ButterflyGA

That disease must be catching !! I have it, too!! I’ve got three booked for 2018. I need to go to cruiseaholics anon !

 

 

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Lets Plan the first meeting... On a Cruise! LOL;p;p;p;p;p;p

MSC has the "tier" system where you pay a base fare and a supplement depending on what you want included in the experience. For example.. included in your basic fare is of course food, entertainment and stateroom location in certain decks. with the upgraded tiers (two different ones) you get spa treatments, X drinks per day and premium locations for staterooms and the ultimate one, which is suites and above are unlimited drink included, preference location, reserved area at the entertainment venue and such... I am not a fan of this, but I understand where they are going with this... specially when you dont partake lets say in drinking... so you have the option of getting a lower fare and not pay for what you dont use...

DH and I still working... Before Kids it was 1 a year, sometimes 2. After DD was born, took her on Majesty and after DS1 was born took them both with us in one 4-nighter and did 1 7nighter for the DH and I. After DS2 was born, did 2 more cruises with everyone in about 3yrs. This year we are doing another one with the entire crew and 1 Anniversary Cruise only with DH. So I guess we average 1 every 18months... We do some land/resort/beach vacay in there too... Planning on retiring and doing much more cruising! Hopefully we will be able to do 2 a year just DH and I and 1 with the kids (which will be all grown up) and their spouses if they are married then.

My love affair with cruising started when I was about 9-10yrs old and I would watch "The Love Boat". I imagined myself cruising to Puerto Vallarta each week and finally meeting "Golfer" in one of my trips! LOL.... Fast-forward a couple of years, I was fortunate to find a job with Royal Caribbean International as a Customer Service Agent in San Juan (where I am from) I was just a Junior in HS, and my part-time job consisted in Welcoming the guests at the airport, escorting them to the charter bus, and send them off to the ship! It was so much fun and forever cemented my love for the cruise line! After one year on the job, one of the perks was that we could take any cruise and only pay $15 (YES! $15) per day per person, plus taxes(granted there were available cabins... No confirmation until 2 days prior)... so basically a 7day cruise out of SJU was $105 + taxes... I used to take a cruise, with family or friends at least 2-3 times a year (during summer time/no classes) and by the time they introduce the C&A benefits, I was Diamond as they gave us the "retroactive" credits from those cruises. I eventually left for the states to persue other interests and got married. My husband and I took our first cruise together after being married 3 months! Our first cruise was the Majesty! Since then, we have traveled several more times (Explorer, Empress, Majesty, and others in Carnival). We have been married 19yrs now, and travel with our 3 kids, which I hope I am passing on our love for cruising... We did our last cruise in RCCL back in 2007. After than we traveled Carnival as it was more cost efficient for a young family of 5, needing that extra space at a cheap price... But now that we are in a better financial place and we our kids can have their own cabin, we are cruising RCCL's Adventure this June 1st out of NJ, going to NE/Canada! We are so excited!!! I am so happy to be able to introduce my kids to a different kind of ship (the Fascination, Elation and Sunshine were small, not to be compared to the Adventure!) and also with RCCL standards... After that, we have booked The Empress going to Cuba in October!!! The Empress is one of my favorite ships and going to Cuba has been on my bucket list for quite sometime! My love affair with cruising (on RCCL) will never end! God grant us all the health to keep discovering the world by sea!

The beer card has been offered on both Adventure and Grandeur. $49 plus 18% gratuity for 10 draft beers.

 

Like other "punch cards", you can do whatever you like with each punch: Keep them all for yourself, share with friends and family, buy complete strangers a beer.

 

:)

Fantastic!!! That sounds like an awesome deal! Specially me that with 1/2 beer is good... Do you recall when were they offered? 3rd day? 4th day? Me and My hubby enjoy a cold beer with lunch or as a snack, so this is good value for us... we can buy a card for both.. and have a few left over beers to share with new friends! LOL....

We sail on May 11... I’ll be posting compasses, Adventure Ocean compasses, and as many miscellaneous price lists I can find.

 

 

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:D:D Yeeyy Thank you!!! Have a wonderful trip and I will be in the lookout for the compasses!!! :ship::ship::p:p

I was on Adventure the first week of March. I did not hear anything about a 10 beer card. They did however offer a 10 drink card for $75 on the 4th day.

It looks like is more a thing to boost some alcohol sale! Thanks for the confirmation! I saw a compass that someone have posted a few weeks ago, that had the drinks card and the beer card listed as a special... but I could not remember which day it was offered and I cant find it in all the threads... So for you it was on the 4th day... which I guess is not a bad deal, if is 2 of you, that is about 5 drinks in 3-4 days... Thank you!!!

There are no Compasses of Adventure itineraries out of Bayonne. Adventure is still based in San Juan.

