firegal2539

I don't look at space per passenger, mainly because passengers tend to congregate in only a few spots on the ship, The Atrium, The Shops, Casino, Restaurants and theater, so it would be hard to judge space per person. I look at crew ratio to passenger. I want to know that I am not 1 of 10 people this crew members has to take care of.

If you are flying to the port there is tipping at the airport for the person that takes your luggage arriving and departing. I just got back from a cruise and tipped almost $100, this included porters, waiters, taxi drivers, etc. I always tip the driver of the shuttle to the port and return, they handle your luggage, so $2 always seems like a good amount. I very seldom tip extra on the ship, but if you do a specialty meal, you have to tip the waiter. If I get amazing service from one particular person, I will tip extra. Same with the casino, host/hostess and manager. I just couldn't believe how much I spent on tips this last cruise, it was crazy.

I just got off of a cruise and all doors opened out into the hallway. I asked about it because the crew blocked my door with luggage for the cabin next door to me and I couldn't get out. Had to call for someone to move the luggage. They said it takes less room to open out then in and the new ships are being made that way. THIS WAS NOT AN RCCL SHIP!!

 

I would try the bells and agree with monorailmedic that if someone opens that door, it is so heavy the noise would wake me right up.

 

Candie

I did the Charm and Beauty of Nassau on my cruise last week. I enjoyed it but I agree some areas left me with the feeling that I wouldn't want to be there alone at any time. Nassau is one of my favorite ports. I love the markets at the port and most passengers hate them. I just love the music and the vibe from the locals. I didn't take any pictures, I forgot. I did take a picture of the six cruise ships in the port. The most they allow in Nassau is six, Majesty was there along with two Carnival, one Holland, and 2 NCL. The port was pure craziness.

 

Candie 

Marc, I am glad your son is doing well, but I know how scary that can be.

 

Raye, Nothing keeps me down. As has been mentioned in this post, I don't drink water, I hate water, so staying hydrated is a problem for me. Now give me good old Texas Iced Sweet Tea or Pepsi and I can make it disappear.

 

Packercruising, I want to do two European cruises, so I am trying to get them booked for 2018, so far no one has their 2018 schedule up yet. I want to do a Baltic and a Transatlantic. Hoping I stay good and healthy.

 

Candie

I always prepay grats, beverage packages and shore excursions because I don't want to end up with a huge bill at the end of a cruise.

 

I just returned from an 8 day cruise and tried to keep a record of all my tips, I know I left some off, but I started when I hit the airport and ended when I hit the airport at home again. This included porters, specialty restaurant waiters, taxis, van drivers in various ports, etc. The total I came up with was $75 and as I said I know I missed some. You really don't realize how much you spend on tipping until you keep a record of it. Some of these tips I feel the people don't really deserve but I don't want any kind of scene. When I arrived at the Port of Miami, before the porter even took my big piece of luggage, he told me he worked for tips, at which time I told him that he worked for a salary and tips were optional. It happened again when I returned from the cruise at the Port of Miami. The porter stated he worked for tips.

I have never had a problem being near the elevators, in fact, I usually request a room near the elevator. I want to try to be centrally located in respects to where everything is on the ship.

 

I had never heard the term "hump room", is this on all ships or just RCCL?

 

Candie

I have 11 cruises booked and every day or every other day I check the prices of the cruises. If they go down and it was booked by my TA I call her and have her call the line and find out if it will be cheaper for me. If I booked it I call the line and ask them to check and see if it will be cheaper. It depends on what sale you booked under, if you got anything free, i.e. OBC, shore excursions, drink package, internet package, you might end up losing on the deal. I have an Alaska cruise in May 2017 and I noticed a price drop and had my TA call and she got the cruise dropped $300, I didn't have any OBC or free stuff so it was good. This same cruise has now increased in price by over $400. I had another cruise for January 2017 and noticed a big price drop, called my TA and she called the line, and what started as a $2000 cruise dropped to $1300, that was a real savings. I had to give up $100 OBC but I didn't care that was too big a drop.

 

Just remember if you have done your final pay, most of the time it is very hard to get a price drop, sometimes the lines will give you OBC, just to keep you happy.

I have a small piece of advice, I don't know whether you have heard of Hop On Hop Off buses, most large cities have them, Rome, London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice,Copenhagen, Edinburg, Athens, etc. You can find them on Google under Hop On Hop Off buses in Europe or under City Sightseeing buses. I find them to be the easiest way to see a city, most buses have 20 or more stops, it is entertaining, and it is only about two hours long and you can get on and off all over the city, that way if the kids are not happy, get off, get something to drink and get right back on. They will let you bring a stroller too! Many times the cruise lines offer the HOHOs.

