twangster

Just now, CGTLH said:

Greetings from Labadee

First time I've ever noticed the tables and umbrellas by the floating bar.

Good find, think they are new.

27 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

So Galveston will have 3 ships year-round ?

The port claims they are the 4th busiest cruise port in the US.  I haven't validated that claim myself but it's a busy little port and Carnival is (at least temporarily) moving a new(er) ship there, the Vista.  Royal's gotta keep up, or think about it anyways.  The concept of an OA class sailing from the US but not from FL is interesting indeed.  A new cruise terminal built for OA class will make sailing Liberty all the better assuming they cycle those two ships through the new terminal and leave the Vision class in the existing terminal. 

All speculation at this point.  Other than the changes we do know about the rest is gossip.

27 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

AND @twangster did you hear Yannie or Laurel??? 

OMG, I heard "winjammier".

20 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

WE had Wings and Sweet Potato fries on Grandeur last week.  The wings weren't that good.  although I have to say their pizza was edible! 

I love sweet potato fries but have not seen them myself so this is encouraging news.

Sweet potato fries?  I don't recall seeing those before.

1 minute ago, NS8VN said:

Flip flops.

Or thongs in some places outside the US.

Now I see it.  For the life of me I couldn't figure it out, I kept seeing a face with wicked eyebrows.  I gotta stop staying up all night working...

Over at the Royal Caribbean Blog Shop is an "Arrows" shirt:

I get the drink glass and the RCLBlog logo and the floating on a lounger dude, but what is that in the bottom center?

Wine is very personal. 

When I have the drink package I often spend a few extra bucks for a better glass of wine especially in a specialty restaurant.  Sometimes when I don't have the drink package the cheap wine that is covered by the diamond happy hour tastes pretty darn good.   

6 hours ago, QuiqueCorleone said:

My wife and I are going to Liberty on 9/30 out of Galveston, we would like to try My Time Dining hoping we can just get to the Main Dining room when we feel like it, and wait a couple of minutes ... has anybody experience long waiting times for a table for 2?

Think of MTD without reservations like going to an Applebees or Outback restaurant in your home town.  If you go at peak dinner hour, chances are you will have a wait.  If you go off-peak, chances are you will be seated quickly.  Like a land restaurant, the My Time MDR  isn't big enough to hold everyone showing up all at once.  I always use My Time and I make reservations before sailing.  Most of the time I stick to them but if there is a pretty sunset or a show or I'm just into what ever I'm doing, sometimes I miss my reservation.   

51 minutes ago, gray2402 said:

Thanks so much!! For the wine, is it per adult over 21 that can bring two bottles? Or per stateroom? That is great to know!! 

48 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Two bottles per stateroom. If you have two rooms booked (say, for yourself and kids), you can get away with bringing four bottles even if no one over 21 is in the other room.

That is officially the correct answer, however...  in theory enterprising guests who have past through security have learned that they don't stop and match wine bottles to cabin numbers.  If adult guest#1 puts their carry bag with two bottles of wine on the belt to go through xray and then guest#2 puts a carry on bag with two bottles of wine on the belt to go through xray, they don't know you are related or in the same cabin.  

When I have gone through security with wine I have no idea who the person in front of me or behind me is, or if they also have wine.  No one has ever stopped and said "are you two together?".    

I once did a B2B and per policy was allowed 4 bottles, 2 for the 1st cruise and 2 for the 2nd cruise.  I had two in a back pack and two in a roller carry on bag.  They never matched both bags to me or said anything. 

Just keep in mind you have to carry those bags around with you until cabins are ready.

3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Not quite sure which way this was intended to be interpreted -- surprised at how much extra capacity there actually is or surprised to find the visible lifeboats' capacity is less than the stated max capacity of the ship.

So it's a pretty clear indication that even if the capacity of the boats you can see doesn't seem to measure up, there are enough emergency rafts around the ship that passengers and crew are more than accommodated.

On OA class the lifeboats are guests, liferafts are for crew.  They have a slinky like tube they descend down to the water level.

