thefoodguyjamesinasia

Hi RC Blog Friends, I just landed a great lasty-minute cruise for a sailing four days from now from Hong Kong. This upcoming cruise will put us over to the next C&A tier during the cruise. Does anyione know if RCCL will award us from Gold to Emerald during the cruise or would we have to wait until after the cruise?

Just booked a last minute cruise on Voyager of the Seas; it leaves this Thursday from Hong Kong on a five night trip to Taiwan. Plus, the Junior Suite is only US$34 more than a balcony class; get those double C&A points that I need.

From South China Morning Post..... Royal Caribbean International has arranged for another world-class cruise liner to make Hong Kong its mother port, to meet the growing demand from China. Ovation of the Seas, which cost US$1 billion to build and could host as many as 4,180 guests, will dock at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal this November after it finishes its 53-day world tour. This will be the largest cruise liner to use Hong Kong as its home port. During its time in Hong Kong, the new liner, with a displacement of 168,000 tons, will offer five shipping lines from the city to Taiwan and Japan, ranging from four nights to eight nights, according to Liu Zinan, the company’s China and north Asia-Pacific region president. Unlike Royal Caribbean’s other ships, Ovation of the Seas was tailor-made for the China market, with a special focus on Chinese food. Popular mainland film star Fan Bingbing will be the “godmother†of the new ship, the first Chinese personality to assume the post in cruise history. Traditionally, a female civilian is invited to “sponsor†a seagoing vessel, presumably to bestow good luck and divine protection on it. The company will collaborate with China’s Forbidden City Museum to display ancient artwork on the ship and introduce Chinese culture to guests through relevant courses. Royal Caribbean will partner with Xin Dau Ji, a Cantonese restaurant chain in Hong Kong, to offer over 20 dishes on each sailing from the city.

Hi Everyone, We are mostly all fans of Royal Caribbean; but how does that translate to other sister companies of RCCL; ie Crown & Anchor points, dinning, entertianment and overall experience; what are the differences. Both Azamara & Celebrity sail out of our homeport of Hong Kong but what are the postive driving points about taking a cruise with these sister ships? I am loyal to Royal but curious what else is out there... Thanks RC Blog Friends

I have booked what is in the best rate converted back to US$; for example our upcoming trip this Friday on Voyager was crazy expensive on the Hong Kong RCCL website. OK on the USA RCCL website and an absolute steal on the Australia RCCL website as they were doing a promotion in Australia. We booked through the Australia website in the end. I may need to pay a bit more by using my USA Bank of America RCCL Visa card but I love those double points and still saved a bucket load of money. We all live in a globally connected word so be sure to shop around for the best price and pick and choose where you can get the best cruise price. Heck, maybe the Mexico RCCL website has some even better deals....

Does anyone have epxerience at Giovanni's with order; we awnt to try lots of food, can one order as many starters and side dishes for sampling and each person one one main course?

I have not seen them so far on my RCCL travels....

I bet you the senior members/crew of the cruise are making more than US150,000 per year!!! Plus they have no real expenses when working... RCCL should pay a fair wage to all front of the line staff. However, RCCL really is paying a fair wage when they are hiring people from these less economic developed countries. At the end of the day, pay your front line staff a fair salary and let the Guests tip what they feel is right for their service received and for what their budgets allow. Heck, I am lucky, as I can cruise several times a year as where for others a cruise is a once, possibly twice, maybe three times in a lifetime opportunity. At the end of the day, your worked hard for your money and do what you think is right and within your budget and enjoy your cruise! For me, it's just nine days until our Voyager of the Seas trip to the South Pacifc and I can't wait to get out of cold, gray and rainy Hong Kong and experience blue skies and water as well as the great and wonderful Royal Caribbean service hospitality that we have come to know.

For the goodie bag that I put together I like to put lots of food in there; chocolates, packaged sweet mangos, crafted chili sauce, cute wall magnets, something special from my home town and a couple of loaded calling cards from where the ship is homeported as well as postcards and stamps.

By the way.. just to add in; I remove the auto tipping off my master bill and tip cash accordingly to the staff that I feel deserve the extra money. Additionally, I always bring a goodie bag for the steward and give it to him/her at the beginning of the voyage. This is gesture always ensures a bit of extra special attention to our cabin in my experience.

Just want to chime in here; as an American who has been living in Asia for over 18 years with some years in Europe as well; tipping is a VERY American concept. It is almost non-existent and rare in Asia, want to see more about why the concept of tipping is so American please check this out

We had two elderly couples from Scottland on my last cruise out of Hong Kong in July. Both men were wearing their highland dress with kilts, sgian-dubh, sporran & ghilles. The Chinese loved taking their pictures with these two dressed up gents, I still wonder if they thought these two Scotts were part of the crew, hahaha

This is a really great thread!!! With technology today, we are alwasy connected with the world; I would love to try it for a year, think of all the amazing people you could meet and their stories that have. Make a note that I would need to have a regular table in the Schooner Bar reserved

Cheers guys, much appreciated.

