teddy

We've only taken one cruise (back in Jan-Feb), so our (my) mistake list is short....

When we first saw the cruise planner, I booked VOOM.  I misunderstood how it worked with people/devices, so I bought the package for two devices...then bought the package for both of us.

It wasn't until I bought the VOOM package for our upcoming October cruise that I realized one person/two devices is all we need.   We paid twice as much as we should have the first time.

I just canceled the Voom Surf/Stream package and re-booked cheaper for our October sailing on Vision.   Did the same a week or so ago for the All-Access Tour.

We approach it this way...We book packages/excursions/etc when we see a price we are comfortable with.  If the price drops, yay, but otherwise, we are still happy with what we paid.

 I'm one of those people who like to check things a lot, so I look (at least) weekly.

I totally get the budgeting thing though.  We are close enough to retirement that we are really watching what we spend.
 

Is there any rhyme or reason to the pricing structure????

We have a 4-night Caribbean cruise booked on Vision in October.  We booked the middle of February and paid $811.20 and got $75 obc.  Since then, I've seen it as high at $900.20.  Two days ago it was $823.20 and friends who are going with us actually rebooked theirs at that lower (for them) price.  This morning I checked, and it was $800.20... the only reason I didn't rebook is because we'd lose our obc.  Tonight, I just checked for the hell of it, and it's at $818.20

Any ideas why the prices jump around so much?

Due to the feedback we've seen in this post as well as others here, we just booked the tour for our 10/19 Vision cruise.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts.

3 hours ago, cmdrfrag said:

I'm certain I've gotten though 25 drinks in a day before, Coffees, Sodas, Cocktails

On of the big nights they had on Anthem the Music hall was hiving, myself, the wife and a few couples we got talking to over the week decided to go all out that night.
The night was like the set up to a joke, an Englishman a Scotsman and an Irishman up at the bar, and we decided to try all the drinks on the menu to see which we liked best. Mine was the Old No. 7, much to the barman dismay as it takes about 5 minutes to make one properly. Fair play to the guy, those drinks where proper.

Next morning the crew where going though on of their drills, we where off on an early excursion, as we passed one of the stairwells we spotted the Barman from the previous night and said hello. He look at me and asked "How the hell are you still standing?"

Twas a good night

Further off-topic....

I haven't drank since 2006, and have no plans/desire to ever again...but during my time in the service (and for a number of years after), 25 drinks in a day would not have been out of the ordinary.

In the early 90s, my first wife and I spent a long weekend in the Bahamas and did an evening booze cruise.  The next day, we did a snorkel/beach day and ended up with some of the same crew on the boat.  They were amazed that I wasn't in the hospital.  

They may not be able to call it the NCAA Tournament or March Madness on the ship due to licensing restrictions.

We were on Mariner for the Super Bowl, and they couldn't call it the "Super Bowl".   They called it "The Big Game".

Only problem I've ever had with the app was...ironically...when we boarded Mariner last month.  I had to delete it and reinstall.

We just did this with something we bought with on board credit.  When I cancelled the order, the on board credit showed back up immediately.  

We took our first cruise in January.  Our official boarding time was 1230.  I was adamant that we weren't going to get there early...cause...you know...rules and stuff.   

My wife read here that you can show up whenever.  Rather than be left alone, I went with her to the terminal....and we were on the ship before 11:00 

50 minutes ago, teddy said:

I got the app, am playing something called Rapid Gold, and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing

Ahhh...I see...it's a time sink. 

I got the app, am playing something called Rapid Gold, and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing

29 minutes ago, steviet2009 said:

I don't see your email, but I will definitely reach back out closer to time for the cruise!

not sure if this is allowed, but here it is.  I'll edit it if I'm breaking any rules.

[email protected]

New member here. Joined after our first cruise.  We found this awesome site shortly before we cruised.  

I love how welcoming people are.  Seems like there's not much of that left on the internet.

That's a nice time of year up here. Fall is my favorite time.  

Temperatures vary,  but 50s-60s is average.  

If you want, shoot me an email when it's closer to your cruise and I'll tell you what kind of weather pattern we're in as well as what's currently going on in the downtown area.  

I"m not sure if my email shows in my profile here.  If not, let me know, and I'll post it.

I work right across the water from the cruise ship dock in Portland.

Portland is a small city that is easily negotiated by walking.  I'm not sure what kind of excursions Royal offers, but I'm guessing that among the offerings there will be trips to lighthouses and the LL Bean/outlet store shopping area in Freeport, Maine.  

Portland has become known as a city for foodies, and there are a lot of microbreweries as well.   Plenty of places to get good food no matter what your tastes are.  Seafood won't get much fresher than right there on the water front.  Many of the restaurant have had national exposure on places such as the Food Network.

Uber and Lyft rates are very reasonable, and traffic isn't bad compared to other cities in the Northeast.  It's a safe city to walk around in though, and there are too many restaurants to list within a 10 minute walk.  There's a narrow gauge railroad that goes along the water very close to the port, and many, many shops close by as well.

What time of year are you going?  Summer will be more crowded than post Labor Day, but what we think of as crowded really isn't bad compared to most other cities.