Video embedded at this site:

http://crew-center.com/biggest-cruise-ship-life-raft

14 hours ago, CGTLH said:

If the previous post didn't get you hungry, time for the Windjammer Recon.

The Chef's Special for the night was "Caribbean Theme and Mongolian Live".

...

First we'll hit up the Caribbean Theme section.

 

This cooking your own meals on land sucks.  I so miss being on a ship.  Ugh. 

Like a song stuck in my head, I hear @Matt's Periscope voice in my head asking .. "How many days until your next Royal Caribbean cruise?"

1 hour ago, carlosalonsor said:

We are only two people, how punctual are they with the reserves in MTD?

The My Time reservation has a +/- 15 minute window.  They try to place you with the same wait staff each night in the MTD sections.  They'll hold tables to accommodate this concept but if the line is out the door they have to let them go to folks without reservations at some point, so the +/- 15 minute window is a compromise. 

In theory if you show up 30 minutes late they may treat you as if you don't have a reservation.  I try not to do this out of respect for the system knowing there are folks without reservations potentially waiting for my empty table if I don't show up on time.

I cruise solo often but I am also a frequent business traveler and for years I've grown accustomed to eating alone on business trips. 

I tend to go with My Time dining in the MDR.  I've never asked to be placed at a shared table.  I am always seated at a table for two but by myself.  Generally speaking the two seat tables are pretty close to each other so it's easy to start a conversation with tables around me.  Sometimes those people are not into that, sometimes they are.  On Serenade I was given a bottle of wine for issue I had in Chops and I shared it with the couple at the table beside me in the MDR.

I generally look at the menu and decide if I want to go to the MDR that night or eat in the WJ.

There are rumors of a new, additional cruise terminal.   Some sources claim Royal plans to bring a larger ship to Galveston in the fall of 2020 and that would require a bigger terminal.  Liberty is pretty big and is the 3rd largest class of Royal ships at the moment, so "larger" probably means one thing (if it happens at all):

https://www.connect.media/port-galveston-mulling-third-passenger-terminal-for-oasis/

Attached to this post is a PDF with the sort of on-board offers as a Gold you can expect.

Gold members on some ships and some terminals will get to board before new, never-cruised-Royal before guests.

Crown and Anchor is actually a pretty good rewards program compared to other cruise lines, even before hitting Diamond.

Gold.pdf

39 minutes ago, gray2402 said:

Hi everyone!! A few more questions as we get closer
 

Ok, so a friend who sails RCCL told me that if my family all has iPhones that we can iMessage WITHOUT having to pay for VOOM! Is that true? She said we can connect to the wifi and iMessage will work ... so only with Apple devices, which my husband, daughter and I all have! I will have one VOOM account (I am a travel agent and will get that free due to my training I did). But trying to avoid buying a second one since we only will want to talk to each other on the ship

Second, dress code ... rumor I am hearing is that RCCL is more strict than Disney for MDR dining ... my son (10 1/2) will be disappointed LOL But I need to know for sure so I can buy him some khakis and polo shorts, and plan to pack accordingly ... the rest of us will be fine, but my son lives in sweats and athletic shorts. So will he need khakis and polos? Will khaki shorts work or must be long pants? Plain tee shirts or must be collared? 

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

The free iMessage only works on Quantum class ships and Harmony. 

Be aware this is not a published feature, rather a hidden side effect that many of us cruisers have discovered.  It's believed to be a side effect of the RoyalIQ app and the four ships mentioned above are the only ships that use RoyalIQ.  Royal is putting their future app development into the new 'Royal Caribbean' app which doesn't have the same side effect (iMessage for free).  As ships convert to the new Royal Caribbean app we are not certain what will happen to this side effect but many of us anticipate them closing this loop hole.  The side effect includes YouTube and notifications.  For example without a paid Voom plan, an iPhone app such as a news app might display a 'breaking news alert' on your phone but when you go to tap it,  it can't load the content unless you have a paid Voom plan.

As a TA you might want to be careful to spread the word about this side effect because they could kill it any day.  It's not officially offered or published by RCI as a feature.

