azbaby8062

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I still have time to think about it. NCL is the only cruise line that has an itinerary for June 2022. As I said before, I do not have an allegiance to any particular cruise line. My dad, made the comment that with this type of port heavy itinerary, ship isn't all important. I have even looked into MSC Grandiosa. I may ask my cruise specialist through NC about making sure the room that I choose has the set up with the bed by the balcony. It might give us a little moore distance when I am showering.

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Today's Battle of the Big Ships takes us all the way to the back of the ships. Spice H20 made it's first appearance on the Epic with a large aft sundeck, pool which converted to a stage for night time activities, stadium seating (reminiscent of the small ships aft decks), and a large video screen.

 

Over time, Spice H20 shrunk in size, but added water features.

 

For a while, the Breakaway and Getaway both had fireworks shows shot from the Spice.

 

On the Bliss, the video screen was removed as larger and larger screens were added to the main pool area.

 

And on the Encore, Spice H20 disappeared,,, replaced by laser tag.

 

Based on these pictures, I have only been on the Breakaway, I like the Epic the best

8 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

I’ve sailed the Epic multiple times and for my preferences,   I really like it. 🤩.   There is a heavy curtain that works well and you’ve got to remember to hang your towel outside the shower 🤩🤩🤩🤩.   Made that mistake a few times.    
 

But the difference,  I enjoy.  It’s the “Epic”. One of a kind.    
 

Your itinerary is also very port intensive.  I actually did 3 cruises on the Epic last fall along with 1 Jade and 1 Pearl. (3 separate months in Europe ).    Very very enjoyable- per usual.    

Yes, this is the first cruise that has so many ports. I have never sailed an itinerary like this. I normally like some sea days. 

9 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Don't let it ruin your vacation yet there are concerns for those who don't have suites.

1)  Sink/vanity is outside the dividing curtain

2)  In some staterooms, the sink is literally right next to a bed (middle of the night issue)

3)  The dividing curtain isn't opaque (another middle of the night issue)

 

Check your stateroom, you want this layout:

 

NOT this layout:

How do you know which stateroom has which setup? 

I booked a balcony room for a seven day cruise out of Rome in June 2022. I figure by that time, things shall hopefully be back to normal. However, I am traveling with my (will be) 21 year old son.  I did not know that the Epic had such a strange bathroom setup. What have been others experiences with that bathroom setup? I am not really loyal to any particular cruise line. We have been on eight or so cruises and I still haven't sailed on the same ship more than once. So far, NCL has been the only cruise line that has fares out for Europe for 2022. With the low deposit, I figure I have time to change Thanks for the feedback.

I looked at the cruise that I have currently booked. If you go through the "promotion" the cruise is $1239 but you just price the cruise alone it starts at $859.

We booked our first European cruise June 2022. I am hoping by then things will have gone back to normal.

Does anyone know when Royal Caribbean will come out with their 2022 itineraries? We booked the Epic for Europe but after looking at the layout of the balcony rooms, I am having second thoughts. I am traveling with my son and their bathroom setup just seems strange. Looking at other options.

How was it traveling in June/ July? I am a teacher so traveling during the school year is difficult. I am looking to travel June/ July 2022. What was it like traveling there during this time of year? I realize it is colder during this time of the year. Are you able to swim or is the water too cold? Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, I am asking for my brother. He normally sails in as a solo. However, he is also realizing that it seems to limit the amount of cruises to choose from. My sister is trying to convince him to share a room with her son (21) He is considering doing this. Unfortunately, my nephew has been known to change his mind and decide not to cruise. My son benefited from his last cancellation by being able to go in his place. However, the question my brother has is: "If for some reason my nephew cancels prior to  cancellation penalty phase, does the rate now change to a single supplement?"

Figured I would post the review from our cruise. We cruised July 12-20.

We were celebrating my son's high school graduation, my birthday, and my cousin's birthday. There were twelve of us. Three of us had balconies and my sister and her family had a junior suite.

I really have no allegiance to any particular cruise line. This was my eighth cruise and I have not been on the same ship more than once. I tend to cruise every other year. I am a school teacher so my time to cruise is normally in the summer.

