Orange Crush

I prefer traditional set-time dining.  There's always the Windjammer buffet if you want the flexibility of going whenever for one or two nights.  It's a mad house during breakfast (eggs & bacon with a side of elbows & shoves), but don't let that scare you off from having dinner there.  It's not nearly as crowded and they've always had something I really liked.  Very much of the same quality as what you'd get in the main dining room and often some of the same options.

You should also always book your add-on packages ASAP & watch the prices.  They often drop for no particular reason and you can rebook packages all day long until three days before your cruise.

Case in point:  I just checked my cruise planner five minutes ago and one of the excursions I already booked just dropped by $15.  No sale, no announcement, just randomly cheaper today.

51 minutes ago, nanowerx said:

I understand the 'one drink at a time' idea, but what if I wanted a Beer and a shot of liquor? Would they do that? I assume its probably up to the discretion of the bartender.

Don't drink much in terms of mixed drinks, but I do love beer and like to sometimes enjoy them with a shot.

51 minutes ago, Matt said:

Worst case you order the beer, then you order the shot.  Generally they are good about a shot with a drink, but like you said, depends on the bartender.

I've never been told 'no.'  But I'm nice and always add additional tip.  Your bartender sees very little of that 18% auto-grat, the back of the house takes a big cut so consider tossing them an extra buck or two.

9 minutes ago, KJ1231 said:

I'm assuming there are no issues (other than weight) of packing the bottles in our luggage for the flight back from Florida to PA?

Pack it carefully!  I've had leakage from otherwise sealed bottles that has gotten on my clothes before.

1 hour ago, Pima1988 said:

but more tied to the fact that Carnival, as a parent company can't figure out their niche in the more competitive cruise industry.  

I think Carnival can't figure out what to do with Holland America.  It's garnered a reputation as the cruise line for old people, as much as they want to dispel that.  If they position it as premium, well, then what's Princess for?

Is it now "luxury" for people who enjoy being nickel-and-dimed if they want to try a second entree?  Are there any actual humans that might appeal to?

4 hours ago, Oliver said:

We were eating at Chops Grill and my friend who eats a lot asks about having two entrees. The waiter politely stated that the policy is one entree and that he would have to charge for a second and that he didn’t have a choice.

It seems they're really inconsistent on this point in the specialty restaurants.  They wouldn't let me order two entrees at once (citing waste and wanting to make sure I would enjoy both), but once the first was out, I've always been allowed to order a second.  There's never been so much as a whisper about an additional charge.

I've been on one of the largest (Allure) and one of the smallest (Majesty), but even the Majesty was the largest class of passenger ships in the 90s.  It's something like 3x the size of the Titanic.  And the Allure is another 3 or 4 times bigger still.  There are no small cruise ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

Look at the itineraries, room availability and onboard amenities and activities.  They all have plenty to do aboard and there are no bad choices.

On 2/27/2019 at 4:03 PM, ThyriC said:

Get to know your crew.  Say hello, make small talk (it fascinates me hearing about their home countries), it might not get you anything extra, but it cant hurt.  If you're alcohol inclined or even mocktail inclined, get to know your bartender.  Be kind to your bartender.

Nice people get their drinks faster!

2 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

We get the DPB.

Dumb question--what's DPB stand for?

56 minutes ago, Yo2slick said:

So there is a limit to how many Key packages are sold?

I have heard they only sell 100 per cruise.  Not sure how accurate that is, and I didn't see it in the fine print so they can probably change it any time.

2 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

As Waaaytoo has stated the restaurants are now frenzied with the Key passengers.

I haven't been on a sailing since The Key has been rolled out yet, but I was on the Enchantment last October and did the Chops lunch on boarding day--got a good deal on it during a cruise planner sale, so why not?  It was dead.  It was just us, and another small table I assumed were pinnacle guests.  Might've been a fluke of that particular sailing, but I can see why they want to get more people in for boarding day lunch.

1 hour ago, twangster said:

They plan to overhaul and modernize the port area in the sense of having a large land area where cruisers can wander freely with a open air auditorium for concerts and such.  In my mind I'm seeing a Falmouth type compound free of street vendors pushing their trinkets.  The question is, will it create the same "stay in the compound" outcome that we see in Falmouth?

