wassup4565

First thing I do is get my card punched and put it on my lanyard. I'll never lose it that way, and that's the card that does everything for me, from the time I set foot on the ship, until the last time I step off it.

I don't care what anybody else thinks about that, they can do what they want to. What I want is not to lose my card.

This is the advice a very experienced cruiser gave to me. Choose one bar on the ship you will likely go back to often. (For me, that's the Schooner Bar, but pick your choice.) Tip, on top of the drink price with its added gratuity, every time you order. You won't be disappointed.

He was correct. Not going into details, but it's never a bad thing to have a good relationship with the staff in a bar. ; )

You can find the deck plans for every RCI ship on the RCI site. The balconies right at the back of the ship (aft) are huge, and have space for chaise longues plus a table, plus room to have a couple of friends over. Almost as big as the cabin itself.

Otherwise, I don't think the designations for balconies are that important. Pick where you want to be on the ship (near elevators; near the bow (front, some say smoother ride); near the dining room; near the pool.

OP, why do you say "thank God" you became diamond on a ship with no lounge? Even if it had one no one forces you into it.:confused:

Because the two people I cruise with (husband and daughter) are not Diamond, and I don't want to drink alone instead of enjoying time with them. I don't want to go to some place where I don't know anybody with the only objective for me would be sucking down alcoholic drinks, alone. The cruise I became Diamond had no lounge, so I had the drinks added to my card, much to my relief. I got to go to any bar and have a drinkie with my darling girl.

Thank you all for setting me straight. I asked. You answered, and I am grateful.

Very nice to enjoy a drink with your friend in the Schooner bar, Centrum bar,

the Viking Crown lounge, (part of it will be used for overflow on our ship due

to heavy upper tier), or any of the other bars of your choice. No worries! :)

 

I have found many times the waiters/bartenders will not even run a receipt for

you to sign when you use your drink vouchers, so I have learned to take 1.00

bills to tip in cash for those occasions.

 

And on top of that...you can still slip into the DL by yourself for no voucher used

drinks. ;)

 

"Sea" you on board real soon! :)

island lady, thank you. He's actually my hubby, but he WOULD not cruise with me (at first) so I left him in the dust. Of course, as soon as I managed to get him on a ship he loved it, but (sadly for him) he is well behind me in points.

So thank you everyone! Your info is so helpful. He and I can have drinkies together, and he can pay for his LOL. And yes, island lady, I tip big time. They deserve it, and they have been helpful to me.

See you on the Serenade soon!

Lindy

I became Diamond on an RCI ship with no lounge (thank God). So I got the three drinks a day added to my card. I happily redeemed the credits in any bar on the ship.

In a month I'm going on the Serenade, with a companion who is not Diamond. Am I going to have to ditch him to collect my three drinks in some lounge? Or can I get my drinks in the same bar where he pays for his?

Beautiful artwork on that ship. It's in every stair well, on all the walls to the cabins, and in the centrum. Is this the ship with the glass flowers? Sorry I get this Radiance class mixed up, I choose them all the time. But if the Brilliance has the glass flowers on the Guest Services level, those are the flowers by the artist that made the ones in the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. Gorgeous.

Take time on this ship to look at the art that is everywhere. Millions of dollars of art, better than you see in some galleries. You don't have to be an expert or even have knowledge. Just look at it. If you like some of it, spend more time looking at it. There is an immense amount of beautiful expensive art on the Brilliance.

Once you Cruise with a Balcony you probably will always go with a Balcony. That Sea Air alone is worth it. They are great for listening to local Radio Stations drinking coffee/Tea at sunrise or exercising.

 

 

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My experience is the opposite. I started with a balcony. Then I tried an ocean view and it was fine. If I wanted the sea air, I went outside on a deck. Then I tried an inside, and it was fine. If I want the sea air and a view I go out on a deck.

I think it comes down to how much private personal real estate you must have and what you are willing to pay for it. I can always find a congenial outdoor space with an available chair somewhere on every ship. So why would I pay for an exclusive space reserved just for me? I might even meet someone new and interesting.

Too many questions for one person to answer, but here are some answers from me.

