Laura P.

First holiday cruise for us and wondering the same thing! Our whole group was all in for 70s night on our most recent cruise and am hoping we can figure out the theme beforehand so we can pack for it.

We are going with four other couples and one couple is not vaxed, so they had to cancel their excursion. On another note, I am guessing the theme night will be 70s. I always see a handful of people go all out with theme-night attire, and we always wonder how in the heck they knew. I’ve searched old Cruise Compasses for this ship/itinerary, and it looks like it’s going to be 70s. We’re packing some fun attire!

How do we find out if our upcoming cruise has a theme night? We’ve been on many cruises where people are all decked out in 70s or 80s attire, but I hadn’t seen any information on it before sailing, so we didn’t pack anything or participate. Thanks in advance for any insight!

Just booked our Turks and Caicos excursions! Looks like it’s official!

Hi, Jim and Sher! I see that you found my post over in the general forum about the Grand Turk mystery on this February sailing. I am concocting all kinds of theories as to why the port hasn’t been updated. I’m wondering if the removal of vaccination requirements to sail is the reason as it appears Turks and Caicos requires all visitors to be vaccinated. Perhaps RC is holding out hope that there is still a possibility that the vaccine requirement will be dropped before our ship’s arrival. I can think of no other reason why it hasn’t been updated. I hate not knowing where we’re headed and am anxious to secure an excursion. As I’m sure you saw in my other post, our travel agent was passed around to several departments as she looked into the “absent” port, and she was told the substitute port was Costa Maya. We’ll see, I guess. Either way, we’re looking forward to setting sail with four other couples … and we’re all leaving the kids at home! 🏝 Laura

Thanks, Brian. Your experience really reinforces the risk in booking an excursion directly (outside of cruise ship offerings). I’ve never done it but know friends who have. I'll continue checking every couple of days for an itinerary update. We have a group of 10 so want to make sure we secure an excursion ASAP before they fill up … whatever island we end up on!

Our cruise is in 53 days and Grand Turk was the advertised port and is listed in our cruise docs. Yet, it doesn’t show up in some places online and in the app. We’d love to take advantage of all of the holiday sales and book excursions, but it doesn’t allow us to view excursions for the island. It completely leaves that day blank (yet Grand Turk still appears on other pages). Our travel agent called to investigate and - after being transferred to several different departments - someone in the Revenue Department finally told her the port was changing to Costa Maya. This conversation happened weeks ago, and the website and the app still don’t reflect the change. And, again, we don’t have the ability to book or even view excursions. This feels completely duplicitous. Has anyone ever experienced this?

Highly recommend using a travel agent. I have booked many rooms and have been able to take care of all details, payments, etc. The TA emails the the guests in each room their respective reservations and booking information (she also sends them to me). They will be able to access their reservation (book excursions, dining, etc.), and you will be able to link them to yours and take care of that as well. While refunds generally are credited back to the original method of payment, I’m not sure how RC credits would work with this scenario. Another reason to engage a TA.

Our NCL cruise was the last week before the world shut down - disembarked March 7, 2020. (I recall the ship head doc saying COVID is nothing to worry about.) I asked multiple people - room steward, guest services and anyone walking around with a tool pouch - hoping someone would give me a different answer. Said it was a safety issue and not allowed on any NCL ships. Not to sound dramatic, but it really made staying connected with our group more challenging.

It makes all of the difference. We usually get a connecting room for the kids, and the setup didn’t work for us to have an interior connecting door for our upcoming trip. We only proceeded with these rooms because of the connecting balconies. We tend to cruise with a lot of friends/family, and being able to access each other and through our “back doors” helps us all keep tabs on each other and more easily meet up to go to breakfast, head off the ship, etc.

On the last few RC cruises we’ve been on, we’ve had six or seven balconies in a row and have had the room steward/maintenance tech open the baffles between all rooms so that we can access them all via one, connected balcony. The last cruise we took was on NCL, and this practice was prohibited. Were we just lucky on our previous cruises or have others been able to connect their balconies on RC? (We’re on Allure at the end of May.)

Someone mentioned the 10-drink package. We’ve purchased those cards in the past but never really knew if/when they would be offered. It felt like we just stumbled upon them at random bars. Does anyone have insight on when these cards usually are offered (i.e., is it usually only the last couple of days)? I’d love to keep an eye out. Thanks!

Planning to pick an early boarding time for our cruise as soon as online check-in opens. Our flight doesn’t land in FLL until 9:30 and thinking we’ll go for an 11-11:30 boarding time (on Allure out of FLL). Question - what if we encounter delays and arrive a little late for our scheduled boarding time? Will we be able to check in right away or will we be moved to the end of the line/last boarding group?