 

 

Room service menu: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/data/dining/room-service/menu/In-Stateroom-Room-Service-Full-Menu-web.pdf

Thank you for the quick response! The Room Service menu is perfect! Regarding the Compasses... do you have one (even if is out of SJU) just as an example?? I dont think the gym classes offering will change much... I just want to have an idea of the average of class offerings before I buy the package online... because if there are only 2 yoga classes offered, then is not even worth it... Do you happen to know the fee per class... A-la-carte? Perhaps I just forget the package and wait to sign up for each individual class.... Also, have you seen the drink deals I was talking about??? 10 beers for X amount, or X amount of frozen drinks for X$$ Have you seen those??? I saw the announcement listed in a compass that someone posted here before and I have not seen it since... I wonder if is a one-off kind of thing they offer if the other drink packages didn't sell well or if they need to boost some drink sales...

In about month and half will be sailing Adventure out of Bayonne NJ with the Family! Super excited... I have not sail RCI in a while and I have a couple of questions:

- Yoga Classes - I was thinking of getting the All Access Class Pass for $49, but I am not sure if It is a good value, because I am planning on only going to the Yoga Classes (which I think is not even one a day, but only 2 a week) Is that still the case? I have not seen posting of class schedules anywhere... Maybe someone have a photo of the class schedules??? Also, if I dont get the pass, do you know what is the fee per class? $12? $20? Anyone knows?

- Drink ticket booklets - I saw in a Compass posted the other day by someone, that on board they were offering 10 beers for $30, which I thought was a cleaver thing... I am positive this was NOT offered pre-boarding, only on-board. Is this pretty common now? I dont recall them (RCI) doing this before... But if is a common thing, I would like to be prepare, as I would buy this package... Thoughts? I saw this with the beers and with the frozen drinks I think... I guess it works just like the specialty coffee package I got for my daughter... 15 coffees, and you can share them... I cant find the compass photo I saw earlier... Have you seen this?

- Finally, Room service Menu... Interested in the continental breakfast menu... Anyone have it available?

Thank you in advance!!!

I googled my cruise date and ship name and I just happened upon this. Looks like this is not on your cruise-

 

http://www.almosteltonjohn.com/calendar/

 

 

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Wow!!! Thank you!! He will be on our cruise in June 1st!!! Looking forward to see him!

While continental breakfast is the only thing you can order without incurring the fee of $7.95, I just thought I'd share this perspective. It's a flat fee, which means it's not based on per person or specific items. We came back from an excursion sweaty and hot and wanted to shower but we were starving. We had two adjoining cabins and we ordered rooms service to be delivered to one of the rooms. We ordered the works...pizzas, burgers, fries, chips, salads and desserts. We had a few soft drinks in our fridge. We tipped the person delivering but outside the tip, four of us ate for about $2 each and it was great. We sat with our wet hair, soaking in the a/c and stuffing our faces. It arrived just as the last one got showered and dressed. Even if it had just been two, for $4 each we would have considered it a bargain. This would be especially great with kids after a tiring morning on a excursion. Well worth the flat fee. The only bad thing was knowing that people would see the number of containers in the hall waiting on the room service pick-up to retrieve them and knowing what pigs we had made of ourselves.

Excellent point. We are family of 5 (3minors) and when traveling have 2 adjoining cabins. Same situation, not all the time, but usually when coming back from shore, tired and hungry... we usually order to one cabin and the charge even with tip, comes to a very reasonable amount per person...

As for the "art gallery"...art was everywhere on the ship, just as it is on all ships. They had auctions and one day, toward the end of the cruise, they had the auction in the Safari room. I randomly took a few pictures there and around the ship of things that caught my eye.

 

This drawing is one that I could see Sakari doing with the crazy filled in shapes. I think we'll have to try it some day.

 

 

 

Another psychedelic picture that appeared 3d and moved with you.

 

 

 

There was a series of these pictures of women and they had jewels attached to them. I thought they were very pretty.

 

 

 

Then there's my favorite picture...kissing fish. I was eyeballing this picture from day one. This artist does a series of pictures like this and they seem to be black pieces of foam that is put on top of each other to create a 3d picture. Then topped off with bright colors of course. I would later find out that this particular picture cost $3,000!!! Say what??? I immediately put in a request for Sakari to make me something like this!

 

 

Great review... thank you for bringing us along... I think this is a BRITTO... hence the $3k tag price! LOL... I am sure Sakari can do this much better!

So, I am confused now. I get that you didnt have alcohol, and still got the bag searched. But I thought that you could bring Wine with you (2 bottles per cabin). So they are talking about hard alcohol (rum, vodka ect) or are you supposed to bring the wine with you, through security, when you come in the ship? Can you put the wine in your suitcase???

After all price-guaranteed adjustments, we ended up paying $2300 for 2 cabins/inside-connecting for our party of 5 in the RCCL Adventure. This is including taxes/gratuities for a 8day/7night cruise for NE/Canada coming up in June. About $65 per person per day... :)

I would think that in the Healthclub/Spa/Fitness Center they would have a scale. I shed 70lbs 3yrs ago, and I LOVE cruising. Some of the things that have worked for me are:

* Eat protein at breakfast

* Use the stairs

* Enjoy the tropical fruits and seafood freshly available at port

* Walk everywhere if you can

* Sleep and nap (God knows I cant when I am at home taking care of everyone)

* Squeeze one or two fitness classes during the week (even if is just stretching)

* With all the available food everywhere, try to do SMALLER more frequent meals... Like for example, 1 egg (scrambled or omelet) with fruit for breakfast, mid-morning a piece of cheese and piece of fruit, lunch to consist of a nice salad with turkey or chicken or fish or shrimp, mid afternoon snack of almonds/fruit/cheese/yogurt.. I guess you get the drift... Eat the cake or dessert too... I think the key word is balance! and at the end of the day ENJOY IT!!! a couple of +pounds are worth all the beautiful memories... dont let a "diet" spoil that!

