cruzeluvr

Not close to the pier, you need to take a taxi, but Nachi Cocom is very nice for $55 per person.

I absolutely agree! We went there the last time we were in Cozumel and it was great. They also limited the number of guests, so it was not too crowded. I would suggest making a reservation so you don't get closed out.

I don't think the industry has priced itself to non-profitability, at least not yet. But the direction they are heading in makes me wonder just how far they can go and still attract/keep customers, and sustain profit margins.

I don't know if "alienated" is the right word to describe how I feel toward RCCL, but their product has certainly diminished over the years. I am looking forward to my cruise on Liberty (starting tomorrow), but do not have anything booked after that, which is the first time in a very long time that we don't have another cruise booked well in advance. I am actually looking at some of the luxury lines - Silverseas, Seabourn, Regent - and considering spending a bit more if that would allow me to have the cruising experience I originally fell in love with. I'm also considering some land based all inclusive resorts.

With their push to attract new cruisers, and their apparent disregard for the feelings of quite a few of the long time cruisers, and what kept them coming back, it will be interesting to see just what the future holds for Royal Caribbean & Mr. Bayley. I, for one, have felt that the Royal Caribbean "experience" has seriously deteriorated over the past several years and it hardly resembles what we fell in love with when we started cruising about 20 years ago. While some of the new features are truly "WOW" items, it's not what we are looking for on a cruise. Unfortunately, the overall service and dining has gone downhill; and having to make reservations for shows and dining is a pain in the a** (especially with their web site). We have been fairly loyal to Royal, but our upcoming cruise next month on Liberty may well be the litmus test to determine if we continue to look to Royal first, if we continue cruising every year, or if we look at other options instead.

In the past, it was the excellent service and a product we could count on for consistency. We knew what to expect and what we would be paying for a vacation that was guaranteed to make us VERY happy. We are all D and are not that far from D+, but we've never booked to reach a "status" with the cruise line, although the incentives of reaching D was certainly a reason we continued to book with them. We have a cruise booked for June that we got a decent price for almost a year ago. We will most likely be taking a break from Royal after this cruise because of the increased pricing, lack of advantages afforded to long time cruisers loyal to Royal. We've cruised exclusively with Royal, but will be looking for a new adventure on a different cruise line in the future. :(

If we didn't book our upcoming 2015 May Indy cruise last May with the great BOGO price, we would be looking at other options. We live in S. FL and can only sail in the summer so other than Carnival, RC was our only option. But with NCL sailing year round now, we have more options. We are D+ and while the balcony discount is a nice perk, its not going to keep us with RCI if there prices keep going up. All inclusive land vacations are starting to look better and better. But that said, we have never had a bad cruise with RCI, its just a matter of price.

We are D+ and if we had not booked our upcoming May 2015 cruise on board almost a year ago, getting a great price and OBC, we would not be cruising with Royal. The Royal experience has eroded so much since we started cruising with them back in 1996, that their current product is hardly recognizable to us. It's still enjoyable, but not nearly as much as it used to be. We usually book well in advance, but for the first time in a long time, we do not have another cruised booked after the next one next month. We will also be looking at other lines as well as more land based vacations.

I paid $400 for a horse,,, decorated it carried it around and lost the darn race....oh but what fun it was

I remember those days very well. We also bid on the horses and usually won one of the auctions. It was always fun decorating it, dressing it up and naming it. Often, it became a group project among our family. Always got a smile from other passengers when carrying it around, especially bringing it to dinner in the MDR. (and back then, there was no need for threads about proper attire for the horses in the MDR - we made sure they were attired appropriately :rolleyes: )

Yes.! If I Were Not Upon the Sea,

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One of my all time favorites; used to be the last act in the farewell show, performed by the crew, who would be acting out the lyrics.

The verses I remembered and wrote down many years ago -

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a sargent major me

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

LEFT-RIGHT, LEFT-RIGHT swing those bloody arms!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a blackjack dealer me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Hit me here, hit me there, twenty-one or bust!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a tennis player me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Balls to you Sir, Balls to you, ma'am, may I serve you now?"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a lady doctor me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Strip to waist, take their pulse, show me where it hurts!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a fluttering flag me. (I said FLAG, lady!)

