bobroo

I can't speak for everyone but I am self centered and greedy when it comes to purple or yellow Royal Caribbean chips, no matter what ship I am on.

Royal Caribbean plaques???? Don't even go there.

All I know is that it is Bobroo mandatory that you remind your server AND the restaurant manager of your BOGO situation-- on both legs. The Buy One and especially the Get One Free. 

'Cause a lot of times they don't have the best memory. Even with good memory, the restaurants numbers will be bigger if they charge you full price. As far as Royal is concerned all specialty restaurant managers and servers are there to make the numbers bigger.  Serve food? Not so much.

Little known fact, know who is supposed to help out distributing the luggage once it arrives to the designated floor???

Your cabin steward.

Bringing a road bike aboard is something you'll see from time to time. A totally awesome idea and a great way to get some miles in. Just don't ride them on the pier.

The potential issue with an E bike will be the battery. It's entirely possible you have to chain it to a fence of your debarkation port for a week.

On my last cruise I was having dinner with the hotel manager of Radiance and he was lamenting the whole rubber duck thing. 

So I told him, Ya' think rubber ducks are bad? Next time I'm back onboard, I'm hiding rubber mice!

I'll keep you guys posted on how well this goes over....

No, you can always go to the muster station and receive your own private performance of the muster drill and not use the app. Check in for the muster stations starts about noon on every ship, sometimes a little earlier.

Feeling nostalgic? Or, just want to be an old grump that thinks a cell phone in 2023 is just too complicated to wrap your head around? Feel free to hang around your muster station 'till all 149 passengers who also have the same muster station show up and introduce yourself. Kinda like getting the ol' gang back together. 

Truth is, you will be standing somewhere out on Deck 5 for about 4 hours. In between introductions, you'll have a new appreciation for the crew members alongside you. And, I'm guessing somewhere along hours 3 or 4 it might dawn on you that all 150 in your muster station might not show up. The crew members will know the exact tally of those remaining and they will be more than willing to share the total. After a while I think you'll become enraged and steam funneling out your ears that all that was asked that people touch a few buttons on their cell phones and loosely watch two brief cartoons. Passengers are wandering everywhere, why could they not have wandered to their muster station? WHY ON EARTH IS THIS TOO BIG OF AN ASK???

1 hour ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Just be faster than than the other part of “We” and you won’t need bear spray. 

Sound advice for all cruisers traveling to Alaska this upcoming season, especially @AlmondFarmer

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/bear-safety-tips-national-park-service-trnd/index.html

"A million of your best friends..." if you call mosquitos your best friends--They Are Not!  Bring mosquito dope? Yes!

Also, there is nothing wrong with bringing and wearing a bear bell...or three.

Bear spray, like baseball cleats; will be seen by security as a weapon.  But just like baseball cleats, have you considered wearing a Cubs hat? Grown bears are known to be empathetic and compassionate and just one look at that....well, yeah....even the wildlife in Alaska knows the misfortune.

Puerto Plata!!! Boy 'oh boy am I glad to see Royal adding this port to more and more sailings! (This port is worthy of a full run down by one of the Blogs roving reporters BTW)

I was there last November and toured it on my own. I did not do any of the specific tours you've inquired about @Nathan C. however, maybe my experience will shed some light and get you and others stoked to be going to the DR. 

The cruise terminal is a new renovation completed just before the pandemic by Carnival. Likely the reason Royal has not stopped there often in the past, it does not mean they did a bad job! A gated community of shops much like the terminals at Cozumel. It is large; very modern looking; and has a nice blend of truly DR locally owed shops, bars and food, and the usual suspects of Diamonds International et. al. posing as locals and exploiting unassuming vacationers. For many people, their day spent just in the gated shopping community will be rewarding and a good experience. It is a very attractive and nice area.

I chose to walk to the Central Historic District and I'm likely the only person on our ship to do so using only his feet. It might have taken me 20 minutes. The only agenda, itinerary, or even clear thought I had was Bar, Local Food, and Cigars. I had spent all of 10 minutes on Google Maps looking for the information I needed. I found that the Central Historic District was where all the action was and it was a short, reasonable distance away. Oh yeah, it was east of the cruise terminal. Onward Ho!

