MylesDots

My wife and I cruised on Navigator of the Seas November 2015  -- Our first experience with Royal Caribbean. Loved the promenade concept of the ship -- That was really a focal point. However, the very best thing about the ship was the California Wine Pairing dinner we had at the Chops Grille. Wonderful! We are cruising on the Liberty of the Seas December 2016, and the very first thing we signed up for was the Chef's Table Dinner. We are looking forward to it.
 
What are the coolest or most unique things you have found about the ships you have been on? I am particularly interested in Liberty, but eager to hear what everyone thinks.
 
-Ukulele Cruiser
10/09 -- Carnival Conquest
10/12 -- Carnival Conquest
11/15 -- Navigator of the Seas
12/16 -- Liberty of the Seas
12/17 -- Norwegian Pearl

prior to cruising my wife and I were debating the drinks packages, were they worth it?
I do not drink a lot at home but can tend to drink a few with company, my wife drinks more than I do but even she is not the heaviest drinker, so we decided to get the premium package rather than have to worry about hefty cruise card bills.
We both drank enough to justify the package, so we go our money's worth.
we both agree now, however that if we didn't have a package we would not have drank anywhere near as much.
We have agreed that on our next cruise we will just buy the soft drink package if any and buy a couple of beers or whatever with meals
Peter

It's been several years since I've been onboard the Hochberg of the Seas, I mean Navigator of the Seas...  :P  :D
 
Does NotS have the Coke Freestyle machines?  and if so, where might they be located sans the Windjammer?

Is there a galley tour on Liberty of the Seas? There was on Navigator...And can you sign up ahead of time?

Hi..I am sailing on the Allure in June with a large group of family and friends (approx 70 people). I was thinking it would be nice to have a group picture taken (we're having a group shirt made). Does anyone know if I could arrange something with RCCL to get a group picture in the Aquatheater area and have one of the ship photographers take it? Who would I need to contact for this? Thanks!

Does anyone have a picture of what the suite deck/ suite bar area looks like?  Google has been less than helpful... Thanks!

Does any other prepaid passenger on the Ovation of the Seas cruising from Singapore to Fremantle from 30 November 2016 feel ripped off by the massive sale prices currently being offered to new passengers for Balcony staterooms?

Howdy! I have been listening to the podcast for a while, and decided to post a question involving going on the Transatlantic cruise (in less than two weeks!) from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. I've read here that it's known that they do costume contests and parties, and I have heard rumors that that on some ships, they have even let passengers wear costumes to dinner in the main dining room. Not sure if that rumor was true or not, but it does lead me to my question. Now, the question I have does directly involve me, but there's nothing that says this can't help someone else in the future!
 
What I plan to be doing is a minotaur, a character I do at several renaissance festivals in Texas and Arkansas. As a point of information to help with hopefully answering the questions I have, the costume consists of faux fur leggings, hoof overlays for boots, and a mask. The costume does not include any upper body attire (when I do the character at renaissance festivals, I do add some armor, but that will be a bit too much for luggage on the flight to Barcelona, so I have to do without.).
 
The question is this: Presuming they allow costumes in the main dining room on Halloween, I would presume that my particular outfit won't be quite suitable unless I add a shirt to the costume (not really a problem, I can wear a sleeveless button-up shirt that would work well with the outfit if I had to.). Out of the complimentary resturaunts on the ship, which ones (if any) might be more conducive to me enjoying a meal in the costume without needing to add a shirt, or being able to get by with adding an open leather vest?
 
Thanks greatly in advance! Looking forward to the cruise!

I know we're a glutton for punishment, but does anyone know if an interior stateroom on Independence with 4 people can have the lower bed pushed together (queen/full size) with the two bunks pulled out of the ceiling?  The only pictures i could find have the lower beds separated.  if you have a picture please post.  Thanks!
 

If the cruise before yours happens to be a TransAtlantic cruise, is there a delay in boarding for the following cruise?  I read on another board that passengers on our cruise in November would not plan on an early boarding since the entire crew would have to go through immigration before we would be allowed to board.
 
