Diesel

We had a double overnight in Bermuda last September and were pleasantly surprised to see the casino open at night.  It opened late (9pm as Irene said could be correct), but it opened nonetheless.

24 minutes ago, b_resh_uh said:

The percentage discounts are largely meaningless. If you monitor the cruise planner prices regularly you will often see that the final price with a 30% discount is cheaper than with a 50% discount!

The 30% discount is cheaper than the 50% discount because the 30% discount applies to both passengers.  The 50% discount only applies to the second passenger which is essentially a 25% discount for each passenger.

The 30% discount for each passenger is the best discount I've ever seen.  It ends up being about $70/person/day on most cruises at today's prices.  Obviously, some itineraries might be slightly higher or lower.

There is a small lounge area in the casino that typically played the primetime NFL games (MNF, SNF, etc.).  I would assume they would also play New Year's Day bowl games if they are available.  However, the seating is very limited.  You are correct that there is not a Playmakers on Allure.

8 hours ago, ScottD said:

I think they are only sold in cartons, but I recall the Newports being about 60-65 a carton on Oasis, the Marlboros are usually quite a bit cheaper, and almost always have some sort of sale during the week. 

I believe ScottD is referring to cartons purchased in the Duty Free shop.  Individual packs of Marlboro at the casino bar were $6.95 on Mariner in September.

We are on the May 19-26 sailing out of Barcelona.  It appears that there may be guests disembarking/embarking mid-cruise as there are 7-night sailings available on Oasis every 3 to 4 days alternating between Barcelona and Rome.  

We were on Mariner for the first time in September and loved it.  If I was forced to make a complaint about her, I would say the lack of specialty dining option.  Chops Grille, Jamie's, and Izumi Hibachi were all great.  Chef's Table was the only real other option for specialty dining outside of Johnny Rockets and Playmakers.  I don't really consider those two specialty dining as they are very reasonably priced ala carte.  Also note that Izumi only takes reservations for Izumi Hibachi and not for Izumi Sushi as there are only 6 chairs at the sushi bar available for Izumi Sushi.  The rest of the restaurant is Hibachi.  We had no trouble getting a seat the evening we walked in for Izumi Sushi.  Would also have preferred to have El Loco Fresh versus Dog House on the pool deck.  I hope this doesn't sound like rant because we would have no hesitation booking another cruise on Mariner. 

On 9/9/2023 at 11:52 AM, Cruisinthrulife said:

Has anyone had issues in the app checking in? It won’t upload “selfie” to finish process. Then it deletes and starts over. Thanks 

We checked in on the app shortly after check-in opened up on Aug 1st and didn't have any issues.

2 hours ago, Mr. K said:

Is there a charge for the pool tables at Playmakers? Are there more than 1 pool tables there as well? 

No charge for the pool tables.  Only 1 table on Navigator and it was fairly worn.  

You sure can!  Playmakers might now be our favorite venue for hanging out and putting our drink package to work.  Watched more soccer during our week on Navigator last spring than I've probably watched in my entire life!

I agree with most of the previous suggestions so will just add some additional suggestions:

Choose your specialty restaurant based on the cuisine you prefer (Steak, Italian, Sushi, etc.).  They're all great.

I'll add another vote for breakfast at Johnny Rockets.  You need to pay for lunch at Johnny Rockets, but breakfast is free!

We've rented a Jeep in Cozumel a couple times to explore the eastern side and southern end of the island.  Ernesto's is an option that is a short walk from the pier and can reserve online.

We bring clips to attach our beach towels to our pool loungers.  We also like to spend a good amount of time in the casino which results in smoky-smelling clothes.  We also use the clips to hang those clothes on our balcony furniture to air them out.  There is a sign that says not to leave personal items on the balcony so take this advice at your own risk

Be sure to ride the Rising Tide Bar at least once.  We like to ride it up to Central Park before a dinner reservation for a pre-dinner cocktail and then ride it back down to the Royal Promenade with an after-dinner drink.  

This one is sailing 3 months from today so thought it was time to get a discussion started.  This will be our first time to Bermuda and our first time on Mariner.  We are excited about both and also love cruises with overnight stays in port.

I see that Royal Caribbean is doing away with Sky Pad and going to replace the venue with a different activity.  I've never sailed on a ship that had a Sky Pad so never experienced it.  Curious what people thought of Sky Pad.  Was it something people enjoyed doing?  Was it a "Glad I did it but don't need to do it again" activity?  Did it seem like a popular activity with people lining up to do it?

