jean87510

Read the price guarantee carefully. I'm sure it says "24 hours".

 

Used it once last year. Needed 1 way International for a TA arriving the morning of the cruise (no choice) so wanted the "we will get you to the ship" part. Price was lower on the airline site direct - booked it through A2S anyway then filed for the low price with screen shots. Got it approved in 2 days.

 

Best of both worlds in that scenario.

Did you have it approved by the airline or air to sea? Did you find a lower price on air to sea after you booked? Sorry I'm a little confused.

Had lobster tails on rhapsody transatlantic windjammer last night. It was not formal night.

just went to coco cay and had a bungalow. i thought they were great. favorite part was that you order your lunch in advance and they bring it to you. nice loungers in the sun and a place to relax and eat in the shade. my kids loved it. for a nice relaxing beach day i thought it was well worth the $

When did you go

One more day until we land in Tampa. Yesterday we were supposed to land in coco cay but were unable to tender in. I really wish that when this happens rather than sailing aimlessly around, they have a backup plan for this type of situation like tender in port Canaveral or key west later in day or the next day. I guess they wouldn't have time to sell shore excursions. Before anyone chastises me, I was on 2 ships that could not dock in coco cay in the past and we docked in key West and I believe labadee which was on our way. One of these days I'll make it there...

My husband and I spent most of day watching movies in the Broadway theater which is a terrific idea. Just need some popcorn. We saw the dark tower and Logan lucky. Theater was pretty full. I think everyone likes this. Now if they could show NFL games on there on sundays.....

Last night at windjammer we were delighted by endless lobster tails. I did have a lol moment. A woman actually picked all of the shrimp out of the shrimp cerviche salad. My husband saw her plate piled high with shrimp. Ah well.

Tampa tomorrow...clearwater beach then dinner with family then eagles game at night. Flying back to Philadelphia early Monday am.

I liked the staff on this ship.

Not a big fan of edelweiss restaurant

Izumi was not good

Loved having coffee card. If you don't use it all you can use on next sailing.

Chops outstanding. Ate there 2x

Giovanni good

Windjammer had good salads

Gym always packed in am when I went except for today when one treadmill was open at 6am. Old equipment compared to my gym at home and to the jewel of the seas. Needs to be updated.

Love being in inside cabin. A lot of room and comfortable bed. Very quiet on my floor.

Guest services were very nice the 2x I went there with a question. Next cruise were very polite.

The library is very small with no English books. Bring your kindle and books!

I just use shower to cool off with. Saw someone with a colostomy lid go into pool. Also adult diapers. No thanks.

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How was customs in Tampa?

 

 

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Still onboard. Landing this Sunday.

Thanks!

 

Just a quick question..... We're on the Brilliance OTS, about half way into our TA itinerary which is Barcelona - Cartagena - Malaga - Funchal - Basseterre - Tampa. RCI are offering a special 5 day sea day Surf & Stream internet package starting in Funchal, for $99.99, with the usual discounts applicable for diamond C&A members and above. Is a similar package being offered on your Rhapsody OTS TA cruise?

Haven't seen that one yet but then again I wouldn't be looking for it because I had a good wifi package. It was still cheaper before cruise with all the specials they had leading up to the cruise. I am platinum so i don't get any discounts yet (except may be laundry)

It's a rainy day on day 11 of my crossing so I thought I would get started with a review of my trip which started actually Friday 11/3 on my flight from Newark to barcelona. Now originally we were flying tap air and would be arriving in Barcelona around 1230 pm on Saturday the 4th. I knew we would not sleep well on plane. I did not make any plans in barcelona other than a tapas tour with food lovers tours of barcelona. However luck intervened. We were offered anot her flight with united with a direct flight to barcelona that landed at 830. Of course we took it!

After we landed we made our way to the pickup location for the Salles hotel which is not in Barcelona but has a cruise package with free pickup at airport, free wifi, free breakfast and free drop off at cruise port. We napped in a comfortable clean room and then took a cab to park guell.

We took trains all over barcelona using an app called citymapper. It was phenomenal. If you like to save money and wanDer about use this app. We went everywhere for about 7 hours then did our food tour. It was nice however I could not relate to our tour guides philosophy regarding Americans working too much and his political opinions about the u.s. just tell us about food, ok?