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Blow me east, blow me west, I like lots of wind!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a lighthouse keeper me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"A quick flash here, a quick flash there, see me turn around!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, an undertaker, me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Close their eyes, lay them out, shove them in a box!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a seamstress I would be.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"Half a yard, half a yard, snip it by the inch!"

If I were not upon the sea, something else I'd rather be.

If I were not upon the sea, a ballerina me.

Happy all day long, and this would be my song,

"First position, second position, show my arabesque!"

There were other verses about a Chippendale dancer, taxi driver, and another dancer (a guy dressed up in drag) that I didn't remember.

OK folks ....

 

. . . (note: it's RCI. Has been for years.) . . .

RCI (Royal Caribbean International) is owned by RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.) which is why many posters used them interchangeably

. . . Annoyingly I find so many people, the phone is their primary camera. . . . .

I agree! A comedian on our last cruise commented on that - wondering what those same people would think if they hired a wedding photographer who showed up with only a phone!

Just got the email inviting me to ...

 

See more, Do more, Enjoy more with shore excursions ..

 

It suggests the Dolphin Pull at Chankanaab, the Labadee Wave Jet Tour and the Dunns River Falls Express.

 

These all sound good except for the fact that they are in Cozumel, Labadee and Falmouth and my cruise isn't going to any of those places .... Wonder what happens if I book them anyway :)

 

Luckily I am left with the St Maarten Beach Rendezvous as an option though !

I also got one of these emails.

At least for me, they are batting .500 :rolleyes: - two of the four excursions they suggested are at ports we're schedule to be at.

I'm curious as to why you take the time to read people's reviews and then take them with "a grain of salt"

 

Having been on the cruise critic boards since the mid 1990's when it was on AOL only, I've read more reviews than I can count and have learned that since they are obviously very subjective, you have to take them with a grain of salt; both the positive and negative. Two people on the exact same cruise frequently have polar opposite experiences. I have always looked for trends when reading reviews, and if I see a common theme emerging then I conclude there is something to it.

I was on Quantum December 1-12. After some precruise problems with online reservations and an inauspicious start on day 1, we encountered no other difficulties worth complaining about. We enjoyed the cruise, however we were a little disappointed as it did not live up to our expectations, and we felt it was not a typical RCCL product in terms of daily activities and service. So, I would say that we enjoyed it, didn't love it and didn't hate it. We now know that we are not fans of DD, and will look to avoid it in the future. What we found more concerning, was the daily activities, or lack thereof, compared to what we have come to expect from RCCL.

A quick question for those that have sailed on Liberty of the Seas.

Can you walk in and out of the main pool, or is it by ladder only?

If by alternate menus, you mean the Simple Tastes menu, it was definitely available (as was the kids menu) on the 12/1 sailing but not everyone knew. We asked to see it and half the time people didn't know what we were talking about. One head waiter tried to tell me the dishes were the same as the regular menu, but comparing them they were clearly not the same ones, as the preparations and dish contents listed on the menu were entirely different. She then proceeded to bring me the dish from the regular menu instead of the Simple Tastes one I ordered, since she insisted they were the same. Between that and the way some of the staff handled (or didn't handle, rather) food allergies, it really seemed like more training needed to be done for some of the staff. (Just to be clear - it wasn't everyone. We had some wonderful people who were on top of it but there were so many that weren't.)

 

I agree on the size of the selection / length of cruise point, especially since our group tried everyone else's food and ordered different things. After 1 or 2 dinners, there wasn't much left that we hadn't tried, and we had no interest in paying for restaurants just to get more menu variety. Once we were on our 3rd dinner at any given place, it did start to feel a little routine for me. Others in our group didn't feel as strongly about that, so I think it's just personal preference. I personally like to eat something different every day on vacation, so having tried it, now I know how I feel about this dining system when choosing a cruise next time.

I guess that is why our waiter(s) / head waiter(s) said they didn't have alternate menus. They had no idea what we were talking about! So much for proper training!

I also prefer the changing menus offered each day in the traditional MDR. On the last night on board, out of boredom, I made a meal out of salad and crab cake appetizers. Unfortunately they brought me a caesar salad made with iceberg lettuce :eek: - they were out of romaine.

Now that we have tried dynamic dining, given a choice between a cruise with dynamic dining vs traditional, we will definitely opt for the traditional (even if it means sailing on a different line), unless they make significant upgrades to the dynamic dining offerings.

