twangster

$119 on Harmony.  Booked in May for end of September sail date.  

2 hours ago, FManke said:

Any new reviews of room service since my original post?

I've used it a few times now.  I found the wings to be very good and daughter loved the cheesy fries.  The Royal burger was better than the equivalent in WJ. Still a frozen patty as opposed to freshly made but taste and presentation was better.

Grandeur a few weeks ago and Allure in May had the menu identical to what @Bob_KY posted above.

I'm not a foodie and pretty easy to please, especially late night after exercising the drink package.  I prefer to order from room service late night rather than eating pizza.  That may be influencing my review.  

On Allure it took about 30 minutes at midnight for wings, burger, several orders of cheesy fries (no idea where she put them all).  On Harmony in 10 days, son already told me he wants to try the Chicken Fettuccine one night. I'll be in a suite without the $7.95 fee so if there is an item you are interested in, I can order it, not much on the menu I wouldn't eat.  

On Grandeur they also offered a 10 drink card and a 10 draft beer card.  The 10 drink card was $79 plus 18% gratuity.   It first appeared on day 3.  The 10 draft beer card appeared later in the cruise.  It was $49 plus 18% gratuity. 

Draft beer selection was primarily Heineken or an apple ale.  The pool bar struggled with the concept of "pint" often using a smaller cocktail glass.  The Schooner bar was a better choice to fulfill the draft beer card.

The back of both cards contained your folio number which they entered in the bar terminal each time (fraud prevention for anyone contemplating making their own cards).  

EDIT - the 10 drink card worked like the drink package with a $12 cap, the difference charged for drinks over $12 .

@JLMoran - agree with the wine selection, especially anything covered by the drink package.  I find myself upgrading to something better and paying the $4-5 per glass up charge.   On Oasis class I can manage the "house" whites in the suite lounge but the "house" reds leave me looking for a different drink.  Oh the downsides of being a wine snob.     

3 minutes ago, bhageerah said:

  And I did not know about the free wifi on the flights! Thank you!  

The "One Plus" add-on gives you double the speed in the islands and free texting & wifi the whole flight.  Without "One Plus" you get free texting the whole flight and one hour of free wifi in flight.  To use the inflight stuff you need a phone capable of wifi calling and to have made at least one wifi voice call at some point.

OP - the folks in the spa are not like other ship crew, they get none of the automatic cabin gratuity.  Their compensation plans motivates them to sell spa products.  Enjoy your spa treatments but get ready to tune out the sales pitch for other spa products.  Tip them accordingly for spa services enjoyed.

4 hours ago, bhageerah said:

Who is your carrier? I have Tmobile and can tell you that my phone never gets turned off while at sea just for that reason.  There have been several emergencies with the mother in law while we have been out at sea that we were able to take care of. One was her falling down and not being able to get off the floor but she was able to scoot down the hall and get her cell phone.  The cost to talk was more expensive onboard but it was not God awful expensive and better than the $7.95 per minute I would have paid for a land line. One of the main reasons that I will stick with Tmobile is because almost every port that we go to my cell phone works and it does not cost me another penney because it is included in my plan.  Typically I get a text telling me welcome to xxxxx and that cell service and 3g data are included in my plan.  Like someone else has said if it is that much of an emergency keep your phone on, and only text because it is FAR cheaper than calling.  

Good luck and enjoy your cruise! 

I'm in the same boat (punny?).  I use T-Mobile for their included international coverage and free incoming text on cellular@sea.  As a side bonus I get free wifi on American and Delta flights.

I'm fortunate they have a great network out West where I live.   

13 minutes ago, jce2 said:

I continue to be disappointed by the complete lack of dark beers but am adding that Hennessy Black Bull to my list of drinks to try!

 

While not on the menu, I'm a big Guinness fan and have seen it on more than one ship, although not all bars.  Newcastle NBA sometimes too.  I'm spoiled in Colorado due to all the craft options but I don't expect that sort of selection on a cruise.  

From Grandeur MDR,  August - September 2017.  Bermuda/Bahamas.  See PDF below.

