Peter D

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Did they take you to the ferry port? 

Yes.  I believe that was it.  When we were ready to go back to the ship, we had to wait for the ferry to dock... unload everyone and everything.... reload... and leave.   Still was better than the other tendering port.

In my opinion, the easiest thing to do is take the water taxi over to Philipsburg.  The beach there is decent and there are plenty of places to eat and shop.  The potential downside is the cost of the beach chairs (but not needed if you like) and the beach vendors (people peddling stuff, but will take no for answer).

I'd also recommend the 'Yoda guy' museum in Philipsburg as alternative to beach day, but it might not be that interesting to 3 and 5 year old.

We just got off Odyssey in May and we opted to do the 'Best of Santorini'   

Santorini tour included visit to Oia and Akrotiri tour with a pretty good luncheon with Greek Wedding vibe.  The biggest benefit I saw with the best of Santorini was that the tender took us farther away from the usual port to catch the buses and used it to return to ship.  In hindsight, this was very valuable to me.  We were able to completely avoid the cable car with its 12 euro cost and wait times (excess of 1.5 hours) and the 'donkey trail, which sounded very treacherous from all the stories I heard on board.  The tour also went straight to Oia which probably lessened the crowds as there were 3 cruises in port that day.

We just got off Odyssey in May and we opted to do the 'Best of...' versions of Santorini and Mykonos, and the 'taste of Crete'.  I think of them all, the Santorini one was the best value and the Mykonos was not worth it at all.  Crete was unremarkable, but it was fine.  

Santorini tour included visit to Oia and Akrotiri tour with a pretty good luncheon with Greek Wedding vibe.  The biggest benefit I saw with the best of Santorini was that the tender took us farther away from the usual port to catch the buses and used it to return to ship.  In hindsight, this was very valuable to me.  We were able to completely avoid the cable car with its 12 euro cost and wait times (excess of 1.5 hours) and the 'donkey trail, which sounded very treacherous from all the stories I heard on board.

Mykonos tour was not good and very expensive.  The tour takes you to Delos for a guided tour of the ruins which was good, but I think there are plenty of trips and options to do that off the ship, in town.  Our tour did not offer any time in the town of Mykonos which was very disappointing.  I would not recommend the best of tour at all.  If I go back to Mykonos, I will just go to a beach and probably the town itself.

On 6/2/2023 at 6:00 PM, Ampurp85 said:

I believe it is on 2 of the 2br GS on Allure/Oasis. Then the 4Br Villa on Harmony/Symphony and a couple of star class cabins across the fleet. However, they are few and far between, so OP might have a hard time booking one since suites go pretty fast.

Do they empty and clean these suite hot tubs after every sailing?  Do they monitor water quality throughout the cruise?

I just finished my post cruise survey for 10 night Odyssey of the Seas Greek Isles cruise.  The dining room staff did mention the importance of the survey, and may have dropped the 10 request, not 100% sure.  What is interesting is that the survey did not ask about it.  Has anyone else seen that the question was eliminated all together?

Just got off Odyssey for 10 night Greek Isle cruise.  We had a JS (9612) and it was a great room with two bathrooms.  Never seen that before and it was very pleasant surprise.

I am a fan of it and the quantum class in general.   Odyssey in particular has excellent shows (Effectors, Showgirls-past present future, and the Book (in 270).   Seaplex is a cool places with bumper cars, laser tag and many sporting options.  It also has playmakers.

Frequently quantum ships will have very good cover bands (DSB, No Quarter etc ) in Music Hall.

Food quality is generally good.

I agree that the ice shows and aqua shows of Oasis ships are sorely missed.   Esplanade vs Promenade is fine with me either way.

As a side note, we had Mike Szwajkowski and I thought he was quite good and one of the best CD in my opinion.

I just heard while on Odyssey that Effectors 3 will also be on Icon.

Just heard while on Odyssey that Effectors III will be on Icon as well.

26 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

@Peter D in your example the obstruction balcony cost more. For the OP this could be the opposite but either way GTY doesn't guarantee you anything but the cabin category.

However those obstructed rooms are usually by the lifeboat. This is usually deck 6.

It is true that the pricing makes no sense.  The 'we pick' price is only $1388.

