vanelli56

1 hour ago, Pima1988 said:

We did Blue Lagoon,  but like @vanelli56 stated if you are going to Coco Cay too, than you will find that the Blue Lagoon is more of a let down.  We did Blue Lagoon through RCL, swimming with the dolphins.  It would be the only reason I would pay the price for that excursion.

We have done Nassau a couple of times.  The last time there we did John Waitlings Rum tour on our own and than stopped at Graycliffs Chocolate for their tour.  We took a taxi to Waitlings since it is @ 20 minute walk up hill.  The taxi for 5 of us cost 20 bucks, the Waitlings tour was free, can't recall the cost for Graycliffs.

Waitlings tour maybe 20 mins., but it is interesting.  It ends up in their tasting room.  We bought a flight of rum and they are extremely generous in their pours.  If you drank all of the rums you would fail a sobriety test.   There are also great photo ops, especially with the roosters walking around.

Personally for me I would not do the Graycliffs tour.  The chocolate is good, but the tour is....eh at best.  We lived in England and did the Cadbury tour.  Graycliffs factory is no bigger than my home.  I would buy their chocolate as a gift to take back home.  

On our walk back to the ship we stopped at little shops (nothing purchased, all impo were traps).  We stopped at the straw market bc I wanted to buy our granddaughter a little straw purse as a souvenir for her.

All in all it was about 3-4 hrs (leisurely walking).  We came onboard @2.  It was really great on the ship bc the pools and slides were empty.  I don't know which ship you are sailing on, but we were on Adventure and they have water slides. 

OBTW I would also check on how many ships will be in port that day.  Can't recall the website, someone here will be able to tell you the exact name.  You put in the port date and they will tell you how many ships will dock that day.  This is important bc many cruise lines offer Blue Lagoon and Pearl Island.  Hence, if there are 4 ships docked that day you can find it crowded.  When we did Blue Lagoon, it was our RCL ship, Disney and Carnival in port the same day.

 

http://ships.cruisett.com/ is the site to check what ships are in port each day. 

14 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

I am going on symphony in November week before thanksgiving and would definitely be interested in a pub crawl. Any suggestions on how to interface with others on here that might be  on that cruise ?

There is usually a facebook group created by someone for each particular cruise. For our upcoming Harmony sailing in sept. thats how we are trying to coordinate one.

Stay on the boat.

Just kidding.... sort of. If you have never been to Nassau... by all means go and explore and enjoy. Either excursion will be fun. 

But, if you are on a cruise to the Bahamas that stops in Nassau, I am assuming you are stopping at Coco Cay? You would have a MUCH nicer beach day there. This would free up your stop in Nassau for you to maybe do a walking tour close to the pier, or just stay on the boat and enjoy the ship with very few people on board. 

Cheers

You could probably call Royal and book/pay for the escape room. The only problem is it will most likely show up on their cruise calendar online. So it may not be a 'surprise'. But, there are only so many times available plus depending on their itinerary, it might be tough to schedule it, unless you know for sure what they already have planned for each day. 

But, I will say that I did the escape room on mariner a couple months ago. It was a lot of fun... but a fairly difficult room for sure.   

Sailing on Harmony OTS for the Sept. 22nd sailing in 31 days. Wanted to see about doing a 'Bar Crawl' with my group and anyone else that we happen to meet up with on the ship. But, like the old saying goes....'you cant say you've been drinking all day, unless you start in the morning'. So, with that....  where is the earliest place to get a drink on the ship?

It appears that most of the 'bars' open around 1030 AM. But... if you're an early riser... can you get a bloody Mary, mimosa, or an 'Irish breakfast' from somewhere before that?

Any thoughts on this or advice about getting a bar crawl organized is greatly appreciated. 

~Cheers

Always ignore the 'SALE' banners/ads.... those are just flashy bright attention getting traps. Go by what the price is shown as. We also booked at the $46/day rate... thats about as low as we will most likely see. (unless they mess up and throw the $18 dollars in there again!)