Had a noon to midnight stop there in October, everything except the corporate bars (ex Senior Frogs) was closed and the metal doors were down on all the local-owned storefronts we saws when we tried to walk around at 8pm on a Saturday night.  And Frogs was pretty dead.  Just a few very drunk kids from one of the ships grinding on the dance floor.

I'll give them my business, but they've gotta be open for business while we're there.

22 hours ago, Ogalthorpe Haywood said:

It’s not a bad idea but for a family of four it would cost us $700 for a 7 night cruise. It just seems like a money grab to me, and them taking more of “what’s included away”. 

I get the sense that, the longer the cruise (and more people you have), the less valuable it is

21 hours ago, KLA said:

Nicely done - I had literally just made the comment to my husband the day before the price increase that "we should maybe look at getting it before something changes".... and then the next day it went up. We grabbed it on the recent sale when it went back down to $25. 

Also, enjoy the Allure! We spent two weeks on Allure for our honeymoon and love the ship. 

See, you jinxed yourself by saying it out loud.  Book it first, tell your husband later.  That's how I roll.

(Besides, you can always drop it & get a refund if you change your mind later.)

I'm trying it out on our October trip on Mariner.  Seems worth it for the VIP show seating, wifi, lunch & breakfast.  Not sure we'll make use of the bag drop (we only carry on what we'll want before the luggage arrives--i.e. sunblock, passports, hat & sunglasses) or priority boarding (we have never not walked right on the ship at 11ish) but I guess the perks are there just in case.  We could get stuck in traffic on the way to the port and have to wait in a line like savages.

Daaaang.  And they were *so close* to making it back in the nick of time.  I would lose my mind seeing the ship so close you can almost touch it just slowly drift away.

I think I have a phobia about being left behind, so the video absolutely horrifies me because I can't help but think how I'd feel in that situation.

I'm not going to celebrate their misery, but it totally reinforces my neurosis about triple-checking the time & getting back to the ship at least an hour ahead of the final boarding call.  I'd probably cuss out my own mother if she was dilly-dallying.

I usually sail out of Canaveral & Ft. Lauderdale, so that means I'm usually going to Nassau. 

When I was there in March, a lady outside of the straw market said something that stuck with me as we were walking by.  "All you tourists want to do is buy rum from the bars.  You don't support the local economy!"  I actually felt like she had a bit of a point there--I mean, the big chain bars still support the local economy by employing people, but a lot of those profits don't stay behind.  I like to support small and local businesses too, so we did some shopping at the straw market and bought a couple of things.

Now, when I was there earlier this month we had a noon-to-midnight stopover.  We stayed aboard the ship most of the time to hang out by the pool, but decided to hop off and walk around after dinner.  Saturday night, 8:30pm and darn near everything was closed.  We weren't the only ship still there that late either.  Thousands of guests within arm's reach, but nothing for us to do except stay on our ships or walk past a bunch of locked doors and closed storefronts.

On 10/7/2018 at 12:34 PM, Ray said:

i take it that it wasnt prescribed for medical purposes? 

 

On 10/7/2018 at 1:14 PM, princevaliantus said:

This is irrelevant and moot since she transported the drugs, etc. onto foreign soil/waters.

With more widespread legalization (medical and recreational) around the world, I think this is going to happen much more often.  And that $4,000 fine is probably the tip of the iceberg for how much it'll cost in the end after lawyers fees and everything.

You have to abide by the law of the land you're in.  Just because something is legal back home, doesn't mean it's going to be legal abroad!

On 10/8/2018 at 11:00 PM, Royal pain said:

I see the result of how the cruise industry has to compete amoung   themselves to gets the lowest - *as low as price* - onto the pricing structure and marketing. 

I hate the marketing games companies play with the prices they're allowed to advertise, but the cruise industry is far from the only culprit there.

You just can't take advertised prices at face value, ever.  And that's true of cruises, hotels, airfare, cable companies, you name it.  Best you can do is find out what the extra charges are, decide which of the optional ones you want, and then add it up to see what you'll really pay to make an informed decision.

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

I didn't want to start a new topic...but I couldn't find it anywhere here on my searches(well 4 pages in anyway) so figured I would just post/ask here as it is kinda related.

