Maybaybie10

Brillance is doing the same thing. If you look at the deck plan, the D2 is quite clearly green and the D1 is blue. I asked C&A about it and she said there is a little note at the top of the screen that you can click depending on when you are sailing. I think after May 2015, my parent's aft balcony that was a D2 is now a D1. Maybe OA has the same link to click on their deck plans.

I saved my parents $2145 on the 12 day Brillance cruise they booked last week while onboard the Adventure. I was on hold just waiting to get thru to C&A for 22 minutes. It was definitely worth the wait for that savings. My husband now says my time is worth about $6000/hour! Sigh....if only! :p

OP,

My parents are back and they have a few cruise compasses and an ornament. I sent you a 'friend request' (or whatever it's called on here) so hopefully we can connect privately.

Does anyone on here know if there is a way to send a private message to another CC member?

Thanks!

Thanks for all your replies.

Shelley61, your photo is awesome!

Maybaybie10, I would love an ornament or a cruise compass. I would gladly pay for anything purchased as well as cost of mailing. But, I don't know how we would contact one another privately. I don't want to post personal info on these boards. If anyone has an idea, let me know.

I'll email my Mom...the internet is spotty out there in the Atlantic and expensive, but she usually checks it every few days. I think there is a way to send a private msg on this site, so I'll give it a try after I get a hold of Mom. I don't like posting private stuff on here either.

My parents are currently on Adventure right now. If there is anything specific you would like from the ship, I could see if they could get it for you. Maybe a Christmas ornament or a cruise compass or something like that? I'd be happy to mail it to you upon their return this Sunday.

Having lived in the US my whole life, I still got goosebumps reading about your excitement sailing into New York. I can't imagine what that must have been like getting your first look at Lady Liberty and the city. Your review is fantastic and I loved Diana's little "donkey" performance. My Mom is from England- she came over here when she was 19 as a Nanny. She met my Dad (in New York) and decided to stay. They eventually moved to Maine after I was born, which is where we live now. I enjoy hearing her stories from when she came to America for the first time as much as I'm enjoying yours. I hope you have a wonderful time in New York and thanks for keeping the review going! :)

Are there handles on the cups yet? I hate carrying that thing around and wish it had a handle I could slip a finger through or something. First World problems I guess! :rolleyes:

My parents had a terrible time after disembarking in San Juan a few years back and they had a noon(ish) flight. They were running at full speed through the airport to make their flight. They are currently on Adventure docking in San Juan on Sunday and they made sure their flight this time was well into the late afternoon. I think everyone has a different experience- some get lucky, some don't. Good Luck!

Some of the ocean view family rooms at the front of the ship are considerably bigger than the others due to their location and layout. We had originally booked room 11128, but had to change rooms because our 5th person couldn't go. 11528 on the other side is also a bigger room. There is only one bathroom, but it may be an option to look into. Good Luck.

The reason I don't use a credit card onboard is because I don't have one.

I don't like using my debit card on vacation...I'm not sure why, I just don't.

I'm not used to carrying cash at home (because I use my debit card) that I am paranoid having large amounts of cash on vacation.

My solution?

I go old school....Traveler's Cheques! (go ahead and snicker...) RCI takes them without a problem. You can add $$ to your sea pass card with them. The casino will cash them (and it does help to control spending in the casino when you have to leave the machine to cash one!) And if you do lose them, you can get them replaced.

Everyone has their own method...that's mine!

Just as an FYI..in case there are some that didn't know...

Passports for children up to the age of 16 are only good for FIVE years from the date of issue. Passports for anyone 16 and older are good for TEN years.

PeeWee,

I hope your family is feeling better this morning. My parents on currently on Adventure that left out of Southampton the same day you did. I finally got an email from Mom this morning- she says the internet is nonexistant because of the weather. She says they've been going through gale force winds and she's been seasick from the start, although she did say that "Quantum has it worse than us, as they are going straight through the weather" according to the crew. Of course, my Dad is loving all the rocking and rolling, but Mom just wants to stop feeling yucky. I hope you find calmer seas soon and your family can eventually enjoy their cruise.

Melissa

Thank you for the review!

