ahecht

I don't know what the problem is, but it was really bad on Monarch. I wonder if the older ships have a less effective desalination process.

Desalination on the ships is done through distillation, which is sort of an all-or-nothing approach. The end result is distilled water, which is as pure as you can get. They do add back some minerals like calcium carbonate and magnesium bicarbonate to the distilled water in order to improve taste and reduce acidity, but if you read the label on your bottled water, the bottling companies do the exact same thing. If the ship water has too much sodium, it either means that who or whatever is adding the minerals is adding salt and has serious measuring problems or there is contamination coming from somewhere else. The fact that it started from seawater is a red herring.

However, the water is chlorinated (just like your municipal water supply) to prevent bacteria from growing in the pipes, and too much chlorine can also lead to water retention (I remember reading a story posted on here about people getting sick from the ship's water because a filter was clogged and as a result too much chlorine was being added). However, if you get water in the bars or restaurants, they most likely use a carbon filter to remove the chlorine before serving it.

I have a small water quality meter that I'll bring on Brilliance this Sunday to get some actual numbers.

The easiest bottled-water experience we had was on Independence of the Seas in February 2013. Put a tag on the case and it magically showed up in our stateroom.

Jewel of the Seas in Tampa allowed it, but we had to carry it on ourselves, and Navigator of the Seas in Galveston let us check it, but we had to pick it up the next day at Guest Services.

This may be a dumb question but........ We are booked on Brilliance of the Seas re-positioning cruise Boston to Tampa. I was wondering if there are any sights to see as we sail out of Boston? Can you see anything of New York?

I've watched that cruise sail away the past couple years and will be sailing with you this year. Sunset is at 5:45pm, so it will be dark by the time we pass Cape Cod or New York. We will sail right past Fort Independence, a historic stone fort built in the mid 1800s, on our way out of the port. We will also pass Spectacle Island (where they dumped all the dirt from the Big Dig). If the schedule is the same as previous years, the sun will set just as we pass Deer Island, but there should be enough light to see the dramatic lighthouse on The Graves (which we should pass at about 6pm). By the time we pass Cape Cod (8-10pm) it will be pretty dark, and I assume that the ship would be too far from shore to see any of New York (ships like to stay 200 miles off shore whenever possible so that they can use the cheap bunker fuel).

You can see my shore-based sailaway photos from past years at http://brilliance.ahecht.com/pictures

Looks like you're getting your wish, at least for Majesty of the Seas: http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1157/fast-free-internet-and-exciting-new-features-for-royal-caribbeans-majesty-of-the-seas-/

I wouldn't count on it. Yes, it only takes 10-15 minutes to get there from the port, but there's no guarantee that the ship would be cleared and you could get through customs by 8am.

In some other countries the fight was shown on regular sports channels, not pay-per-view, so it may have been even cheaper for the ship since they were in international waters.

After filing a complaint report to the Miami Better Business Bureau, Royal Caribbean has decided to refund.

 

Here is Royal Caribbean response to BBB:

"Thank you for forwarding a copy of the complaint filed with your agency. We appreciate this opportunity to respond.

We want to extend our sincere apologies to Mr Jose for the difficulties he has experienced in attempting to file a claim with his Assist Card policy. We have reviewed the history and we will be refunding the total amount. We truly appreciate Mr Jose's patience. "

 

I am really happy for getting my refund, but it is really worrying that this kind of things happens.

 

And it is really sad that it took 8 months, 30 e-mails, close to 30 calls, talk to people in Spain, Belgium, France, Argentina, Uruguay and USA, visiting Assist-Card office in Madrid, contacting a Spanish lawyer company to send a letter to Royal Caribbean Spanish office and finally filing a complaint to BBB to get my rights fulfilled.

 

I hope that this post helps other to avoid so difficult way to get refunds. Never trust Royal Caribbean about your insurance. If you are crazy enough to contract insurance through Royal Caribbean website, contact the insurance company ASAP to get a written confirmation of your insurance.

