twangster

The 10 draft beer deal for $49 plus 18% showed up on day 3 but they only have Heineken and Strongbow on tap. No 10 drink card that I've seen, but with many port days on this sailing I'm sustaining mostly on local beers in port, then Diamond drinks until later in the evenings when I switch to a couple of Kraken and diet. A Kraken and diet is $8.26 all in. Beer and shot combos appeared to day, $3 more for the shot. Drink package was $57 on board available until day 3 of this 13 night sailing. Lately I've only seen a 10 drink show up late in a cruise, like with 2 days remaining. YMMV. A Voom special "today only" has been offered every day. Buy a day pass of Surf and Stream and connect a second device for free. A new Voom offered appeared tonight. Buy Surf and Stream for the remainder of the voyage for $49.99. However it appears this isn't combinable with C&A discounts.

Welcome to the message boards! Yes, at least for prime time. Coastal Kitchen on most ships isn't bookable in advance, it's suites only so I assume you are in a suite. Anthem has been an outlier, sometimes. Generally speaking in a GS or above wait for Concierge to email you a week or so before sailing and reply with reservation requests. JS cannot make advance reservations on most ships, visit on day one and request them for the week. Solarium Bistro can sometimes be booked in advance. It's open to everyone so they can go fast. Visit on day one once aboard.

Welcome to the message boards! My only venture outside the gates has been on the way to the zip line tower and jet skiing. I too would be interested in a review of a private excursion of this nature.

Day 7 - Saint John, New Brunswick Beautiful sunrise this morning as we make our way to Saint John. Windy today and all outer decks are closed. Seas and ship are smooth, just windy. The Captain just addressed our revised port times. Saint John requires some extra time to set the lines so our planned time to be ready to leave the ship is around 1:30pm. All aboard time will remain as scheduled at 6:30pm since the area is tidal and we must time our departure to avoid low tide. Our progress so far... The journey so far has been 1449 nautical miles.

You lose credibility with hyperbole. A 25m cord? That's over 80 feet. Smuggle? I've never smuggled anything onto a Royal ship. It's right there for Royal to see. I haven't hidden it or snuck it on board. If I tried to bring a clothes iron they would confiscate it. I've twice seen scary looking cords supplied by the ship. They might have been tested once but in the hands of cabin attendants they are getting ruined. I've seen cabin attendants pinch their cords under the bed. Curling irons are much more of a threat. Yet they are allowed. If Royal wants to further mitigate the possibility of issues they can retrofit outlets near beds. Instead they spend millions on projects to upgrade ships that generate revenue while choosing to ignore safety if the threat is as real as you claim. Why is Royal ignoring safety and in doing so creating this hazzard ?

A brand new extension cord still with the cardboard sleeve on it is less dangerous than the identical cord supplied by the ship that has been used a thousands times.

I've been to the maritime provinces several times, both as a kid in the family wagon but also as an adult. Mostly by car, a few air trips. This is my first visit by cruise ship. When you drive there, you see and experience a lot just by driving, stopping, spending nights here and there. Gaspe Bay Peninsula for example. Very beautiful area. Cruising is different. Not in a bad way, just different. Seeing covered bridges in PEI for example that aren't in downtown Charlottetown. An excursion can get you there, which I didn't do but that I knew that when I chose not to do an excursion. I could have rented a car which is a very viable cruise ship day trip thing to do, especially with a family where excursions add up with each additional family member. As a solo cruiser a car rental is often more than an excursion but provides a lot more flexibility than an excursion. If you are going to rent a car, research ahead of time and plan a route leaving some time for being spontaneous. No different than flying to NS, NB, PEI, etc.

Welcome to the message boards! The ship will have a turkey based entree on the menu for Thanksgiving but the ship is not exclusively 'one-big-Thanksgiving-dinner-at-Grandma's-house' on Thanksgiving day. The menu will have many other items as well like it does every night. Football is typically available in the pub and on the big screen by the pool. Christmas decorations start going up around this time but it varies by ship. Some ships don't start putting them up until after US Thanksgiving. This can vary by ship and year-to-year. Some ships doing early December. Last year on Anthem the tree went up on 11/30 and each day after more and more decorations went up. I'd be careful setting the expectations that the ship will be fully decorated before the start of your Thanksgiving cruise but hopefully Brilliance will start early than Anthem did. Holiday sailings are very special and more festive than other typical sailings but don't expect it to be over the top festive. The main important thing is quality time with family, not having to cook Thanksgiving dinner and seeing everyone in a great mood on board. It's special in its own way, but not a Hollywood movie rendition of an American Thanksgiving.

Replace the pool tables that don't work anymore and put something there. The voluminous entry to the Schooner Bar is wasted space and could have something. Leave the pub. All ships need a pub. Radiance Class does a lot of cold weather, small ports and European sailings where a flowrider isn't likely to garner the use it does out of Florida. It doesn't make sense on them. Radiance class suffer from a design flaw - the centrum is a choke point and a lot of wasted space in terms of volume. Originally many had aerial shows but those are gone so the multi-deck open atrium is just wasted space that dumps loud nightly music in multiple cabins anywhere close to the centrum on each deck. Royal should dump these ships. Sell them off. The cost to renovate them into something that can generate more revenue is likely not worth it. I wouldn't be surprised if they never AMP these ships.

Two to three dollars per bag is customary in the US. A family of four with 10 bags should give more than one or two dollars. A solo traveler with 1 bag is good with a couple bucks.

Some people have medical equipment that requires them given the lack of outlets anywhere near the bed. While a surge suppressor presents a clear safety hazard due to the type of electrical system on board, a simple plain extension cord does not. No more than it does when and if the ship supplies one to you, until they run out. A plain cell phone charger does not represent a safety hazard yet I came close to having one confiscated because it was European and looked different. If Royal, or any cruise line wants to mitigate the need for them they should modernize their ships so they aren't needed first. Plus - a 25m extension cord? Sure, ban anything over 4m and we're good.

