Traveler

Do not get me wrong , I love big ships , out of our 10 cruises 6 were on the Oasis class so I will not share any tears if the Vision class will be gone. Not like in the US were there is huge differences in cruise pricing between the big ships and the small ones in Europe you can see many times that the price of the small ships is higher than even the Oasis class. One of the issues is that the Oasis class in Europe has only one route , and well after 4 time you are doing the same ports you are looking for something else. The question will Royal want to risk such markets by letting people try other cruise lines or they will bring some new Radiance+ ships with much better design to server such routes (maybe in the winter they can do Asia/Middle east).

We had also a private tour from Costa Maya , it took us around 15 minutes to go to the meeting point outside of the port. The main issue is that the port is build like a maze to keep you in as much as they can . The exist signs are not that visible and we had to ask at least twice for direction. I suggest to take extra time while in port.

Regarding the small ship future. I agree that there are some ports which the big ships just can not use but Royal trying to change it , few years ago we did not thought big ships can go to Alaska then came explorer OTS and now Ovation OTS. Same for Greece Islands , Only Vision and Radiance were on this route but next year explorer is going to Mykonos (which is tendering port) and Santorini.

My small contribution to prevent from people like him to do such things in the future is to avoid watching the video and increase his counter ...

Yesterday I booked two cruises with Club Royal using some promos , here is some information I gathered: Even if you already qualified for the next year tear you can not book the free annual cruise for next before April. If you want to upgrade the annual cruise from the room type you got you will pay the difference between the room type you got to the upgraded room , so I guess the best is to find a cruise were the room type you are entitle to get is already high. If you want to use the annual cruise for Holiday or 9+ days cruise you will get 800 $ to 1000$ discount so its not really a good option. As always with RC and for sure with Club Royal , information can be different from one representative to another.

The pin should be in your stateroom on the cruise after you have been upgraded to the next level , so if you are already emerald in the system you should get it , if you only become emerald during your next cruise it will not be there yet.

Its a matter of demand I guess , I was three times on ships that had the night club , most of the times it was quite empty, maybe it was due to number of ports to visit during the cruise or something else. But on every ship you have one or two places that will have a DJ , life music and a place to dance so its OK.

Nice , We never got our Platinum pin , but we got twice emerald pin for some reason.

Well I guess it depends on the kids ? When I was written it I was mainly thinking about the language and some of the scenes not for the story line or what it come to represent. There is not any nudity there and after all the main things here are the songs. I will say , if , for example you feel comfortable to watch a chapter of "The Big Bang Theory" (mostly PG rated) with your kids you should not have a problem to watch it as I found Mama Mia even to be less explicit. Anyway , its a excellent show with very good ensemble.

We all wish , But if Voom will be free it will better to bring some pigeons with you on board the ship (maybe as service animals) and use them to send mails , it will be way faster.

Well , From my experience until now : Even if you see the activities on your personal calendar take a paper backup of the important things ... When I was on the Allure , before the embarkation I saw everything was there , after the embarkation it vanished . I am sure in few months the application will become stable and reliable , until then its a nice to have.

The best time I think will be a flight around 11:30 AM to 12 PM , Embarkation is very quick (so if you arrive at 6 AM you can try to get our by 8 AM ). Nothing in terminal as other people said , the only problem can be the huge Taxi lines ... (One time it took us 30 -40 minutes ) That can be avoid by taking RC shuttle, just remember the shuttle wont leave until it is full or all the booked people arrived, also RC will not allow you to book a shuttle if your flight is too early (not sure what is considered to be too early in Barcelona) . Drive to the airport is around 20-30 minutes (on Sunday it will be more like 20 minutes) If your find a cheaper flight but it is after 3 PM I would consider to take advantage on the "stay a while" program which RCL offers in its European cruise, you pay a certain amount, and allowed to stay on the ship (not in your cabin) until around 3 PM with ability to use the buffet, pools , bars (if you have the DLX package you are limited to non alcoholic drinks) and they will store your suitcase (for extra fee). In Barcelona airport the counter are only open 2.5 hours to 3 hours before your flight , so if your are flying with a company that dose not have frequent flight from Barcelona most of the chances you will need to wait with your suitcases until they open and you can drop off your luggage (happened to us once , we were waiting on the floor for Swiss counter to be opened). Another option is to take one of the RC tours that transfer you to the airport but first takes you to see Barcelona. I am not aware of any luggage storage near the terminal by I might be wrong (take into consideration , many things are closed on Sunday in Barcelona). Enjoy your cruise.

