ckfred

We just got off the Beyond.  We talked to a couple who had bought some jewelry on board and were first surprised that U.S. Customs declaration forms are no longer put out with the baggage tags.

They expected to either get flagged when scanning Sea Passes, or to have someone at Immigration and Customs pointing people into a line, if they exceeded their exempt amounts.

We saw them while waiting for our airport transportation.

Nothing happened when leaving the ship, and no one was directing people to a line for "over the limit" passengers.  

I've read that RC will have "VR" shown through the windows, to give the impression that the train is moving.

The first two "trips" will be the Old West and the Silk Road.

Now, I'm being a bit nit-picky.  In the era of the Old West, trains didn't have dining cars.  Passengers got off at a station to eat in a station dining room, then got back on the train.

On the Santa Fe, the station restaurants were Harvey Houses.  Judy Garland's character was a Harvey House waitress in the movie musical "The Harvey Girls."

But, I'm curious as to the menus.  American railroad menus varied by region.  Illinois Central trains out of New Orleans had a Creole menu.  Union Pacific and Burlington trains eastbound out of Denver had trout on the menu.  New York Central and Pennsylvania trains out of New York had Oysters Rockefeller on their menus.  The Southern Railway was known for its Southern fried chicken, as well as mint julips in their club cars.

So, how much research will RC do on American dining car cuisine?

My wife and I booked on the Wonder yesterday for April 16th, because we decided Paris is looking a little too much like it's 1789.  We could not get a first or second seating, and My Time Dining is showing first seating at 8:15 most nights, with a couple at 7:45.  I'm resigning myself to eating in the Windjammer every night.

Before Covid, check-in started before 11am, and embarkation started at 11am, with the Crown & Anchor elites.

So, if check-in starts at 1pm, then what time will they start putting passengers aboard?  And will the Windjammer be open for lunch.

We're staying in a Miami hotel, and check-out is at noon.  So, if we get to the cruise terminal before 1pm, will that be a problem? 

My wife is going on a 3-day cruise with a friend, because I won't go.  I could see the cruise for July getting cancelled.  Frankly, cruising with all of the behavior restrictions is not appealing.  What is bugging me is that back in the summer of 2020, RC said that my wife and I could split our son's future cruise credit (typical teenager despises travel, because he can't be on-line with his friends).  Now, they say we can't.

Last time we cruised out of Port Canaveral, we booked a 3:15 departure out of Orlando.  We could have easily made the 11:15 departure, on the RC motor coach.  About 2:15, lines of thunderstorms started coming through.  The inbound aircraft diverted to Jacksonville.  Long story short, the 3:15 departure left at 7:15.

I'm just sort of adverse to afternoon departures out of Orlando, knowing the potential that they could become mid-evening departures. 

We're looking at booking a cruise on the Harmony next September.  I looked at airline schedules for our preferred carrier (I have Gold status on American).  Our choices currently are departures at 10:30am and 5:15pm.  Is a 10:30 departure out of MCO doable?  I'm assuming we would have to do early disembarkation and arrange for private transportation to the airport, rather than the RC motor coach. 

We're contemplating taking a cruise this June out of Copenhagen.  With a Saturday arrival, what would be the earliest departure time out of the Copenhagen airport.  I'm finding a flight that leaves at 1:45 for Heathrow, but that would only give us 1:15 to connect to the last departure of the day for Chicago.  What is the earliest departure time out of Copenhagen that is won't have us panicking, if disembarkation takes a while? 

We're looking at sailing on the Reflection out of Dublin this June.  Back in 2015, we sailed on RCL's Brilliance of the Seas out of Hawich, England with our son who was 12.  He really enjoyed the teen club.  He ran around with 8 British kids, and his soccer game improved a lot.  When we sailed the next spring on the Majesty out of Miami, every teen activity was cancelled, due to low numbers.  We theorize that there were a lot of large family groups traveling at spring break.  If a family had several teens (siblings and/or cousins), they could occupy themselves without the teen club.

Needless to say, our son had a miserable time and now has no interest in cruising.  On a Celebrity cruise, are we more likely to find teens participating in activities, or will they be wanting to avoid the club like the plague?  The last thing we want is our son simply sitting in the cabin, playing video games on his laptop.   

I have three questions. First, how does HAL compare to Royal Caribbean? My wife and I are Emerald status on RC, but it seems that RC in 2018 isn't what it was, when we sailed on our first cruise in 2008. We are starting to think that we need to change cruise lines.

