joshvc

Hi folks, we're considering a European cruise next summer in the 6-8 day range, and it looks like the main choices are either Greek Isles or Western Mediterranean, with stops in France, Spain, and Italy. Would love to hear if anyone has highlights from either of these itineraries, favorite ports or excursions, or strong preferences or insight into departure ports? We'd be traveling with an 8 year old, so if you've done especially kid friendly stops there, would be interested in hearing those too. Also considering ease of access from the States, but they all seem pretty similar there.

Ships in the mix are Rhapsody, Explorer (should be Amped by then, if I'm reading correctly), and Allure. Home ports are Barcelona, Rome, and Venice.

On 4/27/2019 at 10:37 PM, Paul&Karen said:

My silly question is, to get up to the water slides ect is there much climbing??? I read on the RC site there is "some climbing" and list it as "moderate" but it doesn't say if the climb is 5 story's, 1 story or............???

The slides will be accessed by stairs, and for the tallest slides it will be a pretty good climb- Daredevil Peak is listed at 135 feet, which is going to be a LOT of stairs- 10+ stories, depending on the calculation. The other slides look like they're 3-6 stories up, but harder to gauge without Royal putting out height numbers.

On 4/30/2019 at 12:03 AM, jenajibi said:

Hi - speaking about the Atlantis Aquaventure park - does anyone have any experience with renting a locker there?   Thanks! 

Yes! The locker rental is quick & easy, although the lockers are basically at the far end of the water park from the hotel/casino direction you come in from. 

Word of warning- they give you a key on a bracelet, and the bracelet got blown off my wrist in the pool on Leap of Faith, the big drop slide. Leave it with a non-rider if you can, or hold on to it intentionally. I was able to retrieve it as I realized it only a couple steps away from the ride exit.

On 4/22/2019 at 9:40 AM, Pima1988 said:

Go on FB and search to see if there is a group set up for your cruise.  

This is a great tip, especially for the classes with reservable entertainment. I found the group for my August Harmony cruise, and this morning someone alerted that the entertainment reservations were open. Now we have everything we want when we want it (well, I'd schedule everything an hour earlier, but they're not running the ship on cranky first grader time, are they?).

If you book via NextCruise or perhaps just off the website, then transfer to your travel agent, do they get commissioned for your cruise, or do they just get to service it in hopes that you'll use them next time? 

Can confirm that Atlantis is plastic only, no cash. And as covered above, prices are basically dead on with American theme park prices. $10-12 for a burger plate with fries, something like $4-5 for a soda.

We sailed on her last summer, our first cruise also, and had an incredible time. The ship is very nice, it's plenty big, and the 4 night itinerary was great. Most of all though, we were blown away by the service- from the moment we stepped on until we were back in port, every employee we interacted with treated us like we were the only guests in a 5 star resort, despite being in a cheapy interior room.

We did traditional dining in the first shift, and loved our wait team- listen to their suggestions on the specials, they were usually right. 

I will warn you that the cruising bug does bite hard. We're a long way from the multiple-cruises-per-year folks you might see on this site, but we booked a 7 night Harmony cruise within a few weeks of getting off Enchantment.

I wrote up a short review of the cruise a couple months after it, but the short version is you're going to have a great time. 

Interesting- it does seem like the Buffet would be a bigger source of waste. That said, I could see them reducing serving sizes in the MDR, and being more eager to bring second portions once you know you like something. Not necessarily full blown tapas style dining (although I'd love that for a couple of the meals), but somewhere in between. 

Ehh, most of the sidewalk sale watches are also ripoffs. I can't remember the specifics, but I think it was Invicta who had some really neat branded watches- marvel and star wars, some of which were subtle enough to just be normal watches with a nod to the branding if you looked closely. I don't remember the price ranges, probably $150-250, of course "marked down" from $700+. I pulled up Invicta's website and they were all $30 cheaper there at their regular price.

2 minutes ago, 12thman said:

If the cups have a chip so the machines know to dispense product. What keeps used cups from being used on another cruise? Are the chips specific to those machines?

The chips are tied to a system that keeps track of each cup, so it knows how long you can use it and where. So if you took back to back cruises, or a different cruise, without buying a new package, it would not work on the second trip (unless they were really lazy with the setup, I guess).

I really liked the cup we got last year, with the travel mug style lids. These look atrocious, and I expect they'll be left in a lot of staterooms compared to the last generation.

That's literally more Perfect Day promotion than I have on my planner on an itinerary that goes directly to Coco Cay. I don't even have Perfect Day in the navbar at the top.

