About to abandon ship!

[misstopgun]

My husband and I are looking at a theme cruise in Jan. but unfortunatly it is not on Carnival. It is a Grand Ol' Opry cruise on RCCL.

 

We are Carnival platinum with 19 cruises. We have been on one RCCL cruise back in "99 and it was a dart league cruise sponsered by a bar and a three day cruise at that. Needless to say, though I remember I thought the service was outstanding and the bathrooms were tiny, I don't remember a whole lot about that cruise.

 

If not for the theme, we would be sailing on Carnival for our next cruise. Carnival is home to us.

 

We are feeeling a bit like fish out of water and thought maybe our CC frinds that cruise multiple lines could give us some insight.

 

Does RCCL allow the one bottle of wine per passenger apon boarding? Do they allow you to bring on soda and water? Do they have wine packages for purchase after boarding? Do they have something similar to the Bon Voyage department to order a bottle for your room for pre dinner cocktails? How formal are their elegant nights?

 

We would appreciate any information you could provide us as we stretch our wings a bit. Don't worry, we go on 2-3 cruises a year and we will be back on a Carnival ship very soon. Just can't pass up the chance to be with all of the Grand Ol' Opry stars that we remember from our youth. I used to just love T. G. Sheppard! I had a bigger crush on him then Donny Osmond..lol

[big_duck]

Does RCCL allow the one bottle of wine per passenger apon boarding? Do they allow you to bring on soda and water? Do they have wine packages for purchase after boarding? Do they have something similar to the Bon Voyage department to order a bottle for your room for pre dinner cocktails? How formal are their elegant nights?

 

Questions best asked on the RCCL board, go on you can do it, they won't bite.

[CWcruisers]

RCCL does not allow you to bring anything liquid on board, including water. They do offer wine packages, and on my TA, they offered a water package, not sure if that is offered on shorter cruises.

 

Variety is good, how else can you compare? I am Milestone on Carnival and have 7 cruises on RCCL. I would love to cruise them more, but they always end up being much higher priced. I wanted to do the Oasis, but it was double what I ended up booking the Dream for. Oh well, just gets me closer to another Milestone.

[beachseeker]

We have taken cans of soda on every cruise, including twice on RCCL.

[misstopgun]

RCCL does not allow you to bring anything liquid on board, including water. They do offer wine packages, and on my TA, they offered a water package, not sure if that is offered on shorter cruises.

 

Variety is good, how else can you compare? I am Milestone on Carnival and have 7 cruises on RCCL. I would love to cruise them more, but they always end up being much higher priced. I wanted to do the Oasis, but it was double what I ended up booking the Dream for. Oh well, just gets me closer to another Milestone.

Sailed the Dream twice, in Oct. of "10 and April "11. We truely enjoyed it as we normally do with all cruses. (one exception was My 'Cruise from hell on the Paradise) It was a sister 3 day cruise and I should have known better.

 

Sailed the Legend again in Sept. "11 and and realized that although we did enjoy the Dream, being on a smaller ship was really good too. ( it was the 4th time on the Legend).

 

The price of the theme cruise is a little bit more but we don't criuse for the price as much as we do for the ports. By the time you add airfare from AZ to FL, a couple of hundred is a mute point. We do enjoy the free laundry though, saves on airport baggage fees.

 

The next cruise is for the the theme as we have been to all the ports except Falmouth Jamaica. We probably wouldn't have ever done the Dream except that it is the only cruise that Carnival had that went to Costa Maya. (Hubby befrinded a waiter at the beach and they text one another periodicly) Glad we did. Though some of the reviews were horrendous,we had a great time both cruises. I did miss seeing the same people day in and day out as you do on smaller cruise ships though, and the casino was a bit more impersonal.

 

This is a seven day cruise and I am happy to hear they have a water and wine package. Hope they also allow you to order a bottle of liquor for your room.

I appreciate your response. Thanks so much!

[tiggerman101]

I am pretty sure that RCL has cracked down on the bringing your own beverages on board. last February I brought two 12 packs of soda on Oasis and all was fine. Last week, they wouldn't let me bring anything on Allure. I admit I didn't try to on my other 3 RCL cruises.

 

They do offer the wine and water packages. The water is Evian. You have various selections of wine packages you can buy.

 

I want to say that they have no "Bon Voyage" liquor sales like Carnival, but I am not 100% sure on that.

 

I was in Falmouth last week and will say the port seems to (finally) be just about done. It seems like they are just taking care of the minor details right now. All the stores seemed to be moved in and there was a lot of activity.

 

Go and have fun. I love Royal and had a wonderful time on Allure last week. The service and staff was amazing. I am Platinum on Carnival but will sail any line if the opportunity arises.

[firefly333]

I am pretty sure that RCL has cracked down on the bringing your own beverages on board. last February I brought two 12 packs of soda on Oasis and all was fine. Last week, they wouldn't let me bring anything on Allure. I admit I didn't try to on my other 3 RCL cruises.

 

I brought a 6 pack of coke bottles onto Oasis just last month. They hand searched my suitcase. I had one coke open they made me take a drink out of.

 

No problem.

 

Maybe you were just trying to carry on too many sodas?? I put a few, just the one six pack in my suitcase, not separate.

 

I have carried soda onto other RCL Cruises too, np. Always just throw a few into my suitcase.