tonyfsu21

57 minutes ago, AAD said:

Thanks, Gary.  What's this ship's capacity?  Did you try to RoyalUp?  

5000 would be 80% capacity. Only to increase for the New Years holiday sailings the following week. 

You might get lucky and see it on the TV at the Sabor bar or on one of the TV’s in the casino. There was nothing but European football & news on while we were on Harmony for Thanksgiving. 

We are sailing over the Holidays and into New Years on Oasis and just wondering what the status of the kids program is going to be? When we sailed for Thanksgiving on Harmony the ship was at 75% capacity and the kids program was still reduced capacity which really put a damper on our plans. Reservations were required and you could only book 1 day at a time of I recall correctly. With a presumed ramp up, what’s going to happen when everyone wants to book the kids for New Year’s Eve? I really hope RC sorts this out because there will be a lot of angry parents with a full ship and nowhere to put the kids for a couple hours in the evening. 

17 hours ago, MattG said:

We’re a party of six, three adults and three kids (2, 3.5 and 5)  

The wife is curious about cruising on Carnival (hush) or Celebrity and what experience we would have with our party, but different lines. I priced out our Anthem cabin for a similar timeframe, and found Celebrity to be 3x the price for a 9-day instead of 7-day, and Carnival to be a tad less (5%) for a 5-day instead of a 7-day, all out of NJ/NY (it doesn’t make sense for us to fly to Florida with three kids at this point). 
 

What’s everyone experiences on other lines? What are the kids clubs and activities like? Splash pads? Play areas?

Carnival (newer ships only) are great for kids. I wouldn’t personally recommend short voyages because it attracts more of a party crowd. They have a great kids program which is as good or better then RC. I’m not a huge fan of Carnival but based on the last couple sailings on the newer ship to the Southern Caribbean it was very much a positive experience. 

24 minutes ago, AAD said:

How funny!  This is our first ever cruise so this is all new/news!  I think that I am going to lower my bids, after reading some threads about RoyalUp luck on low capacity sailings in Fall 2021.   It certainly appears that this 12/31 sailing is at 50-60% capacity is my guess.  

I wouldn’t lower your bid if you want a better chance at an upgrade. RC is ramping up capacity so not sure 50-60% is accurate. I heard late December sailing as at full capacity. 

2 hours ago, Neesa said:

We love the quiet of 17, the doorbell never rang. When staying in the Owners Suite deck 11 on the Harmony I walked into the pole (hated that pole) and the doorbell did not stop. 17 was heaven! This was a Thanksgiving sailing with lots of kids who were drawn to the doorbell, all day all night.....

Yes, we were getting doorbell rings all the time in 1708 on the Thanksgiving Harmony sailing! Apparently they got us all! 

8 hours ago, AAD said:

Thanks, guys. Very interesting.  Yea- my preferred budget is $3k. I only bid $5k for Star to get the beverage/dining/Zoom, etc.  I will let you know what happens!  For some reason, the CLS doesn’t look all that great, as compared to a more traditional OS or AQS.  Could anyone compare or offer their experiences?  We live in a contemporary home with 10 ft. ceilings. So maybe I am not wanting the same on a ship…. 

It’s all about the location. Deck 17 is where it’s at.

2 hours ago, AAD said:

Hi All -  

For those experienced with this bidding/auction for the suite category, I wanted to get your input on this scenario... 

We are on Symphony for 12/31.   I'm booked for a WS GTY.  I'm just assuming that it's going to be a JS - there are TONS in the inventory.   I've bid on GS1 (19 inventory) at $1000pp;  GS2 (0) at $1600 Max pp;  OS (9) at $1750 pp;  CLS (15 - Lots) at $1500 pp;  AS1 (1) $1700 pp;  and AS2 (1) $2500 pp.   Overall, the ship is not at all booked for the staterooms either; there are many in each category.  

I really want the GS2 for a separate bedroom for our daughter but not likely given the inventory... Next choice is AS2 - not likely with the low bid and inventory.   So, I'm shooting for OS and hope not to just get GS1.  Any tips on whether I should up or lower these bids to accomplish this?  I'm at 20-40% on the bidometer for most. 

