spiralqueen

19 minutes ago, FroggyFlo said:

Sounds very interesting! Provided you do not have to get an expensive spa treatment beforehand. I doubt you can just walk right in the spa and help yourself with some smoothie?

Yep, you definitely can walk in if it has a Vitality Cafe! I am obsessed with the smoothies there and I also advise you to check out some of the juices too because they can be wonderfully refreshing and are super fresh as they make them in front of you. There is one with apple, mint and ginger that was my personal favorite. Also one thing to know for smoothies that I didn't see on any signs is that besides the fruit, you can pick between water, milk or orange juice for the splash of liquid in there. 

5 hours ago, FloridaCruiseGirl1210 said:

Update:

This may sound crazy but neither my BF or I have traveled this long for pleasure (I was in Nassau for 9 days for work but that's a different story), so we did a practice pack...

Yes you read that right, we did a practice run of packing and BOY am I glad we did. We realized we didn't have enough packing cubes, we needed USB hub for travel and we needed toiletry bags for the both of us, as well as SeaBands and a few other items that we purchased through Amazon today. We also realized that we are going to have to take a suitcase for each of us, yes we pack a bit but at the same time we are bringing his suit, including jacket, which takes up room and he wears size 18 shoe.... which takes up a lot of room. 

Now, I know it sounds crazy that we did this, but with our insane schedules coming up, we have 3 concerts, 1 other trip and both of us will be starting new FT jobs (mine during peak season of my job) it just made sense, I now have a spreadsheet of everything we are bringing along with having them all photographed and itemized in a spreadsheet. My little Type-A personality is very happy. 

Ironically this was the BFs idea... anyone else do something like this?

I don’t think this is as crazy as it sounds on the surface, and even if it is I think you will likely find yourself in good company here! I’ve been debating on doing this before my Thanksgiving cruise as I’m not sure if I have enough packing cubes and how much they will fit. 

One of the things that I learned early on from these boards is that you can't pay attention to the percentage off or sale they are claiming there is on a certain item. Just track the displayed price and buy it when you like the price and cancel/rebuy if the price ever drops. I fully accept that I am not an example of normal shopping/cruisers, but I generally will check the pricing of various items in the Cruise Planner daily to see if there are any random price drops. I feel like I've noticed that excursions in particular will sometimes randomly drop in price in the middle of the week for no reason. There's no sale going on, but they are suddenly cheaper. That's when I swoop in and grab something just to lock in a price. It helps matters that I view getting the best price as a sort of game so I have fun checking on various items that I'm interested in. 

7 hours ago, Tim B. said:

As someone that has not been to CocaCay these prices make me think it is not worth it to go. After paying thousands to go on a cruise they want me to pay more to go to a beach. I can go to Cozumel and pay $110 at Nachi Cocom and have as much fun as it does for paying hundreds more to stay on a beach. It's just my wife and I travelling so those prices make no sense to me at all. I guess it is meant for larger parties and people with kids.

I have just started my cruising vacations but I swear they are going to price me out of the market quickly.

 

These prices are just for the cabanas. There are a ton of free things to do on CocoCay still Matt has a good article here with pricing: 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/12/perfect-day-cococay-prices-and-costs

Does anyone know if they have any non-alcoholic wine options to pair with? I know it's a long-shot but thought it worth asking. 

Semi-related question to this. I know the drink package works on the island, but does it work for that self-serve beer station I have heard about (I think at Chill Grill)? Or only the human staffed bars? 

12 minutes ago, AndrewCharles said:

Do they still provide snorkeling equipment with the cabanas on Chill Island?

It's not listed in the description, but all reports I've been seeing say that the snorkel equipment and floating mats are still included. Though you need to get the snorkel gear from the equipment shack. 

10 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Can definitely vouch for this, as that's what I sailed last October. Getting one on Deck 7 puts you nice and central on the ship with a view of the ocean that still feels reasonably close. Wish I could afford another, but alas! Not this year!

I had to settle for the regular hump balcony two cabins down the hall! 

I’m really glad to hear this as it’s exactly what my mom and I have for our Anthem girls trip. #7636. Now I’m EXTRA excited! 

Does the Solarium Bistro fill up quickly reservation wise for dinner? It would be on Harmony if that makes a difference. 

16 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Also found this from our Concierge tonight. It was also on the front page of our cruise compass. 

Not sure if this is new but I don’t recall seeing this on Anthem a few weeks ago. 

Great blog so far! I'm eagerly looking forward to finding out what in the world this is. If this becomes fleet wide, it will made the increased Key price on Oasis/Quantum class ships much easier to swallow. 

5 hours ago, Morganno said:

You are treating the crew on your boat as if they are homeless and feeling good about it? wow how about just treating them as human beings instead of those to be pitied ? 

I find this to be an interesting takeaway from @KJ1231’s post. I personally read his post as saying that you should treat EVERYONE like they are human beings and not just a job or an economic status. So treating homeless people like human beings, treating cruise staff like human beings, etc. I’m curious where you got the “to be pitied” from his post. 

I would say my kindle in case I want to get right down to relaxing and reading in the solarium! But overall I have in my carryon, besides the essentials, my kindle, Bluetooth headphones, portable charger, flip flops, sunglasses, and sunscreen. It would be hazardous for me to go ANYWHERE without sunscreen. I’ve gotten bad sunburn in as quickly as 15-20 mins when I’ve forgotten to put any on before. 

