KristiZ

Not on this cruise, but I live in Japan. What sort of things are you interested in? Food, culture, adventure, etc? Do you prefer a Royal excursion, a 3rd party, or an on-your-own thing?

14 hours ago, Katy said:

 

• We have a stateroom we like at a price we are very happy with and there is some appeal to getting to do this in 2020 -- carpe diem, why postpone for another year? This does not have to be the only trip I take to Alaska in my life. If we enjoy it and wish we could see more, we could always go back.

 

^^^ This!

Personally I would say your advantages far outweigh your disadvantages. I have cruised Alaska 3 times, twice with HAL and once with Royal. While I enjoyed the smaller ship (HAL) very much for this particular itinerary, I was NOT trying to entertain teens. And absolutely don't put it off. You never know what life will throw your way!

1 hour ago, ncnickel said:

Whoa! I had no idea of those - the 10 drink cards or the drink of the day. Do they announce that in the compass?

Yes they do! Sometimes (rarely anymore I think) the DotD is in a souvenir cup, which means no discount. But you can ask for it without the cup no problem. All the bars will also advertise both items, or at least tell you about them if you ask.

1 hour ago, ncnickel said:

 We were on the fence re: the drink package

Be sure to keep an eye out for the 10-drink card. It's a great deal and can be shared. Hopefully it'll show up in the middle of your trip!

Also, the Drink of the Day is a decent deal. If you're not too picky  

Thinking back, the $16 bottles might have been on Explorer a couple of years ago when they were trying to "clean out" their cellar in advance of a refresh. I remember they had one or two bottles that were "the last one on the ship". 

So I apologize if I got your hopes up, @ncnickel But hopefully you'll be able to find some interesting options, at least!

Not dumb at all!

I would recommend buying by the bottle in the dining room (once you've guzzled up your own, of course!  ). That way you have far more choice than you would with the gift packages. They will store your bottle if you don't finish it and pour more for you the next night. Unless you want to take it with you back to your cabin. You can do that too. Bottle prices will run you $16ish to $more-than-you-can-ever-want, just like restaurants on land.

As I recall, when we got gift bottles in the past they were marked, so no fees. Not sure how it's handled these days, but I'm sure there's some kind of plan. Someone else will likely know the answer!

2 hours ago, VanessaV said:

We were on Allure a few years ago during Cinco de Mayo - our stop in Mexico was even on May 5th - and it was like any other day both on and off the ship.

Yeah, they don't actually celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Mexico. It's pretty much an American deal. (The date is of a fairly minor victory over the French in 1862 during the Franco-Mexican war.)  

They can likely at least seat you at tables next to each other. To be honest, 2-3 tables might be preferable -- it's too hard to talk to people if you're all in a long line at one table! You could rotate each night so you get a chance to visit with everyone at least once. Just my opinion  

Personally, I ask the staff what they recommend -- sometimes the specific bartenders have a "specialty" or two. 

If you like sweeter stuff, go for things like Midori Collins or rum & coke. 

Also, the wine isn't that bad  

So many variables can factor in, but here are a few:

• The ship itself might arrive at port earlier or later than planned -- things like weather, availability of a pilot, delayed departure of a prior ship, etc, etc -- so the arrival times noted are always just a plan, not a promise
• If the ship has to clear customs in the port, getting off the ship can be delayed (or not -- if the ship arrives early, that helps sometimes)
• The bigger the ship, the longer it takes, generally
• if they can use more than one door for disembarking, that speeds things along
• Tendering will always take longer than walking off. Especially since people with Royal-purchased excursions will have priority for spots on the tender (as will some others like Key or Pinnacle or Suite guests, usually). Plan an extra 20+ minutes at least if you have to tender. The Cruise Compass will often give you an estimated time for the tender process
• Returning to the ship, you "must" be there at least a few minutes prior to All Aboard. HOWEVER, because things happen, most people plan to be there 15-60 minutes prior depending on their personal stress tolerance  

I'm sure others will have more to say!

Cons: Often a bit more expensive, sometimes crowded

Pros: Super easy -- no searching out the meeting spot somewhere off ship, sometimes exclusive access (like to a museum that is closed to the general public that day)

Hi! Welcome to the boards!

