AlohaLivin

On 10/25/2021 at 10:20 PM, nissin said: So I suspect the rum bottle contained greatly diluted rum, and he could make a big show of being generous with the jigger-ing, and still use hardly any real rum. ——— Nope, ours are fine (if not too strong for me 50% of the time), twice I asked for more of the mixer! I don’t tend to drink much at home, so those taste very strong to me. If you drink often off a cruise, I would assume the opposite could happen? You are truly suggesting they are watering down liquor?? Because there is 0 chance the latter is happening, alcohol is a huge money maker for all cruise lines, they would *never* risk that from either a marketing or ethical position.

We have cruised a lot, but I have not set seating since my late husband and I sailed on Premier (the Disney cruise before they ate their own - We were in our 30s, I was in graduate school, and we were seated with 4 honeymooning couples. I honestly thought that I not live through it Since then I have chosen private tables (and once possible, on our own time). But, when we are on a cruise without a CK we are seated so close to others anyway and we do enjoy meeting people on cruises. Plus, we noticed the lines for the MDR on Symphony last week and thought those would not be much fun! So, we decided that on our B2B Explorer this summer we would venture into the early dining slot (since we normally would choose 5:30 or 6 for most evenings). But having chosen that, I am not sure how they make decisions on tables - will they give us a 2 person table or set us up with other families or what? It will collide with the SL happy hour I know, but we thought it was worth a try!

All states (to my knowledge) have a vaccination database - any healthcare provider can access it (including a PA at CVS and your PCP) in addition to the county healthcare option (as a healthcare provider I receive my first dose the January they became available in a huge university parking lot held by the county health system in our state). The PA when I got a booster at CVS care clinic was able to pull mine up and give me an extra card and our PCP pulled our vaccine records when we began with her practice (and showed any vaccine we had received - TDAP, shingles, and all Covid vaccines and boosters).

We cruise often and have met so many great people over the years with whom we wanted to remain in contact. We do what some other frequent cruisers do - made some personal network cards that has our basic contact info (and often write our board and social media aliases on the back). We order them from vista print, they have tons of design options. It won’t help for your past situation, but it may keep history from repeating itself!

Happy birthday to her! I can’t congratulate her on the retirement part since my jealousy won’t allow it You will love the suite The perks are definitely different for the suites on the smaller ships, but the MDR is usually just as good in terms of food (although depending on the ship the service and noise level will differ). The chops breakfast is always a nice touch too. Grandeur is our all time favorite ship, we are so glad that she was saved from being sold by the pandemic and have booked 2 sailings on her over the next 1.5 years. It is an cozy, friendly ship without the frenzy of larger ones.

I can cricut you the logo, but can’t help with the bag part! Good luck

You can’t get closer to a Publix (see the pic). Brickell is fabulous for dining, terrible for most other needs (in our opinion). Both Hampton Inns were very nice (as to the staff and facilities). Because of flight issues when we flew in last week, we got to the hotel later than expected and we didn’t really get to scope out the dining options around. But we will be back there in August and I will definitely be researching that issue before that point Edit - I just checked, there is a “First Watch” restaurant in the Publix shopping center - love that place for breakfast and brunch, but I don’t think any of those are open for dinner But there is a gourmet salad restaurant, a Cuban restaurant, and Domino’s Pizza in that same shopping center across from the hotel (plus the Publix deli). Should you need them, there is also a laundry service, a nail salon, an office supply store, and a liquor store there as well ). There is McDonald’s and a small Italian restaurant that we saw that were very close to the pharmacies the next block over (Amor di Pasta, seems to have high ratings).

I posted this yesterday on a similar thread here regarding Hampton Inn/Blue Lagoon-

I would feel a bit panicked as you do (you definitely don’t have to be an anxious person to feel anxiety in the situation!). I am so sorry the virus caught up with you, but I hope that you will feel 100% before long and enjoy your cruise!

Two weeks ago we tried a new hotel - Hampton Inn & Suites Miami-Airport South-Blue Lagoon. We had been at the one at Brickell in November and while it was also very nice and was close to good restaurants, it was quite a distance from any grocery stores or other shopping options (e.g., drug stores). The Blue Lagoon location is across the street from a Publix (and a Marshalls) and a short block from 2 large pharmacies. There is a free breakfast, an extremely friendly staff, nice and clean rooms, and a $10 trip to the port (and a free trip from the airport to the hotel). A great bonus was the transport service to the port can pick you up from the port to the airport (for that same $10!). During the summer the rooms are between 260-300, it may be at the higher end in the winter.

