TXcruiser33

Aruba - we've gone to De Palm Island twice. Did the helmet dive here which was really fun! We'll be there again later this year and are looking at other options to try something new, so I'm interested in what others may suggest for beach clubs here. Curacao - we went to Blue Bay Beach & Golf resort one trip. My husband golfed in the morning while i stayed on the beach. Really pretty beach! On our next stop here, we may go here again but rent a private cabana. On another stop in Curacao, we did a private speed boat tour in the morning and a trikes city tour in the afternoon, both were great tours and we saw lots of the island this way! Again, looking for something new on our next stop here. Bonaire - never been here!! I keep waiting for a cruise that includes Bonaire but they never seem to appear?!?

Saw this show a couple of years ago when we sailed on Harmony. Really enjoyed it! I love the music and I thought RC's entertainers were very talented!! WIll be on Harmony again in November so I'll be curious what they replace it with, if anything?? Our 1st sailing on Oasis next month. I've made reservations to see the infamous Cats......but I'll plan to get an aisle seat so we can sneak out early if it's as bad as people say!! I actually saw the original Broadway run 40 years ago, with Betty Buckley in the starring role. I don't remember the "plot" (except that it was weird?!) but the music was amazing. I'll go for the music and if the performers don't do it justice then I'll move on and scratch it off my bucket list!! Once is usually enough for me with these Broadway shows, so honestly I'm hoping RC will start to switch them out some. I know it's complicated to move them from ship to ship, but leaving a show for YEARS on one ship doesn't make sense to me.....

July 17th on Mariner!

Since I've learned that the process is different in different ports (and different cruiselines) I thought I'd share my recent experience: We just completed our first B2B and loved it - don't know how I'm going to be happy with just a week on a ship again?!! We were on Celebrity Eclipse, 4 weeks. We had to change cabins (just across the hall) and because we were in the Retreat our Butler moved everything over there for us while we went off to swipe in for the 2nd leg. We had to put all the loose items in suitcases or carryon's, then he moved those along with all our clothes on hangers over to the new room. In Amsterdam, we were not required to get off the ship (I'm told in some ports you do have to, even if it's just to walk off, rescan and walk back on). In our case, we went to one of the lounges, where they scanned and collected our old sea passes. Then we walked around to another desk where they handed us our new cards and we were good to go. (Towards the end of the 2nd leg, we had an envelope in our cabin with our sea passes from the first cruise, in case we wanted them as souvenirs! I don't keep those but I know some people do!) It was cool walking around the almost-empty ship! We gave the crew some time to finish cleaning our new cabin, then were able to go in and unpack and re-settle in. By then it was lunchtime and people were starting to board. We had planned to go out exploring for a few hours on turnaround day, but we were pretty worn out from the 1st leg and we had 2 more weeks of cruising to go, so we decided to spend a chill day on the ship! Chill day means naps and movies. It was great! We have our next almost B2B this december. It's actually a side-to-side, going from utopia to Explorer for 2 weeks. To make it more complicated, we have a day in between the 2 cruises, so we'll spend it in Port Canaveral. Maybe drive to Disney for the day??

We've done both, and like both areas for different reasons. The beach club is quieter and the food is more upscale (sit-down restaurant for lunch that includes steak and/or lobster). When it is just me and hubby we probably prefer this one. We rented a cabana at Hideaway Beach on our only visit there and at the time it was reasonably priced for 4 people. It's across the lagoon from the DJ so the music/party vibe was over there but not overwhelming where we were. We loved the heated pools (it was February) and the food was good/not great. Mainly burgers, pizza, sandwiches and we had a server who took orders and brought our food and drinks all day. We're planning on trying Hideaway again later this year, and plan to just sit in the lounge chairs and use the large pool (also heated? and available to all guests) so we'll see how we like that. When we were there, there were plenty of lounge chairs open so we're hoping it's that way when we go again.

I had a feeling it was Utopia after looking at your cruise history!! I'll be on in December.....but doesn't sound like something I'll be rushing to try!!!

Which ship has Spare Tire? I haven't seen that one yet....

