orville99

On 2/24/2024 at 2:05 PM, island lady said:

Thanks...no matter how many times we have arrived for a cruise...it still feels giddy and exciting.  😉 

We have gotten to the point of accepting the fact  that the time between cruises is just a long shore excursion where we get to do cooking classes every day, and the wine is less expensive🍗🍷😎

19 hours ago, island lady said:

We are currently on Wonder docked up in Coco Cay

How is the sun deck? Hopefully Bucky is keeping clean😇 Enjoy your cruise⛴️🍷🥂

22 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Roatan??  Can I ask why?

Once you step outside of the port complex (still very slowly under construction), if you want to walk anywhere you will find yourself traversing 2-3 foot wide trash and waste filled open sewers (the stench is palatable) to cross the street, as you dodge the army of panhandlers, grifters, and hawkers. Filthiest port we have ever been to.

2 hours ago, craig01020 said:

Actually, the 8-day Rhapsody goes to Grand Cayman, Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel. The 7-day Grandeur goes to Costa Maya, Belize City, Roatan and Cozumel.

We love both ships, and when we sail on either of them out of Tampa, we look for which one stops at Key West and/or avoids Roatan (IMHO, the Caribbean's most depressing port)

44 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Should someone find a friend onboard and now want to board the ship in Dubai?

How is Royal coming up with prices, considering I assume one could decide to get off the ship at anywhere(port they stop at) correct?

Is there now going to be a price per day depending on what category cabin you select? Just how are they handling that?

Royal just sent Serenade a pallet load of tiny vacuum cleaners fitted with a patent pending wallet attachment that permanently affixes itself to every boarding passenger and won't release its grip until every last cent is sucked out of their accounts🤣

53 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Have already submitted the forms to the what will be a long and lengthy process.  Can only hope for the best.  

At least you were at home when this happened, and have access to potential recourses. Back in the 60's, my parents got stranded along with a large tour group in Hawaii when their TA absconded with all of the groups prepayments, including the payments for the resort they were staying at and their return flights back to NY. Dad never did get any of his money back, and he ended up eating the cost of both the resort and the return flight to boot. 

Ironically, that was the last time he and my mom did a land-based vacation, and discovered their cruising addiction - which they passed on to me😇

3 minutes ago, ringers0815 said:

If you have had the YF vaccine in the past your r good to go. They used to be good for 10 years but now WHO says they have enough data that they are good for life. I have had it twice in the past but they have now changed my certificate for my last YF vaccine to show that it is good for “lifetime of bearer”. I had both of mine before 60 and no side effects. My husband had his first YF vaccine after 60 and did not have any side effects.

Back in 1966 (when I started to travel internationally) YF vaccination was still required to get back in the U.S.. Not sure when that policy was eliminated, but my understanding at the time was that the vaccination requirement was intended for travelers to protect the country you were entering, not the country you were coming from.

Just now, firefly333 said:

I didnt read every word but sounded like someone was keeping the company going and working thru the bankruptcy filing. They arent out of business just filling bankruptcy and goig to keep on. Not a file and stop sailing filing. 

 

I hope you dont lose any money.  

Unfortunately in a C11 reorg, she is at the bottom of the food chain as an unsecured creditor. If lucky she can get a refund before the court gets control.

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

???  900 miles south....one way.  😲  No, don't think so.  😉 

My bad. Wrong Crawford. To get to KC Winery, you’d have to get to NZ. Long flight☺️

25 minutes ago, island lady said:

Will try to simply extend our wine country stay

Isn’t that a bit too far north to visit the Crawford winery? I suppose you could drive down to Solvang.🍷

11 minutes ago, ringers0815 said:

I am just sorry now we are leaving in Brisbane

I’m sure if you went down to the next cruise desk, they would be more than happy to let you book the next quarter😅

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I think I am more stressed at home playing "catch up"....scheduling yet another remodel project, doctor appointments that get shoved off when we are gone too much, yard work, reorganizing and repacking...etc.  😉 

 

In other words, “Monday”.  Retirement is busier than when we were working😱

25 minutes ago, Colorado Buffalo said:

Doesn't the Drink Package only cover drinks up to $14.00 ?

If so then if I order a Mai Tai and it's $15 or $16, does that extra cost get changed to my account ?

 

Don’t know - we don’t drink enough to justify a package.