We were also on the December 1 cruise. I thought the ship was beautiful, and the 270 lounge is a great venue, so I didn't miss the Viking Crown. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise, liked almost everything, but had a few issues that could use improvement. Here are a summary of our comments:

Check-in & Boarding - We arrived about 11:00 AM and things were pretty chaotic at the curbside luggage drop-off. After dropping the bags and parking, we went into the terminal, through security, and had to wait for someone with an IPad to "validate" our set sail passes. They informed us that there was no credit card associated with the reservation, despite my entering all the information on-line previously (RCCL IT dept strikes again!). We had to go to another person, and another line, to have them swipe the credit card. Then, after our set sail passes were validated, we had to wait on another line to have them scanned so we could go up the escalator and board. Of course we got on a line where they were having difficulty with the scanners. From start to finish, it took us about an hour to check in and board.

After boarding, my wife went to a bar for a drink and discovered that there was no credit set up on her sea pass (and this after handling the credit card info again in the terminal), so it was off to guest services to get that straightened out. - Another line. So far, a rather inauspicious start! However, it was all much better from that point on.

Entertainment - absolutely fabulous! They really knocked it out of the park on this cruise.

Staff - A lot of the dining and bar staff appear to be rather unhappy. The service was ok, but not what we have come to expect from RCCL. From what I observed, they probably need more training to deal with what they have to do on this ship. Many of them are not quite ready for prime time.

Food & Dynamic Dining - As long time cruisers, we went in with an open mind. Now I can say we are not fans of dynamic dining. Making reservations is not a problem, but the limited and repetitive selection became an issue. We ate at American Icon, Chic & Silk for dinner and on each menu there were only one or two entrees that appealed to us. Based upon the reveal RCCL did months before, we expected to be able to get lobster at American Icon, but that was only available at Grande, and we didn't bring any formal clothing this time around since we didn't think we would need any. We inquired about the alternate menus that were mentioned in the reveal but were told they don't exist, at least not yet. The food we ate was very good, but it became boring on a cruise of this length.

Music - the Beatlemaniacs in the Music Hall were awesome! However, a major problem exists in the Schooner Bar (one of my favorite places to relax with a drink after dinner). It is located right above the Music Hall and the music and vibrations of the bass come right through the floor, making it very difficult to enjoy the piano music in the Schooner Bar.

North Star - beautiful views, if and when it is operating, but IMHO, much ado about nothing!

Activities - we did not find much to do during the daytime and were actually a little bored. There were none of the traditional pool games, no sail away party on deck, no line dancing on deck. Considering that there is a covered pool, the weather can't be blamed for this.

Diamond & Concierge lounges - these lounges were packed every night, and finding a seat was next to impossible. On the first night, I walked into the concierge lounge, took a few steps, turned around and left.

Interesting tidbits - don't know if it's true, but heard from several people that a group of very unhappy cruisers left the ship in San Juan, and a group of Pinnacle Club cruisers were so unhappy they left the ship in Barbados to fly home.

Just back from Quantum of the Seas cruise including a port call in St. Kitts. We booked the grand island tour with Thenford Grey (Grey's Tours). It was an excellent tour and I would highly recommend it, or any of their other tours.

Just back from our cruise on Quantum of the Seas. In Martinique we found a taxi driver who spoke passable English. Together with two other couples we knew, we hired him to take us on a 3 - 4 hour tour for $60 / €50 pp. He accepted both Euros and US$. We saw a few nice sights and stopped at Depaz Rum Distillery. It was an ok tour, but probably not worth what we paid for it.

On the other hand, FWIW, speaking with several people who took ship excursions to a beach, we made out much better. The common complaint we heard about the ship beach excursion was that it took so long to get there and back, that they had only about 45 minutes of actual beach time. Also heard that the ladies restroom at the beach was disgusting - with feces all over the stalls.

I have 92 shares of Royal stock that I bought back when it was under$10 a share. Its now over $70 so I am tempted to sell it and bank my money. Does the stock have a history of splitting though? I did it for fun, and made a nice profit but would love for it to make me more if its splits and goes back up again. ;)

If I could time the market, I wouldn't be reading these cruise message boards right now, I'd be sailing somewhere on a luxury cruise ship :)

Baileys and hot chocolate. We had it on the Mariner while cruising around the horn in 2009.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Had that while cruising by glaciers in Alaska and loved it!

