LEtue

No same cabin category left for my August cruise on Liberty unfortunately.

 

Out of curiosity is there a price that people aim for when booking a cruise i.e price per night for a specific cabin grade. I used to aim for £200 per night for two of us in a balcony cabin (roughly $300), does anyone else do something similar? I think i've found a great price on Allure for April 2016 but just want to reassure myself!

Not sure if it helps oyu but check the price on the next category up. We could have moved to the highest level inside for less than our current CAT N - but we like the location and took the savings.....

Inside Cat N on deck 4 works well for me. I like the location and don't find an inside cabin to be a problem at all - especially on Med cruises when we are in port all day.

I have never stayed in a suite or promenade - but inside, oceanview and balconies all work depending on the budget. :D

As mentioned, check often because the cabin you want may open up!

Called my TA and they're not getting the same "lower" price that I'm getting online. They're calling RCCL now to see why. Crossing my fingers...

 

Thank you for the heads up though!!!

My cruise buddy is having the same problem with one of our bookings. I just went to their website and created a mock booking and emailed it to her so she can get the reduction. :rolleyes: You may want to do the same. Or send a screen shot from the cruise line site.

Our other booking is with RCI direct (I booked it on board the Brilliance last week) and that took all of 1 minute on the phone to get the reduction applied :)

Wow, I am very surprised at some of the responses....

I don't do any extra walking daily - just the normal life stuff and didn't find any of the walking or Terrace Houses difficult (I'm 61 and not in great shape). My cruise buddy has bad knees and is in her mid 60's and she simply skipped the Terrace Houses. There was an area to wait outside as mentioned but I don't think it offered any shade. We toured in mid October and it wasn't too hot - probably 75 degrees at most?

Perhaps there is a short tour that you can do and then move on to the other sites in the area? What time of year are you traveling?

Another vote for Ephesus Shuttle! We toured with them in October and did the following tour:

Tour 4 - A1 : Private Ephesus - Artemission Temple - The House of Virgin Mary - St. John Basilica Tour

When I reserved the tour for our group of 14 I just let them know up front that we did not want to include any additional stops and we were never asked to add them later. There were a few in our group that didn't do the Terrace Houses but there was a place to wait while the rest of us went in. The inside climbing isn't strenuous but the stairs at the exit had no handrail so it could be difficult for some. I would definitely recommend that you include them!

Overall, it was a great tour and our guide was very professional. I booked them based on other CC reviews and I plan to book another tour with them when we return in 2016.

Just home from a 5 night on the Brillliance too and it was really nice. However, I live 20 minutes from the port :)

If you have to fly I would do the 10 night!

Just off the Brilliance yesterday morning.

 

Great cruise with 3 wonderful cruise girlfriends.

 

Summary:

 

Stayed precruise in Tampa at the Sailport Waterfront. Loved the hotel and got a great rate on a 2 BR condo for all 4 of us. Also allowed us to come back and use the pool and facilities post cruise, before our late flights home. Highly recommend this hotel.

 

Great sailaway despite rain in the afternoon and sailing out into a storm. Captain Stig got us going very quickly and despite the heavy rain for a little while, the sailing was very smooth and we were out of the bad weather within a couple hours.

 

MTD, despite a few problems with trying to get reservations when we wanted them, it ended very smoothly. My suggestion is to forego even trying to do reservations ahead of time and just standing in line every night. I normally don't like this but it worked the best for us.

 

Dress code: While what others are wearing don't impact my cruise vacation. Royal may as well just throw away the dress code. There is no enforcing of anything, not even on formal night. We ended up having a table near the entrance all but two nights. WOW is all I can say. Again, it doesn't effect my cruise experience at all. But how can people be so care free on how they look. Seriously we saw everything (even on formal night) Shorts were about at 50% on non formal night. Tshirts and ball caps were not rare. Men in flip flops all the time. Jeans have now become "dressy" in comparison to everything else we saw. However, the lady with the jeans on with more holes than jeans was quite the site. We also actually saw a lady that had what looked like house slippers on one night. Just sad that people no longer take any pride in how they look.

 

Ports:

Grand Caymen, went to the Royal Palms resort. Have been there before and very nice beach. However very crowded with several ships in port. Would still go back, but don't go there if you are going because of the free wifi that is advertised. Been there twice and both times the internet is almost non existent.

 

Cozumel: Once again we went to Paradise Beach and loved it. Beautiful pool and didn't get busy till later in the day and still not overly crowded. Take note that the cab drivers will try to convince you to go somewhere else. Don't listen. For the $3 entrance fee and the requirement to spend just $10, it is an awesome pool and great day. We don't drink alot so for us it was the way to go instead of the several "all inclusive" resorts.

