monorailmedic

Just now, Traveler said:

You mean something like that :

Not sure , maybe it can add more option to the 7 days menu  

That looks way nicer than what I was picturing - you've got my attention

21 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

...I think RCCL is losing their "personal touch" with their clientele.  To me, nothing replaces that "one-on-one" sales experience....

Completely fair perspective for you to have - I'd never suggest your opinion is wrong (especially when submitted with such a great gif btw  ).  I suspect that most guests are looking for quality service in many aspects of their cruise, but for buying a pair of headphones they forgot to bring, or some acetaminophen (two random examples), I think most guests just want their merch and aren't perusing the analgesics and personal audio device selection for the experience or ambiance.

Now, if you replace the MDR with an automat, that may be crossing a few lines  

I've actually not used AirBnB (nothing against them though) but from what I recall don't many places require a mutli-night stay?  I know some extend their cruise by a bit, but it seems many just stay the night before.  There are many hotels in the FLL area that are a lot cheaper than those popular with cruisers.  While I'm local, when I see those rates I usually think that I'd opt for a place 5-10 miles away for what is sometimes half the price.

I appreciate that I won't have to worry about shop hours for certain items.  I suspect however that these will remain off while in port, just like the shops do.

On 10/29/2018 at 9:20 AM, Matt said:

@monorailmedic wrote this post about watching ships from Port Everglades: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/27/where-watch-cruise-ships-fort-lauderdale

As much as I love taking credit for others' work, Michael Poole wrote that - I just added some pictures and a map pin   

On 10/22/2018 at 5:20 AM, radroach said:

Thanks guys, this was excellent information and just what I was seeking for - going for it now definitely 

Very much enjoyed the podcast also, thank you.

Glad you found the info helpful and enjoyed the show.

Report back and share your thoughts on Wonderland!

Welcome!

If cruise addiction is a disease please don't give me the treatment, I'm happy with my cruise habit

Make sure you take in all the info you can.  Matt has a great podcast and does daily broadcasts.  If you ever want to dip your toes into cruising, history, etc - beyond the RCI realm, I know a guy

Either way, 24 days until it gets very real for those of us sailing on the Symphony group cruise - there is still space available (at GREAT rates, too): https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/event/royalcaribbeanblog-cruise-aboard-symphony-of-the-seas

If you're looking for an experience with a number of options (from food/drink, to music, snorkeling, etc) then go with one of the all/partially inclusive spots.  If you're looking for the most beautiful diving that Coz has to offer, go to the "far side" (E side) of the island.  It's rustic, but you'll find bars and such that have loungers and whatnot (some of them on generator power, using tanked/shuttled water).  Much nicer beaches - more similar to those in Cancun.

4 hours ago, twangster said:

Interesting.  After getting a tattoo you can't go in water for several weeks due to the risk of infection.  For that reason I've always considered a new tattoo and cruising to be incompatible.  I suppose you don't have to go swimming or use a hot tub on a cruise, but that's no fun.  

I actually wrote about this on my site the other day and pointed out the same thing.  I suspect they'd be busier at the end of the cruise once people are done going in the water.  On the flip side of that: sunburn.  I reminded myself of two things though: 1) Tattoo shops on the beach in S FL seem to do well with tourists.  2) Many folks (myself included) often go an entire Caribbean cruise without going in the water.

FWIW, I'd def avoid the hot tubs and pools as well.  Between bacteria, chlorine, and the heat (of hot tubs) it'd be unpleasant.  Know how your skin is really sensitive after a sunburn?  Same deal after a tattoo - no way I'd get near a hot tub within a couple days of getting another tattoo, even if it was fresh/totally clean water.

All of this in mind, I'll be tempted to add it to the "tried that" list when I sail VV.

Steamers are not permitted as generally, regardless of exact verbiage on the websites for RCI or any other line, any heat-generating appliances are prohibited.  The only exceptions are personal grooming products (hair irons, curlers, etc).