Being fairly new to cruising (first cruise in 2017), the oldest ship I've been on was Majesty of the Seas on a cruise to Havana, Cuba during the brief time Cuba was open to American tourists.  Majesty is no longer in the RCCL fleet but really enjoyed the ship.  Wished we'd purchased Christmas ornament during that sailing as we've started collecting ornaments for the different ships we've been on.

I don't have any insight having never stayed in a wake-view room, but do love watching the wake and have additional questions.  When viewing the wake from public areas on the aft of the ship (i.e. - Deck 5 running track on Oasis Class), the wake can be quite loud.  I assume it's less noisy on the balconies of higher decks, but wonder if it is noticeable in the staterooms when the balcony door is closed.  Personally, the noise of the wake would probably make me sleep better, but my wife is a very light sleeper.

We loved the Southport Raw Bar when we were in Fort Lauderdale prior to our cruise.  It's actually just a little walk from you hotel.  It's at the west end of the canal north of your hotel.  Very low key and no need to dress up.  I would still recommend getting the water taxi pass.  Great way to get to different parts of the city.

We were on a 7-night cruise last fall that ended on Halloween.  There were some individuals wearing costumes and the Promenade was decorated but don't recall any themed events or parties.  That was when ships were still less than 50% capacity and more sensitive to social distancing, so that could be the reason for no party.

12 hours ago, BeachGal said:

@10-42 on a trip along the Mexican Riviera, ship time moved forward two nights in a row to keep up with local time, and then back to PST on the way back to LA.

We had the same experience on Navigator in April.  We flew from CDT to PDT to cruise out of LA.  Ship time went to MDT for stops in Cabo and Mazatlán.  Ship time went to CDT for stop in Puerto Vallarta.  We then had two cruising days back to LA where the ship time rolled back an hour each day, so we were back on PDT when we reached LA (kinda nice for sleeping in on those Days at Sea).  We then flew back to CDT on day of disembarkation.  Lots of adjustments on my watch for that trip!

As mentioned in previous responses, there are a lot of notifications onboard when the ship time is going to change (Cruise Director announcements over the PA, notes left in the keycard slot of your stateroom door, Cruise Compass, etc.)

We disembarked Navigator on Friday, April 22nd.  We had 11:15am flight out of LAX that same morning.  We walked off the ship carrying our own luggage at about 7:00am.  It took less than 5 minutes to disembark the ship, go through customs, and be outside the terminal waiting for our Uber.  We had to wait awhile for our Uber but were still at LAX a little after 8:00am with plenty of time to spare.  I don't necessarily encourage a morning flight the day of disembarkation, but this example gives an idea of how quickly you can disembark.

We used to always arrive a day before embarkation.  In 2018, we had a cruise out of Miami and were scheduled to arrive in Miami the day before embarkation.  We ran into some flight delays and cancellations which caused us to arrive in Miami airport only 4 hours before embarkation!!  We made it to the cruise terminal in time to board, but my wife now schedules us to arrive two days before embarkation!!  An extra day of vacation never hurt anyone, right?

CableCK, if you do decide to arrive a day early, I would recommend arriving at the cruise terminal a couple hours before your check-in time and tour the USS Iowa.  It shares the parking lot with the Navigator so can easily drop your bags at the terminal and walk over the Iowa.  We did this before our April 15 cruise on Navigator.  It was a very neat experience.  You can do a self-guided tour so don't have to worry about when tours begin or end.

Does anyone know how long of a walk it is from Royal Caribbean cruise terminal in LA to the USS Iowa?  Also, how early can we drop our bags at the terminal if we want to go check out the USS Iowa prior to boarding our cruise?

This is a little off topic for this conversation, but curious what the passenger count was on the recent Navigator sailings.  We sail on Navigator on 4/15.

Friends of ours were on Allure a couple weeks ago and experienced the same thing.  They might want to update the DBP description as it states that Crown Royal is still included.

Sandbar Sports Grill is a fun place to grab drinks and food.  It's also very close to Ron Jon, the beach, and some of the other places mentioned.

We will be on Navigator over Easter so also curious to hear if/what RC does for the holiday.

I don't remember Blackjack specifically as I don't play a lot of Blackjack.  However, they do have $5 minimum on Craps, Three Card Poker, and Ultimate Texas Hold'em.  I seem to recall seeing $5 on Blackjack also but can't say for certain.  The odds on some of the games are a little less favorable on the ships.  Getting a blackjack pays 6 to 5 versus the typical 3 to 2, and Craps only allows 1x odds.  The casino is closed while in port.