 

I am sure I saw a break down of who/what the daily grat goes to...so much to the  MDR..so much to your room attendant etc....does anyone know or have the link to that breakdown?!

This is what I've seen posted before from when it was the old rate:

The automatic gratuity is $13.50 USD, or $16.50 USD for suite guests, applied to each guest's SeaPass® account on a daily basis. Here's how it is shared between your onboard service team:
Standard Staterooms:

    $6.35 - Dining Services
    $3.45 - Stateroom Attendant
    $3.70 - Other Hotel Services

Suites:

    $6.35 - Dining Services
    $6.10 - Suite Attendant
    $4.05 - Other Hotel Services

The base rate is $14.50 & $17.50 now, and I have a very strong suspicion they don't really split it up that way.  It just goes into a big pot for everybody that gets doled out based on individual performance reviews, survey ratings, where guests scan their cards & get upcharged, etc.  The website just says it's part of their incentive system and doesn't break it down any further anymore.

I flat out asked our bartender about the 18% gratuity that gets added to the drink package price.  He all but confirmed what we suspected--there's a system that tracks where you get drinks and that subsequently gets split up among bar management of the subsequent bars and finally to the servers themselves, but the actual person serving you sees pennies of that.

I hate to say it, but I'm convinced now that any included/pre-charged gratuities are just the cruise industry's way of paying their people less, and as guests we just can't count on any more than a pittance going to the people who actually serve us.  The only way to ensure that is to tip them beyond the pre-arranged amounts.

Just now, twangster said:

CLR?  Is that you?

Are those somebody's initials?  If so, nope.

27 minutes ago, twangster said:

Sundress, romper, smart blouse and nice pants or just about anything above excessively casual for men or women has been acceptable.  

I think I've got my outfit picked out for my next formal night

If you have the package, you can still buy drinks for other people but you pay full price for them.  And make sure your server knows that's your intention and you're not trying to give away your drinks--that's against the rules.  It'll get charged to your folio, and ultimately whatever credit card is linked to that.  You can sub in your own card when you do the check in documents online or at the port before departure, but that might mess up your parents' plans for paying for everything since the room gratuities will also get charged to that card unless they've been paid in advance.

You might also be able to pay off just the drink balances at Guest Services, but you'd need to pay them a visit on the ship.

What's a prime member?

I'm assuming this is totally unrelated to free shipping from Amazon.

Just now, tiny260 said:

at the desk they had the instructions of how to log a device off (open Internet window, and type logoff ? something, can't remember.)

logoff.com

You can also use logon.com if you're trying to connect a device and it doesn't pop up the "hey you need to log in!" screen.  I was having some trouble with getting an iPhone to connect to the wifi on Allure before I figured that one out.

Just now, tiny260 said:

This summer on Liberty I didn't get a code, we just logged in and it knew the device limit. 

I think it varies from ship to ship, but when I book in advance via cruise planner, I've always gotten a slip of paper w/ a code on it.

Just now, mworkman said:

Is there a way to purchase Voom Surf & Stream pkg 3-Devices is you have 2 rooms and can't see the other person even though the reservations are linked together?

When you go to book the three-pack, only check one name.  You don't need all three people on the reservation, otherwise it would put three packages (so, nine devices!) in your shopping cart.

On the ship you just get one code that's good for three simultaneous logins.

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

2.  Room service will NOT deliver drinks to your room, unfortunately.  They WILL bring coffee.

You can probably get a pitcher of virgin bloody marys delivered in the morning.   I usually ask for a pitcher of orange juice in the morning and they deliver that.  We bring our 2-bottle allotment of champagne and have mimosas on the balcony.  There are a few ways you might obtain a modest supply of vodka for the room, with varying degrees of sneakiness.

Keeping it legit, I used to see an option in cruise planner to order a bottle of liquor for the room at like 4x the usual price, but I haven't seen it since the last time they "upgraded" the website.  It was in with the section where you'd order special decorations and the like.

Hey there,

I'm curious if the Viking Crown on the Enchantment is going to be restricted to Diamond and/or Suite Guests only, or if it's open to the general passengers otherwise or at certain times.

Thanks!