monctonguy

I have thought about how I could get closer to a port....but no options for us Canadians..... Florida is defn my retirement plan...or earlier with the lottery!...ha

Exactly how I booked my upcoming cruise......thank god I got a deal on it though or the hang over would have been the least of my problems the next day!..lol what I wouldn't give to be within driving distance to a cruise port! If I was 6 hrs drive away from Port Canaveral give or take...I wouldn't be dreaming, I would driving!

During the day it should be music or music videos....and turned off when live music is playing on the deck. What I HATE is when they are playing a movie out there in the middle of the day.....its a pool deck, not a movie theatre...its hard to even hear the movie anyways, and people get mad if you are standing up or happening to block their view when your walking around etc....

The clamshells you pay for and it is yours for the day.

This must be the 9 day cruise on her. Enjoy and leave her in good shape as I get on the day your cruise is over, but mine is only a 5 day. Great way to do your first cruise! Biggest thing I would say for a 9 day cruise is to bring lots of clothes....depending on what you have planned for each day, u could be changing 2-3 times a day which adds up over 9 days for sure.

I am leaning more and more towards giving this a try on my next cruise. It seems to get great reviews from everyone on any ship that has one!

I am sure there is someone on this board that could!... But those ships are expensive! I wonder if I could start my own go fund me page to support my cruise habit?!....hmmmmm

Haha....great idea! Lets start a go fund me page!...

Maybe I just don't notice, but I cant ever remember the music being terrible on any cruise or repeated all day long! I enjoy a mix of music depending on what I am doing at the time, and seemed to be lots of options on any cruise so far. I wouldn't want to listen to just one type of music all day and all night no matter where I was. But music preference is subjective, much like food on a cruise!

Nice! I don't know why they don't keep these. They take up such a small space on these huge ships.

I just wanted to add that while I don't know about Ovation, I wouldn't worry too much about reviews for all the reasons and more stated above! I wish there was a more neutral/subjective review site for cruises. I find Trip Advisor to be pretty reasonable place to go for hotel/resort/restaurant reviews. Of course there is always some bad with the good but you learn to spot thoese who are reviewing just to bash the place.

I am old school...MP3 player and a small portable speaker...never travel without it for hotel rooms or resorts or cruises.. Nothing really for music on the tv in the rooms..and I like some music on when getting ready and having a drink!

I never bring any luggage with me..its a pain to drag around for hours(as I try to get on asap) So much nicer to enjoy and relax for those first few hours without worry about where to sit or stand with your luggage or keep an eye on it etc. And while rooms MAY be ready at 1pm...there is no guarantee...I have had cases when my luggage didn't get to the room till closer to 4pm.

Well Navigator is out of Miami now....I have heard that as well about cruises out of Texas before which makes sense. I don't mind a little country mixed in, when its the new stuff... I'll be on her in 16 days and can report back for sure!

Really depends on what you plan on doing and if you are going to use a credit card for excursions/meals etc that you want to do during port days! If you don't play the casino, then during sea days, you would hardly need any. You MAY want a few one's to tip a bartender or server throughout the day. They don't take cash on board for anything else like restaurants or the shops etc...its all linked to your seapass card which is linked to a CC on file normally.

There have been some ongoing issues since they updated their site for sure. I know here at work...sometimes I can do a search and sometimes I cant. Sometimes I can get 50% the way through a booking and then it freezes or times out. Also been some rumors and people claiming that this has only happened when they tried to book a great "deal", and by the time they can get it to work or call the 800# after they give up trying online, the "deal" is no longer available....... So who knows....I personally use a cpl other sites when looking for deals with RCI, as their site is prob the only site that I visit out of hundreds of sites a week that gives me issues.

have often thought about cruising out of MD, as it would be drivable, rather than flying which is so expensive from here...... It's now on my list for sure!

yeah..I saw that after I did a little research....you can book still pretty far out on both of these ships, so I am guessing it takes while for these to sell.... I really need to try to get out on these before they are gone....that maybe my next incentive for booking a cruise!

I guess demand really is there for the bigger and newer ships.....I never made it on either of these.... I wonder why one of them is $100 mill more than the other...same class and almost same age? Are these both stationed in Europe now? I also saw there it looks like its the old Monarch of the seas for sale as well......

Just wondered if there as an extra incentive to book onboard when there is a deal like there is currently with deposit reduced for everyone? Do you get an additional reduced deposit if you book onboard, as usually it is %50 less than what is currently required. Anyone that has booked on board when the posted sale includes a 50% reduced deposit? No chance you get a double reduced deposit eh?

No one ship for me.....any Royal ship that I haven't been on yet is the one I want to cruise on. However, I must admit I am curious for the newer and bigger class ships just to compare what I have been on so far.

Well as much as I hate paying more, I would be ok if they offered a top level package that covered everything and give us a choice. But they got rid of package options and now have a bunch of drinks that we have to pay an extra couple dollars for...on top of the $350 or so you pay for drinks for a week...on top of the cruise.

This is probably the one part of cruising that annoys me the most. I hate how our society expects us to tip for everything and nothing. If they want to charge us, just include in the cost of the cruise. Don't make it seem like its an option, when it's 100% expected and you have no choice or say in the amount. Bad service, slow service, great service, no service....and we all get charged the same. My general rule of thumb...is as soon as someone tries to "force" me to pay a tip for something, I usually decline. I have paid every time my full grats on any cruise....but if they want to try and nickel and dime us, raise prices, cut back on service...then I think I may play their game as well and pay more attention to bad and slow service and adjust my grats accordingly. I think the cruise industry takes it for granted as just another "fee" or "tax" and that is not what or how a tip should be. So to answer the OP's question...I will let you know in about 3 weeks...as I plan on not being as lazy and nonchalant about my grats on my upcoming cruise!

I have been there twice and going back a 3rd time to Cozumel. I have never done an excursion yet. There is so much to do and see and enjoy, I don't feel the need to try and find something to do to kill the day. And doing my own exploring and eating/drinking is usually cheaper than an excursion as well, plus I can get back on the ship whenever I want this way.

If that's the case, they need to up the cost of the drink package. Or they need to bring back 2 different levels of drink packages..... Seems ass backwards for RCI to get rid of 3 different levels of drinks packages all into one, but then charge more for some drinks on top of the package.....