bighairtexan

I didn't mean to imply there was reciprocity. I wasn't mistaken.

Pinnacle on RCI is the EQUIVALENT of Zenith on Celebrity.  The highest level with some special accompanying perks.  That is all that I meant and all that I said. Not implying it was a reciprocal status... Zenith to Pinnacle. EQUIVALENT not RECIPROCAL.

Diamond on RCI is the highest reciprocal level you can get even if you're Zenith on X; and Elite is the highest you can get via  being D/D+ or Pinnacle on RCI. 

The points don't combine (unlike Azamara and Celebrity points).

There is NO dedicated Diamond type lounge on Celebrity.  They have nightly (almost nightly) Diamond plus events.  Passed hors d'euvres, and a drink menu. You also normally get drinks loaded on your SeaPass card usable in most bars during the happy hour time period.  Also no "coffee bar" for Diamond/Plus.

If you're Zenith (the equivalent of Pinnacle) then you have access to Michael's Club/ Retreat Lounge which is fabulous. Full bar, snacks, etc.  

haha I'm an "Olden" and though I very much enjoy Celebrity I DO find the MDR on X to be not much better or worse than the MDR on RCI.  Mostly I agree w/ most of what you said and got a chuckle out of a lot of it.  On some X cruises (I'm in my late 60's) I find myself in the older half but just as often I find myself feeling like a youngster.  So you could do another cruise the following week and find yourself with a different demographic. 

HOWEVER if you ever want to spring for a suite experience, then Celebrity blows RCI out of the water (and for a commensurately higher price on many of the ships) .  Butlers. A dedicated suite restaurant even w/ a Sky suite which is kind of similar to a Jr Suite on RCI (which gets almost NO perks). 

I'm still laughing about the "oldens" counting off the steps as they dance.  I enjoyed your review.  

The closest thing to Carnival's FTTF is Royal's Key program. Fairly new and has lots of other perks. Kind of like FTTF On steroids with a price to match compared to the FTTF. But you may be interested in some of the "other perks" like private hours on some of the activities. Lunch in a specialty restaurant on boarding etc.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-the-key-program

8 hours ago, mikkelhansen said:

 

Thanks to you both!

 

That's funny! Is your son's father-in-law by any chance of Nordic/Danish decent? Mikkel is a very popular boys name here in Denmark, I actually believe it has been in the top 10 of newborn boys names every year for the last 30-35 years. I'm from 1989 myself, just turned 30 last month.

I recently got married and actually changed my last name from Hansen, but Mikkel Hansen itself is a very normal name, currently ~1150 people in Denmark are called that (out of ~5,7 million people). We also have a very famous handball player named Mikkel Hansen.

Hansen is the second-most used last name in Denmark, only superseded by Jensen.

Interesting! He's the only Mikkel I've ever met here in the States.  (Pronounced MICK-el)  His father's family was indeed Danish as I recall.  You'd know he was Nordic just to look at him with his fair hair (well now it's grey) and blue blue eyes!   I have no idea if he cruises but when I saw your name I had to make sure he wasn't posting on CC!!  When I saw DENMARK instead of HOUSTON I was PRETTTTY sure you aren't my son's Father in law (and the fact that you were born in 1989!! haha)

OP: I"m apologizing in advance.   TOTALLY not on topic so it may be pulled but I did a double take, when reading the OP's "name" as my son's Father in law is named Mikkel Hansen. Not a name you see often in Houston (I mean the Mikkel)

You're a GEM!! I was going over that list and it reminded me of cocktails I haven't had in decades (like a Golden Cadillac or a Sidecar or Grasshopper). I get in a rut and order the same ol' same ol' over and over.  I'm definitely bringing the list w/ me on my next 2 Celebrity cruises (w/ premium package) and work on checking them ALL OFF!! Thank you....(My liver won't thank you however!) 

Thanks for the heads up JoeFan.  I checked and it was down a bit on my November Liberty cruise (from $168 for 7 days to $154... hey I saved $14 on each of us and that's the cost of a decent glass of wine).  Not discounted on the Enchantment when I checked but since they only have Chops, I wasn't going to get it anyway.

I contacted my cruise mates for November and the 4 of them saved $56. For about 3 minutes of online "work". 

Even KNBC in the DFW area showed a short new report this evening about  Love Bugs in Florida being particularly bad this year. Y'all are FAMOUS!

WOW you are a VERY good sport. I keep looking at it thinking it reminds me of an old Soviet Bloc apartment complex from the 1940s thru 60s!!  I feel as if last time you sailed from San Juan you were in Old San Juan not that long after the hurricane and that had its own set of issues.  But thanks for posting. I am definitely rethinking Air BnB (not in a  good way) for next year.  Hilarious about the table but no "ping or pong".  SMH laughing.

I've enjoyed your LIVE FROMs over on the RCI board in the past. Looking forward to this!

Please PLEASE bring double what you think you need. I'm reminded of the folks cruising out of Galveston in 2017 and Hurricane Harvey "dropped in" and dumped something like 40 inches of rain on Houston and areas south. So the ship was unable to dock in Galveston and instead had to go to Florida.  A 7 day cruise was, I believe a 13 day cruise.  There were several folks who were running out of (or had run out of) meds and the last several days were at sea so they couldn't even pick up extras until they reached port and then had to spend time trying to get refills. 

