TulipBee

Regarding the pizza, my son ordered pizza one night in MDR, and it was not very good. He had it one night in WJ, and it looked better, and he just ate three pieces in CP and it was even better. They are probably all the same pizza, but it definitely can taste better depending on where you get it...lol

 

 

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I’m on Navigator at the moment and I am with your son, for some reason the pizza in CP tastes the best. I was pleasantly surprised.

I did one last year on Radiance. It was great - the whole ship was decked out in decorations. There was carol singing in the atrium, and there was a special meal served in the MDR for dinner on Christmas Eve (turkey with all the trimmings and it was the best meal of the cruise!).

I know that I've read on here that Princess blocks streaming sites on board (Netflix etc), but I was wondering if anyone had successfully used FaceTime/Skype/Google Hangouts on board? I'll be on Star.

Thanks in advance!

The website for the Princess lodges, particularly Fairbanks, only states they offer laundry but no further details. Does anyone happen to know if they are self service laundry facilities or if you have to give it to the hotel to clean? Just trying to plan ahead (travelling for over a week ahead of arrival) and when I can do laundry.

If you are flying International, you need additional time for security and custom clearance at the airport.

 

 

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Yes, fully aware of this - am only trying to get to Orlando.

Hi Brains trust! I've never cruised from Miami before, so was hoping for some help on post Cruise flight timing. My cruise docks at 7am - what is a realistic flight departure time from MIA? Also, is a FLL flight departure after cruising into Miami an option, and if so how much time do I need to add to get to FLL?

(Thanks in advance)

It is making the news here in Australia.

I was on the sailing just before yours! Man I miss that ship.

 

Weird situation for sure! That was on MTD was it?

Yup, it was MTD. We were 8 people, so we had made bookings for every night early on to be on the safe side.

I used to always take advantage of the "Wash and Fold" laundry special (one price for what you could fit in one bag) toward the end of a cruise, but was told on the Jewel last month that they didn't offer it anymore...:(

They had it on Radiance last month. it was pretty random when you got it though. We had 4 cabins in our group and we all got the special on different days and it always came with a note saying you had 48 hours to take up the offer. One of our group got it day 2!

Actually, one other thing I did want to add. Ten days after disembarking I still had all the "holds" on my credit card from embarkation (the sea pass account had been paid in full). It took multiple phone calls to both RC and my bank and nobody could work out why it wasn't removed (RC told me their policy was to remove it in less than 72 hours post cruise). I ended up having to elevate it to get it removed. RC admitted on the phone that this happens quite a lot and they get quite a few complaints about holds not being removed for weeks post cruise. It is worth keeping an eye on your credit card post cruise to make sure that they do remove it in a timely way.

For the second cruise in a row as well my C&A points were also credited incorrectly. It was also fixed really quickly with an email - but it is just worth noting the systems don't always seem to work, so it is good to log in and check everything is in order when you get home.

Did you ever get to know the reason for the behavior of your new waiter? I would be intrigued.

Glad you had a great cruise!

We never got to the bottom of it. I mentioned it here in part because I was curious if anyone else had any insight into what might have been going on. We almost posted here on Cruise Critic during the cruise for help to try to sort it out!

Normally I don't really mind who my servers are in the MDR - but we REALLY liked the ones we started out with, and we were so glad to go back to their section after being stolen away. It wasn't that we disliked the other team (although we did re-evaluate this after the weirdness started), we just clicked with the first team.