If you are coming from Minnesota in winter for the cruise, no matter which Florida port, you should seriously consider flying into Florida the day before, and staying in a hotel overnight before the day the cruise departs. We flew in on the day of the cruise once. There were five inches of snow in the morning. And then the plane had mechanical problems. I will never forget running through Reagan airport in Washington in my bare feet (after another security check) trying to make our connecting flight to Florida. We barely made it for the cruise departure, and I will never do that again. So add to your cost, the money to stay in a hotel near your cruise port, for one night before the cruise.

You will have to pay the gratuities for staff, and you should be willing to. The staff work hard, they are not paid well, and their families depend on the money they send home. The gratuities do not show up on the quoted cruise price, but you should add them to your expected cost.

Other than that, you don't have to pay anything extra unless you decide to. If you want to order drinks, play around in the casino, get a spa treatment, order fancy wine at dinner, etc., that's your choice.

You know what? You're probably right. In my experience, I have regretted the things I didn't do a lot more than the ones I did (well, actually, like Edith Piaf, I regret "rien" about the things I did do.)

It's only about $60 or $70 more than I'd rather spend and sometimes cheaping out is no bargain. Plus, a Caribbean band, live? Come on.... You convinced me, thank you.

Plus it's my birthday two weeks previously, so it's actually my birthday month, right? I'm not even going to look at the prices on the menu, hells to the no!

Thanks, friend. Great suggestion, and a great pep talk.

In Athens, the Acropolis Museum is excellent. One thing I didn't understand until I was most of the way through the main exhibit is that it actually a model of the temple of Athena. We went through the museum after we had been up to the parthenon and walked around and looked at it. In retrospect, I wished we had gone through the museum first. I'd have had a much better understanding of what I was looking at if I had seen the Parthenon after I saw the museum.

On the other hand, because we went early to the Parthenon, we got there just as the gates were being opened, and we heard the Acropolis dogs barking. It seems they live there, and they understood the place was open for business, so they were no problem to anyone. They're well-cared for and fed, and it's their home. I guess their job is keeping the place free of vandals and graffiti. There were also a number of cats, again, well-fed and healthy. It's a pretty charming sight to see a cat sitting on a pile of stacked-up ancient columns, washing its face in the morning sun. There are also many cats and some dogs at Ephesus, and again, they are fed and cared for.

Once you walk down the hill from the Parthenon, you are in the Plaka in Athens. Fantastic food in shaded outdoor restaurants, or from little take out places. Many, many shops featuring wonderful cotton clothing in rainbow colours. And the sandals and purses! Soft leather, every colour, every design and shape. I bought my daughter a peach-coloured Grecian dress, and then said I would look for sandals to go with it. The sales attendant grabbed me by the arm and took me and the dress to the sandal shop, where she and I and the proprietor looked at every pair of possible matching sandals, debated the merits, and finally decided on the right choice. Unforgettable!

We humans sure don't like to admit we're actually animals, do we? All of the OP's observations are actually astute observations of aggressive mammal behavior. Leaving your stuff spread around to mark your territory is the same as piddling and marking with scent glands. Humans don't have a good sense of smell, so we mark the territory visually, by putting up fences, painting lines, planting hedges, and so on. Dropping towels and stuff on chairs is marking territory. Leaving it a long time and expecting it to still be there is showing dominance - don't you dare touch my place and my stuff.

Staring is extremely aggressive mammal behaviour. It's a warning signal that a direct attack is possible at any time. Other aggressive signals in humans are loud nose breathing, repeated fist-clenching, and shoulder pumping. Again, signs of dominance, or attempted dominance.

Quite a demonstration of mammalian aggression and territoriality the OP described! I don't know the solution.

The whole point of My Time is so you have flexibility - you don't have to eat in the dining room at the same time every evening. You don't have to reserve for My Time, you can just show up, but in that case, you may find there is a lineup ahead of you, so you have to be willing to be patient.

However, you can also reserve ahead with My Time, day by day, as you go. If, for example, there is a day when you know you have a big excursion planned and can foresee that your group will want to take extra time and eat a bit later, you can tell the Maitre d' in advance that you'd like a table for such-and-such a time that evening, and it will be booked for you.

