mattpro

Love your handle

Having been born and raised in Cedar Grove, N.J., graduated from Brick and attended Monmouth College before it became a university, I can tell you we always called it pork roll.

In Jupiter, Fla. a pork roll ,egg and cheese is available at Jersey Mike's, the franchise started from a single store in Pt. Pleasant - with no place for parking.

Don't look for it on RCL's ships because they don't even know what it is.

Cruising is VERY addictive and enjoyable. Enjoy your cruise in Nov. and stop by the Next Cruise area if you want extra OBC for another cruise.

St. Lucia - Sandals - on Rodney Bay

St. Kitts - Marriott

Aruba - RIU

St. Maarten - Sonesta - next to Maho beach where the planes fly over your head

Congratulations on your first cruise - it is very addictive - would not be surprised if you find the NEXT Cruise area to book a future cruise.

I'll be one of your fellow passengers.

A few tips

Try to get to the ship between 11 a.m. - 12 noon.

After boarding you can go the Windjammer (WJ) on deck 11 for a buffet lunch. If you want to purchase a drink package they will be available at the entrance between the 2 elevator banks.

If you plan on specialty dining there will be representatives on the Promenade (deck five) with special offers.

The ice show is a must - Studio B on deck 3.

If you are a smoker there is a lounge on deck 5 called the Connoisseur Club.

The entrance to the helipad (front of the ship) for sail-away is accessible from deck 4 by walking up the stairs to deck 5.

Breakfast is available daily in the MDR (sit-down) or at WJ (buffet).

Read the daily cruise compass to see what things to do or see on the ship .

Mostly, remember that your on a cruise with another 4,000+ passengers who have paid good money to have a good time, which is a pretty good recipe for YOU to have a good time.

Regarding smoking in the casino

I am a smoker and go into the casino to smoke while gambling.

However, I understand there is NO rational reason for smoking. I would advise all young folks never to start smoking.

For me it is the one simple pleasure I allow myself daily. Growing up in the 40's, 50's & 60's I got hooked on this. It was the norm of the time - if you ever watched Perry Mason in the 50's on reruns you can see how pervasive smoking was.

I applaud all those who have smoked and quit - it is very hard to do.

In the 90's I went on multiple gambling junkets on NCL where they paid for transportation to & from the cruise, the cruise itself, as well as all the perks.

All I did was put $5,000 in the cage and gambled the way I would in any land casino. You could smoke in the casino.

Started cruising on RCL in 2012 and I would rather pay for a cruise on RCL then get a free cruise on NCL.

However, I will not go into the casino if there is NO SMOKING.

It's RCL's ship and they can do whatever they like.

If the ship's become non-smoking I will simply stop cruising.

Currently I cruise 4 months of the year - only when the weather is cold in Virginia.

Pictures

Cuaraco

Aruba

Bonaire

Wonderful review.

It's reviews like yours that keep folks following cc.

Well done

The 4-5 day cruises are more for the party set.

Think Independence of the Seas.

Short time to get done what you're trying to do and there are a lot of others trying to do the same thing.

Makes for some interesting situations .

Meal with an officer

A nice perk - but read the fine print.

You must hand deliver this form to the Loyalty Ambassador the first day after 4 p.m. - at least on the Adventure.

If you leave your form on their desk because they are NOT there - you will not get an invite. Happened to me 3x on the Adventure in Feb./Mar 2016.

A heads up for solo travelers that qualify for 1.5x in the C&A.

Previously when booking a cruise on-line I would call, book a trip, then have them call resolutions for final price with discount.

Now you HAVE TO ASK them to connect you to the Loyalty Ambassador (LA) to get your discount.

Quite a different price than what you get from Resolutions.

Ryno Strapp in the CL

Sucel is in the DL.

Bad mattresses

Normally I do B2B or longer cruises so I give the room steward the 4 bottles of water & cookies that are waiting in the room, leaving them a note saying it's not necessary for them to make me any towel animals.

When the fruit & cheese basket is delivered during the week they get that also. On turnaround day I tell him/her to take the day off from cleaning my room.

On the next to last day when I'm leaving the ship I give them a bottle of champagne.

They get prepaid gratuities so I never give them money

What a wonderful review

After reading the whole thread it became apparent that I "recognized" who you both are when the "lawyer" was mentioned. I'm the guy you met in the cigar lounge who has "been there for a long time".

I did a B2B2B ending a week after you as I went on the 4/30 cruise, a repeat of your first cruise.

If I knew that you were both into beaches that much, I would have suggested when you were in St. Maarten to go to Mullet Bay, located on the Caribbean side about a 1/4 mile past Maho Beach (where the planes fly in) heading toward Marigot.

Back in the '80's they're used to be a resort called Mullet Bay, complete with lake, casino & golf course, as well as one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL beaches in the Caribbean. Unfortunately the resort was leveled by a hurricane in 1989, but the beach is still there, used by locals who rent chairs & umbrellas along with making some of the best "jerk" food in the Caribbean. Very few folks know about this beach that are not local.

Think of a beautiful white sand crescent beach with turquoise water so clear that you can stand up to your shoulders , look down and see your toes while fish swim in between your legs and you know you are at Mullet Bay.

The Boatyard in Barbados is nice, as well as all the beaches along Palm Beach in Aruba. The nicest thing about the Palm Beaches in Aruba is that there are no waves, so you can go out , fall asleep and wake up a few hours later when the currents float you into a buoy where you hit your head.

