LuvWilliam

Say hi to Sebastian for us... we’ve never met him but we have him next week. Cannot wait! Have a fun week and we will wave at embarkation next week!

We booked our cruise over a year ago and final payment was two months ago. We paid with everything using our debit card until we realized we could have gotten so many points using a charge card. (We paid for a two bedroom aquatheatre suite, balcony, and an outside view stateroom so $$$) Has anyone ever asked Royal to switch cards after final payment? I know it's a long shot that they would allow this, but I figured someone has been in same situation! Thank you!

Thank you for your replies everyone! I appreciate it!

Thank you for this thread. We are in Star Class October 27th on Harmony. Can anyone give me an idea of what to tip for food delivery? We plan on having breakfast every morning on the balcony because then we don't have to wrangle our two little ones to a restaurant that early!

Hi! We are traveling in a two bedroom Aquatheatre suite with our two young children who are asleep by the time most people eat dinner on a cruise. We have babysitters we are bringing onboard to watch them at night, but I am not sure of the times we'd like to go to dinner since it really depends on the day/how the kids are/when they eat. Our genie asked us to send over reservations for when and where we'd like to go to dinner, but if we make reservations now, how hard is it to get in an hour later or an hour earlier, etc to Chops, 150 Central Park, etc. Thank you!

Hi! We are going on Harmony at the end of next month and have just received an email from our Royal Genie. Can anyone tell me what cabana would be best with an 18 month old and a 5 year old? I don't think an OTW one would be great with the baby and the ladder. Can anyone recommend an on the beach cabana?

Hi! We are sailing in a two bedroom Aquatheater suite and have the Star Class. I was wondering how many devices we will be able to use on the internet. We are traveling with our babysitter who has an Oceanview (so no Star class) so we need to be in contact with her at all times. We wondered if we had to pay for her to get the internet or if we could give her a passcode from our room.

Thank you everyone! We are really excited about the room. It's my first time in Star Class as well. We are celebrating our sons birthday who is born on Halloween! =)

Hi! We have a two bedroom aquatheater suite on Harmony (room 9330) for our upcoming cruise. While I was planning the reservations for entertainment, I realized that the shows in the Aquatheater run late! We have a one and a half year old and a six year old. The six year old can sleep thru anything but the one year old is a horrible sleeper who wakes up at every noise. We planned on putting them in separate beds inside the second bedroom. (Using a bed rail for the toddler) We will be bringing a sound machine, but do you think it will still be loud? I should have done my research prior to booking it, but it was the largest room for this particular sailing.

Any advice would be great... thank you!

Following... We have a two bedroom aquatheatre suite in October on Harmony and I was wondering the same thing.

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Hi everyone,

We have the Royal Genie with our next cruise and I was wondering if 10:20AM would be too early for an FLL departure coming off the ship? I know the genie can take you right to the front of the line at customs. We are traveling with a 1 year old and 5 year old, so we'd love to spend as little time at the airport as possible.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

This will be our first cruise from Ft. Lauderdale. Looking for a nice hotel not too expensive. Any advice on the Hyatt or Hilton?

 

Thanks

We got the Hyatt Pier 66 for $130 a night on Priceline. It was a beautiful resort, had a great lunch at their restaurant and the rooms were clean and great for one night pre-cruise. I'm a hotel snob too, so I take these things seriously lol

This is our first cruise and we are planning on prepaying gratuities but it has been highly recommended that we bring a bunch of small denomination bills for additional tips. What/how much do you usually bring?

And enjoy!!! You will have a BLAST. Your first cruise on Allure will spoil you!

This is our first cruise and we are planning on prepaying gratuities but it has been highly recommended that we bring a bunch of small denomination bills for additional tips. What/how much do you usually bring?

