Let'sGo!

So maybe not 100, but it looks like my last cruise was in 2016.  Yikes!

Hubs told me to book something fun for my 60th birthday and I was thinking I might want to take a cruise again.
Tell me all of the things that have changed.

I'm seeing stuff now about "the key" and "royal up" and all kinds of words.   In fact, I think when I last cruised, My Time Dining was still kind of a new thing, LOL!

The dates we are looking at are the two weeks after Christmas. My birthday is on January 3 and my husband is a college prof. so that is the best time for us. 

Obviously I'm kind of late to the party for booking so I'm trying to figure out the Royal Up thing... is it beneficial to book something I'd be happy with and then try to bid up to a suite?  What is the window for that kind of thing?

Back in the day when we cruised every year, we would usually use an online booking cruise agent.  Is that still the best/most cost efficient way to go?
Are there still Diamond lounges/happy hours?

We have 12 cruises under our belts, but we sort of feel like complete nubies.

Yes, I got that same survey too. I thought some of the questions were interesting, particularly about what kind of computer we used, what coffee we drink, etc.

At least they're asking cruisers instead of accountants!

Ann

I would take advantage of whatever pre-sail deal you find.

I did that before our Liberty cruise and then made it a point to check the price when we boarded -- it was definitely much higher.

The only time we heard any measurable noise at all was when there was a show/performance going on at the Aqua Theater. But it wasn't a problem, since we were usually sitting on our balcony watching it!

Love those cabins!

Ann

As Kruzerci says, Costa Maya was definitely the high point of our trip. I would definitely recommend checking out Maya Chan Beach Park on Trip Advisory -- that's where I found it. I think it was $59 per person for the day, but we had a guaranteed shade structure, beach bed, a couple of chairs, a hammock and a couple of tables -- right in the sand. They greeted us with rum punch and fresh guac, salsa and chips. Since we skipped breakfast that morning, we discovered we loved guac for breakfast! Costa Maya is probably what Cancun and Cozumel was like before commercialization... very natural. Yes, the bathrooms are outside and there's sea grass on the beach. Since we went to Mr. Sancho's the next day, I can honestly say I loved Maya Chan much better. The service there was like what you would expect at a 4-star resort.

As for the Diamond Lounge on board... it was just too small for that size of a ship, and the fact that there are so many RCCL cruisers that have reached that level. I think most ship card rooms are bigger! Since its a room right off of Olive r Twist, that pretty much served as the overflow area. There were a couple of evenings we went in and grabbed our snacks from the Diamond Lounge then went out and grabbed a table by the window in Olive r Twist... since the drinks are loaded on to your SeaPass card, you don't necessarily have to get them from the bartender in the Diamond Lounge. Sadly, that affected our tips to them, but it was pretty much out of our control because of the lack of seating in there.

Kruzerci: Sorry we missed you! Honestly I don't even remember if we had a card reminding us about the M&M, but I'm sure we wouldn't have gone anyway. There was sunshine that needed our attention! I think we lucked out by going to the terminal so early in the morning... we just walked right in. I did see the lines getting long to check in while we were sitting down. We normally don't go until about the time you guys went, but since we didn't have any power in our hotel room, we figured we might as well go over there! Now, I'm glad we did!

I hadn't planned on posting a review, so I don't have any photos, Compasses, or just about anything else avid researchers ask for... but I feel compelled to provide a little something, since I read everyone else's reviews before I cruise!

Embarkation: Seems as easy as it ever has been in Galveston. The day we sailed we had a torrential rain storm and the power went out at our hotel... so we decided to just pack up and head to the terminal earlier than normal. We arrived about 10:30am and fortunately there power wasn't out! Traffic getting into the terminal was pretty awful but once there, it was a breeze getting into line, checked in and then to the waiting area. It seems like we waited about 10 minutes and then walked on to the ship. There was some kind of snag with the SeaPass machines that check you in -- might have been because of the power outage? But there was only 2 working, so the lines inside the gangway got kind of long, but eventually we were on, in the WJ for a nosh, then to our rooms at 1pm on the dot.

