PatsFanBrian

8 minutes ago, FManke said:

No beer should ever come in a can, except maybe a Foster's oil can.

Cans have made a big comeback, many beer nuts think the beer stays fresher longer.  I always go to the draft first, but those options are limited on the ship.

But beer should be poured.  I'll never drink directly from a can or bottle.

This is a great thread.  I'm echoing what some others have posted, but meet other people.  Not only fellow passengers, but the crew as well.  Many crew members have interesting backgrounds and stories.

14 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

The very first thing I do once on-board is head straight for the Windjammer. The second thing I do (before finding a table) is find the man with the beer cart. Nothing says brunch like an ice cold corona! 

I'm sorry, Corona is not beer, it's flavored water.

I admit that I'm a beer snob.  I like my beers strong and full of flavor.  On the topic, the one let down with RCL is their beer selection, fairly generic.  But they have to please a larger crowd, so I go with the flow and find the best that I can, usually end up with Blue Moon.  At least the Pub has some things to pick from.

Given that my upcoming sail is out of Boston, it would be great if they could stock up on some New England based beers like Sam Adams and Harpoon.  I've been on one sailing that had Sam Lager.  Halfway through the week, I was told that I had made quite a dent in their stock.  I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Last weekend, I was able to get $48 for our cruise in 2 weeks on Serenade.  It was usually posted in a range of 51-60, so I jumped when I saw that price.

I wonder if there will be more interest in Cats with the movie coming out later this year.  BTW, if you want to get creeped out, watch the trailer.  Looks more like something out of Dr Moreau's Island.

Yes, it does.  We passed the beaches and had nice views of the shoreline.  I attached a couple of pictures/

We did it a couple of years ago, we enjoyed it.  Very laid back.  We were brought out to spot with a clear view of the horizon.  It was amazing to be able to see the movement of the sun as it went down.  The crew counted down to the last beam of light.  

I have pictures somewhere, if I can find them, I'll post one

42 minutes ago, MO & LO on the go! said:

Maybe someone has a different experience but the ship has always used local time of the port you are at for us.

We've had a couple sailings that switched to local time, but it was well publicized both in the Compass and general announcements from staff, especially when getting off the ship.

41 minutes ago, FManke said:

We like the specialty restaurants just for a change of scenery. I don't know that the food is any better than the MDR sometimes, but it is more intimate, which is a nice change from the MDR.

This is what we like about it and we feel like we get more attention from the servers since they have fewer tables to care for.

1 hour ago, FManke said:

Our last cruise, we tried all venues on Serenade at least once, except for MDR breakfast. The idea of a plated breakfast just didn't do much for us. Maybe we should give it a try next time around.

We always eat breakfast in the MDR.  We have found it's a great opportunity to meet new people because they want to fill the tables, unless you specifically ask for a small table, they put people together as they arrive.  We've had many great breakfast conversations with total strangers.

18 minutes ago, MO & LO on the go! said:

We had that experience also but we didn't get on until much later.  The boat came back "sick" so they had to sanitize the entire ship (which is another conversation in and of itself!).  We sat in the port a LONG TIME!!!  Pray you don't have this experience!  But yes, generally you can start boarding by 1030-1100.  Just remember your room won't be ready until 1pm.

That happened to us as well, my very first cruise experience.  Arrived to get on Freedom in Miami back in '06.  After check in, we were directed to another room, without explanation, and then put on a bus.  I was puzzled why we were getting on a bus because the ship was right there.  Once the bus was full and we were underway, an RCL employee informed us that the ship had to be disinfected due to a Noro outbreak and we were being brought to an animal park to spend the time until it was done.  They provided food and all the shows were free, but it wasn't the most fun time I've had.  We were finally bused back around 5 and the ship was on it's way by 7.

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

Not all Royal show were trimmed (for example cats and I think also Mama Mia) , 

Chicago was on one of the ships (Allure I think before Mama Mia) they did not really invest in the set it was very lean production.

The key (my opinion anyway)  is to have musicals which at least some of the songs are well known by many , have nice set that is being changed during the show.  

Chicago was definitely trimmed, almost in half.  I know that the producers of Mama Mia agreed to allow the RCL production on the condition that it be performed uncut.

There's no way Hamilton would ever be staged on a cruise ship, it's the hottest show in the world even after a few years.  You'll never see the Disney productions.  The old classics are great for the baby boomers and older, but will not resonate with the younger cruisers.  There are some other decent productions that could be good candidates such as Billy Elliot, Far and Away, perhaps even Phantom. 

Every now and then, you may have to wait in the check in area if the previous sailing is slow to disembark.  That happened to us once in FLL waiting to get on Oasis.  The ship didn't start to board until 12.  But we've gotten on as early as 11 on other sailings.

Really depends on the ship.  We usually prefer the specialty dining.  On the Oasis class with more options, we'll do 4 nights specialty and 3 in MDR.  We have Serenade coming up, we'll do 3 specialty and 4 dining.  We never eat dinner in the Windjammer.

IT helps that we don't have young children.  That would have definitely been a factor is we did cruising way back when our kids were young.

RCL has always been generous with their humanitarian efforts.

When Irma tore through the Caribbean in 2017, my former manager was vacationing with his family in St Maarten and got trapped.  Adventure of the Seas arrived there to rescue stranded vacationers including his family.  It was quite the ordeal for them, from surviving the actual storm to being in fear for their lives as looters and gangs roamed the resorts (they heard many gunshots).  After nearly a week, they were finally picked up by a police caravan who escorted all the guests to the port.  They were told not to stray and above all, have their passports because they would not be getting on the ship without them.

