welshrich

3 minutes ago, olya1972 said:

What about the ship itself? Last few sailings prior to Covid we did on new ships. They are all beautiful, though we don’t use “ bells and whistles”, but decor itself, cabins furnishings, restaurants - all were wonderful. That said, we did sail on their oldest ship, Grandure, in 2015 and I loved it, found it to be more “marine time “ type of experience then on newer ships, that are resort-like. How is Radiance? 

We did a b2b on Radiance in June last year from Vancouver, she is older but we loved it as there are so many places to sit and look at the scenery when sailing, we also found it seemed more informal as it was such a tiring itinerary.

Hello, when it was open to D+ they did have a continental breakfast in the mornings, now I believe it's just for suite guests and pinnacles so unsure how things have changed, the free drinks you mentioned have stopped for D and above between 5 and 8, now it's vouchers for 4+ drinks loaded onto your seapass to use anytime.

Hi, we are cruising from fort lauderdale in March, first time since before the pandemic, we have always got a hire car with Budget at Orlando airport and then dropped it off across the road from the port and they've had a shuttle to the port.   Can anyone advise of car hires that still do this, some of them say Miami road etc.

Also, does anyone know of a transfer service from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale as this is something that would be good instead of driving.

I have googled but would rather recommendations.

Thanks.

Hello, we've been on Vision a few times, internally there is the Viking Crown, the solarium and also quiet spaces on the higher decks of the centrum where the library, the 'some enchanted' lounge was also quieter during the day.  Outside it is quieter towards the back of the ship as a lot of people tend to stay nearer to the bar or pool.

This just makes it official, we have sailed b2b on Radiance and Vision this year, a small amount of D+ on them and access to the CL was not allowed, we still like to visit the DL as we like the snacks in there and don't want to chance leaving more than 40 mins between eating!

I think I am in the minority in preferring the old HH system, a good tip would always secure a nice drink and one to take to dinner, I find that the drinks at the bars are all ice and sweet stuff.

I wonder whether RCI will eventually go all inclusive like other lines including Celebrity have done.

3 hours ago, Sunseeker20 said:

Brilliance

Hi, we were on a b2b on radiance in June and they had regular hours in the solarium morning and afternoon for kids to use the pool in the solarium, they were not allowed to use the hot tub,

Hi, just booked cabin 7206 on explorer which is one of the cabins overlooking the helipad, has anyone stayed in these before especially the corner cabins?  I can only find some older pics online and wondering if they are roomier as we are on for 27 nights.   tia.

We've sailed on both, will you be sailing with children?  If you are I'd go with Liberty as there is more for them to do, we recently sailed Vision for the 6th time, it was port intensive so was hardly on the ship, but it is still a lovely old style ship for sitting and watching the ocean or people and as it's smaller we met a lot more people and the crew seemed friendlier.  We just like to be on a ship and are planning to try the Icon class so itinerary not important with that as we don't plan on getting off!

We were on her for a b2b in October, have sailed on her about 6 times over the years.  She is an older, smaller ship, but we always find the crew fantastic and so friendly and great entertainment from the CD and team.  There is a nice solarium with a park cafe where we hung out, they did have the roof open too which we'd not seen previously.  Cabins can be small but we only use them to change and sleep, schooner bar really nice for the sea views and people watching.   Only downside is the windjammer setup, it can get very crowded in there and the layout could be better, we tended to go earlier and get in and out.  Hope this helps.

Thankyou everyone, this is really helpful, we've done ziplining before and really enjoyed it, the balloon does sound fun though and a bit more sedate.

Hi, RC have a 50% off deal for these attractions at cococay, has anyone done them and can advise how it was and if you'd do it again?  

18 hours ago, Alex618 said:

We are also in port all day.  The difference between the pricing is absurd in my opinion.  We have already booked Coastal

It is crazy how much extra they charge, we did notice excursions being offered in all ports a lot cheaper than the cruise lines.    

1 hour ago, Alex618 said:

I noted that Celebrity is now offering tour of a different glacier in Juneau for $300 more than private tours with Costal Helicopters/Mendenhall.  Curious if anywhere has opinion of pros and cons of the two Glaciers? This is a huge $$$ difference.  

We did a private tour with Coastal this past June, it was a lot cheaper, we were on a b2b so booked while in Juneau for the following week, it was fantastic and worth every penny, I think we went to the norris glacier, the whole experience from the transfer to the helicopter to the actual sledding was wonderful, would recommend them.   The ship was in port all day so did not have any worries about being late back on board.

2 hours ago, Donsyb said:

U.K. press not too friendly

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/08/i-name-this-ship-human-lasagne-the-worlds-biggest-cruise-ship-goes-viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons?utm_term=636b33d4cdbaf80f2afddfd00934305c&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Sadly there will always be the people who've never tried cruising so write it off for all the wrong reasons citing overcrowding, illness on board etc.  Whenever I hear this I usually ask them how many cruises they've been on and it's always a big fat 0!