I  originally had plans of flying into Islip Thursday, spend the night at my mother's house and then take a car service to the port. We were scheduled to take the 6:40PM on Frontier from RDU into Islip. We got to the airport almost three hours ahead only to find out an hour prior to boarding that there were storms and our flight was cancelled. Make a long story short, we ended up driving and spending the night in Baltimore. We stayed at the Radisson Inner Harbor Hotel, we arrived at almost 1:00am. It was a great hotel and we were perfectly happy. We ended up driving to the port Friday morning. No traffic until we got almost to the port. We paid the $22/day. I would consider doing this again, even if it was not my first choice. If we do fly, we would definitely fly two days ahead of time. I am so glad that we were not still living in Phoenix or we would have might have had a problem. We always have travel insurance though.

We did Horseshoe Bay while in Bermuda. We have been there several times before. Several of us purchased the two loungers and umbrellas for $50. It is crowded and on other occasions we walked to the far left of the umbrella stands and it is less crowded. However, my mom has mobility issues so we didn't do much walking. Leaving Bermuda, we did have a medical evacuation and ended up returning to the dock. We weren't even that far away from the dock, so we did not lose that much time.

My son and I purchased the Atlantis beach day through Atlantis. The dig was nice but I don't know if I would go back. The beach was just okay. My sister and cousin and their respective families went to Cable Beach and rented jet skis and had a great time. My parents stayed on the ship. I had never been to Atlantis so I wanted to at least go but it is more of been there done that.

Cocoa Cay was all of what Royal Caribbean said it was be. I had booked the hot air balloon excursion prior to the cruise. Unfortunately, due to weather restrictions, it did not happen. It did not hinder my enjoyment while we were there. My sister and her family as well as my cousin and hers, did ziplining. My son, sister, and cousin also did the half day pass for the water park. They stated that it was good except lines on the big slide were crazy and four of the seven people had received burns due to the lack of water on the slide! We did let the cruise director know when we returned to the ship. 

If you have mobility issues, they had many trams and personnel to assist those who needed it. I really wish they would increase the amount of time that we were there. We did have an extra hour there, but it would have been nice to have more.

The WindJammer's set up is not the best. There are other cruise lines that have a better set up. Some ships have a barbecue section, pizza section, etc... However, the flow on this ship did not really flow well. One big line to get food. The quality of the food was not terrible at the WindJammer but not the best either. Most days, we ate breakfast and dinner in the main dining room. Several times we ate lunch in the main dining room and once we ate at the pizza place on the promenade. 

We had early seating, which sometimes seemed a bit too early but most of us thought the later time was a bit too late. Since we had twelve people, we decided a fixed time would be easier. Prior to the cruise I had reached out to Royal Cruise dining department and requested a table for twelve. They sent me an email with the dining table configuration confirming a table of twelve. As you can guess, we got on the ship, none of us were sitting together. We went to the head waiter on the 4th floor and showed him the email with the copy of the table assignments. He wrote cabin numbers and tables and said he would change and contact our cabins. At the time of our seating, we decided to go to 5th floor dining room since the majority of us were on the fifth floor. The head waiter on that floor was very nice and accommodating. She joined a table of eight and four and put them together. Which actually worked well, we put the adults in one table and the kids at another.

Food was much better in the main dining room than the Wind Jammer. Our waiter Manuel and assistant waiter Shadrul were excellent. They were probably one of the best waiters we have had on a cruise. They were both very attentive and went out of their ways every night to make sure we are happy.

Five of us did Chops one night. Food and service were very good. Our waiter James was interesting to say the least. Not sure if it was an act or Tourette’s but he did a very good job. He certainly was very amusing.

The shows were okay. We enjoyed the acapella group, the juggler and the last comedian. The final show was pretty good. We did not go to the ice show. I heard that the first comedian was not that great but we did not attend. Due to the craziness of the first day and the late night before, we did not go the welcome show. I do know that the most of the group did go to the piano bar the first night and said he was pretty good. We missed the marriage show, which we typically love. My parents actually won twice before. 

Overall, we all thought the ship was very nice. She may be an older ship but she is in great shape. They were consistently disinfecting and cleaning the ship. They did make many announcements of not depositing anything other than toilet paper in the toilet. I heard later that there were several issues with toilets. I did smell septic by the elevators on deck 7 the last day or two. 

My son and I had balcony #7622. It was a great location right off the elevators. I had made a sign for our door with magnetic adhesive and my mom hung a Happy Birthday banner on my cabin door. We had several people stop us and say that the signs always showed them the way to know where their cabin was.

 We brought some magnetic hooks but to be honest we could have done without them. I felt that there was plenty of storage. I use a C-Pap machine and when we got there the water and cord were in the cabin. I actually had him take the cord away because my cord ended up reaching the bed area. Since there are no outlets by the bed I just unplugged it during the day and stored it under the nightstand. 