Lol I digress. Anyway Sunday the 5th arrives. We woke up jogged outside for a 1/2 hour then had our delicious breakfast. Phenomenal pastries!! Made our way to pickup spot and were on our way around 11 am to the rhapsody. We checked in quickly as we were new platinums and there were about 1,000,000 diamond and above. We checked in and then checked right back out. We actually have never done this but we really wanted to go to Barceloneta beach. We found a bike rental shop and rode bikes until about 3 15 pm aND then made our way back. I would recommend that activity. Great paths. Good little bistros...

So now onto some observations. We have an inside cabin which is fine. I go for the ports. I don't care where I'm at. I've been in an owners suite, balcony...bottom line I go to my room to shower or sleep. The stateroom attendant is very nice. Bed is comfortable. We are on 2nd floor. Only complaint is the TV channels are awful. And no refrigerator in my room.

We got the Internet package beforehand. If you plan on Internet do this. If you have 2 people buy one device with streaming and one device without. YouTube for some reason came in great on non streaming.

We also purchased 4 night specialty dinner. My husband cannot sit still and he likes the windjammer for a quick grab and go. We have been eating a majority of our meals in windjammer because of this reason and we like the salad selection. Giovanni was good. Chops was excellent and we are going back tonight. Izumi was poor. Soup and salad good but my a in course of surf and turf on hot stone consisted of a 3 inch piece of steak and a 2 inch lobster tail for 24 dollars. No tea offered. We received water after the soup. The 2 times we ate at edelweiss they forgot my dinner and when I got it it was cold so we went back to windjammer.

I always found a chair at pool and solarium. No problem there. I think I saw the earliest ever chair hogging. I went to get a coffee at 5 am and a gentleman was setting up towels on four chairs. He did laugh with me.

I am a gym rat and I love getting up early to use the elliptical. I really prefer running but I don't like the movement for an hour on treadmill. Plus the walkers tend to hog the treadmills in the am. I do 2 a days so my husband and I do the elliptical in the am and I go back around 6 to run 3 miles. I run 10KS and 1/2 marathons hence why I really can't take a day off. The stretch class is mobbed as is the 10 am Zumba class in the centrum. This is great because hopefully rccl will take notice. Lots of people on outdoor track.

Entertainment is not my cup of tea. I don't like Broadway shows. I went to a juggling act which was OK and a violinist which was excellent.

Our port stops so far were lanzarote, gran canaria and la palma. We rented cars from cicar at all three. We had downloaded map of each island from Google maps and pinned areas we wanted to see. In lanzarote we went to playa papagayo beach and to timanfaya park. We were in port 10a to 6 pm so we went to the beach first and timanfaya around 130pm. If you ever do this go in the afternoon. We had no line. We took the bus around park:eek: and loved it. In gran canaria we were there 7 a to 6pm. We drove down to the maspalomas dunes and then drove over to a harbor where we did a whale watching excursion for 30 euros each. And yes we saw whales and dolphins. It was fantastic! In la palma we were there 7 a to 5p. We drove to the caldera first then to Los tilos then to Los canjacos beach. Wonderful scenery and some great photos that I will try to post later. May I add that it was easy to navigate these islands and if you do decide to rent a car here do it online and early if you need an automatic.

I will finish review later.

We were just there on 11/4 and walked all around the perimeter and explored everywhere. Everyone was just enjoying themselves.

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Thanks!!

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I would just ask cab driver how much for day and tell him where you are going. I did that in Tenerife and la palma back in April and it was fine. I heard people on my ship telling cab drivers to just take them to timanfaya and wait. Make sure you have euros. Some cabs do not take credit card and some do.

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http://www.fcmanrique.org

Lots of taxis at cruise port or rent a car. Very easy driving around island. I just rented one and it was very simple.

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We are a very active 50 yr old couple who love snorkeling and exploring. We both run 1/2 marathons so our fitness level is pretty good. We aren't interested in boat or catamaran tours nor do we like lying on the beach all day in one spot. Can anyone who has rented a car and drove around island recommend any points of interest?

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We have sailed out of Barcelona twice and both times used the Ciutat del Prat hotel. It is not central at all but in quite a nice residential area. They offer a package deal where they will pick you up from the airport and take you to the port, right to your ship. Breakfast was included and was a wonderful treat - all the usual culprits of a continental breakfast plus many meats, cheeses, great pastries. We have eaten dinner there once when our plane was quite late arriving and the hotel restaurant was decent. There are a couple of nice bistro restaurants within close walking distance and a small convenience store across the street. I don't believe it's far from the metro.

