pam_1024

I don't cruise till mid December and I am paying mine off this week. Also have gratuities paid and my sea pass account money set aside. I pay everything as early as possible so I can enjoy the days leading up to the cruise without worrying about money. I also have my suitcase partially packed. :o

LOVE your swimsuit in the Barbados beach pictures. I always enjoy your reviews. Love getting ideas for port days and your pictures are great. You guys are living my dream. Retirement cruising. :)

Can someone find out:

 

Brilliance: How much longer will Clo be onboard, and to whom will she be handing over CD duties?

 

Enchantment: Who will be covering Mark's vacation May 18-July 13?

 

Explorer: Who will be taking over from Mike on May 15?

 

Freedom: Who will be taking over from Casey at the end of May or beginning of June, and what is the exact handover date?

I asked Marc on his social media page and he replied Paul Rutter and Tom de cel. I assume Tom is AM?

Loving your review, we will be cruising her in December, we too love the Afts. Thanks for the review.

We will be on Indy with you in Dec! Have been on Freedom last two cruises. This will be our first time on Independence.

Any opinions on Casey Peltier? This is only my third cruise, but I have been lucky enough to have had good CDs in Graham Seymour and Richard Spacey.

 

While a bad CD won't make or break my cruise, there is definitely a difference in the experience from what I have heard. Seymour was better at scheduling and Spacey better at entertaining the masses.

 

Also, any idea when we will know who is subbing for Peltier during his break? We go in August and will probably have the sub.

Casey was our CD on Freedom last Nov. I had read a lot of not so good reviews of him and wasn't expecting much. He ended up being one of my favorites. I had Richard Spacey my previous Freedom cruise and he is, hands down, the best IMO. But you can't compare the two. They are so different. Where Richard was very animated and full of energy, Casey has a very dry, sarcastic, deadpan sense of humor. My favorite kind. ;) He makes fun of himself a lot, and really interacted with the passengers well. I would gladly go on a ship with him as CD again.

Looking forward to your review and pictures. I have been on Freedom twice and love that class. Will be on Indy for the first time this Dec. Can't wait!

Jeremie was the AM on Oasis on March 7-14. All I remember about him is that he spoke English poorly and we couldn't understand a word he said. :rolleyes:

We had Jerimie as AD on Freedom last Nov. Loved him. We had more fun laughing at his word pronunciations. He was very personable and fun. :)

Good God, over dramatize much? :rolleyes: Its getting to where someone cant post anything around here anymore without getting clobbered.

 

Ridiculous.

ryan, I was thinking the same thing. a bit of overkill, lol. Not to mention melodramatic. :rolleyes:

Yep. $55 per person. You will be charged when you book it. FYI, we tried to book it on the RC website for over a week and got the error page. Called Crown and Anchor this morning and they had it booked for me in 5 min. Also were nice enough to book for my friends who are going on their 1st RC cruise with us. Very good customer service!

Just booked the Mystery Dinner Theatre for our upcoming FOS cruise. Thx for the menu! I imagine it hasn't changed. Is there a dress code since it is in Portofino? Ours starts at 7:15 pm. I have heard it lasts around 3 hours? Really looking forward to this. My 5th RC cruise but first time for mystery dinner theatre. Nice to try different things!

Looking forward to review and pics! Did FOS Western Caribbean last May. Doing Eastern Caribbean Nov 30th. 5th cruise and 1st repeat ship. 7 days was not enough! :)

We're doing the Eastern Caribbean on Freedom in November too!! And I agree - too much to do in 7 days. We did the Western Caribbean on Oasis last year and loved it! Which sail date will you be doing??

we will set sail on the 30th, a couple of weeks after you. can't wait! :D

Take a highlighter pen. you can highlight the activities you want to do the next day on your cruise compass and it will help you keep up with what activities the kiddos are involved in. also a little magnetic dry erase board is nice to leave notes for each other if you are doing different things during the day. cabins aren't open until 1 pm usually so if you guys want to swim, take swim suits, sunblock, etc in a carry on and you can swim as soon as your get there if you want! If I think of anything else, i will add more later. :)

Cool! I'm in Pikeville!

Lawrenceburg here. :D I grew up just North of Somerset. Went to school with lots of folks with the last name Mullins. We did Freedom Western Caribbean last May. Looking forward to Freedom Eastern this November! Too much to do on that ship in just 7 days!