Wines varied by bar and will likely vary over time and by ship but this should give you an idea of what is typically available and the price in $USD.

Naturally there are frozen concoctions and bartender special drinks beyond this menu.

Drink Menu GoTS August 2017.PDF

57 minutes ago, DaGunny said:

I'll add this to RCCL's responsiveness.  We were on the Enchantment Evacuation Cruise. You can read about it here.  They overcame many obstacles and took care of those of us that had no power at home or way to get back.  Well done!

Evacuation Cruise Synopsis

Thanks so much for sharing.  I follow James Van Fleet on twitter and saw some of his RCTV Weather update videos as it was playing out.

I was watching many ships on the internet that day as they waited for the ports to reopen, including Enchantment.  I was also listening to marine VHF over the internet and heard a great conversation between the captains of Oasis and Harmony.   The Oasis captain had more time to wait before Canaveral would open so he suggested the ships meet up and do a sail past.  I thought that would be awesome.   The Harmony captain politely declined so he could maintain his position close to Everglades waiting patiently for port to reopen.  Both had already discussed they had many FL residents on board and knew this was tough on them, so in staying close to Everglades he placed his guests first despite what would have been a cool moment to see.  Very professional.

Port Miami was delayed opening due to three navigational buoys in the channel out of position.  News reports say there were sailboats sunk but I'm not sure about that.   I listened to the tugs working on the buoys and trying to get them back in position, the captains of each tug trying various things to move them.  It involved divers, airbags and a lot of seamanship using their tugs to accomplish the job.   One buoy had slipped down into the center of the channel and was particularly difficult to move.  All this extended the opening of the port.  Another cruise line had a number of ships in the area.  Their bridge crews were frequently calling the harbor pilots time and again.  You could hear the tone of the harbor pilots responding, telling them time and again "...the port remains closed, we are still waiting for the coast guard to tell us when we can open.  We will contact you when we are ready".  Thirty minutes later they asked again.  I heard Enchantment call just once, very professional and very polite.  A few minutes the other ships inquired again!  When the time came to finally reopen Enchantment sailed in first.

Awesome about the switch to Harmony.  I'm on her in 12 days and so looking forward to it.

On a side note, in 2016 I sailed Oasis and the souvenir cup came with the deluxe drink package.  I never used the cup, all of my drinks were from a bar.  

The cup has a chip embedded in the base which is how it works in the self serve soda and flavored water machines.

Recently on Grandeur I opted out of the drink package but brought my 2016 Oasis cup with me.  It worked!  

I guess they don't track the RFID of each cup and which ship a particular cup is distributed onto, as long as one has never been used, it seems to be accepted. 

YMMV

James Van Fleet (RCI Chief Meteorologist) tweeted that Key West officials claim to be opening the port on Oct. 20.  Islanders are pretty resourceful and as soon as power is back some things come back pretty quickly.  They'll take longer to repair homes and all the damage, but the islands will come back relatively quickly.  Some faster than others based on damage but it will happen.  (purposely avoiding timelines)

Labadee lost some cabanas in Irma and Maria's track doesn't look too back for Labadee at the moment.  At least they are on the "better" side of the storm at the moment.

Enjoy your cruise, awesome ship!

They often offer spa specials, especially on port days when most folks are off ship.  

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/onboardExtrasFaq.do#3   Your friends and family can contact the ship by calling (888) 724-7447. Or from outside the U.S. they can call (321) 953-9003. The cost is $7.95 USD a minute and can be charged to their MasterCard® or Visa®. From outside the U.S. additional long distance charges will also apply. You can make ship-to-shore calls from your stateroom, 24 hours a day. The cost is $7.95 USD per minute and will be automatically charged to your SeaPass account. You can also use our onboard Internet Cafés, stateroom Internet connection, or Hot Spots to send an e-mail to your friends or family for a minimal fee.   EDIT - well I tried these numbers and they don't work.

9-18-2017 and St Thomas is in panic.  Just heard from my friend on island.  Hurricane Maria forecast to arrive in a day or so.

Here we go again... 

