Mike T

20 minutes ago, twangster said:

Having lived on St. Thomas and done the car and passenger ferry to St. John many times I'd be very careful doing this on your own.  7am to 3pm is not a long time in port and the ferry service is run on island time.  On good days it runs fine and close to schedule.  Then it doesn't.  

Even the ship booked excursion to St. John leaves little time on the beach, often less than an hour.  There is a reason for that.  They purposely leave early coming back because they know.  

Just taking the taxi to Red Hook and back can have challenges.  If the road is blocked one way it can turn into a very long trip back the only other way to get back.  

When we ran into bad traffic we usually went home and tried another day.  That option doesn't work well during a visit on a cruise ship. 

This is great info @twangster, Thank you!  Maybe I will regroup my thoughts on this and take in something closer to port.

Most of our sailings RC sponsored excursions are sold out...so I am working on trying to make my own plan/sight seeing excursion and need some help from those that have done this...

We are docked at St Thomas from 7a-3p....Seems like it may be best to get off ship as early as possible and take a taxi early over to the Red Hook Terminal to go over to St Johns Cruz Bay Terminal.  If we wait until the 10a Ferry from Charlotte Amalie as we would be sacrificing a couple hours of time between waiting for that 10a departure and the time it takes to get over there....and then have to catch return ferry from Cruze Bay back to Red Hook  because times available every hour and we could catch 1p back to Red Hook....then taxi back to Charlotte Amalie....

Anybody done this and can advise how long of a taxi ride it is? 
Is the 1p return ferry enough time or should we consider the noon ferry back? Obviously don't want to miss the ship leaving... 

Or should we just stay on St Thomas and find something there?  I enjoy taking photos and really would like to try to see as much as we can but realize it's a short day.

Any advise is welcomed.  TIA!

DBP is $72.99 + 50% off 2nd one, currently.  When they take the 50% off, it has been going up to $77.99. 

Unlimited Dining is $225.99

3 Night Dining is $112.99

Chops +1 is $84.99

150CP , Chops is $54.99

Jamie's, Hooked  $45.99

Izumi $28.99, Hibachi $54.99

Wonderland $50.99

17 minutes ago, Maggie M said:

That's unfortunate, for sure. Maybe something you can mention in the survey at the end of your cruise and something you'd like to see in the future; the ability to book all your UDP nights via the app?

That's not a bad idea.  Thanks Maggie!

18 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

With the packages you HAVE to wait until you board, that's the tradeoff for the discount. 

Ahhhh...thank you.  And we did get a smoking deal at $102!  Chops was $55, Chops + 1 was $85...so I thought $102 was really good!   We really enjoyed Chops the previous 2 sailings on Freedom.

Hi all...Our check in for 2/25 sailing on Symphony opened today (done)....I got us checked in and it also opened up allowing to book shows.

My question is, I'd like to book our dining and we purchased the 3N dining package and it's currently sitting on night 2.  If i try to make reservations at one of the places, it's wanting to charge for it as if I was buying a single visit? 

Do I just need to wait until we board (as I have heard others say you HAVE to wait until boarding?  Obviously don't wanna miss out on our other 2 nights dining if reservations fill up.

On 1/5/2023 at 8:55 PM, The Cruise Junkie said:

One thing I wish Royal did is add more options for the three-night weekend cruises out of FL to other ports in the Bahamas such as Bimini or Freeport, so it is not always Nassau every cruise. 

A friend of mine and her family just went out of Tampa last week and I'm pretty sure it went to Nassau, Bimini and Grand Bahama along with PDCC...I think they were on Serenade of The Seas...

I thought that too when first announced as my Wife is really picky and I'm a little more open about trying SOME things....the MDR didn't do much for us when we sailed on FOS and we went to WJ for most meals.....but, I was looking at them again...I think the Welcome menu and Caribbean Night have my interest.  And while I'd prefer crab legs to lobster, I want to take advantage of that so I need to remember which night that is...

My question now is...outside of the lobster, can you order a couple entrees in MDR and multiple appetizers like 2-3 shrimp cocktail?

If it goes down, call and cancel and rebuy at lower price...

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

As any good TA would tell you. Don't go chasing Waterfall cabins. Please stick to the balconies and ocean views like you're used to.

That's a winner right there! 

How in the heck can a ship this size turn fast enough to cause this?  And as for a wave...you're talking about 200'+ off the water line on that deck!  No way it was a wave and I find it hard to believe it could be from sharp turn.  I wonder if it were a water pump of some sort to pool and it wasn't realized and just overfilled and flooded?  

1 hour ago, mike2608 said:

Have you tried the Air2Sea program thru RC?