To be clear though, steamers are indeed on the prohibited items list: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/prohibited-items-onboard-policy

I dined in Wonderland on Harmony last year.  Was there plenty to eat?  Absolutely.  If I recall they essentially mixed up a few things from the two (if I recall) menus to create a vegetarian meal.  I adjusted mine further as I really don't like peanuts, and if I recall one of the dessert options had peanut butter.  

I don't think that being a vegetarian changed the value prop one way or the other.  As I said, most of what I had were items already on the menu that they put together and made some slight adjustments to in the case of a course or two.  Was it worth the cost?  To try once, sure.  The food wasn't bad but it really didn't impress me either, and I don't know that's their goal - Wonderland is about the experience more than the food, and it is a novel experience.  I'm glad I went once.  I'd probably not go again (at least not unless they changed something in a big way to make it a new experience to me), but I will be going again on Symphony next month just so my spouse can experience it (she wasn't with me on Harmony).  Others of course think the food is great - it's obviously subjective.  

@CruiseHabit Ric and I actually discussed my take on Wonderland on the latest episode of our podcast if you want to give that a listen, though much like my above notes, it wasn't about the vegetarian experience, as that didn't seem to way heavily in my experience (which isn't a bad thing).

TL;DR - Being vegetarian didn't change the value prop.  Neat experience, but it didn't blow me away.  Would recommend doing once.

I've got a number of VPNs configured that I'll test on Symphony in a few weeks.  If you need something [nearly] bulletproof you can use a service that supports obfsproxy and then have the virtual adapter that client creates connect to the VPN you actually want to connect to.

Just now, Baked Alaska said:

To illustrate my query, which ships depart out of any east coast OR Florida port, 5 to 7 nights, on Fridays, from May through June? 

Gotcha.  No way that I know of to do this.  I actually tried making this happen a couple years ago with some trickery and another website but didn't get anywhere.  I think this is one of those times we can speak to the value of a travel agent who will spend lots of time figuring it out

Unless I'm not understanding the use case (which is possible), I'm not sure how helpful this would be, as unless it's a ship that is consistently doing 7 night sailings (which usually leave on Sat or Sun), it may not be too useful as you'll be coming back on a different day.  I suspect that based on the question, you're looking for something that starts and ends on a given day - but let me know if I am wrong as there are a few interesting sites out there.  CruiseTimeTables.com is interesting in that you can go to any port on any day and see what ships are sailing out, but it's only for one day at a time.

The sensitivity points seems to be circuit breakers on power strips (in addition to other prohibited items of course), though on RCI's list of prohibited items you'll find that on this topic they really only mention extension cords.  Further, enforcement is often inconsistent which can make things confusing.

USB power hubs can be helpful as many devices now charge via USB anyway (almost everything I travel with does).  There are also 3-way plugs (if there is room on the vanity), EU power adapters (many devices now are dual power anyway), and the option of plugging USB devices into your laptop (if traveling with one).

You can find more information on this (including why cruise lines are funny about this) here: https://www.cruisehabit.com/power-strips-why-theyre-not-allowed-ships-and-how-safely-gain-some-extra-outlets

[comes in to see what people think of the show]

[matt commented]

::sigh::

Oh, the mean thing wasn't directly about me!

[happy dance]

Thanks to everyone who has listened, shared, reviewed, and recorded outros.  Looking forward to releasing the next episode soon!

Welcome!

Unfortunately RCI doesn't have any self-service laundry facilities.

You can bring on board some beverages, and the policy just changed on this 19 days ago.  You can read about the current policy here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/08/28/royal-caribbean-now-allowing-guests-bring-non-alcoholic-beverages-onboard

I can understand your frustration, and I do find it a bit surprising.  That in mind they're only losing revenue, higher service charges, etc if they can't find someone else to pay cash for that room.  Since higher-cat staterooms and suites tend to fill, it's rather unlikely they'll lose in this case.

7 minutes ago, CruiseHabit Ric said:

@twangster That was my expectation, but when I got my tab for a $14 drink, there was a $13 discount on it, so the total was $1.18. Pleasant surprise.

The $12/$13 threshold is one I've seen vary by sailing.  I think it was Allure that we experienced all the drink prices being $1 higher than we expected...but the package covered drinks up to $13 on that sailing.  Like many things, it seems it may be up to the ship to manage this revenue.