Have you tried Azamara? Your RCI loyalty status would transfer (up to Diamond) as it would on Celebrity.  I'm at 70+ cruises and I cruise on lots of different lines.  Mostly now I'm on Celebrity, then RCI, then Princess but I've sailed on several others. Each line has their own feel and personality.  

Years ago on a Summit TA (very rough seas) I awoke to find my 22 year old DD missing from her bed. At 4AM. And I knew she had on her jammies and was in bed a few hours earlier. I found her. Curled up in the shower (she's 5'6"!!!) trying to sleep b/c she said it was too noisy w/ the creaking and knocking. We were lucky that there was one other interior cabin available that had the bathroom tile being worked on. We didn't care if it has any tile! LOL  They allowed me to book that for her for a very small fee so she moved in there. 

SO CURT have you tried sleeping  in the shower? 🤣

I too "NEED" my CPAP. I WISH I just had Obstructive apnea with snoring. I have Central Sleep Apnea. I essentially forget to breathe. It's NOT a matter of snoring. It's a matter of plunging 02 levels b/c I just don't breathe, elevated heart rate and rapidly rising blood pressure.   So a CPAP is a medical necessity for me too, not a luxury.

However there's no cruise line where I've ever (Platinum on Carnvial, Plat. on Princess, E+ on Celebrity and Diamond on RCI so this is a LOT of "at sea" CPAP use), gone to the Customer service desk to request it.  That's JUSE ME.  I always handled it w/ my steward when they came to introduce themselves and have always gotten the equipment before bedtime on night one. As I said no matter the cruise line and my pre-boarding request for water and a cord, I actually think my previous statement that it would be there 50% of the time when I boarded was optimistic. However I've yet to spend a night on a ship without the use of my CPAP. 

I avoid, for any reason, the Customer Service Lines on Day one (heck on any day) on any ship.  And unless you enjoy spending that time at Cust Serv (and since I don't know you, perhaps you do), I'd insist through my room steward, that it was NEEDED. They do have lists of pre-boarding medical necessity orders that they try to fill prior to boarding but those lists on all lines have been very hit or miss in my experience.  Maybe I've been fortunate, but I've never had a steward refuse or balk about it.  I might get "it's not on my list but I'll get it to you before tonight."   

I'm just not sure shoreside gets the appropriate communication to the ship and then to housekeeping and then to the steward all that well on any line. But since it's usually housekeeping/steward who brings the equipment I skip the middle man and respectfully state my needs to the guy whose going to bring it to me.  Skip the middle man... and time spent in any line.

I've cruised a lot on CCL, RCI, Princess and Celebrity. I always ask ahead of time for a cord and distilled water. On ANY of the lines I'd say I have a 50/50 chance of it being there without my asking my room steward. Once I ask, my steward, it's always there in very short order.   

Never would I have thought to spend precious vacation time in the Customer Service line to ask for those items.  Especially that first day when Customer Service (on all the above mentioned cruise lines) is a hot mess.  Also as mentioned, Carnival charges for distilled water. The only one of the 4 that does that.  

This may or may not be helpful (hope it is) but I've always "taken" my (cough cough) "free cruises" on X rather than tried to trade. But on RCI I lately just book through the casino itself. I call them and tell the what I'm interested in and see what they can do for me. They've been anywhere from VERY generous to really "meh" depending on my most recent previous cruise.  

Well it definitely has been in effect  in the many Galveston cruises I've been on, but as has been said the drinks are IMHO VERY limited. I couldn't get a dirty banana b/c they didn't have Texas purchased Bananas I guess and I'm not sure they had any coffee liqueur.  I asked for a couple of other drinks... nothing out of this world exotic or odd, and they guy kept saying "we have margaritas." WELLLLLL gee thanks."  You can't "call" a brand. You get Vodka. You'd think Tito's would be easily and cheaply purchased in Texas but nope. Some crap brand. (granted YOUR crap brand and my crap brand may be quite different) and VERY limited beer selections too. But there are enough choices I guess for embarkation lunch drinks, sail away drinks, dinner drinks etc it you're not picky about your beverages or brands.

It was available on embarkation on Liberty a few months ago.

Just off Ruby a couple of days ago in San Pedro. Debarkation was a piece of cake. The curb was one massive cluster and everyone was having trouble connecting w/ their rides even though we stated "We are under the 93 sign".  Not sure why it was such a mess (but the rest of debarkation more than made up for it).   We Ubered (OK we Lyfted).  We took later debarkation (9:05) and were still at LAX at 10:30AM.  Not sure if this helps.  I'd probably take whichever flight is cheaper if it's a big difference.

Adding my thanks to those above. Sailing on the Ruby in a bit over  a month so it's good to see she's looking good.  

Thanks for doing this.

On 12/12/2018 at 11:59 AM, Dreamer115 said:

 

Do they serve this on Princess as well as Norwegian?

 

AFAIK they serve it everywhere on and off ships. But I rarely personally REMEMBER to order it unless I'm on vacation!

thank you.

I was imagining the dock had turned into some super huge neodymium magnet!