Desertbelle
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Posts posted by Desertbelle
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I feel like people, in general, have become more negative. :(
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I bought these reusable luggage tag holders a few years ago and still have them and love them.
And we don't put them on until we are on the way to the pier.
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The ATM's are NOT branded to a big box bank.
The maximum withdrawal limit is $800 and the fee is $3.00 per transaction.
The advantage of using an ATM rather than a currency exchange location surrounds the wholesale exchange rate used with the ATM transaction, which is typically better than the retail rate used by currency exchange firms, to answer another poster's comments.
If I were you, I'd still try to find out about fees and limits for the casino ATM on the ship you plan to sail--- especially if you plan to pull more funds than this $800 limit. The casino ATM most likely has a higher limit for a fee that I'm guessing that may be $0.75 higher. Consider you can visit that ATM in the casino without carting luggage around to get the ATM, as you'd need to at the airport.
Is that an $800 limit per day or transaction? Because if it's per transaction, and he clears it with his bank, he could pull out as much as he wants, at $3 a transaction, that's a good deal.
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To clarify my position:
I don't hate the city or Galveston, the people of Galveston or Texas. I don't blame the City of Galveston for my unpleasant experience getting off the Liberty of the Seas. We spent two days in Galveston and Houston and were treated very kindly and pleasantly....the weather was bad the days we were there, but of course, no one is responsible for that, just bad timing on our behalf. Even the poor Customs agent, who was visibly exhausted, was pleasant to us....which speaks well for the people of Texas.
I will avoid cruising out of Galveston in the future because it's a very difficult port to get to from my part of the country, and this last exiting process has left a bad taste in my mouth. If I hear good things about the new and improved port being built, I may change my thoughts about the Port of Galveston. It could happen.
I stated my opinion about this port and is it is just that, mine. I don't have to validate an opinion, and I don't really care if others think my opinion is right or wrong. It's mine. Cruise Critic is an open, public forum and I am allowed to tell my experience and feelings within the rules of the forum, which I followed. And, because it's a public forum people are free to comment and disagree with me...I have no problem with that. I've been on Cruise Critic for over a decade, so if my feelings were going to get hurt I would have left and never come back a long time ago. :D
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It was directly off board forum page
and
It was link - hit on Royal Carribean International in red:
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Your Ultimate Cruise Guide
Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > Cruise Lines "P - Z" > Royal Caribbean International 
Just off Liberty of the Seas What you have done is not how you make a link to a forum topic or post.
All you did was cut and paste the Cruise Critic Subject tree/routing, which is useless to most people. For someone to use what you posted they would have to follow what you posted down to the Royal Caribbean International forum and then search for "Just off Liberty of the Seas". That isn't technically a link to the post.
To make a link to the post you are wanting people to see you need to copy and paste the "address" of the post. The address is the very long, complicated looking group of numbers and letters that is in your Browsers address line. You can copy and paste that address directly, like this:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=48471016
OR
you can type a word or group of words and highlight that word or group of words and then click on the "Insert Link" button at the top of the posting window, it looks like a small Earth with a small sideways oval in front of it. When you click this button a small window will open up and then you can insert the address from your browser there....giving you something like THIS
If you already know this information I apologize for giving you useless information, but if you or someone else wants to make a link to a post, forum, or anything off the internet and insert it here in the Cruise Critic forums, that is how it's done.
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Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > Cruise Lines "P - Z" > Royal Caribbean International Just off Liberty of the Seas
Weird way to link a posting....it was hard to find.
And in case you missed my original posting, I loved the cruise, we had almost no concerns or complaints (the $15 rake on the poker table was hard to take :() Embarking was as easy as I have ever seen.
It was the disembarkation that was a bother. And, I agree, there were 12 agents open, but with 1350+ kids on board that week and nearly every child being asked questions by the agents, such as "What grade are you in? What are your favorite subjects? What city do you live in?" (these are the questions my grandson was asked), etc. It takes a very long time. It might have been nice to have a line devoted to families without children....that might of gotten some people through the line faster. And it was irksome that people who got porters were allowed to go ahead of others.