You can take as many towels as you want , if you do not return them they will charge you 20 or 25 $ per towel . Just be shore when you return the towels you are using the same card you used to rent them and make sure you tell the them how many towels you return (they do not really count them) .

Where is your starting point ? Barcelona or Rome ? If Barcelona , I would do the excursions before or after the cruise ... , regarding other places : Florence - Any excursions that will take to see the city , its a must. Rome - Well Rome is a must , depends if you want a tour in the Vatican or not (just a tour in the Vatican can take 4 hours) Marseille - There is a bus to the city center and you can tour around by just walking , another option is to visit Aix / Cassis Palma - Again there are transfers to the city but you can tour the caves or go to one of the beaches. Naples - or just to walk to the old city (which I like very much) or visit to Pompeii , Sorento or anything that will take you to see the Amalfi cost , oh and for sure Capri (again this is full day).

I agree with you , we are doing the "Chit Chat" and enjoying it, we also usually give tip to the cabin attendant at the end of the cruise (unless he did very bad job, which, until now did not happen), always adding tip to the "free" drinks in the casino bar and other places. I just look that as thank you for a good job.

I will have to say , my first Symphony cruise (its 3rd cruise ever) on April .

So now its becomes a protection fees and not tips ? ?? . I always pay the automatic "tips" one of the reasons is because its very hard to tip everyone (beside the waiters and you cabin attended you have many other that served you : the WJ team that brought you coffee/ water and clean the table after you , the one who cleaned the corridor carpets , the one who helped you with the internet and many more)

Too embarrassed to admit you are watching also curling ? ?

We were on Allure two weeks ago and before that on the Symphony , If before I could not touch the Pizza now it became an option , its not the best (as the are using pre baked crust base) but the cheese has a taste of a cheese cheese and not blend plastic mix ... With the right amount of Tabasco the pizza is not bad at all.

On our last cruise on Allure, the front lines were secure for star class , but 10 minutes before the show they took the reserve signs from the non occupied seats (and there were many like that) people that came late got the front seats at the end ... We were seating at the fifth line so we did not felt the need to move further more but some people improved there seats when it happened .

So teens party until 1 AM but kids party until 2 AM ?

well , you can always send your husband to the gym (with flip flops) ? ,

Have fun , Do not worry about the cabin , the main goal in a cruise is to be out of the cabin most of the times and enjoy the activities. with the one small bathroom issue , first you get used to this small shower very fast, second , its always possible to spread the shower time and if needed , and if needed there are showers in the gym ? Wish you enjoyable cruise and happy new year.

That is a very bad deal if this is the case. In other words, you must loose at least 2000 $ , if you lucky you will win more on the way. As always with new programs I guess the information was not flowing correctly between the land base office and the ship.

Ohhhh , Day 7 ? The problematic day 7 unless you are on your first back 2 back or on a 10 + days cruise ? . I could not complained too much about this day as it was my spouse birthday ( I really tried to convince RC to add several days to this cruise , strange they refused for some unknown reasons). we finally got up late (as usual one day before our flight back, our jet lag was gone) and started a slow day in the WJ (nothing changed , still no vegetables beside decorations), we took one last time the surprise poached eggs , why surprise ? because some time you are getting really good poached egg and some time you are just getting a fancy boiled egg. Post breakfast we went to the captain corner , I was interesting in some of the new futures they are going to offer on Allure and well it is always interesting and fun to hear the officers (the chief was very funny, some of the audience suggested he will replace the comedian in the club for tonight) , many question were asked (I brought the most interesting answer on previous post) and time past very fast. we went back to the room and decide to open the champagne we got in our room (I guess we lost enough on the previous days ? ) and drink it on the balcony , sadly the day was very cloudy so not really suitable for the pool. I am sure some of the cruiser will complain about the sea day weather, if not in the survey than at least in CC. We went to visit the Casino again and watch some of the funny slot tournament (its really fun to watch people trying to break the machine) + contributing some more to RC finances, by the way I found out the new certificate level equal only to 1250 $ (if you do not want to take one of the offered cruises).We went to catch some rest and get ready for our birthday dinner in the hibachi section of Izumi. The hibachi, which is part dinner and part show includes a salad , edamame, main entry to choose from - Shrimp , lobster, chicken or beef (you can mix) and dessert. As any hibachi table the chef is the show , not much differences than a land hibachi restaurant but still fun. it ends with possible picture with the chef , a Japanese chef all the way from the Philippians and rice based dessert. We brought our last bottle of wine (no fee was asked) so it contributed to the atmosphere. As it was the last day we went to do one last tour of the ship and decided to go back and complete the packing. next time we need a longer cruise ?