 

Getting on the ship: AWESOME. We had a rental car that had to be returned at 9AM. Please consider Budget/Avis if in Tampa. We got a great rate for a 24 hour rental. Picked up at the airport and returned to the Embassy suites hotel downtown. The owner of this location personally drove the rental car and dropped us off at the port. Will rent from them and return to him again. He was a great guy. Sorry, I wish I remembered his name.

We got to the pier about 9:30. Went upstairs and filled out the health forms. Watched the staff set up and even have a meeting before opening the stations. Checked in very quickly and had a seat in the Diamond lounge (thanks to two diamond friends with us) We were first in line when they opened and would have been the very first on the ship, had we not stopped for photos. Instead we walked onboard and heard our first "ding" at 10:37!! The earliest we have ever been on a ship.

 

Getting off the ship was almost as easy: Out of the room at 8. Down to the dining room for breakfast, where we had a very leisurely (maybe a little slow) but we weren't' going anywhere. Finished after our time of 9:10, so we just took the elevator down and walked right off. Took just a few minutes to find our bags and had to wait only 2-3 people in line for customs. Off in a taxi and back to Sailport as easy as can be.

 

Entertainment was great as far as we were concerned.

 

Have the compass if anyone has any questions.

 

Will answer anything else if I can.

 

Second time out of Tampa and would highly recommend. Sailing under the sunshine bridge is awesome!!

I was on the same cruise and really enjoyed it! I definitely noticed that this cruise was more casual and wonder if it just the way it is on Caribbean cruises now - or the fact that it was a 5 day sailing and most passengers consider it more casual?

I went to Nachi in Cozumel and was a little disappointed. It wasn't as relaxing as I hoped and some of the staff had invited family members with small children in for several hours. They stayed in the pool and made it difficult for the rest of us to get in and out. The food was okay but not great and the service was very slow - probably because we were two ladies and the waiter thought we wouldn't tip as well? Overall it was a nice day but I think I will try Paradise Beach if I sail to Cozumel again so thanks for posting about it.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise too :D

Hi....well, to make a long story short and I don't want to get flamed

by folks saying "I should have known better":eek:....I went on a 5 night

cruise in early March and over 1/2 the ship were Spring Breakers.....

And I am sure there other SB'rs around the country who do have

manners and stuff but this was so horrible:(:mad:....they put a few kids off

the ship but it didn't really help because of how many were still on board.

Let's just say, I was also 20 once but if I acted as disrepectful as these

kids? My folks would have grounded me for at least a month.......

And I am not exaggerating.....they took over the ship:rolleyes:......

(You asked)......I actually wrote a letter to Celebrity's HQ and so

did a few other people I sailed with.......I have never seen anything

like it before........

Lois, I just returned yesterday from a 5 night sailing on the Brilliance out of TPA and there were almost no kids on board so it was a great trip - thankfully!

I wouldn't have thought that a Celebrity cruise during Spring Break would have been bad but I guess the drink packages offered lately changed that!

I hope you have a fabulous cruise in Alaska :D

After a 6 year absence I am going back to Alaska:)......I have been

3 previous times but the last cruise there was all the way back in

Sept 2009:eek:.......I have been wanting to return and finally booked

a cruise there for May 2015:D......and the really sweet part is Celebrity

has been offering really good obc's....so I have quite a bit of credit

to use for excursions:D....happy, happy!

Fantastic! I have to wait until May 2016!

Have a great time :D

Sorry...but I don't personally think it's a good thing for ISP.... the tendering is beautiful and sad that it's turning into just a terminal like any other port...I felt the same about Labadee...it's taken something away from it. JMHO.

I agree and I never mind tendering in Alaska and really enjoyed that in Sitka!

However, I am looking forward to my first visit to ISP in May 2016 :D

I'm ready to book an oceanview on Jewel. I want mid ship, but can't decide between deck 3 or 4. If you have sailed on either of these, please share your experience. Thanks.

Deck 4 is the perfect location with the dining room and the customer service desks close by. Plus it is still low enough on the ship to utilize the stairs when returning to the ship on a port extensive itinerary.....

I normally book at least 4 cabins down from the atrium and it always very quiet. Try to pick a cabin on the port side to allow easy access to the elevators. There can be conjection in the evenings which you can avoid by not having to cross over.....