I know it's a different ship, but we're going on a 4-night on Vision from Miami to Cozumel and back in October.  The two sea days is what really sold us on this itinerary.  We really like sea days.  We had a 3-night on Mariner all set to book then came across the one to Cozumel.

In my (limited) research,  it seems like the Bahamas are almost over-visited.  I suspect Cozumel is just as heavily visited, but it feels more remote to me due to being further away.

I'd like to see other options for 3-4 night cruises as well.

4 hours ago, stevendom57 said:

@teddyWhen at Playa del Carmen, when transferring from ferry to coaches, are there restrooms available? My wife has a small bladder and 1 hour is manageable, two hours is going to see some tightly crossed ankles and pained expressions.:)

My wife has the same dilemma.

On the walk from the ferry to the bus, the tour guides brought us to a store that had public restrooms.  The bus had a toilet for emergencies (my wife used it), and there are decent bathrooms on the ferry and a Tulum itself.  

There are attendants in the bathrooms at Tulum.  It has been a few decades since I was in a bathroom with an attendant, so I was kinda surprised by the young woman attendant in the men's room. 
 

We did $5 a day for our room steward.  So $30 for our 5 night cruise. 

We also tipped $5 to the guy who took our bags when we arrived at the port embarkation day  

We’ve had people tell us we were too  generous and others tell us we were too stingy.  Bottom line, we felt comfortable with that amount.  

We went to a beach in XpuHa. I think it was called Serenity. 

There were loungers in the sun as well as covered up. 

When we were there, a young teens summer camp was there, so it was kind of crowded. 

The food was decent.  Fish tacos and chicken enchiladas with sides of beans, etc. 

This is the big structure overlooking the water.  You climb stairs a short distance to get up to it (you are not allowed to actually climb on or in it).   Directly behind the camera is the cliff overlooking the water.

We did the Tulum Ruins and Beach Break.....instead of shopping, we went to a beach for lunch after the ruins.  I'm guessing yours is similar other than not going to the beach.

Here's how our excursion went on the Mariner (according to the Cruise Planner, Mariner excursions are an hour shorter than other ships due to ship departure times):

We met in the main theater as per directions on our tickets.  There, different excursions received different color stickers (to put on your shirt) based on which excursion you were going on.  We debarked as groups and immediately boarded a ferry to the mainland (we never left the dock).  On the way to board the ferry, we had to go past a K-9 which checked any bags people were carrying.

The ferry took about 45 minutes once it left the dock.  When we arrived in Playa del Carmen on the mainland,  there were people standing there with signs for each excursion.  Look for the Tulum/Fifth Avenue sign.  We saw it while standing with our group.

Once everyone was assembled, we were led to the buses.  The ride to Tulum was about an hour.  In addition to the bus driver, we had two tour guides with us.  When we arrived in Tulum, we moved as a group until we arrived at the big structure overlooking the water.  Along the way, one of our guides told us about the different things we were looking at.  He was very knowledgeable and shared a ton of info with us. Once we climbed up to the steps to the edge of the water, we had approx 30 minutes to make our way back to the bus by ourselves.  It was plenty of time to get back, and we even had a chance to pick up some souvenirs.  The tour guides were very firm about the departure time, and told us if anyone was late, one of the guides would wait, and the late party would have to pay for a taxi back to port.  Things went very smoothly.  My only regret was I wish we had more time at the ruins.  There is so much to see, and being part of a group, you move only as fast as the slowest person.  There is a lot of walking, so wear comfortable shoes.

Once back on the bus, we went to the beach.  Your excursion would go to the shopping area.  When we got back to the port in Playa del Carmen, one of the guides took us (as a group) right to the ferry to insure no one missed it.

Definitely contact the Department of State to get clear instructions on applying for passports.  As mentioned above, the local agents don't always understand all the rules, especially if they haven't seen your particular set of circumstances.  We dealt with this when my wife applied for a US passport last fall.

Story time.....my wife was recently naturalized after being a resident alien for 40+ years (she's Canadian and we live in Maine...it's kinda like Canada here anyway).  When she got her US citizenship, she received the naturalization certificate that proves US citizenship and was told to bring it when she applied for a passport.  When she went to fill out an application for passport at our town office, they said they couldn't accept it.  No one at the town office had processed an application with a naturalization certificate before, so they didn't understand it was valid.  This was no big deal for us since she has a Canadian passport and could have used that on our cruise.....but in your situation, a lack of knowledge on the part of a passport agent can really screw you.

We went to Tulum on the RC excursion the first week of February.  We felt very safe.....I had no concerns, and I'm one of those people who has a history that makes me.....for lack of a better word...paranoid.

As with everywhere, you should always be aware of your surroundings.  

 

Vision - Oct 10-14, 2019

Adventure - Jan 18-26, 2020

I second the Cafe Promenade....we found coffee there at all hours.

My wife and I literally only drink coffee and water, no matter where we are.  We are also early risers.

On embarkation day, we carried the ceramic coffee cups around with us.  The next morning, we saw paper coffee cups in the Cafe Promenade, but they were kind of flimsy.  We bought travel coffee cups on board.  On the Mariner, they were $12.99 each with 20% off the second one.

It was nice to get topside to watch the sun rise with an insulated, covered coffee cup.