ummgood

I can't wait to hear more. Did you use child care while you were on the boat? I am interested in your experience with that. We have been on 2 cruises and both were on Disney. The first time our kids were 8, 3, and 4mo. The second time our kids were 10, 4, and 2. We loved it but they are getting too pricey for us (I priced Wonder again out of Galveston and it was 6k for a family of 5).

My wife and I will be going in July on Navigator to check it out for our 15th anniversary without kids. If it turns out well we might book a trip for the family.

I don't think room service is included in the gratuities. We always tip $2 to $3 depending on what we order. If they are included it is new.

Thanks! That is what I was thinking.

Bring another $50 in five's. You will have occasion to tip a little more to someone who went way extra to help you. And you won't have to use up your one's as quick.

The crew work very hard and go out of their way to help you enjoy your cruise. We enjoy giving them a little extra.

Rick and Deirdra

Thanks we'll have some extra. Actually on Disney we made up small bags of candy like Hershey's kisses and other chocolate. We would give them out to the people who would give us a smile or other special service above and beyond what we were expecting. We also left them with tips when we dined at Palo. The CM's in the kids clubs went crazy over it.

I never bring wads of small bills...the ship can break down larger denominations. Much easier to carry, too!

 

Room service is the only thing (aside from porters) on the ship that is NOT covered by your suggested grats....

Thanks I was thinking that it wasn't covered. I have that planned in my amounts above. Also thanks for the tip about only bringing large bills and have the ship break it up. I never thought about that because on Disney you always used your room key. I didn't know of any place that dealt with cash so I assumed they didn't have it. I guess the casino changes that???

So we want to skip formal nights on the ship. Frankly I hate dressing up and live in a city where most restaurants no matter how nice allow shorts and casual (Austin, TX). We get amazing food in a laid back atmosphere. Anyway my wife and I talked it over and we are both simple people and about as nice as I get dressed up is a Tommy Bahama shirt and docker type pants. I don't own any suits or dress clothes. On a warm caribbean cruise the last thing I want to do is put on a tie but I also don't want to distract in the MDR on formal night.

So where does a couple go given that I am willing to wear a Tommy Bahama and tan pants? We were thinking about Sabor and maybe Johnny Rockets for dinner on those two nights. Also there is Windjammer but I am guessing I'll be sick of it by the time we get towards the end of the cruise. What are the other options and what is the level of dress at those places?

Casino Donations?

Oh Geeze! I didn't even think about the Casino. Honestly I am not much of the gambling type and I'll just tell my wife that is where the chain smokers go so we can avoid it :). The funny thing is right after we got married we went to Vegas for my wife's 21st birthday. We stayed up until midnight and had about $250 in quarters people had given her for her bday and christmas for our trip. At midnight we went down and started and within 20 minutes she won a $1000 dollar jackpot on a wheel of fortune slot. We basically agreed we beat the odds and stopped gambling at that point. We went home with more money than we left with. We never have gambled again except for maybe 5 lottery tickets and we are celebrating 15 years on this cruise.

Waiters and room stewards & room service are included in the daily auto tips charged to account daily so I never need singles for that. You don't need to carry a wad of singles anyway since you can get them at the casino or guest services. I do not tip on shore excursions booked through the ship, they cost double private tours. I tip what you suggested if they are private tours.

Oh wow ok I would tip room service on Disney because I thought they didn't get the tips that our waiters/room stewards/dining leads got. Interesting.

Also for the tours through the ship I booked Lamanai through the ship because it is so long and I didn't want to risk missing the boat. I booked the Roatan excursion because we wanted to go to West Bay and it would have been more to book a cab and pay for lunch than what we paid through RCCI. I am thinking I might still tip a little because I bet RCCI is getting the price difference not the tour guides.

My wife and I are taking an anniversary trip on the Navigator of the Seas in July. We will be stopping in Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. I currently have the following ideas for how much cash. Please let me know if there is anything I am not thinking of. I have previously cruised on Disney and am using that experience for what I should bring but maybe there is something I am not thinking of on RCCL? We would prefer to use cash for all purchases/tips off the ship.