I was on a similar route last March, and I know there are several others on the board who have done those islands. We took Royal excursions on our trip, but I think it would also have been easy to do your own thing in all those places. 

My favorite thing was the Advanced Snorkel on Mystery Island. 

One bit of advice, in case you're not Australian -- all those islands will take AUD for buying things, but very rarely will they take USD. Didn't occur to me until we were already on our way. Oops!  

When is your cruise? If it is soon, your cruise documents will tell you which terminal will be used. If you're farther out, you may need to do some sleuthing on the various port websites. Likely it will be the new international terminal, but it will depend on the other ship traffic on the specific day.

Your paperwork/receipt from Air2Sea will show your actual airline confirmation number. Use that to access your reservation directly with the carrier and confirm you have seats (you probably do). Then use it again at 24 hours prior to actually check in and print your boarding passes.

1 hour ago, Sydney_Cruiser said:

What I would like to ask for anyone experienced with Australian cruising, do RCI offer Australian discounts as often as I’m seeing mentioned in these forums?  The couple of emails we’ve received included discounts for very specific bookings (and of course not mine!).  

I have done some recent cruising around the region, including S Pacific last March. I find there are cruise planner discounts offered, often (but not always) around the same time as they come up in North America. As for drink package pricing -- right now seems to be one of those times Royal is doing an across-the-board increase in prices  I'm not sure we will ever see $49USD per night again. I hope I'm wrong.

The "new normal" should shake out in the next 3-4 weeks. There is often a sale the first week in September so watch for that!

Yes, unfortunately the rule is pretty opaque and I think it has changed over time. Your nationality and country of residence definitely impact how it is handled. For example, in my case I flew in from South Korea and out to Japan and it was allowed.

Your flight connection city can also impact this — if you make a connection on your way home it is easy to meet the transit requirement. 

To be honest the whole thing was stressful, not knowing for certain if it would work!

I have done the visa-exempt thing in Shanghai. The kicker (at least for Americans) is that it is a “transit” visa — you cannot, for example, fly in from the US, stay 2 days, and fly back to the US. You would have to go somewhere else upon departure, like Japan, South Korea, etc before returning to the US. 

Hope that helps!

26 minutes ago, CarlaB said:

 I’ll see if I can sneak on over to Wonderland alone one night and just order the World for myself off the menu. 

It's vacation, and that's what the babysitting services on Royal are for!  You can have "date night" there!

Personally I would spend all your time in Rome — there is plenty to see in such a short time and then you will save on transportation costs. 

10 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

What if...we do not have cell phones? Just in case somebody might have an idea. On DCL, we just decided on a meeting point at a certain time, but the ship was far smaller than than the HOTS...

When we have traveled with a group, we usually spend a few minutes after dinner each night looking at the next day’s cruise compass and discussing plans. Usually at least one person has a strong desire to do one activity or another. That activity becomes the focus of our meeting times. Not that everyone does it, by any means, but we schedule checkins around it. Does that make sense?

Sometimes on sea days we just plan to meet at dinner. Also, you’d be surprised at how often you run into one another even on the big ships!

Unlikely in Ho Chi Minh. Nha Trang will be your best bet. Are you wondering about Royal excursions, or just diving at all with a third party tour?

1 hour ago, CruiseGus said:

Remember as a Grand Suite and above guest, you can have any item(s) from the MDR menu delivered directly to your room no service charge (I do recommend a tip though). 

This is my favorite suite benefit!!

Personally I regularly use Next Cruise and have been very happy with the results

 - The past few years I've been sailing almost exclusively in Asia and Australia/South Pacific. These regions have far fewer sales and promotions, so Next Cruise is sometimes our only shot at either a deal or decent OBC. (Also no kids, so the KSF promotion doesn't help us anyway)

 - If you go to Next Cruise after having done some research, with specific requests, they are always pleased to help you -- every single time I get "wow, you really know what you want! That makes it so easy!" and then they're super helpful with the small details. 

 - Once, we actually won the $500 off our current cruise bill that they offer for booking early! After that, they pretty much have you hooked into booking the first day! haha!

You're just still to early for your second one. There are rarely any sales more than 6-9 months out. It will happen!

2 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

When I saw the title of this post all I first thought was that it was about gastronomic adventures.  

Me too!