Moon Orchid

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Pro tip - come here first to ask questions - you'll likely get a more understandable curated answer.

Thank you I will do that more from now on.
I heard that us cruisers will have to board the ship at a new terminal at Tarragona cruise port in 2024. It's an hour away from Barcelona. So here is my question ,is it better to take a cruise depart from Rome now ?
I though it's easier when cruising from Barcelona but the new cruise terminal changed everything ?Don't know how you experience cruisers do it, I was just started to look for the Europe cruises and already feel exhausted ☺️🙃

Thank you for asking question about this. I was confused when searching for Oasis Europe cruise next year.😊

I have never cruise to Europe before. Can some one please explain this to me ?
I was checking on Oasis Of The Seas Europe cruises for September next year and noticed something weird.
Royal have 7 nights Western Mediterranean Cruise depart from Rome,
September 5-12 and September 12-19.
Then same ship depart from Barcelona , 7 nights Western Mediterranean Cruise.
September 1-8
September 8-15
September 15-22
September 22-29
I messaged Royal on Facebook asked them about it and this was how they replied to me: 
"Hey there. I apologize for the confusion. On Day 3 (September 15th) people will be boarding from Barcelona for their 7-day sailing. The itineraries overlap.
Then I asked " So the sailings on September 1st and September 8 will be depart from Rome or Barcelona ?",
Royal said " The September 1st sailing departs from Barcelona. Day 5, September 5th, the ship will stop in Rome and guests for the September 5th-12th sailing will board"
I guess I am dumb, still don't understand how this work 😊. I have only cruise with Royal 17 time , mostly Caribbean and Hawaii cruises so I guess Europe cruise are different ?

They add gratuity on everything now. I purchased some Evian water bottle package for our upcoming cruise and had to pay gratuity on that too😏

We've been on both Freedom and Navigator, but I would go with Freedom. Like how others feel about Catalina and Ensenada, we would never go there again. 

https://mauinow.com/2023/08/08/haleakala-highway-closure-due-to-brush-fire-evacuation-of-kula-200-off-auliʻi-dr/

Prayers to everyone in Maui. 

Never mind, I got my answer 🙂

Hello, tried to book a cruise on Odyssey for this coming November. I have narrowed down to cabin number 10648 and 10630. Have anyone stayed in these two cabin ? Which one would you pick ? And another question, can crown and anchor balcony discount combine with other discount like senior discount ? After a long day at work, I can't remember anything ☺️.Thank you.

48 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Read the terms of the sale and make sure it is combinable with the C&A discount.  If it is, call and have them price the cruise for you.  A cruise I booked recently kept adding an instant savings of $100 when my C&A discount is higher than that.  I just called and had C&A book it for me and I got the better discount applied.

Thank you so much, learn something new everyday. Some people I know asked me after 16 cruise under your belt you must know a lots of things about cruise. I told them " Nope, I don't know everything, still learning from great cruisers on Cruise Critic "😊

30 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Are you entering the C&A # under "promos and other discounts.  Unlike years go when you sign in, you still need to enter the C&A #.  If its property entered, you will see the NRD balcony discount in the pricing breakdown.

Yes, I did that but didn't see any discount. I was checking the 13 nights Hawaii cruise on Quantum and some other sailing on Symphony for next year. With Royal extended sale it hard to figure it out when C&A discount will apply to the sailing 😊

30 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Are you diamond or higher?  If yes, then you should receive discount on cabins with a balcony.   You also have to check off box for any senior discounts if on Royals website.

Yes, we're diamond for a while now. I checked the box for senior discount too but didn't see any different. I guess like Ken said that " Depending on the discount that you are eligible for and the current pricing and promos you may or may not receive the discount. C&A balcony discounts are generally not combinable with the instant savings offers'. 

Hello, I have been checking for next year cruises and it seems C&A number doesn't mean anything these days. In the past the prices would change when I put in my C&A number, senior....
Is C&A discount is a thing in the past ?

Don't know when people will open their eyes and say the truth of what they're seeing. You can see the video from the YouTuber that Windjammer look ridiculous empty with so little foods and choices available. That's how it was on our last cruise.

Our cruise on Quantum last October we still had good food and plenty of choices. The cruise from Ovation last month left a bad taste in our mouths. I don't eat that much and for the first time on a cruise I walked around in Windjammer with an empty plate while trying to look for food.

It's a shame that Royal decreased food variety too much, too fast. I never once saw any cake in the Windjammer, all they have for dessert are the stuff in the little cups.

I worked at a community college in my home town, they raised the price at the dining hall just like every other places but food variety and portions remained the same. Cruise line raised the prices but cut back on potion and variety.

What happened to some of our post ? It's gone now 😋

58 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I have it booked several times for 28.99 plus 18%, 34.99 total.

 

I hope it's worth that much. Soup, fried veggies and shrimp and a sushi roll. 

