TOM CRUIZES

Don't you mean Explorer and not Freedom?

Yes you are right I do mean Explorer and not Freedom, guess the AI package must be having an effect.;)

On Freedom at the moment first Cruise after refurbishment, some initial hiccups but coming together nicely, Internet for D+ is a one off period of 24hrs continuous access, tried to combine my wife and myself for one package but no can do, old system of 60 mins throughout the cruise worked better for us.

Unless they changed it in the last 4wks, when we were on Freedom there was a choice of Packages the 24hr unlimited being one of them(if you chose it), there was still the choice of your 60mins being available to use until it ran out, you just had to be careful and pick the right package and also make sure you ticked the box for the C&A Coupon to be applied.

HI listed below is the renovations as per the list sent to my Agent.

Please find below details of the revitalisation that Explorer of the seas is undergoing. She will be sailing out of Southampton this summer so great news for all your customers that have already booked!

86 new staterooms

Adding Flowrider

Adding Outdoor Movie Screen - Deck 12

All new landings and corridors

All stateroom carpets will be changed

Deck 11 - Chops Grille will replace Portofino's

Diamond Club replaces 19th Hole - Deck 14

Digital Wayfinding System

Flatscreen T.V.'s (LED)

Giovanni's Table will be replacing The Chamber (disco) on Deck 4 (the night club experience will be moved to Viking Crown)

Izumi - Deck 14 (replacing Cloud Nine & Seven Hearts)

New Luxury Leather Shop - on Deck 5

New Photo Gallery - photo carousels with binders as on Oasis class (no more photo walls) - Deck 3

New Specialty Shop (not sure which one yet - will not announce actual name) - Deck 5

New Sports Bar - on deck 4 - replacing Aquarium Bar (port side)

Pervasive Wi-Fi

Removal of In-Line track due to addition of Flowrider and Sun Lounges

Spa & Fitness refresh

There will be a VIP area within the Casino

Virtual balconies (LED screens) being added to existing interior staterooms on Deck 9 & 10 (81 Virtual Balconies being added to existing staterooms)

Public Restroom refresh

Main Dining Room refresh

Art Gallery will be re-located starboard side Aquarium Bar Deck 4

Champagne Bar converted to R Bar - Deck 5

We have found West Quay to be reliable and prompt, used them 4-6 times and they always text with car reg, make and colour.

Been trying since Saturday to upgrade to a X guarantee Balcony for the Same price as our Inside, we get a different answer each time our TA cannot get anywhere price varies between £8 & 128pp and they say they would have to cancel previous booking and re-book so that MAY change our flts and that would cost more, even spoke to the Miami office who said they would sort it out, 2 days later still waiting, beginning to wonder if RCL want the Business and may go to another line with less hassle, this has only happened since they changed the UK call Centre to Guatemala.

Indeed, they can do what they choose, as it is their ship.

 

As for cabins, I'm not sure I would want one of those on deck 11, being just above Dazzles.

 

But if the CL moved to deck 17, the old spot would be a good location to move the crowded DL (or maybe keep the CL there and move the DL to deck 17).

 

These are just rumors, though. I will wait for official announcements or deck plans (will be able to see in person this spring, though).

There are so many variations on what is happening in Dry-dock, on the TA we were informed that the Current Concierge is to become a Dining Venue(Wonderland), the Diamond Club will be a Dining Venue and the Diamond Club is Moving to Deck 4, the Concierge is going to deck 17 and there will also be a Dining Venue for Suite and Pinnacle Guests, somewhere in the mix there will be some sort of order.

Tom - I did try that, it was very yummy! Why don't all the windjammers have that?

 

Pleased you enjoyed it, we wondered about that also, be great if they did.

maybe its one of the onboard Chef's speciality dish., whatever it is a really great dish.

Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Enjoy your trip we did Brilliance in July and had a great cruise, if you get time try the Mongolian Stir fry in the Windjammer one evening, it is freshly made for you and you get to pick the ingredients, it is highly recommended.

OMG !!!

 

I'm so happy. I've rung my US travel agent and they've contacted Royal to verify it is correct, and it is :-)

 

We're going on the Oasis transatlantic on 2nd September and we originally booked a Neighbourhood Balcony Guarantee.

