texmex.ferr

On 4/27/2024 at 2:10 AM, laurieal said:

I didn’t really vibe with the activities for today. The only thing I had added to my calendar was the show in the theatre: hypnotist Marc Savard. 
 

 

I’m not into hypnotists. I’m also not into ventriloquists and I enjoyed that show a lot, so I decided to go see the hypnotist. 
 

 

The theatre felt full and there many people who went up on stage to volunteer (more people than chairs, actually). The first part of the show was him doing some hypnotism stuff and picking the « best » volunteers. In the end, I think he ended up with a dozen people. 
 

 

I liked some parts of the show. I thought it was pretty funny that he made someone dance or that someone was suddenly convinced that they were named something silly. 
 

But it made me uncomfortable that he made a lady be super repulsed by him. Even if it wasn’t real, her reaction felt real and her distress at his touch made me want to go up there and make him stop. 
 

I was also uncomfortable when one of the participants freaked out when he thought he was forced to confront what seemed to be a pretty serious fear or phobia. Again, the distress felt too real. 
 

I know one of the participants (if anyone saw the show, his name is E-I-E-I-O). Now I really want to run into him again to ask him how it felt when he was up there. I have many questions…

 

Hi Lauirial,

I'm just catching up with your blog from our trip.   E-I-E-I-O was no 'plant'.    He has been hypnotised on numerous occasions in the past, and he has always been picked to remain on the stage.    He doesn't remember what he did at the time he was on stage, but when he went to the rest room after the show, it did come 'flooding' back to him, and he laughed about his experience.    lol

23 hours ago, laurieal said:

I have drunk some of RCI’s Château de Tuesday sparkling wine in your stateroom with you and Ian, so I think we can skip the sitting awkwardly in complete silence part 😂 

 

I’m excited to see you and Ian again! Can I still find you at the pub or with a Kir Royal in hand at the Schooner Bar?

 

I do remember Michael and Cory and Judy! They were part of the LCR group, right?

HAHA!!    You will probably be able to find us at one of the bars onboard.  The pub is our favourite on most of the Oasis class ships.     Michael, Cory & Judy were part of our LCR group.   I've just been reading earlier that someone on social media is trying to set up games of LCR for the sea days, so we may pop along and join them!!!

I hope you won the radio competition, have a safe flight to Florida, and we'll see you onboard Oasis next Sunday.

Margaret

Hi Laurie

Good to see you're onboard, we'll be joining you again..    I can get DH to sit and stare at you, if you wish, he does it to other people!!!!   lol

We're just travelling our own this trip, although we know others from other TA's onboard like yourself.     Do remember Michael, Cory & Judy from our Jewel TA back in 2017, they're onboard too!!

See you onboard on 21 April

Margaret  (& Ian)

It might be to do with the taxes that are applicable in UK/ Europe

33 minutes ago, joyhannah said:

Hello steveru621,

I am confused was that for my question?  I dont think I was asking anything about my exceptions of perfection. Just asking help on transfer.

 

Thanks anyway

Hi Joyhannah

I think Steven621 was giving you a link to a transfer company, if you look above what you quoted.

The gave the link to www.romeairporter.com

We sailed from Rome last October, and used a company called www.sharedshuttle.it

I also travel with a mobility scooter, and they could accommodate this.    If you email them with your details to info@sharedshuttle.it they will contact you with a price.   We paid 170 Euros for 2 adults with 2 large and 2 hand luggage cases and my scooter.   It's about an hour to transfer from the Airport to Cruise Port.

I hope this helps

We've had problems with the app for previous cruises.    The solution was to uninstall and reinstall the app on our phones, and it should resolve the issue.    There may even be an update required too.

We had an issue with the app whilst we were onboard one of our cruises.   I could only see spending for my account, and not for DH (I am usually main account holder).   Visited Guest Services they tried to rectify problem, and couldn't, then called IT Manager onboard, if we used her phone, I could log into my account and see all the info, but it still had the issue using my phone.    She tried everything to correct the issue, we were there for over 3 hours, and still didn't get a solution.    Later that day, on checking my app, it was all working fine!!!!     The wonders of Royal IT systems.   😂

On 11/21/2023 at 11:33 PM, Jenna said:

North Star you can at least do for free on sea days

We just got back from Odyssey TA on November 11th, and the North Star was free for most of the cruise.  (15 nights).   We did it a couple of times during the trip.  So, maybe it depends on the sailing whether they decide to charge for it or not!!  

