Morganno

our last cruise was terrible.

I signed up to meet and greet on cruise critic we had 35+ people. 

I never got any notification of it. I was gold member but never got any info about the facts that I could have one free alcholic beverage or any of the the other advantages including expedited check in.  

For platinum I've printed out our entitlements and I'm going to ensure we get them including the in room shower robes

After all what's the point of brand loyalty.

I find this bizarre coming from Europe where long pants is the norm for many European restaurants. In fact 70-80% of Europeans will wear a suit/tux for formal night on cruises in MDR. If you don't want to wear one that's ok just head to windjammer.

I don't get the attitude of people wanting to spoil the MDR experience on formal nights by wearing shorts and flip flops. 

Yes I get wanting to be relaxed on holiday but that's why the windjammer is there.

In saying all that we are limited by luggage allowance as we are flying in and only have 20KG and plan to shop stateside  

I might still hire a tux onboard has anyone else done it?

4 hours ago, AJK said:

We have an interior Promenade View room on Indy. Fingers crossed it has cold air!

We had one on explorer and indy and were able to make it as cold as we liked during the night. This was in the Med when it was in the 90s (35c) outside. 

@ThyriC has  summed it up nicely and this is my reasoning too.

Also don't forget the ability to try several different cocktails and drinks you always wanted to try but didn't due to the price.

Lava Flows, mud slides, several different martini flavours and vodka flavors.

Sounds extravagant but you can simply order them and if you don't like them hey no problem you haven't just spent $13+tip for it so no problem just to leave it and order something else.

Also don't worry about them watering down the drinks like some all inclusive resort. On explorer of the seas we actually had to tell the bartenders to go easy on the alcohol measures the lava flow is easy to drink but it packs a punch 

Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@Matt has already announced the two official ones for 2020.  They are the Freedom GC over New Year and the Brilliance GC to Canada/NE in October 2020.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/events

Yeah I have a school aged son so can't make either. Hopeful for 2021 though  

I'm also doing this route on 18th August.

We are not not really interested in animals in captivity and read that the area around the port in Roatan is sketchy and best avoided so I intend to stay on the ship.

For Couzmel I'm trying to persuade my wife she would enjoy an e-bike tour of the sourthern tip it's 6 hours though and is 113$ pp including lunch. If we were to go on this trip what does the average person pay in tips to these people? Would 10$ per person cover it? 

For Costa Maya i'm not sure perhaps just pad around off the boat.  None of us are beach people we fancy the ruins but don't really want long car journeys in the heat. 

On 7/11/2019 at 3:06 PM, mworkman said:

Since the blog site has and continues to do group cruise, what ships have they been on? Is it itinerary driven, ship class or just random selection? What is the @Matt method of madness selecting cruises other than kids school schedule?

I think this year's cruise on Anthem was during the summer vacation at least my boy was already off but we already had made plans last Sept for this summer. I can't do Christmas since the flights from Europe are so expensive and weather is usually a big factor in delays so I avoid too much flying in Winter.

If they announce one for next summer before Oct this year i might be able to come along.

2 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

Don't chipped mugs get stolen by other passengers if you leave them with your stuff around the pool? I might sound a silly question, I found out Americans are much more honest than Europeans in that respect...

You do know Europeans are also on this forum 

We left our soda cups unopened last cruise and will do the same this cruise. We have no interest in the machines.

Many thanks for all your helpful replies. 

Fingers crossed for smooth sailings all. 

We are due on Harmony Western Caribbean on 18th August and wondered how far in advance we could possibly know of any storms.

We are travelling to Boston from Europe on the 8th August then down to Orlando area on the 16th. 

How quick do these storms arrive. I can watch the weather channel but they tend to border on the doomsday to get viewers 

What would be a reliable source. I'm not too worried about the storm itself more about missing ports and rough seas. 

It's on my wife and I's bucket list as well as the Alaska cruise. 

On 6/20/2019 at 11:30 PM, whenismynextcruise said:

If this model would lower prices on North American based cruises I think I could support that model. As much as I like the mostly all inclusive nature of cruising there are many amenities that we just don't use and we are fine with paying for those that we do use. For example we dont enjoy the hustle and bustle and the noise of the mian dining rooms so we choose to eat at the specialty dining spaces or order room service. Both come with a fee and we happily pay those fees. I wonder what it would cost to have the choice not to pay for the MDR? 

The budgetisation of cruises would be a reason for me not to travel. 

