KWong

I would agree with others to do it from Progresso to avoid the variable that is the ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. But if you do decide to visit Chichen Itza or Tulum from Cozumel, book through the cruise line to ensure that they'll wait for you (as long as possible). These are just about the only excursions I'd ever say that for, as we're quite comfortable booking with 3rd parties for tours.

And for context, my brother and wife booked the Chichen Itza tour through Royal in 2018 or so, and their excursion was at least an hour late getting back. The ship stayed in port, and basically made no effort to rush departure until the group got back.

We primarily use Cruise Holidays of Scarborough but that is primarily because a) they do most of their business in Cantonese and b) my parents deal with them enough that they'll give us random perks. 
 

I went through Costco travel for my October cruise and this far they've been decent. But there is a bit more DIY with them than with other TAs. No cruise credit, although I'll get a cash card after the cruise is complete. 

40 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

I live in Fort Lauderdale so we probably see things differently. I don’t really care much about the beach and prefer the abundance of things to do on Oasis class/Icon and others while visiting some nice Caribbean islands at the same time. I am not a fan of spending too much time in one place so cruising satisfies that need pretty well. We have certainly tried all inclusive resorts in many exotic (and some local) destinations and find them to be more of a hassle than a relaxing vacation. Also important to note, close proximity to the 3 major cruise ports & D+ crown and anchor plays a major role in the decisions we make for vacations as well. Maybe one day when the kids get a bit older we will do Europe again but it will 100% be on a cruise ship. 

I'm in the Toronto area so def see things a little bit differently.

FWIW we always figured we'd take the kids on a Euro cruise. Instead we went land-based instead and are ditching them for a Mediterranean cruise on Explorer this October.

18 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

We have recently tried some land based vacations that were horrible regarding the lines and crowds of people all fighting to get a spot at the pool. There’s so much more to see and do in a cruise which offers a higher overall value for my family. 

I take it that resorts are not your jam. I get it.

When it comes to land-based vacations, I'd much rather take the time to really explore a place rather than relax on the beach/at a pool the entire time - something that is much easier now that my girls are teens. For example we spent two weeks in France last year. Did 4 cities (Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Paris) and traveled by train. A great trip, but so very different from that cruise life. 

5 hours ago, RCVoyager said:

I have done Carnival as much or more than RCCL.  I really liked the Magic, and I was so looking forward to the Mardi Gras.  I was badly disappointed by the poor layout, the wasted space, the poor service, and the overcrowding of the Mardi Gras, but again as mentioned, it was almost as if the designers wanted passengers to forget they were on a ship.  Double width 5ft high glass rails everywhere is just terrible.  No connection to the Sea.

I hear you. To me, cruise ship layout is a key part in making your cruise enjoyable. I can see it just by reading your comments about the Mardi Gras. On these megaships, making them not feel crowded is such an important element, and I thought that Royal really nailed it with their Megaship layouts. And I thought that a ship like Regal Princess was laid out nicely as well. But then you go on something like DCL Fantasy, and you kind of see where design choices really constrict everyone.

And yeah, I do like something that gives you that feeling you're at sea, although I think my standards for that are lower than yours. For example, I love breakfast at Johnny Rockets on Oasis class ships. It's not a "true" connection to the sea, but it gives me a waterfront restaurant vibe, and I think that's what they were going for there.

We like the hotel cluster around Hwy 1/SE 17th street. It's near the north end of Port Everglades, and has all the restaurants, wine shops and "oh @#$# I forgot something" stores you'll need. And a LA Fitness, if you're into that sort of thing. We prefer Hyatt Place - really big rooms (you could probably sleep 8 to a room), breakfast, and even a "cruise luggage tag station" (a stand with staplers and pens). I think Matt reviewed a couple of other hotels in the area way back when.

13 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Your gratuities will be switched from the MDR to the specialty restaurants.  You don’t have to do anything.

According to the cruise planner gratuities were included in the cost of the UDP.

Anyway, I will probably end up not touching the gratuities, but I have time to sort everything out.

So the wife and I decided to the UDP for our 6 night on Explorer. Obviously, that means that we are unlikely to eat in the MDR.

So the question then is - how should we deal with the server gratuities that are automatically added to the onboard account? I'm not sure if we should be giving a tip to servers that we'll never see in the MDR?

17 hours ago, FionaMG said:

You would be surprised. October in the Med is like the tropics to peeps from more northerly climes.

Guess we'll see. Not particularly concerned either way - wife and I will find chairs if we need them.

16 hours ago, cruisingfever said:

Glad they are starting to enforce it, I hope it's across the fleet. It's really out of control 

Same. Although my next cruise is in the Mediterranean in late October, so I'm not anticipating too many chair issues at that time.

On 4/2/2024 at 9:41 PM, Southern Dan said:

Hey all, starting to plan for our Greek Isles Cruise next summer and we are departing from Rome and arriving in Athens.  

We are planning on staying 3 days before in Italy and 3 nights in Athens after to see as much of the cities as possible.

Anyone have suggestions for hotels to look into there, favorite restaurants or any other helpful tips as I want to make the most of our trip.  Thanks so much for any info y’all can provide!

 

 

 

There is a yt channel called Greece Explained that does a good breakdown of areas to stay in Athens. That might help you decide. 

1 hour ago, Baked Alaska said:

THANK YOU! We love hiking and getting away from the city. What would you recommend instead?

I can't really recommend anything in terms of that because we're probably doing hiking in Tofino (again, a land trip), which is way too far away for a cruise excursion. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I didn't do any hiking research for the Victoria area.