We sailed on Grandeur for 3 weeks (7 night & 14 night B2B) in February/March 2022,it sailed from Barbados around the ports of the Caribbean, and we had a great time.   I can't do most of the 'fun' stuff, but we still enjoyed our 3 weeks onboard.    The staff onboard at that time were the best, which also helped us to enjoy our trip.     The ship doesn't have all the 'bells & whistles' like the bigger ships, but it does have character, and we just enjoy being on a ship in the sunshine, relaxing.

Does anyone know if Ana Ribeiro will be on Odyssey for the Transatlantic at the end of October, or someone else will take over this sailing?

13 hours ago, dmfleischmann said:

I cannot seem to find the "Miami departure board"  Could you post a link?  Thank you!

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/533-florida-departures/

Try the above link.    

3 minutes ago, KLMB said:

I tried to find the answer through this site and could not.  Booked Oasis a couple days ago for 10-1-23.  I checked in on my laptop but the app on my phone says "something's on the blink and check back later" I've tried for 2 days.  I called Royal and could not get any help.  Does anyone have any ideas other than waiting till I'm on board to get help?  I like to look at the compass and will need to complete the muster.  Thanks so much.  I appreciate this forum, always something useful.

Have you tried to uninstall and reinstall the app.    It's sometimes temperamental!!!   

check out the Miami Departure boards, you might get recommendations there.    The Hampton Inn & Suites used to get good reviews (pre Covid) for staying before sailing from Miami.    I don't know if they run a shuttle and/or parking, again there's still numerous hotels haven't restarted this service since restrictions have been lifted.   Other areas that have been recommended previously are Brickell district, South Beach, and Biscayne Bay area.     

We sailed from Miami in March this year on a TA, it also happened to be  Spring Break, and the prices of accommodation in Downtown Miami, was very expensive, so we stayed in the Doral area near the airport, and booked a taxi to take us and our friends (party of 9 in total) to the cruise port.

2 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Thanks. I’ll ask someone how to get into the machine. I’m clueless. 
do you know how much were allowed to take out at a time?

We don't know how to use the machines in the casino either, but if you go to the Casino desk, they can give you a step by step instruction card of how to use your promotion $$, which also sets up your account.   Once set up, transfer your OBC from your card to the machine, then cash out, and take the ticket to the cashier in the casino 

We were advised by the IT Manager on Grandeur over a year ago, that the Royal app is only designed to be used on smart phones, and not for use on IPads or tablets.

We were on Wonder TA last April, and Symphony TA in March of this year, and had flights leaving Barcelona Airport at 11.10 (KLM flights).    We also arranged our transport to the airport, through Royal Caribbean, (and the flights were booked through Air2Sea),    We disembarked last April at 6.45, but this year we were later getting off.   It was after 7am before we disembarked, there was a hold up somewhere.    We still made it to the airport in time, but the airport was a lot busier in March, than what it had been last April, and it took us a while to check in at the check in desk.     Security was slow too, but we still made our 11.10 flight on both occasions.

Good luck in getting to the airport to catch your early flight

5 hours ago, heatherbelle said:

Noooooooo. Us Brits nearly always pay far more for everything than our American cousins (cruises and flights) etc.  plus given that it’s the 12th, we can’t even cancel and get our deposits back I guess.  
 

Here is what I can see for Brits, no mention of booking through a U.S. TA.

I don’t care for the bit about they can increase the price by up to 8%.

 

 

 

The bit about being able to increase the price by 8% has always been in the contract, but I'm not sure about the rest of that clause, where it refers to fares could also be decreased in the same way

The price of the package may only be increased if specific costs rise (for instance fuel prices), and if expressly provided for in the contract, and in any event not later than 20 days before the start of the package. If the price increase exceeds 8% of the price of the package, the traveller may terminate the contract. If the organiser reserves the right to a price increase, the traveller has a right to a price reduction if there is a decrease in the relevant costs

we're just off Symphony, and we had 2 free days each.    My friend had purchase a 3 device package, and I used one of his 'devices'.    My DH used the 4 free days, all on his phone, all that we had to do, was to use my personal info for 2 days, with a unique log in, and then use his personal details, with a separate unique log in for his other 2 days, and he didn't use the days consecutively either.    He used one and then waited a few days before using the second day.