More fuzzy math....  In any case, obstructions do seem possible.

As a slightly off topic, I tried once to book a 'We pick' Balcony on Oasis through Next Cruise.  I was informed that the published GTY was for a GTY Neighborhood view balcony.  If I wanted a GTY ocean view, it was different (unpublished) price, but I could specify it.   It would not have been evident just looking at the RCL web pricing system.   

What is interesting is that right now, that sailing shows two options in the 'you select' mode and one is specifically identified as obstructed.  That suggests that you can pay for additional quality of GTY to avoid obstruction.  

I doubt they can do that and I would not want to risk it.  I think you are better off paying the final payment before you leave for your cruise, so there is no issue.  

Last year was the first CK experience for us.  We dined in CK nightly, but because we had different waiter nearly every night, we opted to tip a few bucks each night.

There is a robust discussion on this thread. 

This is also the website for Canada admission.   https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/inadmissibility.html

Does not sound very promising to travel to Alaska via Canada with DUI convictions.

I do not have any experience on that itinerary in May/June, but I have done the Canada cruise before.  I'd expect cool temperatures while at sea.   Barring any storms, the wave conditions should also be pretty good.  New England weather in late May is typical in 60s, so I would expect similar or maybe cooler while at sea.   The outdoor pools on the ship will likely be pretty cold, but the Solarium pool will be nice.  There is always hot tubs.

18 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I've never had any crew member other than the MDR waiter give me the "give us 10s!" speech

It is peculiar how it is always dining room staff that mentions the survey and asks for 10s.  On Voyager in March,  I answered the question 'did anyone ask?' as yes for the first time ever.  The head waiter did so over the announcement during 'dance' night.  Maybe its a way that dining is trying to get 'disqualified' from the survey results.  If there is a top tier event Q&A opportunity, it would be interesting to probe about this question and the survey.

All of our August Juneau excursion have greyed out 'Reserve' with note. "Sorry, we’re working on enhancing excursion options. Check back soon". 

On port days, the Northstar goes straight up and then down.  One thing about that is it actually goes higher than it does when it swing out over water so the view of a port is quite cool.  I have done the over water experience, but not since they began charging for it and I would not personally pay for it.  I think the length of the experience is about the same.  When it goes straight up, it stays up there for a few minutes. 

The mattresses are generally too firm for us, but we always ask room steward for additional topper.  They have no problem adding them, and it makes the difference for me.  Bottom line, they might be able to improve it for you, so ask.

We were on Voyager in March.  They would not serve both entrees at the same time.  We did not insist, but rather just rolled with it.  One thing we noticed is that each entrée was piping hot.  I don't know if it was because waiter went to galley and get the second one when time to serve it or if they had means of keeping it hot in service area.  Either way, not sure if that was a result of 'one at a time' or if it was unrelated.  In general, all food on this particular sailing was very hot.

On 4/8/2023 at 10:44 AM, hugh said:

My partner and I are part of the lgbt+ community my partner is gender fluid so sometimes wears more feminine outfits,they wish to wear a bathing suit at the pool some days just looking to find out if they would be met with much resistance from other guests any input would be great thanks

All Guests are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.

Guest Conduct Policy (royalcaribbean.com)

Do the Quantum class ships no longer offer complimentary iFLY?  I remember that they previously offered free versions (about 1 minute fly time) and pay version that had longer fly times.  The cruise planner version costs $29 (on Odyssey), but it is sold out.

Does Allure offer All Access Tours?  If so, did you consider requesting it from your Genie?

Here is the train link.  https://www.alaskarailroad.com/  Last year we did the Seward to Anchorage leg in Goldstar service and it was really excellent overall (though the dining was poor, likely due to early in season/startup).  The outdoor viewing platform was awesome.  I would expect the Anchorage to Seward trip is also very good, but if I were going to do it, I'd try to go early and spend a couple days in Seward pre-cruise.  

On board Voyager, an interesting  observation that I didn’t anticipate based on the original “Uncork more savings”.   The wine discount perk mentioned above in “uncork”  comes at the expense of a drink voucher.   So basically $14 drink voucher to get 20-40% off bottle of wine.