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Morganno

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Posts posted by Morganno

  1. On 10/27/2023 at 4:46 PM, Bridgetbien said:

    Maybe I need to stay off royal Caribbean reddit where they were bashing the hurricane season cruisers. ☺️

    I think 99% of people on RC reddit aren't cruisers and hate RC. I left it a long time ago it's really full of weirdos sorry anyone that posts there but it's toxic. 

    We went wonder 10/15 - 10/22 and missed coco key. I felt the ship trying to dock 3 times (shuddering as the thrusters work) then move away. We were there a few days before in Indy so I wasn't too upset as it was windy the week before so not too pleasant. The most annoying thing was the captain coming over the room PA to say go back to sleep because we can't dock. 

  2. Wow I'm surprised at the response to this. 

    I cruise in Europe on RC and tipping the bar staff on European cruises is just not done by the vast majority of cruisers.  I've been curious about this so have been sitting at bars and watched the interaction on a few recent cruises in Europe and 99% of drinks are without tip.

    I'm on Harmony next month and I'll definitely be watching to see if I see more cash tips to bar staff, I expect to see a lot more as tipping is a larger part of US culture.

    As for queue jumping. I don't expect, nor want, my bar staff to skip other people for me that's not why I tip.

    When on a cruise I'm super chill waiting at a bar chatting to staff and other patrons while waiting for a drink is also part of the experience. 

    I don't think I've ever seen a bar 4 deep on a cruise. Usually when bars get busy the staff phone in for more help and staff are sent from quieter bars to help out.  Last thing RC want is people standing at a bar getting annoyed with each other and fighting to be served. So I'm surprised at the comments. 

  3. Ahoy fellow cruisers just booked this cruise last night. We are empty nesters our son is going to off to college in September and we will definitely need to cheer ourselves up after that so we are heading to the States and decided to go on this cruise.

    We are currently at 63 C&A points and this will take us to the 70 mark. I joined the FB groups we usually prefer smaller ships like voyager or Radiance class as we like meeting people and find the larger ships fun but impersonal and harder to make friends.

    This is why I'm posting here hoping this smaller group of posters might be interested in a meet up. We are Scottish / Irish but living in Belgium for the last 27 years. Anyway I hope everyone has a great cruise. It's our first time visiting St Thomas and St Maarten. So looking for any tips on these locations as well. 

  4. Just take some $1 or exchange them.

    This was my 7th RC cruise and for most I've had the DDP. I know grats are already added but I decided after reading facebook and blogs like RCBlog to tip a few bucks when getting drinks.

    This was helped by winning $20 with my free slot rolls 🙂 

    I have to say while you don't need to tip it really made a difference. 

    I get beer mostly so it didn't impact the alcohol level but the friendliness of the staff (they were always friendly before but the level of friendliness increased) and the speed at getting served was improved.

    Perhaps not noticeable if you haven't tipped before but I definitely noticed it when the pool bars got busy.

    I will definitely be tipping bar staff in the future. 🙂 

     

     

     

  5. There are two ways to get down.

    1) book a transfer from Venice city center with RC, busses leave at 9am and 11am day of sailing and take around 2h30min to get there.

    2) take the train to Ravenna from Venice then get a transfer to the port also through RC.

    The bus with RC is more expensive but a safer option as you don't have to worry about train strikes or cancelled trains but the train is far cheaper. 

  6. We were lucky we went with GTY as it was 600€ cheaper for two inside cabins than pick your own €150pp.

    We got Deck 9 on explorer with virtual balcony right next to each other. 

    I would have definitely called to see had I been given what I consider a "poor" cabin. Although I have to say any cabin on a cruise ship is better than no cruise. 

  7. Just looking at May June 2023 and May June 2024.

     

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 28 MAY 2023 £459

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 11 JUNE 2023 £519

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 25 JUNE 2023 £549

     

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 25 MAY 2024 £864

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 15 JUNE 2024 £936

    Ravenna - greek isles 7 nights 29 JUNE 2024 £906

    I think i'll wait until March 2024 to book 🙂 

     

     

     

     

     

  8. Just reading on a disney forum that in Europe adults (18+) still need to get parental consent to drink and parents have to be at the bar with their adult children when ordering drinks.