This old downtown area has a couple key features that make it a worthwhile destination. So many ports and their related old towns have difficulty attracting and engaging tourists. Puerto Plata? No Problemo! They took what was probably an undesirable block long alley and pink-washed the entire thing. It is hard to ignore the Paseo de Dona Blanca, its' pinkness shimmers in the sunlight.  Down that alley are spots specifically for tourists to take selfies and photos. A bronze sculpture of Señorita Blanca conspicuously on one end of a park bench. A large picture frame spaced out 2 feet from a wall with the word Instagram at the top of it. A secured ladder against a wall that leads to no where. In short,  Puerto Plata took an undesirable alley and made it a destination that everyone goes to at bare minimum cost to the community. When I was there, one family from our ship had taken some formal outfits along that they changed into at the restroom of a local restaurant. I think their entire day was based on taking their own Glamour Shots photos in that alley. The Paseo de Dona Blanca is totally free and never closes.

Another big attraction is Umbrella Street. You may have seen a similar one in San Juan and I have no idea who might have come up with the idea first, but how much could it have possibly cost the community for a pallet load of Chinese made multi colored umbrellas and several hundred feet of aircraft cable to suspend them? I guess we might add in a back up pallet of el cheapo umbrellas and a city worker to occasionally replace them as they become sun bleached or damaged. Again-- bare minimum cost to the community and maximum tourist engagement. The results are that every tourist walks down that street and takes photos. It too is a destination. I am also guessing the shops along that street are in some type of an economic empowerment zone. It was a nice, friendly area that everyone was at; including every van load of cruiseship passenger who paid $60 for a tour of Old Puerto Plata. 

It was along Umbrella Street I found what I was looking for; drinks made with sugary fruit and rum; fried plantains, and tobacco in its' native environment. At the end of the street I found the Espigon Cigar Factory/Shop/Store. I bet I passed at least a dozen other similar cigar businesses that day, maybe more. They all appeared very similar in operation. I'm guessing they were all similarly priced. What attracted me to this place was the store canine who had his sleeping spot and was unfazed by customers. Having to step over a dog to enter the store reminded me of my own kitchen or going down my hallway to the bedroom. There are a couple full time cigar rollers front and center to the operation. Feel free to watch, ask questions, or take a whack at it yourself if you are a paying customer. There were free cigar samples. Oh yeah, many of those $60 a head cruise ship passengers stopped in for the free show and the daring ones, a free sample. I bought a couple bundles of 50 rings for two cigar fiends I know back home and  spent some time enjoying one myself and really getting to know the locals who worked there. We talked about their music and how it was a more electronic form of Salsa. Of course we talked about baseball. Tread lightly if you too don't think that Sammy Sosa belongs in the HoF, it's a touchy subject. But they completely get the argument of keeping integrity in the sport. In short, my hour at that store I found the real Dominican Republic. I found its' culture, the opinion and attitudes of its' people, and how a small DR business is run. And the store dog? Yeah, I had to skootch his legs so that I could leave. 

They really don't have taxis in this area. I was probably less-than-sober when it was getting time to head back to the pier and was completely relaxed and on island time. So I took the mode of transport that the locals take all the time: being the ol' lady of a dude on a moped. What could possibly go wrong??? Unknown streets in a foreign country? Unknown dude with as full faced tinted motorcycle helmet and no affiliation to Yellow Taxi or Uber or whatever? Worse yet, a friend see you on a moped??? It all worked out fine! He wanted what was probably an extremely high price of $7 US for the quick ride. I gave him a 20 and told him to keep the change. It capped off an extremely enjoyable day in Puerto Plata.

I think this has been vacant for what; 3 years now? 

We can all take away an important lesson on just how expensive and never ending the upkeep is on Caribbean beach front properties. 

1 hour ago, teddy said:

That dilapidated villa looking place you can see when at the outer pier has always intrigued me.  

This one? This is this Mick Jagger's old place. Now owned by a slumlord who does not have Keep Bahamas Beautiful in his heart.

In days of yore they would have had installed a full production of Wicked.

Ugh! I’m really considering bring my soapbox back into the town square again…

<mimicking head exploding>

I doubt Voyager will get even one freestyle machine, it is real low on the priority list ship wise. Like Enchantment low. A better question is, Have they done anything to the casino? The casino makes money, the freestyle machines...I don't think they worked out as RC initially thought.

However, if there are any writers amongst us or perhaps a commissioned roving reporter; Voyager has an incredible story to tell on how she was banished for exclusive duty in Hong Kong and was the first ship impacted by COVID. How she was quarantined, held in diplomatic limbo, eventually was enabled to allow her crew to go home, and finally deadheaded through the Panama Canal to end up in Boston... it is quite a story.

