WAAAYTOOO

Lol. Yeah, I’ve noticed the same thing about the announcements. It’s especially bad in Central Park. Those poor people must be deaf by now. It’s like an echo chamber on there

Update on the noise issue When Joyce was at our suite this afternoon, she said that the Cruise Director has actually disconnected the offending speaker as opposed to just adjusting the output. Apparently there was no way to just adjust the output. I hate to think that they spent big money on a new speaker system just to have it removed. Someone should have anticipated that the noise level was going to be excessive. Maybe they did...maybe they didn’t.

The name of the third comedian at last nights comedy show was Jim Colliton

Never thought of a Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar. What a great idea ! We have never had any problem getting a Cabin Crawl organized through the Genie but it Is worth noting that I have read that some of the Genies are requiring that SC guests pay for this service now. I haven’t tried to do a cabin crawl in a couple of years (it’s a lot of work as, I’m sure, Queenbeecruises can attest) but some have reported that their Genie has told them that there will be a per-person fee to organize and execute an event such as a Cabin Crawl. My recommendation, for anyone hoping to host such an event, is to NOT mention “Cabin Crawl” at ALL, not mention it at all to the Genie pre-cruise, and simply tell the Genie a day or 2 prior that you need X,Y, Z delivered to the room on such-and-such date and time. I would think that a more spontaneous event, versus a long-planned event, would be less likely to attract the attention of the bean counters (who, I am sure, are responsible for this change, if there has been one).

It is SOP for the Suites Concierge to contact passengers in Grand Suites and above by email around 5 days prior to embarkation but sometimes they do not for one reason or another. I have always been the primary contact on every cruise that Dan and I have taken and have always been the person to whom the Concierge sent the “Welcome” email - until this past cruise on Brilliance. For whatever reason (no idea why) Dan received the Concierge’s welcome email and, of course, didn't mention it to me. Because I never received an email, I wrote to the Brilliance Concierge at which time she wrote back and told me that she HAD, indeed, reached out. Oops.... So, if you are expecting a Suites Concierge email and haven’t received one yet, make sure the email didn’t go to someone else. If you feel that you should have gotten an email and did not, you can reach out to them directly.

Mikael, your English is better than many Americans’. Excellent ! I am delighted that you will be on Oasis next week but reminding me that my cruise is nearly over is a major downer ! ?? I will be following. Thank you and welcome to the RCCLBlog.

I guess it’s worth mentioning that any deposit is non-refundable after the final payment date. I’m sure you know this but I just wanted to mention it.

That doesn’t surprise me at all ! So glad you were able to create a new addict ! ???

This is very interesting. Joyce told us, for the Music Hall concert, she would place some folded white paper “reserved” sign on the chairs and that they would have our suite # on them. I think this is their way of skirting “the rules”. Now, as it turned out, we did get the normal red drapes on our chairs but I think that when they feel they are in “rules violation” territory, they turn to this kind of alternative options for reserving seats. Let’s face it, sometimes they are caught between having to displease their clients or violate their SOP (she’s used that term SOP with me multiple times). The last thing I want to do is put my Genie in an uncomfortable situation. Sometimes I don’t like the answers (no reserved seating at the Jazz Club) but the rules are the rules. I need to remember that.

That sounds like such fun ! So who was the first to ask, “When are we going to do this again ?” ?

Last night we went to see the adult comedy show. Steve White and I cant remember the other guy’s name. Of course, there was Simeon... I thought they were all 3 very funny and we had a great time. Joyce reserved us seats but not in the front row (per our request). This brings up an issue that we (who travel in SC from time-to-time) are often faced with. If the Genie can reserve me a seat in the Comedy Club then why can’t she reserve me a seat in the Jazz Club ? IMO they are identical venues....open seating with on-demand bar service. I’m NOT questioning the Genie’s service. Actually, exactly the opposite. She told us that they are not allowed to reserve seats in “revenue” venues. Ok. So why is the Jazz Club a “revenue” venue (which it certainly is NOT. It is a complimentary venue) and the exact same venue-type, the Comedy Club, is not ? I guess it’s just one of those annoying inconsistencies that a Royal is so famous for. Back to the Jazz Club. We went to a concert on Wednesday night. I saw, in the Cruise Compass, that it would be a “Earth, Wind and Fire, Tower of Power and Stevie Wonder” kind of event. GREAT. Motown ! Perfect. Neither Dan nor I are huge jazz fans but we could go for some Motown ! Clue: When you go to a Jazz Club, no matter what they SAY is going to be performed, it’s a Jazz Club. It’s going to be Jazz. I think the performers (ship’s orchestra) are extremely talented and for what it was, they did an incredible job. But Jazz is just my thing. Had it not been extremely rude, I would have left after the first 30 seconds, but we sat through the entire first set. Many did leave quickly. Never again... ...and just to tie this whole post together, the fact that we did not have reserved seats mattered -0- zip, zilch. We had great seats arriving about 10 minutes prior to the show. OBTW, Twangster stood us up. Smart guy... ??? ”Jazz is not dead. It just smells bad”. —Frank Zappa

Update on the noise issue. The noise had become so obnoxious that I finally felt compelled to contact Joyce, our Genie, and complain. It was non-stop all day, every day. If it wasn’t the band, it was the DJ or some incessant babbling from a contest or whatever. I asked that we be allowed to speak with the Hotel Director. So now we have another example of how a Genie really can make things happen. Within minutes, Joyce was here and personally witnessed the unacceptable noise coming from the band and pool deck. She had the Cruise Director on the phone and they both agreed that the noise level was unacceptable. Since the Cruise Director (Bobby Brown, in this case) “owns” the entertainment venues, he was the one to affect the problem. He walked all the way from the Flow Rider area up to the pool children’s splash zone area (while on the phone with Joyce) to see if they could determine which speakers were the culprits. As we had suspected, it was the ones by the new Lime&Coconut bar. He adjusted them somehow and BOOM - problem solved ! Joyce said that if the problem resumes, just let her know immediately. We will drop the request to speak to the HD unless the problem resumes. Yes, you can still faintly hear the music (most notably the bass), but this is a cruise ship ! There’s going to be music. It’s no worse (now) than it is in the ATS. I’m satisfied.

