Noomi

Noomi,

 

Does the ship dock? Or do you have to take a tender from an anchored location?

The ship docks at the pier. The gangway empties onto the second floor of the terminal and you take a flight of about 20 stairs the get to the ground floor. There is an elevator but it's tiny and very slow so RCI asks that only people with limited mobility use it.

Is the casino open while in port.?

It was not open while we were in port.

i I contacted RCCL and was informed that the front desk can make the conversion.

Look, I hate to be the contrary person but I LITERALLY walked up to Guest Services with American currency and they would not, could not change it into CUC or pesos.

Plenty of time to change in terminal. Most places would take Dollars. My advice would be don't Change money unless you have to.

 

 

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Were you on the inaugural cruise that just got back today and did you do an excursion?

I was, I did, and I am saying from personal experience that there is not time to exchange your money if you have booked an excursion that leaves shortly after the ship docks.

I just got off the inaugural sailing. You can't exchange money on the ship but there is a currency exchange on the second floor of the cruise terminal.

The excursion leaders ask that you don't hold up the group by exchanging money before the tour (of course someone in our group did anyway and we stood around waiting for them for 35 minutes).

Anywhere you need to use money during the tour will accept American currency at the standard exchange rate. At the end of the tour, you'll be dropped off at the cruise terminal where you can run in and exchange currency before leaving the terminal again to walk around, shop, or whatever you want to do.

Hotels will exchange money, of course, but don't assume the person who does it will be there when you arrive. We stopped at a hotel with our group and guide but the currency exchange person was gone and wouldn't be back for about an hour.

Thank you both for your kind words! :)

I just sent you nine pictures. The internet isn't terrifically reliable so let me know if they don't arrive and I'll send them another way.

I'll be on Navigator tomorrow and will totally do this for you! What a great idea!

We're on this sailing with you! On our way to Miami now, so excited!

Hi. You Americans do realize that the rest of the world has been visiting Cuba all along right?.

Doubtful. Americans (I am one) seem to believe that we will change the lives and worlds of everyone as soon as we grace them with our presence. It's rather sickening.

ONT-CA, over several posts on the subject on various threads, you have the most balanced way of looking at the situation, and put it into words so eloquently. Thank you for your perspective.

Agreed! Thank you so much.

I didn't really explain that very well. I don't mean that they put out the same kind of sushi as you see in grocery stores. I'm fairly certain it's made fresh in the galley each day and then put in containers. I've had a lot of grocery store pre-packaged sushi and this is so much better. It's pretty much exactly what we've gotten at Izumi on other ships, this just happens to be packaged up.

It's prepackaged in the windjammer. You choose the boxes you want and the crew member overseeing the sushi section records your sea pass card for billing.

Us too! We're on the first trip there out of Miami and I am OVER THE MOON excited!!!!

Anything sound familiar ?

Yes, the sound of a judgemental passenger who thinks that anyone who doesn't meet his standards of acceptability, appeal, or behavior shouldn't be allowed to sail with someone as undeniably perfect as himself.

I was on her last week and it was smoke-free.

sorry I don't have answer for you but I was just searching to see if there were any theme nights on the 4 night cruises on empress like a white night etc? Did you experience anything like that? thanks! Wish I could answer your question!

Just got off Empress last week. There was a White Party, and a 70's, 80's, and 90's night (one theme per night).

There wasn't one when I was on Enchantment late last year.

Our power strip was confiscated on the 9/26 Majesty sailing. I apologized and told the crew member I didn't know or I wouldn't have brought it (we've had no issues on the previous 11 or so RCI cruises we've taken). He said it was a fairly new fleetwide rule because they've had issues with overloaded outlets causing fires on other ships.

Fine by me if they ban them. I'd rather deal with a dead phone battery than a fire.

That would be an interesting thread...what's the craziest thing anyone has seen?:D

When I was picking up my power strip at the end of the cruise, the staff member handed me a paper that had a spreadsheet-type list of the things that had been confiscated, stateroom numbers, etc, so I could sign for it. I scanned it, saw handcuffs were on the list, and sort of chuckled about it. She held up a ziplock bag and said, "We took five sets of handcuffs just on this sailing, these are fur lined."

Rock on, passengers. Have fun! :)

Thanks for asking this, OP. I've wondered the same thing for a long time.

We were on Enchantment last year over Halloween and lots of people (including us) dressed up. It was tons of fun. We'll be with you on Empress this year and plan to dress up again. :)

Yes, I did.

Well, here's another perspective.

Some things that seem obvious to longtime cruisers simply may not be to people who are first-timers. A lot of us have the luxury to cruise often or simply travel a lot but some people are lucky to take one or two trips in a lifetime and could be simply overwhelmed at the amount of things to consider ahead of time. Sneering at people who don't realize the MDR is free or mocking someone who wants to know if they can bring their own rock-climbing gear does nothing but make cruisers as a whole look unfriendly.

I've lurked here a long time and always feel bad for people who begin their questions with "I'm sorry if I shouldn't post this here" or "I'm sorry if this is a dumb question." Who can blame them, though? If I didn't know cruisers are a generally friendly bunch, I'd be afraid they're as unwelcoming as some of the commenters on here and think twice about booking at all.

When I've sailed on 9-11, they have not done anything in remeberence.

I agree... I imagine they had no idea they would have their pictures posted on a public Facebook page.

So you "perv" them because they're dancing and you have the right because they might "have thier pictures posted on a public Facebook page?" Or not. But dancing in public definitely means you should "perv" them just in case? Got it.

There did appear to be some old geezers (like me) perving on the sidelines watching the college students bump and grind on the dance floor.

Classy.