danv3

On 4/9/2024 at 7:19 PM, The Fun Researcher said:

Having said that, Celebrity has pretty poor perks for Elite compared to Diamond (and above) for Royal.  The happy hour is right overtop of dinner (unless you eat late).  You can't order elite drinks from the MDR, so if you want one you need to leave your table, exit the dining room, and find a bar.  The laundry can be nice but we've never used it on Royal or Celebrity.

 

The 4 drink vouchers and the 24 hours of wifi are far above any of the Elite benefits on Celebrity

Echo that.  I enjoy cruising on X, but the drink vouchers on RCI are 100x better than the "happy hour" arrangement on X.  In addition to being limited to certain bars (and not the MDR), drinks also aren't available on night 1 (because reasons, I guess).

I think it's a time zone issue.  When I look at the website, I see a lot of arrivals at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning with departures at 12:00 or 1:00pm.  I think they're displaying the times (and dates) localized to the viewer's time zone (I'm in US-Eastern), because surely most ships don't roll into port at 2:00am!

2 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

 
Nice! looks like I’m booking a cruise tomorrow! 

21 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Here is a quick snapshot for June - August 2025 

 

 

 

Awesome, thanks. Can you see where the July 5 Apex sailing goes?

10 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Sailings are open for Europe 2025!

Where do you see them?  I don't see them on the X site.

I was duped!  Got all excited and then realized this wasn't new.  😞

They know that most people aren't tracking prices that closely and a special holiday "sale" will no doubt encourage more casual customers to book.

Disappointing to see the seeming abandonment of northern Europe.  Does someone maintain a thread like this for Celebrity?  

1 hour ago, SummmerInKefalonia said:

According to info we have the European 2025 Summer Deployment will be like this:

 

Allure of the seas: 7 Nights from Barcelona to Western Med. (April to October)

 

Independence of the seas: Various Cruises from Southampton to Northern Europe. (May to October)

 

Odyssey of the seas: 7 Nights from Civitavecchia to Greek Islands. (May to October)

Explorer of the seas: 7 Nights from Ravenna to Croatia and Greece. (May to September)

Voyager of the seas: 7 Nights from Civitavecchia, Ravenna, Piraeus & Barcelona to Med. (May to October)

Brilliance of the seas: 7 Nights from Piraeus to Eastern Med. (June to August)

 

 

Disappointing if true re: Brilliance.  Was really hoping it would have some northern sailings out of Amsterdam.

We stayed at the Radisson Blu Royal Viking in 2019.  Not too far of a walk to the old town and super convenient for the express train to the airport.  

1 hour ago, Mikamarii said:

We’re eagerly awaiting the release next week but I I feel we will be disappointed with the ports. Really hoping for an arctic circle cruise in July or August with a stop in Honnigsvag. Based on the Southampton itineraries I’m not holding out hope that there will be stops in Flam or Geringer from the cruises from Amsterdam/Rotterdam.

 

There is an MSC cruise that caught our eye that has ‘sailed’ to the top of out list!. 14 Night out of Hamburg that goes all the way to Svalbard! It has a 2300-0500 stop on Honnigsvag which seems odd. Also, no Flam or Geringer on this one (they have other sailings that go there) but lots of other port stops.

 

We’re going to wait until the itineraries for Royal to come out and if nothing we like then we will go with MSC. Never cruised them before but never opposed to branching out. 

Yeah, we're holding out hope for RCI or X, but may have to consider other lines too.  That MSC one is intriguing for sure.

Not enforced in October.  No one asked or checked.

12 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Only ships with cleaner fuel will go there in 25 and from 26 only zero emission ships.

Oh, OK.  I thought those limitations started in 2026.  Surprising that so many other lines remain willing and able to visit those ports in 2025.  

6 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Regarding Norway as expected. Flam,Geiranger, Bergen and even Stavanger all gone. Molde might also not happen, they just canceled this nice stop for Anthem in June 24. 

Many other mainstream lines have those ports scheduled for 2025.  Why would Royal be avoiding them?

Fingers crossed for some better fjords itineraries out of Amsterdam.

34 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

There were always 2 phases... nothing new!

The deployment schedule doesn't seem to reflect Europe being in two phases.

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/2025-2026_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

I was so excited to see the subject line of this email thinking X was moving in the direction of Royal's all-day diamond drink coupons.  Maybe some day...

No prizes on Liberty earlier this month.  While the prizes are nothing special, I do think they make it just a bit more fun.  

47 minutes ago, Tatka said:

We used Lyft right near terminal entrance.

Same, to and from the terminal without issue just last week.

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

If there is, it's unlikely you'll see anyone dressed for it.

This.  Don't waste the space in your suitcase.

16 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

 

And this is because, despite the anti-shorts crowd yelling from their rooftops stuck in the 1950's, the only clothing explicitly mentioned in the "dress code" as unacceptable at dinner in the MDR is:

 

"Main Dining Room/Specialty Dining Venues

Bare feet are not allowed at any time in any venue and tank tops are not permitted in the Main Dining Room or Specialty Dining venues for dinner."

For my upcoming cruise (LotS), the RCI app describes the MDR dress code as follows:

"Bare feet, shorts, caps, and tank tops are not allowed in in dining rooms and specialty restaurants at dinner time; lunchtime guests can dress more casual [sic], including polos and shorts for males"

It seems that both dress codes and enforcement can vary from ship to ship.  Despite what the above says, I think there's almost no chance that it would be enforced.  I last saw a passenger turned away from the MDR for wearing shorts (on formal night) in January 2020.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

On white night, 99% of the people don't dress in white.

This, but 99.99%

On 9/5/2023 at 9:57 AM, TangerineWillow said:

Been a while since cruising RCL, are formal nights respected or is it a wear what you want evening. Explorer in a few weeks just need to know if I should take a tux

You will be overdressed in a tuxedo.   You may or may not care about that, but you will be in a much smaller minority than those in shorts.  

Fascinating stuff in the memo on pp 70-72 of this PDF: https://www.barharbormaine.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12202022-3112

You can tell that the citizen petition that started this whole thing leaves a lot of gaps and unanswered questions, so the harbormaster is going to be left making a lot up as it develops.  

What a bizarre discussion for a cruise message board.  😅

Addressing a minor problem by implementing a system that's less convenient (and more wasteful) for everyone?  Brilliant!