As far as dinner in the MDR, this is a common topic with many opinions voiced.  On most nights (non-formal nights) a t-shirt and long pants (jeans even) will suffice.  Shorts are frowned upon but YMMV.  Enforcement varies and a 10 yo. with parents who are not also in shorts might have no issue on casual nights. 

On formal nights the recommended attire for men is jacket, tie and dress pants.  That is 'recommended' and not always enforced as strictly as some people would like.  Sweats and athletic shorts (or any shorts) on formal night are frowned upon and more likely to result in denied entry but that too varies ship to ship, YMMV.   For a 10 y.o. they will be somewhat more lenient but could have issue on formal night with overly casual sweats/shorts.   I wear a jacket but no tie and khakis and never have an issue.  Many people will just have a long sleeve collared shirt  and long pants of some sort.  Dress jeans are most likely okay, jeans full of rips and tears more likely an issue. 

Generally speaking,  dress code is more strictly enforced on non-US cruises (Europe, Asia, etc) compared to the Caribbean but shorts are more likely to be an issue even in the Caribbean. 

3 hours ago, Floski said:

So, what is 270?  

Is this something also on Oasis?   

Is it a place where brass-level C&A members are allowed to go?

Sounds spiffy.

 

Two70° is a $30M multi use venue on the aft of Quantum class ships with views of the wake during the day that transforms into a high tech entertainment venue with the flip of a switch (and whole bunch of computers).  Most importantly, cafe270 adjacent to Two70° is the home of the Kümmelweck on Quantum class. It is public except during special events

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5387-anthem-11919-9-night-bahamas/&do=findComment&comment=54958

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&do=findComment&comment=50344

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Does the menu have a weird shape, or is the fisheye lens playing tricks on me?

Fixed it for you.

Has anyone else noticed the inclusion of a common step ladder in the play area?

i think this is brilliant.  If we teach our children at a young age how to use a step ladder, then soon they can clean the gutters, paint the house, hang light fixtures, etc.  All those things that bog down the honey-do list.  Well done Royal Caribbean!

2 hours ago, rjac said:

This early in the day and you're not on a cruise ship??

According to Jimmy Buffet, It's five o'clock somewhere.

3 minutes ago, J_Keeble said:

personally I think the st tropez is a waste of space, I'm very surprised they haven't put another speciality restaurant on the front like a hooked maybe????

lots of chairs for sunbathing though

It's a nice quiet place to get sun.  Around the pool area you had better like what ever music they are playing, or the belly flop contest, etc.  St. Tropez is a great place to take a nap in the sun if that's your thing or just enjoy the sun absent of thump thump thump music.  

Each specialty restaurant needs its own support kitchen so it's a fair amount of work to  place a restaurant anywhere on the ship.  

I was in Cruz Bay in April on the Serenade.

I documented the Royal excursion I took to St. Johns in this live blog:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6002-serenade-33018-10-night-eastern-caribbean/&do=findComment&comment=64272

I've also been to St Maarten three times since the hurricanes.

From Christmas Day on Independence right after St. Maarten started accepting ships again:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5195-independence-122117-9-night-christmas/&do=findComment&comment=51956

Here is my live blog from the same Serenade cruise when it stopped in St Maarten

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6002-serenade-33018-10-night-eastern-caribbean/&do=findComment&comment=64798

My St. Maarten 'Swept Away Coast Cruise" excursion here:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6002-serenade-33018-10-night-eastern-caribbean/&do=findComment&comment=64819

From Adventure's stop in St Maarten  on May 6:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6297-adventure-5-nights-5518-repositioning-san-juan-to-bayonne/&do=findComment&comment=67904

Another vote for an airport hotel.  Most have free shuttles from EWR airport, then it's a $16-$24 Lyft or Uber ride to the port in the morning depending on traffic.

When I hit D+ I had to call to set my gift choices.  You can see certain things like past cruises and how many points each cruise netted you but beyond that it's pretty bleak right now.  The C&A agent I talked to said it was coming but couldn't say when.