As far as renovations go, I can tell you for sure the Cigar Bar (Connoisseur Club) will be a library after drydock. Chops will be on deck 4 across from the Schooner Bar & the Sports Bar on the Promenade will definitely be changed ( most likely to a Vintages.)

The reason I know for sure is that I was in the cigar bar on 4/30/2016 when the 3 designers - WITH THE BLUEPRINTS - came into the lounge to measure and take photographs. For a brief few moments they all left the room . so naturally I looked at the blueprints. I saw the blueprints for the new library and Chops, but before I could go further they came back - gave me "the" look - packed up their blueprints and went on their way.

Other changes as noted are the Wave Rider on the sports Deck (13), new panorama rooms on the front of the ship, more interior cabins, moving the bar in the WJ upfront and putting more tables in their place in the dining area. The CL is going where the card rooms are and most likely the card rooms will go to the interior on the 9th floor where the CL was.

Again, great report. I'm sure I'll run across you ant the missus on some future cruise.

Adventure for 12 weeks starting Feb. 2018

Too cold here in northern Virginia

On the April 30, 2016 cruise the DL, located on deck 14, was open from 5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

MTD started at 5:30 p.m.

The Viking Lounge should stay intact as it is.

The SL/CL will take the place of card rooms on deck 14, which probably will be moved to the interior 9th floor currently occupied by the CL, where Ryno (pronounced ray-no) Strapp is the concierge.

Sucel is still the concierge in the DL. She replaced Cleon Fraser 5 weeks ago when he went to the Royal Genie school and is to be placed on the Harmony to service 3 high priced suites when she sails.

Because of the new ships coming on line about 10-20% of employees in each category are being replaced by other employees, mostly coming from the Radiance class ships and below.

As a side note on the sailings of April 16,23 & 30 there were no Pinnacles on board.

There were also less than 200 Diamond & Diamond+ members on all 3 cruises, so there was no crowding in either the CL or DL.

Abigal was the C&A loyalty representative until the end of the April 23 cruise when she was re-deployed on the Independence in the same roll.

She arranged for a meal with the officer on her last 2 cruises for the Diamond+ members that qualified.

Although there were 12 qualifying members for the April 30 sailing no meal with an officer occurred with the new LA stating that no one requested the meal. Personally, I know of 5 other Diamond+ who requested a meal with an officer on the last sea day. Make your own conclusions.

There was no welcome back C&A party, but there was a top tier event. This is in concurrence with other ships according to multiple posters on other threads.

VOOM is slated to start today (Sunday) according to multiple sources on ship.

Connoisseur Club to be converted to library when in drydock

.

Suite Lounge/Concierge Lounge to be moved from 9th floor interior to 14th floor port side with floor to ceiling window views.

Chops Grille to be placed on 4th floor opposite Schooner bar.

Deck 5 Promenade - Sports Bar most likely to be replaced by Vintages.

Waverider should be put on Sports Deck - however sports personnel are very concerned about monetary cutbacks.

Additional inside cabins on deck 3 where Jester's was and on deck 12 forward where the jogging track is there should be panorama view cabins installed with a stair entrance to deck 13 above them for chaise lounges and viewing.

The Promenade Café ,located on deck 5, has pizza, sandwiches & desserts for free along with coffee, tea , hot chocolate and water.

Also they have specialty coffee's and Ben & Jerry's ice cream for an additional cost.

Columbus Cove

No need for water shoes, soft white sand in the water, pavilion for BBQ, steel band for rhythms, palm trees for shade, restroom facilities and near the aqua park.

All the way in the back on the right side.

Can go to by ferry boat at pier, by tram at first roundabout or just take a walk.

Liberty

Minimum bets

BJ - $6

3 Card - $5

Ultimate Texas Hold'em - $5

The only Freedom Class ship with a higher minimum bet is the Independence, which is $10 for BJ , 3 Card and UTH.

How many in your group?

If it is 10 or under you should not have a problem.

Ryno Strapp is on the Adventure. He is a white man from South Africa.

Rey - no is how it is pronounced. (lots of folks have called him rhino)

Sorry for the confusion.

Noticed in the picture of genie's in training picture of Cleon Fraser (front row all the way to the left) who was the DL concierge on the Adventure when I boarded in Nov. 2015 and he was still there on the Marc 12,2016 cruise when he was replaced by Sucel the following week.

Cleon was very helpful to his guests and was well liked in the 6 weeks I observed him in that position.

Cleon said he had the opportunity to become a suite genie and mentioned that he expected to only have 3 suites to take care of - the Harmony was mentioned, but things can change as we all know.

When Reyno Strapp, the former concierge for the DL, came back from leave for the Mar. 5,2016 cruise he became the concierge for the CL (which is what he wanted) and his fiancée, Gabriella, is now working at the Next Cruise division on deck 6.

ccjenn

Thank you. We are staying at the Caribe Hilton this spring, and I am trying to work through my budget as accurately as possible. These little expenses really add up!

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Something to keep in mind while in Puerto Rico if you're on a tight budget.

Everything you buy (food & merchandise) comes with a 10.5% island tax + a 1% municipal tax for a total of 11.5%.

Hotels have the above plus their own creative writing add-ons.