 

Now I'm getting worried. I'm not a big eater in one sitting. 

I'm not a big eater either. My husband usually eat some of the sushi that I didn't want, but I didn't have anything left for him last time on Ovation 😄
We stopped by Sorrento's for some pizza later because foods in Windjammer was terrible, and I always love a quick stop at Windjammer on previous cruise. Things changed so much these days on Royal ships.

12 hours ago, firefly333 said:

So why would someone do ala carte at izumi and not the fixed price meal? Which I hear is a lot of food. 1 small, 2 large, and a dessert choice. 

This was true back then, not anymore. We bought the dining package when sailed on Quantum last October. It was a lots of foods at Izumi.
Fast forward to Izumi on Ovation this May. One small plate,2 large plate with only half of what it used to be ( 4 piece instead of 8 on a large plate ). I don't think it worth $45 for 8 pieces of sushi, and a dessert their choice ( because they didn't have couple things from the dessert menu ).

Hi all, we sailed on Quantum last October and love this class ship so much that we booked another cruise with Ovation of The Seas ,May 2nd sailing.
It was the fist time that we didn't enjoy the ship. They didn't let us go to our cabin until 2 pm. No welcome water, and soda can in the room. Then  later in the evening a crew member with a case of water bottle knocked on our door " Here are your 4 bottles water ! ".  It didn't bother us because we know that they were very busy on first day.
Couple days later we got our welcome gift with 3 tiny chocolate and a baby strawberry😁.
Royal cut back way too much on everything on Ovation. Foods in Windjammer were terrible and limited selection.
 I know people will say that they lose so much money over the pandemic. Well, if they can affords to  building more and more  big, beautiful ships then they shouldn't be stingy this way. Lots of rice curry flavors , lots of stir fry vegetables, very few meat items . Foods in the school cafeteria maybe taste better.
Breakfast in Windjammer was the worse. Solarium was a little better.
We had My time dining for the first time and it was a mad house. It wasn't any different between walk in or have a reserved time. It was long lines and long wait.
Lunch and dinner in the main dining room wasn't that good either. We ordered fish dishes, after a long wait they brought out some totally different things and said " The chef apologize that we don't have that fish, here is different kind of fish and a meat dish". And it happened couple times at lunch and dinner.
It was like" Eat it or go hungry, it's your choice". 
We purchased 3 nights dining package, Izumi cut their dishes to half of what it used to be. $45 for 8 pieces of sushi ( 2 large plates ) is crazy .
Foods at Chops and Jamie were great but still same thing, " Oh sorry we don't have this or that" .
After 2 days on board, they announced that Diamond will no longer get that free daily specialty coffee ! I wonder if this will be the trend from now on ? 
Ovation has a great team of staffs, except some of people works at the service desk, not very friendly . We were going to stay couple days in Vancouver after getting off the ship. I stopped by one time to asked for how to fill out the customs declaration, and they were not very happy people !
And our Cruise Director ,Steve from Canada. He was the worse cruise director that we ever had, he always talks like he was an Auctioneer.
I have only 15 cruises under my belt and never had a bad cruise ,but this time we were very disappointed at the way Royal is heading to.
Cruise vacation used to be a good value. Not anymore. Beautiful and big ships doesn't mean a thing if foods are bad and very few choices.
My daughter sailed on Wonder April 30 with a big group ,she said same thing with Wonder , bad foods and not many choices to choose from, her group did not impress with Wonder either. 
Flame me if you want , I have always bragged to family and friends that cruise with Royal is the only way to go, but this time I really dislike Royal terrible foods and the way they practice now. 😊 

We had Steve from Canada as cruise director Quantum last October. We had him again on Ovation May 2nd sailing. He was terrible, always talk like he's an auctioneering. Didn't like him at all, worse cruise director that we ever have.😑

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

I've been going to Hawaii for decades and staying for sometimes several months at a time and this is honestly the first I've ever heard of Lei Day. I had to look it up. 

I heard about it from our Facebook group. People are planning to go there before the cruise on Ovation.

I guess no one go to this Lei day yet 😆

Hello,I heard about Lei day on May 1 of this year. We'll be in Oahu couple days before our cruise. I understand there will be lots of activities going on at Kapi''olani Regional Park. Is it worth it to cancel our rental car and beach day for Lei Day? Thank you.
 

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Unfortunately after Royals final payment date  there is no refunds or OBC offered.  They did offer this during Covid but that stopped last year.

 

The only thing you can hope for is upgrading to a higher category that can be done for a low additional cost.

Thank you, I am looking forward to that too ☺️

Good morning, I have a question for you. I have already made final payment for my May cruise. There are so many ocean view balconies left and Royal offered very low price for guarantee rooms. Say if I don't care about what room/location they will give me, can I change back to guarantee room to get some on board credit ? Thank you. I know it's dumb question but the big price different make me wonder if I can do that😊