cpa09

What time does check in open for cruises departing from Port of Los Angeles?  I am seeing conflicting information when googling this.  Is it 12:00 am Pacific time (time zone of embarkation) or is it 12:00 am Eastern time (Location of Royal Caribbean Headquarters)?

Check out Comfort Suites Miami Airport North at 657 Minola Dr in Miami Springs.  This hotel provides a free shuttle to the Port of Miami.  My family has stayed here a few times and it is a decent hotel (a bit older) with free breakfast.  

4 hours ago, DaveWithHat said:

We are planning to fly into Anchorage a day or two early. We are thinking of staying at the Anchorage Marriott since it will be the same hotel for the first night of the land tour. Any thoughts on how to ensure we don't have to switch rooms?

When we stayed at the Anchorage Marriott on the first night of the land tour, I noticed that all the people that were part of the land tour were on the same floor at the hotel which makes me think that Royal Caribbean probably reserves blocks of rooms on one or two floors.  You can certainly call the hotel and ask.

If you are up to a warm up hike prior to the land tour, I would suggest Thunderbird Falls which is about 30 minutes from Anchorage.  

2 hours ago, DaveWithHat said:

Thank you for the feedback. We are doing the land tour first. Here is the itinerary as presented in our cruise reservation document. My most immediate question seeing this is "Where do I go on Sunday, May 18th?" - I am interested in knowing what, if any, choices will we have to make. Will there be different excursion options? What options will we have for meals? Will there be free time? What amenities to the hotels offer such as internet accessibility (and is internet access sufficient for streaming), pools, fitness center etc? For the hotels, are there any options to upgrade the room? What are the train portions like? Are there any options to upgrade the train ride portions? If yes, is there any guidance on the value of such upgrades? Any guidance or input is appreciated. We find that having an idea of what to expect adds to the excitement of looking forward to the trip. For this one, we are already quite excited!!!

Dave

My family did the exact same tour one month ago from May 19th to May 24th and cruising from May 24th to May 31st.  We flew in from Chicago and the only nonstop flight on American Airlines arrived at 8 pm, so we flew in the day before (Saturday), stayed at a different hotel and rented a car so we could spend the day in Anchorage on Sunday before meeting with the tour director at 3 pm at the Anchorage Marriott.  We wanted to be there at 3 pm so we could get the land excursions we wanted as it is first come first serve and some excursions had limited number of spots.  

At the meeting we were given tags for your luggage.  Royal Caribbean suggests that you have two pieces of luggage (one for the land tour and the other for the cruise).  They had two different color tags, one tag was for the cruise luggage and was stored on the bus for the duration of the land tour until the final night of the land tour when it was given back to you so you could affix the luggage tag for the cruise.  The other tag was for the land tour luggage which you would place outside your hotel door at the time given by the tour director so the bags could be collected and put on the bus at each hotel.

Monday morning, we boarded the bus for a short ride to the train station.  Then we boarded the train which is the Wilderness car attached to the Alaska Railroad.  It was one of the highlights of the trip having a perfect view of the Alaskan landscape.  The bus met us at the train station in Talkeetna and took us to the hotel in Talkeetna.  We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves in Talkeetna.  We were fortunate to see Mt Denali, Mt Hunter, and Mt Foraker from the hotel in Talkeetna.  The tour director commented that only 30% of the people will see clear views of the mountains.  

Tuesday morning, we boarded the bus to Denali.  First we went to the Denali National Park Visitor Center where we hung out for a short time, then we went to the hotel in Denali.  Then we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  

Wednesday morning, we boarded a school bus type (the bus picked us up at the Denali Park Village) for the Denali National History Tour which took about five hours which was included part of the land tour.  Then we had the rest of the day in Denali to ourselves.

Thursday morning, we boarded the bus and rode down to Anchorage for a lunch stop then went to Alyeska.  We arrived  in Alyeska around 3 pm and checked in the hotel.  Then we had the rest of the day to ourselves in Alyeska.  We were given tickets to ride the tram at Alyeska resort.  One word of note is that the summer season for the Alyeska resort doesn't start until like May 31st so many things were closed at the hotel when we were there.  

On Friday morning, we boarded the bus for the ride down to Seward.  We arrived around noon and visited the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward (part of the land tour) for about two hours.  Then we boarded the bus for the final time for a short ride to the cruise port and boarded the ship.  

