BearsAhoy

57 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Diamond members still get one free continuous 24-hour period or $23 off a package.

Bob, will this be per person or per stateroom? (In other words, with 2 adults and our 2 kids, all of us Diamond, will we get one day each?)

We did B2B on Voyager last year (25 days in total, I think, Sydney-South Pacific-Sydney-Singapore) and I found it uncomfortably warm in many public areas. (Chops especially.) Every other ship I’ve found chilly in public areas, so was very surprised.

Radiance is my favourite class, and actually my oldest son’s favourite too. (He has been cruising since he was 7.) 

Thanks for this review!

How much time did it take to reboard the ship in SPB? Is it just normal ship security, or is Russian immigration involved, too?

We have booked a private tour for both days in SPB, and a ballet for the evening. We are not bringing our children to the ballet, so will need to get them back on the ship at the end of our first day’s tour and then get ourselves back to the guide to get to the Mariinsky. I don’t know how much time to allow for that, and would be grateful if you could share your experience. (If they have only to deal with ship’s security, we could even send them through on their own as they will know what to do.)

Oh, one other question: could you take any food off the ship in SPB? (Our kids are picky eaters, even compared to other kids, and although our tour company is aware of this and will plan accordingly, having a few snacks at hand will ease things. With a toddler, I’m sure you understand!)

On 6/7/2019 at 11:02 PM, Ine said:

Tickets come available 2 months prior. Donot forget the time difference for that.  Book them then.  After that sometimes a few tickets are on sale  on the same day. https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/tickets/

Hubby was just talking to his mom in Europe, which was the perfect reminder to get tickets. Done! 

Thanks again for the heads-up to buy in advance. When I went previously, I bought on site and went right in. I assumed it would still be like this, and we would have missed out if not for your tip!

10 hours ago, Ine said:

Tickets come available 2 months prior. Donot forget the time difference for that.  Book them then.  After that sometimes a few tickets are on sale  on the same day. https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/tickets/

I’ll be booking tomorrow night! 

46 minutes ago, Ine said:

Not too far from AF house is a.o. Pulitzer Hotel on Prinsengracht. Also Hotel de Toren, W hotel, as any hotel around Dam square are walking distance. Amsterdam is rather compact with excellent public transportation.

You need to book AF tickets on line, about 2 months prior. No more standing in line.

I’ve been to Amsterdam three times, but had no idea that the Anne Frank House now requires pre-booked tickets. We will be there for a couple of days this August before our Baltic cruise on Brilliance, so I’m finding out just in time to order our tickets. Thank you!

Each time I’ve visited Amsterdam, I’ve bought a City Card, and we will get them again for our upcoming visit. https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/i-am/i-amsterdam-city-card It includes entry to many museums, etc. (But not Anne Frank House) and city transit, and I’ve found it worthwhile.

Thanks for this! We will be on Brilliance for the Baltics in August.

On 6/1/2019 at 11:50 AM, davekathy said:

You can't anymore. You will need to call C&A and make your selections. I copied this years ago from RCs website when we use to be able to do online ordering. 

Sigh. No doing it the easy way 🤷‍♀️

52 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Make sure to call the C&A desk at 1-800-526-9723 and advise them of your welcome aboard gift preference. The selections are per person as well as all the other diamond benefits. 

Thanks!

I can’t figure up where to do this online. Do you have the link for the menu in the screenshot?

5 minutes ago, davekathy said:

But now look at all you will be getting. 

This cruise will have lots of firsts, including the Diamond status, and going in a JS instead of a full suite. Also first cruise with a port with Visa requirements!

This summer we will have our first cruise as Diamonds. Now I know what we’ve missed.

We’ve done Southampton to Fort Lauderdale in November, on Indy. The first couple of days were rough, and outside decks were closed. My littlest had his birthday on the fourth day, and all he wanted was to go to the splash pad. The outside decks were open by then, and he had a blast (though it was chilly for the adults), and we also ate on our balcony that day. That day was the turning point, and it got noticeably warmer every day.

Hubby and I did the Chef’s Table last year on Voyager. It was a lovely experience. The food and wine were good, and the other couples were great company. (Several of us met up again and again during the remainder of the cruise.)

I don’t have much alcohol tolerance, so the details get foggy as the meal progressed, and I forgot to take photos of the later courses!

When we have cruised as a party of six (me and my husband, our kids, and my parents), we have had a Suite. The category names have changed, but the Royal Family Suites are what I think are now called two bedroom grand suites.

Anyway, we’ve had them on Indy, Jewel, and Voyager. Aside from all the Suite perks, the price was comparable or better than two balconies. (When booking our Panama Canal cruise on Jewel, or travel agent check her figures twice because she couldn’t believe the amazing price we got for six people!) The suites give more space (the RFS on Indy was incredible!), as well as two bathrooms, one of which has a tub.