I do feel that the disembarking procedures were confusing and not controlled in any way by Royal Caribbean. When we got off the ship no one was bothering to make sure we had the number called or less, people were walking off as they pleased, whenever they pleased, and to get to the customs line you had to go through the luggage area, so people where trying to get their luggage in and through the lines forming, so confusing and I saw no one giving direction or helping folks.
Of course, it's my opinion and others may disagree, but waiting in line for more than an hour after getting our luggage is a rather bad way to end a great cruise. And BTW I have disembarked at Port Everglades many times and I have never seen it as bad as what we saw in Galveston's port.
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I recall Celebrity escorting everyone to their cabin on boarding. I think it ended in the late 90s or early 2000s.
I remember that also. I was kind of sad when that stopped, but I am human, I can adjust to change. :D
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On your first day of the cruise go to the MTD reservation area and have them combine your group, they will make the changes happily.
The same thing happened to us on the Allure a couple of weeks ago and we had no problem combining my daughter's reservations with ours (which the website wouldn't do, even though our reservations were linked.)
Above all, don't worry about it, it will get remedied!
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I'm pretty sure ATM limits are controlled by YOUR bank and credit card company. If you want a higher limit to withdraw you would need to ask and be approved.
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A few days into our cruise they offered a punch card drink package, 10 drinks for $67....you could get any premium drinks with it and it was shareable. This punch card offer only got a small mention in the Compass on one day, so keep your eyes open for it. :)
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Just off the Liberty on Sunday and I fell in love with the Paradise Punch....I may of had several of them over the week!! :D
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Most of the poker players on our cruise were Texans, they talked of their plights to find a game, apparently some of them have casinos close some have to drive 4 hours to get to a poker room. Some of them had private weekly home games. I never played any other games in the ship's casino, but it was very busy every night of the cruise. So I would think Texans do like to gamble!
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Wow, Think they just have not adjusted from the East Coast yet. Texans as a whole are not big gamblers. Did you happen to see the minimum for the blackjack tables?
I'm sorry, I did not notice.
We had a nice, large group of nightly poker players and the game was always 2/5 no limit, and we almost always had a waiting list. They could have had 2 tables going most nights but as I said earlier, they have no idea how to run a poker game/room.
Everyone hated the rake but we played anyways....we were a pathetic bunch of poker addicts. :D:D
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opps, wrong forum. :(
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I'd much rather see a more reasonalble cap of $8.00 max. I'll pay for my own drinks.
For sure, but the fact is it's $15. :(
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A ship's casino is NOTHING like Vegas...not remotely!
In many many ways they are different!
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The new terminal is under construction, they appear to be working on the foundation, so I am not sure if it will be ready for Spring. There is a temporary tent set up, but the only reason I saw for the tent was for waiting to get on the ship. We sat there for about 15 minutes waiting on the ship to be ready for boarding.
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On NCL the rake is 10% with a $25.00 cap The game is 2/5 NL . Brutal. Quiz..If 10 player all buy-in for $200.00 how long before the rake takes all $2000.00 in action ? Can't compare cruise ships to Vegas. No competition at sea.
1. Another good reason to avoid NCL
2. About 3 hours
3. Only mentioned Vegas to give a comparison.
Even though there is no competition at sea they could at least run a pleasant, smooth poker game and offer us a drink every couple of hours. $15 is too much, and it reeks of greed. :(
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We ALWAYS get a porter and sail through customs.