I love taking pictures when I cruise.  I usually bring my DSLR and a couple of lens.  

I've been looking through this site and maybe I've missed it, but is there a photo repository or picture sharing section?

Thanks.

I tend not to feel the effects of motion.  However I always bring motion sickness medication with me just in case.  Better to be prepared and deal with it quickly should you feel it coming on. The generic versions are inexpensive and just knowing you have it can bring peace of mind.  

Agreed.  From what I've seen you can enter your Voom code, if you bought a Voom plan, or you can purchase a Voom plan from the terminals.  They do allow free browsing to the RC website, but other than that, they are pretty locked down.  

5 hours ago, TheNorwegian said:

Hi all! Brand new to the forum, and a junior cruiser. (Will reach Platinum (30 days) this coming cruise)

On the 29th of October, I'll embark my 3rd ever cruise. Two of them with the Allure, and this time, with the Independence.

This will be a 15 night transatlantic cruise (my 2nd) departing from Southampton, England, arriving in Fort Lauderdale.

I have a couple of questions that my travel agent could not answer for me, so I hope that some of you can help!

1. ...Can I trust that they sell cigars, or should I bring my own?

 

I've never sailed this ship, so take this accordingly, but more often than not I find cigars on board ships over priced and of varying quality.  This on all lines, all ships that I've sailed.  It's easy enough to bring some in a portable watertight humidor with humidity packs.  This past June I came across some cigar smoking new friends on a Celebrity ship and absent of bringing my own I ended in the gift shop to buy some.  A glorious Alaskan sunset shared with new friends and a terrible cigar falling apart on my lips.  Should have brought my own.    

On 9/8/2017 at 7:18 AM, monctonguy said:

When will Royal start offering and bundling some deals together?...Like the drink package for example....and I don't mean with  extra cost for other things I don't want/need

I believe they are in Europe, select sailings (offering the drink package "free").  From what I've observed RCI is very good at studying sales trends and analytics of customer behavior.  If we do X, how many customers will do Y, sort of thing.   The trial on Harmony soon where "everyone over 21 in the cabin must purchase the deluxe package if any one does" is an example.  Try it, compare against other ships, vs. last year sales numbers, etc.  If its a winner for them, expect fleet wide policy changes. 

For Celebrity, I enjoyed the 4 pack bundle (gratuity, drink, internet, OBC) in June on Millie.  However I think there is some safety there being Celebrity.  They know exactly how many drinks the average Celebrity versus Royal Caribbean cruiser will consume, I'm thinking fewer drink per pax on Celebrity.  At the end of the day, they'll do it when they need to or when driven to by competition and sales trends. Recently on RCI there have been "gratuity included" promos, at least through agency.  The impact of this years very active hurricane season has yet to be calculated, in terms of impact to future bookings.  Seasoned cruisers will continue to book, but what about first timers?  They may need marketing campaigns like "free drinks!" to drive bookings.  Only time will tell.

"Fly By Night Away From Here...Ship Isn't Coming and I Just Can't Pretend."  hmmm, sounds like a cruise hurricane season song.

Million miler on Delta.  I've seen delays, misconnects and cancellations, lots of them.  With elite status I get added to the standby list at the very top, bumping everyone else down, yet I fly in the day before, always.  

Grew up not far from YYZ.  Watched the Concorde do a fly by at YYZ from the old parking garage.  Good times.

@rjac and @tiny260

Thanks!

1 hour ago, RCVoyager said:

You're welcome.  When I say you have to finesse marinetraffic.com, I mean that you have to read it carefully.  The cruise ships are in the big blue icons.  Oftentimes there is an old reading for a particular ship (say 12 hours ago).  Then when you go ahead in the general direction that ship was going you may see a smaller blue icon identified as "passenger vessel".  Most of the time, that is the ship you are tracking from the 12 hour old reading.  

There is something in the website that doesn't always identify the ships by name.

Agree marinetraffic.com is a great site.  Cruise geek here, so I use it often.