 

When it was allocated they gave us a D5 Superior Ocean-view with Balcony.

 

I've just logged in to book the last of our entertainment and we've been allocated a JS Junior Suite.

 

I'm really puzzled as to why they would do this with quite a few weeks still to go before the cruise and also as we originally only booked a Neighbourhood Balcony Guarantee.

 

Any ideas or thoughts?

Congrats on the Upgrade why not Join the Roll call at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1811200&page=51

Thanks for the info looking forward to meeting him.

The only one that I know of, is the Concierge: Willie Salaya; he'll be there until the end of July! Non sure at the exact date! :(

 

 

Sent with my iPhone

Thanks for the info however the last full list only had him aboard until the end of May, is he staying on?, if so what is he like.

Any updates on who the Concierges are on Brilliance at the moment thanks.

I believe Capt Teo(Ex Indy) has or is going to Liberty and Capt Henrik Loy is replacing him.

Hello, does anyone know who the diamond concierge on the Independence on 25th May & also for the Quantum on 1st December?. Many thanks.

Columella Arandia likes to called Mel, will be Diamond Concierge on Indy in may.

Hi Tom do you know if Mel is on Indy as she has been onboard since September.

According to the email from Raj, Mel will be on Indy for the TA on 4th May that's as much info as I have.

Nizar is the Concierge on Indy filling in for Raj(on leave) from 6th April intil 25th May.

Wow, I'm SO surprised at these poor-to-middling assessments of food in the MDR!! I loved the food on Oasis last December and was sure that it was because it was the "big new ship" and that I'd be disappointed on Explorer this past week... but I was pleasantly surprised to find everything was delicious and our MDR service was terrific!!

 

(For foodies: I am a lifelong NYC resident, an adventurous eater who has tried wide range of restaurants throughout the city and around the world... I am not used to diner fare or simple cooking -- although I enjoy both -- and have experienced the best restaurants in the world, so this is a strong positive review for RCI.)

 

(Also, I was on Explorer about two years ago, and food quality was NOT as good at that time; service, especially breakfast service, was notably poorer than it is today. I am not a mindless cheerleader, and often offer harsh critiques -- so if I compliment food and service, I mean it! I also do my best to describe what I like or dislike in detail, so even if your tastes or preferences are different from my own, you can form a judgment based on my description rather than just saying "it's great" or "I hate it." That's why it's helpful to hear specific concerns such as portion size or temperature from the earlier posters.)

 

At the MDR, one of our tablemates had a lukewarm entree and asked the waiter to heat it up... he removed it and brought her a fresh, hot, new entree. I never had any complaints about taste, texture, heat, visual presentation, or portion size... the last probably because I tend to order 2-3 starters (soup, salad, appetizer) and often more than one entree (and dessert) as well!! If they were hefty portions I'd be in real trouble.

 

FYI, I had the unexpected pleasure to be invited on the executive chef's (Gary Thomas) galley tour, in which we saw him tasting the day's dishes and quizzing his chefs on each menu item ("Yes, Chef!"). Chef Gary is in charge of FOUR ships (including Oasis, no wonder the food quality is similar!) and has to entrust his sous chefs and assistant sous chefs with ensuring quality while he is traveling to one of his other ships.

 

Each chef (butcher, fish, baker, pastry, saucier, etc.) is in charge of a very high-budget area the size of a medium-sized business, with large numbers of staff, etc., etc. Each one is like a business owner, responsible for customer satisfaction, food taste and presentation, as well as meeting budget requirements. Very impressive -- but honestly, I was in love with the food long before I attended this tour on the last day of the cruise!

 

Anyway, for those worried about portion sizes, just order double-portions (or try a second dish)... and for those worried about heat, just (politely) ask your server to heat it up for you -- and you'll probably get a brand-new serving!

 

I had a number of "old favorites" I had ordered on many cruises... this time I branched out and tried a number of dishes I had never had before, and I was NEVER disappointed, even with items outside of my knowledge. What great fun to have such a wide range of choices every day!!!