We stayed there one night. I completely agree with this review. Take train L9 to city or a cab. Included in price pickup at airport, Wi-Fi which was excellent, breakfast and cruise port drop off. 1/2 the price of staying in city. Comfortable bed. Good shower. Clean... I can't imagine staying elsewhere if only here a day or 2.

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We have sailed out of Barcelona twice and both times used the Ciutat del Prat hotel. It is not central at all but in quite a nice residential area. They offer a package deal where they will pick you up from the airport and take you to the port, right to your ship. Breakfast was included and was a wonderful treat - all the usual culprits of a continental breakfast plus many meats, cheeses, great pastries. We have eaten dinner there once when our plane was quite late arriving and the hotel restaurant was decent. There are a couple of nice bistro restaurants within close walking distance and a small convenience store across the street. I don't believe it's far from the metro.

I'm staying there tomorrow. Glad to see this review

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How would you keep them cold? And I believe it may be one can at a time. For one stop in alicante I had the soda package and used my rccl cup for the soda then poured it into my thermos which keeps my water cold when running. It was eh. No fizz. I'd just use water or buy soda at port. Jmo.

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We used adventure antigua. We were staying in antigua at the time. They are expensive but I liked it so much we are doing it again in april.

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We went on a private tour to grand Cayman and there were a lot of sting rays and they were everywhere. Antigua was similar. We went with a private tour there also. I think if you go with a small group instead of ship tour for either one you'll have a good time. My personal favorite stingrays experience was on grand Turk. There were 10 of us at an island and they were all over us.

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Normally I would wholeheartedly agree with you and, on our other cruises, I never before considered even buying ships internet. We'd just find some free Wi-fi on our port stops if we wanted and get some quick updates.

 

However this 14 night cruise has only 4 port days and all the rest are sea days. I have a business here at home that I need to keep an eye on so I must have internet on this cruise. I could possibly share with hubby.

 

It's our three teenage daughters in the adjacent cabin that are the main issue and, as much as I don't like to accept that being connected with their friends is a priority, realistically it is now the way that their generation lives. On a shorter cruise with more port stops, I'd certainly not consider getting them an internet package. And, IF they make new friends on this cruise, then they might not use the internet much and possibly sharing a login might work. But, if they don't make new friends and are stuck spending time with each other 24/7 for two weeks, that could be a recipe for disaster as they do need breaks from each other. And my worry is that arguments would then inevitably happen as they disagreed over whose turn it was to have the internet access. That, in turn, affects my husband's and my holiday! So I figure it's just best to give them each their own access on this particular cruise.

I sympathize with you. We had a 14, 16, 22, and 24yr old on one cruise with us and only had internet for one device for each room. We shared between 3 on sea days. This was with carnival. The internet package with surf only is currently offered on my sailing in 12 days. I purchased it about 3 months ago. I check frequently on my cruise planner for any sales. Good luck.

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I mean one device with voom surf and stream and the others with just surf

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Fwiw I would not bother with stream package which is more unless family members like to watch Netflix etc which can be slow. The surf package worked fine for us on a transatlantic. Maybe try one device and if it works well upgrade while on board

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We did it about 3 years ago with teenagers and had no problems. I think part of your payment at the Boatyard includes a cab ride back. It took us about 20-30 minutes if I remember.

Just found out our cruise is now heading to Antigua, and we'd like to rent motorcycles or scooters for the day to do some exploring on our own. Are there operations close to the port that have 2 wheeled options? Any idea how much? The only operator I could find on-line is Cheke's and it gets pretty horrible reviews. No issues driving on left or narrow roads, as we've done it on other islands in the past.

I agree with prior poster regarding the road conditions. I would not rent anything 2 wheeled there. We went with Avis which is outside the airport and it was really easy. They picked us up and brought us over but a cruise stop may be different. Download google maps and drop some pins and you should have no problems. This way you can explore so many beaches and areas. I absolutely love Antigua. The one beach that is really far from the cruise port and one you really need a car for is Half moon bay. Great snorkeling. Beautiful beach. There was a shack there selling food last October. Free parking. Its an adventure getting there but once you get there you will love it. About 45 to 50 minutes from cruise port.

I see 8 arriving flights, 2 of which were cancelled from the US. Departures I see 7-8 flights to US 5 of which are cancelled. The rest are jumper planes from other islands. It's still too soon. I agree that RCCL needs to either cancel the cruises or leave from another port in the caribbean o (barbados?) or florida but whatever they decide, they need to do it soon.

For turtle spotting maho bay is a good spot on st John. Just tough getting a cab there and back. Glad to see watermelon cay recommended as we are going there in April via private taxi.

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