Our cruise in November is out of Miami...but the ship is arriving from a 13 day TransAtlantic cruise.

I want to get on board as soon as possible to enjoy an "extra" day on the ship...but don't want to get there early only to have to wait for hours while this process completes.
 
(Hope this post makes sense.)

Thanks

We usually cruise once a year in Feb. Earlier this year my bf whined he needed a break so I booked the cheapest cruise I could find. Interior deck 3 (normally we're in a balcony). We were underneath the Schooner Bar (yes we could hear it and the Theatre). 
 
Most memorable thing? I broke a finger. Serious break, surgery is tomorrow. Other than my finger, I'm fine.
 
We won a lot at trivia. (hehe) Finally scored something better than the ubiquitous highliters and keychains. A baseball hat!! :D
 
What was the deal with the bacon? A couple mornings they kept running out. They'd put out a fresh batch, 'twould be gone in 7 nanoseconds. I took to standing in line with the other hopefuls. The first time some 10-12 year old kid cut in front of me, proceeded to take 2 huge  tongs full of bacon. At that point I snapped at him to leave some but he had taken approx half the bacon (not exaggerating). Another time a woman again cut right in front of me. "There's a line for the bacon."  She ignored me. "Ma'am see the people behind me? That's the line for the bacon." She made some non-committal remark about the line coming from the other side but from the way she refused to look at me or speak I knew she knew she was in the wrong.
 
People are getting so rude. We tried to sit in some "saved" seats (2 guys holding half of row 2 - about 8 seats) but the 2 guys got belligerent with us, one of them going so far as to shove my bf. My boyfriend has Bipolar Disorder and it took all his restraint not to slug the jerk back. All around us people were commenting how *we* were the rude ones to try to steal these people's seats. What happened to Royal's policy of no saving seats?
 
At the cashier redeeming a paltry 75 cent voucher, was behind a woman redeeming a handful of vouchers. One got rejected as already redeemed, I snuck a peek it, was for $80. Whoa, I'd like to know the story behind that.
 
Missed Grand Cayman due to bad weather, our second cruise in a row to do so.
 
In Jamaica we did the Red Stripe Beach excursion. I wasn't expecting much but it was better than anticipated. It was obvious they had trucked in a lot of sand as the surrounding area was swampy. However, the beach was nice, the water pleasant, a DJ providing music. They had all the usual accoutrements for a fee - food, beer, lawn chairs. The only glitch was not enough buses going back. The bus would fill up leaving a whole bunch of grumpy people to wait 20 to 40 minutes for the next one.
 
At the embarkation point was a guy soliciting for Sabor. Arizona his name was. Against my better judgement I said okay. (I live in Houston where there's great authentic Mexican food {street taco trucks to higher end fare}) as well as Tex-Mex.  Oh man, it sucked. We hated it. And we didn't hide our displeasure so the waiters picked up on it and got edgy around us. Waiter brings the bill gives it to my bf. "Why not me? I protested. "Because he is the gentleman," was the response as I pulled out my Seapass card and handed it to him. He brings back the bill and again hands it to my BF. I was offended at this crass display of sexism.
 
First cultural crossup: In Cozumel in a shop, there were some wooden snakes. My bf (I wish he wouldn't) told the shop ladies I have snakes as pets. "Oh?" they say. They were more curious than repulsed. "What do you feed them? "Mice," I said. "oooooh, maize", she responded. No, no, no not corn. (amused and chuckling facepalm) They did understand rat and mouse.
 
Second cultural crossup: They had congee at breakfast!! I love congee! (major Chinatown near to where I live)  But. The congee in the Windjammer is not exactly what I'm used to. I asked a Chinese waitress about it, she said she didn't eat rice. Where she came from they ate noodles. Strike one. 
Another time there was a blond lady with an accent I couldn't place dishing some up. "Oh, it's chicken soup," she said. She tried it first day and really liked it. Chicken soup. Strike two.
 
Saturday night 2:20 am they made an announcement so-and-so please come to Guest Services deck 5. Twice they announced! WTF? If you wake me up at 2am I'm going to have trouble getting back to sleep and I'll likely oversleep the following morning. 
 