Like your comments and have to agree with you, if portions are too small get another one, we like our food hot and have a little chat with the Waiter at the start of the Cruise and tell him that, sometimes you still get a cool one but you only have to mention it and they change it immediately. We also find the more we interact with our Wait Staff the more we get out of the Cruise.

Because they're giving them away as free upgrades to people who've already booked:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42277148&postcount=2778

 

:D

Think about todays date 1st April, ring any bells:eek:

Crown & Anchor has now moved to Guatamala also, same thing, they do not know any answers to Qs, have no idea who or why you are calling and they interpretation skills are US, they put you on hold for 10-15mins then still cannot give an answer. HOWEVER we have been assured:rolleyes: that it will be good eventually?(6months away), why should we have to put up with poor customer service when we had GREAT customer service from the UK office/Staff.

Could have been a large travel group from (Black Diamond Travel) based in California, just maybe.

We try to stay at the Premier Inn West Quay, prices good if booked early, good meals, clean, staff are friendly, handy for the nearby mall and Taxi to Ship only £5.

Don't you just love Royal's IT department?

 

Just been onto the UK site (first time in a while) and in the first search options, you cannot search for Transatlantic or repositioning cruises.

 

When you go to the second search, still no Transatlantics, but the option for Galapagos and World cruises appears.

 

If you search for 'world cruises', every cruise appears, if you search for 'Galapagos', a message says to call and 'our friendly staff might be able to help you find and book these cruises'.

 

I believe that as the UK office closed I would now have to phone someone in Guatemala!

New search engine is a joke/labour intensive, before you could ptu in dates ship etc, now it goes thro every cruise until you weed it down to the one you want, not really user friendly(maybe trying to make us phone Guatemala), also does not have a check for over 55 cruises now, had a problem with website last wk, ended up talking to some guy in Guatemala after 35mins he put me thro to someone in UK who solved it straight away, guess thats what we have to expect now:(.

Well we tried P&O Oriana and this is what are thoughts are,

Food in main Dining Room(Peninsular) OK, nice to try different menues for a change, meals were always hot and served well, portions were smaller than we remember last time(8yrs ago).

Conservatory(Self Service Venue) we did not like this venue, it felt like a canteen and when they say self service they mean that, ask for a glass of water or coffee and the wait staff inform you where to go and get it. Choice of meals at Lunchtime was limited to 5-6 with poor choices in our opinion.

Al Fresco was ok for snacks and some hot foods with very pleasant staff.

Drinks, although they appear to be cheaper than other Cruise lines they were not that much cheaper as they give you smaller measures for the price, ie can of Carlsberg Export Lager(330ml) £2-95, no extra, for gratuity.

Entertainment was excellent and Singers & Dancers did 6-7 shows in different venues on a 12 nt Cruise, guest entertainers were also excellent. Lots of dance venues and quizzes etc going on.

Stateroom was fine quite roomy with quite a lot of hanging space and plenty of drawers to use, bathroom was clean and seperate Shmpoo and conditioner was provided, some signs of rust around bottom of door frame.

Ship overall was quite classy and didnt show much sign of wear and tear except for the large rust spots around exterior of dining room windows and other places on the ship.

Gratuities were only £3-50 ($5-50) pp per day which is a big difference to other Cruise Lines.

Will we sail with P&O again? probably but only if the price is right.

We returned last weekend from our 6 night cruise on IOS. After reading some mixed reviews and comments on this ship, I thought I would throw in my two cents.

 

We arrived at the pier around 10:30am via hotel shuttle. This was our first cruise as platinum members so we were able to use the priority line. We were in the building and checking in at the desk within 5 minutes of arriving and were able to immediately walk on the ship after checking in.

 

Windjammer was not yet open (by the time we made it up there it was past 11am).

 

There were announcements stating they were running behind and rooms would not be ready until 2pm, however they were ready closer to 1:30.

 

We had a promenade room on the 8th floor. We typically have inside cabins (because we are budget travelers) so having the window/window seat did make the room feel much bigger.

 

Our room was clean and everything seemed perfect. We even had our robes hanging in the bathroom. Our room attendant introduced himself at the first opportunity. I requested ice and it was in our room every night. We had 2 towel animals for the 6 nights. I did miss having a pen/paper in the room. You dont really realize this until you need to use it.

