Bound4Bermuda

April 9, 2022

29 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Apparently, most didn't get the memo:

Royal Caribbean International set two new records with the largest single booking day and the highest volume booking week, March 26 - April 1, in its 53-year history.

The strong demand and new bookings come on the heels of more than 1.5m passengers having sailed with the line since January 2021, alongside consistently record-high guest satisfaction ratings.

Enthusiasm for cruising's return

'The enthusiasm and excitement for the successful return of cruising is undeniable. We could not have reached this incredible milestone without the unwavering support of our loyal guests, our valued travel advisors and partners and the Royal Caribbean International team around the world,' President and CEO Michael Bayley said.

The news came amid three Royal Caribbean milestones: Wonder of the Seas' inaugural season, the keel-laying for next-generation ship Icon of the Seas and the start of construction for Utopia of the Seas, the sixth Oasis-class ship and the first powered by LNG (Icon of the Seas is also LNG-powered).

The bookings were received through royalcaribbean.com, call centers and travel advisors with the support of the sales team. The line continued to encourage redemptions of future cruise credits through automation tools introduced in 2021 on its consumer site and its trade site, CruisingPower.com.

Royal Caribbean reports record booking day and week (seatrade-cruise.com)

Whelp, sorry. I think I helped to break this record. I booked 3/22…on Oasis! I haven’t cruised since 2016. Around Jan 2020 we were planning on booking something for that summer–but we all know what happened then. People have been cooped up for 2 years and are desperate to go anywhere. Last summer we did do a road trip to Boston/Salem but masks were still required—and we are lucky enough to have a beach house. I think a lot of people are still afraid to fly to another country because you don’t know what could happen to change a country’s quarantine rules—and you don’t want to get stuck there. Yes, a cruise ship is a floating Petri dish, and we’ve all heard the early horror stories from early in the pandemic. But if you’re not necessarily afraid of contracting it on board, it seems like a relatively safer way to travel because at least they’re not going to strand you somewhere. I can imagine the travel industry is going to blow up this summer with everyone wanting to get out. The cruise industry completely shut down for how long? Meaning, all of these people were put out of work. You can’t expect that 100% (or even 50%? I’m curious if there are any articles) were waiting to come back. So, they are not yet fully staffed, and probably a large percentage of the staff that’s there have never done this work before. And of course the service industry in general is still very much depressed, so there’s going to be a huge gap in the level of service one would have expected prepandemic. I think we all just need to lower our expectations to mitigate disappointment. I’m sure we’ll all still have a great time, but passenger to crew ratio may be higher, you’re going to have to wait longer for service, and they might not have all of the food/drinks/supplies you want. But I’ll be out of my living room, so I won’t complain!

April 9, 2022

Thank you! This is very reassuring! I was worried when I saw the turnaround time starts when they open your paperwork—not when they received it. Started mine 3/18 and my daughter’s on 3/23, so it sounds like I’m in the same batch as yours. They showed up as in progress on 4/1 and 4/4 and still have that status. But I’ll be checking my mailbox!

April 7, 2022

Ok, I only come back to this board once every 6 years when planning a cruise (with plans to increase frequency), but even I remember this one! 🤣

April 6, 2022

15 minutes ago, Surfguyxxx said:

We use a free app to text and chat with others and it works great. I probably can't say the name but it starts with a W and has a telephone receiver in it's bubble logo.

Ah. I know what app you mean. 😉 Thanks! I presume you need to get the internet package though?

April 6, 2022

10 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

I don’t know if they changed it, but you had to be 13 or older to use the chat feature due to privacy concerns. Also, there was a cost of $1.99 per day, per guest to use it.

Good info! My daughter is 14, and $1.99/p/d is great as compared to the $17.99 or whatever the internet package is. Thanks!

