KDK

Mykonos is very easy to do on your own. Get off the ship as early as possible to get on the water taxi and take photos in the Old Town and by the windmills. We then went to the bakery and to a delicious taverna for a Greek lunch. Afterwards, we went on our own to the beach.

I flew into Bologna and out of Marco Polo in Venice. The Bologna transfer is much, much easier! Super fast and you have the option of taking a very inexpensive and quick train ride or taking the Royal Caribbean shuttle from either the airport or train station. 
 

Royal Caribbean also has a shuttle from either Marco Polo or city center in Venice.

They changed the itinerary just a few days before we left on the cruise. It wasn’t that Southsider was complaining about being disappointed with the original itinerary. The new port was not at all a place that had the same level of guest engagement or opportunity. I completely empathize with their disappointment and frustration. 

I was on your cruise on the same deck. Same issues with ceiling noise and MTD. The MDR food was also pretty disappointing. The Kotor situation was a huge disappointment. I did enjoy the itinerary, however. We think this will be our last cruise with RC.

Just got off Explorer and the MDR food was very disappointing, particularly the red meat dishes: steak, roast, prime rib, etc. full of gristle, fat etc. people next to me ordered premium and had to send it back. 
 

On the other hand, the service was wonderful, which leaves me in a bind when I give my review to RC. I don’t want the staff to be penalized for food quality over which they have no control. 

Thank you all for your helpful advice! We had a great day in Mykonos and Agios Stefananos was perfect for our needs.

I just finished my cruise and Mykonos was a port that we found didn’t need an excursion unless you want to see Delos. We had an amazing time on our own. Disembark as early as possible and take the first  seabus to old town (4€ round trip per person no credit cards). The old town was empty and perfect for exploring the windmills, Little Venice and gorgeous streets. We took tons of amazing photos. Then we went to Giora’s Medieval Bakery (running since the 1400s) for amazing baklava and spanikopita! We had a delicious Greek lunch of tzatziki, Greek salad, grilled octopus and fresh grilled fish at Vegera in port. We then took the sea us back to old port and walked to Agios Stefano beach which had beautiful water and stayed there until time to return to the ship.

I have a few questions about passports. 1) Does royal Caribbean keep your passport for the duration of the cruise in Europe?

2) if not, do you take your passport with you on your excursions in case of an emergency or do you leave them locked in your cruise cabin safe?

People seem totally split on this and now I’m confused what to do.

My daughters would like to go to the beach at Mykonos. The royal Caribbean excursion only has departures left for 930 instead of the 830 time we want it does anybody know how easy it is to get to the beaches on our own? Also, does Royal Caribbean have a shuttle that brings us to old town? 

How long do you think it will take them to make a new plan for us? It’s confusing because it’s still listing Kotor on the app and absolutely nothing on the website.

I’m trying to contact different agencies to see if there is a way to get transport from the port to the little town where the excursions leave from. 

10 hours ago, Jensplace said:

I cannot find any tours in Bar anywhere. Hopefully Royal adds some excursions quickly.

I’ve been spending a lot of time researching, and it seems like a great place to go is to Lake Skadar. He would take a traditional wooden boat cruise through the lake maybe swim in a few locations and then have a fish lunch, which is a specialty of this lake region. I have contacted a few tour companies to see what the possibilities are to get transportation from bar to the lake and whether it is possible within the time constraints we have.

I’ve spent much of the afternoon searching in vain. I really would love a transfer to Skadar Lake, a boat tour, and then a fish lunch. Can’t believe that I can’t find an option.

Royal Caribbean just changed our itinerary from KOTOR Montenegro, which I was very much looking forward to going to to another location called Bar. I’m super super disappointed. Does anyone know of any exciting things or beautiful things I can see in this new location?

Really disappointed to just get the message that our trip into Kotor Bay has now been replaced with a much more underwhelming Bar, Montenegro. Does anyone have any suggestions for interesting things to do there? 

I am cruising on June 25. On the first possible day to check in I checked myself in on the app and got an 1130 check in time. I thought that also included the other members of my party however when I just looked on the app I saw that my children one who is a minor and one who is 19 we’re not in fact given a check in time and now the only time available is 1230. Will they allow my children to check in with me or do we all need to wait until 12:30 now?

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I took a photo of the menu at Cafe Promenade but the internet is such crap that I can’t upload it.  

As @ChessE4 said, there are iced options but nothing called “frozen”.  I will try again later to upload the menu photo.  Sorry.

Thank you for going above and beyond! I really appreciate it!

My daughter is interested in the coffee card and was wondering if on the Explorer of the Seas a frozen coffee beverage was available and eligible if you purchase the coffee package. 

28 minutes ago, SPS said:

I can second all of this as it relates to my wife's GF needs. I'm surprised by @Montemy2419 being told "NO" about so many items in the MDR with advance notice.

I do remember that the old menus had a wheat sprig icon next to items that were either already GF or available to made GF. This really should be added.

Would you mind sharing which ship you were on?

16 hours ago, Montemy2419 said:

We have cruised on Oasis and Wonder last month and two different experiences.  On Oasis the Head Waiter showed me the menu on his phone for the next day, NOTHING IS INDICATED AS GF, and I had to scroll thru.  RC used to list Vegan as well as Gluten Free so if they can still include Vegan why leave out the Gluten Free people ?  I felt very rushed and I would almost have to ask about each item before he would finally say that the dish is something I could have.  

On Wonder I was handed a menu and the fantastic Head Waiter Sydney would mention the 1 or 2 appetizers I could have, same with dinner and almost every night there was NOTHING as an offering for dessert. I finally learned on about day 3 and got Udi's cookies from Park Promenade to bring  in the dining room for dessert.  They had Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Chip and it is kept frozen but does thaw quickly.

Be careful if you eat at El Loco Fresh because on Oasis I could have about 5 things while on Wonder only 2 or 3 items were ok for me to eat.  Just don't assume that the same items on a different ship are gf.  As you are used to I'm sure is to ask lots of questions.

If you want to eat anything after dinner about your only option is gf pizza.  I ate almost all the snacks that I brought because I can only eat late night pizza so many nights in a row.  My suggestion is to pack plenty of your own snacks and bring small storage containers.  We finally started getting food from the Windjammer during the day to store in the refrigerator so I could have some fruit in the evening.  The Windjammer had lots of gf food and I was well taken care of for snacks, meals and desserts.

You have confirmed my fears. 

7 hours ago, MaryCS62 said:

For my GF daughter, safest option is to have scheduled dining (NOT MTD), so that you have the same waiter pairing every day. Also, go to your dining room when you first board, introduce yourselves to the headwaiter, and inform him/her about the issue. They will be on top of it and be an extra layer of protection.

Thank you for this. I requested scheduled dining and they put me on a waitlist. Now, I've reached out to the special services for food allergies and they forwarded my request to the dining manager. I have my fingers crossed, because right now I only have MTD reservations. 

Did your daughter ever order gf from room service?

It was $58 per person for us

On 1/23/2023 at 1:23 PM, Jo Gallagher said:

Just booked this - our first ever cruise. I'm excited but nervous about all the options currently planning getting from Venice to Ravenna. I believe there's a shuttle run by Royal caribbean. Anyone else booked this?

I booked the shuttle at the end of our cruise back to Venice center

I wanted to sign up for just an internet surf package without the streaming option. Is that offered anymore? I don't see it as an option, but I know that it used to exist on previous cruises. I will be on Explorer of the Seas.

We flew out the night before our cruise to Europe. Horrible rainstorms shut down all of the flights out of New Jersey. We missed the first two days of our cruise and had to pick it up at the next port missing both the sail away and the first day at sea.