29 minutes ago, igmurray said:

Can anyone that's been on a cruise recently tell me the price of the ultimate drink package to purchase onboard. I am trying to figure out whether to buy in advance or onboard with the diamond  discounts 

Thank you in advance 

Just off of Adventure, so prices may not apply to larger ships, but  (including mandatory 18% tip) beer was~$10/bottle; simple well brand mixed drinks (i.e. gin&tonic) were~$13; call brands ranged from $15/oz to upwards of $60/oz for a few of the single malts), mixed fancy cocktails (i.e. Mai Tai) were ~$15-$16, well brand wines were ~$12-$15, and call brand wines could run double or triple that.

7 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Well that stinks.

Longest non-responsive answer I’ve ever seen. Pure fluff and nonsense.

5 hours ago, Beachin2 said:

Didn't say they were under the pool.  OS's are located on deck 10 - pool is located on deck 11, but they are mostly under the Doghouse as I stated.

Only one of the port side OS is under the Dog House.

5 hours ago, kath00 said:

Hi all,

 

I have done a bit of research and I was wondering which would be the best OS to book on Radiance.  I see so many posts about the noise from the deck above (everything from loud music to deck chair dancing at 5am). Are any of the OS's reasonable to book or will we be sorry?  Looking at a cruise to Alaska in 2025 with my husband, who always wants an OS on any ship.....  😉 

None of the OS are under the open deck area on Radiance. They are all aft of the elevator banks. The ones on the starboard side are under the WJ annex, and the ones on the port side are under the Dog House area. We have had OS on both sides on that class of ship, and have never experienced any excessive noise (and we pretty much live on our balcony).

29 minutes ago, doghog said:

I'd like to see the combining of the perks/benefits of the two programs but not the points. Both programs are already bloated. 

Agree. The way the survey questions were constructed, my takeaway was that they were evaluating status match parity, but not any points combination. Since we always sail in Sky Suites on X and GS on RCL, points really don’t mean much to us anyway.

45 minutes ago, jamon said:

Does anyone know how I can contact the dining department for a particular ship, since I want to request a table for 2 on my on the main level of the dining room on the Adventure of the Seas. I know I had a contact in RCCL dining department, but have misplaced it.

Deck 3 is a combination of early traditional seating and My Time Dining. Decks 4 and 5 (both are "balcony" levels that look down onto deck 3, so in my mind, deck 3 would be the main floor) are  early/late traditional seating. If you booked directly through RCL, you can call them and make your request, or if you booked through a TA, they will have to make the call.

21 minutes ago, island lady said:

the children's pool area on the starboard side was rarely open.  

It is rarely open even on cruises where there are actually children on board😄

16 hours ago, doghog said:

Combining for RCG benefit. Increase the point levels for all tiers and decrease the benefits/perks for all tier levels. 

12 hours ago, Cruising89143 said:

Keep the perks and points cruise line specific. We cruise between both lines and have for many years. We’re not chasing status and I would hate to see the current perks diluted due to combining. 

Interesting that both DW and I have received two surveys from Celebrity in the past month asking whether granting full matching status between RCL and Celebrity would entice more RCL high tier cruisers to move over to Celebrity.

12 minutes ago, blueslily said:

So, is the T1 terminal that you all mentioned above a nice Royal terminal like the one in Miami? I haven't sailed out of Port Canaveral in many years. 

Yes, it is quite nice. Parking garage isn't big enough to handle the number of cars that show up every week, however.

1 hour ago, njkruzer said:

In Australia shutdown was announced March 13th when New Zealand closed its ports to us.  We were on Radiance having just done the 35 nt circumnavigation, had done muster for sailing to New Zealand when the captain made the announcement. Flew home 2 days later.

We had just gotten off of Harmony at the end of February, and were on our way up to Ponta Vidra to watch the Players when they suspended play after the first round.

7 minutes ago, Russ Lomas said:

The Covid shutdown was announced on February 13th,

I think you meant March. RCL announced the shutdown the second week of March 2020 (the 8th or 9th if I remember correctly)

3 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

That wasn't the point; that's why I added the note. Based on your post about losing $12K, your payout was 0%.

It’s not about losing $12,000, but risking $12,000 in the hope that your return will be sufficient to warrant the chance to get a “free”cruise. Unless you walk out of the casino with every $ you walked in with, that “free” cruise becomes quite costly.