twangster
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Posts posted by twangster
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Personally I love Radiance class. I had a great cruise on Serenade a few months ago and have bookings on all of the sister ships. The size is part of that appeal. Very easy ship to get around taking the stairs but that glass elevator bank would be awesome in Alaska, plus helipad access.
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Next week a bunch of us will be on the Explorer to Alaska for the Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise, June 22-29. Keep an eye on this site for @Matt's blogs and my own in the live blog section. Plenty of periscopes as well I imagine.
I find it impossible to get bored on any ship, any itinerary, even small ships.
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I don't recall seeing a tourist booth but I may have walked right past it. I tend to research on my own ahead and time and have a plan, even for self exploring.
End of July - plan for hot and it's the Caribbean so a pop rain shower is always possible. Take bottles of water off the ship.
The walk down Passeo de la Princesa is a simple left turn at the end of the pier and just walk in that direction. Nice fountain at the end, couple of bars you can stop at. From there you can follow the shore and walk outside the old city walls. It eventually ends at El Morro. Or head up hill through the city and find El Morro then reverse what I said above and return to the ship walking along the shore. Between the fountain and El Morro along the shore there aren't any bars or places to stop and cool down so plan that portion accordingly.
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Adventure was recently refurbished including her cabins. New water slides and Izumi. During the summer she is in the NYC area which is convenient from the UK. For the winter she heads to Florida. With up to 3,800 guests she is mid size by RCI standards but extra large by other cruise line standards (about the size of Carnival's newest ships).
Indy is in Florida for the winters but mostly shorter stuff. There is one 7 night on her in 2019 to the Caribbean.
Adventure has some interesting itineraries such as 12 night Southern Caribbean as well as 6 or 8 night Caribbean cruises. She also sails from Quebec once or twice once and she does interesting itineraries from Bayonne in the summer.
Having sailed Freedom in November, Indy in December (pre dry dock) and Liberty in February I didn't get an out dated vibe from any of them. I was expecting Indy to look like she needed a dry dock but she didn't.
Liberty is certainty a viable option.
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Just now, DocLC said:
I actually had little interest in the Med until we found a killer deal on a winter cruise this past January. Our interests had largely been Northern Europe and the British Isles. However, we fell in love with the Med on this trip, which is why we're doing the Barcelona to Venice cruise next summer. Better yet, there's only one repeat port.
This is the experience I am aiming for. Try some cruises in different regions more than just to sample the region but hoping to see what areas deserve a repeat visit with more awareness of likes/dislikes.
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I am all about trying new and different. It's one of many things I like about Royal - variety across the fleet and with itineraries.
Venturing out more next year, longer cruises, some abroad. I've got a 10, 12, 13, 14 and 16 night cruises booked, on top of 3, 4, 5 & 7 nights. Those are Alaska, Asia, Bahamas, Caribbean, Cuba, Hawaii, New Zealand and Panama Canal. Looking at Norway, Med and/or Greece in 2020.
I like doing things differently. Only sailing OA or QU class would get old for me. I love those ships, but I equally love smaller ships.
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@Matt recently sailed Brilliance, as has @mpoole3
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/11/24/brilliance-of-the-seas-live-blog-preamble
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/01/25/brilliance-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-1-embarkation-day
I've got a B2B booked in December.
I like Radiance class. Bigger than Vision class but you can see where this design grew up from. No promenade like those ships that came after but it has a great Vintages with awesome sea views, best Vintages in the fleet. The Centrum is the 'heart' of the ship. This is Serenade's Centrum but Brilliance is pretty much the same:
It also has a dedicated movie theater but arrive early for seats.
Other things I like:
- Pub
- Helipad Access
- Deck 7 Extended Balcony Cabin
- Outdoor Windjammer Seating
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5 minutes ago, cruise-y said:
I just checked in. I was locked out and had to call. Twice. The guy on the phone told me I "probably didn't log out properly" when I was on a few weeks ago. What? Can't I just close it down when I'm done? The last time I had to "log out" of anything was like, 1995. What an archaic concept. Then when I completed check-in I didn't get any luggage tags. So I called again and that person had no idea why they didn't show up - but they "will probably appear eventually so keep checking back." Or maybe they'll email them to me, even though the instructions said to print them off when you finish check-in. I know I gripe about this a lot but seriously, the website is ridiculous.
How far out? Luggage tags are typically ready 30-45 days out. It's been like that for a while.
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The photo isn't a big deal, hardly slows you down if you do it at check in.
Outside of your cabin will be one Seapass card. Additional ones for guests 2+ will be inside your cabin. Note not all ships have implemented this yet. Certain ships have done it this way for a while now. More ships are converting to it. Eventually all will.
Royal is trying to streamline the check in process, further refinements in the near future will allow most everything in the app on your phone. Part of that is shifting the Seapass distribution from the shore folks (who are typically a 3rd party) to having the ship create the cards and distribute them. Quantum class and Harmony have been like this for a while with other ships adopting this process this year and next year.