3 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Is that a website? Get your guide? Sound interesting, thanks. 

It is a website and an app.

I've found Get Your Guide to be another decent broker. Might also be worth checking out.

19 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

I think we are going to try the Malahat Skywalk and then go to Fisherman's Wharf. We are in port I believe from noon to 10 PM. Can anyone give their review/opinion of the Skywalk?

I was looking at the Skywalk for my (non-cruise) trip to BC this summer since we saw it on The Amazing Race Canada and were curious about it.

My conclusion is that it's a purpose-built tourist attraction with appeal as an accessible hike with an elevated view and a dry slide (ugh) as it's major selling points. At $37 CDN pp (not including transport over), it could get pricey. But it does get you out of the city and nature-adjacent, so there is that.

I think that, with 10 hours to play with, it's not a bad way to spend a few hours. But it's not something that screams "must do" to me.

9 minutes ago, PeloAl said:

Way too many adults in one tiny cabin. Spend a few $$ and get an extra room.

This is probably a better solution. Especially if you can get connecting rooms (assuming it's not too late). Bonus - you get an extra full bathroom.

42 minutes ago, Geezer Of The Seas said:

We're not coffee snobs, so whatever free bilge water and fake juices served are good enough.

I've definitely had worse drip coffee on a ship. To be honest, I find cruises to be a good time to cut down on the caffeine. 

when I go a la carte, I pace myself, drink in moderation on board and spend more on cheaper drinks in port. That might work for your husband. 

12 hours ago, PhillyLady said:

I am not sure I would classify this question as tough at all--it is just purely a matter of energy, choice and interests.

We almost always squeeze in morning sightseeing wherever we are before we board our cruises. Also I can never pass up a bit more souvenir shopping! 

It's a nice little cruise jumping from country to country, but you do not really experience an overall Greek islands cruise, which is one of my favorite places in the world to travel by water.

For us, being in Greece means seeing as much of the history as possible.  The Acropolis, the museums, shopping in the Plaka-- already a few days in Athens gone.  Next a day trip to Delphi--and what about Mycenae? This past Summer when we were in Athens I REALLY wanted to get to Meteora, but it will have to wait until next visit. 

In terms of the islands, we like all the trendy shopping in Mykonos, and lunch by the windmills, but I always want to head to sacred Delos first. Mallorca is a great island to visit--we will be traveling there this Summer, also. 

So, you just have to decide if your priority is trying to see more/do more, or just head to the ship early for a relaxing lunch.  No worries--on your next cruise you can see whatever you miss this time!

Thanks for the tips.

Going in late October, I don't know that we'll get a true taste of the Greek Islands, but maybe that's a blessing in disguise since Mykonos won't have near as many tourists. But yeah, looking forward to Sicily and Mallorca. We're also gonna hit Lisbon for a day and a half before heading home. Apparently at that time of year there's about one direct flight to Toronto and that got booked up long before we got the conference details... so might as well hit another city and country in Europe, right?

5 hours ago, LCWind said:

I would spend more time in Athens and buy your ticket to Acropolis ahead of time so you can visit it on Friday afternoon or anytime Saturday.  

I like your thinking. I know some of the tickets allow you to visit over multiple days so I was already thinking about doing that anyway. Whether we make it or not depends on how jet lagged my wife is.

So, in the world of first world problems, I seem to have one, and am looking for advice.

I am sailing Explorer of the Seas in late October from Piraeus to Barcelona. We were originally taking the cruise that sailed out of Ravenna but for whatever reason that was canceled and replaced with a 6 nighter out of Greece. We rebooked on that because my wife has a conference in Barcelona, so the endpoint and time was actually of more importance than the starting point. But that shifted our plans from doing a couple of days in Venice and taking a train to Ravenna to Athens and the much closer port of Piraeus.

We are getting in to Athens around noon on Friday. Not too hard to plan things to do for the 1.5 days prior to the cruise. But here's the big question - should we board the cruise early, or spend a little more time in Athens before making our way to port?

3 hours ago, WhoCruiser said:

And there I thought it was a sign on the loo door on Ryanair, LOL! 

Man, there's an upcharge for everything on that airline, no? 

It depends on the ship. If it's one of the newer ships (I want to say Quantum Class, Icon Class, Harmony and Symphony but please correct me if I'm wrong), they have RFID cards so you'd have no problems there.

I believe all the other ships use magstripe cards, which may or may not be an issue. It's been so long since I've relied on the magstripe on a card that I don't know if a cellphone will mess up a magstripe.

I've used Euro adapters for things like my laptop. But of course a laptop has it's own converter so no issues on that front. Also used an adapter for my Anker USB Powerport with no issues, apart from the flimsiness of having an adapter and a USB multiport attached to it. For my trip to France last year, I ended up buying some Euro-specific USB multiports and ended up using those on my last cruise as well.

Thanks. I play a bit but not enough to get comps, so not that worried about it. And I hate slots.

But I do like to know what I'm getting into before I get there. Bad house odds will probably limit my casino time a bit more than I planned.

Hi everyone,

Just curious on a few things about CR on Explorer... or Royal in general since I haven't been on since Indy in early 2020. Wanted to know the following:

- Craps - is it still the same odds as before?

- Roulette - double or triple zero? Wanted to play when I was on Regal Princess, but they had triple zero and that was the end of that. 
 

- Blackjack - what is the payout for a blackjack? And I assume it's a shuffle master and not a hand shuffled shoe?

Thanks in advance. 

Has anyone tried ordering a Caesar on board?