Have not sailed on either... yet. (Going on Harmony in 31 days) But... we have sailed on both the older sisters, Oasis and Allure. From everything I have gathered.... other then the obvious differences such as some dinning options, shows, slides... the ships are basically the same. So if you are looking to stay in the Oasis class... I would just weigh all your options, such as price, travel distance to port, itinerary, etc. 

We most recently sailed on Mariner of the Seas.... she might have a few years on her, but also worth checking out. She's no mega ship, but she's not small either.

The good thing about Royal is you are not lacking for options when it comes to ships. 

1. Dont over pack. (You'd be surprised how much people pack, then dont need, use, or wear half of it)

2. Do your research and have reasonable expectations. 

3. Make new friends. Cruising can be and is a very social atmosphere. Enjoy the company. 

4. Sanitize your cabin. I know the cabin stewards clean pretty well... but a small bottle of bleach water, lysol wipes, and 5 mins of your time really can make a difference. 

5. Its your vacation.... do as much or as little as your want!

Cheers

Saw a single's ping pong tournament.... only one person signed up.... the score was very one sided!

JK!

Its definitely cruise dependent. Probably way more singles on the larger boats. But given that 99% of most cruises (and the cabins them selves) are 2 or more people, that doesnt lead to very big groups of 'singles'. But once again... its all about the numbers.   

Interesting... I wonder if that is a typo... or if they will start to move the other escape rooms towards being included as well. 

We have done one on Mariner and have booked the one on Harmony. Both were $20/person. 

On our upcoming cruise on Harmony in Sept. 3 night DP is $99. or Chops +1 for $75. 

UDP has varied from $46 to $49 to $56 to $59. We originally snagged it at the $49... but repriced when it went to $46. 

Surf and steam for 4 devices, I have seen rates from $27/day to $34/day if I remember correctly. 

32 days until our Harmony of the seas. Or... if you want to make it sound even better.... one person in our group only counts 'working days'. 

Either way... yes, the 30 day mark really starts the excitement and anticipation... along with more preparations and final planning, which in turn builds more excitements and anticipation, etc. etc. etc. Its a vicious circle.  

On my previous cruises, typically they would not make 'whole' pizzas for folks. But that could be just like everything else with Royal... it just depends. lol. 

BUT..... our 'hack' around that was we would order a 'Gluten free' pizza.... which, BTW is actually pretty darn good. If you ordered that.... they would cook you the whole pizza and give it to you. But it came on a foil like tray; and not in a box. So had to try to sneak it back to the cabin ASAP so the late night drink package folks didnt stop and ask me a million times how we got a whole pizza. lol. 

So, perhaps if you tell them you have a 'dietary' restriction, they will make you a whole pie how ever you would like it. 

Give it a try either way, never hurts to ask. 

Used surf and stream on both mariner and oasis, was able to stream and make internet calls home with relative ease. Not 100% reliable, but I would say 98%.

That should not be a problem. You can easily pull into the terminal, drops bags off and yourself...then just wait while your spouse parks the car. very short walk (5mins?) fromthe closest self parking garage. 

Likewise, other than a few loud or annoying people.... have not seen any major incidents over 6 cruises. 

The good thing is if you are around some annoying drunks... the ships are big enough with enough things going on... you can usually find another place to go hang out with more of the fun drunks. :-)

I've seen some teens in the gym with their folks before. At that age, as long as he's in there working out and using the machines appropriately no one will say anything. 

Welcome to the boards and enjoy your cruise.  

I also use vacations to go dot com for a high level search for cruises. 

Welcome.

Not sure about the Military question... sorry. 

As far as tipping goes. If you have pre-paid your grats, you are good to go, and anything beyond that is completely up to you and the level of service you feel you have received.

Same for if you have not pre-paid your daily tips. I have always kept the daily grats on my account at a minimum. On 6 cruises I have left additional cash tips on 3 of them. Some to our room steward, some to specific bar tenders, etc. Those extra tips have varied from $20 to $50 per person. So its really up to you. Don't sweat it too much. You will learn real quick which staff are going above and beyond, and which ones are just going through the motions. 

Cheers

1 hour ago, skittlesj20 said:

Hi there,

I have cruised before but this is my first RL cruise. My family and I are on Mariner of the Seas next month going to the Bahamas. We are a group of 8 and I have a few questions.