I totally agree with this. I've tried the Doghouse a couple of times and I think their hotdogs are terrible?! It seems to me hard to screw up a hotdog but somehow they've done it!!

well that makes sense to me....so maybe my chances have improved!! thanks! We haven't won a ton either, but we have gotten lucky a few times. Usually when we REALLY want it, we don't win. And, like this time, if I'm ok either way - we'll probably win it!

Our only Star-class experience so far was a Grand Loft Suite on Odyssey. We loved the suite and the service from our genie! It was all great! The only negative I had was that all of the star-class suites are on the back of the ship. That meant a long walk every day, everywhere we went. But then we had that awesome aft view so we weren't really complaining!! Of course, on Odyssey there isn't a deck 17 with CK and suite deck This August, we're sailing on Oasis and snagged a Crown Loft Suite for a great price so I'm looking forward to that! (we've sailed in CLS's twice). Now, we're getting royal up offers to bid on the Aqua suites, and we're going to submit a low bid and see what happens. I've always said at some point i want to try one, but i hesitate because they are so remote from the rest of the suite areas. So we're bidding on a 2 bedroom aqua suite, and if we get it great, and if we don't - I'm happy with our CLS! Curious tho - whether our chances will be reduced since there are only 2 of us, bidding on a cabin that sleeps 4. Will they care? We don't want the 1 bedroom since it's not star class. If we're going to try it, and we're going to be sort of remote, i want to get the 2 bedroom and the star class that comes with it. We shall see!!

I'll be there Dec 23rd (here we come, Utopia!), fingers crossed it will open by then!!!

Understood. We are gamblers so we're always booking "free" cruises thru the casino (of course, i use the term free VERY loosely?!?), so i believe I'm getting the best rates possible without any benefit of group rates...?

Travel agents are in a SERVICE business. They make their money by providing you a service, and if they do a good job at it they'll continue to get your business. They get paid by the cruise company on your bookings, so it's incumbent on them to be responsive and earn your confidence. imo, if you have to keep calling/emailing/reminding them to do something - then they have NOT done a good job and don't deserve your business?!? We've used a travel agent the last few years, but recently have experienced a complete drop-off in the quality of service (they reassigned us to a different agent who was not very good). So, we decided to drop the TA and do our own bookings. We're experienced enough cruisers (especially with Royal) that we know what we want, we can find our preferred cabins, and we can call and book on our own. With the TA, we had some of the same issues you described - by the time they responded, the deal we wanted was gone, or the cabin we'd chosen was gone, etc. Obviously there are some great TA's out there, and like in any industry there are some not-so-good ones. I know a lot of people rely on their TA's to take the hassle out of travel planning and I get it. For my husband and I tho, we're comfortable doing it on our own going forward. In our case, it was sort of difficult to get the TA removed from our account, so for a few cruises even tho we booked them ourselves, they were still earning a commission because we were linked in RC's system?!? We've finally gotten that straightened out but it took several calls and e-mails to make it happen. I don't know if that's normally a thing or not....?

This happened to me last year. I've sailed on RC a lot, but didn't notice that my C&A # wasn't showing on my cruise docs for one cruise, so after the cruise I realized that they had assigned everything to this new # and i was losing the benefits/points. It took a couple of calls to finally get it resolved.....but it did get resolved and all points restored! now, i'm careful to double-check the cruise docs to make sure all of us have the correct C&A number on the reservations!

2 weeks until we board Eclipse in Amsterdam for our FIRST Celebrity cruise, doing a B2B so we'll be onboard for 26 days!!! So excited to be exploring new ports, new cruiseline, new ship!!!

We are about to go on our first Celebrity cruise(s) next month, and I've asked this question in several places. From what I've been told in a word - NO! there are no perks that will cross over, we're going to have to earn our casino perks. Hubby and I both just achieved Masters on RC for the first time, it would have been nice to transfer some of that over....but we'll be on the Eclipse for almost a month so I'm sure we're going to earn a bunch of points!

Me too! We love Mariner and it's the first ship that we're repeating multiple times, even tho it's a 4 day cruise to Cozumel (not the best!) But, we can drive there and do a long weekend. and we're on a ship. So, we've already sailed on her 3 times, have 2 more booked this year. Do we know which ship is coming to replace her?

