cruiselvr04

Such a bummer for the people who had booked these cruises. We were on the cruise just before her break down and met many, mostly Americans, who were staying on until May in Vancouver. Those people have now been displaced for 2 weeks while she was fixed. I’m not in contact with any of them but am wondering if they gave up and went home or if they stayed in Australia hoping to get back on. We had debated the TP and had even booked the SP once but decided to back out before final payment. The crew has gotten a break but they have also lost 2 weeks of tips. Stuff happens, being flexible in travel is key, but it’s still disappointing for those involved.

There are pros and cons to both. We like the Fort Lauderdale airport better. It’s easier to navigate. We usually fly Southwest and they have a lot of flights there. Miami is more walking inside the airport. Not a huge deal, FFL is just nicer. Hotels are usually less expensive in Fort Lauderdale. Even near the beach they are less than downtown Miami. The cab fare with tip or XL Uber from Fort Lauderdale to Miami can run up to $100 especially in rush hour. All that said we usually fly into Fort Lauderdale because we can get non stops, stay at Riverside ( because we like the area ), and Uber over to Miami the morning of the cruise. If we fly into Miami, we stay at a airport hotel and Uber to the pier in the a.m. Post cruise it’s always better to fly out of Miami but you can cab, Uber or get a shuttle back to FFL too.

Kleenex is provided. I’ve had to ask once when it wasn’t.

i think you do have to look at where you’re at before you book something independent. A port of call that’s rarely used, an island off the coast of Africa, with people who may not fully understand being timely, probably not. We book independent excursions and will continue to do so. But there are times when a long distance is involved or the port time is short, we will not.

How’s this one for fun….we were on Brilliance RT Sydney and went to NZ. No Australia ports that cruise. B2B then going around Australia. We had to pack all our belongings even if in the same cabin, special tag them, leave them out the night before turn around. Morning of turnaround had to get off after everyone else did, collect our bags off the ship, recheck them. You could then head out to Sydney or get back on the ship. Since we had to bring valuables off with us we chose to get back on rather then drag them around in a big backpack all day. We were then not allowed to leave the ship again. Strange rules and made a lot of work for everyone. We did get our luggage first but it was still a super hassle. It was not that way in Perth when we continued on for the third B2B. Just coming from NZ.

I find it annoying and it discriminatory. I know it has to do with insurance for the vendors. So far, we’ve only run into this in the Caribbean and Alaska.

This depends on where you are in the world.

We are starting to mix it up now that we’ve retired. However most land vacations are not less. Once you book a hotel, food, gas, admissions to places it does add up. We struggle with where to eat every night on land and then there’s no entertainment but a TV most evenings. If you fly and rent a car to get around then the price really goes up. All that said we are shopping around and looking for the best prices pp/per night. Jr suites and up are pretty much off the table anymore and we’re even booking some ocean views due to prices. Our budget isn’t bigger so higher prices do affect us.

Glad your family had a great time. Royal is definitely a family cruise line unless you go on longer sailings. We avoid summer, holidays and short sailings most of the time.

1. muster will be on your sea pass card. Go as soon as you board the ship and get it done. Watch the video first on the app. 2. Room service is $7.95 plus 18%. Coffee and rolls in the morning is free. 3.Pizza is on the buffet and in Park cafe in the solarium. 4. park cafe does have roast beef sandwiches pretty much every day. Hours are usually 1 p.m. to dinner time and then opens in the evening until late for pizza. 5. Book your speciality restaurants ahead through the cruise planner for some discounts. Otherwise book on board for full price. 6. No show reservations needed. 7. Quest is alive and well but will be smaller. 8. There are behind the scenes tours on sea days that can be booked in the planner. Some times Diamond plus are offered theatre behind the scenes free. 9. Drink package prices vary…. Watch for sales in the planner. Beer is around $8, most cocktails are $14-$15 plus add 18% to all that. 10. Diamond get 4 drinks a day. A tall cappuccino or americano is free to D+ in the morning at the latitude coffee place. Not sure about D but you can always use one drink for that if you choose. You can also use them for water or soft drinks. We just spent 46 nights on her, just before she broke down. She shows wear and tear but is a great ship with great staff. Sounds like she’ll be on her way again soon.

Since I’m still unpacking I just took an inventory of what I used in 2 months like shampoo, toothpaste, body wash, etc. We have a month trip later this year so I can half that and if we ever get to do a world cruise I can adjust as needed. I used less shampoo than I thought for instance but more toothpaste. I also used (I think this was your trick) to use the body wash from the shower for laundry. It worked just fine. I won’t buy expensive soap packets anymore. Every trip refines the packing skills. On this trip we also put 2 extension cords together, provided by the ship, and used magnets to put the cord along the ceiling over the bed so we didn’t have to trip over it. A surge free adaptor at the end enabled the DH to plug in his cpap and gave me a usb for my sound machine by the bed. It’s taken us 50 cruises to figure that one out. (We often sail the older ships which don’t have any plugs near the bed.)