30 minutes ago, Matt said:

 Also, she's in Miami currently.

Is it really that much of a problem?

On 8/30/2018 at 12:13 PM, monctonguy said:

I didn't feel out of place at all on Celebrity...while there were defn less kids and there seemed to be less night activities I wouldn't say the  overall age demographic was much older than Royal. We met some great people both older and younger than us that we hung out with...I would do Celebrity again..its just a little quieter...but not enough to deter me from going again....defn not cause the crowd seemed too "old"

Agreed.  While the demographics can obviously vary a lot by sailing (esp time of year and itinerary) a big part of what shifts the average age older is the smaller number of children, not a greatly increased number of centenarians.

On 7/3/2018 at 11:07 AM, JLMoran said:

I'm not a plumber, so I can't say exactly how these toilets work. But based on the sounds I heard during flushing, and the fact that you essentially have to close the lid in order to push the flush button, what I think is going on is that flushing is handled via vacuum tubing, to ensure that everything can properly make it to the septic tanks on board. From what I could feel, the button did seem to be an actuator for some kind of mechanical system to open up a valve that exposes the toilet to the vacuum flow and allows flushing to happen, quickly followed by the valve or whatever closing so the tank can refill.

Just from an engineering practicality standpoint, I would imagine the ship designers don't want electrical systems controlling things like the toilets, as if one breaks down at sea it could be near-impossible to fix. Sticking with old-fashioned mechanical systems for something like this, where they have thousands of connections and hardware bits, keeps things economical and easily repaired.

Honestly, this seems like exactly the sort of random ship minutia kind of question for @monorailmedic. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he not only knows the mechanicals of this, but what diameter piping they use, the O-rings for valve seals, and sealing grease brand. 

Just caught this.

The button itself is pneumatic (like a hot-tub button) and the flushing operates off a vacuum bus.  Branches off the bus are dedicated to a set number of staterooms.  This means that it can run off a small number of vacuums, yet if there is a leak in the system it only affects a small number of rooms not every unit on that same bus.  Every however-many staterooms you'll find a small main panel in the hall when  the vacuum can be checked, adjusted, etc - along with other electrical, mechanical, and plumbing stuffs.  When you hit the button it's pushing air through a tube to open the valve that lets the force of the vacuum pull everything from the toilet.  

Not sure about the brand of grease.

Sorry I'm late @KLAconQueso, I just got the bat-signal. 

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter III (Lifesaving Appliances and Arrangements) states that "[fully enclosed lifeboats]...shall have ropes along the side shell that allow to circulate on the outside of the boat and help people to embark and disembark"

The number of loops, length, etc has nothing to do with the capacity of the lifeboat and in fact, despite many details in SOLAS, I'm not aware of any other requirements around those ropes unless it has come in a more recent revision of SOLAS.  If anyone is looking for more random lifeboat requirements, I just so happen to have something to quench your curiosity.

You'll be able to quickly and easily change currency at the CADECA located within the cruise terminal.  We found it very efficient.  Cuban currency is now supposed to leave the island, so as far as I know you can not change any money before arriving.

It's important to know that with very limited exceptions, US credit cards are not accepted in Cuba (and cash is king there anyway).  There are also two currencies, CUCs and CUPs, and they're valued VERY differently, so it's important to know the difference.  The exchange at the terminal will only give you CUCs, which is what you want.  This article explains how to pay for things in Cuba, how to identify the two currencies, a way you *may* be able to save a bit when changing money, and more.  You may want to check the rest of the Cruising Cuba series as well.  

http://www.cruisehabit.com/cruising-cuba-credit-cards-and-changing-currency-cuba-how-pay-goods-and-services

1 minute ago, PrincipalTinker said:

I was surprised too. The rest of my family did not download the last iOS update and they have not had as many issues as I have.

Are you using TMO?  I'm not an iPhone user but I read recently that the latest version of iOS introduced a WiFi calling bug primarily affecting TMO customers (though perhaps some others in certain circumstances).