DandA

1 hour ago, mworkman said:

We just did the 3 night dining package and did Hooked, Wonderland and Chops.  

Thanks for the conformation, we are planning on Chops, Wonderland and 150 Central Park for the Harmony.   I saw one post that said someone made their reservations in the terminal prior to boarding.  Is that something that's usually available or do we have to wait till we get on board?  Also is it best to go to one of the restaurants or speak to one of the crew members hawking specialty dining?

The terminal is a bit chaotic in the early morning, this was our first cruise and really wasn't watching the clock closely.  We dropped the luggage to the porters sometime between 8:30-9:00 and many were still getting off the ship.  I made two passes thru only because I missed seeing the porters the first time.  After dropping the rental off, we arrived back at the terminal and there were maybe 50-100 people in line waiting for them to open the terminal doors.  Once they opened things went quickly and we had to wait for boarding to begin around 11:00.

I understand there can be some congestion/confusion early but it doesn't make any sense to run empty shuttles back to the port.  I'm doing Port Canaveral again in February and planning on dropping luggage off first and returning the rental at 9:30 and getting to the port shortly after.

Oasis was our first cruise; and is so big that you can't do it all in 7 days.  We got back and were looking over the cruise compasses and said wow we missed that show or this activity.  We did get to see all of the reserved shows but did miss some of the standard ship shows.  Jazz4 is such a small venue that we were never able to get a seat; you will have to get there early to get in.

Going on Harmony in February, so maybe we have a do over.   Watch ship videos, pictures and study deck plans so you will know how to get around the ship as it will save you from getting lost and wandering end to end.

I third the holders with the steel cable; also since we arrive the day before I don't put them on till we are in the hotel that night or first thing in the morning.

The one we did was the jaguar cave tubing and jungle trek.  I believe it was supposed to be about 1/2 thru the jungle, you have to carry your own tube.  The path is mostly hard pack sand/gravel and the trek was relatively flat.  Hardest part was you will have to cross a creek/river water is 2-2 1/2 feet deep and walk down then up a flight of wooden steps.  The steps had the potential of being slippery and I think it was a bit rocky after the steps going up.  The float down the river is slow and easy.  The walk out was short.  Depending on when you get there they may feed you before or after, we ate before. Chicken, rice plate.  They have a DJ playing music and you can purchase drinks there; they also have a souvenir place.  We are middle 60"s and pretty active and didn't have any problems with it.

Hmm be interesting to see others experience, we purchased the 3 night dining package for our HOS sailing.  The offer only excludes Izumi and Chef's Table if it doesn't include Wonderland they should say that.  Guess I need to print out their add to take with me.

We dropped off our car to Budget at 9:00am; there were a few people in line.  Shuttle came bringing cruisers getting off and told us it was to early to go to the port, but he took us and another family with our luggage.  Dropped luggage at porters and had to wait inline for the terminal to open at 9:45.

After returning, I think we were thru customs and waiting on the rental car shuttle by 9:00; once we arrived at Budget there were maybe 4-5 families picking up cars.  The line was not bad either dropping off or picking up, the wait was longer at the airport. 

Most of the car rental companies offer one way rentals, I'd check the prices on all of them; it was actually cheaper to rent a car than use the transfer from Royal..  You might also think of the rental car on your return trip it may be cheaper.  I've used rentals both ways in Orlando but we always come in the day before and stay the night after the cruise.   Having a car allows you to be mobile and see things, go out to eat etc.  

8 hours ago, FloridaCruiseGirl1210 said:

We contemplated just getting a rental car but for us the rental car was nearly the same price as our flight back so we went with an excursion where we didn't have to drive (big goal for us this trip). If it gets canceled we will just grab an uber from the terminal to the airport and to some location. 

Wow we got a rental for like $50,  another option would be to store you bags at the airport and uber out and back to the Everglades Holiday Park.  It's about 30 miles from the airport not sure what the uber cost would be though.  Good Luck with your after cruise excursion.

We took an uber to the airport and picked up a rental car for the day and went here:  https://www.evergladesholidaypark.com/

Was a Phantom Fixer from 77-80, loved the sound of those 2 J-79 engines.  My old CO called them "double breasted bug suckin gas guzzlers".  Nothing like an F-4 doing a take off, tucking the landing ear and then straight up with the afterburners lighting up the night sky.

Glad they fixed this for those that had already booked those rooms, but I have to wonder who in corporate is making these decisions in the first place.  This person or persons have no common sense, it's almost like they are trying to torpedo the company.  After the stuff hits the fan someone higher up jumps in and makes the decision to end the publicity nightmare.  Kudos for Royal for making things right but by god get it right the first time.

I wonder how they will price these rooms in the future?, to me these balconies are worthless and should be priced just above an oceanview cabin.  

A couple drinks we like from the Schooner Bar  Sandy Collins (it's made with Scotch) and the DW likes the Brandy Alexander

26 minutes ago, Bakerette said:

You can call RC if you want to be on hold for a long time or you can login to the cruise planner and click on the section that says order history and you can cancel the drink package online and the money will go back to your credit/debit card within 3-5 days or if you used any OBC the OBC will be posted back to your account immediately.

After you cancel the refreshment packages then you can repurchase them for the lower price, which can also be done online.

in my opinion canceling items online and then repurchasing them for the lower price/cancelling items and not repurchasing them, I think is much faster then calling RC and doing it over the phone with a RC representative. I have done this about a few hundred times and each time I cancelled a cruise planner item online because I changed my mind, and I also cancelled some items that I had precooked and then cancelled the same items and rebooked them @ the cheaper price.