6 hours ago, CynBeth6 said:

Next summer we will be going on a cruise leaving out of Barcelona and visiting a few cities in France and a few in Italy. I was looking up entry requirements and noticed besides the passport we need to show proof of why we are there and proof of our finances.  What is the procedure for when we arrive in Spain?  How does it work when on the cruise do we have to at the first France port show our cruise documents and a few months of bank statements and do that at the first Italy port?  

Hi, we did a cruise out of Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, the information online had been reported in the UK press but everyone who was on our flight simply had passports checked and we were on our way, if it does happen it seems similar to the questions we get asked when we want to enter the USA as UK visitors where we've been asked about our visit and proof of return ticket etc.

On 10/16/2022 at 9:55 AM, DELTABLUE said:

ADVENTURE: Marvin Wilson #317, Tornado Tanya end of October #362

ALLURE: Chris Brown #339

ANTHEM: Mario Isla as of 10-15-22 #387

BRILLIANCE:, Orlando Cruz Garcia as of 9-3-22 #337, then John Blair #313

ENCHANTMENT: Eric Lopez #339

EXPLORER: Aysylu ‘Aysy” Sadrislamova #379

FREEDOM: Mickey Martin

GRANDEUR: Mark Rous #378

HARMONY: Jeff Arpin as of 10-9, then Dan Whitney #381

INDEPENDENCE: Rickey Matthews #35

JEWEL: SusanAdams #288

LIBERTY: Paul Rutter #356

MARINER:  Marc Walker, 8-13/12-15-22,  #328/#335

NAVIGATOR: Eric Rodas, as of 8-29-22 #339

OASIS: Bobby Broughton, as of 8-26-22 #277

ODYSSEY: Mike Hunnerup #361

OVATION: John Grantham, as of 8-26-22 #276/279, Chris Brown as of 12-7-22 #385

QUANTUM:  Steve “from Canada”  Knisley 7/13 > 9/20 #371 

RADIANCE: Mark Rous #260

RHAPSODY: Bill Brunkhorst, as of 6-16 #239

SERENADE: John Blair> Oct 20, 2022#334 then Jamie Fentiman from #313

SPECTRUM: Bonnie Bai #243

SYMPHONY: Dennis Charles #376, Clo O’Connor in November #353

VISION: Mercedes Lafuente #313

VOYAGER: Rob McNally as of 8-28-22 #285

WONDER: Mike Szwajkowsk Sept 18 - Jan 22 #369

We just got off a b2b on Vision with Mercedes as CD, WOW!  she and her team were fantastic.

We are sailing on Vision next week for about the 6th time, we tend to choose for the itinerary but love being onboard any ship, have sailed on all classes and liked each one.  When on Anthem etc we do the ifly but perfectly happy sat in the schooner on Vision looking out to sea.  If we had children maybe we'd go for more of the bells and whistles but I find the smaller the ship the crew tend to be friendlier as you get to know them a bit more and have the time to chat with them more.

Never tried this, we are on a b2b in a couple of weeks so will try for a couple of cokes on turn around day for the cabin.

2 hours ago, scottraveller said:

I’m on Antgem at the moment and boarded using the NHS email confirming a negative test. I also took the negative test cassette with me and got through without any difficulty. The process was very straight forward and easy

IS that NHS email from scanning the QR code on the test itself.

16 hours ago, njkruzer said:

Are you looking at cruises to Europe? My understanding is that to be up-to-date in the EU you last shot of original vaccination serious must be less than 270 days.  If not you need a booster.   Not sure if Royal is enforcing this.

Does the booster need to be within the last 270 days also?  Has mine about 266 days ago and due to sail in 10 days, sailing from Barcelona.

Nice review, we are sailing on her in March, have been on Freedom and Indy so looking forward to crossing this off my list.  Did you use the gym?  I'd read on some ships they are taking the free to use steam and sauna away when being upgraded so hope this is not yet the case here.   

We've been lucky on our last two sailings, we've gone to just drop the luggage off and then explore but the check in people have encouraged us to check in as it was quiet.

15 hours ago, HighlandBoy said:

A big thank you to the OP for posting this. Just called up and after explaining to the agent about the new sale he checked with his supervisor and we bagged the deal. Much better that the cruise planner sale just now that was £73.53 pppd.

Did they advise if it had to be for everyone in the cabin?  We are D+ so it would be good to get it for one of us and use the 10 combined free drinks per day for the other person.

8 minutes ago, little britain said:

As above; if you’ve booked via Uk agent it’s £43pppd. You have to call to get this offer; it is not available via the planner. 

Will they also honour the 30% off for D+ over the phone or only once onboard?

Hi, I've been trying to book a cruise as I have FCC from a previous cancelled cruise.  When I get to payment I've been putting in the FCC number but it still asks for a CC, even though the FCC more than covers the cost of the cruise, I know it can't be used to pay port fees etc but has anyone paid for the rest of the cruise using an FCC or would I need to call them and do it over the phone?