April 6, 2022

Bumping this old thread now that we have 6 more months of MTD data to extrapolate. 😉 I signed up for MTD on Oasis based on the good old days of it truly being my chosen time to dine, but the app says the Oasis MTD hours are 6:45 to 9. I’m thinking I’ll need to switch to early seating and then the two port days where we don’t even disembark until the afternoon, we’ll just eat on land or in the Windjammer or elsewhere. It looks like I either need to call or wait until I’m onboard to switch? I don’t see a way to change on the site or app.

April 6, 2022

I see that the app has a chat feature to stay connected with your reservation party. I believe that the app will connect to the ship’s wifi without paying for the internet package, is that so? Has anyone used it to keep in contact with their kids onboard? Does it “ping” like a typical messenger, or do you just need to regularly check to see whether anyone posted something to the group?

April 4, 2022

On 3/31/2022 at 6:05 PM, LeeW said:

Book whatever times are available pre-cruise if you don't want to just show up. When you get onboard go to the dining room that is open and the host can move things around if you need to. In the past we didn't like the new policy of 6:30 earliest reservation and they move it to 5:30. They moved the times later so they could squeeze in an early-early fixed seating at 5 or 5:15.

And if you like to eat at the same time with the same table/waiters, the Head Waiter in your area can arrange this or you can stop by the checkin desk when you leave the first night. Normally waiters move to different stations between cruises. For our B3B our Head Waiter arranged for us to have the same window table with same waiters all three cruises. And she volunteered to set up our dining for our next B2B cruises on Symphony.

We typically eat dinner early, but I switched from early seating to MTD because the port says we’d likely be ready for dinner later than the sea days. I regretted my decision when I saw in my cruise planner that MTD started at 6:30. But it sounds like reservations just start then, but we could show up to eat earlier and just wait for a table? What time does the MTD dining room open? We’ll be on Oasis if that makes a difference.

March 30, 2022

I’m doing this same cruise in July and trying to figure out what to do in Port Canaveral is the big topic of debate in my family. We ruled out the theme parks once we realized how far they are and how tight the timing is. My daughter and I really want to to the Indian River Lagoon kayaking excursion, but my husband is paranoid about falling in. (For someone who loves cruises and looking at the water he has a fear of actually going in water.) He wants to do Kennedy Space Center, but I think it would be boring, and as was noted, since it closes at 5 doesn’t seem like we’d have much time there. At this point it seems like we’re going to have to compromise and do the bus drop-off at Cocoa Beach, but my friend Google tells me there’s not much there beyond the Ron Jon Shop, and since it’s later in the day we probably wouldn’t want to swim. At this rate, I’d just sat let’s split up and my husband can go to Kennedy if he refuses to kayak—but then he wants to be together as a family. Does anyone know of any type of excursion where you can see the local nature such as Indian River Lagoon but it’s a walking tour or perhaps on a bigger boat? That would be a good compromise. This one stop late in the day at a port that is nowhere near where advertised seems like a real “bait and switch” to those of us who didn’t quite have the full picture when selecting this cruise.

March 21, 2022

I’ll get back to you—I have my first balcony coming up this summer. I feel like most people would be thrilled with whatever class they start with, and once you go up, it’s hard to come back down. I was content with my inside room for my first two cruises. Then I upgraded to an ocean view for my third cruise, and—wow—having daylight and a view makes you realize how much an interior feels like a solitary confinement cell. For my upcoming cruise, a balcony was only $400 more total (not pp) than interior (ocean view is sold out now, but I feel like it was only ~$200 difference total between OV and Bal) for cramming my family of 3 into a room. That extra space and fresh air just seems totally worth it. I can’t imagine being in an inside room with my husband and 14-year-old daughter for a week. I mean, my first two cruises in the interior we had the philosophy that you’re only in your room to sleep, so what’s the difference? My last cruise w/ OV was a 2-week Mediterranean cruise, so we definitely spent a lot more downtime not on tours in our room. This upcoming cruise with a balcony, I like the idea that we can hang out in our room and still enjoy the fresh air and scenery without feeling like we have to fight for a deck chair.

March 20, 2022

49 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

I dunno where this particular excursion goes but I've kayaked a bit in the area and you will see plenty of wildlife maybe even gators and manatee.