The ship: Liberty is definitely showing some wear and tear. I had to keep reminding my husband that when the ship went into dry dock, it was to add things like slides, screens and cabins -- NOT to refurbish. Our cabin (balcony on the hump) was definitely in need of some TLC. But hey, we're on a cruise, I would sleep in a tent on deck!

Dining: We decided long ago to forego the main dining room. No real reason other than we had grown weary of the menu choices and the 2 hour dinner. So what did we do? Have 2 hour dinners in the specialty restaurants! Our first dinner was Giovanni's Table. We were both pleasantly surprised at how fabulous the food was! The service was phenomenal and we decided at the end of dinner that we would cancel Chops and return to Giovanni's. Hubs thought the filet he had in

Giovanni's was better than any he had ever had in Chops previously. The manager Alex was so wonderful. He asked us if there were any "off the menu" items we would like for our return visit. Hubs ordered the most amazing shrimp cocktail and Alex had the chefs make me some pappardelle pasta that I used to love at Portofino. After much consideration, we opted to try Sabor. Being from South Texas - Tex-Mex capital of the world - I was worried I wouldn't like it. But we both really loved it. Again - return visit to Sabor! Definitely try the cucumber/jalapeno margarita. The rest of the meals were either in WJ or a slice at Sorrento's.

Drinking: We decided to purchase the drink pkg -- fortunately before the prices went up. No - we did not come out ahead, or even close. But it was certainly convenient. Some of the bartenders didn't even ask you to sign anything, once they knew you had the stamp on your card. With the pre-loaded drinks on your card for Diamond, we probably won't mess with the pkgs again.

We spent one night at the Hoof & Claw doing the singalong with Derek Lewis. We had not done that before so I didn't know what I was getting into when I raised my hand at the beginning. I ended up being the first singer. It was fun and a late night.

One issue that was kind of a pain -- no seating in the Diamond Lounge. It wasn't a deal breaker, but we enjoy sitting in there in the evenings and talking with cruisers we've met... especially since we don't do the dining room thing. We didn't have a suite, so not sure about that lounge.

Ports: In Roatan we went to Little French Key. It was nice to have a place to hang and there was plenty of shade, water, toys and drinks. Getting there was a bit of a pain because we had to wait for the Carnival ship to dock before they took us to the shuttle boats. In Costa Maya, we fell in LOVE with Maya Chan beach park. We will probably book another Western Carib cruise, just to go there again. Food, drinks and service was impeccable. Our final stop was in Cozumel and we went to Mr. Sancho's. It was, well, Mr. Sancho's.

Disembarkation: Hubs didn't want to carry our heavy luggage off the ship, so we didn't do the early disembarking thing. We just waiting until about 8:30am, went downstairs and walked off. I have no idea what group they were calling, but there was no one leaving the ship at that time. We grabbed our luggage, waited in a long snakey line to get to customs and then were on our way back to the hotel to get our car. Hubs and I both have Global Entry cards, which means we can avoid customs when flying. Too bad the cruise lines haven't started that option yet!

All and all, a good, fun cruise. We hadn't cruised since 2014, opting to do a land trip to Hawaii last year. We did notice a few things that had changed, but nothing bad. We still think cruising is the best bang for your travel buck... especially when you can drive to the port!

I would make my choice based on a couple of things: What is the age group of the cruisers? What is the itinerary.

We have sailed on both ships out of San Juan. Since it's just my husband and I, we don't need all the "extras" that are on Adventure. If you have younger ones or are "young at heart" Adventure has more on board amenities and is a bigger ship. Jewel has more windows out to the sea and is smaller, but really beautiful.

Just my 2-cents since you asked :).

I've never cruised on Carnival so I can't make a real comparison.

Ann

I read this thread with some amusement. We took our first cruise as Diamond on Jewel a couple of years ago. We went into the Diamond lounge each night for a drink or two... there was only one RCCL employee in there and it was the bartender!

So honestly, I've never met a concierge and probably wouldn't know what they were or were not supposed to do.

We purchased drink packages for our upcoming cruise on Liberty - so I'm not going to be sad either way about what's going on any of the lounges.

