sgmn

On 3/5/2024 at 5:35 PM, Softball20 said:

If we do walk-off on Celebrity at 7:00 a.m., is a 10:40 flight out of BCN doable?  It looks like the airport is fairly close - less than 30 minutes.  (we flew in there once, but it was years ago and I just don't recall the distance between the port and airport.)  I'm thinking that it's cutting it too close - just evaluating options.

Last May we had a flight after 9am to LHR from Barcelona.   We self carried our bags and got off ASAP.  Big queue of taxis waiting, no wait for us.

We were at the airport so early the airline asked us if we wanted an earlier flight at 0745.  We arrived at our home by 1030 UK time (11.30 Spanish time). 

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I saw a comment on the thread for releases of itinerary that they think cruises are on purpose less than 14 days. 14 days get $250 obc from owning stock and they do it on purpose to keep under 14 days, so many TAs and such were 12 or 13 days, not 14. The TA I booked is 13 days sure enough. Lol. 

 

I feel like I'm in no man's land between D+ and pinnacle ... a too long stretch. 

Ah-ha, that may be a reason. There's just a tiny handful of 15 and over. Thought about the Singapore to Dubai Serenade in April but can't face the thought of a long flight to Singapore again. Its a good price though.

We will never get to Pinnacle. Too old now and we only cruise 2 or 3 times a year, and I want to start trying other lines. 

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We booked a Junior Suite on a 7 night Emirates cruise 10 years ago to get double points and Diamond plus loyalty.

Loved those middle East cruises in our winter, wish they would  still have them 

12 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

 

I hope you are well and had a wonderful cruise and stay.

Home safe and sound. Bit of a mission getting home. We both got on the flights we tried for but flights were very full so we ended up seating separately in middle seats for both sin-dxb and dxb-lon sectors.

Went to see Dr about the fainting episode and upshot is he's scheduled me for further tests and in the meantime I've had to legally notify DVLA (car licensing authority) and can't drive until they tell me I can. Probably until after results of tests are in.  Big change as I'm so use to the freedom of driving 🚗 

10 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Unfortunately with the prices the way are now it makes it hard for us since we already have 5 cruises booked now. If we can find room we will. After these next 5 we will have 130 points. Need to do something as we want to get to Diamond Plus.

I'll just be 15 points away from D+ after my summer cruise on Serenade. Looking to see if I can get it in one cruise but most seem to be around 09-14 nights

17 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Hello,  on our Nassau today. 

 

 Yesterday we docked at PC and went to Cocoa Beach at the Hilton.   Nice area with beach loungers, beach bar and tiki bar.   

I guess I'm out of practice with day drinking.   Perfect Margaritas were very good but very strong.   Had a nice crabcake sandwich.   Hung out till 5 pm.  

 

Food onboard has been good.   We skipped MDR last night and grabbed some snacks in WJ.    Around 11 pm we ordered Buffalo wings and cheesecake from room service.   Both were delicious.

 

Today we are headed to Cable Beach.

Weather has been partly sunny/cloudy.  

 

My neighbor has been sending us kitty photos.  All good there.

 

Cabin on wrong side for sunrise photos....will get them on way back.  Ive been sleeping in till 6:30 or 7 am

Happy Holidays Debbie, wishing you an amazing cruise and good weather 

17 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Thank you Dani.   Nothing wrong with your math, it is today.

 

 I have a meeting tonight, for a government board I serve on, so we celebrated early on Saturday night.  
 

It appears that Daryl is alive and well, and he appeared on the cards the grandkids made. 

 

I think our granddaughter is excited about sailing on Utopia, because that was also on her card.  
 

A nice cake. 
 

 

and a nice meal, cooked by Susan. 
 

 

I know I am several days behind, but I hope to catch up soon. 

 

Happy Birthday Mark 🎂 🥳 

On 3/6/2024 at 12:28 AM, DaniDanielle said:

Charlie managed to stand up from his sitting position on the couch, by himself!!!!

Hopefully, he will continue to improve.  He is having trouble moving his left leg, yet he fell on his right side.  I am just tired.

So sorry to hear about the continuing medical issues for Charlie. Don't forget to take time out to look after yourself if you can, I know easier said than done 😕

On 3/5/2024 at 7:40 PM, grapau27 said:

Thank you.