Allow me to make myself clear:

I DO NOT CARE  how much they have to jack up the prices on Coco Cay Cabanas in order for this promotion to work out for everyone who has purchased it.

If have an upcoming cruise and can purchase this; you should buy now and ask questions later.

I can’t find it via the app, but using a computer when you are in My Cruises; select a cruise, and it will be under the new header “packages”

(This is not an angry post, it is just a voice of strong dissent.)

1) The sooner we stop looking like a slumlord--the better.

2) The thought that our passengers are going to walk in the opposite direction ALL the way from berths 7 & 8, past all the other ships and passengers ships,  and zig zag through whatever vendors in the new terminal to get on a pontoon boat ferry that takes them back to where they were.....is a deal killing waste of an hour and 1/3 of a mile our passengers don't want to walk. 

Even if they had magic Beach Club exclusive pier busses, IMO, nobody wants to go backwards to go forwards to go to something they can easily see from their ship.

The Beach Club is a lousy 3 iron away, you guys have got to come up with a better solution to cross the channel.  TemporaryZipline?  Movable bridge like the one Curacao?  It's got to be creative, effective and sorry to say; is gonna cost a lot of $$$.

< steps off soapbox and quietly walks away>

@hurls15 I hope you get the opportunity to see a game at Wrigley sometime, win or lose it really is something if you love baseball ...or even kinda-sorta like baseball.

If I were you, I'd buy the spikes I really wanted in the States and keep them in the box with the wrapping and the bag and the receipt and all that. I would also buy a Cubs hat and put that in the bag.

That way when you go through security they may get their Spidey senses tingling looking at the X-ray machine monitor. But when they discover the Cubs hat, they will say "Another Cub fan! This fool's life sucks and it's only going to get worse...just let him go. The Cubs lost more games than they won last year and haven't done a damn thing in the offseason......even I know this and I live in Indonesia."

Once onboard, clip the tags and throw out the box. Maybe you'll get around paying the VAT when you go back home?

I’m still going with @Waaaytooo and Dan were the reason free booze in the Suite Lounges was taken away from us.

And….  It must have been an outstanding performance, I owe each one of them a high five.

I’m sure I’m pretty much alone on this but I’m hoping they mean Valparaiso, Indiana.

I looked on Google Maps and it looks like there might be a retention pond big enough for a smaller ship. 
 

<crosses fingers>

3 hours ago, deButler said:

We’re at the Hampton on 42nd Ave. next week before TA on Symphony. Was a little cheaper a few months back but needed the close proximity to the airport for Mom and her sister traveling in together before us. Now, thanks to this thread, I am really stoked to have late lunch at Airport Cafe & Liquor !!  Looks amazing. Thanks @bobroo for the tip on them. Love hitting family owned, local cuisine, hole-in-the-wall type places while traveling.  NO CHAINS allowed. 

Dude, you just perfectly described Airport Liquors and Old Toms! 

The older I get, the less I understand.

5 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Thanks all for your help! I ended up choosing the Ramada Miami Springs. It is on NW 36th right next to the airport, has a free airport shuttle, a diner and mcdonald's next door and sports bar restaurant inside. Free continental breakfast. Paid cruise shuttle. I've been sufficiently warned about the lack of elevator, so when it gets closer to my sail date I will call and request and then call and confirm that we have a first floor room.

For a double room with an AARP discount it was 102 before taxes and about 115 after.

I will do my best to come back here with updates after stay.

While driving today I was thinking this is a really good thread for the blog. There are a lot of people who fly to MIA for a cruise and are looking for a cheap place to flop. As a person who has flown to every cruise I've been on, where to stay the night before is always a very strategic decision. Transportation, entertainment, restaurants, wine purchasing, buying forgotten items, and nearby bar choices are all high valued criteria. The price of the room is actually about the 7th or 8th thing I look at when I'm trying to figure it's value. Price is important, but not necessarily the most important detail. The rooms value can often exceed its' price.

Please get back to us Ampurp, we'd like to hear your experience of the Ramada and the area you've chosen. I think a lot of people are going to learn from your experience.

6 hours ago, Xaa said:

I'm not sure about that Bobroo.  On Oasis, Symphony and Wonder JR is right across the Boardwalk from Playmakers in what you call Class A space.  On Harmony and Allure it's across from Sabor which occupies the space where Playmakers is on the other Oasis class ships.  In the case of Oasis class, Playmakers is the replacement for Sabor.

My bad, you are exactly right. JRs has prime real estate on the Oasis class Boardwalks.