On a couple of our cruises early dining was sold out, and we didn't want to start eating dinner at eight, so we opted for My Time. However, hubby is a creature of habit, and he likes to eat at the same time every day. So we booked all our My Time dining right as soon as we got on the ship for the same time every evening for the whole cruise. Worked out pretty well. Sometimes we had to wait a few minutes till a table was ready, but what is a few minutes on a cruise?

I also point out you can dine any evening in the Windjammer, at any time you choose, and the food there is a big step up from what is served in the WJ at lunch. Pretty darned good. If I had kids, I'd consider this. There's a lot to be said for kids being able to choose exactly what they want to eat when they can see exactly what it looks like.

Most trans Atlantic cruises rarely sell out. There are not a lot of people who want to go one way and spend that much time at sea. It is nothing at all like a Caribbean cruise.

I'm not sure why you're saying this. Many of the previous posters on this thread have just said their TAs were sold out. Have you had recent experiences that were different? What were the cruise lines, and what were the routes?

Thank you, that is a very good suggestion. I'll have to look at the budget. Our Canadian dollar is now worth about three-quarters of a US dollar, so for us this day would cost about 25 per cent more, but it does look fabulous!

Our dollar is a cruise killer right now. We're going in mid-Feb on a cruise booked a year earlier, so not suffering too badly.

But I think we will not book any more cruises for the foreseeable future, because the exchange rate is so awful. It breaks your heart to take $800 to the currency exchange and get $600 back.

It's Canada's 150th birthday this year. Free admission to every national park. A dollar is still a dollar if we stay home, and there's lots to see and do here. That's probably my plan.

Here's what you need to understand. Almost every day you will dock in a new port and you need to get off the ship and do a full day if you have the stamina, because each port is different. Each one is rich with history, with things to look at, new things to see and do.

This means you will need to eat a good big early breakfast, and then get going. And at the end of the day, you will want a hot shower, a good dinner, and a few minutes to remind yourself about tomorrow's plans, before you drop into bed.

You have two choices for a good big sturdy evening meal on the Jewel (and you need to stock up on those calories because you'll walk them off the next day). The Dining Room or the Windjammer. In either one, you can get all the good food you need. Pick whichever appeals to you. In the morning you need to fortify yourself with a good big breakfast. You can order a whole bunch of stuff from room service (tip the poor overloaded server well, please) or go to the Windjammer. Don't even think about going back to the ship for lunch. If you do this right, you should spend all your time on land in these wonderful places and buy your lunch locally. The food is delicious, safe and all good. Don't worry about getting back too late for the Windjammer. I'm guessing you'll be worn out at about 5:30. Lots of time. We were always in good time for dinner in the WJ or the dining room, because by that time we were worn out and our feet were done.

Rick Steeve's book is wonderful, and you can buy it for your i-phone. That's where you need it, right at that moment when you're standing on a street corner, wondering which way to turn next. But even if you don't have that book, you can easily do most of these ports by asking a taxi driver (there are always taxi drivers) to take you around a for a couple of hours and show you his faves. Then just walk, look, explore, eat, watch. My daughter wore the thing that measures steps taken. In every port, we logged about 15,000 steps, even if we had a taxi. We hit the high point in Rome, where we logged 22,000 steps, and I had to wear my bedroom slippers to dinner because my feet were so beat up. It was sooooo worth it.

All the ports are wonderful, but I have one MUST for you. At Kusadasi, you MUST go to Ephesus. This will mean you have to arrange a tour, or get a taxi at the port (they will be there). The driver should drop you off at the top (high) end and come back to pick you up at the bottom. I also recommend paying the extra fee for admission to the terrace houses. This will let you see how ancient people lived and really help you see Ephesus as it once was. Then you can think about all the famous modern musicians who chose this place to give concerts. Be sure to buy a glass of orange juice as you go out the exit to meet your driver. No orange juice has ever compared with that, for me.

I so envy you. I'd go back in a moment. Eat lots, soak up those calories so you have the energy to soak up those ports. This cruise is not about the ship. It is about you in all these wonderful places!

