Jason.H.

1 hour ago, TheJones said:

I would even go on Carnival

I said I'd never do a carnival cruise again after going on one but at this point I'd be ok with it and just not tell anyone 

I just want to go on a cruise out of florida  (because I love florida). Hopeful it can happen soon.

14 hours ago, IzzyB said:

All cruiselines have been allowing 10% the only difference is kids counted in that and virgin doesn't allow kids.

RC is now going to allow 20% I think to offset this.

the previous 10% for royal has been kids only. at least thats what their website said. All passengers 12 and over must be vaccinated. 

25 minutes ago, twangster said:

Royal is trying to do something similar.  Royal's 20% unvax plans include children while Virgin doesn't allow children so the Virgin 10% adults is pretty close to Royal's 20% kids plus adults unvax plans.

It's still not clear how the destination rules will play into either Virgin or Royal's attempts to allow more unvax on board.  

Time will tell.  

I didn't think royal allowed any unvaccinated adults. Looks at their website and saw that all passengers over 12 had to be vaccinated. 

Just incase anyone else is in the same boat as me and dying to cruise again but are not covid vaccinated, Virgin cruises is allowing 10% of adults (adults only cruise line) to be unvaccinated. We will be coming back to royal I'm sure but for now virgin will have to do. Haven't booked yet but still exciting being able to look at booking knowing it's actually possible to go again. Hopefully all the other cruise lines will follow along soon. 

I booked nov 2, 2019 sailing on Equinox for 7 night west caribbean out of ft lauderdale and got a $910 resident discount for North Carolina. Deluxe veranda room with no obstruction, $300 obc, paid gratuities, and classic drink package for two (which we used $160 of the obc to upgrade to premium drink package) for $1897. Pretty much got the cruise for free!! After we booked the price went up to $2497

18 hours ago, karl_nj said:

Ever find out what the mysterious $90 charge was for?  You booked directly with Celebrity?

Well, long story.

   So we were looking at this particular cruise and on wednesday night it was last night for the labor day sale. Balcony room with 2 perks (drink package and $300obc) for $2407.36. Almost booked it but just couldn't pull the trigger. Just happened to check the site again yesterday morning the new sale includes a free perk so I priced out the same room again and now for same room and drink package, $300obc, and paid gratuities the price had dropped to $1897.36. We booked it right away. Waited an hour, still no confirmation email and no charge to credit card. Called them and my wife talk to some jerk insisting it was our fault and we did something wrong. So we booked it again, it went through and got our confirmation number and receipt showing all three perks and a $910 resident discount for North Carolina??? guessing this was the glitch making the price $510 cheaper even with the 3rd included perk. But at the bottom of receipt it showed total amount 1897.36, paid amount 1897.36 and amount due sept 6 $90.

  So we called about the $90 and they said they had no idea what it was for but they did have bad news and told us the 1897 price did not include the perks. It was just for the resident price. So my wife argued and sent her the screen shots of our documents with pricing and the 3 perks. She then stated she knows it is very misleading but shes sorry and theres nothing she can do. She asked if this was our first cruise with celebrity and we told her yes but we are emerald members with RC. My wife got off the phone with her and gave me the bad news, I just told her it was ridiculous and to cancel it. She agreed. Before my wife could call back the same lady from celebrity called her back and told her she talked with her supervisor and said they would be happy to honor the price and perks and remove the $90 fee and it was their mistake. Woohoo!!! We couldn't be happier. Sorry for the long read.. and yes we booked directly with Celebrity on their website.

;

Hello, my wife and I booked our first Celebrity cruise this morning at a great deal on the Equinox this November 2. We put in our card number and selected pay in full and submitted. It says thank you for payment and now shows we owe $90 for a reservation fee that will be due tomorrow?? What the heck is this junk? We booked through their website. Wife is on hold to speak with someone there. We've been on 8 RC cruises and have never been charged anything after final payment.

To get to the helicopter pad at the front of the ship go to deck four and walk the outside all the way forward where you will find stairs leading up and forward to the helicopter pad. I remember my first couple times on that ship always wondering how people got there. The ship is awesome and you will love it. 

