KristiZ

Cabin 7638 — Silver Junior Suite Here’s the cabin tour! I really like this one. We’ve been in Junior Suites on several other ships but this one seems very efficient in its use of space. At the door: From the back corner: The TV/desk area: The tub side of the bathing room. There is a separate shower to the left of the photo. There is a completely separate toilet room as well, with another sink: The balcony. Dividers can be opened on either side if you’re traveling with others:

Embarkation We left the hotel at 10am in a taxi. Construction around the cruise ship terminal here has only gotten worse in the last two years. It took us 15 minutes to go what should have been one kilometer but ended up being nearly 4 kms. The taxi driver was knowledgeable and asked us ahead which ship, which meant he knew when to skate around the line in several spots. The trip cost about $13. I didn’t take pictures of the ride in as I had intended, just because all the detours, cranes, and scaffolding will likely make any “photo guide” moot in no time. Sorry about that! At the terminal, right when you step out of the taxi, there are porters roaming around to collect your bags. We had just started the whole “ok where do we take these things?” looking when a young man swooped over and collected them. He then pointed us in the direction of check in. So far so good! There was the usual gauntlet of people telling us to have our documents out as we headed across the hall and up a giant escalator. We were far from the first ones here — many of the cultures on this side of the world take timeliness pretty seriously! We headed for the Suites sign, ignoring the first two people who tried to send us to Diamond check in. But then, we blew it — the guardian of the Suites line said “you’re Diamond, go that way”. I should have pressed, but the lines were of similar length so we just rolled with it. Would have been fine except 10:30am happened before we were done with check in. That’s when security opened, and there was quite a crush of people. That’s when the error of our ways became crystal clear, as the Suites area had a fast track to security screening. <insert sad trombone sound here> Still, we only waited about 15 minutes before getting to security. After that things moved along at a good clip and we were onboard right before 11am.

Cruise day! I’m up by 6am, looking at the foggy Hong Kong sunrise. MisterZ is NOT interested in getting up yet so I’ll take the time to talk about the itineraries. Day 1 — depart Hong Kong Day 2 — at sea Day 3 — Okinawa, Japan Day 4 — at sea Day 5 — Ilocos, Philippines Day 6 — Subic Bay, Philippines Day 7 — at sea Day 8 — HK turnaround Day 9 — at sea Day 10 — Danang, Vietnam Day 11 — at sea Day 12 — arrive Hong Kong This is our first back-to-back. This is also the first cruise we have been on where the ship was the focus; we usually cruise based completely on the ports. This is also the largest ship we’ve been on. Explorer was the biggest before this. Lots of firsts!

30 minutes in a taxi and about $45USD-equivalent later, we’re in our hotel in Kowloon. L’hotel elan (lower case, with a ‘ over the e that I didn’t even try to make happen here) is a stylish mid-range hotel about 1km from the cruise terminal. The unrest in Hong Kong has definitely impacted the tourist industry. We got this room for about $85 for the night which is a screaming deal for this part of town. Breakfast is included.

Our travels went smoothly for the most part. Whew! I had a few moments of panic when the immigration officer at Narita couldn’t wrap her brain around my Japanese visa, but it turned out she was just new. She finally caved and made a call and then I was on my way. MisterZ then had no issue after me, since I was such an effective guinea pig. One thing to know about Hong Kong — no taxis take credit cards anymore. They used to. We had actually not intended to get any HK dollars at all, but had to troop back into the terminal from the taxi stand. Another thing about Hong Kong — because of how the airport is structured, you have to show your passport again if you happen to try to re-enter the way you came out. Even though you’re well past the customs and immigration area. Also, security gets twitchy if you try to go through the door back into the terminal on the wrong side. I almost lost MisterZ there! Here I am, already making mistakes so that you all don’t have to!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! It’s FINALLY cruise time! We are headed to Hong Kong to board Spectrum for a back-to-back, 7 days to Japan and Philippines and then 4 days to Vietnam. Our bags are packed: We fly from Tokyo, where we currently live, to Hong Kong today on Cathay Pacific. The flight is about 5 hours with a one hour time change. Cathay Pacific is generally a solid choice for flying around the region and the weather forecast is decent, so we should have a smooth day <knocks on all the wooden things> One 22” suitcase, one 24”, and a backpack. The only reason for the backpack is to hold MisterZ’s work laptop (boo!) and his Child (otherwise known as his camera — details on this later if I can cajole him into giving me some photos for this blog). And we’re off!

