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Other RCI cruise regulars onboard assured me this was not a normal RCI cruise, therefore I would probably do another RCI but definitely not another mini cruise and they just seem to be full of the booze cruise brigade.

Sorry for the long post.

Yes I can assure you this isn’t normal. Apart from you picking the right ship, the timing and cruise duration are all badly picked. Try to avoid cruises immediately after a big dry dock there will always be problem whether it’s small or big. And also these short 2/3 days cruises are so fit for hen/stag parties and most other referred them as booze cruise.

Also always keep a jacket with you when cruising from Southampton no matter the month.

The buffet closes at around 2130hrs. Cafe Promenade opens 24hrs where you can get sandwiches and small desserts. Sorrento’s pizza closes in the early hours of the morning.

There are a couple of Coca Cola Freestyle machines (these are the machines from Five Guys or in certain Burger King now) on the Royal Promenade that can be accessed at anytime (if they are operational). You will need a drinks package to use these machines. You get a Coca Cola souvenir cup as part of your drinks package and only those cups activate these soda machines.

The soda package gets you draught soda. But if the bartender is nice you might be able to get the odd cans. Without the soda pckage you can certainly either pay for draught or cans.

A portion of fish & chips from Fish n Ships is $9 and the portion is tiny, the fish is literally like one fish finger from photo I have seen.

There is no real pre-packaged food for you to take to shore. Depending on countries, some actually prevent you from taking any food off the ship into their country. You can always bring some zipper bags/sandwich bags from home or perhaps try some local food when you are on land.

The SPRING2018 discount code is still active and it has nothing to do with any email address. I just tried a dummy booking on a random cruise and 10% discount was applied. The website for ABParking is https://www.abparking.co.uk

Was on Navigator last month and fresh orange juice was still available at lunch time.

Got off NV 9/15 sailing and had Top Tier party in Studio B at 7.30pm with a special 10mins ice show. There was no Welcome Back party.

I was on Independence of the Seas last year and had a deck 6 PR cabin above the Champagne Bar over looking Guest Services. I could hear faint music (possibly from below Champagne Bar) when the cabin was dead quiet. Parade or street party noises weren't too bad either. Overall noise to us wasn't an issue in these cabins but privacy was. I had the curtains constantly shut to keep out prying eyes.

The bench by the window creates that extra space over an interior cabin which was great but I wouldn't pay extra for these cabins. I had the PR cabin through guarantee booking and got another PR cabin coming up for Navigator of the Seas deck 6 again but near the centre this time.

Yup closed way too early. Would be nice to have hot food/snacks available into late at night like fries, burgers or hotdogs. More than happy for the Windjammer to close early if these are available in the Cafe Promenade.

Yes paper cups are readily available in the Cafe Promenade for standard tea and coffee. The snacks are no different to any other time with your little sandwiches.

Once Windjammer is closed for food, they usually shut the main doors into the Windjammer hence you won't be able to get just tea, coffee or water.

No Izumi onboard but had Izumi Express last time I was on.

Thanks for the photo.

Don't have a photo but they are definitely there as I used them on my cruise on 8th July. As for how do they check, quite simply they don't. I always used my soda cup though so maybe that's why no-one stopped and asked me. There was a sign up saying that it was for use only for people with soda packages, but there was no-one there checking that you had a package before you could use it.

Thanks for the explanation. I have not seen a setup onboard like that before.

In the windjammer there is a self serve soda machine. Not freestyle. Just sprite, coke and diet coke.[/url]

Interesting, can you grab a photo? How do they check? I will be onboard in a few weeks time.

note seems like RCCL has changed port from Livorno to another port in the area on some ships

Sometimes they go to La Spezia which is just north of Livorno but further away to Pisa and Florence but close to Cinque Terre.

So far we have short listed few which has a stop at "Livorno (Pisa and Florence)" . I just want to know do they have enough time to go and see Leaning tower and back to ship on time ?

Port time in Livorno is generally 12hrs. Going to Pisa from Livorno is not a problem at all as that is only a 40mins drive so even half a day you can see Pisa. Florence is a little distance away but it is still very possibly to see both Florence and Pisa on a same port day provided it is the 12hrs stay. There is coach tour that do Pisa on its own or both Florence and Pisa, take at a look at Tuscany Bus.

I will expect it to be Quai de la Douane

I booked 3 guarantee cabins at the same time 7 months out. Two cabins were assigned in 4 weeks and third wasn't assigned till week 8.

CC22, can I ask a favour, will you please check the channels on the TV to see if Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sport24 (the live sport channel), are available on Navigator.

I'd be very surprise if any of those channels are available especially Sky Sports News. Usually you might get BBC World News.

We have the drinks package, however looking at your photos, all of the cocktails are now magically over the $12 price limit. Do you know if any of the cocktails are $12 or under. Enjoy your cruise

As others have mentioned the limit is increased to $14 as cruises out of U.K. include 18% gratuity on the displayed prices where cruises in Caribbean and elsewhere are $12 then have to add 18% gratuity which makes up to $14.

Thanks, will be onboard in September.

I don't have anything recent but this is from 2015. Take a look at the footnote.

Yes the The Raven nightclub is still there on deck 3 & 4.

4 grand children under 15, definitely go for the bigger ships. Go for Voyager or Freedom class ships they might not be as big as you might think.

£2064pp for 7 nights balcony sounds very expensive to me. And 50% deposit does not sound very appealing either.

Enjoy your cruise, I will be on Navigator from Southampton on the same month too. I was on Indy last year.