 

Every single staff member that crossed our path on this ship, officer, waiters, room attendants, even maintenance staff smiled and said hello. Every single one. Probably the most friendly staff we have seen yet. Especially in the Windjammer. We found all our servers seemed very willing and happy to have a conversation with us.

 

Speaking of those conversations with the servers in WJ, we learned that most feel they work too many long hours, and most miss their families very much. On an interesting note, I was feeling a little sea sick one evening (ship was rocking for a couple hours that night, most people didnt notice as much as me but Im prone to all sorts of motion sickness) so I was asking our server what they consider to be rough seas and she stated the worst she experienced was on a transatlantic cruise. However, she also pointed out that we switched captains while in port the day before and she wasnt surprised that after the switch passengers were noticing more ship movement. She said the previous captain is more conscience about ship movement and uses the stabilizers more, where the replacement captain just forges ahead without much concern about minor ship movement. I know she probably doesnt actually know when stabilizers are being used or what decisions the captain is making, however she has been working on the ship for 5 years and has apparently noted a clear difference between the different styles of captains. I guess now I know why some people might care who the captain is on a particular ship at a given time!

 

We ate all meals in the WJ as we didnt want to bring dress clothes this trip. We felt the food was fine. It was not gourmet but it was not awful either. My complaint here is with the beverages. They really only offer water, ice tea, milk and "sugar free lemon flavored water" for dinner. They had "lemonade" for lunch but never at dinner (I even asked for it at dinner and was told they didnt have any). Occasionally they had mango flavored water and in the morning they also had orange juice and coffee of course. And after normal dining hours, you can only get tea, coffee, milk and ice water in the other food venues, unless you want to purchase a drink. I dont want to spend extra for a beverage package, but I would appreciate more beverage options, especially after dining hours. 24 hour lemonade and/or fruit juice would be great!

 

Oh, also the self serve ice cream closing at like 6:30pm. What? I want an ice cream after dinner,while taking a evening stroll around 9-10pm! Oh thats right, I can PURCHASE ice cream at Ben & Jerrys. Im not loving this pattern of extra cost for things.

 

We ate at Johnny Rockets one day for lunch. Loved the onion rings! Servers were friendly and entertaining. We attempted to eat here again for a late lunch (3:30) on a sea day and there was 40 minute wait.

 

Ordered chips/spinach and cheese cake from room service one evening around 9:00pm. It was delivered within about 20 minutes and everything was very good.

 

Our remote for the television stopped working on the last sea day. We informed our room attendant and it was promptly replaced by one that works.

 

We are non-smokers and we did notice the smokers were out on almost all outside decks of the port side. This did not bother us much as we just walk on by or stay to the starboard side. However, on the pool deck it was a bit more "annoying" (for lack of better word).

 

Chair hogs were in full effect. Many towels on chairs. I found it a little hard to tell if someone was actually saving a chair or just didnt return their used towel. And I wasnt going to stand around babysitting a chair for 30 minutes to see if they were coming back. We just went up to higher decks and found plenty of chairs. Where it bothered me most was in the Solarium. People were actually trying to save those wooden benches and swings! Umm arent those just there for people strolling around to stop and take a brief seat or have a conversation? I dont think the intention is that your supposed to have them for yourself all day. That perplexes me as much as people that wear the robes to the pool.

 

Entertainment in the main theater was OK but still probably the worst in comparison to other ships we have been on. The ice show is probably the most entertaining followed by The Quest. The Farewell show was awful. We saw many people walk out. The 70's dance party is getting dated and I wish they would change that up. We didnt make it to the dance club, we are light weights and go to bed too early.

 

We did buy a next cruise certificate so we're really excited about that !

 

Debarkation was a breeze for us. We self-carry our luggage and just walked off the ship around 7:00am. No lines, no hassle. We sorta wished we had booked an earlier flight but we were chickens and didnt want to take a risk.

 

This got longer than I planned and Im sure Im still forgetting things, but I just wanted to pass along some of my observations/experiences.

Great review do you know who the Captain was on your cruise.