I suspect the rebranding is due to the misconception that "bottomless" meant all you can eat. Seems there were a lot of complaints about the single entree limit. The new title is more accurate.

not to worry -- if it happens to not be on your door, you go to Guest Services and get a new one, which deactivates the first one ?

It will only be there at the very beginning, when you first get access to your cabin. At that point, put it in your pocket and treat it like a key card. You can use it to make onboard purchases (just like/instead of a Wow band) and open your cabin door (just like/instead of using the app on your phone).

If your son specified that there would be another person when he booked the cabin and just didn't have a name at the time, then he can add the person any time. In this case his reservation it would show the second person as "Tba, Tba" until the name is added. If not, I would recommend he add a second immediately, in hopes the rate isn't too much more than taxes and port fees. Then if he chooses not to bring the friend after all, the taxes and port fees will be refunded. Does that make sense?

It isn’t usually much of a problem. This is the website I use for air quality: https://aqicn.org/city/london/ Works well all over the world.

It doesn’t let you scroll down to the confirmation button? If not, I suggest you either do it from a computer (the browser interface is different) or just give Royal a call.

That was the thing I hated about the US redesign -- I loved the saved cruises option! Sigh...

It is not.

Definitely. I'm leaving in 12 days and a new one just got added to one of our stops.

Oh, I see what you're asking. I suspect the answer will be no, but maybe someone else has organized a group and can answer authoritatively. Is your group an actual group sailing? If so you might ask the group coordinator at Royal for some assistance. If not, your best bet is a past, recent compass for the same itinerary. Activities will vary every sailing to some extent, based on the demographics of the cruisers and the availability of various crew members and staff to run them. Sorry I don't have more for you.

+1 for this. We did the Med in October a few years ago. It was sunny, but two of the days were very chilly (like 3C). We still had a great time, but wore a lot of layers those days ?

Hi! There is a link in the list across the top of the page called 'Cruise Compass'. You can then select for Navigator specifically. There are lots of past ones to browse through. Hope that helps!

You cannot smoke on your balcony. There is a smoking area, usually on the pool deck. You can smoke in the casino on most ships/itineraries. A few ships have a cigar bar-type room you can smoke in as well, although these are being removed.

If you noted this during your booking, the will already have something set up. Check with your waiter just in case. If you didn't, they can probably do something anyway as long as you let them know at the start of dinner.

Ah, yes, I should clarify this only works for Traditional Dining, and best done right at two weeks prior to the cruise.

[email protected] ?

Once upon a time we did a cruise just like this (it was in fact on Majesty, back when she was considered a *huge* ship), but with 4 unrelated adults. Our cabin attendant giggled a little when we first got there and opened the cabin door. It was TIGHT. However, we still had a great time -- we just spent almost no time in the room. As long as you understand what you're getting it's manageable ?

Yep! Only one device can use the Voom login at a time, but it doesn't matter what device. Just go to logoff.com on the first device and you'll be able to log in another right after that.

Hi! I will know for sure after December 22, when I am on Spectrum also in J4. However, I understand that they are hosting the Diamond Happy Hour in the Silver Lounge, which would lead me to believe that everyone who has Silver Lounge access will have happy hour drinks. If true, this is a nice perk for Junior Suites on Spectrum -- normally JS doesn't get access to the Concierge Club or Suite Lounge for happy hour. I plan to blog my trip so I'll be sure to let everyone know. Yes, you get double points with WS.