WAAAYTOOO

I'll take that deal !

 

:D

They give you instructions even for the "free" flowrider.  I'm sure it's helpful to have individual instruction but to be honest, I think the real benefit in the "paid instruction" is the extended time that you get to actually practice.

 

When you do the flowrider during "open" hours you are very strictly limited on the amount of time you get to "ride".  Those who pay for the lessons actually get way more time to try and practice, in addition to the instruction.

 

If your daughter is a natural athlete, she will probably pick it up very quickly.  As with all things like this, it's a matter of determining your center of gravity and being able to position yourself properly.  The young ones seem to be able to get right up !

I'm afraid Candie overestimates my expertise.  While I often sail in suites on Royal, the rules for other parts of the world often differ as we have seen with the latest confusion over Ovation's suites perks in Asia and Australia.

 

General information :  the GS on the Voyager class are very nice.  BIG, comfortable and convenient (not located at extreme ends of the ships as some suites on other classes can be).  You will have a very nice and comfortable balcony which will, most likely, have a small table and 2 chairs - usually loungers or straight chairs with footstools.  The bathroom is larger than a balcony bathroom with a full shower and tub combo.  There are 2 sinks in the bathroom which is nice.  The living area is separated from the bedroom area by a curtain (if you choose to close it.  We never do).  It is a very nice room.

 

As far as amenities or perks, ASSUMING they are the same as for us here in NA (and that's a big assumption), you will have access to the Concierge Lounge or Suites Lounge, whichever Voyager has.  I believe they still have the Concierge Lounge (it is my opinion that eventually all Concierge lounges will be changed to Suites lounges and the D+ pax will no longer be welcome but that is my OPINION, not fact.).  The CL on the Voyager class is located on Deck 9 near the aft elevators.  As a rule, I find these spaces to be rather unappealing.  They are interior (no outside windows) and they can become very crowded during the evening Happy Hour (generally 5 - 8 PM with specific hours dependent upon the ship's schedule).  At the Happy Hour you will be served a variety of complimentary beverages (beer, wine, soda, spirits, champagne) and some cold and warm appetizers.  Unless you are a Diamond level (or higher) Crown & Anchor member, you will not be able to use the Diamond Lounge, which, IMO is much nicer than the CL b/c the space is bigger and there are outside windows....but the CL is considered more "exclusive" for some reason.

 

The other perk that I find most enjoyable is the ability to order room service from the Main Dining Room menu.  Room service for non-suites is only from a very limited menu that is frankly, not very appealing...but as a suites guest you can order anything that is on the MDR menu and as much as you want.  The only limitation is that the service is only available during hours that the MDR is in service.  So, for instance, you cannot order your lobster dinner to be delivered at 4 AM (why would you want that anyway...).  Breakfasts on the balcony are especially enjoyable.

 

You will also have access to the Concierge who is there to help with reservations, transportation and to help answer questions that you may have.  If you want to organize a party in your suite, he (or she) can help with that.  The Concierge service seems to vary with the ship.  On some ships the Concierge will personally escort you off the ship (in a group) and to the priority line for customs.  On some ships this doesn't happen.  If you have any tender ports, the Concierge will help you with priority access to the tenders (which means that you cut in line in front of everyone else trying to get onto the tender !).

 

If I knew how to post the link, I would provide you with the link to the list of Suites perks but it would only be the list for NA anyway.  For some reason, I cannot figure out how to paste anything into these blog posts.  But as I said, I'm not sure it would be particularly helpful anyway as they may or may not apply to you, in Australia.

 

Just know that you will have a VERY nice room, 24 hour access to the Concierge Lounge (local rules may apply) and a wonderful ship.  Enjoy it !

$4.95 for an egg ?  Where ?

EmersonNZ, you are worse than most !  You already seem addicted and haven't even set foot on the ship yet !  LOL

 

Welcome to the asylum.

