Wheeler825

I struggle with the amount these people must be making. Skip a normal salary, if everyone tips $20 cash for a week on 20 cabins, thats $480 US per week, on TOP of their normal wages. I suspect most people tip more, I left $100. Should they be making $2400/week+whatever they get on contract? I doubt it.

I agree, I don't find a lot of benefit to twice a day. That said, their cash tip is gonna get slashed too. Cover that under Not-My-Problem.

It was. We are planning 2 more in the next year. I feel obligated to criticize what needs criticism, when overall it was fantastic.

This is fair, but I can't even fathom why they would put customer state rooms below a venue with loud bass music after midnight.

There aren't, but there are lots of taxis available the instant you get off the ship, and chairs/umbrellas were rentable at this beach.

Boarding in Fort Lauderdale was easy. From my Uber to the waiting lounge was less than 10 minutes, then we waited perhaps 10 minutes after that to board. We had the Unlimited Dining Package and the drinks package. We went straight to Jamie's to book, but they weren't open yet, so we walked over to Park 150. Managed to book everything but Izumi for Hibachi for the days we wanted - they said only Izumi could book for hibachi. We managed to book for Izumi on day 2 for day 6. After booking our dinners, we went back to Jamie's for lunch and it was phenomenal. The wait staff was fantastic, of course. We sat outside and it was a perfect way to kick off the cruise. The pasta was the best I've ever had. After that the week pretty much becomes a blur, all the days blended into one glorious one, but here's what I recall: Most days we went to main dining for breakfast. Service was only OK there, but they were of course always super busy. I became partial to the create your own omelette with everything. The smoked salmon added great flavor. After breakfast, we went up to the pool deck. Found chair hogs out in abundance, usually all chairs taken by 9. When asked, the crew were enforcing the 30 minute rule - they had been marking chairs with sticky notes of when they were 'reserved,' then taking the stuff to the towel stand if someone came along needing a spot, usually this was 2-3 hours after they were marked, from what I saw. Wait staff on the pool deck was generally fantastic, and the bars were pretty responsive if you walked up to one. I had no problem making the most of my drinks package. Excursions: Haiti - Beach and Haitian village experience. Took a boat to a little cove, took a shortish tour through a village where they were roasting coffee and making peanut butter. I'm not sure how authentic it actually was, but the whole thing was fun, my kid enjoyed it too. The beach was nice but we didn't have long enough to spend there. Labadee in general was nice once we got back to the Royal Caribbean area. We brought snorkels and saw some cool fish. Burgers and hot dogs were good. Curacao - Excursion to Blue Bay resort and snorkeling there. Great snorkeling. Lots of fish and reef. Huge cool drop off, they scuba dive from shore. Great time. If I were to do it again, I'd take a taxi from port and pay the blue bay day pass. Aruba - Did the Kuku Kunukoo (I'm sure I mispelled that) party bus. Wasn't my thing, but the kid and wife wanted to do it. The bus was more loud and obnoxious than a party. Could have done without the whole bus tour, as I didn't really care about the church or the lighthouse we stopped at.. Ended at Arashi Beach which was absolutely gorgeous. Next time - cab straight to the beach first thing in the morning and get chairs/umbrella and drink myself stupid. Before the excursion we went into town and did some shopping. Dining, with our six year old every evening: Jaimie's Italian: Ate here twice, everything was good. Service was slightly better for lunch, if that matters.. probably because there were less people. Chops Grill: Ate here for dinner twice. Was fantastic, not much else to say about it. One of the more kid friendly dining options. Servers being more kid friendly helps a lot. My kid was thrilled that they sliced his steak for him both times(which he devoured). 150 Central Park: Good food. Ate here twice as well. Lobster Thermidor and Lamb Wellington were fantastic. They had a cucumber martini which was delicious too. The least kid friendly option on the ship, IMO. My kid ate well, but I felt like the server had an attitude of 'why would you bring a kid.' I was pretty annoyed by that feeling, but I understand as well. Adventure Ocean closes for dinner time unless you dine after 7pm every night. My kid enjoyed the beef short ribs. Izumi(sushi): Sushi was only OK. the seaweed was tough which made one of my rolls almost inedible. Service was POOR. We got seated at our scheduled time, then 5 minutes later asked if we could move so that 2 parties that reserved separately could sit together - not a big deal, but its there. After we moved, it took almost 30 minutes before our drink orders were taken, then quite awhile before we got our apps or food. Eventually I gave up on ordering another drink, though we tried them all throughout the cruise and liked them. Izumi(hibachi): Great food. Allowed to mix and match meats regardless of what the menu said. I got steak and lobster, my wife got lobster and scallops. Show was pretty good, but nothing better than what I've gotten locally for a lot cheaper(when you factor in $15/pp + UDP)...Keeping in mind its on a ship so I don't expect them to use fire much. Wouldn't waste the dinner again. Wonderland: Went here twice. Between the two visits, I think we tried everything except the tomato water. It was mostly really good, but you go here for the experience not the food. The first time, (day 1), they weren't busy and service was really good. The second time (day 8 ) the sever had 3 tables come in at once and the service was delayed but still good. Both times we had the same server, and she was fantastic. Really did a good job with my kid and his requests. The host(?)/ mad hatter was phenomenal. During the second visit he came around entertaining the kids. Made balloon animals, did some cheesy magic, etc. I'm bad with names, but him and the server deserve an extra kudos here. Shows: 1887(Ice skating show): We sat in the front row. Was a great show. Very entertaining. There was a storyline here somewhere, but I didn't catch it. Either way it was a great show Columbus(musical, comedy): This was really good. My kid was on the edge of his seat the whole time, dancing and smiling. Got pretty funny. Some adult jokes which will go right over a little one's head. The Fine Line (water show): Really good. Crazy how these people can do these dives and stunts on a ship moving as much as it was that night. Hideaway Heist(water show, not sure the name is right): This was good too, not as good as the fine line, but a lot of the same sort of things using the same performers. This wasn't a reserved show - it was walk in only... show up early. Grease(musical, comedy?): We left halfway through. If you've seen the movie you've seen the show. Acting was ok, singing was ok. the two mains did NOT harmonize well and there was zero chemistry in the cast. Too long at 1.5 hrs. I wouldn't say that if it was captivating. Adventure Ocean: My kid was only there a few hours. He seemed content enough, but wasn't thrilled to go. There's another significant criticism here: he was crying at one point and they wanted him picked up. They never bothered to use the RC app to message us, instead it seems they tried calling our stateroom, then the stateroom of the people we were cruising with. They could have seen we were at a show by our reservations, or could have messaged us on the app. Seems like a significant flaw in the system that should be ironed out. Other things to note: One particular lifeguard, Alvin, knew my sons name by the second day. Would say hi anytime he saw him, even when we were on our way through for dinner. Made my kid feel special. Keep this guy around. Elevator etiquette didn't seem to exist. Please teach your kids how to use an elevator. Teens were the worse on this ship. The casino blackjack tournament was fun. Few details were available ahead of time but it was $25 buy in for 500 in chips. tables of 7 people, play 7 hands per round. Top 7 from the first round move on to the second round for winner take all $500 cash. There were about 85 players at this tournament, which apparently was an unusually large amount. Room: We were in room 3178, a handicap accessible ocean view room, booked as a GTY. This also happens to be directly under "The Attic" which has the midnight night club in it. We woke up every night to the noise and the music from the club. Great job Royal, putting a family with a six year old below the night club. We got 3 towel animals. I feel like the attendant was doing the bare minimum, or perhaps very new. Not super personable, but we also didn't ask for anything special. I tipped an extra $100, which in retrospect was probably too much. We also had an issue on night 2 where the toilet wouldn't flush but seemed to be resolved a few hours later, and the shower would have no hot water sometimes. I may have forgot to add things, or if anyone has questions, please ask.

