mjldvlks
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Posts posted by mjldvlks
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Unfortunately, it does not. We have found somewhere, a local country club *by some miracle* wasn't booked so I am grateful for that.
It has been an emotional day.
Having experienced 2 children's weddings in the last 10 years and having a spouse who dabbles in wedding assistance [planning may be going too far] and who I have helped from time to time by running sound and doing other odd jobs, I have come to the conclusion that there are 3 requirements for a successful wedding:
1. At the end of the process you must be lawfully married. [And it can be a process -- everything may not happen the same day -- licenses need to be signed and mailed; sometimes you have a "show" wedding and the official/legal wedding is some other time/place due to jurisdiction or other legal issues]
2. You must have pictures.
3. No fatalities.
About anything else you will laugh about later.
Hoping you have a successful wedding.
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On Jewel we had a deck 3 OV pretty far aft -- port side, under the MDR. We had no problem with noise. We had a great time.
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Do they do a Love and Marriage type gameshow during one of the "show times"? I thoroughly love the shows and activities on Carnival!
Usually.
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We have always been happy with the guarantee game. But IMO the only way to play is to be content with the worst cabin in the minimum guaranteed category at the guaranteed price. That is to say, it should be primarily seen as a pricing tool. Never play the game as a way to get an upgrade. Never ever never pay more get no more than a guarantee of the category you are already in -- a "guaranteed" recipe for disappointment.
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Congratulations. Wishing you a happy cruise and many happy years together.
One of the things I would do is spend some time walking around the outside decks at night -- many places for quiet star and/or sea gazing. The helipad is one. Another of my favorite places is the area on 4 where the circumferential promenade bows out away from the ship. I have posted pictures a couple of times, but if you want me to [and can't find my earlier posts] I would be glad to post one again.
Once again -- enjoy the trip [on Freedom and through life together].
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Many older passengers......many more medical issues.
Hope you are having a great time -- say hi to Tom Cruizes for us.
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. . . . If gasoline is $4.00 a gallon, but someone tells you that you can get unlimited gas for a week for $400, you would have to use more than 100 gallons of gas in that week for it to be a dollar savings. You can certainly use 50 gallons of gas and justify this as "worth it" to yourself for any reason at all on the planet that you choose to use, but the facts are that you overpaid. You can also justify this as "worth it" because you didn't have to pay each time you stopped to fill the 10 gallon tank, but the facts are still that you overpaid.
To add to your gasoline analogy, if you drive extra miles [or in this case drink more juice/coffee/soda or whatever] than you otherwise would not have simply to reach that break even number -- you have overpaid.
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It was a very good demonstration of superior ship handling. . .
And the technological capabilities of these ships.
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I got mine to light but the darned thing was flopping around so much I could not get firm suction to inhale. Left my lips feeling scaly and slimy.:D
Next time, try ribs -- they don't wiggle nearly as much.
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Here's a picture [greatly enlarged] of the balcony of 1058 on the port side directly opposite 1560. I chose this because the only pics I have of Jewel in the bright sunshine are of the port side [the time stamp shows it was taken about 1 in the afternoon and this side of the ship was to the south meaning this is about as sunny as this balcony was going to get that day]. I do have some early morning pictures of the starboard side and the overhang is similar. This should give you an idea. I don't know what time of year you are sailing -- but this looks pretty dark.
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. . . While I cannot prove this [didn't have any reason to save it] my memory is that before our cruise on Independence [in 2009] they listed the difference between D and E cabins at about what CB says. I remember this because it was easy to visualize based on the additional length of the couch [about a yard] times the width of the cabin [about 12 feet].
OK, I searched some posts from around the time of our Independence cruise in 2009. From discussions in a couple of different threads, it is pretty clear that, at that time, D balconies were listed at 190 sq ft with a 30 something sq ft balcony. Still could not find the E balcony numbers, but my memory is there was a substantial difference between what was listed then and the 184 in the current information. I also recall that the balcony size on the Es was about what it is now. Some people argued that was where the extra interior space for the Ds came from. I suspected it was just wrong -- which is apparently the truth.