Port:

o We have previously used porters but this time we are cruising out of Galveston without our kids so we are driving and parking across from the terminal and walking over. I might bring a few bucks if we have more than a couple bags or I want to dump all but one bag when we board just to make it easier on the first day before our room is available. If our room is available right away when we board then I'll just roll our bags directly to our room.

Ship:

o $50 in ones to tip waiters

o $10 in ones to tip room service (not sure how much we'll use this)

Roatan (We have the Tabyana beach break booked through the ship):

o $20 for rentals (guessing I have to pay for snorkle gear).

o $2 to tip bus driver.

o $40 for souvenirs.

Belize (We have the Lamanai ruins booked through the ship):

o $5 to tip bus driver.

o $5 to tip the tour guide.

o $40 for souvenirs.

Cozumel (We have booked ourselves Mr. Sanchez AI):

o $90 to finish payment for Mr. Sanchez

o $50 for taxi both directions

o $5 to $10 to tip people at AI.

o $40 for souvenirs.

Anything we might be missing?

Good points. I didn't realize it was a requirement because of the sea movement. It's ironic though. We've been so annoyed by having bruises from the locations of things that we've actually tipped less on occasion if the annoyance, or bruises, were fresh on our minds. I know, we should watch better where we are walking, but the rooms are small and if you moved something out of the way you kind of expect it not to jump back in the way.

 

I'm pretty tall and don't always walk looking down.

 

Tom

We have only been on Disney cruises but we find the tables annoying too. Since we have small kids they just seem to be in the way especially at bed time when you have 5 people in a cabin. We asked the stateroom host to remove what we didn't want in the room and they took them out.

As far as constant sales I think that is a sign of the times. Everyone wants a deal and some stores in particular always are running sales. We have little girls and they love the store Justice. They constantly run 40% off and even on some days it is an extra 20% off. Those sales get you in the store and some people fall for it but if you look at the original price it is so insanely high that the sale drops it down to normal price. Then even with the extra 20% off it is still more than buying an equivalent outfit in style and quality at target. They even have toys in that store and with 40% then 20% the cost is more than the normal price at Target. But some people fall for it and it drives sales.

I believe you'll see more and more stores moving to this model. It will make it more difficult to comparison shop which helps them. Only a few select companies like Apple prevent this behavior and actually price fix. But they are in demand and can get away with this. Not everyone can.

I want to say I highly recommend NASA to anyone who hasn't been before. My daughter kept wanting to go and I finally caved and we had a small family 3 day weekend where we went to Kemah and Nasa just for a mini vacation. I must say I was more than impressed with NASA. My kids liked it but for me it was a really awesome experience given I grew up with all the NASA developments. I was in 5th grade when the Challenger exploded and we were watching the TV screens in class and saw it happen real time.

If you go make sure you take the tour that goes through the test facilities. There are two tours and one goes through the old mission control and the other goes to the lab. It was recommended to us because the mission control is not occupied any longer and isn't that interesting. Both tours end up at rocket park where you can see a Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program. Super awesome. The size is incredible.

Also if you go on Fridays (double verify this on the website) they have a real astronaut give a presentation. Ours was a commander on several space shuttle missions and it was really interesting to be able to talk with him and ask questions.

I am so excited for this thread. We are cruising on the Navigator in July sans kids for our anniversary. It will be our first trip that doesn't have kids or work involved (we went to Europe on my company dime but we only really had 3 days together when I wasn't working).

Anyway I have a funny story about Bone Daddies. We had just moved to Texas from California in 2005. We really got a kick out of BBQ and there were plenty of places to eat at here in Austin so we were trying each one. We lived south and Bone Daddies was up in North Austin so we didn't even know about it. My bro-in-law works as an Electrician and him and his wife moved from Cali about the same time we did. His coworkers were asking him if he liked BBQ and told him that Bone Daddies was the best BBQ ever (probably not for the food). Anyway none of us knew what it was and he decided for his b-day he would have his b-day dinner there since the guys were raving about it.