That's literally the same as saying the DBP isn't a premium package, its a discount package. Get real

I like smoothies. What are your favorites from Vitality?

Like I said before, I'm generally OK with a set arrival time. Its the idea that arrival time = place in line for reservations for a PREMIUM service, that is insane.

Thanks for confirming you're wrong... I don't know why people like you insist on carrying water for bad policies and procedures.. its ridiculous

To be fair, nobody has any idea what factors besides $$$ go into the bids and wins anyhow..

You keep saying this, but it just IS NOT true.. SHOW ME where it says this in the fine print of the UDP.. Put up or shut up. It doesn't exist.

So people who wait to book A)Pay substantially more for their cruise, B)Don't get early check in times, and as a result of B), C) Don't get to reserve their preferred time for dining packages. Makes total sense... My only gripe is they need to detach B from C.. fix that and I couldn't care less about boarding real early. Everything else is logical in the name of crowd control

NICE! I love that game but its like shoveling cash into a burn pit every time I play.

We can agree to disagree, which I do.

Then you just itemize and claim losses larger.. still a pain.

There is nothing fair about check in times when you can't reserve restaurants for an 'ulimited' dining package until you are on board. This is the hill I will die on.

Here's a different question, are you taxed on casino wins that are won at sea?

great thanks.

Hopefully this will be a quick one. My six year old liked lemonade over anything else (or even just lemons to chew on, yeah he's an odd one). Does he get lemonade w/out a drink package? We've got the drinks package for the adults, hoping we can just order him a lemonade with dinner and not be hassled.

Can someone tell me about renting a car at the fort lauderdale port? Do they have shuttles to the car places? does it work out well? We aren't flying back until the day after our cruise, so we'd like a car for the day.. advice?

Spent some time looking today, I'm beginning to wonder how sound the science is on 'reef safe' or if its solely a marketing ploy

I'm not much for burning. But I'm also in the midwest and its february. Anyone have a preferred sunscreen for a cruise? Do they need to be reef safe?

Absolutely not. Why would this make sense?

Ill agree with you about tipping and vouchers.