It was a great experience but tiring.  We were glad we did the land tour first before getting on the cruise.  

You will get more detailed information about the land tour with the Guest Vacation Documents that you will get about a month before the cruise which includes the luggage tags.

Hope this is helpful and if you have any specific questions related to the 5B land tour, I will be happy to answer them.  

We have 16 people on our upcoming cruise in a few weeks.  I emailed rcldining@rccl.com and requested two tables of 8 people each and they were able to accommodate my request.  I provided the names and booking numbers for all the people in my party.  

2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

It was the same as the dinner menu when I had it for lunch last month on Harmony.

This isn't a dining option on the cruise planner so I assume you need to make reservations for the Hibachi lunch on the app when you board the ship or at Izumi when you board the ship.  Does the available reservation times for lunch sell out quickly?  

I am on the August 6, 2022 sailing on Symphony of the Seas and there are very limited choices of excursions on the Cruise Planner.  2 for Cozumel, 6 for Roatan, and 1 for Costa Maya.  Does anyone know what is up with that?  

17 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

You can also request them if you are Platinum level and above.

My family typically cruises in balcony staterooms and we always make the request for robes to be provided when we meet with the stateroom attendant on the first day and they are always happy to provide them.  

The only time I was asked to put down my drink was when I went into the shops.  Otherwise you could carry it anywhere.  You can also take your wife's seapass card along with yours and order drinks for both of you.  

22 hours ago, sgermany said:

Yes, that is what I was told.  They said I would be taking a chance of someone else grabbing the spot on the excursion, because they wouldn't know how long it would take for it to pop up as available.  Thanks.

I had the same issue with the WaveJet at CocoCay.  A party of ten people booked an entire time slot making that time slot "sold out".  During the Black Friday sale, the price for the WaveJet dropped almost 50%.  I called the Cruise Planner number and asked if they could apply the new price without it affecting the reservation.  They said that the system only allows them to cancel the reservation and there would be no guarantee that time slot we booked the original reservation for would be available to rebook at the lower price.  I would think they would be able to hold the spot while cancelling and rebooking but apparently they can't.  So we left it alone and was not able to take advantage of the sale price.  

I usually do the checking in for all four members of my family and we always cruise in two cabins.  Photos are not required for check in.  You can have the photo taken by the agent when checking in at the port.  

I was one of those on Navigator departing August 13th and switched over to Freedom.  It still shows on my cruises when I logon to Royal Caribbean.  It could be possible that they are waiting until all the passengers are switched over and to see if any passengers opted to cancel the cruise for capacity purposes,  

26 minutes ago, Seymoure1991 said:

I was scheduled on Navigator for August 2nd, but the way I read it, it's canceled, however I have not received an email or anything about it. 

 

I am on Navigator for August 13th.  Just got an email from Royal Caribbean that those booked on Navigator will be automatically moved to Freedom.  

No mention of Navigator.  I'm booked on the Aug 13th trip.  Here's hoping they move the people from Navigator to Freedom.  

I played pickleball on Adventure of the Seas in March right before the cruise shutdown.  It was available every day typically from 9 to 11 am.  I think there were three courts with portable nets on the sports court.  Note, on a sea day, it can get pretty windy and very challenging to play the game.  

It is a follow the leader type of tour but if you are placed near the front, you will go full speed.  If you are placed in the back and you keep moving closer to the person in front of you, they will move you up in the order.  Out of 9, I started in the fifth position.  By the end of the tour, I was in the second position.  

Better be safe than sorry and bring their driver's licenses.  When I booked this for my children, the cruise planner allowed me to book it just for the children.  When we showed up, we discovered that since they were under 18 or 21 (can't remember which), an adult older than 18 or 21 had to accompany the 16 year olds.  So I had to buy the excursion for myself so my children could do the jet ski tour.  

I'll be boarding Navigator this weekend.  I was wondering if the capability to use the Royal App to chat with other people on the ship is available for Navigator yet?  

24 minutes ago, Kriazerie said:

I'm on Navigator in June and haven't seen anything for the escape room. Weird!

It will be listed under Entertainment and Other Activities in the cruise planner.  The name of the activity would be "Observatorium"  

We are on Navigator in July.  The escape room came up on our cruise planner about 70 days out.