bcarney

I was reading a live blog on CruiseCritic this morning, and they said taxis are running. @Diane S We're sailing on Adventure from San Juan on Nov 18. I'm planning on taxing the taxi to the pier in order to make sure 100% of the money stays in Puerto Rico and isn't siphoned off to Miami or wherever Uber is located.

Well crap. Last year on Adventure they not only had Sierra Nevada, they also had Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (not 60, 90!), and also Red Hook. I was pleased. :)

I'm about 99% certain we'll be on the Nov 19, 2018 11 day sailing next year. There is a group of rum-enthusiasts I belong to that did a sailing on Adventure in 2016, and are planning one on Serenade next year. :)

I throw all my medications and vitamins into a single small ziplock bag and haven't had any issues on flights or getting onboard. And I take enough stuff that it looks like I'm a drug mule...

To close this - I escalated, and escalated, and escalated until there was no one higher up to escalate it to ... and finally they agreed. It took what I consider an inordinate amount of time for them to accept my additional money, but they did. Now I'll have a balcony for 7 days to replace the 3 days in Old San Juan that we'll have to forgo pre-cruise due to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. To top it off, my airline waived the change fees so that we fly in the day of the cruise, so all in all this was a good Monday. :)

I booked through a TA so Royal won't communicate with me directly (and frankly, with everything post-Hurricanes related, they've got worse things to deal with). But I know my TA tried several times to get them to budge, and they will not.

A vent: Last year over Thanksgiving we took a cruise on the then-unfinished-from-refurb Adventure of the Seas. Because the ship’s attractions weren’t completed, we were given a pair of future cruise credits totaling $825 (we had two rooms, so two separate certificates that can't be combined). We now have a reservation November 18 of this year on Adventure. We booked two connecting interior rooms at $1750 each, totaling $3500. After the $825 FCC was applied, the out of pocket cost was $2675. A few days ago I found a balcony with a connected interior that would be ideal for us, for $4200. Despite the uncertainty about sailing out of San Juan after Hurricane Maria, we thought we’d double down and book the rooms. I contacted my TA for this booking, and she says that RC will only allow us to carry over the $2675 cash paid to the new reservations, not the full $3500 which included the FCC. So I’d lose the $825 in future cruise credit. RC insists this would be a “new” reservation, so I lose the FCC – even though this is the same ship, on the same sailing date, with the same customers in the same number of rooms. We went back and forth several times, and RC will not budge from their “policies”. I have absolutely no problem paying the $700 to upgrade from the two interiors we have now – it’s why I contacted the TA in the first place. But I’m sure as heck not going to pay an additional $1525 by losing that FCC. So, way to go, Royal Caribbean. You had a chance to earn an additional $700 from me - at absolutely no additional cost to you - but due to your insistence that this would be a “new” reservation, you lost that opportunity. (edited to correct math, was looking at the wrong spreadsheet when composing message)

Calm down folks. The "no power for 6 months" isn't for the entire island, it's until the entire island gets power back. The airport is #1 priority as its how supplies get to the island. Once the airport is back online, power will be restored in urban areas and then spread outwards into the rest of the island. We all sail from San Juan, which I would expect to have electricity back in a week at most. Once the OK is given, go there. Spend money. It's what they need right now.

Hampton Inn Ybor CIty, hands down. Great location next to the Ybor City neighborhood with good bars, food, and night life. Free breakfast (that's quite decent) and shuttle to the port on embarkation morning. Also free shuttle anywhere within 3 miles of the hotel until 9pm - great to get you downtown if you'd rather go there. Tony and Martel are the shuttle drivers, and absolutely great guys! Whatever you do, avoid Westin Tampa Harbor Island like the plague. I'm an easy going guy, but it's the only hotel I've been at where I've demanded my money back. What a rat hole!

I just sent a message to the original poster for more information. You can follow along here (I hope this permalink works) https://www.facebook.com/groups/royalcaribbeandining/?multi_permalinks=1917153368548214&comment_id=1917462488517302&notif_t=like&notif_id=1502888835128152

What's on the other side of the plate.

To me it looks like the dinner served at my high school prom in the mid 1980s.

Parsnip? Turnip? One of those -ippy things.

This photo was posted in the Royal Caribbean Dining Facebook group by Joel Alderman today from Independence of the Seas. The image pretty much sums up the devolution of dining quality in the main dining room (and it also explains why I now ask for the off-menu Indian food).

Wasn't EasyCruise more like a youth hostel at sea? Basically, a tiny room, communal bath, and vending machine for a cheap daily come-and-go-as-you-please daily rate? I remember checking them out after one of their ships were docked next to us in St. Lucia. Soon afterwards they moved operations from the Caribbean to Greece, and I forgot about them.

I think if cruising was a new and emerging industry that would be possible, but they've had decades of operation under the old all-inclusive model that it's hard to, umm, change ships at this point. Many of us - myself included - have bemoaned the loss of perks, additional charges, lowering of food quality, etc. If they changed to 'giving people more options' - i.e., charging for every little thing - they'll likely lose past customers. If I can't budget adequately when I book, I won't be booking.

Until last weekend I only played the desktop version. I installed the mobile version, and holy smokes is it more generous with the coins and experience points! It would take me weeks to get 100,000 coins on the desktop version, and right now I'm stilling on 1.4 million on my phone. Much easier - and more fun as I can play longer.

I only had about 100,00 points so I selected one of the slot games, set it for the minimum bet, and let it autospin for two days straight. Of course I had to look at it periodically to click on the mini-games it puts within the spinning, but I did manage to get my points up to 37,000 from 34,000. Does anyone know of any games that don't have the mini-games within them where you have to interact with the screen? I'd like to be able to just set it up for autospin and never have to interact with it while it runs.

Meanwhile, after 5 months or so of playing, I'm stuck at 33,070 points. Sigh.

I was a consumer judge at the Miami Rum Fest; Bones entered their rum and it was one of my favorites. Unfortunately my next cruise skips St. Thomas so I won't be able to pick up any.

Went there once. Loved the refried beans so much we went there again the next year, just for the beans*. * Almost. But they did weigh heavily in the decision making process!

Yes, MDR. I've only eaten dinner in the Windjammer twice - they had curry there when I was there, IIRC, but it was a very long time ago so things may have changed.

I didn't ask for anything specific. They offer a vegetarian and meat-based curry each evening, and after the second day they started to bring me both each evening.

I've been playing since February and have only managed to gain 25,900 points.

I think the changes also vary by ship. We were on Rhapsody in April, and they were still using the "old" Giovanni's menu - much to my great joy, as there was a dish on there I really wanted to try that isn't on the new menu.