We were on Freedom in 2011 and my husband's favorite place was the Crypt- he stayed there until the wee hours of the morning with his brothers and he's very sad to hear it's being replaced. He had the most amazing bartender on that trip- Astin. Do you happen to remember if he was one of the bartenders on your trip?

We are going back on Freedom in April and can't wait!

Thanks!

Current location

 

sent from my galaxy s4 please excuse any error's thanks

How do you track the ships? My parents are on Adventure (left from SOuthampton today too) and I'd love to see where they are for the next 2 weeks.

Thanks!

That didn't happen to us, but something similar did. My kids had their picture taken on Allure when we boarded last October. At the end of the cruise when I was deciding which pictures to buy I really liked it because it showed the dates of our cruise and the port stops we made. It wasn't until a few months later when I was finally getting some frames for them that I noticed the dates were wrong (it was the week before we were onboard) and all the ports were wrong too (it showed all the Eastern ports and we had gone West). At that point there really wasn't much I could do about it, but I kind-of laugh because I am a big picture taker and very into details....but apparently not the day I picked out that photo!:p

We are on Oasis for Christmas. Really expensive week for travel, but I know this. We are booked in Oceanview for 1400pp. Two cabins. I saw that balcony OV was reduced to same price we paid, so I upgraded with RCCL employee who barely spoke English. Messed up everything, and charged us a lot. Said we could only upgrade one cabin but not two at the sale price. In the meantime, they sold our original cabins. I was so angry. We are traveling with our adult kids, one of which will deploy in January, so spending time as a family is extra important. Suddenly, there were not two cabins together on the ship. We are near each other now, in our original category, but I'm not happy. If this cruise is not spectacular, we won't be back. We cruise a lot, but haven't been on Royal in a long time. Fingers crossed that it all works out great. Reading the posts on the board have scared me a little bit.

I would call and talk to someone else...maybe call C&A if you are a member. If there's one thing we all know about Royal it's if you don't like the answer you get from one rep, call back and speak to someone else. As much as I love Royal cruises, their IT and C/S leave a lot to be desired in the training department. Good Luck...and thank your son or daughter for their service. :)

So we're booked on the Indy for February and we've been watching the price that we have very closely because final payment time is coming. Yesterday marked the end of the BOGO sale so we thought it will be interesting to see if the price goes down. This morning we see that they have another sale - up to $1500 on board credit. For our room it would be $400 OBC. Hey, maybe we'll get something here!

:

 

 

You know, I really enjoy the RCI product but these last few months they've really turned me off. As far as I'm concerned its outright flimflammery (is that a word :) ) bordering on theft. To jack up prices by $500 and claim its a sale. Shame on you RCI. We're long time customers and I have to say I'm really starting to question if in future you deserve my business.

At least you only have to pay $500 to get $400. For the one I have booked, I have to pay $950 to get $400! Ouch!:confused:

We booked in August during the BOGOHO sale. My parents are in a balcony. We received a small price drop ($90) at some point, so their 'locked in' price is $2258 including taxes/port fees.

This morning, the same catagory balcony (logged in or not logged in- it was the same) was $3384, with $600 OBC, so $2784...STILL $526 more than we paid. Crazy!!

We booked FOV 8200 on Adventure of the Seas for 2/15.

AWESOME! We aren't sailing until 4/15, so you'll have to come back and tell me how it was! Can't wait!!

Thanks!

 

We are on the wait list for those two. They were already booked when we checked. It would be nice but to us it doesn't really matter. I think we will see our room for a total of about 8 hours each day and 7 of those hours will be with eyes closed ;)

 

-Sean

I agree...us too! I think our stuff takes up more room than we do! As I watch the video I keep thinking..."yup, I could put a suitcase there....and another one there...and formal stuff there...:p"

Thanks to all who have posted, this is great information. We just booked our first cruise ever and choose the Freedom. We went with a family ocean view (7200) for the 6 of us because it was cheaper than booking 2 inside rooms on any cruiseline (carnival included) for the week we are going (Feb 8-15) If you have a family of 5 or 4 it may be a better deal to get the 2 rooms.

 

I think we are going to wish we had two bathrooms come formal night as 3 of our 4 kids are girls. I thinks it's going to be me and the little guy (7yo) getting ready early and getting out of dodge before the formal procession of hair and makeup and clothing begins.