I have heard the same thing, Sabrina, but we have always stayed in Galveston, so I cannot validate it.

We are the same way. I don’t care for making small talk with strangers so we have always requested private tables. It should not be a problem. Just tell the host/maitre’d that you prefer a private table. Also, some of 2-tops are place in rows where, even though they are only for 2, they are so close together that you might as well be sitting with others. Ask them kindly for a PRIVATE 2-top. If you are not happy with the table at which you are placed, ask them to please find another table. Don’t accept one that you aren’t happy with. You may have to wait, but you will probably be happier with a table at which you are comfortable.

We have friends that did this through a 3rd party and said that it was actually very strenuous. The wives in the group actually couldn’t keep up and opted to sit out part of the excursion. They did say it was beautiful.

When we were still dining in the MDR I found this event to be disruptive too. Never cared for it and don’t miss it now that we avoid the MDR.

Wow....tough question, really. The room is unbelievable. We like it better than any room we’ve ever had. I will say that the band noise has been horrible. I think that the band location and configuration is new with the amplification and I believe that there are going to be MANY complaints about the nonstop noise. It’s bad for us but I can’t imagine how it must be for those in Central Park rooms. I believe that there will be so many complaints that they will have to change where the band plays. I can’t believe they will be able to keep it as it is now. IF they solve the band noise, I would book this room every time. If they don’t, I would probably still book it. What I don’t know is whether the noise is a problem for those in the Loft Suites too or if it’s just us on the “ends”. As I said earlier, the only downside to the suite itself is the small balcony. It didn’t negatively impact us at all so it’s not a problem for us. It might be for some

Hmmm. I can’t remember off the top of my head but I have all of the info at home. We use Marriott exclusively and the last time we used points. I will get the info for you as soon as I can Dan says it was a Springhill Suites. His memory is better than mine.

We’ve never had a problem with this.

Royal Caribbean will not refund any money to you after final payment date but it is sometimes possible to upgrade to a higher category room. Since doing this is essentially a cancellation and rebooking, sometimes you will have to pay a $$ difference. That may be what is happening in your case

People often ask what the Genie can do for you and the answers are usually pretty much the same - reservations and personal seating being the norm. I thought of something while Dan and I were having dinner at Giovannis tonite. We out outside. The weather was so amazing. We were marveling at how mature and lush the Central Park garden has become. We then began to recall a special event that we had on our second SC cruise and I thought I would mention it to everyone. Those of you who have been reading my blogs for a while will probably be hearing this for a second time. If so, I apologize. A couple of years ago we were in an ATS on Harmony. We somehow managed to sail in between hurricanes. There had been cancellations and rerouting everywhere the weeks prior but we managed to get ours in just before another one popped up. As a result of all of the standing water from the storms there was a horrific mosquito problem on board. We could not even go out on our balcony without being attacked. It was really bad. Of course, we called our Genie (Reyno) and he had the pest control guy come up to help us out. We laughed when he showed up at the door with a spray can. There were literally millions of mosquitoes everywhere. To paraphrase the famous line from Jaws “Dude, you’re going to need a bigger can”. He immediately saw that his can was not up to the task and later we got a technician with a pump sprayer which took care of the problem easily. Well, it turned out that the guy who had shown up with the spray can in the beginning was Laszlo ( I used to remember his last name but it has escaped me for the moment), the head Botanist for Royal Caribbean and the creator and godfather of the Central Park gardens. He has personally designed and implemented every Central Park garden since Oasis. It seems that the “side job” of the ship’s botanist is that of pest control which is how we got him up at our suite in the first place ! Later in the day, Reyno asked us if we would like to have a personal tour of the CP garden with Laszlo. To be completely honest, at first I thought that might be a little lame but boy was I wrong. It was one of the most enjoyable tours I’ve ever taken. Laszlo LOVES his job and he loves to share his passion. He spent a very long time with us and told us so many little secrets about the plants, the challenges of having a live garden on board a cruise ship, how the plants are watered, why certain plants are chosen, etc. It was fascinating. So, the point of this whole story is to let you know that with Star Class, such personalized tours are extremely possible. I’m sure Laszlo is probably on Symphony since that’s the latest O class deployment but there is certainly someone of Laszlo’s equivalent on every O class ship. I know that they offer garden tours from time-to-time on the different O class ships but they generally will not be to the level that you will get with a private tour and your Genie can make that happen

Working perfectly (for now, anyway)

I agree that the chances of storm interference in TX is greater than in NJ but the options for alternative routes from TX are greater than those from NJ. If a storm is coming up the coast of the eastern US, there is nowhere to go from NJ. At least in TX you can go East, west or south. Other than the obvious (brutal summer heat), I don’t think there are any show stoppers with Galveston. The logistics are a BIT more complicated as you have to get from the airport to the port and back but it’s not a big deal.

We just love her. She is so “in charge” !

We have enjoyed our sailings out of Galveston. The ships are pretty much the same so not much of a choice to make there. Given the facts that the LIB is 2 days longer and it’s overall cheaper, it would be a no-brainer for me. The time of year could be a factor. Knowing that with summer storms, Galveston offers far more alternative routes for outmaneuvering storms than NJ would could be a factor. Of course, it is going to be blazing hot in south Texas in August ! I would choose LIB just for the extra days and price difference.