So we all show up (2 grandparents, 2 sets of families with 4 kids total so about 10 in all). We'll let's say we are very conservative and I only have been to a place like hooters once when I was in college because a friend wanted to go there and I was uncomfortable. Well when we walked into Bone Daddies they had a shirt on the wall that got my attention that said something off color and I was still clueless. Then as we turned the corner I saw the first waitress and I didn't even realize it was a waitress and thought wow what a skimpy outfit to go out to eat in. Then we turn the corner and there were 15-20 all around the restaurant. It was pretty uncomfortable.

Now we look back on it and laugh. We also had friends that accidentally ate in twin peaks because they didn't know what it was and thought it was a Colorado themed restaurant and they grew up in Colorado. Oops!

Anyway thanks for the review. I look forward to reading the rest!

Call AA. It could be you are on the same plane that goes to your final destination but just stops at Ohare to pick up/drop off. I put my wife on flights like this all the time with Southwest so she doesn't have to worry about finding a connecting gate.

If you aren't getting off the plane it is plenty of time :)

Thanks for posting your review! I really loved your photos. My wife and I are escaping the kids and taking this cruise in July '15 for our 15th anniversary. This will be our first RCCL cruise. Our previous two cruises were on Disney on a much smaller ship. I can't believe how big the NOS looks.

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I think food on ships depends on what you are used to at home. I live in Austin, TX and Austin is known for having loads of really nice affordable local restaurants. We have a Top Chef winner here, countless visits by Guy F., Rachel R., you name it. We are SPOILED. You can eat off of a food truck here and get more gourmet food than most other places in the U.S. These restaurants are typically cheaper than dining at places like Olive Garden, etc...

With that said when I go visit my folks they live in a small town where Chili's and Applebee's are their eating out restaurant choices. When I eat there I know that I won't get a meal like I would at Chuy's or Jack Allen's Kitchen because the food at those places is cooked fresh and never frozen. Plus Jack Allen's uses farm to market produce and farm raised meats. It makes a HUGE difference. But when I am with my parents I enjoy the company and know I'll get food that is just OK but that is fine with me.

I find the cruise food the same way. It is about on par with Chili's or Applebee's in my mind. The service is WAY better and they plate it better but the quality of the food is about the same. If you go into the cruise with that expectation you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Now I haven't been on RCCL but have one booked for next year on NOS. I have been on 2 Disney cruises and that is how I felt about the food.

We took our 3 year old on the Wonder and she refused to be potty trained. They let us check her in as long as we regularly checked on her and they would call us if she went and we would come right over and change her. We found after a couple days she was done being in the club. I think she was too young and really needed one on one attention to stay. It was spring break and the clubs were very busy so we had no expectations.

The next cruise she did great and loved the club. Plus she was potty trained so we had a much better experience. (We also had a 4 month old on the first cruise and didn't sleep well so that was a major factor). On the second cruise our son just turned 2 and our daughter was almost 5.

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but Disney does not store guests' alcohol purchases.

Actually this is not 100% true. It is true for booze purchased off the boat in port. But if you buy a bottle on the ship they will hold it for you until the end of the cruise. We tried to buy some on board the Wonder in the shop on Route 66 and were told this so we decided not to buy.

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Also make sure you go to specific dates instead of searching the entire cruise. I had this problem where nothing would show up until I clicked on individual days like day 3 and then tried to add Palo. Then it worked for me. This was on my first DCL cruise and I was so discouraged until I figured that out.

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4. Pools are very small for some reason. The kids bob up and down in the water like corks as they have no room to swim.

We called it the whack-a-mole simulator.

I wonder if this is effecting the over all tips the bartenders are getting. If someone didn't realize that the tips were included in the $55/$65 dollar price when the packages came out they might continue to tip per drink even though the drink itself is free.

Now that the customer is more informed of the actual amount going to tips or service charge they might be less inclined to give another dollar or two to a bartender making their drinks. Does anyone know how the included service charge actually gets distributed? Does it just get spread out over the entire bartending crew or more people are in the pot?

I typically don't like included service charges like this because it tends to encourage less service. This happened at WDW when tips were included with the dining packages. Since the servers got the tip regardless of the service the service declined over time. They ended up removing tips from the dining packages so people are now required to tip on what the meal should have cost.

