fonemanbob

We did Princess for Alaska and will be going on Princess to Australia and New Zealand and Alaska again . Main reason is itinerary and secondly you can do your own laundry. You can"t do that on RC or Celebrity. When you are gone 3 and 4 weeks doing your awn laundry saves a lot of money esp. if you can nail down that elusive drink pkg. which Princess actually includes oh their sales quite often.

By all means consider non RC excursions. Check out trip adviser. We have been very successful doing this on our last 3 cruises. They are less expensive and smaller in size. We do RC excursions at a tendered port so so as to be guaranteed to get back on the ship.

Our cruise on Rhapsody in Feb. has some of the drink pkgs. on sale . Not the deluxe and it was only this weekend. And don"t forget to add the 18 % gratuity to the final total. One has to be pro active these days and constantly check e mails, roll call, RC web site and RC Blog etc. RC Blog is extremely informative and helpful.

We booked the BOGO for cruise on Rhapsody in Feb. I called RC and they couldn"t confirm which restaurant for either night. She stated that they choose both of them. You could try contacting RC or do like we do We get to the port before 11 a.m. and once on board go directly to the main dining room and get your BOGO squared away. Worst case scenario you cancel the BOGO and spend a couple of dollars mores and choose the specialty restaurants that you want to go to.

We love San Juan. Stayed there before our Southern Caribbean cruise a couple of years ago. Enjoyed touring the fort. Found an excellent restaurant we dined at twice. The beaches are really nice. Bottom line more to do in San Juan than St. Kitts. Be thankful you were not on your cruise and your port was cancelled. That has happened to us twice but life goes on. We were fortunate last year our stop at Ephesus, Turkey was not cancelled . I"m so glad we used the advice of bloggers and did a tour there. Also last year we stayed in Barcelona at Hotel 1812 on Las Ramblas for 3 nights before and after our sailing. And look what happened there this past week. Does that mean they should cancel Barcelona. Absolutely not. WAAAYTOOOO put it best.

We tried to book spa treatments. LOL It stated $ 89 and when went to schedule it they had risen $ 40 to $ 50 . I called R C and said that they were false advertising prices. She said that they must be sold out sold out at the $ 89. price. Yeah right. Hopefully when we board they will have the packages that they always have upon boarding. Also we found that shore excursions thru private vendors for same itinerary are running $ 40 to $ 50 less... Going on Rhapsody Feb. 18.

Native Choice is the way to go. The tour thru RC costs $94. The same tour thru Native Choice costs $55. We are doing the Extreme Chacchoben tour for $80 thru Native choice on our cruise on Rhapsody in February. That tour includes lunch and beverages and swimming in a lagoon. A $15 p.p. deposit is all that"s required. Check out the reviews on Trip Adviser. If you are stopping in Cozumel we would highly recommend Mr Sancho"s. It is an all inclusive beach club. cost is $55 per adult. Beach,food,beverages all inclusive.

For the sake of sanity for you and the Mrs. by all means go on the Indy to Cozumel or the Navigator. Great shopping, and good excursions to the Mayan ruins in Cozumel. The kids will have so much more to do in Cozumel and on a bigger class of ship.

We have never experienced closed ships especially with cruise ships in port.

Big tables are a nice way to meet people. If you get stuck at a table that you are not comfortable at they will gladly move you as others have stated. Best yet the first thing we do upon boarding is go directly to the MDR and see where our table is. If you are not happy just get it changed. Sitting at a window table is a great way to avoid the foot traffic.

We did Enchantment as our first cruise. Since then she has been stretched and refurbished. If you drink wine you can bring 2 bottles on board to have in your room. Also think about bringing snacks on board as well. In Key West I would recommend Cuban Coffee Queen for coffee. Rodriguez cigars if you enjoy a nice cigar. And Eaton Street Seafood Market. As well as the other tourist traps especially Hogs Breath Saloon. Your Deluxe drink package is the way to go as well. We used to bring water and soda on. Not any more. The deluxe drink package covers it all. One tip about the package. If you want more than 1 water when going off the ship. Get 1 water at breakfast and another as you go to disembark. They only sell 1 at a time. Kind of a hassle but whatever. Also as soon as you get on the boat go the main dining room and get your specialty restaurants and times squared away. They fill up fast. Most importantly : ENJOY your cruise.

We did the RC private tour to Rome. It is a bit pricey but it was well worth it. The guide was excellent. The main reason we did RC was the distance you travel. If you miss the boat on a non RC excursion its your expense. Best of Rome Tour CV07. It includes lunch which was very delicious.

Mr. Sancho"s it is. Thank you all very much.

