Plut0

34 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

just one

Just one for 8 day stay or just one for one day?  I ask because there is a testing requirement if your stay is more than 5 days.

Thank you.

Does anyone know how it will work for cruisers?  If we arrive the day before the cruise, then depart on the cruise for 7 days and then return to the Nassau port and fly out the same day, will we need two Visas or just one for 8 days?  

7 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

 It will be out for her dry dock until the second week of March, if I'm not mistaken. So for a few weeks, the Epic will be docking alone. The other Royal and Celebrity ships on their seasonal loop depart on Saturdays.

Do you know what dates will the Freedom of the Seas be in dry dock?

1 hour ago, brookie848 said:

We're on the 2/23 cruise as well. Where are you staying? We're in Condado and if we decide to delay going to the port, I may look for somewhere to have brunch.

We are also on the 2/23 cruise, but have not gotten a letter yet.  It will be great to hear about tethers experiences in the weeks leading up to our cruise. 

I have done the tipping both ways, throughout the week and at the end.

On the POA, I noticed the same people were are breakfast each day, but lunch seems to change so I started giving the server at lunch a tip when I left. For the breakfast folks, I tipped at the end of the week.

Everyone does things in a way that best suits them and I am sure you will do the same.

I went ahead and called the Marriott Waikiki and asked what hours the NCL desk was open. (Which for those of you who are interested are Wed & Fri 2-5pm, Sat. 7-9am. Hawaii time.) I then called back and spoke directly with one of the NCL desk workers. They said that we would receive a letter detailing how the transfer occurs at check-in but basically you leave your luggage in your room and they collect it, then you are assigned a time to be transported to the ship. I explained that we wanted to do an all day excursion and asked if we had to accompany our luggage to the ship. She said we DID NOT need to accompany our luggage, however to let them know that we would not be on the transfer ourselves. YAY!! Big sigh of relief. Apparently people do this all the time in Hawaii, because it's HAWAII!! Who wants to hang about on the ship with a beautiful island to explore?! I'm sure it's different in other ports, but I'm not complaining on this one.....

I'm sure its different in other ports, but I

Thank you so much for the info. We will be there in two weeks and will report back how it goes for us.

It cannot be used for DSC, which in IMO stinks. But that's the way it is. There are only the 2 of us so we don't need any extra SDP. I already have a perk for 10 free pictures with my booking. We are going GSC, so I could check into a villa there, thanks for that tip. Otherwise I will be spending more time than I like in the casino as the OBC can be used there.

Thanks I will do that.

What does it mean if you bid and do not get any confirmation e-mail. I went back to check and the bids are there and say pending. I even updated one and it said a confirmation would be sent but none has come.

Any suggestions?

My niece and her fiancée are on the shortened Harmony cruise. The flight they came in on was 25 people oversold with folks trying to get to the cruises. They arrived at FLL yesterday morning and they had pre-paid the RC transfer. They were told no one would be taken to the port until 5pm. Some people tried to take a taxi over but they were turned away until close to 5pm.

When she finally arrived at the port around 5:40pm, she said it was absolute chaos at the checkin. However, they patiently waited in lines and they were on board and eating in the buffet around 7. She said it was not very crowded and that everyone was very nice but tired.

She also said those who arrived with the Harmony from the previous cruise where offered that they could stay on board for only $200. She was not sure how many took advantage.

They were looking forward to the cruise and getting some well deserved rest. The ship set sail around 10 last night on its way to Cozumel.

We did this tour in May. My niece and I went. The dune buggy holds four people so we were paired with a nice couple. Most of the dune buggies were manual shift.

It is a short walk to the dune buggy where you get an orientation. We drove along the streets and coast. There was one place at the beginning where they took your picture with the beach behind you, later you could purchase for a reasonable price - very low pressure.

We then stopped at a small resort where we got snorkel gear and went snorkeling. The sea was a little rough, but the guide did a great job showing a for things to us. It was my first time snorkeling.