When ships are close to land, VHF frequencies are used to record ship data.  Eventually they leave VHF range and once away from land, satellites are required.  If you dig into the position details they make reference to "Terr-AIS" (land or terrain) versus "Sat-AIS" (satellite).  You need a subscription to leverage Sat-AIS data, including ship name, and those are geared towards corporate users, so $$$$$$.  

I love marinetraffic.com and have the paid app, but no SAT subscription.  Still a great site.

Five years ago I had a contract on St Thomas that lasted almost two years.  In those two years I got to know all of the USVI.  There is nothing like living somewhere to really get to know the culture.  I've been communicating with a local resident I used to work with who lived through Irma and the struggles since.  This morning was the first sign of hope in his communication, they've been pretty bleak up to this point.  

His message today read "Yesterday was a great day.  Tim Duncan, pro basketball player, also a virgin islander, distributed a lot of food at the Innovative parking lot.  I volunteered to assist giving bags of food away".  That's the most hopeful and positive message I've received so far.

Up until today his messages have repeatedly discussed a lack of food and water.  Even after Majesty OTS visited there dropping off supplies earlier this week, its taken time for those and other supplies reaching the island to make it into the hands of the residents.  I understand that, it takes time for local authorities and relief organizations to triage the situation and with so many in need, to get more supplies flowing and distributed to the people in need.  Watching this unfold from both sides has been nerve racking and frustrating but in my heart I knew it would be a process that wouldn't happen overnight. 

I'd like to personally thank any Royal Caribbean employees at all levels of the organization who might read this post.  

In a natural disaster anywhere an immediate response is critical to saving lives.  With island factors involved that is even more so the case.  As first responders, relief organizations and governments began to mobilize their forces, Royal Caribbean employees worked to fulfill the gap in those critical first days after Hurricane Irma had passed bringing much needed supplies and evacuating stranded travelers, reducing the number of victims vying for limited food and water.

Since 2016 I've been evaluating new cruise lines to sail with.  My upcoming Harmony cruise will mark the 5th with the Royal Caribbean family in support of that goal.  It had been my intention to continue to explore different cruise lines not because I was unhappy with any of those cruises,  more because I just wanted to be familiar with all my options before zeroing in on any line in particular.   My search is over.  Watching Royal Caribbean's response to Irma I know I found the right cruise line.  

For me with my St Thomas connection this is personal.  I look forward to cruising back there one day when the time is right.  I'll find other ways to help when the time is appropriate, going there right now would just make me another mouth to feed.

For those with cruises impacted I'm sorry and I know its upsetting, but Royal Caribbean made a real difference deploying their ships as they did.

Before joining this forum, I posted in another forum shortly after talking to my friend earlier this week.  His call came in late one night and after I couldn't sleep so I started writing.  

I apologize for making this post very long, but thought the context was important.  Things on island are improving.  There is a still a long way to go.  It will take months to get power back.  Recovery is a process and it has begun.   It's only going to get better from here.

Here is my post, from 9-12-2017:

I finally heard back from a former coworker and friend on St Thomas tonight.   

Area code 340 appeared on my phone as I watched the evening news in Denver.  My heart skipped a beat, I know that area code, I know it's the USVI. It felt surreal having to mute my 70" big screen TV and look at my large glass of ice water beside me as he explained how things are on St Thomas.  I used to work there with him.  I know the islands well. 

Now, no power, no water, little food.  Multiple check points.  Curfew 6pm to noon.  They can't open the supermarkets fully for fear of looting, so the National Guard allows 8-10 in at a time to pick from the small selection of food. Long lines waiting for your turn.  He seemed pleased to have a few items of food from his last visit.  He had found a working ATM and was able to get cash for food.  Small miracles.  Between getting there and waiting in line, it's an all day affair.  Curfew.  

He was aware of the cruise ship visit today and why they were there - to pick up stranded travelers, but he knew nothing of the supplies being left by the ships.  "Where did they go?" was his question, meaning the supplies, not the travelers.  