 

First of all, let me say that I am very envious of your incredible itineraries.  They sound so exotic to us, North Americans.  ...one day....(sigh)

 

Secondly, let me first suggest that before you spend a lot of money on upsell restaurants, you give the old [free] dining room a chance.  Luckily, you have plenty of nights from which to choose so if you feel the need to pay additional money, you have time to do that.

 

I know this is just my opinion....but I have to say that, in general, the "complimentary" food on Royal is very good.  Sure...there are some menus that are less palatable than others but these are always a matter of personal preference.  Maybe it's just me, but I do not see the need to spend EVEN MORE money on restaurants when, for the most part, the complimentary food and service are far above average.

 

If you are a steak snob (said with love) then certainly you are going to want to try Chops.  The MDR steak is only adequate...not nearly excellent.  So that is one distinction I will make.  Let me also admit that I have never been on a Quantum class ship, so the restaurants that are specific to that class are unfamiliar to me.  I've heard they are all very good.

 

My point is....don't forsake the MDR menus before they are given a fair chance !

 

Best of luck and enjoy those wonderful itineraries.

Welcome, Jeff.

 

I am going to take a stab and guess that you are a Marine aviator - or associated with the airwing in some way.

 

Active duty or retired ?

 

I lived in New Bern many times throughout our Marine Corps career.  I miss that area very much.

 

There are a couple of us - Marine wives - on this blog.

 

Welcome to our family !

 

Semper Fi !

Hi! First time here!

 

Welcome ! I know Harmony is going to b so incredible !

I don't know the answer to this question for sure...but I feel like they will let you upgrade your complimentary package to the Premium package and let you pay the difference in the cost. I feel like this is their hope, actually...that most people really won't want the soft drink package and will upgrade to something more expensive. Just a feeling I have....

Sometimes it just pays to call them and do it over the phone.  The website can be so flakey

Makes sense. BTW, the Ultimate package is now appearing in my beverage options.

Freeport  is worse.... :P

Today when I checked my cruise prices (as I do EVERY morning...at least once !) I noticed something I have never really seen before - that I can recall, anyway.

 

A real sale !

 

Maybe this was promo'ed ahead of time and I just missed it but for every one of my sailings, there is a dollar discount straight off the price....and none of the baseline prices appear to have gone up.

 

-$100 for my 26 June 16 Freedom

-$200 for my 23 December 16 Navigator (this is a Christmas/New Year's combo !)

-$100 for my 11 Feb 17 Harmony

-$100 for my 23 Dec 17 Adventure

 

What's amazing is that this discount is the same to every cabin category.  So it appears to be a straight up dollars off for every cabin on every sailing that I looked at.

 

Maybe I just picked some lucky cruises. 

I did, Candie, but it didn't seem open.  I thought maybe it was only open in the evenings.  Maybe next time I am there I will go....if it's open.

Deck 8 is not low, IMO. I think you're going to like that level.

I am terrible at remembering all of the different themes.

 

The themes are according to the ingredients of the food rather than by the ethnicity...if that makes any sense.  For ones that I can think of...pomodoro (sp ??) is the Italian theme, there is one for shitake which features mushrooms, one is thyme or maybe it's basil (can't remember the menu that goes with that one !), that's all I can think of at the moment, but it goes on and on.  My guess is that if you are going for 2 consecutive weeks that there will be some recurrence.  I have been on a couple of longer cruises but I just don't recall whether the menus repeated or not.

 

I seem to be one of the few remaining cruisers that actually LOVE the food in the MDR.  We almost never go to the Specialty restaurants.  If you are a steak snob then you will probably not be satisfied with the MDR steak.  It's not great.  If you are sushi lover then there's no substitute for Izumi (not sure if NAV has Izumi or not) but I don't find the need to really go to the specialty restaurants myself.  Maybe I'm just cheap.  I can't see paying for food again when I've already paid for it once, as part of my cruise fare.  We often get complimentary dining from the casino and we will usually go for those but overall, I stick with the MDR.  Others love paying twice for their food, so more power to them !

OH....that sounds yummy !  I have never heard of 43 but you can bet that I will find it some time before the holidays this year !

