Rose City Cruiser

Sorrento's Pizza or the shady shrimp sandwich at Cafe Promenade?  

I have not done it personally but been reading a lot about people signing up for credit cards to take advantage of bonus miles by manufactured spending.  Some people were taking advantage of the Canadian Mint promotion where they allowed you to purchase coins at face-value.  You would order them online with your travel rewards credit card and then cash in coins to your bank account to pay off the credit card bill.  

4 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

No need to go on a cruise for that....COSTCO ?

I only go to Costco 30 mins before they close.  

I once saw a fight break out at the rotisserie  chicken station.  It's Black Friday every day there.    

This is great news!  Thanks for sharing.

Media outlets always claim to obtain the truth.  But only to their own benefit.  It must be a truth that makes them $$ through ads and clicks.  

On Norwegian, the crew sing the hand washing song.  Saw a child call out an adult for not washing their hands.  Pretty smart.  Get the kids to shame the adults.  LOL

Recommend a sailing that starts in PR so you can arrive a few days before or after the cruise.  I am currently looking at Freedom of the Seas after 05/2018 for their Southern Caribbean itineraries

Sounds like what I witness during my trip to Hong Kong and Macau.  A few locals spoke of their displeasure of the Mainland Chinese tourists behaviours.  They said they put up with it because they are spending lots of money. I did not believe it until I sat down for a coffee one day and people watched.  With travelling, you get to see the good and the bad.  Part of the experience in seeing other cultures.

I used my Starbucks gift cards that I received as gifts while on the Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas.      

If I am packing light, I use my Patagonia MLC - 45L (Maximum Legal Carry-on).  It has three carrying options: backpack style, shoulder straps, or hold like a briefcase.  Backpack option allows my hands to carry my wive's rolling checked and carry-on luggage while she cares for the little one. 

I use my snowboarding backpack as my day pack.  It's a Dakine Heli Pro 20L.  Bought this backpack in 2007.  Very comfortable straps.  Very durable.  

Renewed my Canadian Passport back in November.  Only took 4 business days for them to be delivered to my house.  Did the 10-year option this time. 

When Central Park is above 30 degrees in February.

3 hours ago, joost said:

keep in mind that most providers block regular (soccer) streams from an other country. due to lincences so that is worth checking out. you can bypass that but takes some technical /it knowledge. 

Reddit is a great resource for our Raptors streams during our cruise.  Our SN app did not work outside of Canada.....

On 12/6/2017 at 10:34 AM, Goofyfanatic said:

Yeah my wife vetoed my desire to buy the Briggs and Riley luggage. I really wanted it.

Always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission!  :)

14 hours ago, Bazza said:

Hello all

Anybody know if the ship is likely to be screening live sports events? Whilst I am on Ovation in March/April there is the latter part of the English soccer season, The Masters golf as well as the 6 nations rugby union championship - some of them I may be able to stream via Voom but hoping that somewhere on the ship they may actually screen them?

Thanks

Barrie

When I was on the Oasis of the Seas last April, they had the Masters playing.  If you have purchased the VOOM package, I would stream it.  My wife and I streamed the Toronto Raptors games while on the ship.  

On 11/27/2017 at 7:08 AM, tonyfsu21 said:

 

Dining recommendations:

Franco & Vinny’s Pizza Shack- Local favorite Italian (very casual).

Cafe Vico- Great Italian food (you will thank me later)

Chima Las Olas (Brazilian steak house). Quite an experience.

Le Tub (Hollywood beach): google it, Oprah made it famous.

Jimbos Sand Bar: Tiki hut vibe & excellent food especially the blackened shrimp or mahi tacos.

Rustic Inn: Garlic crab out of this world. 

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions as I am sure I can help.

- Tony 

 

Thank you for the recommendations.  We will be on Freedom of the Seas in April.  We will be arriving a few days before we embark and this list is very helpful in choosing on where to eat.  My wife and I love seafood.  Looking forward to Jimbos Sand Bar.  Anymore suggestions for seafood?  Thanks again in advance.

I hope I will be able to access my work VPN on Freedom of the Seas in April.  I may have to turn on data roaming on when we arrive at one of the ports.

There is also one more Freestyle Coke machines on Allure of the Seas.  It is located inside the Wipeout Cafe.  If you are travelling with kids, they won't have to make the trip to Windjammer Buffet to refill their drinks throughout the day.

46 minutes ago, craig403 said:

Sorry you were disappointed with the price.  I don't think there is much you can do about it.  You seem to have a good attitude about it though.

My wife purchased a ring on one of our cruises.  I think it was only $25 or $30.  After a couple months the gold started to wear off.  On our next cruise on a different ship, we took it back to the store.  (they all sell similar stuff)   The store manager listened to our story, grinned, and said "You got it wet didn't you".  She also said "don't even think about getting soap on it".  After we all had a good laugh she exchanged it for us after we promised not to tell anyone.

you broke the first rule of Fight Club

20 hours ago, Katiel53 said:

i know my opinion won't set well, but doing that is one of the reasons, I believe, that all over 21 need to purchase the package.  There were too many sharing packages. We are all being penalized for the cheaters.

They could just follow what all-inclusive resorts do.  Everyone pays for the deluxe drink package regardless of age or whether you are ordering alcoholic beverages or not.  In theory, this should drive costs lower as the minors and non-alcoholic drinkers are subsidizing for everyone else.    

They know teachers are already off during their peak season (March Break, Christmas and Summer break).  Not need to entice them to take vacation time off.  

We were able to use MyVegas Full-House 5% off voucher for Royal Caribbean on top of the current promo!!

Stopping by Sorrento's for a slice of pizza even though you are still full from dinner.  Sit down and people watch at the Royal Promenade.   

3 hours ago, monctonguy said:

I am not aware of a priority lounge area anywhere for gold members. The line ups yes, but as mentioned often the line up for gold or even platinum are longer than the general ones!

 

There will be a sheet off offers in your cabin that are pre-loaded to your seapass card and I agree, any perks are defn nice!

It would be awesome if the new Miami Port will have airline type lounges (lazy boy chairs, buffet, beverages, etc) for their higher tiers/suite guests.  

26 minutes ago, rjac said:

I've been dealing with this for a couple of weeks now.  These figures are Royals. The "base price" is $55.00 with 25% discount. When you add this to your basket the "price shown that reflect your discount" (their words) is $45.00. So, $45.00 + 18%(gratuities) = $53.10 per person per day. For a couple that's $106.20 per day or $743.4. for a couple on a seven day cruise on the Allure next March. 

Below should be what the calculations for a BOGO50.  Not sure if it is worth to challenge RCCL's interpretation of BOGO50.

Drink Package #1:

$55 * 7 days = $385.00
$385 * 18% gratuity = $69.30
$385.00 + $69.30 = $454.30

Drink Package #2:

$55 * 50% off = $27.50/day
$27.50 * 7 days = $192.50
$192.50 + $69.30 = $261.80 (Used gratuities on $55 base price)

Drink Package #1 + Drink Package #2 = $716.10