We were in Dubrovnik in 2023, we booked a walking tour that included the cable car up to a beautiful scenic spot, then walked thru the walled city on our own. Great day! We did a Mediterranean cruise in 2018 so it's been awhile, but for our stop in Livorno we used ItalyToursEU (i don't know if they're even around anymore!) and it was an 8 person van, booked independent of the ship. We had a full day but saw both Florence and Pisa and were back to the ship in plenty of time. Also a great day! Have fun planning and have a great cruise!

I don't know if it's on all ships, but we've recently discovered (in the last few months) that we CAN do our reservations ahead of time with the UDP. Have you tried? Not sure what ship you're on, but i know on our upcoming 4 day cruise on Mariner, that we were able to make all our reservations when we bought the package.

no, we're sailing in May. i agree about the new raincoat (already got mine!) but no to fancy dresses?!? We're pretty casual, so i'll do black pants and a nice blouse for dress-up! It does seem like a lot of sea days, but we'll be on board for 26 days....so 4 sea days each leg, and they're spaced out pretty well, will give us time to rest between very busy port days!

We've been here several times and love Coco Cay! We've done several things while here. The easiest (and cheapest) is to make your way to a nice spot, grab some chairs and enjoy your day! You don't have to spend any money if you don't want to to enjoy your time here. We've been to the Beach Club and I enjoy this area a lot. Much quieter, less crowded. The restaurant has a more upscale menu and the food is great. I can't remember what we paid for it but seems like $200 pp....? So, only an option if you're willing to spend the money. Last month we got a great deal on a cabana at hideaway beach (we had friends with us so the pp cost was reasonable - i'd say about $200 pp). This got us a private cabana, heated pool, food service included (typical hamburgers/chicken strips kind of menu). Since it was February, we mainly did this for the heated pool, in case it was cool outside and the ocean was too cold to swim in). We had a beautiful day weather-wise, in the 70's and sunny. There were people swimming in the ocean but it was a little on the cool side. Our pool was perfect! The only negative about the cabana's imo, the way they are facing we were mostly in the shade all day. I'm not sure if there is more sun at different times of the year, but just an fyi for anyone considering booking one. Of course, we had the option to go sit in beach chairs by the lagoon and in the sun....we didn't do this but it's an option. Have fun!

Both are 13 days. Sailing out of Amsterdam, which we've been to before but looking forward to spending time here and exploring more of the city and surrounding countryside. The first leg is Best of Scandanavia. The 2nd leg is Ireland, Iceland and Scotland. Of the 17 port stops, we've never been to any of them!! Super excited to see this part of the world. My husband is retired, and I'm in the middle of selling my business so retirement is on the horizon for me. We have never taken a month-long vacation so this is all new for us! New cruise line, new ship, new ports. I'm sure it's going to be exhausting but fun! Luckily, both legs have sea days sprinkled throughout so we'll have to rest up when we can!

We get royal up offers a lot. Usually we'll post a bid and occasionally will win one so it's worth trying imo! We keep our bids low (slightly above the minimum). Just don't count on them to get the cabin you really want because my experience is - maybe 25% of the time we'll win a ru. So always start with a cabin that you're happy with, and if you win the bid then that's icing on the cake!!

Agreed, it is a little pricier but worth it to us for this itinerary. We've never done a B2B either, so for our first one we're doing 26 days....I sure hope we like the ship!!!!

I think there's nothing wrong with trying other cruiselines! We're pretty loyal to Royal these days but at some point I'd like to try MSC or Virgin, when i find a great deal. Years ago, we started on Carnival (when we had school age kids) and had some great cruises. Once it was just me and my husband, we tried Royal (and loved it!) Also tried a Holland America cruise (loved the itinerary, didn't love the overall vibe). Tried a Crystal cruise to Alaska (loved that one! very upscale ship and service). We're about to try our first Celebrity cruise(s) doing B2B in Europe and can't wait! Occasionally we will still do a Carnival cruise, because of the itinerary. We still get casino offers from them even tho we only sail Carnival every 2 or 3 years. Honestly, we love cruising so much that i can say we've never had a bad cruise!!