But hey, if being fought over by waitstaff and the cafe running out of chocolate syrup are the worst things that happen on a ten day cruise then you've had a pretty good time :)

I wanted to share some pics with you all of our Christmas cruise on Radiance around New Zealand. I suck at adding them here on cruise critic, but I've just loaded some of my favorites elsewhere. Here is the link:

http://belindabypopulardemand.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-cruisy-christmas.html

Overall the cruise was great and we all really enjoyed it. For around half of our group it was their first cruise and there was lots of excitement around everything from towel animals to the buffet's ice cream machine! My Dad REALLY loved the ice cream machine!!! :D

We had a bit of a weird situation in the MDR with the servers. We had a group for the first few nights who we LOVED. Then, for reasons nobody could explain, we were moved over a table to another section and things got weird between the old and new waitstaff. It actually got to a point where we were feeling really uncomfortable with the new waiter and his attempts to "outshine" the others. It went well beyond good customer service and bordered on creepy. We went and asked to be put back in the other section for the remaining nights, only to get back the next night and find out the new waiter had demanded we be moved back to his area. We finally got back to where we wanted to be, but the whole situation was weird and made us really uncomfortable.

I know people are always interested in knowing how good/bad Voom works. On Radiance it was great. I was on Serenade back in May and it was miserable. I demanded (and got) my money back it was so bad. On Radiance I could do anything I wanted - I was even streaming Netflix no problems.

If anyone has any questions about Radiance I am happy to answer them.

I am currently on Radiance, which is docking in Duendin on the same day. Must admit we were not looking forward to competing with all the passengers from Ovation, but I am sure they are disappointed.

The weather in Akaroa today is perfect, but the other night coming down the east coast of NZ we hit weather so bad that one of the cabins in my group had to get out of bed at 4am because the glass balcony doors had come off their hinges - so you never know.

Just off of the Serenade yesterday .

What people are posting about smoke from the casino and late noise from the Centrum entertainment is true .

The Centrum set up for entertainment there is a horrible , especially at times other rooms just play recorded music .

The internet is hit or miss at times and a feature oversold by RCI .

We and some others ,that we spoke to ,found hot water for showers hit or miss also .

Internet had very few "hits" for me. I just finished writing the nasty email to RC over their over promising in that respect.

Sorry to hear about the hot water. It was all good for me for the last week - which I am so glad about (what with we being in cold ports and me having a cold, hot water was a must!).

Yup - formal nights were days 2 & 5 (just double checked the compass) and as the previous poster mentioned, this was not a sea day. Weirdly it was the day with the latest departure time (7:30pm).

Thank you.

 

Curious as to how you found the smoke issue? Is the casino still as bad as ever, drifting out into the Centrum?

I was worried about this, but admit I only noticed it this week in the casino itself (and I am pretty sensitive to it).

The shows are scheduled around the 2 traditional dining times....no worries...

Having said that, I was on Serenade this week and on at least one night there was only one show (at 7:45). Even the night there was only one show you could still get a seat easily. As long as you showed up five minutes before show time there were no issues.

As an aside - I was surprised there was only one show that night. I'd met the performer the evening before and he had been flown in just for the one show. Three days on the ship for 45 minutes work!

Oh, and another tip for those that play Bingo! They no longer do the punch out cards (apparently they took too long to burn in the ship incinerator we were told) so you need to bring a pen/marker to bingo with you. The only other option is to buy one of the RC bingo robbers for $2.

I enjoyed it so much I printed out the blogs for future reference, LOL. I'm glad to hear you were able to get something at the pharmacy to give you relief. Thanks for the moisturizer tip, and for the answer about karaoke. Do you know when the second formal night is? On most cruises I've been on, it's been on the second sea day, but I believe it's up to the Captain, and every ship and itinerary can be different. Thanks again for your blog. It's excellent!

Thank you :)

The two formal nights were day 2 and day 5. First was a sea day, second was a port day.

Thanks for the pictures and narrative. Your comments are very helpful for us and are giving us an idea of what to expect in each port.

 

I know the weather can change in a few weeks, but I'm very pleased with my decision to book an OV for this cruise. We were in 8586 last month and it looks like you are close to where we were on the hump.

Very close - 8508 :)

I am back in the land of Internet and did a final update http://belindabypopulardemand.blogspot.dk/2016/05/fjords-and-food.html

Port wise they well and truly saved the best til last. Friday's port was worth the entire price of the cruise and it is up there as one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

A few summary observations from me (it was my first time on Royal):

- I didn't appreciate that my cabin attendant would not let me in my room whilst it was being cleaned (particularly the day I was unwell). I paid for it, I can use it whenever I want!