Found a program listing for ESPN International-Caribbean, which is what you'll have, at least in-room. No sign of hockey, they do have the Masters this weekend: https://www.tvpassport.com/tv-listings/stations/espn-international-caribbean/8135.

It's possible they have access to other satellite services for bars and such, can't speak to that.

Is there a way to infer the 2nd formal night based on the itinerary? We're on Harmony in August, with what appears to be an atypical itinerary compared to the weeks around it. Day 5 is St. Maarten, and Day 6 (and 7) are Sea Days. Do you think we're more likely to have the formal night on Day 6 instead of on a port day?

We booked our August cruise last year in October or so, so we geared up for Black Friday. I bought Voom, the non-alcoholic drink package, and all day Coco Cay water park tickets. I still check every sale, and the price for Voom & drinks has never gone lower (although sometimes gets equaled), but the Coco Cay pass was $4 cheaper per person on the last sale. 

I think if I were you, I'd go ahead and spread them out as other sales come along, and if Black Friday beats your prices, you can cancel and rebook at the lower price.

We did the shallow interaction at Atlantis last summer and had a great time- everyone got to feed "our" dolphin 2 or 3 times, pet it, give it a high five, etc. That part was great, and we'd do it again. 

The only issue was that it started a good half hour after it was supposed to, after everyone had already changed into the wetsuits, so it was hot and the tourists were getting grouchy. All in all, not a huge deal.  Also, the waterpark was a huge bust- not enough slides, leading to long lines.

On 3/10/2019 at 2:59 PM, eaglesfaninfl said:

I am in the identical situation and I have NEVER had a problem buying my wife a wine or something else alcoholic using her seapass card or charging the $$ to mine and paying at cruise end. Even with an exemption, she can purchase as much alcohol as she wants ( or can handle!! Lol!)

Yep, can confirm the same. Same story, wife drinks very rarely for medical reasons, so I called and ordered a drink package just for me (refreshment for her) and had no trouble. She bought a drink on CocoCay and maybe one on board, and had no issues.

Yeah, the vagueness of half-day led to us just springing for the full day, even though we intend to be out on the beach for a good chunk of it. We decided to spend the extra $20 so we could come & go as we pleased.

Tangentially related, and probably discussed on here somewhere before (it's a few years old, as best I can tell), Netflix has a show called Mega Food with an episode about an Oasis class ship (maybe Oasis? can't remember). It covers food service from before boarding through disembarkation, which is an amazing undertaking.

• Kennedy Space Center visitor center is excellent, and while less expensive than theme parks, not cheap either. 
• Speaking of Theme Parks, they are the best in the world, if you're into theme parks. Disney is great for families of all ages, but especially 10 & under, while Universal has the roller coasters that most teenagers are looking for. Figure on about 80 minutes drive to Disney, less with good traffic.
• Assuming the government is open, Canaveral National Seashore (aka Playalinda Beach) is usually uncrowded and a nice beach. Clothing rules are unenforced at the very very far end of the beach, or so I am told. No such issues in the first few miles of beach parking though.
• Also on Canaveral property is the Black Point Wildlife Drive, a gravel loop a few miles long where you can see bald eagles and assorted Floridian wildlife. A hidden gem imo.
• Easy to get to in Orlando is the Crayola Experience, I hear good things from people with younger kids
• There's a nice shopping complex/outdoor mall nearby in Viera, and some very mediocre malls in Merritt Island and Titusville. Go to Viera.
• Ron Jon is neat, once, worth a visit if you like Been There Done That kinda things.
• Daytona is also a very doable drive, the world famous speedway there has daily track tours if that revs your engine. I wouldn't go just for the beach, though, hit Cocoa or Playalinda and save the gas.
• St. Augustine is farther than Orlando, probably at the outer limits of a day trip, but has a different feel than the recent history of KSC or tourist-ness of Orlando.

Oops, just re-read that you'll be there in February. The beach advice might apply, but probably not. Have a great time though!

Day 4- Coco Cay

This wound up being our favorite day of the cruise, despite not doing anything worth writing about. No extra excursions, no bungalow or cabana (we had a beach bed reserved, then canceled it after some friends told us they had no trouble finding loungers they liked off a bigger boat than we were on). We just did Coco Cay stuff- swim, walk on beach, look at fish, eat, drink. Not in that order. Lots of drinking, and as it turns out, not enough putting on sunscreen. The lunch buffet was quite a bit better than we expected. 