Surely they had accurate measuring devices in 2009.
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Lol
No idea where she comes up with the 37 sq ft.
Radience class has the biggest difference at 27 sq ft
No E's on Sovereign, Vision or Oasis
Voyager and Freedom class is 15 sq ft
Quantum will be 21 sq ft
To be fair, RCI has never been noted for giving accurate or consistent stats on their ships [witness inconsistent and inaccurate statements about the size of the Freedoms now listed on RCI's website at 160,000 gt when it is my understanding they are registered at approx. 155,000 gt -- RCI has gone back and forth about the gt number used. I remember for the longest time they used the fudged approximation on two of the ships and the actual number on the third].
While I cannot prove this [didn't have any reason to save it] my memory is that before our cruise on Independence [in 2009] they listed the difference between D and E cabins at about what CB says. I remember this because it was easy to visualize based on the additional length of the couch [about a yard] times the width of the cabin [about 12 feet].
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Bob I usually agree with most of your posts but not this one. I love radiance ship, all the ocean views from everywhere on the ships and their cabins. Do not care for vision ships at all and find the compatible cabins much smaller.
But that is just me
AS Tomatosauce said, the Visions vary quite a bit between ships. From your cruise history, it appears you have cruised Enchantment and Grandeur, but I don't see Legend or Splendour. I have not sailed on Enchantment or Grandeur so cannot comment on those ships. However, although there was some time between our cruise on Splendour and our cruises on Radiance class ships, I remember them being fairly similar. We had a D Balcony on deck 7 of Splendour and remember it being a decent size. While I am not part of the "all that glass" crowd of Radiance class fans [never saw the big whoop in seeing the ocean through a window], I do remember there being a lot of glass on Splendour. I am solidly in Bob's camp on this one.
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This is a very timely thread! I am the organizer of the gift exchange for our TA that leaves Wednesday. I am trying to put together a poem for a "Left/Right" game, but I think I might steal your idea of selecting the order by who gave the gift. How do you start out? Who is the 1st person to go?You know that "who goes first?" question has always concerned me, since I have not real clue to how that selection should go. At times the person most active on the thread (if they are not organizing the exchange) is chosen for no other reason that most know his/her name. I suppose the organizer could choose any method. Pick a number between 1-100.;)
How about something arbitrary like who travelled the farthest to embarkation, or the youngest, or oldest? One criteria I would not use is the most cruises -- they get enough already.
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FWIW, I am not a fan of the gift exchange so we don't participate. With all the luggage restrictions when you fly it's just not enoyable. I suspect I am not the only one who feels this way.
I am sure you are right and I would never want anyone to feel pressured to participate. But on our particular cruise, we had a huge group with folks from several different countries and all over the US and Canada -- so it was really cool to see what folks brought to represent their homes. The kind of things people brought took up very little space.
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No such thing as a stupid question :D
Really.
It seems like the deck plans used to have the gross outline of the ship surrounding the deck plan so it was pretty easy to tell the pointy end. They don't seem to do that anymore.
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That is pretty much how we have done it in the past. Must be a Kansas thing. . . .
LOL -- or maybe simply the "right" way.
. . . Obviously the more participants the longer the time it takes so if there is a way to shorten it without losing the concept of getting to know each other better....:rolleyes: Difficult decision.The roll call we had on that cruise had something like 200 couples. Not everyone participated in the exchange, but there were still several. I think our mistake was doing that last when we were under the gun to get finished because some other function was scheduled for the same venue.
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The no steamers policy is relatively recent. The policy used to be pretty much as LMaxwell states it. Steamers were not prohibited as a general class, but there were some that looked a lot like irons that they would pull out. Maybe the folks he is talking to were thinking of the older policy. But its pretty clear that the current list of prohibited items includes "Travel Steamers" and that is a separate item from "hot plates."