We were debarking and right behind us they refused debarkation to some woman, turning her back. We were like, hmmmm, someone trying to skip out on their gambling debt.....
 
And finally in the car trying to leave and a man and a woman greeted each other with great fanfare, then began smooching. Standing in the middle of the road, right in front of us, blocking egress. I tried to honk but my bf kept knocking my hand away. We rolled down the window and yelled at them; they were oblivious. Finally I got in a honk. They turned around with an indignant EXCUUUUUUSE-ME!!!!! look, but moved to the sidewalk where they continued smooching. A true (facepalm) moment.
 

I booked a cruise on the RCL website for my family of four (me, my wife, sons age 18 and 15)  for an upcoming cruise.

I booked two rooms directly across the hall from each other; one balcony and one interior promenade view.

When I did the reservations, I had to put a guest over 21 in each room in order to complete the reservation.  This puts my son and I in a room, and my wife and other son in the other room.  The plan was to just have the boys stay in the interior room and my wife stay in the balcony room.  However, I am starting to realize that while it may work...there may be some issues with this arrangement (by the way, this is our first cruise...so I am new to all of this).

Will RCL allow me to switch my wife and I into the same room and put my boys together in the room across the hall (even though the oldest is only 18)?

So I have Harmony of the seas booked twice in 2017. March we are booked in a balcony room and Thanksgiving 2017 we have a crown loft suite. Both rooms were booked under my casino VIP rate. My question is if my casino play goes exceptionally well in March can I call the VIP host and get an additional discount on the crown loft suite for Thanksgiving?

I booked a cruise with my sister for next week, but she may not be able to make it because she is not feeling well.
 
Is there any problem if I just go to the cruise without her? Will I run into any problems checking in? Has anyone tried this before?

Thanks for the update, Steve

We are going on our first RC cruise. We are going on a 4 night cruise on Brilliance of the Seas and heard there are theme nights on RC Cruise ships... Will we get advance notice? Heading to Cozumel in Feb 2017. TIA

I have booked two connecting staterooms on the Allure for my family. Does anyone know if the dividing wall on the balcony can be opened so the connecting rooms have one big balcony?

Are tips included in price of drink packages or are they added per drink purchased?

I'm not that familiar with her schedule, is this an early return because of the hurricane?

You could always load Teamviewer onto a machine at home and leave it running in server mode.  Then you can access that one from your machine on the cruise, and remotely use the one at home to RDC or VPN into your work boxes.  I've used Teamviewer in all sorts of places where everything except ports 80/443 were blocked.

Do new itineraries open to C&A Members before the general public? If so, how do you know when they are available? I would love to try and book a few 2018 cruises using this method as it seems like the fare would be awesome. Anyone have experience with this?

Hi all
Was just wondering if there was anyone here going either Nov 20th - 6 night or Nov 26 - 8 night. We are looking forward to our first visit to the Caribbean 

So I'm curious who else is going on any of the Thanksgiving weekend cruises on Indy, Navigator and Brilliance?  A Royal Caribbean Blog role call of sorts for these 3 cruises!  I'll be traveling with my wife and two kids (6 & 4).
 
I was booked on Indy, cancelled it about 45 days ago and rebooked today.  I paid about $1000 less than my original reservation but I did go from 2 rooms to 1 room with a family of 4.  Apples to apples savings was about $500-600.
 
I've never been on a cruise ship on an actual holiday so I was curious if anyone has any memorable experiences from cruises in their past that sailed on Thanksgiving or any other actual major holidays.

We have booked a category "G" oceanview cabin on Enchantment for next October (deck 4 BTW).

Wanted to know if the bed in this cabin is right in front of the widow OR perpendicular to it? I can't seem to find an answer one way or the other.
 
Thanks!

Greetings:
 
Super-stoked to be on JOTS during Thanksgiving week. 
 
Have planned excursions in Aruba and Bonaire. Renting a car in Curacao and heading up to westpunt to snorkel.  
 
I doubt we will be checking this board very often, so if you want to send a message and introduce yourself please forward to [email protected]
 
Thanks, Diane