Originally posted by Jillmom2>We are a party of nine cruisers in four cabins. We all have separate confirmation numbers. Will we each have to make reservations for our dining and all try for the same time…or can one person (me) make a reservation for 9 people since we all want to sit together anyway. Or will the system know that there are only 2 people in my cabin so it will not allow me to reserve for 9? seems much easier for one person to book than try to do 4 separate reservations…can you clarify? ....also 3 of the cabins are mine..(myself and DH, in one and the other two have teens and young adults 21yrs.) the 4th cabin is another family of 3 traveling with us..if that makes a difference..

Based upon my experience making reservations (or attempting to) for us and another couple, with different booking numbers, I would say - definitely maybe!

The RCCL web site allows you to add people from a different booking, provided you have their booking number and names. The real proviso is that the web site is working correctly! Sometimes one of us was able to make reservations for all of us, sometimes we had to do it separately (while we were talking to each other on the phone), or we called C&A and they got it done for us. However it is done, each party will have to check their respective planner to make sure it went through properly.

I would suggest that you try doing it on-line, and if that won't work then call C&A and ask them to do it for you.

I am amused by all this walkie-talkie conversation. FWIW, we have used them on occassion and they worked like a charm. I have GMRS frequency units (and, yes, I do have a license). We used them to keep in touch and find each other later when we went our separate ways.

As for the people who find them annoying, I agree with the posters who said there are a lot of other things our fellow cruisers do that I find annoying. Doing what is polite is obviously rather subjective.

Just to stir the pot a little - I'll consider never bringing a walkie-talkie on board when everyone else decides to always follow the suggested dress code like I do.

The people whom you'll be bothering are also on vacation. Do what is polite in a public situation.

I see that it has been not been stated yet so I"ll be the first

They will annoy your fellow passengers .

 

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The beeps, squeals, fuzzy chatter are annoying as %*#$

 

Do something else!

Most answers you get on this forum are only going to be against walkie talkies.Believe me once you get onboard you will see they are the minority.If you spend a decent amount on a good set they work fantastic.We talk through floors and across the ship.They work great and I highly recommend them. Some people on these forums believe they own the ship and any noise is going to bother them.You are on vacation too.Do as you please.

Who cares?

Lots of things annoy me about fellow passengers..Do they care? Nope.

DH and I have used walkie talkies for a long time on board. The annoyance happens if you engage in a long conversation -- but that isn't the purpose for them. We use them to let each other know where we are or if something has occurred to delay the other from meeting at a particular time and place.

 

There are many more things that OTHER cruisers have done, that annoy me on board -- rude & obnoxious behavior by adults and children around us in various venues that continues from many many minutes.

 

So don't worry. For us the walkie talkie has been a great thing on board and on shore.

Yes, they will definitely annoy your fellow passengers.

 

We had never considered walkie-talkies, and we were not pleased on our first cruise to discover them: We were lying by the pool enjoying our books, when the people in the chair next to us EXPLODED with their walkie-talkie conversation: . . .

 

 

And this conversation went on for a solid ten minutes, while the perpetrators failed to note that every person at the pool was giving them the hairy eyeball. Finally someone said something, and the guy yelled out that he "needed" to keep up with his kids, and he left.

 

This isn't the only time we've encountered poor walkie-talkie behavior.

 

Leave them at home. It's just not hard to keep up with where everyone is.

Perfecto!

 

This is how we do it. Loyalty programs are designed to benefit the provider, not the consumer.

 

As with all things in life, we decide based on what we feel like and what we can comfortably afford. Any loyalty points gained have no affect on our future decisions.

 

Its a big world, with many options and we enjoy experiencing new experiences and new products. Our next vacation is a condo for 10 days in Playa Del Carmen. We use to cruise about 80% of the time we were on vacation. This has now dropped to less then 50%. Nothing to do with loyalty, but rather the decline in our experiences on ships. Those who have cruised for 25+ years probably understand what I am saying.

I understand exactly what you are saying! We have been taking 2-3 vacations each year for quite some time, with at least one cruise each year. In the planning stage, cruising used to be our first thought. Now we are looking more and more at land based vacations. While we still enjoy cruising, over the years our expectations and tastes have not really changed much, but the cruise experience has definitely declined somewhat. DW and I were actually just talking this past weekend about maybe cancelling our May 2015 Liberty of the Seas cruise and doing something else instead.