And just for what it's worth -- we actually did book a suite for our very first cruise. We had been saving our $$$ to go to Europe and then 911 happened. Obviously Europe was out for quite awhile, but we still wanted to do something for vacation. Our brick and mortar TA recommended a cruise. Of course she booked us in a suite! It was only later we realized we didn't need a TA to book a cruise, and we could choose other accommodations depending on budget and wants.

Ann

Another vote for BBC.

I've never seen this drink anywhere but on board RCCL ships, so it's just a cruise expectation for me!

Another cruiser once suggested I try it with chocolate... haven't done that yet, but might have to this next cruise!

Ann

To the OP:

Since your sailing is a little ways away, just keep checking the website.

I went into the cruise planner in late April to add the drink packages to our reservation and the Premium pkg came out to $322 per person. But I had problems with the website and wasn't able to purchase it online. I called in and spoke to someone who told me the website was undergoing maintenance (they were adding the Voom stuff) and that I should just wait a couple of days for them to get it back up.

Imagine how angry I was when I went back in a couple of days later to discover they had raised the price to $388 per person! Needless to say, I just decided to blow it off. It wasn't really the price hike that was bothering me as much as I felt that was kind of wrong for them to make me wait, so I could pay more.

I decided to check in again last week to pre-purchase the Voom for our sailing and noticed the Premium pkg had dropped -- this time to $366 per person. I decided to go ahead and book it. I figured if I get on board and see it's lower, I'll just go to guest services and work it out with them... but I seriously doubt it will be lower.

My advice: just keep checking. Our cruise is 5/22, so maybe the closer to the sail date, the prices change. Don't quote me on that, and don't come back and yell it me if it doesn't for you - but that was my experience.

Ann

Thank you for your comparison. We too have been loyal to Royal, but that was simply so we could get to Diamond! Now that we are there, we're ready to do some experimenting with other lines. I like knowing what those who've cruised both think.

The one thing that has been turning me away from Carnival is a couple of the things you mentioned -- I don't want to go on a gaudy ship and I don't want to go on a party ship. I'm glad to hear Carnival is changing some of the ship styling. But I guess we're among those "older folks" you mentioned :eek:. I think a lot of it depends on what time of year you cruise and what itinerary you go on. We once went on a cruise out of Miami in December and could hardly get on an elevator because of all of the scooters!

My only experience with the drink package was on Oasis a couple of years ago. We befriended one of the pool bartenders and once he know we were on the drink package, he asked if it was okay for him to "create" some drinks for us to try. Of course we said yes! There were a couple of them over the course of the week that I really didn't like, so I didn't drink them, and would order something else.

I seriously doubt he would have counted those as one of our "six" for the day... or he probably wouldn't have suggested it.

And yes, we did tip him at the end of the cruise!

Thanks for the quickie review. I am especially interested in what fellow Texans say about Sabor. Living in San Antonio I'm having a hard time getting hubby into trying this on a cruise ship!

Ann

I'm on Liberty on the 22nd. I went ahead and purchased a 2 device pkg. I just figure that if I get on board and they don't have VOOM yet, I'll just go to guest services and ask for a refund to my CC... or OBC, so we can purchase the correct internet service.

Enjoy your cruise!

Ann

I purchased a VOOM pkg as well for my May 22nd cruise on Liberty. A recent review said it should be ready in a "couple of weeks." Hopefully that's the case. Otherwise, I'll just go to guest services and ask for the VOOM pkg I bought to be refunded.

I agree - it seemed like a no brainer to me to pre-purchase it at a discount. All of the reviews I've read said there have not been any discounts on board.

Ann

I know you've gotten lots of feedback here, but I also want to add in my 2-cents.

If you want to enjoy Mayan ruins as a cruise ship sponsored excursion, I would do the trip in Costa Maya this cruise.

However if exploring these structures is a true family passion - plan a trip to Cancun. You can spend a full day at Chichen Itza easily, and still not see everything. That is the one you see that has the big pyramid type structure. You used to be allowed to climb up to the top, but no longer.

