baltodave

Hi All, The cruise planner dining and beverage items are now available for our Jan 25 2021 Vision OTS 11-night cruise and they are very high. Here are some beverage pkg examples (all are before the 18% grat.) : Deluxe Beverage Pkg: $68/day - That's not so abnormal but too high for me Refreshment Pkg: $34/day - I've never seen it that high! Classic Soda Pkg: $13.50/day - Also, never seen that so high! The Voom prices are crazy too! What makes this even crazier is that this 11-night cruise is fairly port intensive (not lots of sea days, relatively). Let's hope the Black Friday sale in November will bring the prices back down to something reasonable.

This has been going a little off of the original topic but... We've had good luck with cruise.com. I guess it all comes down to your agent. We only deal with one particular agent and I always call her directly. If I get her voicemail, I send an email and she responds in a reasonable amount of time. We almost always get extra OBC from them (usually posted at the end of the first day of the cruise) and sometimes get lower prices because they often book a block of staterooms from RC. If you need to call any agent to solve a problem or answer a question, I opt for the call-back option (I hate to wait on hold), and usually get a call-back within an hour.

Does anyone know if there's a lobster night on a 4-night Navigator OTS cruise? I ask because this will be our first "short" cruise. On 7-night cruises, lobster night is usually the 2nd "dress-up" night. Thanks!

Thanks Matt! I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to wait until day 2 of a 4-night sailing (Navigator in June). I'm Emerald which usually gets 15% off. So 3 days (after waiting for day 2) @ 18.99*2 less 15% works out to 96.85. Yesterday, I purchased 4 days @ 25.49 for 2-device. That came to 101.96. For me, the $5 savings is not worth waiting until day 2 (of course, we'd loose connectivity as soon as we leave the Miami area-- probably around 5:00 or so). ... and that assumes the onboard prices and Emerald discount is the same in June. (glad I paid attention in math class in high school!) ?

Does anyone know what the on-board price for 2-device Voom is (before any C&A discount)?

1. Does anyone know if the on-board price of Voom is still $19.99/day? Is there a break for 2-device? 2. What is the discount for Emerald-level C&A for Voom? I'm asking the above questions to see if it's worth it to wait until day 2 (of a 4-night cruise leaving Miami) to purchase Voom on-board or to get it from the Cruise Planner site ahead of time. On a related note, does the Royal app work on Navigator and is there a chat (e.g. text message to other guests) feature in it? If not, anyone know when that might be available. Thanks everyone!

Rhapsody is a Vision class ship. We sailed her the last week of January and had a wonderful time. We were in an "ocean view" (aka window) stateroom on deck 4. Only issue is that the OV rooms seems a little smaller than the ones on Voyager or Freedom class ships. We had a wonderful waiter and assistant waiter (actually, we loved our assistant waiter). Also, the cruise director and activities manager were wonderful. All-in-all, I'd recommend it and can't think of any major glitches.

Another advantage of a stateroom on a low deck: On port days, you don't need to wait for the elevators. Just zip up or down the stairs! The elevators can be very crowded in the afternoons when most people are returning to the ship.

I wouldn't bother snorkeling there but kayaking could be fun.

For Costa Maya, I highly recommend Maya Chan. We were there in 2018 and will be back NEXT WEEK!! (we are on Rhapsody departing Tampa Jan 25). Maya Chan usually fills up (they only hold around 100 or so people) so you'll want to reserve online. Go to their website and request a reservation. If they have space, they will send you a Paypal invoice. It cost $59 pp (less for return visitors) and includes all the food and drink you can handle. As another poster indicated, the water in Costa Maya can be icky (is that a word?) and they do have issues with sea grass. However, that didn't stop us from having a great time. They run a great operation and do a great job of making everyone feel welcomed. I even reccently bought the book that Jane Ostrow (the matriarch of the family) wrote.

I've been to all (except Perfect Day). We did not visit the ruins in Costa Maya or Cozumel since it sort of a long trip and went to beaches instead. I know it's not what you ask for but Maya Chan in Costa Maya can't be beat. In Roatan, check out Daniel Johnson's Monkey & Sloth Hangout. (just google it). We were there a couple years ago and going back in 2 weeks! (taking Rhapsody out of Tampa 1/25). The monkeys are nuts but the sloths are so gentile and nice.

Orient Beach is on the French side and we were there several years ago before the hurricane and had a great time. Just took a $10 or $15 cab to get there. Next to the beach were were at, was "Club Orient" which includes a nude beach. I took a walk over the rocks seperating it to do some "sight seeing" (don't judge!). Anyway, back to the regular part of Orient Beach, I would call it a "topless optional" beach (since we were with friends, my wife kept her suit on! lol) Does anyone know if Orient Beach has been rebuilt since the hurricane? I had heard there was not much there (too bad!).