Second, we have a teenager who, back when he was young enough for RC's Adventure Ocean program, loved cruising. But ever since a 4-night cruise out of Miami, in which every teen program was cancelled due to lack of interest, he has resisted getting on a cruise ship. Would HAL have something for a teenager, or should we be waiting until he goes off to college?

Third, how is the quality of HAL's wi-fi, and how much does it cost. The teenager might be more willing to go, if he could stay in contact with his friends while traveling.

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I got the post-cruise survey for my cruise ending 4/1 on the Liberty, while I was sitting at IAH waiting for my flight home. I thought that was pretty good.

Then, I opened the survey yesterday. I got to the questions about ports and excursions. The cruise was Galveston-Roatan-Costa Maya-Cozumel-Galveston. But, the survey had the cruise as Galveston-Nassau-Nassau-Nassau-Galveston.

I had to go back to the first part of the survey, so I could rip on their IT prowess or lack thereof, followed by my opinions on the ports and excursions.

I forgot to mention that I e-mailed RC on Thursday, March 22nd, to inquire about where to catch the airport transfer (we were spending Saturday night at the Intercontinental Marriott) and wound up calling on the 23rd. I finally got an e-mail, apologizing for the tardiness in responding to my e-mail, on Tuesday, April 3. That's 2 days after the cruise ended.

It's no wonder that my opinion of RC isn't what it was a few years ago.

We just got off the Liberty yesterday. Compared to cruise port facilities in Seattle, Boston, Port Canaveral (before the new RC terminal opened) and the old RC facility in Miami, Galveston is terrible,

We managed to get off the ship without a lot of trouble yesterday, because we had the RC airport transfer. But friends we were traveling with needed three hours from the time they walked down the gangway until they cleared Customs and Immigration. That is insane.

Mind you, their bags were in the terminal, when they got off. In fact, they saw their bags coming off the ship, while eating breakfast in the MDR.

It seems to me that the first bus from Port Canaveral for Orlando International leaves 30 to 40 minutes earlier than the first bus leaving Galveston for Intercontinental. If RC could get the first airport transfer between 8:45 and 9:00, rather than between 9:30 and 9:45, then disembarking passengers could make earlier flights, and embarking passengers could arrive earlier at the pier.

No need to throw around words like business and office.

What's wrong with using the words "business" and "office"? I think people have a better understanding of what people wear to an office than the terms formal and smart casual.

Does RC carry the channels that have the NCAA basketball tournament? I'm scheduled to sail on the Liberty next week. So, Sunday has the Midwest and East regional finals, and Saturday has the Final Four.

A. It's just not a formal night, unless there is at least one man in a dinner jacket and kilt. Depending on the cruise, I've seen as many as five men in kilts.

B. I wish RC would get rid of smart casual. The idea of a sport coat and tie is not casual. When it came to high school dances, homecoming and Valentine's were semi-formal (coat and tie, suit or sport coat for boys and cocktail dresses for girls), while prom was formal (tuxes and evening gowns).

C. Perhaps RC should go with casual, business casual, and business formal. Casual is casual. Business casual is what one should wear to an office, a shirt with a collar and Dockers. (Don't get me started on people who think ripped jeans and a 10-year-old concert shirt is business casual.) Business formal is coat and tie. Depending on the office it might be a suit, or simply a sport coat.

D. I did notice in London that business casual is dressier than in the U.S. I saw a lot of men on the Tube during morning rush wearing suits with no ties, or wearing the vest and pants of a 3-piece suit with a tie, but not coat.

I've flown out of Seattle on American after a cruise. We made a noon flight with no trouble, but 11:00 would be a bit stressful. This was back in 2011. The cruise buses drop off passengers on the lower level, and the airlines have check-in counters outside of baggage claim for cruise passengers. The problem was getting through security. We were on the south side of the terminal (American was then on Concourse A), and there was no line for first class/elite frequent flyers. I was told that Alaska had a line for elite flyers, but that was on the other side.

Now, AA is on Concourse D, on the Alaska side of the terminal. So, if you are flying First or are AAdvantage Gold or higher, I'm betting there is a dedicated line. I would hazard that the security lines near the cruise check-in desks don't have TSA Pre. You might want to check the TSA website. It's usually good at telling where those lines are at various airports.

You might want to consider taking a cab, just so you don't have to wait for a bus to fill.

