rolloman

Was on this cruise, just got home. I will agree the ship is beautiful, the food was fantastic. One of the best buffets I have seen since the 90's. I was in a standard balcony. The bathroom is small and has the ugly shower curtain but outside of this, the room was fine, plenty of storage areas, balcony large enough to eat breakfast comfortably.

Now a couple things I did not like at all, both theater areas are WAY too small, there was fighting every single night for seats. I witnessed some of the rudest behavior in a long time because of this. People were standing in the isles. You have a ship which has 3600 passengers and you make a tiny venue? The shows were outstanding but what good is it if you can't enjoy?

No stairs in the center of the ship? Aft stairs only go to deck 6. Elevators were crammed and I mean crammed with additional long waits. Again this caused issues and rude behavior.

This morning I was met with a surprise which spoiled my mood. As I was debarking the ship, my seapass card beeped and I was told to go to the pursers desk. The desk said my card did not go through ($100.00) and they needed to process it. Funny thing is both of their temporary charges went through on the 6th and the 7th and now on the 9th the card does not work for them? Somebody screwed up and I was the one who had to pay for their mistake by standing in the dreaded line for 45 minutes so they could fix their mistake. I told the guy out of all my cruises this has never happened and he said "first time for everything sir"....yeah uh huh...nice response.

Anyways, lots to like about this ship but there are some quirks for sure.

reference? . . . .

Since you live here, surprised you are not aware?

http://www.floridatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2014/08/28/gallery-the-cove-at-port-canaveral/14756121/

The transformation of Port Canaverals Cove district is officially underway. The 53-acre site would include new retailers, restaurants and still-to-be-determined entertainment venues, and would have a portside village theme. The idea is to create a regional destination for tourists and area residents, according to Matt Taylor, a consultant to the port on the Cove development project. Provided

I know what you mean. Do you think their business will eventually pick up due to having thousands of cruise passengers within walking distance?

Well since the port already signed an agreement to build a multi-million dollar dining and entertainment complex right on the same grounds in front of the existing dining establishments, I think they(existing restaurants) will have to spruce things up a bit if they expect to stay in the game. All of these owners were against the buildout of the terminal and the new complex.

Wow!! glad no one was hurt. Was there any damage done to Grills?

On the local news the owner said $10,000 to $50,000. A friend of mine who was there this weekend, said it landed on the restrooms.

Wow really? I didn't know if the turning basin was big enough.

The channel has been dredged, Freedom is already homeported there and Quantum will be making regular stops starting November 26. So, yeah...no problem.

Since it seems Oasis is headed to Port Canaveral, this opens up a spot for it to be home ported in Fort Lauderdale.

I have never had a problem with long waits or boarding issues when I have arrived at the port between 11 am and 12pm. If you get their too early you get caught up in the congestion of debarking passengers and of course sitting in an uncomfortable chair for what seems like forever. Handicap, Suites, Diamonds and above have priority boarding.

He would not leave without his son yet he rushed back to the ship without him.

Exactly...and unless I missed it, we still have not heard where the son and the friends are at this point.

While it is definitely the terminal for day trippers, why would it not make sense to move other ships there as well? Take advantage of all the new features in the garage. It all depends on what days the other ships will be in port.

 

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Because the existing pier is still under lease...they certainly are not going to abandon it. By the way, Explorer is not a day trip. She will be home ported there starting in November for the season.

It is my understanding at some point the Oasis will be homeported in Port Canaveral and will use the new pier.

I believe Freedom and Enchantment will move to terminal 1 once it is ready.

We shall see....my opinion is the Explorer of the Seas will dock there upon its November arrival. There will also be stops made by the Quantum and Grandeur which will dock there.

It does not make sense to move Freedom and Enchantment from their existing Royal Caribbean pier.

I am about 25 miles away from there this so called nurse visited

( my two daughters are nurses and the first they both said was

"why is she flying...........? ) Her fiance was never mentioned in the 7 straight hours of this on going reports.

Well they just confirmed it (Brian Williams)on NBC news tonight. She definitely went to see her fiance. It was also confirmed she had a fever during the flight back.

FYI..I am not sure why you use the term "so called nurse" because yes she is definitely a nurse and one who works at the same hospital in Texas the other infected nurse works at.

I read she went to Ohio to visit family and her fiance.......IF this is true they better quarantine that guy ASAP.

I and my child have checked on board prior to my wife arriving with no issues.

Some family members were tossing around the idea of a Celebrity cruise. I have never sailed them, but was curious as to how the two lines compare? Particularly the Celebrity Silhouette vs the Indy.. Even though they are owned by the same company, I know they are different. If you have been on both, what were your opinions and preferences?

Toyota versus Lexus, Nissan versus Infiniti, Honda Versus Acura. Same company... the latter is more refined. Celebrity is more refined. You want flowrider, parades...go Indy....you want more refined dining, more luxury, relaxation, go Celebrity.

