Loyal2RCCL

I'd pick Jewel.. more ports (except for that dump Martinique) and my favorite class of RCCL ship..

On my recent Allure cruise I had the drink package and had two Labadozies and got two souvenir cups.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Please excuse any errors.

 

Most of the time the bar servers on the islands and on the pool deck will give you the souvenier cups even though they're not included in the packages.

The alcohol options on the private islands is a lot more limited than what you'll find on the ship, but the package does work. You can order the CoCo Loco's and Labadoozie's but they won't give you the souvenier cup but rather a regular plastic glass.

 

BTW, the glasses on the islands are very small, so if you want a good sized drink I suggest you take one of the larger plastic glasses from the ship and have them fill those. We did that on Labadee and it worked great, plus it saved the bar servers and us having to run back and forth to the bar.

It used to be they would leave a message and you had 24 hours to respond. I don't know if they still have that policy.

 

I remember that well. I actually missed an upgrade because I was out of the country and missed the 24 hour window to call them back.

 

Now with the automatic option, I wonder how they handle upgrades for those wanting a call first?

Well, we know all about governors here in Illinois. It's a proud tradition to have our ex-governors make our license plates.

 

Seriously, what you describe is the impression I've gotten, i.e., they have a limit on how low the temp will go, and it's not as low as it was several years ago. The blue boys come in and stick a thermometer in our vent, and they say everything is fine. I say the room is still too warm, and they say the cooling is working to spec. That tells me the spec has changed.

 

I once had a Chief Engineer tell me that the ship uses more fuel for A/C than for propulsion. That's what leads me to believe it's a cost cutting measure.

 

The only ships where I found the cabin temp uncomfortably hot was on Oasis and Allure. Even with it turned down to the coldest setting it was still very warm.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm just trying to get a feel for whether people still get upgrades if they want a phone call first.

 

I'm leary of checking the box to have them call me first. What happens if you're not available to take their upgrade call? Do they just move on to the next person on the list?

 

I'm not too picky on where my cabin is located, so an upgrade of any kind is usually welcome.

 

We actually got lucky with the MJ upgrade and they gave me one of my preferred JS's... cabin 1588 which gets far less overhead noise than those directly under the main part of the pool deck.

That is good news!!!! Enjoy...

I think that she's working overtime:

we have been upgraded to a JS also, on Liberty Dec 30.... Woohoo

Finally, after 60 cruises :)

 

 

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Very nice!! Congrats.. the JS's on the Freedom class ships are very nice.

They've had a lot of empty cabins this holiday season, so I'm not surprised the Upgrade Fairy has been busy.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Good for you! May I ask how you had your upgrade preference set on Royal's web site?

 

Thanks.. the other night I was checking prices for the MJ cruise and they had JS's listed for only $130 more total. I was tempted to upgrade then, but decided I would take my chances and wait 24 hours. Of course the next day, they were sold out and we still had our original cabin. This morning I pulled up my reservation and saw they upgraded us so I'm glad I waited.

 

I have my upgrade preference set to "automatically upgrade". I only change this if I'm sailing Oasis or Allure and don't want to be moved to a CP or BW balcony which in my opinion is no upgrade.

Every cruise I've been on to the Caribbean except on Oasis and Allure has had the midnight deck party. It seems the short Bahamas cruises have more extensive food items/BBQ than the longer cruises. But all have had a live band, DJ etc. They have cut back on the elaborate buffet spread over the years but there's always been some sort of spread laid out.

 

On Alaska and Europe itins, they've had a poolside BBQ set up during the sea days.

The Upgrade Fairy is in the holiday mood and has gifted us with upgrades to a JS on both Majesty and Legend cruises.

 

Now if I could just get the laundry finished and packing done.

I'm ready mentally.. now if I could just get my laundry done and packed. I fly out tomorrow for a quick 3 nighter on Majesty followed by an 11 night Southern Caribbean on Legend... that's what I call a nice B2B!

 

Safe travels and happy cruising everyone!

I was on the Vision for 12 nights not too long before she went into drydock and I can tell you, even before the refurb, you couldn't tell she was an older ship.

How is the food at chops?

 

Very good.. but the best meals I've ever had on a ship have been from the Chef's Table.

Back in the 70's and 80's the dress code for EVERY evening after 6pm was a jacket and tie and people stayed dressed that way for the remainder of the night.

