CNA Jacksonville

We recently completed a five day Mexico cruise on Mariner of the Seas. When we booked we specified we wanted Early Dining (5:30pm) and that was reflected in the Cruise Booklet we received. Once on board our Sail Passes said My Time Dining. We stopped at the MDR reception deck and asked why the change. The attendant could not offer a good explanation, instead saying that the "system" might not be updated yet. We politely pressed the question as to who made those changes without our consent. Again, no good answer except that we could come back later. He continued to keystroke when we asked to speak to someone who could provide an answer. After a minute he asked if we would be okay with Early Dining seated with other passengers. We said that was totally acceptable. He wrote out a Main Dining Room reservation card and said that it would be reflected on our Sail passes. We stopped by Guest Services and lo and behold we had our MDR Early Dining specified. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know why these sort of dining arrangement changes are done without your approval or input?

Hope it works out for you...Our scheduled stop in Costa Maya was canceled on account of high winds so we lost our Dolphin Adventure. We did get to spend two days in Cozumel though.

We are seriously considering a European cruise which includes such ports as Barcelona, Mallorca, Florence & Rome. Do the excursions offer enough time to see the major sites in those locations? Looking for advice to help us plan a cruiseor opt for a land vacation.

I apologize if this has been covered before. We are sailing on Mariner in January with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel. The Costa Maya Dolphin Encounter looked interesting enough for us to reserve it with Black Friday promotion prices. It is the least expensive of all the dolphin excursions we've seen advertised. Does anyone have experience with this excursion? Good? Bad? Something in between? Thanks in advance!

Our first Western Caribbean adventure on a ship we have sailed on twice before... Any helpful insight into Costa Maya & Cozumel?

Traveling to NJ to join my brother and his wife on their very first cruise. My wife and I previously sailed on Mariner of the Seas to the Bahamas and are looking forward to Liberty and Bermuda. Any suggestions for Bermuda? Recommendations for places to see and things to do?

Now here is something curious... while scrolling through the various cruise ship pages now that this new pre-sail testing guidance is out, I read this on the Carnival pages: Due to destination requirements, ALL guests on itineraries that include Bahamas, Bermuda and Grand Cayman must complete a pre-cruise test, irrespective of the length of the cruise. Now as a Florida cruiser leaving through Port Canaveral, almost all of the RC itineraries stop in the Bahamas and they are not saying this. I am thinking the real guidance has yet to be promulgated so stand by.

Hello (after a COVID induced hiatus). We are jumping back into the water so to speak and are looking at options for a November birthday cruise out of Port Canaveral. We have been to Nassau and Coco Cay and were looking for a different itinerary. Jewel of the Seas with its two stops in Mexico looks appealing. But doing some research, the ship itself may not be to our liking. Reports I have seen suggest the ship is worn and obviously smaller than many of the other Royal Caribbean ships. It also does not have the amenities like we enjoyed on Mariner of the Seas (Surfing and Pool Slide to name a few...). We would appreciate any feedback, thoughts or recent experiences on this ship.

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/royal-caribbean-to-eliminate-buffets-on-post-coronavirus-cruises.html Having gone several months now without a cruise, we are seriously considering dipping our toes back into the water (no pun intended) once RCCL resumes sailing this Summer. Does anyone have any insight into Windjammer dining going forward? Or maybe a definitive source I can read?

Here is ours. Courtesy of Royal Caribbean ? IMG_6052_photo.HEIC

We have booked our RCCL cruises directly with the cruise line itself. But in reading this and similar posts, seems like better deals and perks might be had by using a Travel Agent. I will plead ignorance by reporting I have no experience with Travel Agents. What advice can you all share about finding a good one for future RCCL adventures? We do have AAA and they do have Travel Agents but I am pretty sure not all Travel Agents are created equal.

That happened to us on our June voyage on Mariner. Coast Guard inspection. Our scheduled boarding time was 12 noon (first time cruisers with no perks) but we arrived early and sat around in a crowded RCCL Port Canaveral lounge. Boarding did begin at noon but we had to wait our turn until our section was called. But once things got moving we got onboard pretty quickly. I think those most inconvenienced were those who wanted to get on the boat earliest.

I just checked and we had at least 27 different backdrops for our recent three nighter on Mariner. This includes dinner table photos. We missed the ashore Nassau pictures as we stayed onboard that day. Otherwise it would have been over 30 backdrops. Also, on Coco Cay the photographers wander the beach and they'll take however many pictures you want of yourselves there.

Like most here we pre-pay gratuities and use cash for the dining room ($5 each for waiter & asst waiter) and $2 for bar drinks. We also tip the room attendant $5/day. Funny in that recently I put on a pair of pants and found some crisp fives and some singles in my pocket left over from the September cruise on Mariner. LOL

We bought the Photo Package on our two Mariner cruises this year and really liked it. On the first cruise we took home (digitally) over 100 pictures and on the recent three night adventure 90 photos. We made a point of stopping at each and every photo opportunity. We thought the quality of the pictures was very good to excellent. Usually you can see the pictures within an hour on board through the link they share with you and just the other day RCCL sent me a zip file with all of the pictures from this month's cruise. I usually send the ones we like best to Walmart for printing and to put in a small memento photo album. And the digital pics can be shared easily on social media and shared with family and friends. Discounts are always available on embarkation and the first day or two of the cruise. And when you get the package you also recieve some accessories. In our case we got a small album and a 5x7 RCCL frame.