My last cruise, out of Miami, the issue wasn't so much changing times, as it was aircraft. On both ways between Chicago and Miami, the flights changed between a 777, a 767, and a 737, probably 5 or 6 times each way. What got fun was when my flight to Miami was cancelled the day before departure (the plane was supposed to be a 777, but another 777 scheduled to fly to China had major issues, and they had to swap in our aircraft). We managed to get the last 3 seats on the next flight. Fortunately, we listened to our travel agent and flew the day before the ship's departure.

Two questions. First, what time does the first bus leave IAH for Galveston. My RC documents say 10:30. But, I could swear that when we took the RC bus from Orlando International to Port Canaveral, the first bus left between 9 and 9:30.

Second, we're spending Saturday night at the airport Marriott. So, which terminal would be the best for picking up the bus?

Has anyone had an excursion cancelled, several weeks before the cruise? We just got an e-mail from our T/A, saying that the excursion for our sailing on the Liberty, while in Costa Maya, was cancelled for "operational reasons."

The problem is that the excursion was to the closest Mayan ruins, with an hour on the bus each way. The other excursions are for bus rides of 2 to 2.5 hours each way.

I don't recall an MDR waiter (or any other staff member) "begging" for a high rating. I've been reminded to fill out the survey and to be honest about the service. One waiter asked that I take the time to include comments, because Headquarters pays more attention to the comments than the ratings. In my mind, that seems fine and in no way begging for a high rating.

But, as I've said elsewhere, complaining about the food should not be held against the waiters. Often, food criticism is very subjective, and a cruise ship waiter doesn't know what a person does and doesn't like.

Frankly, the only times I've ripped on RC on a survey has been over excursions.

The only packages I have bought are soda packages for myself and our son, and the water package for my wife. Neither of us are big drinkers, and my wife generally refrains from drinking unless the ship is docked or anchored.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned as a perk is going to the C&A party. Besides getting to insight as to the future plans of RC, the alcohol is free. You also get to see which passengers on the ship have the most nights and get a free bottle of champagne.

What I find more annoying than the hype for specialty dining reservations is being hounded by photographers every time I turn around. I hate it when I'm interrupted at dinner with an insistent photographer who keeps trying to snap pictures of everyone at the table. At this point in my cruising "career" I could sell them pictures!

And what is sad is that the quality of the photographs are terrible. On our first cruise, my wife and I bought the dinner photos, because they were good. Since then, the only photos that we bought were of our son, on the pier with the likes of a pirate, a fisherman, or a bear. He used to be little, cute, and willing to mug for a camera. (Now is a tall teenager who constantly broods and despises having his picture taken.)

But, the photos of us, whether at dinner or in front of a background, are usually horrible. I always wonder if RC photographers are employees who enjoy photography before starting with RC, or does RC simply offer a crash course to employees who think that being a photographer is better than waiting tables or cleaning cabins.

If anything, there are specific cruises I would avoid. The 3 and 4-night cruises tend to be booze cruises. I'm not sure I would ever take a Caribbean cruise out of Florida, when U.S. schools are out (summer vacation, winter break, and spring break). You tend to get a lot of very large family groups from the Southeast, because they can drive to the pier from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

We've only been to Chops once, courtesy of our TA. It was very good (Freedom in July of 2014). The service was great, but we were the only people in the place until halfway through our entree.

Let me ask this question. As opposed to canceling a cruise, what if you want to change a cruise? Three years ago, we booked a 7-night cruise out of either Hamburg or Copenhagen. The more we thought about it, the more we decided that we didn't like the cruise. So, we switched to a 12-night cruise out of Harwich, departing within a few days of our original cruise.

So, with RC's new choice of refundable or non-refundable, does switching from one cruise to another cause a person to lose a deposit, if the original booking was on a non-refundable fare?

It used to be with the airlines, that if you booked a non-refundable ticket, you could change flights on a travel day, or even the travel day, if seats in the original fare category were available, with no penalty. Of course, that disappeared a good 10 or 15 years ago.

There may or may not be a lot of teen activities on any given ship. It depends on the number of kids who show up for each activity. We sailed on the Brilliance out of Harwich during the summer of 2015. There was a teen activity every night, and our 12 year old return promptly at midnight every night.

But, during spring break of 2016 on the Majesty, every activity was cancelled due to lack of interest. Our theory was that so many family groups travel together that, despite there being more than 800 passengers under the age of 18, that teens had enough siblings and/or cousins that they didn't need to go to an activity. So, our only child was in bed before 10 every night, out of sheer boredom.