It's horrible that you had to go through all that, but I'm glad your story had a happy ending.

Did anyone else get the survey regarding new names for CruiseCare and ChoiceAir?

If we're going with classics, what about A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum? It's pretty accessible and not too technically challenging.

My college had an Island Oasis machine in the campus center, so I'm quite familiar with their offerings. The drink is a mixture of "ice cream base" (basically melted vanilla ice cream), crushed ice, and crushed oreos. It's very similar to the Dunkin Donuts Oreo Vanilla Bean coolata, if you've tried that, and very tasty.

On the ships I've been on, only some of the larger bars had the island oasis machines.

As far as I can tell, the only real rule is that shorts, tank tops and flip flops not be worn. Meaning concert t-shirts and jeans are acceptable.

I also saw signs banning vests in the MDR on Independence of the Seas. I guess they wanted to avoid guests impersonating waiters or something.

There's a pair of soft serve machines on the pool deck (labeled "Sprinkles" on the deck plans, despite a lack of any actual sprinkles). They have chocolate, vanilla, and twist.

What about capitalizing on their Dreamworks partnership and doing "Shrek The Musical"? It's toured the US and the UK recently after ending its Broadway run, and they've been licensing the music/book/lyrics to independent theaters since 2010. Those theaters have each done their own set design, so the massive Broadway sets aren't necessary.

I don't own any Hawaiian shirts and don't plan to buy one specifically for my cruise (even though Goodwill probably has them for $5 or less), so I guess this night will just be casual for me.

I use a $4 Salvation Army hawaiian shirt and my girlfriend uses a floral sundress she bought from a street vendor in Falmouth, Jamaica for about the same price.

I found the best deal was to use TravelInsured through USAA. Currently, USAA lets anyone sign up for free to get discounts even if you don't have any military affiliation.

You can mention tour operators as long as you've been on the tour. You just can't mention travel agents.

Looks like sea trials have begun!

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/oldshipid:991737/oldmmsi:311000274/olddate:lastknown#

Ahecht, that looks like a fantastic location. Not being familiar, its hard to see the staircase you pointed out, but once you know where to look, its there. Also its easier to see in the Birdseye view, I've only been looking straight down.

 

Question for you, How did you embed the picture in Cruise Critic? Thanks again, hope I get a great photo of the Brilliance coming in.

I uploaded the picture to Photobucket.com. When you look at a photo you've uploaded (the one in my post was here), there are share links on the right. Click on the one that says and it will copy the code to your clipboard, and you can paste it directly in to your cruisecritic post.

If Brilliance is using Terminal 3 again, there is a publicly accessible area on the roof of the terminal the would provide great views. There's a large staircase on the right side of the building that will take you up there -- you can't miss it.

Any February 2017 on freedom?

Mousy, we're not permitted to name or discuss online or other travel agencies here, sorry. :o

Mousy wasn't discussing online or other travel agencies.

Here's Freedom's Feb 2017 cruises:

It seemed to correspond with the release of the 2016/2017 cruises. I assume Cruise Critic got overwhelmed by the traffic.

When we were on Adventure last month, they mentioned a dry dock late 2016.

I thought she just had a drydock last year, but stranger things have happened. I guess we'll know for sure when the 2016 itineraries come out.

Navigator and Voyager have had them installed already and Explorer is getting one installed as we speak. Nothing has been announced for Adventure or Mariner that I know of, but Adventure wouldn't be going back to drydock until 2019 so I wouldn't expect a flowrider before then.

Most people upload their photos to a site like photobucket and use the [ IMG ] links that photobucket provides to post them here. While you can upload photos using the CruiseCritic app, they end up so tiny and low quality that they are basically useless.

If the cruise leaves from a US port then the answer will be no. If it leaves from a different country the answer will be maybe. You need to call

That's not true. We did a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale during the Blizzard of 2013, and there were lots of people that got stuck with cancelled flights and met up with the ship in Grand Cayman.

The only issue is if you join the ship at a US port that is different from the disembarkation port.