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WE did it on one cruise where we had a very active Roll Call. The idea was everyone was to bring a small gift [we had a small limit -- $5 or $10] that had something to do with where you were from. The one problem we had was we had a fairly large group and did this at the end of our meet and mingle and time was really a problem. Suggest that if you do this: (1) put a nominal and strict limit on gift cost; and (2) make sure you have the time when you actually make the exchange. I also like having a gift theme [like something related to your home -- particularly if your group is diverse].
I would not allow gift "stealing" [or whatever you call it when you can take a wrapped gift or take one someone has already opened. In my experience, that takes way too much time if you have more than a few people and it tends to generate hard feelings [admittedly based on experiences in gift exchanges other than cruise groups].
It can be a fun thing to do.
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We cruised the eastern Med [Venice, Dubrovnik, Kusadasi, Santorini, Corfu] on Splendour Have also done a couple of US cruises on Radiance class ships. Would cruise either again without qualms. Any decision would come down to price and itinerary. Having said that, we cruised Splendour before the recent renovations so we did not experience the issues Peter noted. But still, Having 400 fewer passengers getting off the ship in these port intensive cruises seems like a bonus to me.
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. . . The cruise ship cabins will have both 110 outlets and 220 EU outlets. However, if you take your device to one of the lounges (we have experience in the D and CL lounge) you will only find the EU outlets, so bring an adapter. . .
But if you use the adapter [even in your cabin] for those devices that can operate on 220, then you leave the 110 outlet open for those that cannot.
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Forgive me if I am being overly simplistic. There are "adapters" which are merely plugs that allow you to connect to power and there are "transformers" that actually convert current from one voltage to another. TO elaborate on Ron's comment, many electronic devices [including most cameras and phones] can operate on either 110 [uS voltage] or 220 [European voltage]. For these devices you only need an adapter to plug into the outlet, not a transformer. This can be a benefit on board because most cabins have both 110 and 220 outlets. This will allow you to use the 220 to charge while you use the 110 for say a hairdryer that does not operate on 220 without a transformer [and for a variety of reason may not work well even with a transformer]. But be sure to check the data plate on your devices to make sure they do indeed operate on both voltages. Many department stores [say target] sell sets of adapters that have plugs for all standard outlets [uK, US, 2 pin European, etc.]. . . .Make sure your charger is 110/220 volts.. . . -
Here is a picture from our balcony on deck 8 [of Radiance -- sister to Brilliance] that should give you a better idea of what the others are talking about.
The worker is walking on the lifeboat cover that is about the same level as the floor of the balconies on 7.
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FWIW, there are actually no "positive" options in the poll, as there is nothing there for the "I'm very happy!". The two options that are considered positive on this thread are really neutral responses: "makes no difference to me."
Maybe I was interpreting "positive" loosely, but "I will stay the course" or "nothing has changed here" sounds a little bit stronger to me than "I don't care."
1st Time on RCI / IOTS
in Royal Caribbean International
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Welcome to cruise critic and here's wishing you a great cruise.
1. The latest time to board should be in the cruise documents you get. I am not actually certain because personally we usually get there early. You should be able to board by at least somewhere between 11 a.m. and noon.
2. Cabins are not usually ready until around 1 p.m.
3. A suit and cocktail dress for formal night will be fine. There will be some in tuxes, but probably most will not be. Many will not even wear a tie. Personally, I like to dress formally for formal night.
4. I don't think you need to book in advance on Independence but its been a while since our cruise on her so I will defer to more recent cruisers.
5. Explore the ship and have a great time. Many great places for having a good time and/our sea gazing and relaxing. There should be several threads out there on the facilities and amenities of Independence and her sisters Freedom and Liberty. These three ships are very similar so descriptions of one generally fit all three, although the venue names may change.
Again -- have a great time.