 

I'm looking forward to the front view out of the bedroom in the mornings as we pull into port. I think it will be tight for 6 but think we will rarely be in the room so it won't make much of a difference and it will be more space than our Motor Coach has and we do just fine with 6 of us on that.

 

-Sean

Sean,

I'm not sure if 7200 is the same size as 8200. You may want to check out 8200 (video a few posts up) or 8500 if they are available- just for the extra room.

This thread may be helpful to you. I posted in it (with video) of the FO we will be in on Freedom in April. Good Luck.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2121329

We booked on Freedom next April and have a Family Oceanview with 5 people for $3033. We booked when kids were "free" (I use the term loosely), but about $600pp was a price that we felt was decent. We picked room 8200 as it is a lot bigger than regular FO's (so is it's neighbor, 8500). It has a separate master bedoom, separate bunkroom, and very large living room with fold out couch. It's all the way forward (looks out on the helipad), and a lot of walking, but for the extra space I think it will be worth it. I know there is another class, aside from Freedom, that is set up the same way, but I'm not sure which one. Voyager maybe?? I'm sure someone could help me out with that. Here's a youtube video of 8200 so you can get an idea what I'm talking about. Good Luck!:)

We sailed on Celebrity Infinity this past May on a TA from Miami to London. The ship was under 'code red' for Noro during the 2 or 3 previous sailings before ours. When it reached Miami it also underwent a 'deep cleaning'. We boardred our ship 4 hours late because of it and for the first several days, the crew had to pull double duty making sure there were no more incidents of people getting sick. As others have mentioned, there was no self-service ANYTHING, including getting your own coffee or using salt and pepper shakers. The buffet lines were slow because crew had to dish out all the food. Everyone took it in stride though. We were all grateful for the hard work of the crew. By the time we got to New York City a couple of days later, the ship was inspected there and we got a 100% clear rating. After that, we returned to business as usual in terms of being able to self-serve. There were no more incidents of illness that we heard of.

 

We are booked on the Nov 2 sailing of AOS, and I'm expecting a similar experience. We have not yet received any emails about a late departure but I wouldn't be surprised if we did.

My parents are also booked on the 11/2 AOS sailing, so I'd be interested in an update if you are able. :)

I've been on CC a long time.

I stay away from controversial threads, and more often than not keep my opinions about other posters to myself. I tend to read a lot more than I post these days.

I'm sitting here literally shaking my head at the level of nastiness displayed here.

The OP is telling a story that unless you KNOW to be untrue, must be considered TRUE. Why on earth would he invest his time in creating a story like this if it weren't true?

I get that there are other people around here who play games, post only to increase their post count (because the award for the most posts on CC is a free cruise?) and generally stir the pot, but this thread shows no evidence of any of the above.

I usually read the nasty comments and move on - truth is, I half expect it now. I really wish people would be respectful of each other on here. I'm here less and less because it is becoming intolerable.

 

To the OP - sorry for the rant, but I really feel people are being unfair by accusing you of fabricating this story. I am interested to know how this situation was ultimately resolved and encourage you to continue your story in the hopes of helping someone else who may find themselves in the same, unfortunate situation.

As with you, I read mostly, post less frequently, and shake my head often. When I first read the original post about missing the ship, my initial reaction wasn't that he was making it up or embellishing for drama's sake...in fact that never entered my mind. My first thought was, WOW...someone on here who isn't blaming Royal, the captain, other people, etc, but someone who is taking responsibility for his own actions, and trying to let us all know what happened and how he handled it in the unortunate incident that it happened to one of us. I am very impressed with his story so far, but mostly because he he telling it with a sense of humor and not playing the blame game, as is the case more often than not on here. Please keep writing...I think we have all wondered at one time or another what happens when you miss the ship. Personally, I don't carry very much cash ever, don't have a credit card, leave my phone in the ship safe, and have very limited funds on my debit card, so I can't imagine what I would do in such a situation. I am a pretty independant and resourceful person, but I think I, too, would be pretty darn scared if I was stuck in another country by myself. For me, missing the ship would be the things nightmares are made of. Thank you, OP, for sharing your story.:)