We brought $200 in cash... About $35 in ones, a few fives and tens and the rest in twenties to use for taxis. We didn't use RC for the shore excursions, we just went to the beaches ourselves so that's why we needed cash. We ended up coming home with like $20 lol Between the porters, the shuttle or taxi drivers and our stateroom attendant, there was a lot of people to tip lol

We were on this cruise as well and found that service was lacking in the bartending... We had the premium package as well and always tipped a dollar if the bartender was pleasant. We barely could get a drink at the pool bar. My favorite bar of every ship is always the Champagne Bar and the first night we sat for fifteen minutes without being served. Apparently you have to go to the bar now. Forget trying to get a drink served to you in the Pub... It wasn't until the last night that we had servers coming around. Not a big deal as we just went to the bar. But I just know that the bartenders are not happy with the drink packages.

I can't believe I'm writing this- I'm usually the person posting enthusiastic assurances to vegans that they will be well fed on their cruises!

 

 

 

Day 7 of 9 on Rhapsody, and for the first time ever, I'm hungry on a cruise! I should have taken action after the first two days, but I kept telling myself that I was only experiencing a temporary glitch- because, after all, I know how easy it is to get delicious vegan meals on a cruise!

 

 

 

But when I realized that the shameful lack of service I was personally experiencing was having an impact on the dining pleasure of my delightful table mates, I started speaking up. That was 5 days ago, and not only was there no improvement, things actually got worse.

 

 

 

Vegans eat more than a small plate of steamed broccoli and carrots for dinner, Rhapsody!!

 

 

 

I was up until late at night, sending private messages via social media to RCI, and only got one lame reply (have you spoken to the Maitre d'? Uh- duh!)- and that was only when I finally posted publicly after not getting any response for over 10 hours (even with the time zone difference, that was well into the working day at corporate).

 

 

 

My booking was marked with a notation that I am vegan, and I spoke with the Maitre d' on embarkation (advice I assure vegans always works), but I have had day after day and meal after meal of broken promises and neglect. Latest example: Two nights ago, the head waiter again insisted I always had to tell them exactly what I wanted for dinner the next night (this even after I met with the chef, who assured me that wasn't necessary, as he would give me a 'very special' meal each night). Last night I was seated at our MDR table promptly at 6, but when my table mates were served their main courses at 7, the HW came over to me and said 'The meal you requested was not prepared. The chef will try to make you something else, but it will take a while because we only fire up your meal when you are seated at your table.' When I pointed out that I had been seated for an hour already, and that I had only requested steamed rice and dal for dinner, he balked and disappeared.

 

 

 

At that point my table mates all but exploded!

 

 

 

I realize that no one here can help me, especially at this late date, but I'm not going to apologize for this rant. What a way to mark my 'diamond' cruise!

 

 

 

BTW- I finally gave up today, and decided to skip the MDR for the remainder of the cruise, and eat in Izumi each night, where I know from experience on previous ships that I can get something to eat (hmm- but maybe, based on what's been going on, I should be worried?!) . When I told my table mates my decision, they were understanding but very unhappy that it had come to that. When I asked guest services to notify the Maitre d', they didn't blink an eye.

 

 

 

Rant over, but a heads up and warning to vegans! Even after many successful years cruising vegan, you can still hit a brick wall! (Thinking I may want to change my signature....)

I believe you posted on one of my questions about dairy free ice cream a few months ago. We are on Oasis right now... We are having a similar experience. We are a family of three (DH DS3 and I) and we are all strict vegans. We have had salad morning noon and night every single day... In fact, I'm writing this eating a salad from Park Cafe haha Tonight will be our second night in Izumi and honestly I wish I could have gotten reservations there every night! It's the only time my son has eaten. He is the best eater at home, eats me out of house and home actually! But there is nothing that he can eat at night besides salad and the steamed veggies. I brought him cereal from home (Veganics Sprouted Brown Rice cereal because I didn't want him eating the sugar cereal they have here!) and the only positive thing I can say is they did bring me soy milk every morning i have asked for it.

