Gears
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Posts posted by Gears
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Relaxation artist here too...but it seems ENTJs perfer beach and sand.
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2 hours ago, UkuleleCruiser said:
Perhaps this is just me, but I don't drink near enough to make this package work. I find the drinks to be fairly inexpensive, especially compared to drinking in a restaurant. Between my wife and I, according to my math, I can't get anywhere near enough alcohol in my system to make this economical. Carnival used to have a wine flight package that we loved: You could by 5 or more bottles of wine at a "discounted" price at the beginning of the cruise, and thy would bring them out for you at dinner or in bars throughout the cruise. Then, if you had wine left over (presumably unopened: We drank all of ours) you would just take it off the ship. I haven't seen it, but a smaller "drinks with dinner" type package would appeal to people like me, too. Something like $20-$24 a day, and it covers 2 or 3 drinks with dinner....
RCL used to have that kind of wine package. I found it worked well, but as soon as the drink packages came out they disappeared. However, some of the dining packages allow you to buy bottles of wine at a discount (40% off bottles under $100 and 20% off bottles over $100) when in the specialty restaurants. I don''t believe there is a restriction on how many bottles you can buy and take them(?) with you.
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41 minutes ago, mworkman said:
40 days
Allure?
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40 & 47...B2B!! Wooot! Wooot!
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File this under etiquette. I can tell you as an experienced cruiser, it's not pleasant having people eating in areas not designated for eating. Windjammer, etc. are staffed and equipped to handle food, dishes and clean up. Bars and other common areas are not. As @toodle68 said, the pool deck especially.
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6 hours ago, jurrjurr said:
Worst pizza I had on land was in Quebec City, QC. They put their pepperoni underneath the cheese.
Blasphemy! But, still better than Sorrentos. Next thing they will have pizza with freedom fries, cheese curds and gravy. Washed down with a Pepsi and followed up with a Mae West.
(Sorry...a north of the 49th parallel thing)
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When you arrive at the port to board the ship and your wife asks you which ship we're on this time and how many nights...
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One for each.
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12 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:
Any suggestions for a hotel close to the Port of Miami? Looking for something nice, clean, close to the port and airport, and with restaurants within walking distance. We'll likely be taking a cab everywhere so distance matters. Uber and Lyft doesn't work well when you're Canadian and have no data in the US
We stayed at the Langford Hotel at 121 SE 1st Street. It's downtown in an older part of Miami. Small place, older hotel but clean, nice and close to the port. Meets all your criteria.
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47 minutes ago, bigaznn said:
This is my first cruise so please excuse my ignorance. Aren't you supposed to take your passport when you get off the ship?
That will depend on your port of call. We haven't been to a port of call that specifically required passports, just some form of gov't photo ID (driver's licence in our case). I lie...I recall needing it in Key West at one point...but that is because we are non-US citizens.
But as @Sabrinaklaisaid...check the Cruise Compass.
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13 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:
What do you do with your things if for instance both of you are snorkeling? Or just go one at a time? I've had stuff stolen on a local beach here I imagine it's tempting elsewhere.
Basically...cards and cash go snorkeling too.
Here's a beach trick...bring some sort of container, put your stuff in it and bury it in the sand. Of course, you have to be able to find it again, but thieves are quick to strike and will rifle through your stuff quickly...they won't go digging in the sand.
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7 hours ago, monctonguy said:
Interesting to see this and do some math.
For the room attendants....I don't know how many rooms they are responsible for...I know it was to be at least 10..I am thinking its closer to 15-20...but if we just use 10..and average out 2 ppl to room(often there is more)...then it works out to be about $30,000 USD they make...JUST on room tips! Not counting what they make as the minimum wages or any extra tips that are left.
The dining staff makes about $8 MILLION USD in tips on average per year.....using a ship with 2700 passengers
I mean....I don't think we need to feel too badly for these people as is often insinuated on travel boards. I agree they work hard at what they do, but they have a VERY low cost of living and at the end of the day are paid quite well overall ..IMHO.
Thoughts?
I have to wonder if the room attendants (using your example) are the only ones sharing in the gratuities categorized as such.
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20 minutes ago, bigaznn said:
What do you normally do with your wallet? Do you leave it in the room in the safe or do you take it with you on excursions? We are already taking our passports with us so is it overkill to take both? I tend to lean towards the less is better crowd. What is your opinion?
Everything is locked in the safe unless you need it. That includes passports. If we're getting off the ship, we take just enough cash we might need and a piece of gov't photo ID other than our passports. Credit card only in the case we foresee needing it to buy something.
We wear no jewelry either on excursions. That includes watches other than our recreation watches already covered in sand and sea salt.
- Orchids, pamw and PrincipalTinker
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Click 'Next'...
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7 hours ago, J. Woody said:
Hello! My first Rcl cruise will be Aug.2018. I never have USD bank account and USD based CC. I am not frequent US traveller. When I traveling US, always exchange cash in advance.
I checked RBC website, looks like no fee for open US account and RBC cc. worth to open it ?? big different exchange rate ??
Exchange rate from CDN to USD is very harmful!!
You want the RBC Bank (US entity) account and the no fee Signature USD card that you can apply for with the RBC Bank account (again, RBC Bank is the US legal entity and RBC Royal Bank is the Canadian legal entity).
Best exchange rate is to move CDN to USD using your online banking. It's not massively different than going into the branch, but it is a smidgen better.
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Thanks @toodle68, @monctonguy, @Mattand everyone else.
I'm looking at the 5 night dinner package for $115US each which sounds like a steal to me and two nights in the WJ.
The Ultimate Dinning package was a thought, but the lunch aspect is probably not something we would do.
We like the late MDR seating...but thinking we'll try a different angle this time...and possibly leave the formal wear at home.
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Despite all of our cruises on RC ships...there is one place we haven't eaten. Dinner in the Windjammer.
So, what's the typical dinner experience in the WJ? Is it just a repeat of lunch food wise? Do we need body armor and a seating strategy like breakfast/lunch?
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When you can answer about 98% of the questions posted to this board.
Agree with @twangster...when the ship has become the destination.
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Self disembarkation with ONE suitcase each. More than one suitcase and they won't let you take the escalator and I guarantee you it will take longer.
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17 minutes ago, twangster said:
There are thousands of consumer VPN providers these days who have limited support and whose only interest is standing up a basic service that barely works at minimal cost so they can sell it to the masses. It would be impossible for any service provider to certify every VPN service out there.
Lastly, RCI outsources the whole operation. You give RCI much more credit that I think you would it if you realized how small their HQ IT staff really is.
DING! (sorry...maybe that should be BING BONG! for those who remember) You got it @twangster. I spent 27 years as a Systems Engineer, service development and Product Manager in the IT and Telecom space (putting together similar services) and I love reading the conspiracy theories about it. All it takes is one device, in the outsourced service, that doesn't support the traffic type (that it was never intended to anyway) and Shazam!, something doesn't work and out come the daggers.
BTW...I'm waiting for someone to say that IPX doesn't work either...
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RC is likely taking an unspoken stand that residential Internet providers do. That is "Our service provides general Internet connectivity supporting web browsing and application support for services specific to company xyz under the terms and conditions of the service. Any other end user specific applications such as VPNs, VoIP services etc...are the responsibility of the end user...your mileage may vary."
Track
in Royal Caribbean Discussion
Posted
It depends on the ship. They are not all the same, even in the same class. It's usually written on the track somewhere.
But that does not include hurdling lounge chairs with people laying on them across the track...or stopping for a Margarita.
Many ships have deck 4/5 which are awesome for walking the circumference of the ship instead of the top deck.