AlwaysRollin

I know this is an old post, but what did you end up choosing @CrimsonCruiser?   We're sailing on Explorer 11/27 and will be doing the ABC islands.. we have booked RIU Palace Antillas (Aruba) and hoping that it will be easy to get to.  We also booked through resort for a day as other posters stated, I'm glad it worked as I was a little skeptical about it.

I was on a 4 night Liberty, and we did not have a lobster night and the waiter explained those are on 7 or more night sailings.  We had a lobster night on a 5-night sailing on Oasis back in March sooooo...

Interesting that they don't allow CBD oil, even the type that has ZERO thc in it.... yet I just got off of Liberty, and each and every day I smelled marijuana, in the hallways of the decks, on the pool decks.. passengers are sneaking it onboard.  I'm not sure if the stuff that goes in vape pens has the marijuana smell or if its just old fashioned grass, but passengers are using it on board, as well as at port side.

Is there a way to link reservations after the online reservation system is closed (sailing tomorrow)?

Hi all,

We are sailing on liberty in Nov and would like to set up our my time dining to be able to sit with friends on the ship (they have their own separate sailing reservations).  How can we link it so we can be seated together?  Thanks in advance 

Another option that I'm actually learning of here on the forum is the idea of flying into Fort Lauderdale instead.  We're coming from DC and non-stops on our preferred airline are insane at the moment, about $1500 for 2 of us, it's a bit more affordable to fly into FLL, but not sure if the cost and hassle of Uber'ing from Fort Lauderdale to the Port of Miami would offset the savings of staying there vs the convenience of being in Miami.

We are flying in the day before and will likely prefer to travel mid day in order to allow us time to check in, go get some dinner, and come back and relax before heading to the port in the morning. Also, we typically stay at Marriott but I'm not limiting myself to that as this is only for 1 night.

On 8/7/2022 at 10:24 AM, ScooterScott22 said:

There are quite a few options and most are fine but would depend on your preferences.  How much do you want to spend, how long are you staying (when does your flight arrive, is it a short overnight), and do you belong to any loyalty programs are just a few thing to consider.  I have stayed at quite a few places there for work and once for a cruise so I’ll share a few thoughts.  

If you are doing just an overnight, and especially with a later arrival, the blue lagoon area mentioned above is a pretty good option.  It should be a little less $ than downtown, convenient to get to from the airport and has a few things like dining and shops nearby.  In the morning taxi or Uber down the expressway to the port.  The Hampton mentioned above is really decent and probably the best value compared to the others in the area.

Downtown is a better option if you have a full day or even maybe up to two days.  It is usually a little more but closer to the port and there are a few more things to do.  Bayside marketplace and the park are a very easy walk and there are some other options for sightseeing.  Most of the hotels in the downtown area have been around for a while.  They have been kept up pretty well but most are definitely not brand new builds.  More to the south of the port area, the intercontinental is probably the best choice, the Hyatt is a few blocks back and is another option as well as the JW.  North of the port area is a Hilton, Doubletree and Marriott.  Those three are actually all connected via a little mall (and a walkway from the Hilton).  They overlook the port and that little mall area has some dining and shops if you don’t want or need to venture out too far.

if you have more time or plan to stay for a while then Miami Beach or other areas might be more interesting and have more entertainment and dining options.

Happy planning. 

Thanks for the advice.  

Hi group, we're sailing on Explorer out of Miami later this year and was wondering what are your preferred hotels for convenience to the port?  Miami is a large city, we are going to fly in the day before, but the priority in hotel choice is for ease of travel to the cruise port.  Thanks!

Thanks y'all! this is great info.

Hi,

We have always stayed in balcony rooms towards the aft of oasis class ships.  We're sailing on Explorer OTS later this year and have the opportunity to save almost $150 by switching from a standard ocean view balcony to a Spacious Ocean View Balcony, the caveat is that it is directly across from the elevator. For anyone that has stayed in a cabin that is directly across from the elevator (in my case it will be the forward elevator on deck 8 of Explorer), how bad is the noise?

thanks.

We booked Explorer at Next Cruise in November '21, the Next Cruise agent told us that it was reamplified or whatever the terminology was... it was only after we booked and reading on this very forum that those upgrades did not happen.  So I do see how this is sort of false advertising when the Next Cruise staff has incorrect information. However, I'm still very excited to try a ship that is not an Oasis class for the first time.

57 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

I've experience it as well sometimes the input button works and sometimes it doesn't because they've disabled it. 