CocoCay- do we have to pay for entrance into CocoCay? What are the most popular things to do? Is there an area that is free?

Bahamas- we would like to rent a driver to take us around the island and to a nice beach. What's the best way to go about that? I think Atlantis is too expensive for us and so are the all inclusive  day pass resorts. 

Drink package- if we don't purchase a beverage package, what is included in the cruise? just water?

Welcome to the boards. 

Coco Cay is free to enjoy the beaches, the pool, chairs and umbrellas, etc. Food at the main buffet and snack shacks are included. There are some activities you can choose to use that are for a fee; waterpark access, hot air balloon, zip line, etc. 

Bahamas... have been quite a few times and its not worth it to us to even get off the boat any more. Consider staying on board and enjoying the boat while it is almost empty. 

Drinks included are water, some fruit flavored waters, tea, lemonade, hot coffee. 

The best answer is... 'it depends'. 
Usually the trend has been that the farther out you can book... the better the price. The main benefit of using Next Cruise is the reduced deposit... most of the time, the price is the same as what you can book it for online or through a Travel agent. Best case scenario is maybe you get some extra OBC from the Next cruise desk, then you transfer your reservation to a TA that can add some more OBC on top. 

Others on here have said that sometimes they will find a 'deal' through the Next Cruise desk... but everyone's mileage may vary. 

Cheers. 

9 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

"Surf" version of VOOM is fine for text messaging apps and even voice-only calling (FaceTime Audio, WhatsApp Voice calls, etc.). If you want to be able to video chat or watch / broadcast with streaming apps like Facebook Live or Periscope, you'll need the higher bandwidth provided by the Surf & Stream option.

^^^^^ This ^^^^^^
If you want to do anything other than some basic internet browsing or sending/receiving emails....  I would go with the surf and stream. 
Even with surf and stream, sometimes voice calls over the internet can be a bit unreliable... (about 90% successful on our last cruise). But if you are doing anything using video streaming, you will definitely need the higher package.   

Thanks for all the great responses. They actually removed it from our cruise planner now. But, just like all our other cruise planner items, I'll be stalking the web page to see what is and is not available and the prices as well. 

18 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

Why not price out the benefits - would you pay $210 over one week for the benefits?   A lot of people do, we don't.  We'd prefer to spend the $$ on excursions or a night in a motel before the cruise.  It also depends whether you have other benefits because of the stateroom you reserved (like meal vouchers and such).  Different people have different attitudes toward spending money, as well as different perks that give them joy.   I can see $20/day because of Voom, if I needed the wifi, which I don't.  Whatever you choose, have a great cruise!  The late September cruises on Harmony are a good value (stateroom prices) compared to May, so you already may have saved a bundle.

Agreed. I have done that already... and its really the 'intangibles' that are the cost difference; such as the early and easy disembarkation, and the special hours. Hard to put a price on those things. But you are spot on... that was the first thing I did. 

Good morning RCB... Some friends and I (6 total) will be cruising on Harmony OTS in late September... and we were tossing around the idea of 'The Key'. 

It seems that the benefits associated would be beneficial to each of us in some form. Such as, I need the internet package anyway and I enjoy the specialty restaurants (lunch embarkation day), others like the thought of 'special hours' for key attractions, and another needs to get off the boat ASAP when we return. So there is a little something for everyone, but not everything for everyone. 

With that.... we wanted to get some insight from the good folks here that have used it before. 

Specifically, does anyone know or have a copy of the 'special times' for the attractions for Harmony eastern itinerary? (coco, St T. & St. M)  I've seen a few generic ones or ones for other ships, but have not stumbled across a Harmony specific time sheet yet. 

Also, right now its listed at $30 per person per day. I know the price is a subjective thing, and can fluctuate. From what I have found online, it seems that a lot of folks got the perk for about 20 to 25 pp/pd. Does 30 seem to be the top of the price curve... therefore should be perhaps wait and see if it drops in the near future?

Finally, anyone that has used this perk.... any personal thoughts or tips and did you think it was worth it? (and why). 

Thanks in advance, 

Gene-o-Vanelli