Although I recently was told that you can only apply it to the booked cruise if you are willing to have it rebooked at the current rate (so if you booked early for a good price, it may not be worth the base price change?).

Yes. But if for some reason you don’t see the “Suites & Pinnacles”/Star signs, just ask any of the staff outside the point you in the right direction. Miami’s often has no line, such a fast process there usually, so you aren’t necessarily looking for where the crowd is going.

On our August Explorer 6 day that we just added on to our 8 day the surf only internet package for 2 is over $30/day and the over-water cabanas were $3500 (or also called “not in this lifetime” ). All I can say is that I am thankful for those drink vouchers and the fact that we drink very little.

Better photographers. Norwegian hires actual photographers for their ships, they don’t bring in young crewmembers from other posts who know to point and shoot. The result is some really nice portraits done on Norwegian ships. On NCL they know the best angles for shots and have far more variety in poses and back drops. When we have sailed on Norwegian we could always use a picture take for Christmas cards or canvas mounted images in our home. I have yet to see one from Royal that I would want someone else to see. Not holding my breath on that, but it would be nice

Clearly you don’t have to explain it to Royal. If you want to bring a Mickey Mouse suit or an upside down pineapple sign for your door and don’t feel comfortable without them, it okay with me But if someone posts on a cruise board, it’s going to bring up the question in the mind of a great many people who cruise. But luckily @SpicyCherryhas a good sense of humor (along with her Swiss Army knife like tool ).

True. But you could also be on excursion in a rental car and need a tire jack, you wouldn’t necessarily want to bring that with you as a possibly useful tool. It would be handle to have a paddle board at the beach too, but it won’t fit in most luggage. There’s a lot of things it would be nice to have on a cruise, but some of them just seem not worth the trouble to bring. Hmmm picnic on a cruise, I have not done that one. It was not a terribly serious question anyway

{{imagines whittling with toenail clippers}]

Good to know we are still related post shutdown

Okay, I just cannot stop myself from asking - why do you need a Swiss Army knife on your cruise? Curiosity got the best of me

We have consistently found a huge difference in the friendliness (happiness?) of the crew overall and much prefer Symphony (especially their suite’s lounges and CK personnel). As to the ports, I can understand that you would like some novel ones. Enjoy whichever you choose. 🛳

It was very clear there was a lot of skepticism, that was impossible to miss as I assume you intended. I really don’t need to post about things on board for the sake of my ego, it’s not my style. I was just reporting something that happened. It may have been an act of God instead. Glad it is done.

I’m not trying to be impressive. Just saying what happened. For two days he took it up the chain. Sometimes it doesn’t take something outstanding, but just someone to make the effort. It just was a right effort at the right time (and the right concierge). Perhaps he was lying to me, but it does seem to have changed so maybe not. Feel free to check with Dexter Fraser if you see him (he is now a genie on Allure) if your doubts give you indigestion

Ha! It’s just I had taken one too many “no’s” from a SL bartender and I just thought it was absurd. All I wanted was one Mai Tai at night - one! I had gotten that on the symphony the week before without issue. That “no” on Allure was truly irritating and my evil twin came out (my poor husband ). Dexter was a “get it done” kind of concierge, which is why I selected him for the sit down. We probably talked half an hour and he took it very seriously. Even I was a little shocked when it got that kind of action, but I was so happy that it did (I don’t know if I’ll be back on the Allure anytime soon, but I was super pleased that other people weren’t going to go through the frustration I had gone through every time I was on Allure). Sorry about your liver

Yes they did and it was after I had a long sit down with a concierge on Allure in November 2021 about the insanity of that whole “list” they had in the SL. I laid out my case, including the fact that we were paying quite a lot for that short period of having free drinks, that it was not applied on some other ships, and that D-Pinnacles were not restricted to such a list; he went to the upper management and he came back the next day and said as a result this policy would be changed fleetwide. Glad to hear that is continuing as promised. Sometimes speaking up (respectfully) does make real change happen.

Post Covid they have all been requiring reservations for shows for even suites and pinnacles. They are checking at the door (even for the adult comedy club). Note that the “reserved” areas can be in the balcony of Oasis level ships, so not necessarily the best seats for you if and when they return to pre-Covid protocols. Also pre-Covid they would take care of all your reservations before hand, post covid many of them are asking you to wait to do at least the entertainment reservations once you get on board. If you have to do that the process is fairly quick with the concierge during embarkation lunch. Although our concierge was willing to do it for us several days out before our cruise last week, one of the shows got changed around and we ended up arriving up for a show that had been moved 2 1/2 hours later. So in some cases waiting could be better.