CruisingwithCandM

Right before the shutdown we bought a 10 drink card because the staff person selling it said it was good on future cruises. Fast forward to Symphony 18 months later and the initial response was that those cards need to be used on the same cruise. They were clear that those are sold by the specific ship (to help with numbers) so there is no reciprocity across the fleet. Still, after a small discussion of what was promised, they allowed us to use it at one bar. Another plus for service at Royal.

Well, we went from one to two then three and four a year over the first 5 years of sailing... Then, in a brilliant move, we decided to start a YouTube cruising channel which gave us an excuse to hit double digits in booked cruises. Thank goodness our full time jobs let us work remotely. Now if we can get enough subscribes to get monetized soon there would be no stoping us!!

@MarkusB We have not been in that exact area but have not experienced any sound leakage from that inside area. Honestly, last Oasis class ship (Utopia) we sailed in September, we backed directly up to Music Hall with an inside room and even then, didn't hear anything. I really think you are good to go!!

@Vlad We are now about 30 minutes from the Tampa port. Way better than all the times we had to fly in from Maine!! It made our delayed departure last month much simpler.

We are on the November 9th Radiance of the Seas Cruise so we are hoping that we can slide from Tampa down the Florida coast and to the Bahamas as the "disturbance" moves into the Gulf of Mexico. It will be very interesting to see the path this actually takes once its there. Really hoping that we don't need to do another "delayed" video as we did for Helene!!

Jumping on this thread as we have a Nov. 9th cruise starting on Radiance out of Tampa and going to 4 Bahama ports. There is nothing official on the map but there are projections for a "Low" brewing in the Caribbean a few days ahead of our cruise. We may get more clarity during the next few days. We did miss one day earlier this month when Enchantment was delayed because of Helene. We feel lucky to have missed only that day after cruising during hurricane season since 2018. Here is a recap of how that day went down Watch

Hello all - Its been awhile! I have been a member since way back in 2018 but this past January we did got married on a cruise, well at the Saint Thomas port day. That was the best excursion! Needless to say, I have wanted to change the user name for years but this seemed like the perfect time. So we are now CruisingwithCandM since we were limited on characters. We have 12 cruises on the books which is by far a record for us and hope to live blog some of them. We have a YouTube channel but I assume that we should not post links to videos that we may also take. IF we can then we will add them also. Look forward to getting back in a groove here. Take care!!

Seems like another area with dynamic pricing. We got off Odyssey earlier this month from our transatlantic and I can confirm $19 all cruise long but obviously that cruise had an abundance of sea days. Many times the north Star had just a handful of people going up at any one time.

My experience has been that they run just shy of double occupancy which is much lower than max capacity. This is typical of the guests with few families on board and a good number of older single cruisers. I just got of Odyssey and they where a tad over 4000. Double occupancy is 4200 and max is about 5500. BTW, it was an amazing cruise!

i can agree on what has been said earlier but i will have to share that our first transatlantic was the "over to Europe" version last April and it was amazing! We loved it so much and got used to having the noon captain's update be the official time switch to 1pm. We also enjoyed staying a couple of days in Amsterdam with no jet lag. Honestly, In would rather be jet lagged at work than on vacation time. We liked it so much we are doing another transatlantic this April to Italy and spending a few days in Rome and a layover day in Lisbon on the flight home.

The current Jewel Transatlantic cruising entertainment has been top notch through 7 of the 12 days. The best has been the classical music concerts with one being a headliner and that was followed with 2 afternoon performances. We keep hearing this is a series called " Royal Caribbean Cruising with the Classics" but It's the first I have heard of it. Anyone else have this on board their cruises? If interested in the details... The main performer is pianist John Paul Ekins who is so talented and his explanations were equaling compelling. The third performance included a highly decorated violinist, Filipe Abreu. I have never seen a RC audience give immediate standing ovations like they received. I really hope this is part of a new series across the fleet!