I will also recommend the Albergo Cesari and you have two choices for ristorantes right out the front door. This came in handy the first night when we were too tired to walk any more. You can absolutely cover all of the sites from here but we did use a taxi to the Vatican - also with others from our roll call. :) Loved having breakfast on the terrace too!

We also had many from our roll call there and we booked a group transfer with Rome Cabs to the port.

Sailing on the Brilliance and I don't see any recent posts about the tender process.

The ship port time is listed as 7AM - 4 PM. Nativeway says we would have to catch the first or second tender to make the 8:15 AM tour time. Not a problem getting up early but will we be behind the people on excursions? I have read that they have 2 launch areas - one forward for ship tours and one mid to aft for all others?

Anyone with recent experience? Would love to take this tour but not sure if we can make it :(

when you leave the ship for the day, set your watch....not your cell phone!...to ship's time...there are clocks at every exit....and you will NOt MISS THE SHIP!

 

Local time shouldn't matter to you one little bit...as long as your WATCH is set to ship's time!

 

Sometimes, the time will change...sometimes, it doesn't. And, it really doesn't matter!

Bring a watch! The last tender will be 30 mins. prior to sailaway time.....as long as you are in line, they'll get you back to the ship!

Well I have the same question. The independent tour that I am looking at goes from 9 AM - 2:15PM local time and if the ship doesn't turn the clock back one hour - the excursion will actually end at 3:15 PM (ship time and only 15 minutes before departure) :eek:

True, I will know there is a problem before I leave the ship and can simple not show up for the excursion but it would be nice to know that now so I can cancel it. So, how do you figure that it doesn't matter?

We just did this tour again last week:) Your cruise line will most likely have you turn your clocks back an hour while you are there. Enjoy it, it is a great time:D

I am considering this tour and can't find any confirmation about the ship turning their clocks back 1 hour. We're you on RCI out of FL or the east coast?

So far Dubrovnik port schedule changed from Jewel to Rhapsody and Palma de Mallorca from Rhapsody to Jewel.

 

Rome does not update their schedule often and hard to know for sure, but it does now look like Rhapsody joins Vision in Venice and Jewel moves to Civitavecchia.

 

The Greek and Turkish destinations do not show port schedules yet for 2016 so the actual itineraries will have to come from RCI.

Do we have any idea when the new release date is for the Jewel and Rhapsody?

We booked Celebrity because the Rhapsody itineraries weren't what we were looking for but.....who knows what changes may come with the Jewel ;)

It appears on port schedules that Rhapsody has now been re-deployed to take the place of Jewel of the Seas. Rhapsody appears to take the longer Venice sailings originally planned for Jewel.

 

Jewel has been removed today from Dubrovnik port schedules.

 

Rhapsody's call at Palma prior to a TA has been cancelled and Jewel is still scheduled at Palma and Gibraltar for calls when entering the MED in May.

 

This is just developing and it is unclear whether Jewel goes to Rome or not.

 

There is a risk that the itineraries at Cruisecal for ships not yet deployed are inaccurate as that site has not updated RCI cruises for several weeks now.

Jewel to Rome? Now that would be an interesting development!

We enjoyed our visit to the Colosseum on a Sunday this past October and combined it with a visit to the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Take the elevator to the top for fantastic views :)

The walk between the two was really nice since the street connecting the two is pedestrian only on Sundays.

Enjoy your visit!

I see two pictures on the Celebrity site. One with the beds near the door and the other with the sofa there.

It sure looks like having the sofa near the door creates more room - especially for getting in and out of the closet (2 ladies traveling together).

Since I can't seem to find any pictures does it all depend on the cabin number? Or are all the Cat 12's the same?

I had posted the Rhapsody sailings on another thread last Friday.

 

Rhapsody has a nice 11 night repositioning cruise to Rome from Barcelona to start her 2016 MED season.

 

Rhapsody Of The Seas Depart: 05:00 PM 04/24/2016 Barcelona, Spain

Rhapsody Of The Seas 11:00 AM - 07:00 PM 04/25/2016 Ajaccio, Corsica, FR

Rhapsody Of The Seas 04/26/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:30 PM 04/27/2016 Naples/Capri, Italy

Rhapsody Of The Seas 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM 04/28/2016 Messina (Sicily), It

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 07:00 PM 04/29/2016 Valetta, Malta

Rhapsody Of The Seas 04/30/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 08:00 AM - 06:00 PM 05/01/2016 Palma de Mallorca, S

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:00 PM 05/02/2016 Ibiza, Spain