I do feel sorry for anyone missing a ship. It would be a mess and our worst nightmare. Things can happen especially when you go off by yourself. First time cruisers may not realize all the rules or not to rely on phones. I have also witnessed some pier runners that weren’t running and acted like they thought the ship would wait. We’ve witnessed security handing over safe contents to the port staff too. When we go off on our own I try to remember to take a pic of the compass that has the emergency info on it. We also plan to return at least one hour before all aboard. DH has a watch he always wears with ship time. Mistakes could still happen. Accidents, bus or car breakdown, traffic jam. In the Caribbean we don’t worry as much because the travel times are shorter but longer shore trips we usually go with the cruise line or reputable tour operators.

I didn’t cancel the planner items first. Royal refunded the planner items very quickly, with a few days. I didn’t even mention it when calling into cancel the cruise.

Verizon has an international phone plan that we used in Australia and NZ. I’ll have to see if Asia is included. For $100/ month we used our phones all the time in port and skipped the internet on the ship as the phone was about half the cost of ship internet. Worked for us.

Just booked this and the Singapore to Tokyo before it. This trip will be way out of our comfort zone so I’ll be doing lots of research. We’ve been to Europe several times and Australia but this feels completely different.

We thought we were the only ones who bring that much. I hauled all that to Australia for 2 months. I think I could have taken a few less clothes but I definitely needed all the other “stuff”. First aid kit OTC meds bag Fold flat basin, clothes line, magnets to hang laundry. Ziplocks of various sizes Small packable backpack We each take a pac safe cross body bag Beach and smaller pool bag Cruise journal umbrellas The rest depends on itinerary and length of cruise. I did a pretty good job prepping for 2 months. I ran out of face scrub and had to buy more. We bought an egg crate mattress because the bed was so hard about 6 days into the cruise. I learned Australia doesn’t sell the same strength OTC meds as we have in the US. The chemist had 100 mg of something that we were taking 600mg of! I’d have had to take 6x their dose. Next time I’ll double up on cold and cough meds.

There are so many great options in Cozumel that I don’t see the need for this. Now if they put one in Falmouth or Costa Maya I’d be interested.

We got off her on Tuesday, after 46 nights. At that time all was well. Really feeling for those on board. We met many who had booked to stayed on board until Vancouver. It sounds like they’ll be bumped off for 9 nights. Wondering if they’ll give up and fly back or attempt to stay on land that long. Lodging and food isn't cheap in Sydney but maybe an Airbnb where you could do some light cooking would work. Disembarking late at night sounds awful so hoping they allow people to stay on board until the following morning at least.

We will be back in Sydney Harbour on the 19th when Brilliance returns. It's absolutely lovely with so much to do from the Quay. We're in Melbourne today but it's farther from the action here. I think Sydney may be my new favorite port.

We've been gone too long for me to catch up but hoping all of you are well. We are continuing on our sail around Australia and are scheduled in Darwin tomorrow. This has been a wonderful trip so far. We were able to touch/pet the Koalas and Kangaroo and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef.

DH took this this morning at 6 a.m when she came in. On board. We won't have internet so I won't post much but thought you might enjoy this picture.

Our ship has come in. She looks lovely in the Sdyney harbor.

Yesterday we did take the ferry to Manly and enjoyed the afternoon at the beach. On our walk there we picked up a picnic lunch. We don’t get in further than our knees as it’s cold! I forgot it was the Pacific. Hopefully when we get up to the GBR the water will be warmer. In the a.m. we did our work out and climbed the South pylon museum steps. We saw climbers on the bridge and decided our climb of 200 steps was a good choice. Today we’re planning a trip to the Queen Victoria building, maybe China town and then the Royal gardens. Tonight is the the Sydney opera “The magic flute”. Today the “Queen Elizabeth” is parked outside our door.

I’m not caught up for the last couple of days but we made it to Sydney Australia. 19 hours on 2 planes and a 10 hour layover in LAX but we are here. Flights were uneventful and all 4 checked bags made it. Yesterday we were able to check into our hotel by 8:30 a.m. so we spent the day exploring the CBD of Sydney. The shopping here is off the charts. So many stores, many high end and a lot of people. It wasn’t our intent to shop but DH broke his carryon handle the first flight so we were off to find a new suitcase. We found one, had lunch at a food court and went on a walking tour of “ The Rocks”. We forced ourselves to stay up until 8 p.m. then crashed for a good 12 hours. We are staying on the quay with lots of action right off our balcony. I’ll post a picture. Today Princess is here, yesterday it was P and O. This area is FULL of restaurants and fast food, it’s a bit overwhelming to pick a place to eat. We had planned to go to Manly beach today but not sure the weather will cooperate. If not we’ll do more walking, maybe the bridge and museums.

Pretty sure I need this done. I’ve been told I don’t need it replaced but under my knee cap the cushion is all gone. It doesn’t look pleasant. I had to have more skin cancer cut out of my face in December. My plastic surgeon likes to inject steroids into the scar line and scar tissue. So that was Thursday and no it wasn’t fun especially when it’s in a tender area.