I felt most of the cruise members were friendly. We are big trivia buffs. We played many games of trivia. We enjoyed Quest and Battle of the Sexes. The pool area was crazy and I have to say that chair hogs were a plenty. Although my mom said a couple of times that she saw them removing towels and putting items that were left at the underneath at the bottom of chairs. 

I saw them consistently cleaning around the ship. We went to guest services several times and I felt they were friendly and knowledgeable. I had a $250 OBC but because we pre-paid our gratuities and had refreshment and soda package we ended up getting $120 of that back. There was question that it may not have been refundable so I went the last day to ask. If it wasn’t I had plans to shop. He said it was and that he could cash it out then. He said that since I had a credit card on file, anything charged would just go to the card. 

I am not a big drinker so getting the beverage package is not worth it. I did get Starbucks coffee every day. I actually enjoyed the mock tales. I did buy a few drinks. Coffee in the main dining room was not the best. The coffee right outside the Starbucks (not inside ) was much better. Don’t know the difference between main dining room coffee and that particular stand but it was better. 

Besides the promenade and pool areas, I felt that there were plenty areas around the ship that you could hang out and not feel that people were on top of you. None of the kids did the kids’ program so I can’t say anything about it. 

I would sail her again. Next year my brother wants to cruise for his 50th. Since he does solo cabins it looks like it may be Norwegian Encore. Which would keep my streak of not sailing the same ship more than once. I would sail Carnival again but I can’t get anyone else to sail with me.  So for now Carnival will have to wait.

Would be happy to answer any questions if I am able. 

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Only 1 cruise line with 1 ship.  The NCL Breakaway 

 I found it. I clicked just Royal Caribbean forum and it popped up

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Follow the 21-22 deployment thread- all info will be posted there. 

I had seen this post a while ago but when I tried searching for it today, I had no luck. Maybe I used the incorrect search parameters. It would be greatly appreciated if you could post a link. When I tried, all I found was various roll calls.

5 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Anytime between Dec 2019 and April 2020.

Thanks. I see some cruise lines already have their 2021 summer itineraries out.

Do you know when the itineraries for Summer 2021 for the Caribbean will be coming out?

I am wondering if someone who has recently been off the Adventure how the beds were. I have read that beds there are very firm. 

I agree with both of your posts. Not the same anymore.

25 minutes ago, lovelife said:

Sure.  Easy peasy.

 

• 1 tsp rubbing alcohol
• 30-40 drops essential oils
• 3 oz water

Instructions

Pour rubbing alcohol in a 3 oz spray container and add essential oils. Add water to fill the container. Give it a good shake and you’re ready to go!  I’ve found 3-4 sprays is enough to cover the bowl and trap all of the stink particles below.

 

To Use

Before you go poo in the toilet, spray on top of the water 3-4 sprays which will create a film, trapping the poo smells after you go. Then do your business and flush. 

Thanks, I will try this and bring on our cruise on the Adventure July 12th 

1 hour ago, lovelife said:

 

I make my own for pennies.

Would you mind sharing? I went on Amazon and it seems expensive.

8 hours ago, matj2000 said:

 

I can find them on sale at that price fairly often at local grocery stores here in Houston...

 

Wow I am jealous. It is way over $4.99 here in Raleigh area. At least double if not triple

21 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Three days prior to sail date.

Thanks, I thought that I had saw that somewhere on their site but I could not find it again. I am hoping they have a 4th of July sale. It will be nice if I can get things at a lower discount. I booked some items at prices that I am happy with but any savings is always good

We are sailing on July 12 aboard the Adventure of the Seas. When would be the latest that we can access drink packages, etc.. on Cruise Planner? I am thinking that they will most likely have a sale July 4 but am wondering if that is too close to sailing for me to do anything. I already have a refreshment and soda package booked. I have been cancelling and rebooking packages as prices change. Thanks.

On 5/22/2019 at 4:36 PM, matj2000 said:

Cruise ship Lobster = Amateur 

 

You can purchase better ones at the grocery store for $4.99

 

 

 I haven't seen lobster for $4.99 for years. Double that price is what I see around here

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

$5 pp seems right.

Thanks, I am guessing they have no problem taking USD?

Just now, mjkacmom said:

Taxis will be lined up at the port to take folks over to Atlantis.

Do you happen to know how much the trip tends to cost? Just trying to budget