We called at the Hall of remembrance room at the crematorium this afternoon to read my dad's memory.

All of the books are open at today's date.

Wishing you happy memories of a much loved father 

1 hour ago, SEA DOGY said:

Ok ….So I have 4 vouchers  value $56  can I buy a $100 bottle of wine and pay the difference $44 ? I’m just wondering if this is allowed. Thank you

 

No, but as stated in post 31 and 35 you can get a 40% discount (on bottles up to $100) by using ONE voucher 

On 3/3/2024 at 11:13 PM, jammin said:

Assuming the App works without buying a data package.  I was planning to unplug the family this week.

You don't have to have their Internet package to use the app on board. And you can 'chat' to others in your party using the app.  Make sure everyone downloads the app.

Only problem is you can't just pack away the phone in the safe but need to keep it on you.  The daily cruise compass is on the app too 

Make sure you have the Royal Caribbean app. So much info on there.  You can access it on board even if you don't have an Internet package. 

Paper copies of the daily cruise compass are only available if you specifically ask your room steward for one, otherwise all the information is on the app. 

3 hours ago, Harrisonkid said:

my wife and i are both diamond and we would like to use our 48 hour "free" internet. we have never used it before and was wondering about the 

process to log on. Must we go to a Tech to log in? can we use one device for both of us? Thanks in advance

It can be a bit of a process. We got help at the customer services desk,  though the Internet desk can also talk you through the sign up process 

On 3/3/2024 at 7:02 PM, ReneeFLL said:

Love all the pictures, especially the orchid ones. Hope you’re having/had a great cruise.

I thought of you when I took the pictures.  They had a whole area of them

On 3/1/2024 at 5:01 PM, lenquixote66 said:

Last night I watched the entire season 2 of the Irish series The Tourist on Netflix.It was not as good as season 1 but I will still recommend it because of the good acting.It is a dramedy with some surprises .The last scene sets up for a wish for a season 3.

I felt the same, good but not as good as season 1. Great twist in the final seconds of the last scene

On 2/29/2024 at 12:22 PM, BND said:

Someone who is currently on Spectrum posted on FB that it's already showing on Spectrum's schedule on the app and is on the RCblog (I know it's not an official blog but they do report correct info all the time). She posted a screen shot of the dining times on the app and it shows 3.  And, yes, I know Spectrum is in Asia currently.  We're on Vision in 35 days and there are no dining times listed in the app.  

I was on Spectrum last week. We had booked all our MTD slots in the planner months ago to fit in with port excursions.   On board we were told we had a specific table at 6.45 each night . The time and table number was printed on our sea pass. The evenings we didn't make their time we were given another table with little or no wait .

1 hour ago, little britain said:

I realised I never did my closing thoughts on cruising from Singapore.

 

It really is a different cultural experience - yes all announcements are in English first but you get used to all signage/menus etc being in 2 languages, and many of the menus also include photos of the food.

 

The ship is possibly the most beautiful RCI ship in the fleet.  She is stunning and in immaculate condition - she is going for a dry dock in April but she certainly does not need new furnishings!

 

The main demographic onboard is very Oriental Asian - large family groups from Grandma to babies.  Their experience of the cruise appears to cram as much in as possible - we joked that they saw the Cruise Compass as a 'to do list'... shows etc were always packed.  

 

The ship is lacking in bars - on deck 4 there is no pub, there is no bar in the Boleros area and the Music Hall bar upstairs is much smaller  because the whole area behind the bar (where the pool tables and the high window tables usually are) do not exist as that area is boxed off as a high rollers casino area.  The westerners congregated in Schooner Bar or Vintages.  

 

The specialty restaurants are expensive and when we ate in Sichuan Red we were the only table apart from the Captain!  There is no Solarium buffet so the WJ was always very busy as was 270 cafe.  The large groups used to command any available space to eat near 270 including the Next Cruise desks!  

 

The Gold area is very nice but it is disappointing that the menu never changes.

We actually preferred the Silver area - but again no bar - the waiters had to go outside - navigate the red rope that cut off the chairs and use the Solarium bar to get our drinks.

