blue_hole_punch

I saved $3,000 rebooking my Ovation transpacific for April 2019. Was previously $10,000 for the 3 of us. Now $7,000!!!!

Thanks all for your replies. The travel agent is a cruise specialist (considering the agency is called Cruise About you'd want to assume they're specialists!). If the suites were available they'd be slightly out of our price range - the price is why my dad is looking at other lines, he's a Princess fanatic but the cost for the Princess cruise was way too high. That's why he was looking at Carnival, because we could get a suite on there for the price of a normal room on other lines. We've essentially looked at all the lines that do the Australia to Hawaii/US route and Carnival and Royal are the only ones where you can get a balcony room for under $20,000 for 3 people. I personally think we'll be OK - my mum is a neat freak so she'll keep me in line for keeping myself organised and tidy. I'm applying the logic I apply to land holidays - I book cheap hotels, because if the hotel is too nice I won't want to leave. By booking a not so nice hotel I don't want to spend too much time there, I'll be out exploring. By the same logic I won't be spending much time in the cabin - I loved Explorer and last time I was on her I spent too much time in the cabin because my husband was ill (his first and last cruise). There were so many great spots I found to curl up with a book, both in and outside, to watch the time pass by. And there's always so much going on I don't think we'll be doing anything other than dressing and sleeping in the room! I think the travelling as a 3 is the problem as well - we've learnt trying to plan a few things as a threesome that the world is built for even numbers! Shame my husband didn't enjoy our cruise, because we'd be booking an inside and mum and dad a balcony and we'd be fine. I did up a pro/con list last night and did a solid comparison of the two and I think I've got dad turned to looking at the Explorer more seriously. Rhapsody or Radiance (can't remember which one) sails at the same time doing a similar itinerary and the room on there isn't that much smaller than the one on Explorer which gives us another option. We are currently waiting for the travel agent to respond to my dad's email, will see what happens.

Hi all - looking at the April 2019 transpacific from Sydney to Seattle on Explorer. It will me be me (32) and my parents (60 and 58) sharing a cabin. I've been on Explorer previously, in one of the deck 12 balcony cabins. I'm struggling to reconcile cabin size - the travel agent calls its a "spacious ocean view balcony" of 272 sq ft, 80 sq ft balcony. But I can't find that size anywhere else. So I'm thinking their website is wrong. Royal's website says 179sq ft, 42sq ft balcony. Cruise Critic says 188sq ft, 50sq ft balcony. Room numbers the website is giving us is 7214, 7216, 7350, 7352, 6348, 6352 and many others. Room type 3B on the official deck plans. Has anyone got any advice? Would these rooms be big enough for 3 adults for 23 nights? We would have the bed set up as a twin and then someone would sleep on the lounge. Based on my experience in 1838, which is a standard balcony cabin of 164sq ft I'm thinking it might be ok. We haven't cruised as a threesome yet - we're going to NZ on Princess in February in a Mini Suite which is 323sq ft total - 277sq ft room and the balcony is 46sq ft. On the Royal website apparently all suites are sold out, hence why looking at balcony cabins. Getting connecting cabins or a balcony and an interior is simply not in the budget - we need to be in the one room. If I can't convince my dad that the Explorer rooms are a better option, we'll be going on Carnival in an Ocean Suite and I really don't want to sail on Carnival. Dad's not happy with the room we're being offered either, and this cruise is his retirement present so we want it to be nice.

Explorer of the Seas - 3 Day Cruise Review Just got back from my first RCI cruise, 2nd cruise ever. We did the sample cruise out of Sydney, as my husband has never been cruising before and we wanted to see what he thought before doing a longer itinerary. Unfortunately he didn't enjoy it - the movement of the sea was a bit too much for him. He was very glad to get off the ship and back on to land. I had a blast though. My first cruise was with P&O Australia and now having been on RCI I won't do anything less. The ship was better appointed, staff friendlier and everything was just amazing. Our cabin - we were in cabin 1838 on deck 12, so the newer cabins. I liked this cabin - it was easy to get to, and we liked the fact that there were no rooms above us, no rooms below us and only one room next to us. I also liked the glass balcony - the deck 12 balcony's are the only glass ones on Explorer from what I could see. The room was twice the size of the one I was in on P&O and easily liveable for a longer cruise. The facilities - it was amazing how on a ship of 3,000 people you never seemed to see more than 100 at once. The ship is spacious enough that you don't feel crammed in. The main disappointment I have from the facilities is the Freestyle coke machines. The two in the promenade never worked fully - one was always broken, the other only had plain Coke and Fanta available. There was never any ice. And I really didn't want to have to go up to the Windjammer every time I wanted a refill. Great idea, poor execution. The day spa was excellent, best massage I've had in a long time. Enjoyed the hot tub in the solarium area. The entertainment - the ice show was spectacular. Didn't make it to any of the other shows. I did feel like the entertainment was being put on at bare minimum levels. There were no parades in the promenade, nothing special other than a late night party for St Patrick's day and some shamrock decorations. We did the all access tour and it was great - a lot of walking but really interesting to see so many areas. It went to the galley, I95, engine control room, laundry, incinerator and bridge. The food - loved the food. Only bad food was the room service - wish there were more options for that. I was a bit frustrated when we first got on and every 2 minutes someone was approaching to sell the dining packages for the other restaurants. We'd already booked into Giovanni's through cruise planner and weren't interested in Chops or Izumi. We were just trying to have a nice drink outside the Crown and Kettle and we kept having to fend them off. Overall I was super happy with RCI. Wanted to book another cruise, but unfortunately with husband not enjoying himself I couldn't do it on board as I need someone to go with, I'm not paying so much extra to go on my own. Looks like next up will be a Princess cruise with my parents, but after that I may be able to sway them into an RCI cruise to the South Pacific.

Ok now I'm confused again So Husband has the Deluxe package, so everything. I have the Refreshment package, so everything but alcohol. Does this mean when I get like a juice or something I have the extra added, but if he bought the same juice he wouldn't? I know that if I do have an alcoholic beverage I have to pay for it and pay the gratuity, which I factored in when I got the refreshment package for myself because I'm pretty much a non-drinker these days.

Thank you!! I've way over budgetted!! Woohoo more spa treatments!!

So I am confused with drink package. I don't know whether we pay extra gratuities on top of the drinks, or if it's included in what we've paid. I'm getting confused reading online - some places say that whenever you get a drink an 18% charge is added on to your account, whereas others say that the daily cost that has already been paid includes the gratuity already? RCI's website was no help - the T&C's state that extra gratuity may be charged depending on where you sail from etc. We're only on a short cruise from Sydney and I've got the deluxe package for my husband and the refreshment package for me.

He's done a whole bunch of talking at me as to how to counter act the movement of the ship. I have no idea about any of the photography stuff! So I think he's got it covered.

Thanks everyone! We're not flying, so wine in carry on will be no problem. For the sail away our cabin is desk 12, on the end (1838). So we should be able to hear most of it, but not actually be out there. And after a wine or two he might be up to it. One more quick question - given that its such a short cruise and we've pre paid for practically everything, I was planning on doing a cash account. Do we put a deposit down? And how does currency exchange work, seeing as though we are sailing from Sydney do I pay it in AUD or should I get USD?