 

 

Agree that cancelling and repurchasing on line is the easiest way.  Don't forget to print out your receipt.

I'd like to see videos of the various bars/clubs, entertainment and dancing spots.

2 hours ago, WesKinetic said:

I just learned a valuable lesson--don't always assume booking an excursion through Royal Caribbean will be more expensive than booking with a local company directly. 

We're stopping at Key West on a cruise next spring. My wife wanted to get one of the trolley tours. RCCL has it for $25/adults and free for kids. But when I looked at the exact same tour through the exact same company's website, it was $37.75/adults and $14.18/kids! 

It may not happen often, but I'm definitely glad I at least checked RCCL's prices before booking third party. 

Check out the free Duval Bus Loop bus, it actually drives up and down the streets on either side of Duval Street.  While you don't get a narrated tour its a good way to get from attraction to attraction.  https://www.carfreekeywest.com/duval-loop-bus

5 hours ago, monctonguy said:

Where are the above posts getting all this OBC for booking with Next ctruise..is states $25-$100 is realistically  what you'll get...most ppl don't book 10plus days in a grand suite or higher..

 

Seems to be the incentive has really changed or something...used to be much bigger offers I thought or more perks...?!

 

 

My Harmony cruise was booked on my very first cruise on the Oasis in April 2018, they were offering up to $600 obc but that was for suites if I recall that correctly.  Did not see as good as a deal on my other two cruises, so it may have been something special.  

5 hours ago, monctonguy said:

That wouldn't matter....its not that Royal offers better pricing when you book with them.....and you can change it once you get off and transfer it to your agent right?

 

So really, the price is a non-factor...everyone is booking this for either the $50 OBC or the reduced deposit?.....

 

Great incentive.......

When I booked my second Grandeur cruise at next cruise on Majesty, i got mid-ship cabins for the same price I was able to get fwd/aft cabins before the cruise (about $50 pp savings).  And the next cruise agent had more cabins available than i saw before the cruise.  Not sure why this was but that was our experience, was going to book it anyway for the $100 pp deposit as we booked two cabins and a deposit of $400 was way better than $1,000.  In regards to the transfer to your agent, we did reprice one cruise that was booked at next cruise, lost some obc but the overall cost was lower.  My primary reason was the reduced deposit, that way I don't give them the money till final payment if I wish.

Have only been on three cruises, the first one we got $325 obc and $100 deposits on the Harmony.  the second one we booked the Majesty and got same deal as we could have gotten before but again $100 deposit and $125 obc, on the third one we booked the Grandeur, rooms were $50 pp cheaper and we got $50 obc and $100 deposits.  So on the second one we got a $125 deal and on the third one we a $150 deal.  Told my TA that I wasn't planning to book another cruise on our February HOS cruise; she smiled and said yeah right.  Now I've got to research 2021 cruises before February.

To see if you are getting a good deal, check prices on the cruises you'd like to take before leaving for the cruise; and then see what next cruise has to offer.

Cloisters on Paradise Island is another good place.

I guess we are in the minority, who enjoy dressing for formal night.  I wear a dark suit and the wife wears a gown or cocktail dress on formal nights, now on other nights I wear trousers and collared dress shirt or maybe a Hawaiian style shirt and the wife wears a dress or slacks.  After diner we enjoys the shows and bars so staying dressed is not a problem for us as we treat it as a date night.  Daytime is for shirts and t-shirts.

One part of me wishes the cruise lines would enforce the dress code in the MDR; the other part of me could care less what other people are wearing.  On our last cruise one of our table mates was upset that we dressed for formal night (I wore a suit and the other two gentlemen wore ties).  He wore a short sleeved collared shirt and said we made him look bad by dressing up for dinner.

Only have three cruises under our belt, but we prefer early traditional seating in the MDR.  We only eat a light lunch, that way 5:30 isn't to early for us to eat dinner.  The first cruise we had late seating 8pm; the DW didn't like finishing dinner until 9-9:30pm; not enough time for dinner to digest before heading to bed.  The next two cruises we did early seating 5:30pm; that worked well for us, we were able to finish dinner and had a good 4-5 hours to enjoy the evening activities on the ship.  There were several times that we didn't make it back to the ship in time to clean up and make it to the early seating.  So on those nights we ate at the Windjammer.

Never been to  Chichen Itza but we did do the San Gervasio and chocolate tour.  The ruins are not towering temples, but I still found them interesting and the chocolate tour was educational too.  Our tour guide was Jesus and he was very good (funny, entertaining and informative).  We also chose this one because of the long travel time.  We have done two other ruins in Costa Maya, they were more intact and larger than San Gervasio.

Our first cruise was Oasis of the Seas, the next two were Grandeur and Majesty.  We were told we were doing backwards, that we would be disappointed with the smaller ships.  This was absolutely not the case.  We loved the Grandeur and even the Majesty; these two ships can't be beat for relaxing and enjoying the ship.  On the smaller ships you feel more connected to the seas and feel more like you are cruising. The Oasis was great and had lots to do; the smaller ships more laid back.  You can't go wrong with either.

9 hours ago, VanessaV said:

Sailing on Harmony in September and the Wonderland price for our sailing is $55 per person. I'm not an adventurous eater but made a reservation for my parents via the cruise planner.

Thanks for the information, we are wanting to try Wonderland for the unique experience, but at $49-$55pp I would probably go with the 3 night package at $99 to get the better deal.  The only thing holding me back is that we have enjoyed the traditional MDR experience.  But who knows once we try specialty dining that maybe our new favorite way to dine.