Ashley beat me to it

If it has the coke free style machines they have dasani (spelling?) sparkling water and you can had a variety of unsweetened flavors to it. I drink the lime all week, and sometimes add some power aid into the mix to combat any hangovers lol.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is included as well. I drank at least two of those a day. So those 2, 2 beers, and a glass of wine at dinner was pretty much the break even point...I drank quite a bit more than that though. Plus its nice because you can try all kinds of things you usually wouldn't. And if you dont like it, you dont have to drink it. I would have spent 50 bucks a day on chocolate and espresso martini's if I didnt have the drink package lol

Yeah the atlantic ocean is usually alot choppier than the caribbean. Can be rough. I'm afraid my wife would be miserable so we havent cruised out of jersey or baltimore.

Service really declined once they started adding gratuity to everything instead of making the staff work for it. And with all the staff trying to sell you everything I treat it like I do the direct tv sales people in Wal-Mart and smile and tell them I already have it. (If they are trying to get you to book a specialty restaurant just smile and say you already have and thank you. They will smile back and walk away every time.) We had our expectations so high for our first Oasis class cruise on Allure, then once on board we kind of hated it. Not sure why, it just seems overly crowded and hard to get servers attention, food not that great, etc. Said we'd never do Oasis class again. Then 2 years later there was a smoking deal on a balcony for Oasis of the Seas so we took a chance. It turned out to be the best cruise we've ever been on. Staff, food, other cruisers, everything was perfect. 

I guess long story short every now and then a sub par experience can just happen. I wouldn't let it get to you. And if you try other cruise lines please come back and tell us how they compare. Ive been on one carnival cruise and 7 RC cruises, it was a great vacation, just not the same. Wife and I felt like we didn't fit in with the crowd. I've recently looked into norwegian because they are offering free drink package but their ocean view balconies are expensive. And also almost booked the Dave Ramsey cruise with Holland but it was three times the price of a RC cruise so decided against it. 

I bet they still have the RVC cupcakes for sale on ships with the cupcake shop. 

Has anyone on here tried this excursion? We will be going there next week for the first time. We have always went to red stripe beach but now its gone so this is the closest thing to it. It looks nice from google and facebook. We are just doing the $32 transfer and beach access instead of the all inclusive as it states the beach time is only 3 hours (not sure if that's correct or not). We chose it based on cost and close location to the port. We did another beach near montego bay a few years ago but it was more like a harbor and water was hot and dirty with no flow or current and it took over an hour to get there through terrible Jamaica traffic. Just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience or tips. Thanks!

21 hours ago, Oliver said:

My biggest problem with the Windjammer is that I’ll eat too much. I just want to try everything! I don’t have a lot of self control 

Me either! My plan is to find a small plate by the dessert section to use as my dinner plate. But I'll probably end up going back for seconds and thirds haha. 

Woop woop! This time next week I'll be checking into my airbnb in cocoa beach. Im on sept 9th on Oasis, either of you going to be on that date?

After seeing CGTLH's live blogs with pictures I am deffinately planning to do some Windjammer recon of my own on my cruise in less than two weeks on Oasis. The night that the MDR has the sliced beef tenderloin the windjammer has it as well but at the carving station and its hot and fresh and charred on the outside rare to medium on the inside (depending which end he slices from) and tastes much better there then it does in the MDR. 

It's a contemporary christian music radio station cruise. There are a few well known bands that perform on the ship and stuff like that. I have a few friends that have gone and loved it. 

French fries and tomato smoothie, I mean ketchup. lol

I googled it and found the latest menus on cruise critic. Now im hungry.

I'll find out in two weeks on sept 9th

We used to always go to Red Stripe beach but it is no longer there (got bought by a resort). I think Blue waters is a comparable option but have not been there. Red stripe beach was 10 minutes from port and I think blue waters is about the same. Bamboo beach is a longgg bus ride away on pretty sketchy roads. The blue waters beach you can either book all inclusive or just entry and transportation and buy food and drinks a la carte. 

Yeah, it does make sense. I just wish their food was better.