nolegirl01

1 hour ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

You can by looking at the deckplans.  Here is a snip of deck 11, the larger gap between 11188 and 11190 is where a firewall is located.  Check the deck you are on for gaps that look like that.

 

Oh nice I appreciate it! Our room is the equivalent of 11190 on that deckplan and our families are on 11192, and 11194 so we are golden. Thanks for the help! 

9 minutes ago, akcruz said:

 

We have had balcony dividers opened on Anthem, a sister of Odyssey so yes it is possible.  There are however always a few exceptions due to firewalls, etc but chances are good you should be able to open them all up.

Thanks! I wonder how we can tell on the deck plans if it has a firewall... with our luck we'll get there and we can't open it lol

4 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

They will definitely allow it (we’ve done the same thing twice on extended family cruises). However, that was Oasis class. Just have to make sure the dividers can be opened on Odyssey unless you already know (I’m not familiar with Q-class). I know they physically can’t be opened on some ships.

 Oh good to know! I have no idea either! This is our first time on the Odyssey.

We have 3 balcony cabins all booked right next to each other on the Odyssey in a few months. They are not connecting rooms which fine because it's all adults. Will they allow us to at least open the balcony dividers for all 3 rooms? or does it have to be connecting rooms only?

I 100% agree.... I was shocked and very disappointed. We always got the beds for the 2 of us and now at $400 I can't justify that... my hope is that they will be on sale during black friday but I'm not holding my breath...

11 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

Prices are not insane when they are still selling out every sailing. Thousands of other people are still paying those prices. You can look at other lines all you want, they are all going up in price and cutting back service as well

Yeah well just because thousands of people are buying $10 million homes, doesn't make it less expensive. I know people will still pay those prices, I'm not dumb. It still doesn't take away from the fact that these prices are really insane. I'm not the only one that thinks that. With prices continuing to rise, in a few years, cruising will be only for the super rich. NCL at least includes wifi, drinks, gratuity in their prices. We checked a cruise on NCL in the same time as the one we are taking with similar ports and a new ship and we were going to be saving quite a lot. Yeah it's hard to compare apples to oranges but if people are looking to spend money, they will go where the deals are. It's too late for us to switch but my point is, a lot of cruiselines price points are looking a bit more fair than RCL... and yeah RCL will still sell out, they will still make their money, but they will be losing some great customers in the future if the prices keep going up like this. Cruising has never been cheap but all we are looking for are fair prices.

I'm so sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace.

Which insurance do you all get when crusing? do you all get the one that RCI offers or a 3rd party one? Just curious which is better.

Prices are insane on our sailing. We are on the Odyssey in April 2024 and the water park is $188.99 a person... not to mention the day beds which used to be $199 are now $399 in our sailing. Coco beach club is $302.99 a person!!! I'm mostly upset on the day beds. We loved to get a bed just to relax and have a bit of privacy but at $400 they can stick it. We've never done the water park or coco beach club and wanted to do it this cruise, but at those prices, definitely NOT. Royal Caribbean is going crazy with these prices. I'll wait until Black Friday to see if they lower but I'm not holding my breath. We love RCL but at these prices, we might have to start looking at other cruise lines.

What about if your wife is pregnant or if your spouse is a recovering alcoholic? I would think that Royal would let one person purchase the drink package and the other purchase at least the refreshment package, like others have suggested. Has anyone actually tried this? 

This will be our first time in Aruba. We will be on the Odyssey of the Seas. We wanted to do a UTV ride and I saw Royal Caribbean is offering a 4hr UTV ride for $299 a person. After doing a quick google search, I saw there were other companies (not with RCCL), that were offering UTV tours that were longer and cheaper. I saw one through ABC Tours Aruba and another with De Palm tours. My question is, have you all booked with these 2 companies before? How is your experience? How did you coordinate transportation? Tell me all tips and tricks! The safe way is to book with Royal Caribbean, but they seem to be more expensive. Also we will be in port from 8am-11pm so we wanted to do a longer tour, get more bang for your buck! Thanks everyone!

Agreed, everything went up... we booked the Odyssey in April for my husband's birthday and I can't believe the price for a basic balcony. We only booked because it's my husband's 40th and we wanted to cruise. Then we looked at booking a day bed at coco cay, which we've done times before and I was shocked that they are now $399... The other times I went they were $199.... insanity!!!! What is RCL doing??

On 7/30/2023 at 12:53 PM, Koali said:

did you have to wait a certain time to return back to the port? We are sailing with NCL and they have an excursion which would be convenient but I have 2 toddlers, I’m not sure they can withstand 4-5 hrs. 

We did have a certain time to leave, but there were shuttles going back all the time so we asked then if we could go back a little earlier since we were finished with everything and she said it was fine. Just be sure to let them know so they can cross your name on the list so they aren't looking for you when the time comes (that's if you booked the transportation).

5 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Everyone has preferences, for sure.  I personally love the idea.  I see it as added full-time living space and can easily see myself sitting in that area whether the window is open or not.  I also think it is worthy of a premium price over a standard balcony.  I do think there will be an increase in cabin door slamming due to rush of air from the open window similar to how doors currently slam if you let go of them while the balcony door is open.  To each his own.