Needless to say, he was overcome with gratitude to the crew and RCL for their efforts.

Our last cruise was Adventure after the previous 4 cruises were Oasis class and Quantum class.  After our initial walk-through , the size difference was clear, but once we got underway, I never gave it another thought.  We found plenty to do.  It was a bit more relaxing not having to run from venue to venue, coordinating show times and dinner seatings.

When we flew to San Juan in March '17, we were originally going to book out of Logan in Boston.  I then looked at Newark and the tickets were significantly cheaper, cheap enough to drive 4 hours the day before, book a hotel by the airport that included 7 days parking and airport shuttle, and still save several hundred dollars.  

It pays to look around at other options if you can add a day or 2 to the vacation.

Our first cruise, we just wanted to get on a ship.  At the time,Freedom was new and the largest ship in the world, so we booked it.  After a couple of cruises on Freedom class, Oasis came out and we fell in love with the ship and took 3 cruises on that class.  I wouldn't hesitate to get back on that class.

We booked Quantum's first long sail (Dec '14) quite by accident.  We knew it was a new ship, we were on Oasis looking for another cruise 15 months prior and cabins were available.  Our travel agent couldn't believe we had a cabin on that sailing because it was filled with D+ and above folks (we were platinum at the time).  But we chose it more for the itinerary and length, we wanted to do a longer cruise and that sail was 11 days and we wanted new stops.  After we were done, we found 11 days was long and we were less than blown away by the ship, haven't been back on Quantum class since.

Our last cruise was strictly itinerary.  We had not done the Southern Caribbean and we ended up having a great vacation on a smaller ship (Adventure).  Our trip coming up in 19 days is based on departure and destination.  We haven't been to Bermuda since our honeymoon 37 years ago and we've never sailed out of Boston even though we live in the suburbs.  We'll be on Serenade, our smallest ship to date.

We're already thinking about the next one and I think itinerary will be at the top of the list.  My dream cruise is the Mediterranean.  We had booked one for August '18, but life got in the way and we had to cancel it 6 months prior.  We will definitely be looking at that one again although we will have to book it for '21 if we do.  Going back to the Southern Caribbean is also possible given how much we enjoyed it.  Ship no longer matters to us, it's the adventure.

Hope you find one that's good for you.  If you give it a few tries, you'll eventually settle into the criteria that is important to you.

Those are the types of stories that give cruising a bad reputation.

20 hours ago, Nikkoo said:

Just a quick note / suggestion from our cruise just gone, our first ever so I’m in no way an expert, but if you have to drive after disembarking think about that the night before! In all fairness our usual Barman asked me at about 8:30pm if I was driving from Southampton or getting picked up. When I said driving he said “not too much tonight then” which I thought was a great thing. I had planned to stop at 9 anyway to give it a good 12 hours but the fact he asked was a really good and responsible thing. I had not been rolling around drunk or anything but some nights we were in there until 12 or later. I felt like he genuinely cared

Good point.  Reminds me of a time when were at an all-inclusive south of Cancun and a couple of "gentlemen" spent all their time at the pool bar, seemed like around the clock, loud, boisterous and very drunk.  One afternoon, the older of the 2 is passed out on a lounge chair, the other sitting at the bar.  We went up to get a drink and the younger is asking the bar tender what the penalty is for DUI in Cancun.  Turns out they had to leave for the airport in an hour and had a rental car.  He was advised to take a taxi and work something out with the rental agency because the penalty was automatic jail time.  We have no idea what happened but didn't see them after that.

I posted in another thread that I think the photo prices are highly inflated.  But we still get our photos taken on the off chance that there will be one that is so good that we can't resist getting it (has happened a couple of times).  We have never considered purchasing a package prior to the cruise.  We ask people to take photos with our own camera and usually get great ones.  We also have often purchased photos from excursions which are usually much cheaper and more representative of our cruise experience.

To your original question, you have many answers.  Also, at every port stop, RCL photographers will be on the dock to take pictures as well as photographers in the dining halls and certain events.

The suggestion to check the photos every night is a great one.  Besides getting a good sense of how the photos are coming out, you may find that some photos you know were taken are missing and likely put in someone else's folio or into a miscellaneous category because the facial recognition could not properly identify you.

Almost every time flying to a port, we arrived a day early and used the hotel concierge to arrange bus transportation for us.  Most hotels near the major ports have agreements with transportation companies to shuttle passengers back and forth.  I don't think we ever paid more than $100 for 2 of us.

The only time we flew on embarkation day, we flew into San Juan and used RCL transportation which our TA arranged for us.  There were RCL employees at the airport to greet us and get us on the shuttle.

For the 1st time, in 20 days, we can drive to our port in less than an hour (Boston).  It will be nice to wake up and take our time getting out of the house and also have an easy travel back home when we return.

Boston to Bermuda on Serenade, 9/22, is sold out except for a couple of suites.

2 minutes ago, TJ! said:

How can we look at the statement on the ship without wifi?

It's available on your TV in your stateroom.

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

You don't need to purchase VOOM to use the RC app while on board.

I was wondering about this earlier today.  Thanks for the info.

I went ahead and jumped at the $48/day price.  We figure we'll break even at worst and we have the added convenience of not thinking about it.