Since cabins are not always ready when you board, your SetSail pass will have a barcode that is used to scan onto the ship upon boarding and to make any purchases such as drinks until cabins are ready and you get your official SeaPass cards.
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As far as the customs forms - depends on the port and it's up to US customs, not the cruise line.
Port Everglades did away with the forms as a test. Cape Liberty and Galveston still use them, or did in May and March respectively. Hopefully more ports will adopt the Port Everglades test, but that is all in the hands of the government, not Royal.
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Crown and Anchor benefits were discussed in another thread and I've posted a sample letter of the on board offers for gold level here:
As far as the private departure lounge I've never tried to use it as I prefer a regular breakfast where offered. Location varies by ship.
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18 hours ago, cruise-y said:
Just tried to book a shore excursion for an August 2018 cruise and was sent into an endless loop that went nowhere. Page looked totally different than it did three days ago. Unbelievable.
I booked a cruise planner item just now and after entering all of my details, (like it doesn't already know my name so I get it to enter it twice more), it kicked me back to the dashboard and I was given the opportunity to repeat it all over again. Second time was a charm.
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15 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the extra points awarded if you're cruising solo. I cruise with friends, but I snore like a freight train... so I always get myself a solo cabin. I wasn't aware until recently that you get double points if you're paying the solo supplement. They definitely weren't being awarded to my C&A account. I also usually get a JS or above which doubles points, so the point breakdown for a 7 night solo cruise in a suite is:
Base points: 7
Suite points: 7
Solo points: 7
I called RCI's Casino Royale agent to ask if I was correct in assuming my past 7 day cruises should have received 21 points instead of 14. Indeed, they should have. The agent fixed that in five minutes and I got a 21 point bump out of it. If you're cruising solo, definitely keep an eye on this as it looks like their systems doesn't automatically handle it. All 3 of my recent 7 day cruises we're shorted 7 points.
Good point. I cruise solo often and about 1/3 of the time the system doesn't apply the double properly. A quick call to the C&A team has fixed it every time without any hassles.
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Welcome to the message boards!
Try this link, it has some non-alcoholic and alcoholic prices
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-drink-prices
Specialty Coffee can vary by ship. This was Freedom in November 2017.
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2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:
Ok..it's Friday...been running around today, kind of tired, stayed up too late watching VGK lose...so I really don't get it? Do you think it's fake news? I'm going to need this one explained lol
The sight of Ovie with the cup really did a number didn't it?
No, I don't think it's fake news. For a while Adventure appeared in the new app but only for a small group of users. Then it disappeared and hasn't returned.
I suspect what the user captured was real. My evil twin says to piggy back off that momentum, photoshop a page based in Asia and make it look like I booked Spectrum, then post that to CC. Get everyone over there in a frenzy. I won't though, that would be mean.
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10 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:
Over on CC, there was a post that one sailing went on sale today...Nov 2019.
I couldn't find it on the RC site but here is the news here.
The evil part of me wants to put my photoshop skills to use. "Look what I just booked! Grand Suite only $50 per night!"
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Not that I am aware of. Depending how far out the cruise is, stuff opens up as people cancel and makes changes.
Also, check with a travel agent. Sometimes inventory is assigned to agencies and not bookable on the Royal website.
Many months before final payment due date the cabin I secured on the upcoming Royal Caribbean Blog Alaska Group Cruise wasn't available on Royal's website but I had no issues booking it through MEI Travel. I am often surprised how inventory varies between TAs and Royal direct.
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Any Presidential visit even domestically in the US tends to cause local disruptions. Nothing unique to the current administration, this has happened for a while.
Talk to your airline. In the end it is out of their hands but it may give more insight to your risk.
I always try to fly in the day before just because. I'm a million miler on a US carrier. Over the years I've seen all sorts of delays for all kinds of reasons. When it comes to my cruise, I plan to be on the ship as long as the ship is there and ready to accept me. The cost of a hotel is worth it to me. I am booked on two Singapore based cruises in 2019 and will be arriving the day before.
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Just now, Btgg said:
My travel agent told me today that her firm just got word that Spectrum of the Seas will cruises will be publicly announced on June 12.
Woohoo! Setting a reminder for that date.
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In the 1st post from my Liberty live blog I included a picture of the Cafe Promenade display case with their small sandwiches.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5671-liberty-22518-7-nights/
On Freedom class (all of them) Cafe Promenade was my default lunch spot. I love the small sandwiches which are great light lunch item. I did the WJ a couple times for lunch but consistently found small lunch lines in the Promenade and they change the sandwiches daily, rotating through a couple different types of sandwiches day to day.
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Just now, Hockeyman55 said:
Just went and signed on and there it was. Woohoo I have 7 points, lol
Welcome to Gold!
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Welcome to the forums!
When is your flight scheduled to arrive? The day of the cruise or the day before?
What ships to try after Symphony?
in Royal Caribbean Discussion
Posted
On a 3/4 night cruise there
isisn't enough time to be bored