This is fun... but nervewracking.... lol   Thanks!    

 

 

I’ve bid Suites with much success (with the exception of 1 unfortunate loss on my record so far). At one point I thought the formula was as simple as just bid a very high bid (max in most cases) for the suite you really want and then put in some “Hail Mary” bids on the suites that are better then what you have currently booked but don’t really mind win or lose. Until recently I’ve bid max and won every single time but I’ve been bidding from a sky class to sky class (example grand suite to CLS). Now that the ships are ramping up I think chances are slim especially to Star class. I will let someone else elaborate as to how this 3rd party auction system actually works but I do know it’s a complicated system with many moving parts. My next 3 sailings are all Holiday sailings which further complicate things but it will be my first attempt at upgrading from balcony rooms to sky class and I have little to no confidence in winning even with all max bids. 

End game here for Royal Caribbean is to make money. Obviously they preach safety to the extent they need to by law and In some instances even beyond which is fine. In order to keep these ships floating and the shareholders happy there needs to be people on these ships. It should be as cut and dry as a negative test = enjoy your cruise. 

7 hours ago, egd207 said:

Does anyone know if someone sailed with a birth certificate only and they contracted covid on the ship would RC be able to fly them home as they state they would do.  Or will they be unable to fly due to lack of passport.

Presumably they wouldn’t be able to determine someone contracted Covid until tested onboard (children under 12 only) at the tail end of the cruise. Wouldn’t RC just quarantine them until they are back to home port the following day? On Harmony the kids didn’t get tested until we were on the last day of our voyage in coco cay. I can’t imagine if the test results were positive they we would have been stranded in coco cay waving goodbye to the Harmony. 

33 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

I have seen absolutely zero difference in the operations of the guest service, next cruise, shore excursion area of the ship as compared to pre pandemic, in the 3 weeks I have been onboard since the restart. 

I experienced the exact opposite. Nobody at all waiting in line at guest services on Harmony during holiday sailing. 

32 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

I have seen absolutely zero difference in the operations of the guest service, next cruise, shore excursion area of the ship as compared to pre pandemic, in the 3 weeks I have been onboard since the restart. 

Perhaps not but using your phone has been made the clearly preferred method by RC moving forward. 

RC has made it difficult to go w/o your phone. It’s possible but your going to lose out on many things that require last minute booking or rescheduling. Waiting in line at guest services is no longer a thing. I would bet the ranch that the space that occupies guest services, next cruise and the shore excursion desk will be phased out and turn into another bar or restaurant in future dry dock/new ships. 

15 minutes ago, JohnT said:

We are looking at an October sailing, what can we expect as far as weather and numbers of passengers on the ship, also would you suggest western Caribbean or Eastern Caribbean and best port, Miami or Galveston?

Always Miami or Port Everglades. October is beautiful in the Caribbean. Don’t let Hurricane season deter you. 

Hilton Marina has a parking garage and there’s generally no issue parking there. Request a high floor looking South and you will be staring at the ships. Embassy suites has a large parking lot to the West of the property. Same thing regarding views, high floor facing South. Nothing stressful about East Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades, we have this cruise stuff executed pretty much to perfection. 

10 hours ago, RobbieD said:

Question about Diamond drinks. Just enjoyed my first cruise as Diamond, and happily enjoyed my 4 drinks on deck and dinner everyday. I decided to check out the Diamond Lounge on Day 3 after dinner and was surprised to receive additional complimentary drinks as well. Did I stumble upon something? I was under the assumption that the 4 free anytime drinks were in lieu of the unlimited Lounge drinks between 5-8. Or was this a nicety extended to the handful of us up there the last few nights?

The Diamond as well as suite program (lounges specifically) are all over the place with the drink rules. You can basically go sans drink package and bounce between lounges and never pay for a drink. It’s pretty spectacular actually. On Harmony while in the casino over Thanksgiving week I was comped every drink I ordered (including wife, brother and his wife) w/o question. They literally didn’t even give me a chance to pay for all the drinks, the second they saw “Prime” on my card they just passed it back and we all took our drinks and walked away. I did tip the bartenders well which may have helped. 