 

Thanks for the "research" !

I did Atlantis once...YEARS ago, when I first started cruising.  I thought it was a good excursion but I do recall that the lines for getting to the buses was VERY long and it was very crowded.  At that time, the tour included at least parts of the aquarium.  I don't believe it does, anymore.  The casino is fabulous but wasn't really even open during the time that we were there.  Darn it. 

 

I am not familiar with the "Charm and Beauty of Nassau" tour but I will just give you my 2 cents.  Whenever I visit a new port, I ALWAYS do the "familiarization/introduction" tour (they call it something different at each port) just to get an overall feel of the place and see if there is anywhere I want to go BACK to at another time.  These general tours are usually quite affordable and a good way (for me, at least) to get an idea of what there is to see and do.  It sounds, to me, like the Charm and Beauty is one of those general type tours.

 

I do not know how long you will be in Nassau or what the hours are, but I will caution you...if your wife is a bit skiddish about "sketchy" circumstances, I would advise you to stay close to the compound when not on an organized tour.  Nassau can be a sketchy place, particularly at nighttime.  I don't mean to scare you.  It's NOT Beirut, but I will admit that I do not go outside of the compound at night in Nassau.  I rarely even get off the boat anymore in Nassau.  There are some beautiful homes in and around Nassau and I do recall that whatever tour it was I took went past the many celebrity homes and I enjoyed that very much.

 

It will be great.  You are on a cruise !  Enjoy it

WAAAYTOOO, you mentioned the concierge will call ahead of time to offer things, what else (besides the cabanas) is offered? 

 

Well...let's see.

 

The welcome email will introduce the Concierge and let you know that he/she is there to help you in any way they can during the cruise.

 

There are many things that the Concierge can help you with.  If you want reservations at any of the specialty restaurants (not sure which of those Enchantment has) and you haven't yet made those reservations, the Concierge can do that for you.  You will not need any entertainment reservations so you don't need to worry about that.  This is also the time to let the Concierge know if you have any health or medical issues such as food allergies or if you want a pillow topper on your bed, etc.  They will take care of that for you.

 

There are many Suites perks that will apply to you.  You have probably already looked at that list.  IMO there are 2 Suites perks that "make" it for me.  #1 is that you can have any meal delivered to your suite from the MDR.  Those who are not in suites are limited to a very small menu of room service items but as a Suite guest, you are able to get anything that is on the menu, that day, from the MDR.  So on Fisherman's Platter night (lobster night, if they have one on Enchantment) you can have your lobster meal delivered to your room.  The only limitation to this perk is that the service is limited to hours that the MDR is in operation....so you cannot get your lobster delivered at 4 AM.  #2 seems to vary from ship-to-ship so I won't promise that they have this one on Enchantment...but for ships that do offer it, you can have a sit-down breakfast at Chops.  Even on a single ship this service can vary.  On Freedom, last year, we got this breakfast on port days but on sea days the restaurant was open "to the public" for lunch so they didn't offer the sit-down breakfast option.  But...on days that they do offer it, this is a wonderful service.  Not crowded, quiet, relaxing and you can get a full breakfast menu, including Eggs Benedict (hubby's fave).  The waiter even hopped over to the WJ and got grits for me, even though grits is not on the menu.  He had to change legs though...it was a long hop to do on one leg. (just a little breakfast humor there).

 

Just to let you know, if you feel you want to contact the Concierge BEFORE he or she contacts you, you  can do that at any time.  The Concierge email for Enchantment is [email protected]rccl.com.  The format for all concierges is basically the same.  The first 2 letters of the ship's name, underscore, [email protected]rccl.com.  The only exception is for the Oasis class (and maybe the Quantum class....not sure), where there are multiple concierges.  For Allure, for example, it's AL_concierge01 or [email protected]rccl.com.  If you know for sure that you want a certain cabana and you don't want to take the chance that someone else will reserve it before you, just send them an email ahead of time and let them know which one you want.  They WILL write you back (I have never had them fail to do so)...and they will let you know that they are "holding" it for you.  If it is too far ahead then they cannot actually reserve it (they can't charge your seapass account if it's still far in the future) but they will make a note of it and when the time comes, they will make the reservation and let you know.  If you decide to contact them before they contact you, be SURE that you include your names, sail date and reservation # so that they know which sailing you will be on.

