cruiselvr04
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Everything posted by cruiselvr04
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Cruise Arrival vs Departure Flight Time in Sydney
cruiselvr04 replied to desertg8r's topic in Cruise Air
By now you’ve probably bought your airfare. But for the benefit of others who might read this thread we highly suggest you spend time in Sydney. We spent 3 nights before and 4 after our round Australia cruise. We stayed on the quay ( many hotels in this area) and found it so easy to get around by foot, train, tram and ferries. Unless you have time constraints see this beautiful city with so much to do! -
We have watched Royal actually retrieve them and handed them off to the port agent. I feel comfortable leaving them in the safe. Especially in the Caribbean where we do not take long excursions or get too far from the port unless it’s through the ship. But do what makes you feel comfortable. I would be more concerned leaving them in a bag on the beach. We like to snorkel and swim and take all valuables into the water with us. If passports get wet they will not be accepted.
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Passports stay in the safe unless required. They are not required anywhere in the Caribbean. We take our passport cards with us in port for ID and a credit card in case something unexpected happens. Other countries are different and have different rules. In the Caribbean all you need is photo ID in ports of call. And a watch set to ship time!
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Week before Halloween or week of for lesser crowds?
cruiselvr04 replied to dizgal64's topic in Royal Caribbean International
We have cruised over Halloween and it was fun. Every ship is sailing pretty much to capacity right now. Definitely look at school holidays if having a ton of kids around bothers you. We have noticed a large uptick of kids on every cruise except maybe the really long ones over 10 days. Either parents are taking them out of school or home schooling. We thought there wouldn’t be a lot of kids on our southbound Alaska cruise last year due to the cost of 2 one way flights. There were 600kids/1800 adults on that ship. It was crazy. -
Best way to book back to back cruises?
cruiselvr04 replied to Raddo's topic in Royal Caribbean International
You need to book fairly early or you’ll need to move to different cabins. While this is not a deal breaker, it’s a hassle and time consuming to pack and unpack again. Booking early when fares first come out increases your chances of getting the same cabin. We do a lot of them and it’s definitely more enjoyable when you don’t move cabins. -
I complain on every survey. Last cruise we left wet pool towels in the cabin because we were late to dinner and didn’t have 15 min to wait for elevators to take them back up to the pool deck. Our steward took them and I had to work to get them off our bill. The stewards should at least have a stack to replace them if they remove them. He said he checked it in for us but it did not happen. It can be such a pain.
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We will be doing the opposite in April. I will need to figure out how to get from Southampton to downtown London. We’ll have too many bags I think to take a train. We actually will get off in Portsmouth, then I want to spend a couple of nights there or Southampton, taking the train to bath and maybe Cotswold? Then we’ll spend a week in London before flying home. We’ll skip Stonehenge but will do a day trip out to Windsor.
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Vision OTS, A Towel Love Story
cruiselvr04 replied to Engineroom Snipe's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Super cute. Our last cruise we didn’t get a single towel animal and I missed it! -
The standard meal in Izumi is one small plate, order 2 from the large plate list and one dessert for the pre set price. Or you can order ala carte and pay for each item. Or order the pre fixe and add something else for an additional charge. We’ve even ordered one pre fixe meal and shared it when we weren’t very hungry. We added something to it and it was plenty especially for lunch.
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We had this discussion with Australians at dinner one night. It’s the same issues everywhere. Few charging stations, would never make it on a road trip in the heart of Australia. Batteries are very costly to replace. There have been some fires from cars plugged into garages which burned the house down. Some places in Australia now say you have to have the charging so many feet from your home in case of fire.
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It never hurts to check onboard. They may put you on a waiting list in case someone cancels. Good luck.
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My password isn’t working either. Guess I’ll have to come up with a new one….
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Revamp of C&A tiers? Cruises getting expensive!
cruiselvr04 replied to nolegirl01's topic in Royal Caribbean International
I don’t want to lose any perks. It really does keep us coming back when we compare having to buy drinks/internet on other lines. What will make us leave Royal are the repetitive itineraries. The new cruisers don’t care as it’s all new to them but some of us want to see other parts of the world then just the Caribbean. Royals 25-26 leaves a lot to be desired, nothing longer than 7 days at a time in Europe. They used to do 12 night. While you can string some together, the meals and entertainment gets repetitive. Flights are expensive, I’m not flying overseas for a week cruise. I skimmed the blog rebranding article. I’d be thrilled if Celebrity and Royal merged for C and A. It would certainly get us on more Celebrity ships! Elite on Celebrity isn’t much. -
We put each dress item in its own dry cleaning bag. I’ve saved them for years for this purpose but I think if you went to a dry cleaners they’d sell you some. We use a “cruiser suitcase” where the clothes stay on the hangers and fold in the middle. We don’t have to send anything out. Steam in the shower helps if needed. Otherwise we go wrinkled.
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Our bags went on a truck from the Marriott straight onto the ship. They were waiting outside our cabin when we got there. A few took carry on size bags with them and put them under the bus. We put our ship tags on our suitcases before we put them out in the hall at the Marriott. We found and consumed our own wine along the way. So yes watch for places. The cruisetour doesn't care if you drink your own purchased alcohol. We didn't drink on the bus or BYOB on the train but enjoyed our own at the hotels. There will be opportunities along the way.
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Rita’s Cantina on Jewel
cruiselvr04 replied to captainannoyed!'s topic in Royal Caribbean International
It’s still there but only as a bar. No food. Rarely used and not open a lot. While we like Izumi we don’t like the location on Brilliance. Good views but hard to get to and you must go outside in wind, rain etc to get to it, There is a back way through crew areas to get out in case of wet weather but not get in. Not a deal breaker, just not convenient.