29 minutes ago, Angela508 said:

My daughter tested positive for COVID on 11/30. We are sailing on 12/26. Our nurse said you can test positive for COVID up to 3months after you have it. If she takes the test 2 days before our cruise and tests positive bc it’s still showing up after a month can she still go on the cruise?If we have the dates positive COVID results can she be exempt from having to test before the cruise?

This will certainly be a “no go”. If your daughter is 12 or older maybe take the antigen test & not the PCR test. Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor………

On 11/25/2021 at 12:10 PM, Barry Key said:

Headed to the ABC islands in May on the Explorer. Has anyone done the "Aruba Sunset Catamaran Cruise" shore excursion? If so, did you enjoy it?

Thanks,

Done it & it was fantastic! Not sure if I can recall which one we went on but it was a great experience. 

On 11/27/2021 at 7:21 PM, VickR said:

Does anyone know if we can have that at Coco Beach Club? We are not in the cabanas, but we would like to try that at some point as a snack… does anyone know if we have to get out of the beach club and grab it or they can bring it to us?

I would fill up on lobster & steak if I were you. That sandwich looks horrific and nobody even took into consideration the fact that the mozzarella sticks somehow find a way to come out of the fryer cold at Coco Cay. I can’t imagine anyone smiles after taking a bite of that sandwich. 

On 11/21/2021 at 8:31 PM, gugenheimz said:

Hi all,

My wife and I are booked for next week's Symphony of the seas, and we have the UDP.  Super excited.  Last time we were on an Oasis-class ship, we loved 150 Central Park, but that was with the celebrity chef (Michael Schwartz, I think).  The new menu and concept feels less exciting, but I wanted to ask what you all think of it?  Is it worth to book this more than other restaurants like Chops and Wonderland? 

Also, can you order multiple entrees at 150 if you have the UDP?  (I'm intrigued by the lobster thermidor, but I'm also nervous I won't like it, and would love the steak)

Thanks!

I would say it’s much less exciting then the former version (Michael Schwartz concept). They still have the cucumber martinis that my wife really likes though. As for the Lobster Thermidor it’s EXCELLENT! My brother in law ate the first one and the server asked him if he wanted another (no ultimate dining package) so I don’t think they are very strict regarding multiple orders/items. With that being said, every rule on Harmony changed from one deck to the next it was very inconsistent regarding rules across the board. I hope Symphony is more organized, although most of the time the disorganization worked out in our favor. 

21 hours ago, MattyDubz11 said:

I'll be sailing to CocoCay onboard Mariner of the Seas in January. Between the two ala carte options to eat wings while on vacation, are they usually better at Playmakers onboard Mariner or Captain Jacks at Coco Cay?

There’s a 3rd, room service wings! They are decent and hit the spot. 

1 hour ago, James_Mc said:

Hi guys, 

I'll be taking my first cruise aboard Independence OTS on Dec 6. I was wondering if there are places onboard where I can sit and enjoy a quality cigar and a drink. I'll be bringing a few from my own humidor and was planning to visit a shop in Nassau. 

I believe they still do “cigars under the stars” on Indy which is probably as close as you can get to relaxing and smoking a cigar these days on a cruise ship. We just got off Harmony and ended up smoking a few cigars on the pool deck in the designated smoking area which was unfortunately the only decent option. It was still relaxing, especially if you smoke on a port day while most are off the ship and you get a nice chair positioned next to one of the windows overlooking the water. Long gone are the days of enjoying a cigar on your balcony and I will personally really miss this. Enjoy your cigar!

1850 Eller Dr. Please use Uber/Lyft and help us rid Fort Lauderdale of the dirty cab services.

43 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Is there any place to wait outside the terminal?

Starbucks on 17th street. Sit & enjoy some coffee and then Uber 1/4 mile to the terminal. 

Some things never change….