Jack805

Sailing Canceled by Royal

Sadly on November 2, 2023 Royal Caribbean announced this sailing was canceled. Jewel will homeport in Boston instead, so Grandeur will stay in Tampa.

Navigator is looking beautiful in PV, and I’m sure will look just as wonderful next week with us there. Getting warmed up on the ship this week and will be fully ready for the sailing next week by the time Friday comes. 

But I’m sure there’s a good chance I’ll still be found at Schooner a lot during the cruise. 

@GoldenTimeHero Well now it was my turn for a delayed reply since I haven’t been on the boards in a bit, but excited for tomorrow to be back on board! I had a great time on my “teaser” trip a few weeks back, and the new Schooner menu has a few tasty beverages on there. Bummed “my” bartenders who took really good care of us a couple weeks ago won’t be there - they let a bunch of people go back home a couple weeks early if they had 6+ months on the contract, they said it was so they could get more on for a full contract before the February dry dock. So hopefully I find good bartenders, especially since this is leg one of by B2B. 

Sounds like a good mission. I just added on the 4 night about 3 weeks before this sailing, so I can try and scope out the tiki mugs for you if you want. 
 

And Hennessy margarita doesn’t sound too strange to me, but more like a variation of a Cadillac margarita (which surprisingly most bartenders on board didn’t know by name, but when I said take a margarita and add a Grand Marnier float they did that just fine). I might also have to give a Mastercard a try since I just found out about that one too - mango and strawberry daiquiris combined. 

7 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

So when I posted last night…the sale was probably still getting loaded!  Because this morning the DBP is cheaper than it was on Black Friday when I originally purchased!  A few other items are too!  WooHoo   

Three of my sailings have lowest price I know of for DBP so I'm rebooking (and booking for the just purchased cruise - told my friend to hold off earlier in the week when it was still $10/day more knowing the price would drop, but not knowing the bigger price drop would be coming!) Fourth one might be lowest price too, but hadn't booked that one yet since it was still so far out, but looks to be possibly lowest price so I'll probably book it too.

25 minutes ago, DDaley said:

 I have been keeping track since we booked last June when it started out at $71.99.

 I keep track of my purchases too through screenshots when purchasing, as well as a spreadsheet for all costs for price tracking each, including cruise price, beverage packages, excursions, etc.

7 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

Guest services now stated to ask your stateroom attendant for the Compass.

that does not get you Day 1 though.  If you want a physical copy of Day 1 insist at Guest Services .  Also note you may not see your stateroom attendant in Day 1.  I leave a note on my bed requesting the paper copy of the Compass for the length of the cruise. 

I was actually surprised on my last cruise that I had a paper copy waiting in my room on Day 1 without asking (and actually got one each day without ever officially requesting one). Not sure if it’s because I was on Vision (where they do a lot of printing of things, like photos too), or if somehow got tagged in my profile from asking on each previous cruise last year. But before it was requested from stateroom attendant when introductions are done on embarkation. 
 

‘No matter how/why it came, it was much appreciated. I’m technologically savvy, but still enjoy the physical paper copy. 

@GoldenTimeHero I tend to hit a few of the trivia sessions at Schooner throughout the cruise - especially morning and evening (post-breakfast and pre-late seating dinner) with some others sprinkled in.
Bamboo Room is a nice spot too, especially with only two in the entire fleet. Haven’t tried the signature cocktails there (mostly because they’re just above drink package coverage price, and not wanting to pay the even small amount extra), but was impressed seeing they have different styles of ice for different drinks (have seen crushed and large cubes for drinks at Bamboo)

Go-to drinks vary depending on taste and mood at the time, but Schooner bartenders on Navigator have always treated me well and served a good drink, especially since I keep coming back. Though as the evening goes on I tend to shift toward something to sip and enjoy, so often I end the night with bourbon either neat or on the rocks. 

And I just booked another cruise with a friend, and getting the same message. I'm giving it the night to process. My card was charged by Royal, but booked through my TA's after-hours site so sometimes she has to call Royal to get everything squared away after a booking before it shows. I'm months out at least, and the cruise planner "sale cycle" is on the higher priced wave right now, so I'm fine to wait a bit.

Well, after talking to a friend we decided to book the Labor Day week so she can try out cruising.

So now I'll be spending 1/3 of September on Navigator, which won't be a bad thing!