 

I would highly recommend the Adventure Ocean for you girls, it keeps them occupied and give you and hubby some free time on the ship. I always brought my child there and he would rather be there than with me.

 

Candie

packercruiser,

 

Sorry to hear about your wife but I wouldn't have chanced being on a very long flight over the ocean where there is no place to go if she had an emergency. I always think of that when I am flying. You are pretty much crammed into a tin can with no room and if you got sick, what do you do?

 

I just got off of a cruise two days ago and while in port, I passed out from the heat and humidity, pretty much in front of the ship. When I opened my eyes I had passengers, cruise staff, all sorts of people. All I wanted to do was get up and go back to my room. The staff argued with me and finally put me in a wheelchair (embarrassing) and took me to the medical facility on ship. My BP was high but they said it was because of passing out. They let me go back to my room with the warning that all of the coming ports were as hot or hotter than this one and I might think about staying on the ship. I wasn't charged a penny for this and I actually feel that I should call them and ask them for a bill. They provided great service to me. It was strange weather, the day before I was on an excursion and two people I got to know on the cruise, his wife passed out on the tour bus. It was so hot and humid, almost 100 degrees every day.

 

Candie

On my last cruise, on the second day I went to Guest Services and paid $250 with a different credit card for my Next Cruise deposit I had put down and was charged to my On Board Account. The rep. at the Guest deck told me I could do that all cruise long, charge something than pay for it with whatever credit card I wanted to use. On the day before leaving the ship I had paid for the few things I bought, sunscreen and one specialty dining meal and didn't leave a balance to charge to the original card I gave them at checkin.

packercruising,

 

According to my TA if you have a medical emergency on an airplane, it depends on what the emergency is. If the passenger is experiencing a life or death emergency, i.e. heart attack, storke, the pilot radios the tower and they will get all the information and find out what needs to be done. If it is a heart attack or stroke, usually the plane will be diverted to the closest airport for an ambulance to meet it and take the passenger to the nearest medical facility. If it is a medical emergency, such as a gall bladder attack, they will try to keep the passenger calm, pilot will notify the tower and have an ambulance waiting at the airport where you are suppose to land. If it is a communicable disease, Zika, Novovirus, etc., the passenger is usually confined to a small area in the back of the plane, all passengers are allowed to get off and the sick passenger will have a Paramedic assess them, then transport to the hospital.

 

The only reason I know this is I was on a plane where a medical emergency occurred and I couldn't see or hear what was going on, so as soon as I got home I asked my TA to find out what the airline does. See called American and found out for me.

 

Candie

Raye,

 

You have better luck than I do. I have called on several reservations and as soon as CS finds out it is through a TA they will barely talk to me. My TA, Teri, has to call for me. I had the same thing happen that you did, there was a certain cabin I wanted that opened up and I knew that Teri wouldn't even listen to phone messages until Monday at 10 a.m. I called CS and they told me to reserve the cabin and put a deposit and then the TA could take it over. I told the rep. she was crazy because it would cause a huge amount of paperwork to cancel the cruise I already had booked and take over the new cruise I had just booked. I always have $400 for a deposit just laying around to do this. What I did, it was a Sunday, and it was when you could hold the reservation for 24 hours, so I held it and got in touch with Teri the next morning. We did a conference call, Teri, me and RCCL, they cancelled the hold and moved my cruise to the new room, but it was still a mess. Now you can't even hold a reservation for 24 hours. That is the only problem I have with a TA, Teri's dad was very sick and she took a week off. She transferred her bookings to her agency but they didn't have the slightest idea about any of my bookings when I called them.

 

Candie

I go to Atlantic when we dock to gamble. You can catch a local van at the pier that will take you there for $4, and you can walk around. You can't get into any of the tourist stuff without paying. You are not there for long so it isn't worth a package.

Here is post from Matt about Johnny Rockets, hope I copied it correctly. It is my understand it is $6.95 but a lot of stuff is extra, shakes, malts, etc. But for the $6.95 you can eat as much as you want.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/06/22/johnny-rockets-royal-caribbean-ships

Make sure to get a good trip insurance policy that covers medical evacuation and get the extra coverage for hospital of choice. I have been told by my TA that the medical staff is there for the cruise staff and for passenger medical emergencies. They will not set broken bones, they will stabilize the broken bone and get you off the ship. The same can be said for heart problems, gall bladder problems, etc., they will make you comfortable and get you off the ship. They do have a good stock of basic drugs, but don't expect that you can sail and find your Fentanyl patch onboard, they don't carry it. 