We then continued to a beautiful spot on the beach for some local liquor tasting. You could order food or you could go to the beach area. There was a warning up at that time for rough seas so they did not recommend swimming. The guide came and talked to us for a while and gave my niece and I some wonderful information about the area and the beach.

We then drove back to the ship. We had just enough time to walk back to the ship as all aboard was right as we arrived back.

It was a fun day. Be sure to have sun screen.

On a side note, if you are going during turtle season, they offer an excursion where they take you too the beach and you look for turtle egg nests that have hatched overnight. You did down to see if there are any babies which could dig out and take them to the sea. He said that the families love it.

Hope that helps.

Mary

When we were on the Granduer, they had a selfie scavenger hunt whic we saw a lot of teens doing with their parents. Loads of fun!

I have a question related to this topic. Does any of the ships allow you or help you to throw a wreath of flowers in the ocean in memory of a loved one.

Thank you.

Thank you all for the information. I will take a chance and hope all works out well.

Dear OP,

There are several types of rooms that could work for you and with some investigation I hope you find one that works. The only one I have stayed in that would work is the Royal family suite with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

We have been on several cruises where we have eaten every meal in the room. After a day or two, the room service people on the phone and the people delivering the food got to know us and we them. Once they realize how many times we ate in our room, they went above and beyond sending us extra treats and sending the same servers for us. In addition, on the busiest nights they put our order to the top of the list and delivered very quickly.

I went to the concierge and explained our situation and he went out of his way to help me on some little things. Even our room steward checked on us and helped with a few things.

I hope this helps.

Mary

Hello,

I have a question about whether as a solo cruiser you will get bumped from your cabin. If I have a particular prime location cabin booked for 1 person and pay the supplement, will the cruise line move me? I hear about people booking a cabin for 4 with only 2 people being bumped and wonder how often that happens to single cruisers.

If this does happen, does it happen more (or less) with any particular cruise lines.

Thank you in advance.

Mary

First off, my condolences to you and your family.

Unfortunately, I have recent experience as my husband died the day before our cruise in August and we had other cruises booked.

If you are in the U.S and the cruise is before the final payment date, you will just have to call and all money will be refunded to the credit from which it was paid with the exception of the cruise insurance.

If you are past final payment date and have cruise insurance, you will have to call RC and cancel the cruise, they will refund whatever you entitled which depends on how many days before the cruise you are. They will also give your the cruise insurance number who will send you a packet to fill out and return and they will refund the rest except for the cost of the insurance. You will need a copy of the death certificate to submit with the forms. The insurance will issue the checks in the name of each passenger and to the estate for your sister in law. The refunds from Royal took a few days to hit the credit card and the insurance took about three weeks for the date I returned the forms.

If you do not have cruise insurance and it is past final payment you will get the fees and only the percentage of the fare based on number of days before the cruise. You also get all excursions and other items you purchased for onboard.

I hope this helps.

Mary

We were on the Liberty in July in an OS with the exact situation you have. We ate every meal in our cabin. We ordered breakfast from the suite menu and dinner from the MDR menu every day. I did go up two or three times to the buffet for a mid-afternoon snack which I brought back to the cabin. I went to the main dinning room the first night to let the waiter know we would most likely not make it to dinner. We left the tips alone but as other said you can do what you are comfortable with. We tipped the room service people with each delivery.

Since it was a nine night cruise, we also developed a good rapport with the man who takes the orders and they sent the same room service waiters each day - one in the morning and one in the evening. For dinner, they set the table every night including a tablecloth. Sometimes they sent up extra treats. We really enjoyed the experience and make us feel special. I hope you have a great cruise and enjoy your meals as much as we did.

Happy cruising.

Mary

Thanks Mary,

 

This is our first time to New York and indeed to NE & Canada, we can't wait to explore. We've also booked a balcony so I hope the sights are still as good as when you were on her last. Will definitely need to order room service this cruise, never done it before as I could never find a menu...haha!