Has anyone ever used the luggage valet and onboard flight check-in service on the Oasis? We are on Lady O in a few weeks and flying in/out of Ft. Lauderdale. I'm reading about it and it says that you can depart anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 am, once your bags have been cleared by Customs....and then once you depart the ship, you don't need to claim your luggage - simply go through the customs check-point with carry-on bags only and collect luggage at airport at final destination. And then you don't check-in at the airport, since you are checked-in onboard.

 

My question - how does this work? Does Customs search your luggage before it's taken off the ship after it's collected the night before? If I'm packing liquor in my luggage to go home, is it safe? Do I pay the customs fee for that when I go through with my carry-on? If we don't check-in at the airport, how do we get our boarding passes?

We used luggage valet getting off the Allure a couple of years ago. Very easy, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it again. It was $20/pp plus any airline baggage fees. You get your airline luggage tags and boarding passes the last night on board the ship. Attach the airline luggage tags to the luggage and leave everything outside your door, as you ordinarily would. The next time you see your luggage will be when you land at your final destination. We were able to walk off the ship at 8:00 AM, and breezed through customs.

IMHO, the direction Royal Caribbean is going is anything but "upscale". I think they are gravitating toward the NCL & Carnival models and are attempting to attract more of the mass market cruisers. If they really wanted to go more upscale, I think they would offer more of what they offered 15-20 years ago - a luxurious cruise experience aimed at an upscale clientele rather than a floating amusement park. Just my $.02. YMMV

While I personally do not think the changes to Oasis that were announced today:

 

OUR BIGGEST SHIP GETS EVEN BETTER

 

will have any impact on 99% of the cruisers here on Cruise Critic it sure looks like RCI is attempting to attract more upscale cruisers.

 

For example:

 

1. A full time formal dining option

2. The new higher end shops

3. More suite perks/space/dedicated dining option

 

Only time will tell if these changes end up being wildly successful, fairly uneventful, or a huge failure.

 

However, I wonder what happens when that first time RCI cruiser comes to an area of a ship and they are told "Sorry, only XYZ people can come in here".

 

Do you see this as expanding/creating 1st, 2nd, 3rd class passengers or no?

Shopping venues aside, I think this is more to compete with the NCL Haven Suites, which really debuted the ship within the ship concept among the mass market lines. They have matched all but the private courtyard, which is obviously difficult to create on existing ships without an extended dry dock.

 

NCL still has the edge though as (most) Haven suites are located around this exclusive area, which includes a bar, restaurant, concierge desk, and sun deck. For people looking for that type of experience and aren't quite ready for/can't afford the ultra exclusive/high end cruise lines Haven is great.

 

I'm glad those options are there when I want them, and again when I don't as they help keep non-suite cabin fares lower. If you cruise suites, this is just another perk to help keep you loyal.

The "formal" dining room is far from formal. Men are not even asked to wear a tie. The requirement for men is a coat or sweater (does a baseball jacket meet the requirement) and pants without holes or rips.

 

The dedicated dining option, although it has a beautiful view, is far from posh or upscale as shown in photos released to day. (Hopefully they will put tableclothes on these Windjammer style table). On the Quantum the suite restaurant is off to the side of the Windjammer and on the Oasis it is just above it.

My most recent observation (two weeks ago) is that Royal is attempting to Carnivalize themselves.

Yes there are perks for Suites guests )and many protest as they longingly gaze at the suite folks (who spent 4 times as much as they did to be on the same ship)..but Royal continues to cut wait staff, increase the ambient temperature of the ship, cut back on food quality, etc...all to attract the Carnival customer ....while, in my humble opinion, dissing the loyal passengers who had become accustomed to "the Royal" treatment.

I'm keeping an open mind and reserving judgement until I experience DD on our Quantum 12/1/14 cruise. If we don't like it, then we will look to other options and/or cruise lines when choosing future cruises. It's really not that big a deal.

I don't know why the OP thinks that her son giving the stolen item to a random maintenance worker is "returning" the item and thus has nullified the theft.

I wonder, when the OP's cop husband pulls someone over for speeding, or some other infraction, if the driver apologizes and admits wrongdoing do they get off with a stern lecture? or do they get a costly summons? Just wondering if what is good for the goose is good for the gander?

We have been to Bermuda many times, in both July and August. We didn't find any significant differences in the weather.