Hi Everyone, We're going on Rhapsody 1/25/20-2/01/20 and the first stop is Belize (never been there). We are thinking of doing one of the cave tubing excursions and there are 2 similar ones on the RC Planner website. One is "JAGUAR PAW CAVE TUBING & JUNGLE TREK WITH LUNCH" and the other is "EXCLUSIVE CRYSTAL CAVE TUBING AND LAGOON WITH LUNCH". They both include lunch and the Crystal one is $28 more per person. Can anyone explain the difference and is the Crystal Cave Tubing worth the extra$$. One more thing: I normally never book excursions through RC but it seems these prices seem fair. Also, if we can't stop in Belize (it's a Tender port), there will be no problem getting a refund. Thanks everyone!

With Enchantment replacing Grandeur in Baltimore in Spring 2021, I was hoping to see a nice repositioning cruise from San Juan to Baltimore. Boy, am I dissapointed! There is a repositioning cruise in April 2021 but it's only 5 nights from San Juan to Baltimore with a stop in Bermuda at 5PM on day 3 and departs Bermuda at 2PM on day 4. And to make it worse, it's a pricey cruise with interior rooms at over $600 pp and OV rooms at over $1200 pp.

My wife just came off Majesty and had pre-purchased the Refreshment package. She was disappointed to see that there was no fresh squeezed OJ in the Windjammer for breakfast. Does anyone know if there is fresh-squeezed OJ in the Windjammer (at breakfast) on Rhapsody? Thanks!

We also recently bought The Key for a Rhapsody 7-night cruise in late January for similar reasons. But the math is actually a little better. The Key for 2 people for 7 nights (at 16.99/pp/day) works out to $237.86. Remember that for each person, The Key includes Voom Surf & Stream. If we were to purchase a 2-device Surf & Stream package for 7 nights, that works out to $199.43 (28.49 x 7). So The Key is only $38.43 more and for that price we get to drop off our carry-ons on the first day and Chops Lunch, nice sit-down breakfast on the last day and the ability to cut the line leaving the ship. The special hours for the rock climbing does not interest us and the reserved seating (in the balcony) doesn't interest us either since we prefer to sit up close. (Rhapsody doesn't have Studio-B) The bottom line is that if you weren't interested in the Surf & Stream in the first place, The Key may not be worth it. However, if you were planning to purchase a 2-device Surf & Stream package anyway, the Key may very-well be worth it.

@coneyraven You'll have to change your title from "Grandeur Poo-Bah" to something else. So sad!

I noticed that the currently listed last 2 sailings of Enchantment will be the first 2 weeks of April 2021 out of San Juan. Does this mean there may be an Enchantment repositioning cruise from San Juan to Baltimore in Spring 2021?

Does anyone know where the preferred seating for folks with "The Key" is in the theater on Rhapsody (or any other Vision class ship)? Is it in the balcony or is it up front? Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone. Very helpful information.

Hi Everyone, For our next cruise, we are traveling with 2 other couples (of course, each couple in their own stateroom). Is it possible for one of the couples to get a 3 or 4 device Voom package and each person get their own access code? (it would save a few dollars). Thanks and Happy Cruising!

Great review. We purchased the Key at 19.99/pp/day on our FOTS cruise this past March. It was around the beginning of the program which is why we got a good price. On our cruise, the embarkation day lunch was in Chops (it was before they moved it to MDR) and it was absolutely awesome. Sorry your experience in the MDR was not that good. We didn't do the activities you took advantage of (rock climbing, Flow Rider, etc..) so can't comment there. But our experience at breakfast on the last day pretty much matches yours. We sat in the reserved section in Studio B for the ice shows and that was great! I don't remember if they reserved seats for Quest but it didn't matter since we got there early. The reserved section in the main theater was the front row center of the balcony but we preferred to sit in the front rows center of the orchestra. Bottom line is that for a 7 night (or longer cruise), with prices greater than 20/pp/day and the embarkation day lunch moving to MDR, I'll probably pass next time and just buy Voom separately.

Hi Everyone, Sorry if this has been addressed.... What are the basic differences between the "Surf" package and "Surf & Stream" packages. I read the descriptions and they state the "Surf & Stream" can be used for watching movies & TV (i.e. Netflix, etc). We have no intention to do that (hell, we are on a cruise!) but may want to use FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook-live, email, iMessage, etc.. on our iPhones. With these apps, are we okay with just the "surf" package or should we pay the extra $$ and get the "Surf & Stream"? BTW, our next cruise is on Rhapsody (first "small" ship we've ever taken). Previously, we've done Oasis class, Freedom class and Voyager class ships. Thanks! Dave

Is there a way to determine which ships will be at Coco Cay on a particular day? I'm asking to get a feel for how crowded it will be the day my wife and her parents will be stopping there.

This one looks interesting: https://belizecruiseexcursions.com/excursion/belize-x-stream-cave-tubing/ Have you (or anyone else) used this company?