 

Fraser

Hi Fraser,

The room service menu is in a book in the drawer, but on the Liberty, it is also on the TV and you can order on the TV. The chicken strips are Yummy and so is the cheesecake :)

We took several tours at each port. We enjoyed the tour of Acadia National Park. Got some neat pictures from this trip.

I am sure it will be an amazing trip. We are scheduled to do a NE cruise on the Grandeur next June and can't wait. Let me know what tours you took and liked.

Mary

I was hoping for some feedback from cruisers who have been on Liberty or any Freedom class ship recently. I will be taking my girlfriend (we are both 25) on the 9 night Canada & New England cruise later this month, We are both from Scotland so are looking forward to some warmer weather! I have loved all my past cruises before and expect this one to be no different.

 

I just thought I'd ask what everyone's favourites are onboard these ships, i.e. drink, bar, venue, food etc?

 

We have both ordered the premium drinks package so would be nice to enjoy this along with some later events at night etc.

 

Cheers

We were on the Liberty in July for a 9 night cruise and will be on her again later this week. The ship is wonderful and well laid out. Here are some things we liked about the ship and the offerings:

- The Royal promenade is just beautiful and a wonderful place to grab a bite to eat (Café Promenade) and people watch.

- The aerial show and the ice show are not to be missed. It amazes me they can do that while the ship is in motion

- We enjoy sitting in the Viking Crown lounge and people what as well as watch the ocean go by. On cool or rainy days, it is a nice place to be.

- Food is subjective, but we enjoyed all the food. The Windjammer has the same food every day for breakfast and lunch so we just had different items in order to get variety. We found the food here and in the MDR very good and are looking forward to this again.

- We enjoy room service and then enjoying it on the balcony. While sailing back to Bayonne on the last two sea days, we say dolphins, two sharks and a turtle. We enjoy the balcony especially going in and out of ports. We sailed the Explorer to NE and I remember loving coming into the Maine ports

I hope that helps. I am glad she spent some time in Bayonne so we could enjoy her.

Have a great cruise.

Mary

I also used blackboard while in Mortuary Science school. I took five cruises across the two years on three ships -Explorer, Oasis and Enchantment. I had no problems but I only had to get assignments, submit work, use discussion boards and take quizzes and tests (timed) all with no issues. I did not have any videos to watch.

There were times when the connection was not too strong in my cabin and I went to one of the lounges or to the online lounge.

I did try to print what I could ahead of time.

Good luck.

Join President and CEO, Michael Bayley, on the amazing Allure of the Seas®, sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on September 11, 2016 for an incredible seven nights in the Caribbean. We will be sure to keep you updated on all of the exciting activities and events to come, as we finalize all the details.

 

Learn more here: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/7NightEasternCaribbeanCruise-AL07E135?currencyCode=USD&sCruiseType=CO&sDateMin=2016-09-01&sDateMax=2016-09-30&crownAndAnchorSociety_memberId=317998655&loyaltyTier=D&sailDate=09%2F11%2F2016

Thank you very much for providing us with this information. My DH and I will look at this and consider it for one of our trips. Appreciate you letting the CC community hear about this.

Even the line handlers in Bermuda do not know which way a ship will dock until it is coming in and they see if it turns or not.

 

Sometimes maintenance is needed to be done on the other side of the ship thus varying the way it docks.

When we were in Bermuda on LOS on July 18, they lowered all the starboard side life boats and took them for a spin, then brought them back up and cleaned them.

It was fun to watch.

Hi,

Carlos from the Liberty will go on vacation on 8/13. I cannot remember who he said will replace him, but I will try to find out and let you know.

Thank you.

Mary

who was your cruise director and how was he ?

Dru was the cruise director. Very personable. He even kicked off our M&M.

We were also on the cruise with you and have to agree with every bit of your review. Excellent cruise, beautiful ship, amazing crew and perfect weather as well. Doesn't get much better!