Our autumn transAtlantic on the Brilliance a year and a half ago was pretty much sold out. We got a good price (a little over $100 a day pp), but we booked a year in advance. This was an 18-night cruise, with some interesting ports in France, England and Ireland to start.

Many of the passengers were retirees, but there was also an interesting international component of people from as far away as Australia who were interested in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. I mean, how else are you going to see the Faroe Islands?

If you book early, and you have flexible time, you can probably still get a good bargain. But I don't suggest the cruise companies will be giving these cruises away for a song any more.

I love new places, and I find that every island is different and interesting. However, I didn't find much to like in Grenada, and I'm considering that maybe we should just enjoy the day on the ship mostly.

Last time, we took the water taxi to Grande Anse with one companion who needed a walker. At the beach, she couldn't go far, so we found a spot and rented some beach chairs, where the proprietor promptly tried to upsell us, $5 at a time, for cushions, an umbrella and a tiny table. Nice. The bathroom he promised we could use turned out to be located in the back of a billiard establishment about 150 yards away. Nice.

Some "professional" women displayed themselves on the beach in front of us while we were there. Nice. On the way back in the water taxi, it began to rain and blow a lot. The water taxi men covered themselves with sheets of plastic, but had not a care or a yard of plastic for their passengers. Nice.

My dripping companions went right back to the ship, but I did explore the market near the ship and bought some amazing spices, including a delicious curry powder, best I've ever tasted - that was nice.

I've also read accounts here that you have to be stern with Grenada taxi drivers to avoid being ripped off. And that Grenada is mostly closed for business on Sunday (which is the day we will be there).

So I will get off the ship and buy more spices, and a LOT of curry powder, if I can. But if I don't come up with a better idea in six weeks, I'll get right back on the ship.

Am I missing out on something great?

Once. We clean it once, as soon as we get into the cabin. Just in case the previous occupants had a horrible cold or a gastro-enteric issue. We bring disinfectant wipes, and rub them on places sick people might have had their hands on - light switches, drawer pulls, phone handset and buttons, door handles. After that, we take our chances.

I'm under no illusions about how long stewards have available to clean all their cabins by 1:30 pm. They do a great job, but disinfecting every little doo-dad? No. It takes us ten minutes, and makes us feel a little better about maybe not picking up a stray sneezy-hacking germ.

I digress. I've never had a really good solution as to how to get those luggage tags attached to the bags once I was ready to put them on. I don't have purchased holders as some do, and I don't want to bring a stapler or tape.

I met a woman who had a dandy solution. She prints and folds the tags at home, and punches holes in the two ends. She has a couple of small zip ties with her, and just passes the zip ties through the holes and tightens. Voila!

I was referring to the Indian entrees that we have been able to get from time to time. We've found that sometimes they have two Indian entrees (different each night) to choose from, one of which is vegetarian.

Yes, we discovered this too. People we were sharing a table with told us you can almost always order curry at dinner. The reason is so many of the staff are from India that there is always at least one pot of curry simmering on the stove for staff.

We did ask our waiter for the curry, and it was delicious. It was the genuine, cooked for hours curry, with many added and blended spices. Nothing like the curry powder we buy in North America. I did find it moderately spicy, but the trick is to calm it down by eating the rice it is served with.

I did it two years ago. It was interesting, although I found it very difficult to get the mud off afterward. There are fresh water showers there, but I found the mud greasy. Also, bring a nail brush! I could not get the stuff out from under my nails, and had to buy a brush in the next port the next day. Unlike Loosygoosy I did find it smelly, however.

I am really so sorry to be so stupid or naive, but I don't even know what you mean by mock booking. Please, somebody just tell me how to book a car so I don't get ripped off. I don't know this port, or US rental car and shuttle arrangements in FLL.

What you have been getting is people describing how they spent their money, on the ship, off the ship, whatever.

Here's what I do. I always have a folded $100 US$ bill tucked in a personal secret place. My thinking is no matter where I am, there will always be a guy with a vehicle who will get me back to the dock for $100 USD, am I right?

Mostly now I get off the ship and find a congenial-looking taxi driver and ask him to take me for a two-hour tour or to the place the crew goes.