Mike - EDIT as I should have posted this to @WAYNO

We used it 2x and had no issues.  I do a lot of research prior to booking and the rates I got from them were within a few bucks of what I was able to find on travel sites as well as direct with the airline.  The upside is, if there's an issue with flights, they will handle getting you where you need to go.  As for hotels, I don't know if they do that..>I think they do but didn't use them for that part.   I did find some okay deals on Air BnB for our cruise out of Miami...found a South Beach Studio for less than some of the hotels out by port.

24 minutes ago, DDaley said:

This is correct! 

Thank you!

12 minutes ago, Mturk said:

TBH not 100% sure as we usually have the DBP and, since we hit Diamond, the refreshment package.

Yeah...we have DBP and Refreshment so I am not sure either...LOL!  She's a first timer going next week and freaking out over all the info so I'm trying to help her. 

12 minutes ago, Mturk said:

Bottled water would not be included. Your friend would need to get a refreshment package. There is also a water bottle package that can be had as well.

So what kind of water is included in base fare?  Water filling stations and tap water?

I understand tea/lemonade/flavored juice and water are included with base fare...but is that water bottled or is it from a water filling station around the ships?

Asking for a friend who is sailing at end of month on Serenade out of Tampa....

I wasn't sure cause I just buy a drink package for me and my Wife.

17 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Just a heads up - seat maps are not an accurate representation of actual passenger loads/counts. That can go either way - the plane can appear full when it really isn't (because seats are set aside, but not booked), or it can look empty but is full (because tickets are booked without seat assignments). I have experienced both many times. There are websites where you can pay to get a more accurate idea of passenger loads because of available inventory counts in each fare code, but that obviously doesn't seem worth it to a casual traveler (or even many road warriors for that matter). 

I didn't even think of the set aside and not booked.  If for some reason we end up with a straggler in our row, we'll swap around.  Was just trying to have a little extra room for the Wife and I since we fly out at 540am...It was supposed to be like 710a and it's changed 2x.  Hopefully we can get into our Air BnB in Miami early...if not, we'll be toting bags around SoBe for a few hours.

I made final payment a few days before it was due...we had booked a couple months ahead of that.  Our TA had already assigned our seats but when it finally got ticketed was when I could make changes to it.  We actually didn't mind the selection but did move from aisle/middle to aisle/window in hopes we might just have the two of us in our row.

It's the first flight out of Indy to MIA on 2/24/23 and as of now, our plane isn't even full.

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

In my long life as a woman.....j/k I am only three and a half years old, a pedicure should always include a polish. 

LOL!  Well, I know this but didn't want to assume that to be the case based on Royal's Description of services.

Was thinking of getting my Wife the Fire and Ice Pedicure on Symphony when we sail in February.  Any of you ladies done this and does it include getting the nails painted?

It's description reads:
This super rejuvenating pedicure will warm your senses and cool your tension with our therapeutic hot and cold therapy. Savor the sublime as your feet and lower legs are soothed with our cooling gels and then warmed with a muscle-melting heated stone massage. This combination of hot and cold, plus aroma-therapeutic ingredients promote healthy-looking skin and nails.

PS - From the subject line...I know dudes get pedicures also...I happen to ref HS basketball and it's a treat to get one during the season to rejuvenate the dogs!...I just don't get them toes painted).

11 hours ago, WAYNO said:

Yep, we got our Royal Up email.  I'm not gonna even try this time.  I've never been successful, and we have two very decent cabins already.  Good luck to those who are gonna try.

Thought about pulling our bid back and just staying but we bid minimum amount and Ocean View would nice.  Had OV once on Freedom and enjoyed it at night.

Anyone get their Royal Up email?!  We're in a CP Balcony but put a bid on Oceanview Balcony.  Good luck to everyone!

Anybody taken the 2 hour island tour via taxi?  is it worth it?  We're looking to see some sights, shoot some photos.  Would this be worth it?

If you can score the 3 night specialty dining package for $112/pp, that's not a bad deal considering Chops is about $55 by itself.

It's that price and once you sit down, you can order the entire menu if you want.  When we sailed on FOS in January for my 50th and my daughter's 16th birthdays...we each ate a couple shrimp cocktails each (okay, I might have had 3 or 4...LOL)..tried a couple entree and several sides.  It's a nice change from MDR and Windjammer and we have had TREMENDOUS service in Chops (at least on FOS the 2x we have sailed it).  Hoping for the same on SOS in February.

13 hours ago, Ticca said:

Thank you!  I found a hotel with transport to the port.  Now I just need to find us a ride back to the airport!

For that many people...You might consider the RC Bus Transport from Port to Airport.  It's reasonably priced at like $16/pp and easy to find the bus after disembarking the ship.  I was going to Uber from port to MIA airport and decided while curising it might be easier to just use their service with all the people coming in and going out via Ubers to just board their bus ...so we went to guest services and they added it to our bill.