Do you recall what time it started and how long it lasted? Taking my friends on their first RC cruise this Nov on FOS. She really wants to do this. I know it is the first night. Was wondering what time it started and ended.

DrD I work for Genentech. In Oncology. I wonder if Zofran, Kytril or the anti-emetics we use in Onc would work? I think some of those are ineffective for motion sickness.

 

Holly - I'm lucky. He's a real trouper. But we will be on top of it this time!

I would recommend the zofran over phenergan because it doesnt cause drowsiness. I have always used meclizine. I start taking it a couple of days before flying/cruising so it will be in my system good by the time we set sail. usually at bedtime will work well for me, although on JOS thanksgiving cruise, there were a couple of times i had to take it during the day. Hope you find something that works and you guys have a wonderful cruise!

Oh I am even more excited now! My daughters (who will be 5 and 1.5 in Nov) will LOVE the xmas decorations!! :D:D

If you have the room in your luggage, you should bring some decorations for your cabin door and those window clingy things for your window. I noticed a lot of people did that and wish i had thought of it! Plus, when you are at port, the girls can look for their cabin window decorations. :)

We spent Thanksgiving 2011 on Jewel of the Seas. Fantastic! They did serve the traditional Tgiving dinner with other options for those who wanted them. I heard some people complaining that it didn't taste like their home cooked holiday meal, but, frankly if i wanted that I would have stayed home and cooked! I thought it was delicious! Everyone got a really nice card from the captain wishing them a happy Thanksgiving. Each deck had a nice table set up with a cornucopia, indian corn, etc... The best part was when we woke up the next morning, "elves" had been at work all night decorating for Christmas. :D The tree in the centrum made a beautiful backdrop for family photos. We will be sailing on the Freedom this year the weekend after Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to the Christmas music and decorations. :)

another kudo for Jamie Fenimen. He was fantastic on FOS last May. The morning show with him and Richard Spacey was hilarious. They were sitting on the Ben and Jerry's cows for the first show of the cruise. :D He did a trivia quiz of all things British on the last sea day that was fantastic. Really hope he is promoted to CD one day. He would be great. On our 2011 Jewel of the Seas cruise, the AD was a gal named Becky. Can't remember her last name but I think she was new to the job and was fantastic. She had a very dry, quiet sense of humor and I was very impressed with her. Have often wondered where she is now. Would love to cruise with her again someday.

Consensus from a few of the other threads is that they come with an extra cost and, if you don't want the "up charge" for the glass to be sure to say so before ordering. (same goes for those after dinner shots in the RCCL shot glasses).

thanks! I don't mind paying extra for the shot glasses. already have a coco cay mug but definitely want the coco locos :) we have 3 sea days plus a coco cay day on our next cruise so i definitely think i will get my money's worth on the premium package. thx for the help!

a couple of questions if anyone has experience with this. On Cococay and Labadee, I know the package is good at these ports, but does it pay for the drinks in the souvenir mugs or do you pay extra for this. and does it cover the "shot of the day" that you can get in the different take home shot glasses each day?

we used cocoa beach shuttles and were very pleased. you can look them up online for prices.

Serenade. We are traveling with our 16 yr old girls who actually enjoy hanging out with us (I know, shocker). I was wondering if the girls would be able to join us in the clubs for some of the activities listed on the Compasses, such as the Trivia contests and dancing. They are huge 80's trivia & music buffs, and although I know they will have activities geared toward their own age group, they are wondering if they'll be able to hang with us sometimes for some of these activities.

yes on the trivia. any age can join in. I believe the night clubs are for 18 and older, although on our Freedom cruise last year, they opened it up for the teens one night for a few hours. It was just open at that time to under 18. you guys can enjoy things like 70s and 80s parties together. My son and I always enjoyed that. I got him in his first conga line at age 12 on the Enchantment. :p I think you guys will find more than enough activities to enjoy together. Karaoke always seems to be popular with the teens. Myself, I enjoy going to the Schooner piano bar every evening but it was a bit boring for my son lol. Music was more from my generation than his. :) Hope you guys have a wonderful cruise!

Knowing that for some schools, maybe East Coast schools in particular, summer break hasn't begun by early June, will there be many teens on the 9-day Bermuda/Caribbean Explorer sailing? For those of you who have traveled in early June, how does the number of kids compare to spring break weeks?

 

Thanks in advance!

we were on Freedom last yr. End of May, first week of June. There were over 700 kids under 18 on the ship that week. :p My 17 yo had a blast lol. I would say, expect a lot of kids that week.