Tammy LR

On 6/23/2022 at 12:07 PM, wordell1 said:

We also recently did this same cruise and largely agree with @Tammy LR.  Overall, it was worth boarding in Rome vs Barcelona for us.  Rome has a lot to do, and starting there allowed us to have extra days before and after.  

There were a few other issues we encountered that people should be aware of.  Beyond the issues with the app, a lot of the ships systems and processes are geared to reset in Barcelona.

1.  We had issues with our photos from the 1st part of our cruise being available to purchase on the 2nd. One of the photos was lost completely despite the crewmembers trying to locate it.  The others were recovered, but it took some effort.

2. We ended up with different waiters in the MDR/MTD as the waiter assignments were reset in Barcelona.  We liked out table location, so we elected to stay with the new waiter team.

In addition, the issues with the app, and cruise planner before the cruise made it impossible to prepurchase the UDP, or make dining reservations for the 2nd half of the cruise.  We weren't going to do UDP anyway so it didn't affect us, but for some this would be a big issue.  I had to call Royal to make my MTD reservations as neither the app, nor cruise planner allowed me to do it.

There were very few ship excursions in Barcelona - I guess the number of "Rome" passengers didn't justify them offering more. 

My 16 year old had to make new friends halfway through the cruise as the vast majority of teens boarded in Barcelona.

 

Again, this was worth it overall.  The above are more observations than complaints.  For us, it was no big deal, but I could see others being really bothered by it.

Those are all great to know. 

We didn't experience any of those issues (except the lack of excursions in Barcelona), so my hope is that they figured it out and are doing a better job with it now...we can hope! 

On 6/23/2022 at 4:58 PM, luv2sail said:

Thank you for this post.  We actually just booked Symphony for next summer, but board in Barcelona. After the fact, I realized that you could board in Rome or Barcelona on the same-ish sailing. I understand a bit more about it now thanks to this post. I am cruising with my mom. My mom rushed to  make a deposit before I could think through what I actually wanted to do. 

I'm so glad it helped. You're going to have such a great time. If you really want to go out of Rome, I imagine you could change it pretty easily. Either way, I have no doubt it's going to be a great trip.

One thing I highly recommend, wherever you board, is to get in at least a couple days prior to your cruise. 

Hi friends! 

So we just got back from a med cruise out of Rome, and yes, I'm still feeling those post cruise blues.

I wanted to let you know what I thought about the interporting cruise to help you make an informed decision before booking yours (or to help put your mind at ease if you're already booked on it).

When we booked our cruise, we had no idea we were on an interporting cruise and quite frankly, had no idea it was even a thing. About one month prior to sailing, when we couldn't get our app to work, we finally heard from RC that it would not work since we were traveling out of Rome instead of Barcelona. 

Truthfully, my husband and I were a little irritated by it, and although I still don't understand why it's so difficult, we would totally book this cruise again.

Here's why:

Since the amount of people embarking in Rome was so small comparatively, it was a complete breeze to get on the ship. 

As soon as we took care of show and dinner reservations, we were allowed into our staterooms and our luggage was already waiting.

Since most people were visiting Rome when we embarked, the ship was practically empty. In fact, when we got to Barcelona and the next set of travelers embarked, we saw a huge difference in how packed the ship was. Please don't mistake me... Royal Caribbean does a great job of controlling the crowds, but it was noticeable.

The crew members were fantastic and made us feel just as special as we would have embarking in Barcelona. 

We could still use the app on the ship to help us get around, as well as get the information we needed. We just couldn't use it to make reservations, which was no big deal. We had all our shows and dining reserved in about 20 minutes. (About 3 days before disembarking, we started getting notifications about upcoming reservations. I have no idea why the app started working, but it was nice.)

When it was time for us to disembark, we walked right off the ship. Absolutely no lines! When we left our room, we were off the ship and met our driver in less than 10 minutes.

I highly recommend the interporting cruise and my husband and I both agreed, we will definitely do it again.

So for those of you who are interporting, I hope this helped you see the great advantages to booking this cruise. And for anyone considering it, BOOK IT! 

It was awesome!

We're just back from our cruise and I used a lanyard some of the time and a waterproof phone case on others. 

When we were at the pool, I'd put my phone and my Sea Pass card in the waterproof case. That way I could use my phone right in the case without it getting wet and when I needed to use the Sea Pass card, it worked right in the case without having to remove it. I got them on Amazon.

Thanks again, @Matt. My husband ran up and got it from CVS. 

2 hours ago, Matt said:

I'm not certain if that will be accepted. They don't accept copies and recommend you get a replacement card if you lost the original.

Your local health bureau or even where you got the vaccine may be able to assist.

Okay, thanks Matt! 

8 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

I just checked us in today on the APP and when you view the set sail pass it ask you if you want it in your apple wallet.  It was able to put all of ours in my apple wallet.  It worked like Delta on their boarding passes!  I was doing my happy dance.  I did however, print them out also and I like to have my paper trail.

Oh my gosh. This is so cool. Unfortunately, we're on an interporting cruise, and can't use the app. Enjoy your cruise.