During that same trip to Cancun, you can do a tour of Tulum and Xcaret. The ruins at Tulum are the ones you often see in Mexico travel ads, as they're right on the coast and very beautiful.

I wouldn't want to spend 6 hours of my excursion travelling -- just to see Chichen Itza on a cruise.

Ann

I was going to buy the Premium pkg for my husband and myself for our cruise in about 3 weeks -- but the only option on the website yesterday was the Select pkg. I called customer service and was told by the rep that the pkg was $49 per person, per day, but they were "changing the prices" on all of the pkgs, and I should check back in 24 hours.

I asked her if they were going up, because if that was the case, I would rather just go ahead and buy it from her right then, but she told me she thought they were going down, so I should wait and check back.

Today it's showing $47 per person per day... that's $2 less than what she quoted me on the phone yesterday. I'm not sure if that's because of the 20% discount? But when I put it in the cart, it comes to $388.22 per person. I'm thinking that's probably the case.

Ann

I'm sorry to hear everything was not perfect on your cruise. We too have experienced some of the "right hand not talking to the left hand" communication issues you point out on previous cruises, so I'm not sure this is an isolated Liberty of the Seas issue.

We leave in about 3 weeks for our Liberty cruise. It will be our first time on this ship as well. I will be sure to print out any communications I've had regarding my cruise, just so I have back up!

Ann

Interesting they let me pre-purchase Voom for our LOS cruise on May 22nd. Guess they think it will be installed by then :).

I rode something similar to that Tidal Wave here at Aquatica in San Antonio. It was terrifying then, and that was built with a long landing area. I can't imagine it on a ship with such a small space to work with :eek:.

Enjoy your cruise - look forward to your review when you get back!

Ann

Question about Sabor: On the website it shows a $25 per person charge for dinner, and then the menu items include a charge as well, although they're not that expensive.

Is that how that works? You basically pay a "cover" charge then pay per menu item?

Thanks,

Ann

We "tried" WJ for dinner one night because we really didn't like anything on the MDR menu. We actually enjoyed it so much, we've pretty much forgone ever eating in MDR again!

We usually do specialty restaurants twice during a cruise, and do WJ for the rest of the meals. As others have stated, it much quieter and much more casual.

Have fun on your cruise!

Ann

So hubby and I decided last night to go ahead and pull the trigger on pre-purchasing one of the alcohol packages for our upcoming cruise.

Of course I go to the RCCL website this morning and it won't let me purchase anything other than the Select pkg with just beer and wine.

I called RCCL and the woman I spoke with said she didn't know why, but she was able to see the Select and Premium on her system, and her system was the same as the one I was using. I kept telling her that was not the case, that I couldn't see what all she was talking about, so clearly I was not on "her" system. She seemed to get a bit irate with me and told me to hold on, she was going to call IT. After about 7 minutes on hold, I finally just gave up and hung up.

Now I know from years of experience the RCCL website is not known for it's efficiency... but does any one know - do they limit the number of alcohol pkgs they pre-sell per cruise?

Ann

I just received the email from my TA that we need to prepay our gratuities by April 8th if we want to lock in the current rate, or we can wait and do it on board at the higher rate.

Kind of interesting we got a 2 day notice. Guess I should have spent more time on Cruise Critic so I would have known it was coming :).

Our cruise in May 22.

Ann

I think I got the email telling me to set up my "interview" a week or so after turning in and paying for my application. It really depends on how far out they are with interview appointments. I was able to get mine about week after going online.

I received the approval on the spot at the interview and got my Known Traveler # right then. I added that number to all of my frequent flyer accounts that afternoon. You really don't need the actual card they send you -- but you need the # they assign you.

Best way to fly!

Ann

Thanks all for the comments about Sabor. I'm glad you thought it was a fair question :)! I didn't want to offend, but I too thought it would be a hard sell to get folks in Texas to buy into a Latin themed restaurant.

Our last several years of cruising, we've made the conscious decision to skip the MDR altogether and stick with specialty restaurants and the WJ. It will be nice to try some place new besides Chops when we sail in May!