He still works for the same company where I was a contractor.  He explained how he works noon to six because that is when curfew is lifted.  He goes to the office building where I used to work from and tries to keep some of the equipment from over heating by moving fans around.  They have a generator, but not one to run the air conditioning for the building, a building which is damaged.  They all are. Today he tried to make it to the Home Depot to buy something for the office.  That took 2 1/2 hours.  It used to take 10 - 15 minutes from Tutu.   Lots of check points. VI police at one, National Guard at another, Marines at a 3rd.  He wasn't sure they were Marines, but some sort of military.  Turns out Home Depot was closed.  No power and damaged.  With no time to lose, he headed back.  He had to, curfew in 2 hours.  A work day lost.  Many of the company buildings are damaged.  Some of these are the central offices of the local Telco where we worked.  They were the backbone of island communication before Irma.  He was grateful to have cell signal tonight.  I felt guilty talking to him for so long knowing it was draining his battery, but it seemed like he wanted to talk, needed to talk. He can charge it in the office tomorrow he explained.  Our calls dropped numerous times but he promptly called me back each time. 

"It's hard" he explained.  "Everything is hard".  I could hear it in his voice.  Even doing nothing all morning but laying in bed until noon.  Curfew.  Can't go outside, nothing to do inside.  His house damaged he is living with friends.  Even bathing is hard.  No water and it's hard to bathe in the ocean and be salty.  

He was hoping to make it to St Croix soon.  The company has offices there.  He could keep his job.  That's really important in the VI, jobs are hard to come by and he is grateful to have one.   St Croix felt some effects from Irma but nothing like St Thomas and especially not like St John.  "I'm blessed" he told me.  "People on St John have it very bad".  He explained they are resettling anyone they can from St John over to St Croix.   For the moment that means he can't go to St Croix.  Maybe soon he hopes.  They have power, and water.  Some of St Croix does he heard.  He told me several times how fortunate he is.

I felt silly asking if he needed anything, both of us knowing there would be no way for me to ship it to him.  Maybe soon. Until then I've got to find a way to help.  We all do.

Since writing this late last night I woke to the news that Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas remains in the area and is doing runs between San Juan and St Thomas.  Shout out to the NCL Sky for her visit Monday, I was checking out her webcam while she was there.  Even bigger shout out to Royal Caribbean for keeping Majesty OTS in the area for a few days.  I know other lines are helping in other places too.  

 The biggest challenge in a natural disaster anywhere is surviving the first few weeks.   Add the island factor and the fact that there are two islands, St Thomas and St John and it becomes a massive challenge.  With more supplies continuing to arrive they will eventually make it to the people.  Looters won't feel the need to loot, curfews can be relaxed, people will shift focus to items like getting the power on and water running.  

 It won't happen overnight but don't underestimate the resolve of VI residents, these are American citizens after all.  St Thomas and St John will rebuild.  I look forward to returning on a cruise one day.  Until then donate if you can and thank the cruise lines for their role in this critical phase of surviving the next few weeks.   

On the Grandeur a few weeks ago I stuck to MDR, all 9 nights.  When I've sailed Oasis class I had access to Coastal Kitchen and/or specialty dining.  Being a newbie on RCI ships I wanted to have the full MDR experience to validate my overall switch to RCI that I've begun.   I was very happy eating in the MDR.  Menu was different each night, with a theme.  Saffron, Portobello, Sage, etc.  I've attached the MDR menus, the theme for the night in the upper left corner.

Grandeur MDR Menus.pdf

Became an insider today as well.  Keep the blogs and scopes coming!

Adding PTZtv webcam sites to the list, like:

http://www.portmiamiwebcam.com

http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com

http://www.portcanaveralwebcam.com

And so on...  Visit any of the above and there is a drop down menu in the upper left corner with all of them.  Click the "VHF" icon to listen to marine frequencies.  Overheard the captains of the Harmony and Oasis chatting last week.  Some have live microphones so you can hear the ship horn during sail away.

Oh look... there is Allure of the Seas in Port Everglades.  Sail away in an hour or so.   

PTZtv incorporates marinetraffic.com data into the page if you scroll down.  

Also, Twitter.  You can follow @JamesVanFleet , the chief meteorologist for RCI and Celebrity,  and @HarleyCaptain, the current captain on Harmony.