The drink package is great if you know upfront that you will be spending that much money each day. It really doesn"t take much to use your up daily cost. Especially on a sea day. Like Disney Bartender said the number one thing we do is extend a nice gratuity to the head bartender on the start of the cruise and at the end. The service you get is awesome unless your a piece of work. We have done that the past several cruises as well as with our room attendant and the service you get is worth the extra money. Nine times out of ten after a couple of days of ordering the same drinks if the bartender spots you heading his or her way they will have made your drinks by the time you reach the bar.

Recommended sights and where to eat.

Please advise of any recommended tours or sights to see on those 3 stops.

We used P K travel and were extremely happy that we did. We were the only 2 with the driver and a licensed tour guide who was excellent. It was a bit pricey as there were no others to sign up for the tour. We saw sights that were not in other tours. I would sign up now on their web sight for the tour that you are interested in. In Santorini, Greece we did the Santorini wine tour that was awesome. It was a tour of 3 wineries. There were 8 people total on the tour. I stated to the other 6 people who were half our age that I wish that what we learned that day we had learned 30 plus years ago. The sommelier was phenomenal. We did the R C tour in Rome of the Vatican etc. which was also pricey but worth every penny. In Barcelona were we stayed before and after the cruise we did the Full day tour and Montserant. Excellent tour. In Ephesus, Turkey we did the R C tour that takes you to the house of the Virgin Mary. Another great tour by R C. In Malta the R C tour that included Medina glass works. Beautiful glass work. We bought some and had it shipped. The two private tours were excellent and in the future we will use more non ship tours. No problem at all in Santorini with taking the gondolas up and down the mountain as we were the only ship in the harbor that day. We checked repeatedly with the port schedule to make sure there were no other ships in port that day so as to make the last tender back to the ship. It is a lot of walking up and down and cobblestone pavements on all of the tours. We were fortunate not to gain any weight on a 12 day cruise due to all of the walking involved on those tours. Personally I have had a total knee and hip replaced and said to the wife after the 2nd day of tours that I made it through those days and knew I would make it thru the rest of the days and did with no problems. Yes it was the cruise of a lifetime and worth every penny.

Absolutely get their the day before. We flew to Barcelona for our cruise 3 weeks ago and we were to fly from Knoxville to Chicago to Frankfort and then to Barcelona. Well Chicago was closed due to bad weather. After a 4 hour delay the ticket agent booked us on a different airline and a totally different route. We actually got to Barcelona 4 hours earlier than originally planned and with no stress or fuss. When we lived in Florida we always stayed overnight at the cruise terminal city. That was due to you never know when their will be an accident that ties up the interstates for hours. It is definitely worth the extra money for that incredible piece of mind. Besides Windjammer open the pool bar and some other bars will be open as well. Also you can book excursions, spa treatments, shows, etc. with no long lines. It is worth getting their by 11 a.m. Dress casual with your bathing suits on or have them ready in a carry on. Wether its your 1st cruise or 30th it is always nice to explore the ship. And if like to imbibe it is the perfect time to hit the pool bar and get to know the bartenders before the throngs hit. Enjoy your cruise.

I agree with all of the previous posts. if you are flying we have found that the products like airborne are great to take as a precaution before flying. Other wise we have been on on several cruises and have never gotten sick. It might be redundant but just use the hand sanitize everywhere you go on board.

According to my wife I fit into a lot of the posts. L.O.L. They are SO TRUE. Hey tha"ts what cruising is all about. So to all ENJOY the wonderful world of cruising. And may all your voyages be safe and calm. Happy sailing

Most excellent post donolog. And Thank you to the others as well that sent a reply. I would like to ad an additional pointer to donolg. DO NOT drink the free champagne. Art auctions as well as other high end auctions serve free champagne so as to loosen you up and make you happy and care free. I noticed at every one of the 4 auctions that we attended there were at least between four to six couples if not more that were pounding down the free champagne and bidding away on various art works. And yes Buyer Beware and do your homework. The piece we bought was unique and not overly expensive like some art work can be. Thank You all again for your input.

Has anyone purchased art work from an art auction on board a ship. If so how was your experience. I just got home from Spain after being on Brilliance for 12 nights and bought a picture. Now I am reading some not so favorable reviews about Park West Art Auctions. Thank you in advance.

I would rather put that type of money towards a dozen drinks of the day or 5 specialty restaurant dinners. The discovery channel and the travel documentaries have very extensive behind the scenes filming of the ships as they are being built or refurbished. And those are free to watch over and over.

Yes Adventure Ocean is a kids club where they are in groups with kids their age. It is well supervised with lots of activities for them to do. They have services for all ages. For your kids their is one group for 3-5 and 6-8 and then the tween and teens program.

Going to Europe later this week and was wondering where is the best place to get Euros. We got some here so we have a little until we arrive in Spain for our cruise. We have heard all kinds of answers from get them here in the U.S. to get them in Europe. Then not at the airport, at the airport. go to bank ATM etc. Your thoughts please. Thank you