Well, that was very nice for you, but all the porters cutting the line in front of us was one of the reasons it took so long for the rest of us. :(
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Lol - 70 minutes. That's at cake walk. You should have been on the Navigator November 10th. In Ft Lauderdale. Try 3.5-4 hours embarkation AND debarkation. Ship 2.5 hours leaving late, terminal with no power. That will test you patience. ;)
I have nearly infinite patience with things that are out of people's hands, bad weather, power outages, etc. We once circled O'Hara airport with 4 small children for 2 hours after a 4 hour flight, then we flew to Muskegon, Michigan to get fuel because we had circled so long we were out of fuel, there we waited another few hours on the tarmac in Muskegon before permission to go back to Chicago. We were never allowed to exit the plane even for a quick break. We then landed in Chicago to lines with several THOUSAND people trying to make connections that they missed by several hours!! All because of storms....was I mad, not at all, frustrated and exhausted, but never mad...they were doing what they could do given something they couldn't control, the weather. We talk about that experience as a Great Family Adventure! :)
But, what we saw in Galveston was just a mess for no apparent reason. That makes me mad. And when I get mad I walk away and never go back.
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My husband and I thought $10, which is what we have always seen on cruises, was obnoxious, but for the first time we were confronted with a $15 rake on our Thanksgiving Liberty of the Seas cruise. To put this in perspective for those unfamiliar with poker, most casinos in Las Vegas have a $4 rake!!! With that $4 rake we get free booze, points towards food, a smoke free room and people who know how to run a poker game. For $15 on the Liberty we got nothing. The floor personnel ignored us, the game was run poorly, they couldn't even seem to manage a wait list.
My husband and I enjoy a couple of hours of poker in the evenings while cruising but if this is the new thing, we are out....maybe we will run our own game in another area of the ship.
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We spent Thanksgiving on the Liberty of the Seas and the cruise was great! Pretty much no complaints. We met a lot of wonderful people, had great weather, once we got out into the Gulf, and we got to spend some quality time with our daughter and her family.
The problem was Galveston. Never mind the time it takes to get from the airports to Galveston, that is doable with little problem. The check in was amazingly fast, so that was good. The problem, and it's a huge problem, was the disembarkation.
Disembarkation was a Royal Mess! Walking off the boat was easy, but the mass confusion and wait following was enough to make even me mad. We found our luggage fast but then there were 3 or 4 confused lines funneling into one, massive, slow line!! From getting into line to reaching the customs agent was 70 minutes!! 70 minutes of snaking around the building lugging all your baggage. Our cruise had 1350 kids onboard, so you can imagine the issues those parents had keeping their kids occupied (they actually did a stellar job and I commend all those parents). I have no idea why the long lines, all the customs booths were open....I guess they need to make the port larger and get more agents because that is too long to wait! Getting outside was also horrible. We got through the line around 11 am, which is when people were arriving for the next cruise...what a mess! In 24 or so cruises I can't remember another experience like it.
We were attracted to leaving on a cruise out of Galveston because the flight is 2.5 hours compared to 4.5 to Florida.....but when you figure in the 60 minute ride from Houston and the hour waiting in line for customs, it's making the difference next to none. Sorry Galveston it's Florida for us from now on.
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I love wearing a lanyard. It's convenient and I certainly do not mind having it hanging around my neck. I have lost cards or had cards stop working and standing in line for 20 minutes or more to get a new one made is a PITA.
I always bring one of those 3M Command Damage Free hooks and hang it on the inside of the cabin door a little above the door knob, about eye level. When I come into the cabin I take off my lanyard with the card and hang it up and when I go to leave I can see it handing right there....I never forget my card!! At the end of the cruise I remove the hook. Makes my life so much easier.
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On the Allure and the Oasis I love the Cucumber Basil Martini in 150 Central Park restaurants.....OMG, so good.
New name for Aqua Class required!
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted
Doesn't anyone drink the tap water or the ice cold water from the melted ice in the ice bucket? I don't recall ever drinking a bottle of water on a cruise. I think the tap water is delicious.
We might bring a bottle of water on an excursion, but generally we buy as we need on excursions, or the tour operator gives us water.