    Is this common across all cruise lines or just Disney?

    I ask as my niece (19) had the drinks package on our med cruise last year on Royal. Never a question was asked and her mum didn't have to sign any waiver.

     

  9. Just thinking about doing this cruise but see that Balconies and Suites are already sold out.

    If we book an ocean view will we actually have a view or will we just be staring at canal walls?

    2nd question do you think balcony cabins or suites will be available later on? I ask this as we booked an inside on Brilliance for August in February but after April dozens of balconies and suites came online to buy. Should we already go for an inside and can we pay the difference for an upgrade later if something opens up? 

    3rd question is November a good time to go weather wise will we have nice warm sunny weather? Anything to pay attention to? 

    Thanks,

     

    John

     

  10. Congrats don't want to rain on parade but we 'won' an upgrade on Brilliance of the seas to a balcony above the piano bar. The piano bar singer was awful. 

    Some nights we had early starts but really couldn't sleep until after he'd finished lol.

    Most people wouldn't be affected by this but sadly I'm one of them that once I hear something I hear it and can't drown it out. 

     

    Anyway I can't imagine a spacious balcony will be above any pubs or bars. 

    You'll love Odyssey it was my favourite ship by a distance. 

     

     

  11. 13 hours ago, BowTieBrigade said:

    We just got off our first oasis class sailing and could not believe how incredible the aqua theater show was, but more incredible, how many people got up and left rather than stay 5 more minutes to applaud the entertainers!

    You make a great point. Sad thing is that Oasis class ships have far more people than seats at bars. This is just a reality. If you don't leave sharpish then you do stand a chance of having to stand for the next event at the bar.  I always stay to applaud but doing so I realise I won't get a seat when I hit the bars. Same as if I stroll up at 1pm to pool side on a sea day then start looking for a seat lol.

    Can I just add people playing loud music on their balcony. We had this recently on Brilliance of the seas. Trying to read my book to loud music is not enjoyable. 

  12. 8 hours ago, Mike n Ky said:

    This reminded me of our first cruise post covid...Symphony with about 1,600 aboard. Seemed so exclusive. That pretty much continued till we hit the Nav in April when it was almost full. Just checked our Odyssey 1/14...not even available to book so it's going to be full.

    As an RC shareholder I'm pleased to see full ships. 

  13. On 12/1/2022 at 4:50 AM, Cooper0309 said:

    Can someone explain how the shuttle works? Does the shuttle sit and wait for it to be filled? We are sailing out of Ravenna in 2023 and are taking our baby and trying to make it as painless as possible but this whole transportation situation is giving us a lot of anxiety.

    Don't worry about it. Just send one of you on with the baby the other will drop the cases with the driver. He puts them all on the bus. There were 3 busses when we were there. Only very small issue was the 30 minute wait once we got there as the other 2 buses beat us to the port and there was limited space at the port for all the covid checks. Of course this might have improved now they are not required. But don't worry about the transfer it's well run. 

  14. Just to clarify there are two departures 9am and 11am it was easy to do. We booked the shuttle out from venice and return to Bologna will NEVER do that again.

    Our voucher never stated the outward journey despite lots of calls to RC. 

    The Tronchetto people mover runs from the Piazzale Roma, 30100 Venezia VE, Italy is easy to use it's 1.50 and it's only two stops there are about 20 people with clipboards from all different cruise lines so you have to guess which one is RC. They were all wearing Trumpy (yes, i laughed)  tours t-shirts.

    The bus had airco and we stopped about 2 hours in for a 10 minute loo stop. 

    We were returning to Bologna but on RC ships system it was venice. Lucky I had my voucher with me which said Bologna as the CS were insisting on Venice. 

    Bologna is much closer so for all you wanting to do Brilliance choose Bologna airport if you can. There is a handy monorail from the station to the airport. 

     

     

     

     

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