I've long abandoned the formal dress for several reasons:

1. I don't wear a suit and tie to work, I'm sure not going to wear one on MY vacation. Especially just for a few hours at dinner.

2. Airline luggage restrictions and charges have me now just bringing the items I need to get through my trip.

3. The cruise lines have relaxed their dress code policies.

That said, on formal nights we do dine in the MDR, and I wear dress slacks and a button down shirt. On other nights dockers and a polo shirt or button down shirt and yes (God Forbid) on casual nights I will wear nice jeans and a polo or button down shirt.

The way I look at it is if people are going to get their noses out of joint because I'm not in a suit or tux, that's their problem.. not mine.:eek:

Legend has 3 Specialty Restaurants:

 

Chops Grille... $30 pp... typical higher end steakhouse experience. Excellent food and service. You can order multiple appetizers, soups, salads and sides, but only 1 entree per person. Open for dinner only

 

Izumi.. $5 pp cover charge then a la carte pricing for each item. Good sushi and other Asian inspired dishes. Very reasonably priced. Open for lunch ($3 pp cover charge) and dinner ($5 pp cover).

 

Chef's Table... $95 pp.. EXCELLENT 5 course dinner with wine pairing. This is the only specialty restaurant with a fixed menu, although with prior notice they will make modifications for dietary restrictions/allergies.

 

Go on RCCL's website and you can view sample menus etc. They also have dining packages that can save you money if you'd like to sample all of these during one cruise.

I'll be sailing on the 11 night S. Carib cruise on Dec 23rd and will try and post a "live" review from the ship.

If he cancels he's within 100% penalty so no refund. You can however replace him with another person as long as you make the name change within 3 days of sailing.

Gio's food is so much better than Portofino. You can have them serve family style and simply order your individual entree, or you can each order a la carte.

 

The food is fantastic, and make sure you go HUNGRY. Leave enough time to enjoy the food and not rush through the meal or you will regret it later. :D

 

It's also a great deal for lunch, but again allow plenty of time and don't rush.. there's just so much good food that you must pace yourself.

The policy has changed with the introduction of the new drink packages. Here is the relevant paragraph from the FAQ:

 

Q. Can a guest order just for a certain number of days of their cruise?

A. The package must be purchased for the entire duration of the cruise, or the remaining days of the cruise. The latest it can be purchased is when there is a minimum of

4 days remaining. When ordering for the remaining days of a cruise a pro rata price will be charged. Pre-cruise, you can only purchase the package for the entire

duration.

 

Nice.. thanks. I seem to have missed this when they came out with the new package.

Majesty- 12/20/2013

Legend- 12/23/2013

Vision- 8/18/2014

The drink packages are not prorated. You can purchase them on any day of the cruise by visiting any one of the bars, however you will be charged for the entire length of your cruise, so there's really no benefit of not purchasing it on Day 1.

The RCCL IT Dept is running a fix to (hopefully) correct the system errors and issues that have occured since their last upgrade on 10/25.

 

The fix will run tomorrow night and by Thursday most of the bugs should be fixed.

Hi all,

 

Just got back last week from a 15 day westbound Panama Canal cruise on Legend.

 

On my previous 2 cruises (Rhapsody 2012, Vision 2013) I enjoyed the sugar free flavored waters in the Windjammer, so I was surprised to see that no such choices were available on Legend in the buffet or anywhere else. I asked one of the supervisor types about this and they were confused because they weren’t aware that this was available on any other RCCL ships. So it seems this wasn’t just a case of being out of stock on the item (e.g. they had no fat free milk this whole trip).

 

Now I’m confused because I’m left wondering which ships have this sugar free option and which don’t.

 

Anyone out there have some insights they can lend?

 

I think I will be sending them my feedback to please make this a fleet-wide option.

 

 

Thanks

 

We experienced the same in Oct. onboard Splendour. That was the first ship we've been on that didn't have the flavored water in the WJ and it was sorely missed.

 

I'm thinking because Splendour and Legend spend/spent so much time outside the US Market has somethingn to do with this. Hopefully the flavored water will find its way to LG now that she's back in the US.

Vanessa is on the Jewel now. She requested a transfer from Radiance and they wound up sending her to Jewel.

FYI.. If you wanted a chocolate GF dessert, you can always request this with your Head Waiter the night before. RCCL does go out of their way to handle special requests whenever they can.