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 07:00 PM 05/03/2016 Valencia, Spain

Rhapsody Of The Seas 05/04/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas Arrive: 05:00 AM 05/05/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

 

 

Rhapsody then sails on five 9 night cruises from Rome

 

Rhapsody Of The Seas Depart: 05:00 PM 05/05/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome),

Rhapsody Of The Seas 11:00 AM - 08:00 PM 05/06/2016 Messina (Sicily), It

Rhapsody Of The Seas 05/07/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 05/08/2016 Mykonos, Greece

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 05/09/2016 Kusadasi (Ephesus),

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 05/10/2016 Santorini, Thira, Gr

Rhapsody Of The Seas 06:00 AM - 06:00 PM 05/11/2016 Athens (Piraeus), Gr

Rhapsody Of The Seas 05/12/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:30 PM 05/13/2016 Naples/Capri, Italy

Rhapsody Of The Seas Arrive: 05:00 AM 05/14/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

 

 

A couple of 7 night Greek Isle cruises are then followed by a Italy, France and Spain 8 night sailing.

 

Rhapsody Of The Seas Depart: 05:00 PM 09/04/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 09/05/2016 Ajaccio, Corsica, Fr

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:00 PM 09/06/2016 Toulon, France

Rhapsody Of The Seas 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM 09/07/2016 Barcelona, Spain

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 09/08/2016 Valencia, Spain

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:00 PM 09/09/2016 Palma de Mallorca

Rhapsody Of The Seas 09/10/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:30 PM 09/11/2016 Naples/Capri, Italy

Rhapsody Of The Seas Arrive: 05:00 AM 09/12/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

 

 

And then a series of 9 night sailings

 

 

Rhapsody Of The Seas Depart: 05:00 PM 10/18/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

Rhapsody Of The Seas 10/19/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 12:00 PM - 08:00 PM 10/20/2016 Chania, (Crete), Gr

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 10/21/2016 Mykonos, Greece

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:00 PM 10/22/2016 Kusadasi (Ephesus)

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 05:00 PM 10/23/2016 Santorini, Thira, Gr

Rhapsody Of The Seas 06:00 AM - 06:00 PM 10/24/2016 Athens (Piraeus),

Rhapsody Of The Seas 10/25/2016 At Sea

Rhapsody Of The Seas 07:00 AM - 06:30 PM 10/26/2016 Naples/Capri, Italy

Rhapsody Of The Seas Arrive: 05:00 AM 10/27/2016 Civitavecchia (Rome), It

 

 

Her transatlantic then should sail as predicted earlier from Rome on the 27th and on to Palma on the 29th and the to Cartagena, Spain and then to Port Canaveral.

 

She could arrive for the Monday sailing from Port Canaveral starting her winter 3/4 night season on the 7th of November, 2016 just after the Oasis move up as well.

 

She is still booked at Funchal Madeira Portugal on the 12th of November though, so the TA may be later.

I wish RCI would throw in a couple "Tour of Italy" type itineraries. Can't imagine leaving from Rome and not going to the port of Livorno or La Spezia. How does Rome, Florence, Genoa, Sardinia, Messina, Naples, and Venice sound :D

Not seeing anything out there on one site that seems to have all of itineraries loaded :(

I guess RCI isn't going back to these cruise routes?

Is this any different than what is listed on the web site, "This cruise visits 4 ports"; and one of the ports listed is, Ft. Lauderdale!!

This really aggrevates me too.

Never seen embarkation ports listed like they are ports of call!

We sailed the Dawn in 2013 and thought the MDR food was not good. While we didn't starve and had a great trip, that was our worst food choice cruise. The buffet was a bit more comparable to Royal, but the specialty restaurants on ncl weren't even worth the up charge in our opinion. The dining room food was sometimes inedible. Food pushed us back to royal when we sailed the allure last year. We really enjoyed all our meals and the many options!

 

We're pricing cruises for next year and thinking of doing a newer NCL ship. OP, the food concern is our hesitation too.

I sailed on the NCL Dawn in 2013 too and found the food in the dining rooms to be mediocure at best. The buffet was about the same as RCI but less choices.

I have been thinking of trying NCL again someday - but I hesitate too. However, I am a firm believer that you should never base anything on a sample of 1 so maybe the Getaway will be a good choice.....

Just caught this on the news :(

My cabin mate and I were considering Princess for our next Med cruise in 2016 but eliminated it because we didn't want to go to Tunis.

I wonder if Princess will change their itinerary in light of this attack. Just horrible news and prayers for their families.....