crusnbee

Has anyone been in this one? If so, what do you think? I love the heat and water therapy and am wondering if it is worth the daily pass.

CG

Gonna be on the Constellation March 11 - 23. I know they do not have a formal sports bar. During this time Selection Sunday will take place along with the beginning of the NCAA tournament. I am sure they will be showing this stuff. Any ideas on where that might be?

Thanks!

Hmmmm. Haven't gotten anything since we turned Diamond. Oh Well....

We took our first short cruise on Independence of 1/11. While we normally can find something to eat from the MDR menu, we decided that we would do the WindJammer if nothing was truly appealing. We ate there two of 4 nights.

My DH almost choked when they brought him his beef tenderloin in the MDR. The pieces were less than 1/4 in thick. That combined with the three stalks of asparagus and a small scoop of mashed potatoes didnt even take up half of the plate! Had the meal been over the top on flavor, it would be fine. Sacrificing quantity for quality is always a good thing. Here they sacrificed both.

The Windjammer on Caribbean night had one of the best meals I have had on a ship in quite a while. It was simply beans and rice and Jamaican beef patties. Doesnt always have to be complicated to be good.

Final observation - the Windjammer on Independence looked smaller than normal. Didnt seem like as many options as in the past. Of note was the fruit and yogurt parfait at breakfast. That was one of my favorites. The lunch and dinner meals seemed dominated by Indian food. I love it, but found there to be so much of it, other selections suffered.

As many have said, YMMV. Bon Appetit to all!

I am not sure which night it pops up in, and I could not open your menus at work, but one of my favorites the the roasted poblano soup. Yum!

Thank you so much for this. We are doing this itinerary in March.

C

Was on the Silhouette last year and WCB was far and away the best. We started there the first night and had all of our friends there by the end of the cruise.

It appears that they have changed their menu, though. As the drinks I saw now were not what we had previously and loved. 😞

14 hours ago, ajconova said:

Booked today 13 nights TA from Southampton to Orlando on Apex for October 19, 2025.  Got Sunset Veranda! 😁😁😁

SAME!!!!!

Do they ever do crossings back to back? I would love to go round trip!

CG

I would like this to be an option, not for myself, but for me to purchase for others. My dad and step mother used to cruise a lot and I would have  loved to have been able to give them a  nice OBC to have.

We only eat MTD and honestly have never had to wait more than a few minutes for a table. We normally choose 6:30-6:45. We normally find good staff and then keep with them the rest of the time. Many times they wait for us at the entrance and we just go with them.

Been on 4 RC cruises in the past year, so it wasn't just a one time thing.

On 8/15/2023 at 8:39 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

Royal is also having sporadic issues with guests that have booked A2S.  In some cases cruise docs do not get generated and you have to call in and request that they be issued.  Once that is done they are available the next day

How long would you wait before contacting them? Still 29 days out. 

Darn. I was hoping it might have had something to do with winning a royal up bid.

We have been watching daily for the opportunity to get reservations on NorthStar for our September Alaska cruise. It showed up the other day and says sold out already. Is this possible, or have they not actually released them? Not sure how close to sailing they release these things.

CG

On our last cruise on Serenade, DH and I tried to share one sign on. I could not get signed on. Voom people/guest relations told us with the new Starlink you could not share an account.

Had 1100 on Serenade in April. Love LOVED the room. HUGE, as was the balcony. 

We did hear sliding chairs, but it wasnt really a bother.

The only other thing that I have not seen anyone else point out is that the balcony does not have a lot of cover. Some sea days could be full sun. If you are OK with that, then I say GO FOR IT!

I would in a heartbeat.

We were on the Serenade a few weeks ago. For the most part, we were pleased with the food in the MDR. Some of the steaks did not look the best, but the flavor was still good and they could serve more than 2 asparagus spears.

There were a few times it seemed we were waiting, but every night we were out in under an hour.

Our servers were wonderful. Hope our next trip will be similar. We will see.....

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

27 cabins and still time for a long conversation....

I would consider 15+ minutes long looking at all that he had to do.

Coming off a Serenade cruise a few weeks ago. I saw some things and I wanted to ask questions about them.

1. I know when you are Pinnacle you get a pin with your name. Is it customary to wear these all of the time?

2. If you are doing a B2B, do you tip everyone at the end of each leg, or a larger tip at the end of everything? I guess this question assumes experienced cruisers mostly tip above the included.

Thanks!

CG

I have been in 1152 and we had no noises from the hallway. There was a little from above, but not terrible.

We had a long conversation with our steward when we were on the Serenade. His cabin count went from 17 to 27 and I know a lot of them were suites. 

He also talked about the lower staff coming from some of the islands because the pandemic taught them they can stay home and work and be OK.

Hope RCI listens to some things....

Do regular plans work in Alaska, or do you still need to get the WIFI to be able to connect?

Also on Connie in March 2024. Looking forward to it!

Forgot to mention. Carnival has the best dessert EVER - chocolate molten lava cake.

CG

I am Diamond Royal and Platinum Carnival. Like everyone else said, if you stay away from the shorter cruises, there is not such a large party atmosphere.

I thought Carnival has more activities, of differing types. Royal a little more laid back, which is absolutely OK. Havent been on Carnival since pre-Covid, but I thought then that the food was better on Carnival. There is a limit on the drinks, but I dont think I ever really came close to hitting it.

I did like the piano man/Schooner bar much more on Royal and spend many nights there. Casinos were similar, although I do still get Carnival MVP offers. Decor is much tamer, though sometimes all the neon is fun.

If there is an itinerary that Carnival offers, I say go. It is what you make of it.

CG

I was just looking at the Grand Suites on the Serenade and notice that the majority of them are either under the pool or the solarium. 

For anyone who has stayed in them on any of the Radiance Class ships - do you get noise from above? I searched the website and really didnt find anything.

TIA,

CG