To get around that what I did was purchase a universal remote (that I always cruise with) that works with Samsung TV's and that has alleviated that problem for me.  

so the universal remote works when a Samsung remote doesn't?  wow... it was disappointing because we get the voom surf and stream internet package so we can stream movies on the laptop and use the TV as a bigger monitor than just watching a small laptop... I'll have to try the universal remote next time.

Just a little FYI.. typically I bring an HDMI cable and a remote from home (for the "input" button, we have Samsung TV's at home) to be able to play movies from our laptop.  This has worked on Harmony, and Allure, as recently as November of 2021.. however, in our balcony stateroom on Oasis last week, it seems that our "input" function from our Samsung remote was not working, the remote itself did function just fine (power, arrow keys, volume), so it seems they had disabled the ability to switch the "input" selection, as we also tried screen mirroring from a Samsung phone. 

I just got off Oasis, it's first sailing up to Canada, and unfortunately they were only able to allow a single Aqua80 performance, all others were rescheduled and cancelled due to weather.  It was really a bummer for us because the Aqua show is always our favorite.

we had a couple standard bottles in our luggage, no issue.  We also ordered the canned water through the ship, and were pleasantly surprised to find that they provided bottled water instead of cans in our room.

Thanks for all of the great info!  This will be our first time not doing a cruise in the caribbean, so I guess I'm not quite sure what to expect. I have done France and when we were there we used Viator for a tour and during past cruises I have spoken with cruisers who booked things with Viator, as opposed to the ship's offerings. If there's not too much difference in price, I'll stick with RC tours but now hearing from a St. John native, sounds like it is very walkable. 

Just wanted to bump this... anyone do any excursions they recommend here?

Hey all, booked Oasis June 5th, I'm looking for Favorite excursions or tours or things to do in Halifax and Saint John? Can be either booked through RC or from any recommended tour companies. We were leaning towards booking with RC, but only because Canada seems to be pretty strict with their Covid procedures and in case they shutdown anything, it would be the easiest to get money back...however, still open to exploring non-RC options. Thanks!

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

I just recently flew in day of because of my work schedule. I was on first flight and I brought my ticket from Air2Sea because they promise to get you to the ship.  Like others have stated, lots of factors can turn a day of flight into a nightmare.  I was lucky as I flew on American airlines first flight and no issues this time.

Does Air2Sea allow you to purchase your own ticket?  Part of my issue is that I HAVE to use an American Airlines flight credit or else it expires a week later (this is what brought on the impromptu search for a doable cruise in such a short time)..

"they" always tell you it's the smart thing to do to arrive into town the day before your embarkation.  Does anyone ignore this and just arrive on embarkation day (I'm referring to those coming in by air)?

So, on our 3 previous sailings, we always have arrived the day before and gotten a hotel in order to avoid any hangups.  However, due to an issue with my work schedule that I absolutely can't get out of, I have the choice of either arriving around midnight the night before embarkation, or just flying out early the next morning.  We actually haven't booked yet but the sailing is at the end of this month, well within the 45 day check-in window, so I'm assuming we'll get that last place time slot for boarding. For reference, flying from DC to Orlando, its a pretty quick flight and there's one that gets us into MCO by 0930.

I'd like to bump this post, just to see if anyone has any more recent experiences?  I'm debating getting a hotel near MCO and taking uber into Port Canaveral, or just getting the hotel out in Cape Canaveral as the prices aren't much more than the airport hotel rates. 

28 minutes ago, Matt said:

It's a good idea to look at a past Cruise Compass from the ship you want to sail on in order to get an idea of what entertainment options there are.

We keep an archive of past Cruise Compasses here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

This is gold, thanks!

Hi all,  we're looking at a 2-night sailing on Independence that goes out to CocoCay and back. Are there any shows (like the broadway shows or bands) during these 2 night sailings?  We've only done 7 and 8 nights in the past so I'm not sure what to expect in terms of the entertainment on board for a short sailing.  

16 hours ago, Kirsten said:

Thanks for the response.  That's disappointing.

very!

Wow these are great answers, thank you all for providing perspective. I think for now, we will be happy with our Balcony Cabins, and if we ever come across a sailing where the JS isn't quite double the balcony price, we may jump on it.... what I'd be afraid of is setting a new standard, and then not having the budget to spend on the other things like excursions and drinks etc... in the meantime, I'll try my hand at RoyalUp!