 

Another nice perk for suites guests who are going to Coco Cay is that the Concierge will give you priority access to the tender.  Basically, they take you down to the disembark area and you "cut" in line and get on the tender ahead of everyone else.  Be warned, however, that this only works for the OUTbound portion.  Coming back to the ship, you are on your own ! There is also a similar disembark procedure at the end of your cruise.  Only trouble is, no matter how much you try, they will NOT let you get back on the ship !  :lol:

If you'll re-invite me during the holidays, I'll take a nogretto.  This is a concoction that I created - Eggnog and Amaretto.  Liquid candy !

 

Think of me when you have one.  They are SOOOOOOOO good.  ...but you'll probably only want 1.  They are so sweet and so rich. ...but yummmmmmm

 

Did you visit the Cruzan factory in St. Croix ?  That was extremely interesting and they were so hospitable and happy to have us come to the factory.  Don't miss it if you go to St. Croix.

These work great. No cord, plugs straight into the outlet

As long as there's no surge protector, it's good !

 

I have a similar one to his that does have a SP and it's a no-no.

This is the reason we cancelled Liberty for December and booked back on Oasis

What is the reason, Christy ? B/c of the crowding issue in the lounge...or b/c of the new suites perks only being on the O and Q classes ?

Perhaps there are people who hate cruising...but I would have them committed for obviously being out of their minds !

 

You either love or hate Donald Trump.  Cruising is nothing but pure love.

 

:P

Welcome, Brandon !  Congratulations to you and your wife.

 

1.  Anything that you carry on yourself must fit through the standard sized electronic (airport, conveyor-belt type) scanner...so only luggage that you could get through security at an airport can get through security at the Port.  Anything bigger must be left with the porters.  That luggage will be brought to your cabin later....usually before dinner, but sometimes a little later.

 

2.  2, 750 ml bottles of wine per CABIN

 

3.  You will be contacted prior to your sail date by the ship's Concierge - usually 7 - 10 days ahead.  At that time, (among other things) you will be offered a cabana.  You can then choose which cabana you want and it will be reserved for you (I personally like #1, 2 or 3).  Unlike other "purchases" made prior to your cruise (specialty dining, beverages packages, etc.), the cost for your cabana will not be paid up front.  That cost will be added to your seapass account.  That way, you can use OBC to help pay for the cost of the cabana, if you choose to (assuming you have OBC to spend !).

 

4.  There are no penalties, as such.  There is no liquor smuggling jail or anything.     :huh:   They will simply confiscate it and return it to you at  the end of the cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise...but you should realize, before you go, that cruising IS habit-forming.  You, your wife, or both of you MAY become addicted.  Alas...I speak from experience.

• How are you getting to/from the airport (from home) ?

Prescription medicine - enough to last through the cruise and until you get home ?

Power strip WITHOUT surge protector ?  ...BTW, they're pretty hard to find...and RCI is starting to crack down on the ones with surge protectors

Collapsible clothes basket/hamper ?

Water shoes if you have any beach activities planned - particularly Labadee

We stay at the Residence Inn Cape Canaveral Cocoa Beach (8959 Astronaut Blvd, CC  321-323-1100) which is very nice BUT the reason that we stay there is b/c it is DIRECTLY next door to the Hertz car rental place.  We can rent a car at the Orlando airport and drop it off any time (usually after business hours) and then just walk over to the Residence Inn, spend the night and get the shuttle to the port the next morning.

 

Unless you stay well away from both Orlando and Port Canaveral, you are going to pay DEARLY for a 1 night hotel stay prior to a cruise.  They KNOW why you are there and they really gouge you on the price.