L454S

In short.........NO, no disappointments here. Have done the Allure, Independence, Liberty, and Navigator. Liked them all, but not as much as the Radiance and Vision class ships. Most of our sailings are on these ships.

Try changing the zoom on the page.

Looks like you are talking about the Vision OTS. We have done a transatlantic on the Rhapsody OTS(sister ship) and enjoyed it very much. You are going to have a few port days(San Juan, St Thomas) before heading across the Atlantic. Probably 6 sea days?? till you reach Azores Islands. Seems we always find something to do on sea days. Then a couple more sea days till Malaga and the rest of the ports almost daily. Sounds like a great itinerary for a first time transatlantic. They set the clocks AHEAD 1 hour it seems almost every sea day. This is sometimes done at noon instead of at night. Most ships still change the time at night. The Vision is not a floating amusement park like the new mega ships. It is however our favorite class of ships(along with Radiance class) for transatlantic sailings(done 6). Weather in our past April T/As has been great. Calm all the way across with very mild temps(shorts) Any specific questions?

I agree with your opinion, and I might feel the same. One point though......have you priced these chartered sailings. They are sometimes 2 or 3 times what you or I would pay for a regular cruise. We check these chartered prices sometimes if it sounds like something that might be fun. As of yet, the saying goes "not enough sugar for a dime". RCI ,however, must see it as enough extra profit to justify pissing off a bunch of people. Sounds like business 101 in the US.

The CL will have continental breakfast, usually with smoked salmon and such, with juices, etc. in the mornings. There will be the coffee machine there for expresso, etc. 24 hours a day. In the evenings there are hot and cold hors d'oeuvres as well as alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks during the happy hour. Have seen snacks such as cookies left out from time to time during the day.

Really, no need to plan your cruises around getting the block. There are trading forums(CC) as well as buying on eBay. I am 2 points short now(208) and will get a 210 block on Brilliance on day 2 (21 day B2B) in Sept. Just check in with the Loyalty Ambassador after boarding.

Air2Sea is great for international flights for transatlantic or European sailings. Not so much for North American/domestic flights .

Rent a jeep in Skagway and drive across the Canadian border into the Yukon to Carcross and beyond to Emerald Lake. Pictures all along the way........

Sometimes we change cabins on B2B because of price. A balcony on a T/A(Rhapsody) to Barcelona was reasonably priced, however the following 7 day sailing(Cannes, Rome, Naples, Sicily, Venice) was very expensive. We changed from a balcony to an interior. We change cruise lines also. RCI wanted a pile of money for a New Years cruise out of Miami. We got an aft balcony on the Divina for less than half of what RCI wanted. We got off the Divina, and went next door to the Navigator and did a 9 day ABC island sailing that we had never done. Sometimes we just like to stretch out our trips. Did an Indy T/A this past Oct.(England/Fll) and when we got off, we got an RCI shuttle bus to the Serenade parked at berth 29 and boarded for 5 day carib. I figure if I am going to spend money on flights, might as well stay a while and see some new things and meet some new people. We let price and itinerary drive our choices, rather than having to change cabins. Changing cabins is not an issue for us.

Had it for a while now. As mentioned above, TSA Precheck is great. At port of Miami, a worker was walking around the baggage claim calling out for "Global Entry". We responded and were led to the front of the same line as everybody else............it worked, but awkward. Port Everglades had a dedicated line, but it is not always manned. One time last year at FLL(off the Indy T/A), there were workers calling for Global Entry to go to a specific line that was very short. It depends sometimes on which terminal you dock at(FLL) So far(a year and a half or so) it has saved us a few hours of waiting here and there. I like it.

Fly in the day of the cruise and save some money. It's what we always do. Fly into either airport, whichever one has the best flights for the times you want and has the best price. It will cost more for transfer to MIA if you fly into FLL.

Not that I have ever seen. They punch up the #'S on the computer and thats it. Book your cruise onboard to take advantage of the onboard booking OBC(onboard credit) that Royal offers. Then when you get home shop your booking around to your favorite travel agents to see what THEY will give you for perks. Get the best of both.

This doesn't seem to be one of my concerns when booking a sailing. I have always booked based on itinerary and price, and a couple times the ship was the destination. Have sailed from Southampton a couple times and yes, the ship was 70% Brits, but it was great. Have sailed from Baltimore, didn't give a hoot about "conservative demographic"(not sure where you got that)....same goes for Galveston a couple times. Not sure what you are looking for or trying to accomplish.

A few years ago we could do what is suggested above and reprice often. We got some great deals and nice upgrades when prices went down. RCI announced their new pricing structure a couple years ago and it has all but gone the way of the Dodo. We still do our mock bookings often, mostly to get a better cabin location(love the aft balconies). Have not seen a price drop on any of my sailings in quite a while, only large increases. We have been booking early for the past couple years. Even though we are retired, I am growing weary of booking a year and a half out front.

Leaving Saturday for 21 days on the Grandeur. New ship(for us), a few new places to see.

14 - L454S - Grandeur Of The Seas

Please tell us how you do this. I just went through another round of transferring some bookings made onboard our last sailing. We had stayed with an online agency for years(Cruise.com)because of the price and perks(usually free grats,etc.). Over the last year or so, they quit giving these things on almost any cabins except suites. A manager there also told us that they could not combine our D or D+ balcony discounts with free grats or other perks. Have been bouncing around a bit for a while now.

Worked OK for me just now.........

Double Baileys on the rocks...........

I think you will love your YC experience on Seaview. The layout of the ship within a ship is really an eye opener. The Seaview will have several interior YC cabins, they were a good deal on Seaside. Doc is right in his post above.....the YC should almost be viewed as a different cruise line. We did a regular balcony on Divina, and a YC on Seaside......no comparison, apples to oranges.

Hope you have a great time, wish I was going.......................

This was our first time on the Empress. We liked it, the cozy feeling of the smaller ship, the layout of the theater(night club like). The Loyalty Ambassador Justin(lady from Philippines), acted as the Concierge throughout the trip and did a great job. Least favorite was the layout of the Viking Crown lounge. Had a small gym overhead and open to the lounge. It was loud at times with treadmills and such. Strange layout. The picture is on the aft deck/patio connected to Boleros Lounge. The Diamond and up sail away party was there. This is a pic of the theater.

Yes, there were comp Mimosa's at brunch on sea days. brunch was hit or miss though. MDR was really nice with great service. Voom was pretty good once we got hooked up. The IT guy had to come up to deck 9 and reboot the router for me to initially get started and hooked up. We were in cabin 9600 by the library.

We found both Divina and Seaside to be more like RCI than different when sailing out of Miami. There are some differences, but it is comparable. Buffet was better on Divina, pretty weak at dinner time on Seaside. When sailing out of European ports or elsewhere, there are some differences that you might want to read up on.

Yes, we got the status match last January when we did the Divina. We got the Black Card. Black Card does not get you very much. A bottle of wine, chocolate strawberries, and a large chocolate ship. We went to the Black Card Event in a lounge(rah-rah). A couple drinks and a pep talk from the captain. We got 2 free specialty dinners for 2 last year on Divina(wife and I are both Black Card), this time it was one free dinner for 2 PER CABIN. The specialty dining prices are pretty high.