On 6/23/2023 at 7:09 PM, WAYNO said:

Just slipped from the triple digits!

Woohoo! Those milestones always feel great! I'm excited for my September of cruises - I just booked another with a friend which will be a first for them. 

Looking forward to everything!

Apologies @GoldenTimeHero, I unfortunately didn't see your reply until today... But that can be good to do. I always find myself being drawn to Schooner Bar for drinks and do enjoy the bartenders there. 

Vision was great though, it was a smaller, older ship but has a great crew and is well taken care of. I actually just booked a 13 night on Vision for January, so looking forward to sailing on her again.

I had something similar happen recently, and actually took logging out of the APP and logging back in to have the recently booked sailings show. 
 

Though as with much of Royal IT, there’s no rhyme or reason and YMMV. 

16 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

In person. I believe it was at a bar or something similar - the details are a bit hazy...

Now I want sake pairing certification!

I’ll keep my eye out for the origami school with luggage tag folding class specialties . 
But receiving the actual certificate for sake pairing was quite unexpected, yet greatly appreciated by the whole group

16 hours ago, Geezer Of The Seas said:

Never mind academics. Is the football team any good? 

Where was your course held @Cactus527, in person or online? I feel this certification would be good to have in addition to my other cruising-related ones like my sushi making and sake pairing ones I’ve received from Izumi. 

Martinique requires them as well to get off the ship in port from what I’ve read (and will apply to my sailing).

And @ScottD I stumbled across this one from Baltimore on Vision and couldn’t stop thinking about it - so I ended up booking it! It’s the only 13 night they have (at least that I’ve seen); they’ve got a few 12 night ones from Baltimore in the winter months, but those seem to be only 5 ports versus 7 on the 13 night I booked. I’m already excited about it! Might be a cooler start and end to the journey, but not too bad IMO for a winter getaway. 

Count me in on wanting to join @FloatyBoaty’s sailing too along with @Xaaand @WAAAYTOOO - even though I’ll just be getting off of a 13 night on Vision about a week before to the other side of the Caribbean!

15 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Voyager class used to, right at the entrance to the gym, but I don't know if any of them still do. I seem to remember the gym on Navigator being shifted when they vamped it, so not sure if the changing rooms survived that move.

No shower at the gym on Navigator, but you can go to the spa and use the steam room for free (space dependent), and there are showers there. Done this on Navigator last year because I wanted to try out the steam room post-workout, and the shower is a full size shower too. Though usually just head back to my cabin to shower after the gym most times  

I believe I’ve heard that any ship that has steam room access in the spa will have showers too, but cannot confirm. 

Personally some of my favorite destinations are those meridional leeward North Atlantic lands 

3 hours ago, Pooch said:

You are so right!  I check obsessively.  My brother was shocked at the savings I was able to get him.  Our precruise hotel rooms also went down $30-40.  He booked those & never looked again til I bugged him.

I did that before my last cruise a month and a half ago. Price dropped twice for hotel, including a $50-60 drop two days before arrival! I’m a constant price watcher for this stuff for trips. 

At least it’s a smaller possible area than “North Pacific Ocean” But then again the devices are sometimes a bit fuzzy on location, as I’ve had my devices say in in “North Atlantic Ocean” for weather, etc. when I was clearly within the bounds of the Caribbean

I feel this post greatly!

Just added two 2024 cruises so I’m up to 4 bookings upcoming (but the first two in late September are B2B so technically 4 on the books but it feels like just 3 to me). 

But I also feel you on being close enough to Diamond I can feel it, even though I’ve only got a year under my belt with 5 cruises taken (all solo so yay double points!). If I can add a 3 night solo this year I can be Diamond by end of year in time for my 2024 sailings, and if I can do so before Sept it will bump me to Emerald for those sailings. But finding one that’s not sold out or way more than I want to spend is the challenge. 

51 minutes ago, rjac said:

Not sure if "The Quest" is offered on Royal. Been awhile since we cruised. But, it is adult entertainment and lots of laughs. Just don't volunteer to be on a team! And if you are going to volunteer, be sure have a sufficient intake of alcohol before the show starts. 

The Quest is definitely back on sailings now, though “renamed” Crazy Quest. Definitely quite entertaining though. 

Haven’t seen those specifically, but Royal does use Qualtrics to administer its post-cruise and post-customer service interaction surveys. So with the url starting with https://royalcaribbean.qualtrics.com/……… adds legitimacy.