That was the old way. Now, most ships transfer your clothes to a mesh bag and tag the mesh bag. They don't tag individual garments. Not sure all ships do this but most that I have tried do it this way now.

Off to dinner in the Windjammer for German night (Ironic after so much World War history today). Tonight was a formal night and I just didn't feel like doing the MDR. Food in the WJ was very good. Around 6pm the Captain announced a guest was in a critical medical condition and we would need to return to Halifax to drop them off for medical attention. Unfortunate but it happens. As a result our arrival in Saint John, New Brunswick tomorrow has been pushed back to around noon. The Captain will provide an update in the morning at 8am. Just before 9pm we made our second departure from Halifax.

Back on the ship I laid down for a nap (that Canadian beer is pretty strong). Shortly after I went up for sail away and discovered the flowrider was operational. The sole participant had brought a wet suit and was pretty good. He had it to himself. The slides were also operational and I can confirm the water is NOT heated. Slide rules in case anyone is interested. As sail away got closer I saw some sail boats in the harbor. The Peak-a-boo bridge was open for the first time in many days. Down to the helipad for sail away. The pilot boat tagging along waiting to pickup the harbor pilot.

Walking back towards the ship next to the pier is a local farmer's market. Lot's of local's present today including many students from Dalhousie University here for lunch on this Saturday. Closer to the ship is a local brewery. Time for a beverage.

Walking around town is easy and pleasant. A Poutinerie. Halifax is known for it's Donairs. An authentic chicken Donair. Yum. Lot's of churches in Halifax. An old cemetery across the street. A recollection of a battle during the war of 1812 with the Americans.

The Citadel of Halifax remains never to have been attacked by an enemy. It's place on top of this hill gave it a commanding view and ability to defend the harbor along with many other forts and defensive positions located around the port. Today it is a museum operated by Parks Canada. Hmmm, more cannons pointed at our ship. It also serves as a museum for Canada's war efforts in both World Wars, Korea and Afghanistan. A section of the moat has been re-created in the form of World War 1 trenches of the Western front that Canadian soldiers fought in. "Keep your head down" Yeah, no kidding. Back to the barracks used by soldiers in the Citadel. Upstairs has been converted into a museum with exhibits. A recreation of the monument to Canada for it's role in liberating the area located at Vimy Ridge in France. Admission was $7.80 or around $6 US. Well worth it.

The Harbor walk continues and is home to many restaurants and shops. A Canadian Navy ship was leaving the port this morning. A nice playground for anyone with kids can be found along the Harbor walk. The "Last Steps Memorial Arch" is a tribute to the thousands of men who departed Halifax during World War 1 to fight in the trenches overseas. Over the course of the war over 350,000 Canadian troops departed from Halifax. A view towards the Atlantic with that Navy ship growing smaller on the horizon. Despite it's history Halifax is a very modern and clean city. City Hall. One of the oldest Anglican churches in Canada. A view up the hill toward the Citadel of Halifax. In 1917 as the World War 1 raged on, a Norwegian relief ship collided with a French munitions ship in the narrows of Halifax harbor. The French ship was carrying explosives from New York City destined for France. It burned for 25 minutes before 2926 pounds of explosives detonated. The resulting fireball and shock wave flattened two square kilometers of city. More than 1,600 were killed, 9,000 injured and 6,000 left homeless.

Day 6 - Halifax, continued... Our progress so far... Inside the cruise terminal at Pier 21 are a number of shops offering local crafts and other souvenirs. Halifax and Pier 21 has a lot of history and in the past this very pier served to be the point of arrival for many who immigrated to Canada. In that sense it's Canada's version of Ellis Island in NYC being the primary seaport used for transatlantic crossings for much of the 1900's. Plenty of hop on, hop off buses which if walking isn't your thing are a great way to self-explore the city. Halifax is another old Canadian city with lots of history. It was the birth place of Samuel Cunard whose parents immigrated here in 1783. As a businessman he formed a steamship line that would later be known as the Cunard Line sailing from Liverpool, England. A memorial to woman who volunteered in a variety of roles including during the war efforts. "The Emigrant" - In many cases men left their families in their home country to pursue work in the new world. later sending money home to them. Given the role that Halifax has played as a seaport it is also one of Canada's largest Navy ports. A memorial to those Navy ships and crew lost in World War 2. This leads to a very nice Harbor walk that follows the shore.

@TheaFromCDA - I haven't decided if I'll be live blogging Symphony. There are several cruise friends on that one and I'm not sure I'll have the same time to dedicate to blogging. Longer cruises do deviate from a normal 7 night rotation. There are the same number of shows which is one reason the entertainment cast likes the longer cruises - they perform the same number of times so they have more 'down' days on longer cruises. That being said, the shows are often the same but offered at different times.

Following! Have a great cruise!

Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia I woke early to capture our arrival and I wasn't disappointed. it was nice to see sun and sky after several days of gloomy, wet weather.

Too bad it's not a parka, otherwise LuluBot would buy three.

Maybe I 'got' his sense of humor being Canadian but I don't think he was trying to be left, right or anywhere else. It's hard not to scan the TV line-up and not hear extreme rhetoric from many news outlets, Canadian or American (yes, Canadian news endures the same political diarrhea with its politics except it ends in 'eh') so I think his point was, while those stations continued their verbal diarrhea few even mentioned this earthquake or the impact to the people of Haiti while these supposed 'news' channels chose to remain babbling on.

Not that I'm aware of. I doubt it's something Royal wants to be public knowledge else it gives the competition too much insight into their customer base.