On 7/21/2019 at 12:08 PM, maeffron said:

ThyriC - I think we may go that route! Black leggings with a nice top sounds like the easiest and most comfortable for her. We'll see how sparkly she will allow  if only Nike or under Armour made affordable formal wear lol!

This might be a bit too late for ordering and I don't know if she has any interest in these, but if the issue is comfort I am obsessed and SWEAR by these dress yoga pants. They are incredibly comfortable, look nice and dressy, and a decent number of them come with pockets too. They may be something your daughter is willing to wear going forward for dressier things. They are seriously the only thing I wear to work since discovering them.  https://www.betabrand.com/womens/pants/dress-pant-yoga-pants-collection

@Yo2slick these are the kind a lot of people here buy:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074T36FS1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0GhnDbQNF4C1G

Another great use for the tag holders is to label your bag with your name/address if you forgot to bring a tag with that info on it for checked bags when flying.  We have used them for this purpose multiple times for last minute realizations. Just write the info on either the back of another piece of paper and fold it or on a blank paper. Works super well. 

13 hours ago, ericreev said:

The number shown for points only shows slot play, it doesn’t include the tables.

 

eric reeves

It must include tables in some way because when I inserted my card on the most recent cruise I was on there was a number shown for casino points. I have never played any slots on the ships. I'm a table only player. 

3 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

On Harmony there isn’t a shower curtain, but what I’d best describe as a 1/4 sheet of glass that only covers the area closest to the shower head. It means you end up with water all over the floor. 

Oh YIKES. I hate that set up 

I think I've seen @AnnetteJackson able to help here before with situations like this. I hope you get this figured out and find someone you are happy with! 

8 hours ago, mrp4352 said:

I've found my clothes stay neater in packing cubes when packed 2-days before the cruise (to allow for the travel prior to the cruise).  Personally, I don't use the compression for clean clothes - I worry about wrinkles.  So - packing cubes going, compression bags coming home (which also allows for souvenir space!)

I love this idea of cubes going there and compression coming back for souvenir space.  I just found some compression cubes that can be used as normal ones or compressed depending on how you close them so this post made me pull the trigger on grabbing those. I’ll have them expanded going there and compressed coming back! 

55 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

If i actually look at an itinerary or browse the cruise planner then i get reminder emails about all the things i looked at ... 

That's the reason more than cookies not working that I almost always visit the royal site in incognito mode to price things out. I don't need 5 follow up emails to remind me that I looked at something but didn't book it. 

6 hours ago, twangster said:

Voyager class, but a I have a few cruises with $1,300 cabanas. 

I think they are preparing us for the price of overwater cabanas.  

Yeesh. It’s making me extra grateful I was able to snag a Chill Island one for $320 before the price jumps. I thought it was just because it was a Vision class ship, but it looks like it’s not just the mega ships that prices are crazy for. 

Good lord. @twangster which ship are you on that they are charging $1300 for chill island/oasis lagoon cabanas??? I assume Oasis class of some sort? 

I was recently on Allure (this May) in a Sea class room. I can’t address lunch in CK, but I do want to ease your mind about the locked doors before you have your proper cards that will open the lock. You may have some issues getting into the suite lounge without a key, but the Coastal Kitchen door is a glass door that the host can see you through and we never had to bang on the door or wait to ride someone’s coattails in. The host always saw us coming and buzzed us in without issue. I think that as long as it’s during lunch service (which I believe normally starts at 11:30 but was delayed on our sailing to noon due to a health inspection) then you should be fine to go up before rooms open. Also, you absolutely don’t need to insert a key in the elevator or anything to reach deck 17. It’s just like any other elevator button in there. 

If I were you, I would get to Port Everglades early if only because you can spend every moment possible on the ship and the suite waiting area is actually rather comfortable. 

If you don’t mind smaller ships without all the bells and whistles, you can find some fantastic solo prices on Majesty and Empress right now. My friend just booked a solo sailing for a 4 night ocean view room on Majesty for $391 including taxes and fees. 

2 hours ago, Jmccaffrey said:

With all due respect....coffee is hot. FACT. This is common sense. Therefore sueing a company (i.e. McDonald's) for selling hot coffee is the definition of a frivolous lawsuit. 

Another example is when a RV company was sued for not clearly stating that cruise control is not autopilot..... the man was driving on a highway and hit cruise control. Then got up and made himself a cup of coffee.... the RV crashed.... He sued and won.... how is this allowed..

RC need to stand its ground and not pay a dime for this clear act of neglect by the grandfather. (Plus he should go to jail for negligence homicide)

I think you can agree that coffee that you are going to drink should not be served hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns within 3-5 seconds. THAT is where the negligence comes into play. Not that it was hot. That it was excessively hot and they knew about this and chose to ignore. Spilled coffee shouldn't require surgery and skin grafts. I won't argue with you that frivolous lawsuits exist. That RV one sounds like a perfect example, if true. I was simply stating that many, many people think they know the facts of the McDonald's case because they heard about it on the news, but what was reported at the time was drastically oversimplified and misrepresented. 

Anyway, back to the topic in this thread, I do agree that it is absurd to sue Royal over this and I think it's pretty obvious that this is a desperate ploy of a mourning family to blame someone else. It's a very sad situation all around, but I don't see how this is RCI's fault.