This  summer we will be cruising without my parents and going in a JS. It’ll be our first as Diamonds, but also our first not in a full suite. 

5 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Affirmative, the SOBC received a major refit last year and the original DBC system was removed and replaced with the Liferaft System of Australia system. This is currently the most common evacuation system on BC Ferries.

Thanks!

(While the Spirit were the “new” ferries when I first moved here, we are now somewhat partial to the Coastal class since we were living in Kiel for part of the time when they were were being built there.)

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Liferafts can also be included in a Marine Evacuation System - this comprises a shute/slide and multiple rafts. Currently you have 3 major systems available in the market - Viking, RFD Marin-Ark II and Liferaft Systems Australia.

...

Many cruise ships and ferries now use Marine Evacuation Systems and many ferries have eliminated the requirement for Lifeboats and are entirely liferafts. 

Did you work on BC Ferries? A few days ago, we were on a Spirit Class ferry, and one of my kids pointed out that the canister rafts were from Australia. Presumably the manufacturer you mentioned?

4 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

Hi, BearsAhoy!  Our son is 14.  He kind of marches to his own drum, which we allow as long as he is polite and well mannered 😉 He does not participate in the teen programs.   So, I am sorry I can not help you.  Hope they figure it out and have a blast!

My kids are quirky, and I doubt my son will join in for the teen programmes.

Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your trip!

I’m so glad I found this thread! We will be on Brilliance this summer, for a Baltics cruise. It will be our first as Diamonds, and having been on Jewel a few years ago, I’m especially excited to be going back on a Radiance class ship.

may I ask, how old is your son? Our oldest is 12, and this will be the first cruise since he has aged out of Adventure Ocean. Our youngest loves AO, but doesn’t like to go without his brother. I’m a little nervous about that!

 
I've not seen the cold soups for a while.

I love the chilled fruit soups, especially the banana rum.

My super-picky eater even started having them, as long as we called them smoothies and he could have a straw instead of a spoon [emoji1787]


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Hubby couldn’t access his info at all, so he called. His account had completely disappeared, and they had transferred all his C&A points to my account.

My mother hasn’t checked her account yet, and I’m half afraid to try to check our kids’ accounts!

We fly out for our cruise before the month is out. I’m so glad I had saved all our cruise docs as they were completed/issued!

Hah! I’ve been able to get on the new site (though not do anything with it), but yesterday MY account showed my husband’s first name and my mother’s middle name, and with my birth date. I managed to fix that.

 

Today? I’ve apparently gained 54 C&A points. Our pending B2B will “only” give me 50 points, so it isn’t even that they’ve granted those in advance.

 

 

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Hah! I’ve been able to get on the new site (though not do anything with it), but yesterday MY account showed my husband’s first name and my mother’s middle name, and with my birth date. I managed to fix that.

Today? I’ve apparently gained 54 C&A points. Our pending B2B will “only” give me 50 points, so it isn’t even that they’ve granted those in advance.

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See if the back door still works:

 

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/boardingDocuments.do?icid=hpnvbr_pagehe_nln_hm_awaren_954

I use Tapatalk to read CC, and as long as I used the link within Tapatalk, I could get the “old” site.

We are cruising B2B in April. I can no longer see all of our reservations or access anything about the reservations that are visible. I’m so glad I saved all of our docs as PDFs as soon as I finished checking us in.

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Our first family cruise (transatlantic from Southampton), we told our kids on the eldest's 7th birthday. I decorated his birthday though it was a treasure map, with models of Indy, the Eurostar, and a BA 747 - our modes of travel. We left a few weeks later. (And our youngest had his fourth birthday during the cruise.)

For the second, the kids were still four and seven, and it was a complete surprise for them. We live in Vancouver, and did a cruise to Alaska along with my parents. The night before embarkation, the kids stayed at the grandparents' house - and the grandparents sneaked their luggage in to our house without the kids noticing. My husband and I then packed for the four of us. The next day we two took a taxi downtown with everyone's luggage while my parents told the kids they'd have a "transit day" (they love riding the Skytrain and Seabus). My mom made sure had favourite lovies, etc - forgetting those things would have ruined the whole trip! Hubby and I positioned ourselves so that when my parents and our kids rounded the corner to Canada Place, they'd see us looking at the ship. "Oh, imagine that you're here, too, what a coincidence" and so on. Then one of the kids said they were going for lunch, so my mom asked them, "would you like to have lunch on that ship?" Seven year old responded, "but I don't have my passport!" We flashed the passports and boarded [emoji41]

Third cruise was the Panama Canal (one year ago today!). At Christmas, we gave them things like a marine chart of the canal and a model ship puzzle, to give them clues. They were five and eight then.

Now, we're looking at Alaska for next summer, and have deposits down for some big celebratory trips in 2018 (South Pacific + Sydney to Singapore) I don't know how we will tell them about those!

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