The kayaks used by the tour operators are 'ocean' type and pretty large and wide and you sit very low/deep in them. As kayaks go, pretty stable and you aren't going to see white water or waves. AND life jackets required. Heck the zoo even does kayak tours with about 5 minutes of training for a novice!!

Me and daughter on a kayak tour Indian River near KSC with manatee . .

it is illegal to approach or harass manatee, but if you stop, stay still and they come up to you that's OK. They will rub against the kayaks! We were in a two person kayak.

Zoo kayak trip . . . BrevardZoo.org

Thanks so much! This is exactly the info I need!

March 20, 2022

Does anyone have any experience with the Indian River Lagoon kayaking tour (offered through Royal Caribbean)? My daughter and I think that sounds awesome, but my husband is worried about kayaks being easy to tip over.

March 19, 2022

Hello! My RCL cruise on Oasis has a stop in Port Canaveral. I didn’t get an exact itinerary with times in/out of port yet, but is it feasible to attempt to try to go to Disney World for the day? (I mean, I’m sure I could make it there and back, but maybe not get my money’s worth with 2-3 hours in the park?) If not, what other more local excursions would you recommend besides Kennedy Space Center for parents with a 14-year-old kid?

October 21, 2016

Thought I'd share a positive customer service experience from my trip on Brilliance. When our luggage arrived to the room, my suitcase was absolutely destroyed. The extending handle to roll the suitcase was broken off, the other handle was barely hanging on (I presume because it was too heavy to get to my room using that handle), metal rods were falling out of the sides, and the decal of the hard case was torn to shreds down to the plastic. It appeared that it must have fallen off the luggage trolley and was dragged for quite some time until the handle broke off. I unpacked and brought the suitcase down to guest relations and calmly showed them my suitcase. Apparently this happens a lot--and to a lot of people just on this sailing--because all of their replacement suitcases had already been handed out. I just filled out a form and a couple of days later, they gave me a brand-new suitcase plus $50 OBC. I think she was expecting me to be upset and was explaining that they could only give me a percentage of the value of the original suitcase and only $50 OBC, but that was all good with me! Just thought I'd mention it in case this happens to anyone else. (And, no, I don't have pictures; they whisked away my old suitcase as soon as I brought it down to guest relations.)

October 3, 2016

I'll chime in that MORE people should try an elimination diet without gluten (and dairy, for that matter). If you suffer an auto-immune or inflammatory disease and have been told that there's no cure other than immunosuppressant drugs or prescription painkillers, you might be amazed how a little tweak in diet could change your life for the better. I gave up gluten and dairy 2 years ago, after a lifetime of psoriasis, a decade and a half of psoriatic arthritis, years of chronic sinus infections (which even surgery didn't help), adult acne, stomach issues, etc. I gave up gluten and dairy, and EVERYTHING cleared up! And, likewise, if I eat gluten or dairy, everything flares up again, and it takes about 5 days for the inflammation to go back down for a bite, longer if I had more. My mom has fibromyalgia and acid reflux, has been in pain for decades. She saw what giving up gluten and dairy did for me, but she resisted that it would be too difficult. She finally realized that anything was better than how she's been living--and she's AMAZED that she feels better than she has in probably 20-30 years! No need to get an official doctor's stamp of "celiac" when you've already been stamped with another diagnosis and find a life-changing cure on your own. Is it "trendy" for some people? It probably is for some. But there are countless others who know what their body is like on one food--and what it's like without it. The argument is like telling someone that unless they have been diagnosed with diabetes by a doctor they should be eating sugar--despite that it may give you weight gain or heart disease or adrenal fatigue, etc. Why do you care if a person chooses not to eat sugar or wheat or meat or anything else? But, if anyone is interested in learning more, lots of books about anti-inflammatory diet, auto-immune disease and food connection, leaky gut, functional medicine, etc. My favorite book is "The Immune System Recovery Plan" by Susan Blum, M.D. Another doctor to follow is Mark Hyman.