We ate at Sabor and I said to the waitress "We don't eat meat or dairy, is there anything we can have? Maybe a veggie taco?" She stared at me like I had two heads and said "I don't know, is there anything on the menu? No? Then no we can't make it" We had the guac and chips (which were delicious!)

We had a horrible horrible experience at Johnny Rockets... I of course looked at the ingredients list online at the Johnny Rockets website... Their veggie burger is vegan. We told the waitress we wanted the veggie burger with no cheese.... It came out, my son took two bites and I said "Oh my gosh, it has cheese on it" I sent it back, she came back and said "oh the burgers have cheese inside of them" I showed her the website and said we can't eat meat or dairy... She said well are you allergic? I said "My son ha never ever had dairy, I have no clue if he is but I'm sure he's going to feel a little sick from eating those couple bites." He's been vegan since inside my womb (lol) so DH and I were extremely upset because we never wanted him to have anything not vegan until he made his own decision when he's out of our house. Anyway, She didn't even apologize, then proceeded to CHARGE me for one of our meals!

We brought a full carry on of snacks- cashews, peanuts, candy, brownies and cookies for dessert... We are leaving tomorrow and have eaten almost all of them even though we didn't expect to need them.

I'm not asking for the more intricate meals that I make at home... I'm just asking for more than just grilled/steamed veggies and salad... Maybe a dessert option... Maybe a hot dish would be nice. But tonight, it's cucumber and avocado sushi lol

(BTW if you haven't been to Sublime in Ft Lauderdale we highly recommend it... We went on our pre cruise night last week to celebrate our sons birthday and we really enjoyed it)

It's been about a month since the last "on the sand" status report.

 

 

 

Has anyone been there recently and care to comment on the current sand

 

(or lack thereof) situation?

 

 

 

Thanks!

We were there Wednesday and there was plenty of room for beach towels. We walked all th way down to the other side of the Beach (opposite the bar) and had more than enough room to lay out. The sea was great once you were about five feet out but extremely strong for the first few feet out.

We were in the Solarium for the twenty party as well and got so nervous when the music stopped and the lights came up... We watched the rescue efforts from 1AM-5AM... We saw the beacon in the water and the boat go to it about five minutes after the Oscar announcement. Around 2AM a guy came up to us on the deck and showed us the YouTube video (which is still up btw) It's just horrible. We couldn't believe how quickly word spread about what happened and how fast the video was posted and found by others. So so sad. I can't even imagine where his family/friends are at right now onboard and what they are going thru.

Thanks everyone! I called and they changed it. It's not a big deal but still wanted to change it! =)

Hey everyone!

My son has been on one cruise with us so far and we leave on Friday for Oasis... I just noticed he is down as Gold and we are Emerald on our cruise docs. I thought he received our status until he was 18?

Hope you're enjoying yourself, just read that you're a first timer!!!

I know it's a long shot but why chance you could find out if they have any vegan (no meat, seafood, eggs, dairy, honey, gelatin) options for dinner/dessert anywhere... Or dairy free ice cream on the Boardwalk! We would SOO appreciate it! DS is turning three on Oasis on October 31st and we are so excited!!!

I wasnt upset because I paid third person pricing our 12.5 month old oh Indy... But I was upset when I had to pay 6-8 dollars an hour for the nursery. I paid a grand for a child that didn't eat anything, didn't drink anything and didn't take up any room in the cabin (slept in bed with us) I just think that's crazy.

I'll be aboard with you. I guess it will be 6am when we get to Nassau, as if 7am wasn't early enough. As usual, I'm sure there will be something in the compass about staying on ship time versus local time, and I would guess that they'll make the one-hour adjustment to ship time at or close to 2am on Sunday the 1st, but we'll see...

Exactly... I feel like Nassau is almost a wasted port. Some people may be up and off the ship that early, but most will only have a few hours to enjoy. We always stay on the ship there anyway since we have been many times. Now let's hope my child doesn't wake up an hour earlier! Lol!

I had this happen in February and all I did was hand them the new one at check in... No need to worry