Yes you will get a login and password which you can enter on any device. It will automatically kick you from the previous device.

11 minutes ago, MattmanL67 said:

LOL-no pool towels!  We did have it tied to two staterooms but the charges appeared AFTER we cleared up all our billing the day prior to disembarkation. When we called Royal Caribbean they stated that is was a “hold” charge like a hotel would do for incidental and not to worry, the charges would go away in 3-5 days.  They could not have been more dismissive about the whole thing which was a shame as we had really enjoyed the cruise.  Now we’re second guessing cruising with RC again.

Also had this problem but worse since we had a revolut debit card.

I went on the last night to settle my bill and paid with revolut a amount of 1900$ careful to say that I was closing the account.

Three days later RC charged me another 1900$ putting me 1900 in the red on my debit card.

my card company took this amount from my checking account 2 weeks later. It took more than 6 weeks for the debt to drop from my debit card. (I.E for the 1900$ to reappear on my debit card as a credit.) 

Lesson learned I will only ever use my AMEX card for RC cruises. 

Dasani is just purified chilled tap water. 

So yes you will get purified carbonated tap water from the machine which probably source their water from the water tanks onboard.

If you want spring water from a source you'll need to choose S. Pelligrino 

2 hours ago, TravisMA81 said:

Maybe have a 55+  area.  Like a retirement home atmosphere.  lol

They do it's called P&O or Cunard  cruises 

I only eat the pizza after midnight when intoxicated so cannot give a fair comment 

On 7/10/2019 at 3:36 AM, spiralqueen said:

I know for me, personally, even though I get close to a month worth of vacation time I get some serious side eye from coworkers and my superiors if I use more than 6 or 7 days in a row. My coworker went to Italy for 2 weeks and had some comments when he came back from the owners about how long he was away. It goes over better if it’s spaced out. 

It's the opposite here in Europe in Belgium you legally have to take two weeks during the summer. I think it's designed to stop people trying to work 4 day weeks for 15-20 weeks which would create payroll havoc as it's all linked with the tax system and holiday pay. In Belgium you usually get paid 13 months a year (go figure) and the 13th month is the holiday bonus.... 

I have very generous leave arrangements 30.5 days per year and usually between 17-19 statutory. 

10 hours ago, Kingk92 said:

Thank you! 24 days left until cruise time

Mine says 32 days you going on an 8 day cruise?  

All RC ships leaving from Southampton have smoke free casinos as it is illegal to allow smoking inside a public venue in the UK.

it was like this for my two Indy sailings in 2017 and 2018 and my explorer sailing in May this year.

I was so disappointed to learn that smoking and it's effects will be allowed on Harmony for my trip this August.

How can someone rent out 3000 cabins  how much would it cost to charter Indy?

does this depend on the ship?

In the UK the cards are given out dockside at checkin.

What can I expect when going from Canaveral this August ?

I'm on HoTS in August via Amsterdam via Boston.

I have 20KG/44lb  luggage weight for my case,  I cannot make space for formal night suits. 

On formal night I might decide to eat elsewhere or in MDR. We were on explorer in May and some dressed (I did.) and some didn't.

I don't really care what other's do but I do enjoy seeing everyone in the finest it does create an ambience but that's just a personal opinion.

I'd enjoy sitting having a laugh at the table with someone in shorts or a tux I'm paying a lot to enjoy my cruise and I'm gonna do just that !

Well I upgraded but it wasn't easy and cost €434 euro.

Here was their only solution.

Rebuy the Balcony 

Pay for what was before free drinks 2 X deluxe and 1 royal refresh

Pay 50€ change fee.

Final price for the inside to balcony 434€. 

I still think this is a good deal as when we were booking it on the free drinks it was a lot more than this, in fact I remember boardwalk one being 300€ more along. 

We shall be in cabin 10542 and can't wait. 

On 6/21/2019 at 3:05 PM, markm said:

Off your topic. We also will be sailing the Explorer of the sea out of Southampton in October and wondering how the onboard entertainment was, think we may have been spoiled on our last cruise aboard the Oasis

I'm sorry to say we were quite disappointed with the entertainment. We sat in for the love and marriage show which was on during the afternoon. The East Coast boys (ie Jersey Boys) were fantastic to watch but the rest of the sailing was poor. It was in May though perhaps it'll pick up the boat had just transferred from Oz. When your Cruise Director is billed as the main act and one evening there wasn't a main act but a movie then you know it's been a poor week.