Dinner: still good! Just really enjoyed the MDR each night. Never felt compelled to pay more for Chops.

After dinner: uh oh. Something had gone wrong, and to this day I still don’t know what it was. Some combination of sunburn, alcohol, sugar (way too many coco locos), food, and maybe even a bug wiped me out. My insides turned angry, had a brief bout of chills and probably fever, and skipped the evening show and spent the evening in bed. Not the conclusion to the trip I had hoped for, but at least it hit me late, and didn’t spread to my wife (making it more likely that this was self inflicted rather than a virus).

Day 5- Disembarkation

We concluded that self-disembark was for suckers, and we paid good money to be on that ship! They could drag us off at the last possible second. In reality, I stayed in bed while she enjoyed MDR breakfast, then we made our way down to the theater to wait for our number to be called. The tour group was in there too, and it was funny watching them try to get organized and get the passports and paperwork straight. Eventually it was our turn, and we joined a slow-but-never-stopping line from there basically all the way through to customs. Our bags were easy to find along the way, customs was no trouble, and we were at the curb waiting for our ride just a few minutes later.

When we got back to my in-laws, I still wasn’t feeling hungry at all, just tired. I decided to lay down for a bit…and slept for the next 8 hours. My in-laws had invited some folks for dinner, including some elderly friends, so I quarantined myself just in case it was a nasty cruise ship bug, then slept straight on until morning. 

It took a few more days to get back to full strength, although the flu-like symptoms were gone after all that sleep. It was really a disappointing way to wrap up the trip though, because we had loved every minute of it before that.

Add on reviews:

Drink Package: fine, had great service in the bars, and felt like I got my money’s worth. That said, I’ll stick with the non-alcohol package next time and go a bit easier. I don’t drink a lot at home, and I overdid it a little bit and paid for it. I’ll stick to a few drinks out of pocket next time. My wife got a ton of mileage out of her refreshment package, lots of lattes and virgin slushy drinks.

Voom: fine, next time might just get one and share it as needed, as it was rare that we both needed connectivity at the same time. We thought we might be in different places on the boat and want to keep in touch or locate each other, but that never really happened.

Other stuff: We loved the Cruise Director (Bobby, I think) and Activity Manager (Liam). Everything they did seemed well executed and they were very funny without being corny. I don’t know if there’s a hierarchy to who gets assigned to what ship, but they both seemed to be outstanding at what they do and destined for bigger jobs.

If I had remembered sooner, I’d include things like the name of our waitstaff and cabin steward here, just in case People Who Monitor Things read these. They were outstanding from beginning to end.

The “warm cookie” desert was probably the best of the week. We devoured them, and then they brought us another. 

The RCLBlog and forums were essential in our planning, especially just knowing what to expect on board. An essential resource.

Wrap Up/Review/Next:

The service we got, from curbside back to customs, was consistently as high or higher than any other trip we’ve been on. We knew right away that we’d be going again, and soon, despite the crummy last night. I know Enchantment isn’t the most beloved ship (see Twangster’s recent recap for a much less enthusiastic review), but we enjoyed every minute on board. I think it was pretty much perfect for our first voyage.

Yesterday, I reserved (via MEI this time) two rooms on Harmony for a 7 night cruise next summer- the mother in law and the now 7 year old are coming along. We’ve become those people that book cruises and start counting down hundreds of days early. We can’t wait.

Day 3- Nassau/Atlantis

We splurged on Dolphin Encounter + Water Park passes to Atlantis. We love theme parks and water parks, and obviously Aquaventure there is a pretty famous one, and the passes we got through ResortForaDay weren’t impossibly outrageous, so we did it.

Water Park: a colossal letdown. They have no rides! I think there were a total of 8 attractions open, and they just aren’t efficient. We hit the highlights, including the steep body slide you see on the commercials, but headed back to the ship about 2 hours before we had to.

Dolphin Encounter: we were a little uneasy about this, because I have reservations about forcing captive animals to do tricks for our amusement, but we set those aside and did the meet & greet dolphin experience and not the “swim with dolphins” one. And it seems that all their dolphins are either rescues or descended from rescued dolphins, so that put us a little better at ease. The actual event was fantastic. We spent about half an hour in the water, in a group of about 10, and the whole time we were able to interact with a couple different dolphins. As you would expect, they put a big emphasis on their rescue programs, which seem to be having a positive impact in the region. 