 

We found that the staff on board were mostly Chinese, very enthusiastic but their command of English was not the best.

 

We did not go to the MDR so cannot comment.  The MDR menu was definitely enhanced from the usual offerings though.

 

There were always plenty of chairs around the pools.

Having a non smoking casino was heaven. Needless to say it was very busy.

I don't know why there was no live band.  

 

We would definitely cruise Spectrum again but only on a longer cruise which attracts more westerners.  

We were on two cruises after you. Just home today so recovering from the grueling flight and doing laundry!

Our four night was full with over 5000 and nearly 1000 children on board. School holidays in Malaysia and lots of multi generational families. 

Entertainment was good. Loved 'Silk Road' 

Agree ship is stunning with great art. 

Happy with the food in MDR.  I had prebooked 'my time' to fit around our port plans but once on board there was a letter stating they had booked us a set time of 6.45 and the table number and time was printed on our stateroom card 🤷‍♀️

Focus seems to be on 'extras' . Seemed to be more 'pay for' restaurants which seemed mostly empty. Had to pay for North Star and I-fly even the shorter version of North Star was $20. 

Casino always busy, the two times we visited we came out on top so all good 👍 

Found the bars to be quiet. 

Missed that there wasn't an available to all Solarium restaurant (it was the silver lounge/restaurant for suites and Pinnacles).

Thanks for your info on what is a not often reviewed ship

On 2/29/2024 at 5:43 PM, little britain said:

Glad to hear you found the room! 
Let me know your thoughts on the ship ! 

We had a good time as always.  Ship was packed though, over 5000 with nearly 1000 kids.  Lots of large intergenerational families, apparently it is school holidays in Malaysia.  Speaking to people who had done a B2B the previous 9 night cruise was a lot quieter with only about 300 children. 

Missed not having use of the Solarium restaurant.  In fact there seemed to be more specialised restaurants than included options.  The specialised restaurants seemed almost empty when we walked by.  Plenty of empty seats in the bars and upper level of pool deck.

Great ports, really enjoyed Penang and Phuket 

View from hotel room. MBS in the far distance

15 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

How long is your travel time to get home?

Direct BA flights is 12 hours, Emirates via DXB is 8 hrs each segment plus 2 hrs layover in DXB.  Currently in Grand Copthorne in SIN at day room rate,  extremely nice room/hotel. Flight is 9pm tonight. Will have a swim, maybe a walk along the  Riverside, rest, late lunch shower and get taxi to airport around 6pm.

Enjoyed Spectrum, though seemed crowded and noisy. 

 Silk Road in 270 was amazing 

Just off Spectrum. Had my time dinning. Booked all my slots in the cruise planner prior to cruise depending on what we had planned in port and estimated time of reboarding after excursions, and depending on shows. 

Once on board we had a letter in our room stating we had been booked at 6.45 eavh night and the actual table number. This time and table number was also on our stateroom card.

If we didn't make their preferred time we were randomly sat elsewhere 

3 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

What would a 9 night Greek Isles cruise from Civitavecchia in late September be like? Already have it booked, wish I would’ve picked Celebrity for this itinerary instead.  

We've done 10 day Greek island cruise before, though on Jewel OTS.  It was great 👍 

Also did a Celebrity 10day around  Med and Malta , also great

We're travelling on our airline staff tickets and Gary's direct BA flight is full so we're probably going back on Emirates via Dubai. Flight is tomorrow night and I've booked us into a day room at a hotel so we can relax before the night flight to Dubai

Zoom in for floating village

Interesting tour of Penang,  it was a walking UNESCO heritage tour. 3.5 hours in very hot humid heat. Learnt a lot, very informative. We didn't have long in port and I would of wanted longer to wander by ourselves  

Yesterday was a long day in Phuket. Meeting time of tour was 7.30am .  Two hour bus trip  stopped at Buddhist temple in amazing cave, lots of monkeys in the Park. Main focus was a boat trip to the James Bond islands in Pang Nge Bay , 'The Man with the golden gun'. In the bay there's a floating village where we had lunch. The village has a mosque ,school, shops, restaurants and a health centre , all floating. 

Penang 

Sunrise

Phuket 

Buddhist temple in caves and monkeys 

Pang Nge Bay and floating village