH and my 17 yr old DS passed things up to him but he told them they didn't need to help. At the port, he unloaded things directly to the porters waiting for us as he opened the door. I did tip both the driver and the porter since we had 5 good size bags and a case of water.

Personally, I wouldn't waste the money on the taxi. I also wouldn't do as some do with one person dropping everyone off at the port, then go return car and come back themselves on the shuttle. We like to stay together. Even if I had little kids, I would take the rental shuttle.

Hertz is directly in front of the Residence Inn, they actually use the same driveway so it is very convenient if you are staying at Residence Inn.

The Residence Inn is very nice. We have stayed there twice. It is only a few years old, very clean and has a free hot breakfast. The front desk staff has always been very helpful.

The rooms a big with full size refrigerators, microwave, cooktop and table and chairs.

We have never left a car there since we fly down and always have a rental car. We haven't used there shuttle either since we use the rental shuttle.

We would stay there again if we cruise out of Port Canaveral again.

Well, let this be a lesson out there to everyone that a DUI follows you everwhere and tend to bite you in the bum just when you thought everything was settled. Think twice everyone before picking up your keys after having a couple of beers.

 

Thanks everyone for you advice. Hopefully my BIL will be able to get information from the Canadian immigration office.

I found this link which is a lawyers site who specializes in DUI cases and Canadian travel. I looks like your BIL's DUI might be too recent to get an approval for entrance bases on the immigration law his site quotes.

http://www.1800duilaws.com/article/travel_to_canada.asp

I hope your whole family is able to be there for the big surprise.