- Everything I pre-booked on Cruise Planner was either cancelled or moved to a different day by Royal. In one case they cancelled a tour just to make us all come and re-book so we 'understood what the tour was'. That was a frustrating waste of time (and annoying that it has to be refunded on my credit card - 10 day wait - but I had to repay on my sea pass!).

- It would be nice to have little snacks in the bars like chips or pretzels. This is the first cruise line I have been on that does not do this. It is also near impossible to get a drink in the windjammer if you are not on a drinks package. Buy it at a bar and bring it in with you.

- People on CC are right, on the final day the crew (waiters in the MDR etc) hound you about what rating you will be giving them. I felt really uncomfortable about this. I had no issues with my waiter until that moment.

- if you want to sit by yourself at breakfast in a half empty MDR put your foot down. One day they insisted on putting me at a table with people who did not speak the same languages and me and then made me wait until they had all come in and were seated to take orders (which took about 20 minutes). I ended up having to leave without eating as I would be late for an excursion. The next day I made it clear I wanted my own table and got it. I have no objections to putting people together if the MDR is busy, but never make someone wait for complete strangers to order their food.

- Don't pay for the 'streaming' Internet. The speed on serenade is so bad that it can't support downloading images on Facebook let along streaming. It is a waste of money.

-the Croatian woman manning Cafe-lattitudes makes a mean white chocolate mocha :)

Hi, I am currently on Serenade. They are advertising and charging for VOOM on board right now. I bought the surf + stream package and it is barely the speed of my old dial up! I had realllllly wanted to be able to watch Game of Thrones on my iPad, hence the desperation for streaming service, but in truth it is so slow that most websites will not load pictures (text only). Today there were a LOT of people at a cafe right next to port desperately using the wifi and griping about how they paid a lot for a service that didn't work on the ship. I intend on asking for a partial refund - calling this streaming speed is false and misleading advertising.

Okay, we have a new update http://www.belindabypopulardemand.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-tale-of-two-lookouts.html

I am pleased to report that after a trip to the pharmacy in Bergen yesterday I am starting to feel like I am on the mend (probably will feel great next week when I have to go back to work! :rolleyes: ). Thanks for the well wishes though.

@ladyarli - yes, there is Karaoke in the compass.

For anyone doing this cruise, a piece of packing advice - moisturiser! The weather here is really dry. I never normally need it, but have had to go buy some in town today out of desperation.

Long day in port today(almost 12 hours), but it is a small town, so those of us who have exhausted our to do list are all finding sunny spots on the ship to simply enjoy the spectacular view we all have at the moment.

Hi - we sailed on Serenade last month and will be on again in a couple of weeks - 6/5. I was wondering what the movies are on your sailing? We hare hoping that they have changed. Would you mind telling me what is being shown in the theater? We may have to load some on the iPad if it looks like they are the same.

 

And yes, the internet service was terrible for us also.

So far we have had Concussion, Spectre, The 33 and tomorrow is Star Wars the force awakens.

Hi everyone - have posted another update http://belindabypopulardemand.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/sea-stavanger.html

To answer a few questions, yes! It is cold! Today was a max of about 10 degrees Celsius. Yes, Internet is rubbish, am actually quickly updating this before we depart today port today whilst I can use 3G and not have to rely on the ships Internet.

Kellie In Texas - this ship doesn't go to Stockholm, but I was there last week. I saw an NCL ship that was parked near the photographic museum and that was a very easy walk to Gamla Stan (less than 10 minutes, we did it to visit the museum - which I highly recommend as an amazing place to have lunch or a famous Swedish pastry - the cafe overlooks the whole town). From there public transport is super easy to places like Museum island. Stockholm is quite compact and very easy to get around on your own.