We are now less than 30 days until our 10 night South Pacific cruise on Voyager of the Seas out of Sydney. Never took a 10 night cruise so I have a question for you all. I have been told there are two formal evenings on a night cruise; does anyone know what days of the cruise would be; for example second & six nights..... We have to dress up for work and social fucntions here in Hong Kong; so a formal evening, dress-up dinner is not our thing so we were planning on hitting up some of the speciality restaurants those two evenings.

Have a two trips on the books: March 25, 2016 - Voyager of the Seas / South Pacific & July 3, 2016 - again Voyager of the Seas / Japan and thanks to this blog, we "found-out" about those huge aft-balconies cabins and booked those. Even have a two person hammock ready to put up when we get onboard.

Before sailing, we prepare a lovely Goodie-Bag for the stateroom attendant and give it to him/her on the first day of the cruise. We find that this kind act goes a long way for rewarding the attendant before the cruise starts. The goodie bag contains a variety of packaged snacks, nicknacks and a pre-loaded calling card for the ship's homeport country.

Heading on a South Pacific cruise this March on Voyager of the Seas. Never been to that part of the world, does anyone have any tips for excursions for Isle of Pines? Thanks in advance

News Flash - Voyager of The Seas and her slighlty younger and bigger sister Explorer of the Seas met on Sunday November 28th in Sydney Harbour and made the harbour look like a small bathtub. Thanks "Cruise Advice" for posting this wonderful video on Youtube. Up until Sunday, Voyager was the largest cruise ship to homeport Australia that title nows goes to her sister Explorer of the Seas.

I'm so addicted to cruising that I . . . I am still waiting for the 2016 summer cruises to be listed; hurry up Royal Caribbean, I don't want to book with another cruise line as we need to plan our family summer holidays yesterday!!!

Hello to our fellow RC Blog Friends, Recently I posted a question on how to rebook for a better price on a 10-night South Pacific Cruise out of Sydney that I purchased online through Royal Caribbean. Thumbs up to @JohnK6404 & @Lwlawor for you tips on calling RC directly. However it was not so easy….. Since I booked online from Hong Kong, they (Royal Caribbean) grouped my booking into the China market and only the Hong Kong office could handle my booking. The local Hong Kong office could NOT offer me the better and cheaper price options. What she did tell me (and she was so nice and accomodating) was that each country has its own pricing and to check out the Australian Royal Caribbean website. Following her advice, she said to cancel my booking and look at other the other online Royal Caribbeam country's pricing. Following her advice, I did and I found what I believe is a pretty decent deal…. I was able to book a ten-night Balcony Stateroom Guarantee for US$97.90 per night (including fees, taxes and port charges); is this a pretty decent deal??? By the way, can anyone shed light on what exactly what is a “Balcony Stateroom Guaranteeâ€; that is what I booked and since it is Voyager, I believe that all balconies have an unobstructed view; is that pretty much correct? Special thanks to our "Admin" Matt for creating and maintaining our fantastic blog for us all to share and contribute. Have a Great Day! Best Regards, thefoodguyjamesinasia

Thanks JohnK6404 & Lwlawor, I will give them a call.

Hi There Royal Caribbean Blog Friends, Greetings from Hong Kong. Just recently we booked a ten-night South Pacific trip for March on Voyager of the Seas that leaves out of Australia. We booked through the online Royal Caribbean website which was an ok deal, now the price has dropped considerably. To get the better deal, should I contact Royal Caribbean directly by phone and ask them to apply the better pricing? Thank you for the help! Best Regards, The Food Guy James

Hi RCB Friends, What to do, need your advice.... Our family took a 7-night VOS trip out of Hong Kong in July; it was simply awesome and can't wait for another RC cruise, so much so I booked online thorugh the Royal Caribbean website the March South Pacific Cruise on Voyager. At the time, it was only booked for my son and me as my wife could not make the trip. Now, she can make the trip, how do I add another person to the booking? Also, is there any benefit of moving this current booking to a travel agent or best just to keep it with Royal Caribbean? Thanks for your assistance!

For the 2015 Asia sailings; RC listed the sailing dates in October online. I believe DocLC is correct; the cruise line is probably attempting to book whole cruises and work with the local travel agents. For example, I booked with a Hong Kong travel agency for my last cruise in July out of Hong Kong on Voyager. Lesson learned was not to use a local agent as they were not service focused or flexible really in any way. On another note, you can see all the 2016 sailings from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal which has Royal Carribean listed. Lots of cruises this summer and looking forward to it. I just wish they would list the Asian cruises soon as the planning of a cruise is part of the experience.