I am originally from San Juan Puerto Rico, and my very first job when I was in High School was with RCCL! As a 16yr old, shuttling guests from all over the world back and forth from the airport to the ship, was fascinating... One of the benefits to work for the cruise line was that we got discounted travel for us and our immediate family. We used to go in a cruise almost every two months!!! My favorite family memories were on cruises... As an adult, mother of 3, I still find cruises to be a fantastic value (even when I have to pay full price!) and I am grateful my husband shares my passion for cruising... We have traveled ALL Caribbean islands, Mexico, Bahamas and part of South America. We are going to New England/Canada in the Summer and Cuba in the Fall... I am currently researching the Alaska / North Pacific Area for 2019 and Europe in 2020.

With my family of 5, it is a combination of destination and the actual vessel. If the itinerary is somewhere that we have been before, we focus on the ship. But if is a new destination, then we don't care about the ship so much. We always have a great time and we feel that it gives everyone (including myself) the chance to really relax and being pampered... You can always go and rent a beautiful home in the beach for a week for less money, but WHO is going to make the beds, or COOK the meals or Pick up around??? In a cruise I don't have to think about any of that... all is provided, in a beautiful setting, with gorgeous scenery and fantastic service.

RC has the Royal IQ app, which only works on Quantum class ships and Harmony. I believe the cost is $8 per device per cruise.

Thank you... so for what I gather, then nothing on the Adventure... :loudcry:

In our last cruise with Carnival we had this awesome texting app, onboard the ship, that we downloaded and pay $5 each. It allowed us to text with each other while onboard and did not incurred in extra data charges... Does RCCL has anything like that? This was strictly for texting within your group of friends... very useful... Someone know???

Hi! Congrats, and great question!!!

 

I am 7 years out from my Gastric Sleeve, and LOVE IT!!!!! love, love love... And, I'm still way below my doctors weight for me :)

 

I love to cruise! On the cruise, I drink like a normal person, but eat smaller meals, and have proteiny snacks to keep me from starving (my hunger never went away, like some people).

 

I've never asked about a discount. But, I did want to warn you that you need to be prepared that the waiter will be offended EVERY NIGHT that you didn't eat much. Every night I tell them- I don't eat much, and I'm not very hungry right now. And, every night, they are concerned that I don't eat much. AND, on every cruise, the head waiter will come over at least once, concerned that something was wrong with the food, since I didn't eat much. I just try to re-assure them that I just don't eat much, and the food was lovely :)

 

Also, I'm the weirdo that usually orders two apps and a dessert (usually the cheese plate). Because, that is what I want!

Mee too!!!!! I am 3yrs out of the Sleeve and cruising is the BEST... except for the drama in the MDR, when ppl think you are not eating enough and something is wrong with the food! and me too.. I order the cheese plate! LOLOL

When my family and I travel, usually we research a school or orphanage in one of the port of calls, and bring a bag of school supplies, small toys and candy for the kids. Do you guys know if this is allowed in Cuba? I will be contacting the government representatives in Washington, but was curious to know if any one here knew if this is allowed. Any information is much appreciated.

Just booked 10/25... No overnight but stops in Santiago and Havana... Planning on doing private 3rd party tours... Was told by RCCL they are allowed. We will see!!!

What the "Coffee Card" gives you??? Been away from RCCL for a while and they certainly have come up with a lot of stuff....Specialty coffees? Lattes? What is the deal with this card?

Thank you all!!! This is VERY helpful! I am going to wait until we are onboard... and Yes it would have been nice to have 50% with the Diamond perks! LOL!

Hello Fellow Cruisers... Diamond here... Its been a long time that I have traveled with RCCL... Will be sailing AoS in the summer and cant wait...

Question is... should I book and pay for my spa treatments now, before the cruise? or Should I wait until i get on board (and get Diamond Perks, if any?

Not sure what the perks are now... We used to get a booklet of vouchers for things.. casino free play, drinks, a photo i think and maybe there was a spa discount in there... cant recall... Anyone can clarify? What do you suggest.... book now or later?

Any suggestions? RCCL Transfers are about $28 per person (which is not bad) but was wondering if we have any other option. Husband wants to rent a car, since we are going to arrive early and not able to board right away... But was told by someone that the car rentals dont offer complimentary shuttle from their offices to Bayonne/// Is that true?

I also check into the possibility of using a car service and it is about $140 for party of 5, which is about the same amount with RCCL. It is our first time in Bayonne, and dont know what to expect. For those of you that have traveled out of Bayonne, what are your suggestions... I need help!