Although I am sure it is a fantasy of many Carnival fans. It won't happen.

Interesting. My wife had her Tori Birch sandals taken the same way, she went three feet forward out of her chair to check on our little one in the pool and came back and the sandals were gone. She went to security, filled out the form and they came back and said yes they saw someone take them but the video was fuzzy and they could not make out the passenger.....

Has anyone explained why the shipyard is located so far from the sea and on such a narrow river? I imagine it was built when ships were much smaller but have they ever considered relocating to somewhere more easily accessible?

If you read the article it answers your question.

"He founded the company in 1795, choosing a spot in Papenburg so construction projects would be safe from storms. "

You can drink champagne and have lunch served in the conceirge lounge for free as well if you are in a suite or D+ and above.

I don't believe ABC delivers any longer.

Sigh......abcfws dot com.......or just call the number I already provided for delivery

Order it online and have it delivered to your hotel. ABC liquor has an online store...here is there customer service number 407-851-0000 ext. 8110 from 9 am – 4 pm (ET)

Part one, get off the ship first. Lots of options, if you are D+ or Suite passenger or have the ability to make friends onboard with a D+ who wants to debark first, or worst case get in self assist line about 6 am.

Part two- Live here, drive the 528 MCO route everyday, should not be an issue.

Part three- airport security- this is the wildcard. Have carry on baggage only to minimize check in wait. Worst case, if you don't make it, fly standby on next flight out (hopefully at no extra charge)

I just got off the Ship on Monday and was told by a 23 year employee the Concierge lounge would indeed be moved to the viking lounge area.

We booked a cruise on Liberty for fall next year and are really looking forward to it, but now I'm reading more of the reviews and am wondering what to expect. We've only cruised Disney Dream before but the Disney prices are just too high for our family to be able to cruise every 18-24 months even with the 10% discount from onboard booking (which, now you have to cruise within 18 months to retain) so we opted to try RCCL and are canceling our current Disney reservation.

 

There seems to be some consistency in the reviews for Liberty in particular when looking at the last 2 years:

-- Customer Service: Particularly the staff being rude or not necessarily engaged in their job?

 

-- Food: Mediocre at best? Is the Windjammer food really that bad or is it what you'd expect for an included buffet?

 

-- Dining: Very long wait times or food not being delivered at all?

 

-- Liquor being removed from bags so they couldn't take it on board? Is there a limit? Is it strictly wine?

 

At any rate, we had only a few minor complaints regarding our cruise on Disney and it was our first. I don't think we are really picky and maybe these reviews are more the exception. The food on Disney wasn't necessarily outstanding unless you went to Palo or Remy, which we did one night (Palo). The service, we felt, was incredible for the most part. Dinner was slow one night but it wasn't bad. As far as bringing alcohol aboard, I only brought a small bottle of bourbon to keep in the room.

 

Perhaps I'm over analyzing. I know more people are apt to leave reviews when they are frustrated... Is that probably the case? Any experiences along these lines?

I have been on both ships (liberty and Dream) many times and enjoy them both. In a nutshell, Disney Dream wins for food (landslide) ability to bring any alcohol/soda on board , service pool deck, cabins.

Liberty wins with shows, casino and nightlife in general and pricing.

Now if somebody could create a cruiseline which highlighted both sides, it would be one hell of a cruiseline!

P.S. Allure and Oasis do tighten the gap considerably to a near draw.

My good friend just got off of Oasis and reported back to us that he had ants in his cabin. He did complain to guest services and offered a different cabin for one night so they could spray his. This friend was traveling with his wife and three young children in two adjoining cabins. He also happens to be a doctor and was very concerned about his kids inhaling these pesticides.

 

So now I am curious if Royal offers the same type of vacation guarantee that other cruise lines have-the kind where the cruiseline will fly you home if you are not satisfied with your vacation. So do they?

Did your friend say if there were any uncles in his cabin as well? The ship was oversold, not sure how there would have been another cabin to offer?

The ship was oversold. So much so, in the end, they frantically worked deals with booked passengers to get it to an acceptable passenger count.

The ship was extremely crowded throughout, more so than I have seen on any of my past Allure or Oasis voyages.

Due to ship relocation process, the crew was a bit disheveled.

Everything was limited compared to a normal voyage. This includes shows, ammenities, activities, luggage delivery, food. You name it.

The fact is, this 2 day voyage should be termed as a clumsy house warming party. To think one could equate this bad sample as the equavalent to a typical 7 day is rather foolish. There is no way anyone experienced all this ship has to offer in this two day trip.

In reality it should have been accepted in the beginning this Oasis "snack" cruise would be awkward. Oviously some folks walked away as feeling duped.

Personally I had a great time. As always. If anything I came home exhausted from cramming in as much as I possibily could.

In closing, could Royal have done a better job? Certainly. Hopefully they will use this example going forward in the event they do a future 2 nighter on one of the new builds again.

For the record, I left the ship at 8:15 AM and started my car at 8:30 AM.