firegal2539

The cruise lines nickle and dime passengers to death. I have to agree that I feel it isn't ethical to fill your cup and give it to your child. Having said that if she is only going to drink one a day, I would close my eyes and ignore that you are doing it. Getting on to another subject, if you know of CiCi's pizza, I watch people pay for one drink at the register, get a cup for free water for the other three people in their group and go fill those with soda. That is stealing, out and out stealing. Sorry had to rant!

Thank you all and Raye. I guess I am going to have to book a cruise on her or the Allure. I haven't been on this class of ship. I have been on the Serenade, Explorer, Adventurer, Jewel, and Voyager. That is it. Since I am sailing on Empress in two weeks I will book an Allure or Oasis cruise and get the OBC credit.

Everyone on this blog talks about the Oasis OTS as the best of the best. Can all of you please explain why you love this ship so much? What is it about her that makes all of you RAVE so much. When you answer I guess I will have to start looking for a cruise on her.

Rich,

 

Great pics but your meat wasn't dead yet!!!!

WAAAYTOOO,

 

It is Celebrity 10 day Mardi Gras/Caribbean Cruise from February 9 - 19, 2018. Just don't faint with the sticker shock. I didn't care because it is so unusual that I wanted to go and it gives me more than 18 months to pay it off.  I was booked on a Princess 14 Caribbean Connoisseur cruise and had to cancel due to surgery. This is another one of a kind cruise and went to places I have never heard of, I am waiting to see if Princess will do it in 2018. Very expensive but so different I had to go.

I have never sailed on Disney, no casino, no fun for me. My TA keeps trying to get me to do a 3 or 4 day cruise but way to expensive. I can get the same thing on RCCL or Princess and have my casino.

WAAAYTOOO,

 

I think you are my sister from another mother. I cruise to enjoy the cruise but I really cruise to gamble. Texas doesn't allow gambling so if I want to I have to go to Oklahoma, a two hour trip. We really have to get to know each other.

 

So far NCL's casino program has been so good to me. After taking my first cruise with them I received my first offer. It was a choice of an Eastern Caribbean and two different dates. I took it. After that I received three more offers, they were any cruise of 11 days or less, no Hawaii, 5 days or less and Baltic cruises. I was sure it was a mistake so I called them and they told me nope I had a 9 month span to pick the dates of these cruises so I spent four days looking up every cruise and made my choices. 

 

You are right, drinks are free from the casino, which is another bonus for me. I don't drink alcohol but I drink soda, so I don't buy the soda package, take a large thermal cup in my luggage, ask the bartender for two Cokes, no ice, go to the cabin and pour them into my thermal cup and put it in the mini frig. I do that two or three times a day and I have enough soda for the whole day and to bring into the dining areas.

 

I, too, don't like the 5% fee but as an example my Panama Canal cruise was valued at over $3000 for just me and I paid a total of $556, that includes my grats, insurance, transfers and beverage package, (too long a cruise to not have one), taxes/fees and upgrade to an Ocean View. I think that is an amazing price. 80% savings.

 

I am waiting to see what RCCL will have to offer if they bring out a new program. I hope it will benefit me better because right now RCCL gives me nothing for my casino action.

I apologize to all of you, I have a 10 day Southern Caribbean on Priness and a Celebrity Mardi Gras in 2018 that is 50% sold out and 2017 that is about almost sold out. I am so sorry for the confusion. I now know for sure I am getting old.

I get nothing from RCCL Club Royale. I have received casino offers but they are no cheaper than the regular rates. On NCL, after my first cruise I received a free cruise, I had to pay taxes, fees, grats and insurance, not too shabby. After that I received 3 more NCL cruise offers. They are all booked, Eastern Caribbean on Escape in August, Panama Canal in September, Mexican Riviera in November and one other. I love the offers from NCL.

jticarruther,

 

I agree with you, I didn't see anything new and different. I have 12 cruises booked as of right now, spread over three cruise lines. I just won't sail Carnival, mainly because of the huge deposit they want on every cruise. I did a booking on a 7 day Key West/Bahama cruise with them. For a solo cruiser, like me, it was only about $1000 with insurance and grats added in but they wanted a $500 deposit. Are you kidding, no way. I don't like the multiple ways of booking their cruises, you can lose your deposit or at least $50 of it. Just have one price, I don't like that. I just won't give them my money. I wish Celebrity would open up the rest of 2017 and part of 2018, they always have some unusual cruises. I am doing a Princess in 2018 and it spends three days in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, only one of its kind and it is selling out fast.