Agreed, it's definitely preferences and I respect your opinion. I was just curious to see people's different point of views and what they think so I thank you for expressing your point of view. It's always great to see the other side of things as well 🙂

Looking to book a balcony on Icon, is it just me or am I the only one who doesn't like these infinite balconies? I prefer the regular balconies where you can actually go outside and relax and feel like you are outside just feeling the breeze. These infinite balconies just feel like an OceanView Room where you can open the window. It's crazy that these are more expensive than a regular balcony!

On 1/19/2023 at 7:37 PM, hotlanta5 said:

Hi Nolegirl01! Did you end up doing this excursion? We would also like to do the SeaTrek and then head to Coki Beach. I wasn't sure about transportation. Thank you!!!

Yes we did the Dolphin SeaTrek excursion. While it was nice to see the dolphins, I think the normal SeaTrek would have been better. I think you see more. There was only 1 dolphin swimming around and while they were trying to get him close to us, he would do a swim by and then swim away. We only did one lap around the enclosure and that was it. I thought it was too fast and we barely saw anything. I think I saw the dolphin only once or twice in a swim by. I think the regular SeaTrek you get to see more fish, more corals and I think it's a little longer. But the staff was great! 

We booked the roundtrip transportation through the Coral World site and once you leave the ship, there was someone with a Coral World sign waiting for those who booked transportation. Once you get there, they have a list of people who booked the transportation and they will let you know what time your transportation will leave. 

As far as Coki Beach, once you get to Coral World, there is a little path that leads you to Coki Beach, so you can just walk over. It's literally next door so no taxi required.

On 1/14/2023 at 11:04 AM, Cruisefanatic71 said:

Thanks for all the recommendations from everyone. We booked our 2024 7 night Alaska trip leaving from Vancouver to Seward. I have searched the internet and am able to book the rail excursion that takes you to Denali which is the train my wife really wants to take which leaves from Anchroage to Denali through the tour company directly. I was also looking at the rail excursion in Skagway also. We always travel with passports no matter where we go when leaving the US so we will look at that excursion also. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which cruise line did you book?

omg the bread at 150 CP is amazing. We were just there for a xmas cruise and it was soooooo gooooood. Also loved Hairspray!! the cast was so good! they did an excellent job!

Room service is free for the food but they do charge a room delivery fee.

Following as we are planning an Alaska cruise in 2024 as well! We are between RCCL and NCL and are looking at different itineraries, not sure which to go with so far.

We were on the Symphony last month and we had the Voom Surf and Stream option which used Starlink so our connection was pretty good. We made calls to home (phone was on airplane mode so it was wifi calling) and we were even able to facetime. All in all, we used our phone normal as if we had normal service. Pretty happy with speeds.

11 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@nolegirl01 It is my assumption that a "better" system would also decrease the number of union workers needed/required. Therefore, any attempt at such "progress" would most likely be fought by the union(s).

yeah I see that also... which is sad 😞 

14 hours ago, shellunderwater said:

Ever been to an airport?  Anyone can walk off with your bag at baggage claim. 

9 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Airlines? 

That it's not unusual for bags to go to the wrong flight?  

That bags are put in the collection area for anyone to walk off with (just like the cruise lines, I know)?

 

Not that it means anything, but I found this sign when disembarking at PC:

 

I wasn't talking about baggage claim. I am talking about when you check in to your flight and they check in your luggage and put it on the conveyor belt. I was making a point of the security of the bag once you drop it off. Yes luggages get lost in airports as well, but my point was I think there has to be a better system then just handing my luggage to a porter on the sidewalk and praying he takes my luggage inside. I wish there was a place that I can go into and safely hand my bag off to an employee that will add it to a cart. Many times I've seen my bag at the port just sitting outside the terminal on the sidewalk just waiting for the porter to get them and put them inside the terminal. At that point anyone can walk away with my bag and also runs a risk of porters casting them to the side to get more tips and more bags and forgetting your bag all together. I think they get so crazy wanting tips that they don't take care of your bags like they are supposed to. Go to port of miami when there are 3 ships embarking at the same time and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't walk 2 steps without porters hounding you for tips and taking your luggage when you are no where near the luggage drop off area. It's chaos.

8 minutes ago, George C said:

We bought air tags that will track your luggage thru your iPhone 100 dollars for 4 of them . Some thieves have been caught with this.

I have airtags on my bags and love that you can track them but unfortunately if they miss your bag on the ship, you won't know until you leave which sucks lol

1 minute ago, Scotico said:

The porters fight each other for the tips not caring what happens with the luggage.  

Exactly! Most of them are so careless with our luggage. It's such a careless system. I hate it.

I wish ports handled luggage like airports. You check them in and it goes into a conveyor belt of some sort. I'm not a fan of giving porters my bags and then walking away. One time I left my bags with the porters and just stayed back and watched and the guy literally left my bags right where I left them (on the sidewalk, in the middle of all the crowd), while he went to get more bags and more tips from other people. I was so upset because literally anyone can just walk away with your luggage. A few mins later another porter grabbed it and took it inside. But my point is, we give a lot of trust with our belongings to these porters and with the amount of luggage going through the port for one cruise, I feel we need a better system that's a little more secure and to make sure our bags make it on.