On 5/31/2022 at 11:36 AM, CruisingNewb said:

So.....during the last 7 weeks, both of our kids and both myself and my spouse have had colds and the flu non-stop to today.  We have 10 days to go until boarding.

We tested negative for Covid several, several times up to yesterday.  My kids and I are virtually symptom free from our colds/flu but spouse started getting sick again two days ago.  

Again, not Covid.

We are masking up and avoiding large crowds, but still maintaining trips to the store, limited hours of in-person work, and the kids are finishing up school this week.

Is it time to panic?  We CANNOT reschedule our cruise for this summer.

Should we have contingency plans or is it still too early with ten (10) days remaining before boarding?

I hope you are all feeling better soon. Good luck and keep us informed. I've been self-quarantining as best as I can. We test on Tuesday and I'm so dang nervous about it. 

So my husband lost his original vax card. He went online and printed them off so they're all on one piece of paper. The printed one should work fine, correct?

Congrats all! Have a great time!

On 6/2/2022 at 12:46 PM, Cello56 said:

On iPhones they simply appear in your wallet!

Ohhhh, please tell me how to do this. 

10 hours ago, Nursedebe said:

Does the app work overseas, I saw someone say on the you tube Q & A session suggesting it doesn't.   Also, will internet package work out of the country and is it worth it?  Sailing from Haifa, Israel 9-1-22

Not sure if that was me you're asking about...I did ask that question in last night's YT live. 

Unfortunately, we're on the interporting cruise out of Rome (which we had no idea was a thing) and have been told by Royal Caribbean that it will not be available to those of us boarding in Rome. 

We'll have a great time, but I must admit, we're just a little frustrated by this. 

On 5/28/2022 at 10:08 AM, 10-42 said:

Hey, you're not a geek, unless all (you, me and my wife) of us are geeks!  We are the same way but probably even worse.  We watch every Youtube video from the usual VLOGers, Matt (Royalcaribbeanblog.com), Danny (Harrtravel.com), Chris Wong, The Shiplife, Views and Cruise, Griff & Alyssa, et al.  We memorize the deck plan (well, as much as a 70 year old can memorize anything), we try to find several VLOGs of the stateroom we purchase and see what the stateroom looks like from many different angles and peoples perspectives of the stateroom.  

On one occasion I asked, in here or another cruise social media site, where exactly Muster Station E, or whatever it was, was.  Man O man, you would of thought I asked for the combination to Ft. Knox.  I got everything but the answer.  So, at least you got the answer you are looking for without any criticism and/or bullying.  

We do the same thing! I can't stop watching YouTube, but you mentioned a few that I haven't seen before. I'll have to check them out. Glad I'm in good company.

23 hours ago, jack_4321 said:

Deck 5 on the day you embark from the terminal 

Deck 3 when you get on/off at ports

Great! Thank you!

Thank you @wordell1 and @10-42  I appreciate it!! 

So I have a silly question…when we embark on Wonder of the Sea’s, what deck do we enter on? 
 

I know, I know…who really cares, but I’m one of those geeks that likes to get a sense of where everything is before I go. 

Does WOS have a place where we can rent snorkeling equipment to take off the ship when we’re in port? 

On 5/15/2022 at 3:18 PM, RCARD said:

Sailing on Harmony today from Port Canaveral .  Long checkin lines because boarding times not being enforced. 
Not good but we’re onboard now and all is forgiven

Have a great time!

On 5/10/2022 at 6:15 PM, SunnyDays said:

Hi. My check in day is May 11th, cruise departing from Rome.  I read on here that means midnight on May 11th, Rome time.. which is right now.  (20 min ago actually).  Yet the check-in is not open.  What’s up with that? Did I misunderstand? Thanks. 

So your app is working? The reason I ask is that our June 9th cruise isn't working on the app since it's an interporting cruise from Rome. I've reached out to RC and they are working on it. 

I did check in online and just waiting for the app to be fixed so I can upload our vax cards.

On 5/2/2022 at 3:07 AM, Carotthat said:

I wrote to the Port Authority regarding embarking (!) on a cruise ship: They said, there are now direkt public bus transfers from the train station to the cruise ship docks, 3€ pp. 

I wonder, whether this might be possible also vice versa?

That's awesome! Thanks for the info. 

Would anyone sailing on Wonder of the Seas in the next few weeks be willing to post pictures of the Cruise Compass for us?

Thanks, @Matt! 

On 6/10/2019 at 4:38 PM, function12 said:

The BBC!!!  Delicious!!!!

It is Baileys, Banana liquor, Rum, and Pina colada mix.  Pool side will put in a fresh banana too sometimes.

I just added this to my embarkation must-do list. I can't wait!

If we do self-assist debarkation, do we have time to eat breakfast on the ship?

On 4/27/2022 at 9:55 PM, Auto said:

Depending on where the ship docks, it is quite a hike from the dock to the entry of the port, and then a bit of a walk to the train station. When we disembarked in 2019, there were busses that ran from the terminal to the port entry, but it was a sea of humanity trying to get on one, so we walked it. I'm guessing it took 30ish minutes to walk from the terminal to the train station (this was also on MSC, so there's that). Also, the train is a commuter train, so the morning rush hour will be going on, be prepared.

Thank you so much! I appreciate the help.