 

Royal needs to WOW Again!

WAAAYTOOO unfortunately I have had a bad cruise. Like you some better than others. My review for the cruise took up almost one page on cruisecritic.com and I listed the good stuff too! I don't do a review to gripe and make me feel better, I want to be truthful to help anyone looking for advice. But you learn from each cruise you go on, don't you?

I would like to know, since I never heard of the Chef Table until I joined this blog. I have a food allergy, all seafood, can't eat any, and I don't drink alcohol, maybe once or twice a year a glass or two if wine. Would this be a waste of money for me? It sounds so wonderful.

I agree February is a very good choice better than the other two dates.

WAAAAYTOOO,

Sorry didn't see your reply. I am not on RCCL on this cruise, on NCL. Actually it was originally a free casino offer Mexican Riviera that was cancelled, along with six other Mexican cruises. They offered cancelled passengers a 14 day Panama Canal, paying all charges including refunding my already booked air and $100 more OBC. The thing is I really don't care about going there but I decided to when I realized if I had to pay for it I would have paid a little over $3000 and I only paid for taxes/fees, grats, and transfers. I know nothing about any of these ports.

I have to tell you that my TA called RCCL again this morning and she asked for a supervisor. The supervisor said the April 30th cruise is taking place but isn't sold out, there is one (1) Junior Suite available. Who wants to jump on that cabin? I asked my TA why didn't she ask for me to be upgraded for free? TA just laughed!

Ok I might be missing something. At midnight I spent 3 hours looking at 28 pages of cruises for 2017 & 2018. I didn't see anything really new and different. Did I miss something? What did you see that was brand new?

I am so bummed by this talk of changing the point system. I am a solo cruiser and RCCL has been gracious enough (roll eyes here) to give me two (2) points per day per voyage. With my May Empress cruise, if it happens, I will become diamond and was looking forward to it.

As WAAAYTOOO stated I booked enough cruises to get me close to D+ but won't quite make it. I am looking at the new 2017 and 2018 to see if anything rings my chimes.

May 14, 2016 on the Empress, if she doesn't cancel it.

I hope you can give me some ideas of what to do with the shore excursions. I am scheduled for a Panama Canal cruise in October with stops in Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, Cartagena, Puerto Quetzal, Puntarenas and Corinth. Have you done any of these ports and what would you recommend for excursions. I am not adventurous, I don't scuba, snooba, or dive and jungles don't impress me. I love to see the cities and learn the history and love to shop. Are there any suggestions? So far the ship's offerings are lousy. Plus Cartagena scares me and so does Mexico since I am a solo cruiser.

 

Thanks for any help.

What I am worried about is RCCL has stated that Empress would be the Cuba ship. I am wondering if the reason they are cancelling is to send her to Cuba. NCL got their permission to sail there and will start in May and me thinks Royal will do the same. A small ship with a lot less passengers to piss off when they cancel all of those cruises.

I am on the May 14 sailing. I am upset about further cancellations and had my TA call them. RCCL said all April cruises are cancelled. The May 9th cruise is sailing. This is just one rep from RCCL speaking, don't know if it is true or not.

I agree that Chops is well worth the extra money. I love the Filet, one of the best steaks I have eaten.

I booked a B2B from Boston to Quebec City and back and they were two separate cruises, booked separately and charged the same for both. I did end up getting a small price drop but it wasn't hardly anything.

 

Good luck if you decide to do it. I will let you know on my B2B, the return cruise from Quebec City, the same food was served in the MDR and specialty restaurants as the week before, the same entertainment on the same nights on the return cruise, so I got to see the same show twice and eat the same food in the MDR on the return. I wasn't too happy about that. Taking a completely different cruise East and West Caribbean this shouldn't happen.

Yeah, one of my cruises is on the Liberty. I will have to watch for when I can book Saturday Night Fever.

 

Thank you for your replies, you are all so helpful. I am booked on the Empress, Explorer, Liberty and Empress again so no Broadway shows for me on those cruises.

 

Candie

I have four RCCL cruises in the next 8 months. Can anyone tell me how to find out what shows are on what ships? I have looked online but I am missing it some how. You are all so brilliant I know you can tell me how!

Candie