19 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

That’s really interesting.  We only got a plate of cookies and fruit on Harmony last month. 

We were on Symphony TA sailing March 9 to March 21st, this was our first sailing after reaching D+, on entering the cabin we had 6 bottles of water waiting for us (previously we've had 4 bottles and a plate of cookies).     A few days later, whilst we were in our cabin, we had a knock on the door, and we were given a plate of assorted fruit, we left it on the table, and went out for the rest of the afternoon, on our return, the plate of fruit had disappeared, and we had a box of chocolates in it's place!!!   We don't know where they came from, there was no note left with them. 

A few days later on a formal night/dress your best night, we returned to the cabin to find a plate of cookies.    We never received the chocolate strawberries, and petit fours that we've had on our previous cruises.  

We also returned to our cabin on another day, to find 3 bags of chocolate candy (nothing to do with C & A benefits), that a guest had had delivered (there were tags with the persons name on them, but we had never met the person during the cruise), but on our return the following morning after having breakfast, the bags of candy disappeared!!!!!     We must've been in a 'magic' cabin on this trip!!!     There was a child onboard who had caught chickenpox, during the trip, and the family were confined to their cabin, we discovered their cabin number was the same as ours, but we were on deck 10 and they were on deck 12, so we presumed the candy was for them!!!   lol

We have just disembarked from Symphony TA (March 9 - 21) which left from Miami.   We still had to test, but it did not require to be supervised (proctored) !!!    We heard that on embarkation day there were around 450 people turned up without having taken a test, and were sent to have one done, but it was taking too long for this to happen, that they were allowed onto the ship eventually tested or not!!!

There was no logic behind requiring passengers to show up at the cruise port, with a photograph of a negative test (supposedly taken within 2 days of sailing!!) or with the negative test in hand!!  

There were still passengers confined to cabins after testing positive (once sailing was underway) for Covid, and having to quarantine for at least 5 days.

My OH, woke on the morning of disembarkation with what seemed like a head cold, we did a test in the cabin, he was negative, but  the following morning once we were home, he tested again, he was  positive, and there are a few others who are reporting they have tested positive once they've returned home.

We now need to live with Covid probably being treated as a cold/flu during the year and let things go back to pre Covid times.

These are Greek Islands, so English is a second language, so it may cost Royal more to have interpretators to do the tours.

2 hours ago, swoopy2110 said:

Still plenty of Randox clinics in the UK where you can get them done. They'll email you the results which you could save to the phone / print off in advance.

https://covid.randox.com/clinic-locator/

Tests no longer require to be supervised, (proctored), so any test kits from any Pharmacies in the UK would suffice, and would be cheaper too..

Royal Caribbean's own website can show you accessible cabins that are available for booking for each sailing.    As you work through the main website to price a cruise, it asks how many rooms you require, then how many people, and just below that there is a box that you can tick to show accessible cabins only.

Either than or most Travel Agents will be able to look on their system to find accessible cabins, but they can get booked very quickly, since there are not a  lot of them

On 12/22/2022 at 2:43 AM, Ashland said:

I've recommended South Florida Shuttle several times on these boards.

YES....They provided amazing service for our extended family group.

Thanks for this 

On 12/20/2022 at 11:24 AM, JohninDC said:

South FL is the only one I recall seeing mentioned on this board - and with consistently good reviews.

 

Or split your group into 2 van cabs (ask the hotel front desk to call - they know who is reliable)

Thanks John for your reply.

The only slight issue we had was finding our suitcases in the baggage hall, once we got off the ship.  They operate a system like in the airports (turntables), and if you're not there to grab them as they go past, they just continue on the belt.    We thought we'd lost one of our cases, but it eventually showed up.    We were told the journey would be approx 30 minutes, but I'm sure we arrived well within the 30 minutes (probably more like 20 minutes, but there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road to the airport that morning).   You could be safer using a private taxi to get you there quicker than Royal's transfer bus, especially if you're flight's at 9.30.    The queues weren't too long for most flights (we had friends flying with Delta, back to the Canada, via US, and were on our coach, whilst we flew with KLM and we were all checked in at different areas of the airport quickly.