I will tip above and beyond what I have already paid if I get exceptional service but I am guessing most won't. This doesn't encourage people to do their best in my opinion.

I haven't been on a European cruise so I can't answer that question. You might want to ask your port questions (train, hotel, passport...) on the ports of call board. As far as late dinner that is scheduled usually around 8:15p. If you want to eat in your scheduled dining room you should arrive precisely at that time. If you want to skip that time you can eat in the buffet, on the pool deck, room service (all free), or Palo (not free and has a surcharge).

You will love DCL!

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I tip robots in binary.

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I am new to Disney cruising as well. Our first one is set for next November. We have sailed many times before on Carinval and Royal but this rotational dinning is a new concept for us. I would like to try and book Palo but I do not want to miss any of my rotations, so how do I know what day to book. Will I get a schedule beforehand for the rotation?

How many day cruise are you booking. You don't really know your rotation until you arrive. What I do is try to see other previous cruises on the same itinerary. Once you see that it is possible to see what days are repeats, etc. once I had the order then I requested the rotation I wanted. Both our cruises were 7 nights so we tried to book Palo on a night when we were repeating in a dining room and there was a menu that wasn't a specialized menu for the restaurant.

For example on our cruise there was the normal Parrot Cay, Animators Palate, and Tritons menus (wonder). Plus formal, semi formal, pirate, and one other. We booked palo on formal night so we wouldn't miss lobster on semi formal night. We also requested to be in tritons on formal and parrot cay on pirate night just for theme. (More special to be in parrot cay on pirate than say Animators.)

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My cant do without is from the drink menue... conch cooler.

 

Gota Have it.. liked it so much I learned how to make it ;)

Please share recipe immediately. It is if utmost importance. I totally agree about this. My wife would order them on the ship too and they had no problem making them.

For food I would say the Mickey bars and the tenderloin they serve in Palo. I still dream of it.

Oh on a side note we just took a tour of the Blue Bell ice cream factory in Brenham TX and my wife swears up and down she saw a Mickey bar on the promotional TV in their visitor center. I am wondering if they are the company that makes them.

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These sound great!

 

Where do you sign up for them?

 

Do you happen to remember what each cost?

 

Thanks!

The previous poster is right they are usually $15. That was the price in Dec. There are a couple that are $20. I don't remember what ones though. Maybe the tequila or whiskey ones? There is also a chocolate and champagne one I think.

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I have had 2 DCL cruises and I also recommend that if you want a beverage tasting you do that right when you board. You cannot book in advance and they will fill up the first day. They are great and we really loved it. I believe we did the Martini and Mixology tastings. Lots of fun!

Contamination is contamination and it will shut down a pool, no matter how large it is. My son worked as a lifeguard at the local YMCA for many years. If there was any kind of an accident, the pool would be shutdown and shocked. It is not just the baby or toddler in diapers that caused the problems either, I won't go into details about how disgusting some people can be. More than once, they had to close down both pools because someone got sick in one pool and was stupid enough to go into the other pool.

 

Don't assume that the splash pads are free of contamination either.

Sorry I knew this and I know that for large pools it is usually 30 minutes to an hour. My original post if you go back and read it is why I personally avoid small pools that allow children that are not potty trained. A previous poster had mentioned that they only will pick places that allow children that are not potty trained. I went on to state that is why I personally look for splash pads.

Now I really dislike having contaminates in the pool urine will be in a pool with kids in swim diapers that is why I don't like small pools or hot tubs. Large pools it is more diluted. Yes it is gross and that is why I want as much water as possible. I have yet to step foot into a cruise ship pool.

Are you SERIOUS?????????????????

Sure I am serious. When was the last time you saw a company drain a resort size pool because of a contaminate. They know how to deal with this. If something happens they have everyone get out of the pool for 30 minutes to allow the pool chemicals work and the filter system in the pool to clean. If it is serious enough they might shock the pool and close it down longer.

On a cruise the pool size/water amount is much smaller/person so they have to completely drain the pool and refill. That is why I stated I don't like small pools allowing children. Larger pools with chemicals can handle this. You won't ever see me in a hot tub.