 

While in the elevator, on a cruise, a passenger in a scooter rode in and hit me and ripped off a large layer of skin on my arm. I started bleeding every where and was immediately taken by staff to the Medical Facility because of anyone coming in contact with my blood. The doctor said it was really a minor wound but because my skin is so thin I bleed alot, so they lightly bandaged the arm and I had to go back two times a day for three days to have it rebandaged. RCCL didn't charge me for this.

 

If you are found to have a contagious disease you will be quaranteened. You will not be allowed to leave your cabin, happened to a friend of mine, they thought she had norovirus but just had a reaction to a certain food, but she was stuck in her cabin for two days.

 

I would ask my doctor if it is a good idea for you to travel at this time. I had to cancel 5 cruises because of surgery, it was disappointing but better than getting stuck in a strange country with no choice of medical care.

 

Candie

I looked at the RCCL site for September from Spain and most are very port oriented, in other words, many ports. It would be up to you to decide if you can drink enough to warrant it. I don't drink liquor, just sodas, juice, water, etc., so I always get the Soda Package. Royal's rule is you can't carry any drinks onboard, but again, there are many people that break that rule, by hiding it in luggage, etc.

I never fly in the day before. I am a solo cruiser and to get a hotel room for one person is very expensive and I would have to add in the cost of getting to the airport from the hotel. When you add the cost of air fare, cruise and a hotel, I can't do it. A good hotel in Fort Lauderdale is around $125 a night or more, Miami is at least $150 a night or more. Sailing out of San Francisco, I couldn't find a hotel for under $200 a night. I want to stay in a safe, nice hotel, it doesn't have to be a palace but hotel rates are sky rocketing and adding that cost to my cruise, I can't do it. 

In St. Thomas there is a place called Coral World that would interest any kid, because it interested me. In Phillipsburg I did the Butterfly Farm. If huge butterflies don't scare him, it is fun also. Nassau, I go to the casino at Atlantis, I guess that is a no go with the kid.

DocLC,

 

I have made a note to try Giovanni's for the steak. Thanks for the input.

 

Candie

Most of the time you can see the Maitre' D in any dining room (when they aren't busy) and they will try to accomodate you. Most of the time the early dining is full and the only available set dining is the 8:30 p.m. If you don't want to eat that late you need to call and change now or just take your chances.

You can book as many nights as you want. I booked a 14 day cruise and there was a package for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 day dining. When I figured it out with a calculator it was cheaper to buy the larger packages, not separate packages. A three meal specialty is around $88 plus tax, which is right at $30 a meal. A four day brought it down to about $27 and it just kept dropping from there. I bought a 7 day and I think it was about $150 which was around $21 a meal. Since your cruise is so far off they probably won't have specialty dining online for quite a while. I had to wait until 90 days before the cruise to book them.

On most websites and boards they suggest at least 45 minutes prior to the show, restaurant, etc., that you want to go to. I have read hundreds of reviews that state if you wait to 15 to 30 minutes before the show you will stand in a long line to get in. I agree with WAAAY TOOO about the forward elevators, I always book a forward cabin for the reason that the elevators are always available. After the muster drill if I am not too far from Guest Relations I usually make a fast trip there if I have questions, concerns, bookings, so I don't have to wait in line. Guest Relations is a total ZOO on the first day. I waited over 45 minutes in line to talk to someone, never again.

Are you sure they don't offer transfers to the ship? Every cruise I have ever booked has offered transfers, you have to ask for them, but they offer them. You would probably pay more for them through RCCL but I had an Empress booked, that was cancelled, and it offered transfers to and from the port. If a TA booked this you need to contact them, if you booked it call them and ask again. It could be you hit a rep that didn't know a whole lot. This way you are guaranteed to make it to the ship or they will bring you to the next port.

I was booked on another line that chartered the whole ship out. I knew about it before my TA. I called her and she called them and they wouldn't tell her anything. About 3 weeks later my TA and I received an email stating the cruise was cancelled. There was no reason but they offered another cruise on the same ship at a later date. All money paid would move and I had a 14 day as opposed to the 7 day original cruise plus they gave me $250 OBC and paid for the change fee on my air, so I could rebook it. It took over 8 weeks to get the change fee money, but I did receive it.

 

It really worked out better, but I was in the same place. I felt like nobody was telling me anything and I had been wronged, but if I had been patient, I would have received the email and everything is better now. It is hard to be patient when you have money on the line but hopefully it will all work out for you.