In January we stopped at Colon while sailing on Serenade. I can not speak to the "on your own" excursion but can share the completely enjoyed our full day old city and canal viewing excursion. We had a walking tour of the old city followed by about an hour of free time. It felt safe and there was much to visit. The president's home is off the main square so the police, secret service equivalent and other protection are out in force. All told we were there for about three hours. It's about an hour drive from the Atlantic side to Panama City in the Pacific. The ride with the tour guide was also enjoyable. Do note that English is not widely spoken as compared to other places in the Caribbean. Knowing some level of Spanish would be very helpful.

Fresh off our 10 day Serenade of the Seas South American cruise we need to prepare for our April Transatlantic cruise out of Port Canaveral. We are having a hard time figuring out the best and most cost effective way to leave a car at or near the Orlando airport for when we fly back and also get transportation from the car to the port. If anyone has experience or suggestions we would appreciate the creative sourcing this blog provides. Thanks in advance for any help!

Sorry about the videos. There was no apparent way to delete them unlike hotos that have an X on them. Now on to day 10... The Last Sea Day. Why is it that no matter how long your cruise is, you hit an amazing groove during the last days and want it to go on and on. This was one of those days. We slept in a bit and caught my brother and sister in-law at the Windjammer for breakfast. The French-toast has been a winner this week and a long with eggs and fruit made for satisfy meal. Next up was the Captain's Corner Q&A. The Captain went in record that he loves the small ships because of the variety of ports. He said that he gets bored sailing the same 6 or 7 ports over and over again with the larger ships. He can't wait for the World cruise and the challenge of all the ports during the trip. He also shared that the only pilot that takes full command of the vessel is when traversing the Panama canal. All other times, ultimately the captain has the final responsibility. The chief engineer mentioned that Radiance class has the most output of power when compared to weight of all classes of RC ships. He feels it's one reason Serenade was chosen to do the World Tour. Having completed over 3000 natural miles this cruise I can tell you, we booked it many a see day at 23 knots. It was impressive. The rest of the day was me getting caught in the cruise food vortex where it seems that food swirls around me like a never ending tornado and also trying a few new things. Best example was learning the basic steps to the Cha Cha with some of the dancers. Great fun! Some other observations... This is our last cruise on the old menu. As a vegan, the current options have some winners and losers but at least there are two options each night. Heading to the new menu means only one option each night. Looking forward to new dishes but worried about lack of choices especially on 10 day or longer itineraries. All ten days from Tampa down to Panama at 9 degrees north of the equator had amazing Internet. Maybe 2 minutes of no service but the rest of the time was fast enough for full streaming including my sister in-law having a zoom meeting without a glitch. Signed up for the Next Cruise by and decide within two months. It's not a big savings but the low deposit plus an extra hundred or two in a discount is better than not doing it. Enjoyed the Key and for us, it was worth having some skip the line benefits, meals and internet. Well, will sign off for tonight as I hear the luggage getting picked up from the hallway. Not the best of sounds I have heard this week! Be well.

PXL_20230127_014853126.TS.mp4 Freestyle in Cozumel Having been to Cozumel multiple of times we feel comfortable waiting on the weather to make decisions on what to do. The forecast got better the day before so we decided to beach it. We like quiet and places that don't have dozens of loungers in a row so we decided to give Playa Palancar a chance based on photos and reviews. After a Windjammer breakfast, we sailed next to Adventure of the Seas as the fourth ship in port. A $25 taxi ride got us to a quaint beach club. Palancar is not flashy but solid with space to relax. $12 for two loungers and umbrella with just a $10 minimum was extremely reasonable. Service was responsive with no need for us to head to the bar or restaurant. Observations - Love the soft serve ice cream machines in the windjammer as I include them in the dessert mix. Made a number of ice cream sandwiches this cruise. The headliner was the doo whop group. Alley Cats, 4 guys, was one of the best shows we have seen in years. Their stage banter/comedy along with their singing has the packed crowd entertained Both ATMs being out of service was unexpected. I just wanted a bit more cash for the day but no luck. While waiting for clearance to disembark it was heartwarming seeing the crew from our ship and Adventure shot out greetings and love to each other as they had worked together from other contracts. The late sailing time from a port is always welcome. 8pm sail away was perfect for our last port! Be well everyone! PXL_20230127_014853126.TS.mp4 PXL_20230127_014853126.TS.mp4