On the way out of the water park, we looped through The Dig, Atlantis’ aquarium. It’s really impressive, certainly a highlight of the Atlantis property. We also spent about 20 minutes in the casino on our way out, netted a $4 profit on some slot machines, and made our escape.

I’m a big fan of Las Vegas, we go out there every 2-3 years, and I expected Atlantis to feel like a Las Vegas resort. It didn’t. It’s certainly very nice and clean, but the casino was smaller than I expected and had a more limited selection of games than a Vegas casino would have. I don’t think Nassau/Atlantis will be a target for future non-floating vacations.

Back on the boat for a great dinner, and then saw El Gaucho, a comedian/musician, and he was outstanding. Really funny, occasionally poignant, another highlight. We made our way down to the 90s dance party and enjoyed that a lot too.

Day 2- At Sea

Maximum lounging. 

Side note: Our ship was the destination for a tour group for something on the order of 300 teenage Brazilian girls celebrating their quinceañeras, and judging by their stuffed animals had been to Disney and/or Universal on the way. They tended to travel in swarms, and I think they had the aft lounge basically reserved, because we did see them pour back there when we were in Schooner Bar one night. They also swarmed the pool, and their choices in swimwear, well, there were a lot of butts. That said, they weren’t rude or unpleasant in any way, they were just…many.

We took in the Love & Marriage gameshow, which was as much fun as we’d heard, save for the one guy up there trying so hard to be funnier than the hosts. Don’t be that guy.

After dinner we took in the “production showtime,” which was basically a string of unconnected broadway songs that we didn’t know. I’ll admit our broadway experience is basically Lion King & The Producers, but while performed very well, the show didn’t hold our attention.

I’m josh, lurked all summer long and had intended to write this sooner, while it was fresh, but things were a little hazy (for good and bad reasons) and getting back to land and work and all that put it on the back burner. I know Enchantment is old hat around here, but didn't see a lot of these posts about it beforehand, so figure I'll leave my thoughts for other people looking at or getting ready for a trip on the "little" ship. No photos worth posting, but just go see the Twangster posts from this week for those.  The Cruise Compass from my trip is here.

I sailed with my wife, both late 30s, while our six year old who stayed back with the grandparents. We’re travel enthusiasts, often going west to Vegas and/or National Parks/mountains/etc. This was our first cruise, despite having lived in Florida for 20+ years then moving to North Carolina. We just always figured they were crowded and boring, I guess. We’d been looking for a warm vacation after a not-super-great ski trip in the spring.  

The in-laws live in Titusville, the city just north of the port, famous for being the home of Nasa and having five McDonalds.  Wife & kiddo flew down a week early to visit, and I flew in Friday night after work. We had the whole weekend to pick up stuff like extra sunscreen and get to the ship rested & ready.

I had the deluxe (all drinks) drink package, wife was on a refreshment (non-alcoholic) package since she drinks very rarely. We were in an 8th floor interior room, booked through a CruiseCompete vendor. I also prepurchased the two device Voom package, thinking that we’d at least want to be able to keep in touch on the ship, and be able to download books, that sort of thing.

Day 1 - Embarkation

We got to the port around 10, for a 10:30 appointment. Handed our primary bags to the porter and headed inside. Virtually no line through security, and walked right up to a desk agent. Check in took mere minutes, and we then walked straight onto the boat. Acres of bank-lines, presumably for the huge boats, went unused that day.

My card had the coca-cola logo on it, despite being signed up for the full package, so we started our adventure…in line at guest services. That went fine, it took some looking but they found my order and gave me the sticker I needed, and we were off to explore the boat. It didn’t take long. A couple laps through the middle decks to get our bearings, and then we found a shady lounger on the pool deck and waited for the rooms to open. Somewhere in there we got lunch at windjammer, which was fine if not exciting. 

We found our room, met our attendant, unpacked our stuff, and resumed alternating between lounging and wandering the boat until dinnertime. Dinner was great, the service exceeded our expectations, and I cannot remember anything we ate. Sorry. We were on the early service, which I thought was at 6 but maybe was 5:30. We had a table for two, same one each night, and eventually got to know the other couples seated near us as they were also there most nights. The MDR became a highlight of the trip as the week went on.

After dinner, I think we checked out a few of the bars, and sat in on Finish That Lyric in the Centrum. It was fun, although the host had a loose relationship with any kind of rules or scoring system. When the prize is a literal pen, I guess that’s fine. Anyway, it was fun, and the right person won eventually. We just bounced around the ship for the rest of the night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.